2nd Jul 2013 by Kuwait Times

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TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

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Egypt army gives Morsi 48 hours to share power

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SHAABAN 23, 1434 AH

President meets Sisi • Brotherhood HQ torched • 5 ministers quit

CAIRO: A protester holds an Egyptian national flag as he and others attack the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in the Muqattam district yesterday. — AP

2 Kuwaitis die in Saudi crash

CAIRO: Egypt’s armed forces handed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi a virtual ultimatum to share power yesterday, giving feuding politicians 48 hours to compromise or have the army impose its own road map for the country. A dramatic military statement broadcast on state television declared the nation was in danger after millions of Egyptians took to the streets on Sunday to demand that Morsi quit and the headquarters of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood were ransacked. Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago as the Arab Spring revolutions took hold, the Arab world’s most populous nation has remained in turmoil, arousing concern amongst allies in the West and in neighbouring Israel, with which Egypt has had a peace treaty since 1979. Morsi’s backers were furious at the military statement: “The age of military coups is over,” said Yasser Hamza of the Brotherhood parliamentary wing. But it provoked delight among liberal leaders and crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, who cheered when a flight of military helicopters swooped overhead trailing national flags. Silhouetted against the sunset, it was a powerful illustration of the military’s desire to be seen in tune with the people. “If the demands of the people are not realised within the defined period, it will be incumbent upon (the armed forces) ... to announce a road map for the future,” chief-of-staff General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said in the statement, which was followed by patriotic music. The people had expressed their will with unprecedented clarity in the mass demonstrations, he said, and wasting more time would only increase the danger of division and strife. The army said it would oversee the implementation of the roadmap it sought “with the participation of all factions and national parties, including young people”, but it would not get directly involved in politics or government. Morsi’s office later said the president met Sisi and Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, releasing a picture of them seated together smiling, but did not respond to the military statement. Anti-Morsi demonstrators outside the presidential palace cheered the army statement, and the main opposition National Salvation Front, which has demanded a national unity government for months, applauded the military’s move. Continued on Page 15

New petition to suspend polls filed Heavyweights among 38 new candidates

By Hanan Al Saadoun KUWAIT: Two Kuwaitis were killed when their SUV ﬂipped over east of Rafha governorate in Saudi Arabia yesterday. Saudi Red Crescent spokesman Musaed Al-Enezi said after receiving a call at dawn about a car accident, ambulances rushed to the scene to ﬁnd two Kuwaiti killed and two injured. Enezi said that one of the injured was taken to hospital by ambulance, while the other was taken by a citizen. He urged people not to transport the injured themselves because paramedics have the necessary tools to protect them and deal properly with various injuries.

By B Izzak KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti voter residing in the new residential area of Nahdha yesterday ﬁled a new petition calling for the court to suspend the July 27 election because his area is not listed among any of the ﬁve electoral constituencies. As a result, the voter will not be able to participate in the election either as a candidate or voter. Under Kuwait election law, a candidate must be a registered voter and for

Snowden seeking asylum in Russia MOSCOW: US leaker Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia and President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he was welcome to stay as long as he stopped leaking US intelligence reports. On Sunday night, Snowden applied for political asylum at the consulate oﬃce of

Max 48º Min 35º High Tide 06:35 & 19:53 Low Tide 00:22 & 13:38

the Sheremetyevo airport, where he had been staying for more than a week in legal limbo, a foreign ministry oﬃcial told AFP. “At 10.30 pm (1830 GMT) yesterday, British citizen Sarah Harrison turned up at the consulate department at Continued on Page 15

MOSCOW: (From left) Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Bolivian President Evo Morales attend a family photo session during the Gas Exporting Countries Forum at the Kremlin yesterday. — AFP

citizens to vote, their residential areas must be part of any of the five constituencies.It was the third petition against the election. Lawyer Adel Al-Abdulhadi filed a petition calling the administrative court to call off the election because the Amiri decree calling for polls was approved by an illegitimate Cabinet. The constitution stipulates that the Cabinet must include at least one elected MP. In the current Cabinet, Minister of Social Affairs and

Deadline looms for illegal expats in Saudi Arabia RIYADH: Illegal foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, mostly Asians, are in a race against time to take advantage of an amnesty ending tomorrow that would allow them to stay or return home without prosecution. King Abdullah announced the amnesty on April 3, granting foreign workers three months to regularise their residency or leave the oil-rich Gulf monarchy to avoid being blacklisted or jailed and ﬁned. More than 1.5 million illegal foreign workers came forward during the ﬁrst two months of the amnesty, the labour ministry said. It did not say how many illegal foreign workers currently live in the kingdom, but the number is reported to be around two million. Of these, some 180,000 have left in addition to more than 200,000 unregistered workers expelled at the start of the year under new regulations to stamp out illegal immigration. Many workers are still queueing outside their embassies to obtain documents to either leave Saudi Arabia or legalise their status before tomorrow. As in most Gulf states, foreigners in Saudi Arabia need to be sponsored by a local business to obtain entry and work permits. Foreigners desperate to work in the country are willing to pay for sponsorship, and sponsoring expatriates has become a lucrative business for some Saudis. But under the new rules workers can be employed only by their own sponsors. Continued on Page 15

Labour Thekra Al-Rasheedi is the elected MP but her membership has been nulliﬁed after the constitutional court ruling on June 16. Abdulhadi said that all decisions issued by the Cabinet are illegal and warned that if the election was not stopped to rectify the constitutional error, the results will be challenged and this may lead to scrapping the Assembly for the third time since June last year. The second petition was ﬁled by Jassem AlEnezi who called on the court to freeze

the election until the constitutional court explains parts of its June 16 ruling. The court is scheduled to issue the explanation on Sept 18. A number of heavyweights were among 38 new candidates who ﬁled to run in the election yesterday, including several candidates who were among the opposition that boycotted the Dec 1 election. The new candidates included Riyadh Al-Adasani and Abdullah Continued on Page 15

US wildfire rages after killing 19 firefighters PRESCOTT, Arizona: Reinforcements poured in yesterday to battle a runaway wildfire which quadrupled in size overnight after killing 19 firefighters in one of the worst such incidents in US history. The Yarnell Hill fire - which killed all but one member of a 20-strong “hotshot” team - was the biggest loss of firefighters’ lives since the Sept 11 attacks, and the

most from a US wildfire in 80 years. “The Yarnell fire exploded into a firestorm that overran the local Granite Mountain hotshots,” Arizona governor Jan Brewer told reporters. Recalling the 340 who died on 9/11, she added: “Just as we honor the memory of the firefighters lost that day as they charged into the burning towers, we Continued on Page 15

YARNELL, Arizona: A wildfire burns homes in the Glenn Ilah area on Sunday. — AP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Cabinet holding a session yesterday. It approved a draft decree appointing Saleh Ahmad Al-Sarawi as assistant Undersecretary at the Finance Ministry. Al-Sarawi currently holds the post as Director of Financial Planning and Follow up in the Budget department in the Finance Ministry.

Cabinet approves draft decree granting nationality to 55 KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Cabinet approved yesterday a draft-decree granting Kuwaiti citizenship to 55 persons in accordance with articles five and seven of Kuwait nationality Law No. 15 of 1959. After the Cabinet weekly meeting held at Seif Palace under Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-

Mubarak Al-Sabah said that the decision was taken after recommendations from the Higher Committee of Citizenship. Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Nayef Al-Hajraf briefed the Cabinet about the ongoing final exams of different educational stages and some violations which were committed during the exams. The Cabinet lauded the firm stances taken by Minister Al-Hajraf against all involved in the

violations. Meanwhile, the Ministers sent congratulations to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on assuming his new role as the Amir of Qatar. They also recalled the success of former Qatari Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in leading his country to achieve progress and welfare. Earlier, the ministers reviewed the letters addressed to His Highness the

Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah from President of Nicaragua JosÈ Daniel Ortega Saavedra and President of CÙte díIvoire Alassane Ouattara. The letters tackled bilateral relations and means to upgrade mutual cooperation. They were also apprised of recent visit paid by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to Yemen and his talks with Yemeni officials.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled also briefed the Cabinet about talks held with US Secretary of State during his recent visit to Kuwait. He noted that the talks have focused on bilateral relations, Kuwaiti Guantanamo inmates, Syrian crisis and issues of common concern. The Cabinet also discussed the latest political developments in the Arab region and the world. —KUNA

Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Samhan

Abdullah Al-Turaiji

Ali Al-Omar

Faisal Al-Shaya

Khaled Al-Duwaisan

Marzouq Al-Ghanim

Meshal Sulaiman Al-Shatti

Meshari Mohammed Al-Anjari

Riyadh Ahmad Al-Adasani

Saad Ali Al-Khanfour

Judges urged to cut leaves to prepare for elections ‘Live up to national duty’ KUWAIT: President of the Supreme Judicial Council Faisal Al-Mershed has given instructions to members of the judiciary to cut short their annual leaves in order to reinforce efforts to supervise parliamentary elections on July 29, local dailies reported yesterday. Judges and other members of the judicial authority are usually entitled to take annual leave in July, but have been called in a letter signed by Mershed to either shorten it or substitute it with a leave in September. The letter, which members of the judiciar y reportedly received Sunday, contains calls for judges to live up to their “national duty” by taking part in supervising the elections. Meanwhile, Al-Anbaa daily quoted ministerial sources in a report yesterday who refuted the notion that the Cabinet has become illegitimate because it does not contain an elected member of parliament. A petition was filed Sunday with the administrative court demanding that the elections

be called off on the basis that the Cabinet does not include an active parliament members as the constitution requires. However, the sources who spoke to Al-Anbaa on the condition of anonymity argued that the constitutional article mentioning this stipulation does not specify that the Cabinet must include an elected member as a requirement to become legitimate. Article 56 of the constitution indicates that “ministers are appointed from amongst the members of the National Assembly and from others”, and this is often used to support the argument that at least one Cabinet member should be selected from the parliament. “The literal meaning of the article indicates that appointing an elected minister is not a necessity to render the Cabinet legitimate, as it leaves the door open to appoint more than one elected minister or the entire lineup from other sources,” the insiders argued. Speaker of the scrapped Assembly

Ali Al-Rashed also argued Sunday that minister Rola Dashti, who was a member of the 2009 parliament, can be considered as the elected minister to justify the Cabinet’s legitimacy. Meanwhile, chief of the Awazem tribe Falah bin Jame’ announced that the largest tribe in Kuwait does not plan to organize any official by-elections in the fifth constituency. He further reiterated in statements to AlQabas that the tribe is not responsible for any outlawed by-elections that could be held behind the scenes “and the organizers should bear full responsibility”. Bin Jame’ urged his tribesmen to avoid staging or taking part in by-elections to narrow the number of candidates who represent the tribe as a technique to increase the odds of winning the general elections. “Such practices put obstacles in front of competent tribesmen who have given the Kuwaiti democracy several examples that all Kuwaitis

Naser Hajji Al-Haifi are proud of,” he said, calling for voting on the basis of competency “and the ability to handle national responsibility under the present circumstances”. Al-Rai had reported

Poor turnout as retirement deadline ends KUWAIT: A maximum of 30 senior officials are estimated to have filed for retirement before yesterday’s deadline after which they would have lost financial privileges put as incentives to encourage officials with more than thirty years of experience to leave office, a local daily reported yesterday. According to a Civil Service Commission insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity, most officials who reached the retirement age did not find the incentives that the Cabinet approved a couple of months ago lucrative, “especially that they range between KD 52,000 and KD 87,000”. Officials in the public sector are in most cases never forced to retire but are

Tomato prices soar KUWAIT: Tomato prices continue rising in the Ramadan products market as the price of a 5-kg wooden box varies between KD 2.500 to KD 3.000, though it was not more than KD 1.500 earlier. The wooden box that is sold in vegetable markets weighing 7 kg may reach prices of KD 3.500 to KD 4.000. The market has Jordanian and Turkish tomatoes, while local products are completely absent. Several vendors said the arrival of Ramadan and unrest in various Arab countries and Turkey caused the drop in amounts of products arriving in Kuwait, in addition to the fact that Saudi Arabia stopped exports of some products including tomatoes to meet local demand. Director of public relations at the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources Shaker Awadh said a rise in temperatures and shortage in supply caused the rise in prices, especially since the tomato is seasonal.

often given incentives to file retirement papers that have to be approved by the minister, sent to the Cabinet and then referred to the Public Institution for Social Security to adopt the pensions. The government’s recent attempts to encourage retirement of long-serving officials come as part of efforts to tackle unemployment rates in national manpower which according to latest statistics have reached five percent. In other news, 33 senior officials in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor organized a sit in Sunday morning in protest against minister Thekra AlRashidi’s decision to push officials with at least thirty years of service towards retirement.

Mutla land will help solve housing problem

10 societies authorized to collect Ramadan donations KUWAIT: Ten charitable societies were given approval to collect donations during Ramadan as part of a charity program supervised by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for the tenth consecutive year. Like in recent years, minister Thekra AlRashidi said in a statement Sunday that the ‘10th Annual Ramadan Charity Project’ will be under the ministry’s supervision to make sure that all societies follow conditions “put to protect charitable work from outside interference”. The societies given approval include the Islamic Heritage Revival Society, the Social

Reform Society (Islah) and the Patients Helping Fund Society, and joins governmental organizations such as the International Islamic Charitable Organization in organizing fundraisers and collecting all forms of donations during the holy month. Approval is given after a society agrees to terms and conditions outlined by the ministry which include submitting an official application that specifies the number of voucher books required to be handed by the ministry, as well as the names of representatives authorized to receive them.

Tareq Abdulrahman Al-Ruwayeh yesterday that ‘consultative meetings’ or tribal gathering seen as unofficial replacements for by-elections have started, especially in the fourth constituency.

KUWAIT: The Department of Administrative Development and Training at Kuwait University organized the awarding ceremony of outstanding administrative prize “2013” under the patronage of University Secretary General Prof Essa Al-Loughani and Assistant Secretary General for Administrative Affairs Bader Al-Theyab. The ceremony was held on Sunday at Jumaira Hotel in Messila.

KUWAIT: Minister of Communications and Housing Salem Al-Othaina announced that the housing problem was on its way to be solved through the government’s ambitious plan aiming at providing proper housing to citizens and families deserving housing welfare. Othaina added that both the housing ministry and housing welfare authority were keen on executing a great number of major housing projects all over Kuwait to help solve the problem. He added that execution of housing projects in Abu Halaifa, Wafra and Subbiya had already started and as soon as the authority takes hold of the land needed for the Mutla project that is due to provide 52,000 housing units, the problem would surely be on its way to be solved.

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

LOCAL

Police raid Bnaider chalet By Hanna Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Criminal detectives raided a chalet yesterday in Bnaider where 9 youths and 5 girls were found. The raid came after a report was received about a disturbance by neighbors. Meanwhile, the owner of a pharmacy in Fahaheel reported to security that thieves broke the door and stole KD 400 from inside the store. Separately, two Jordanian expat reported to police that they were stopped by unidentified thieves who stole a bank card and KD 50 from them, making use of the secret number that was written on the back of the card. Work plan The Interior Ministry’s assistant undersecretary for citizenship and passports

affairs Maj Gen Faisal Al-Nawaf stressed that along with other immigration sector commanders, he was currently studying a special work agenda for local domestic labor offices, the services they provide and the problems they or the workers face. He added that the new work plan would focus on workers’ human rights. Speaking on the sidelines of a security crackdown and inspection of various domestic workers’ offices in Hawally, Farwaniya and Ahamdi, Nawaf said that the plan includes special measures to remove Kuwait from the lists of countries accused of human trafficking. “It is completely unacceptable to place Kuwait on any such lists and all those involved in human trafficking will held legally accountable be them citizens or expatriates,” he vowed.

Asharrah with actor, Jamal Arradhan and scholar, Abdullah Najeeb Salem

Al-Saleh honorig Asharrah

Rawda, Hawally Co-op signs memo to host Barirah project Significance of domestic labor By Hassan A Bari

KUWAIT: A fire broke out in a factory in Sabhan yesterday, consuming 500 sq m of the 4,000-sq-m premises. Firemen were able to control the blaze and prevent its spread to neighboring warehouses. The operation was completed in a short time without casualties. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Under the auspices of the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Shareeda AlMaousherji and with the attendance of his assistant undersecretary for planning and development Ibrahim Al-Saleh, the ministry’s committee for the National Project for Enlightening Domestic Workers (Barirah) signed a memo of cooperation with Rawda and Hawally Cooperative Society to host and patronize the project in Rawda. Speaking during a special ceremony held at the Al-Zaben Ballroom in Rawda, assistant undersecretary Saleh stressed the social and religious importance of the Barirah project in view of the significance of domestic labor to the Kuwaiti society where Kuwaiti families highly depend on them. “According to PACI statistics, there are over 600,000 domestic helpers serving over 230,000 families in Kuwait,” he said, pointing out that these helpers come from various countries with different cultural and religious backgrounds and such facts call for special efforts to enlighten them about the nature of the Kuwaiti society, its culture and values. Saleh commended Rawdha and Hawally Coop’s efforts in adapting the Barirah project and providing a permanent headquarters for it in Rawda. On his part, Rawda and Hawally Co-op’s chairman of board of directors Tareq Asharrah stressed that the Rawda and Hawally Co-op is keen on the basic elements of social work set by the ministry of social affairs and labor, namely developing the levels of socioeconomic and communal services provided to the area’s residents. Asharrah added that in view of the great role played by all sectors of the ministry of awqaf in

3,600 Indians returned from Kuwait this year NEW DELHI: : With around 3,600 Indians having returned from Kuwait this year, India has said it has asked the Gulf country’s government to “provide time and space” to expatriates overstaying or on irregular visas to return on their own or to regularise their stay as per its law. External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here at a briefing that 3,600 Indians have returned home since the beginning of the year. These include 1,000 who had been issued Emergency Certificates and 2,600 who had their passports. Following some instances of Indians complaining of harassment by the Kuwaiti authorities, the Indian embassy has set up round-the-clock help desks and also provided an email where Indians can convey their problems, he said.

While the embassy has received 600 telephone calls and 100 e-mails till now, Akbaruddin clarified that none of them related to complaints of harassment. “None of them related to any specific case of harassment,” he said, adding that the messages from the Indians were about their fears and apprehensions. He said that “any case of harassment will be taken up [with the Kuwaiti authorities] and taken to its logical conclusion”. He also said that the Indian embassy and Indian envoy Satish C. Mehta were in touch with the local Indian organisations as well as with “large employers “ employing more than 5,000 people to find out if any Indians had any problems. Akbaruddin said India has also tak-

en up the issue with the Kuwaiti authorities, in New Delhi and in Kuwait, “and our view is should they want to crack down.. they should provide space and time to expatriates to leave of their own... Provide time or regularise their stay in accordance with Kuwaiti law”. There are 700,000 Indians in Kuwait, an increase of 25,000 over last year, he said. Kuwait has announced a policy to reduce the number of its expatriate workers over a 10-year period, under which it is targeting expatriates who overstayed or have irregular visas. In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, where 2.8 million Indians work, the kingdom’s Nitaqat work policy has also affected Indian workers and thousands of them have returned home.

Kuwaiti aid to Syrians continue in Ramadan AMMAN: Kuwait ’s Red Crescent Society (KRCS) will provide the Syrian refugee families in the Kingdom of Jordan with Iftar (fast-break ing) meals, as well as Eid clothing as Kuwait’s humanitarian aid for the Syrians in Jordan and Lebanon continue, head of KRCS delegation to Jordan Khaled Al-Zaid said yesterday. The humanitarian projects organized by KRCS for the Syrian refugees

in the neighboring countries to Syria come to fulfill the society’s goals of supporting the Syrian people by providing some of their needs during the holy month of Ramadan, in addition to the “Ragheef” food aid initiative which still continues as well, AlZaid said. With regard to Iftar meals, he said that KRCS has chosen the Jordanian cities in which the meals will be provided for the Syrian

Kuwaiti cultural office extends scholarships registration date RIYADH: Head of the Cultural Office at the Embassy of Kuwait in Riyadh Dr. Misfer Mahdi Misfer said on Monday that the date of registration for undergraduate scholarships for Kuwaitis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been extended till next Wednesday. Misfer added that the secondary school graduates of 2013 can register at the Ministry of Higher Education’s scholarships department in Kuwait. The applicant must be a Kuwaiti citizen who completed secondary stage and has no criminal record and his/her age should not exceed 23 years, he said. He/she should not have won scholarship from any other body or is currently employed. Meanwhil, the Saudi Cabinet called on the international community to assist the Syrian people who is suffering from genocide practiced by

the illegitimate regime with the participation of foreign forces in defiance of all laws and international norms and principles as it exposed the Syrian lands and made them vulnerable to sectarian conflicts. The session, chaired by Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, also called on the international community to move quickly to provide protection for the Syrian people and help them to defend themselves in the face of the heinous crimes committed against them. The Cabinet once again stressed the Kingdom’s demand for the immediate commencement of the implementation of the EU decision to lift the ban on arming the Syrian opposition, and the issuance of a clear international decision banning the provision of weapons to the illegitimate Syrian regime. — KUNA

refugees during the holy month, and they will be distributed in the north and the south of the country. The cities include Al-Naima, Al-Tarra, AlShajara, Madaba, Al-Karak, he added, noting that the Iftar meals will be provided to about 15,000 families. The society will carry out the Iftar program from the first day and throughout the whole holy month. This is part of an ongoing Kuwaiti aid effort launched with the beginning of the Syrian crisis over two years ago. KRCS will include more refugees in its Eid clothing distribution as it covers larger areas in Jordan. Al-Zaid praised the cooperation between KRCS and its Jordanian counterpart which facilitates distribution of aid and meeting aid campaign goals across the governorates of the Kingdom. He also praised the role played by the Kuwaiti Embassy in Jordan to facilitate the task of the Kuwaiti delegation during its stay in the kingdom. Meanwhile, KRCS’s Ragheef project continues for the third month, aimed at distributing daily food necessities for the Syrian refugees in Jordan and Syria, he said. He stressed that “the society would not hesitate to provide aid for our Syrian brothers, wherever they might be.” “Kuwait’s aid efforts through KRCS to help those in need around the world is nothing but a humanitarian duty to help those affected either by natural or manmade disasters without regard to sex, race, or religion,” stressed AlZaid. — KUNA

Al-Saleh, Al-Hajji with Rawdha coop board members social services; in view of the co-op’s 2020 strate- domestic labor offices and religious institutions. gy and the common values shared between “This memo is but an example of cooperation them both, Rawdha & Hawally Co-op was keen with NGOs through which over 11,000 domestic on signing the cooperation memo to complete a laborers working in Rawda can be served,” he long list of fields of cooperation including land- added, noting that two more co-ops were also scaping, digging wells, building mosques, pro- considering to cooperate with Barirah that ultividing them with water coolers, providing cater- mately aims at enlightening both workers and ing services during Ramadan, supporting Quran their sponsors of their respective rights and memorization centers in the area, building a duties. Notably, the Barirah project was developed family consultation center, organizing the annual Durrat Al-Shohour festival under auspices of by the ministry of awqaf’s cultural affairs sector Dr Khaled Al-Mathkour and providing a head- in 2005 with the aim of taking care of domestic workers, enlightening them and their sponsors quarters for Quranic studies. Also speaking on the occasion, Barirah proj- and highlighting the rights and duties of each ect manager and Grand Mosque director Saad party. The project was named after Barirah - the Al-Hajji stressed that a large group of faithful maid of the Prophet’s (PBUH) wife Aisha - who and sincere people has been working since 2005 was later emancipated but continued to serve to develop the project and get it this far. He also Aisha. She outlived them both, learned the stressed the importance of cooperation with Prophet’s (PBUH) traditions and taught them various NGOs, diplomatic missions in Kuwait, until her death.

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

LOCAL In my view

Letters to Badrya

Egypt sinking into the deep

Expats facing discrimination badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

By Labeed Abdal

labeed@kuwaittimes.net

he killing of a US citizen who was stabbed to death in Alexandria in Egypt while filming clashes between Morsi’s supporters and the opposition should not be a green light for more atrocities or a savage aggression on human rights. The mass demonstrations that the opposition hopes can force the Islamist president to quit should not allow innocent people to become victims of the disturbances between protesters and Islamists. Also, killing members of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood may slide this great country into civil war, given that the current ruling party suffered from oppression and imprisonments for decades by the previous regime. But striving to apply radical versions of Islamic law is a deviation from the path of the youths’ dreams. No one can deny that the street’s spring was stolen of its original purposes and goals. The young and old of Egypt - Islamists or otherwise must not lose the real essence of Egypt. They must keep in mind that this country has over 7,500 years of multicultural and multi-religious contributions to humanity. By all means it cannot stop now or they would go backwards to the Dark Ages. This country has lived in harmony with all religions and sects, with freedom and dignity. It’s clear from the millions staying all night in Tahrir Square that the people want to say that they want the moderate Egypt back with no killings over every disagreement with one another. I do not expect Superman to come to solve this problematic situation, but hope the wise men of this country go back to the rule of law, equality, peace and the path of nonviolence for the sake of the millions of the poor and hopeless - without smashing a hole in the body of the ship that would make it sink into the deep...

kuwait digest

Key to achieving political reform By Dr Mohammad Al-Moqatei

ne week before the constitutional court made its key ruling on the emergency decree to adopt the single-vote amendment to the electoral law, speculations were rampant from politicians within the opposition, pro-government groups and even the government itself about the verdict’s outcome, its impact and how it could serve each group’s respective interests. In the meantime, every group expressed hope that the ruling would be in line with their ambitions while some of them left their decision on whether to abide by the ruling hanging on its outcome. In general, this is a summary of speculations that preceded the verdict: • One group was betting that the court was going to find the emergency decree unconstitutional, and even made it clear that they can only accept the court’s ruling had it ruled that way. • On the other hand, there was a group which predicted that the court was going to uphold the singlevote system and reject challenges to the election procedures of the parliament. They also found the notion that suggested otherwise to be unacceptable. • A third team expected the court to uphold the single-vote system but annul the parliament over errors found in the election process, and then order the parliament elected in 2009 to be reinstated. • A fourth team believed that regardless of the ruling’s outcome, it should put an end to the debate on the single-vote system’s constitutionality and effectively end the political turmoil when every party involved honors the law as required. Personally, I found that most parties have only looked at the constitutional court’s ruling from a single standpoint that went in line with their own ambitions. They would applaud the judiciary’s ‘independence’, ‘impartiality’ and ‘strength’ had the ruling met their demands. Otherwise, they would accuse the judiciary of leaving its judgment vulnerable to interference and pressure. These groups as a result deliberately attempted to put pressure on the constitutional court with the hope that it made a verdict that met their demands. These attempts included making fiery public statements and prior decisions to reject the ruling if it went in certain directions. It appears that a large number of these groups have forgotten the fact that the process to build constitutional institutions that involves strengthening the judiciary as the main reference must go through the struggle of looking into critical issues and subjects of strong debate. They further ignore that the judiciary must be allowed to impose its legal power over all authorities, as well as the fact that rulings as the constitutional court’s recent one lay the foundations for guarantees that prevent abuse of power in the future. All this is more important than individual opinions, but it seems that shortsightedness has blinded people to see what is necessary to build a state of constitutional practice. The fact remains in the meantime that the current electoral law which divides Kuwait into five constituencies and allows each voter to cast one vote is not much different than its predecessor in which citizens could cast up to four votes when it comes to fighting sectarianism and favoritism or achieving political stability. Therefore, amending the system remains the key to achieving true political reform.— Al-Qabas

In my view

Education can replace loss of hope By Gordon Brown

istorians will look back on the Arab revolutions as the first stirrings of a movement for change that will eventually transform political, economic and social rights around the globe. The current anti-Western demonstrations take protest to a new, dangerous level, but the popular mood may be far less about hostility to America and Europe-or support for religious extremism-and far more about a loss of hope. Having visited countries in the Middle East and North Africa recently, I can see how the uprisings of 2010 and 2011 born in growing optimism about the dawn of new opportunities have now morphed into angr y protests fueled by frustration and despair. Eighty million young people are now formally registered as unemployed. In some countries the majority of young people are out of work, and I found young people-more connected than ever to what is happening in the outside world, yet hanging around local street corners with nothing to doincreasingly questioning the justice of their fate. Discontent is rising not just because of the lack of jobs but because of the lack of opportunity. In South Sudan, the world’s newest state, there are more than 100,000 girls aged 14, 15 and 16, but only 400 of them are in school. New figures show that a total of 61 million girls and boys around the world are not even reaching education’s first base by going to primary school. For the first time in decades, progress has stalled, and despite the promises made in the second M illennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015, Africa is sliding backwards. Its out-ofschool numbers will have worsened by 2 million in 2015 if nothing changes. On current global trends, there will still be 50 million children out of school in 2025, and 50 years from now education for all will still be a distant dream. Contrary to accepted wisdom, the world is not on a smooth, irreversible upward path to universal education, and, for millions, equality of opportunity will remain a hollow promise, its absence a growing source of unrest. I have never thought that for the poor to do well, the wealthy should do badly. I don’t subscribe to the politics of envy. If there is one idea that inspires our modern world, it is that every child should have the opportunity to rise as far as their talents can take them. But if there is one reality that exposes our failure to deliver, it is that where you come from still matters much more than where you are going. In fact, 80 percent of global income inequalities can be explained by who your parents are and where you live. Yet instead of tackling the disadvantages that come from birth and background, we continue to invest just $400 in the primary and secondary schooling of the typical African child, while we spend upwards of $100,000 — 250 times moreon her Western counterpart. And it is this gulf between our grand ideals and children’s experiences that makes the cause of educational oppor-

tunity, in the words of Condoleezza Rice, the civil rights issue of our generation. Of course it is essential to expose and blame extremists for inciting the young, and it is vital to support those moderate leaders attempting to assuage the growing anger of the crowds, but if countries do not address fundamental inequalities in opportunity, then unrest will grow not because young people are anti-American but because they have lost hope. Extending educational opportunity is thus an urgent moral, economic and security imperative. Fortunately, there are good grounds for believing that we can move quickly to deliver new and better chances for young people. Everywhere I go, from Africa’s biggest slum in Kibera, Kenya, to the Dalit “untouchable” communities outside Delhi in India, I meet parents who understand the power of education. The mothers who had just crossed as refugees from Sudan into South Sudan told me that their children certainly needed food, shelter and security, but what these mothers wanted most for them was education. This week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Education First initiative that unites businesses, foundations, NGOs, governments, teachers, parents and pupils in a 1,000-day campaign to get every child into quality education by the end of 2015. As the new UN special envoy for global education, I know that this big push has to be bolder than ever before in battling prejudice, discrimination and exploitation. We have to tackle the culture that takes 10 million girls out of school to become child brides; outlaw the forced employment of 15 million under-12s who are never allowed to enter a classroom; end the brutalization of untold numbers forcibly conscripted into armed groups, used by criminal gangs to perform illicit activities or sold into prostitution; and give hope to the 25 million out-of-school children living in conflict areas. We do not have to rely on a scientific breakthrough or a transformation in technologyonly a revolution in political willpower-to train the 2 million more teachers and build the 4 million extra classrooms that the world needs. No parent I know would consider the $13.50 a year we give an African child in educational aid too generous. Tragically, even that meager amount-just 25 cents for a week’s schooling-is falling. Yet we can persuade both governments and publics that a few dollars more from the citizens of a rich country for the education of a child in a poor country is a worthwhile investment. With support of just a dollar a year from the world’s 1 billion members of the middle class, we could star t to honor the Millennium promise we made to every child that they would be at school. This year at the Olympics, we have seen what investment in young people and their potential can achieve. When we are also starting to understand the damage done by the absence of opportunity, can we afford to refuse the next generation its chance?

kuwait digest

Change from the inside By Dr Hamad Al-Usaidan

ow that the constitutional court made its key ruling and the government opened the door to register for elections which saw nearly 200 candidates register in the first three days, I believe that calls for boycotting the elections became useless with due respect to those who make them. This is because the ruling left only one option for changing the electoral system. Upholding the single-vote system has given it a legal dimension which renders all attempts to retract it through public protests futile. Callers for a return to the four-votes-per-voter system or a new system altogether have only one option to achieve their demand — through the parliament. This means running for elections, winning a seat in the parliament, submitting a draft law to amend the electoral system and working to guarantee a majority vote to pass it in the parliament. I don’t think there is any other way to achieve this goal. Therefore, I see reason behind calls to end the boycott and shift the opposition’s focus on pushing their candidates to reach the parliament and change the electoral system from there. The public support that prominent oppositionists have garnered can serve as a strong factor to guarantee their election. This is an opportunity for the

opposition to act now before it is too late, and to avoid leaving the door open for their opponents to take over the scene. The ball now is in the opposition’s court. A little bit of thinking leads to discovering that staying away from the parliamentary scene does not serve their best interests. They can sit down with their supporters and share an honest conversation, especially that the subject of debate has now been settled from a legal standpoint. Kuwait is a state of law in which the practice of going above the law should never be accepted. Instead, work should always remain under its umbrella. I believe that should the opposition decide to contest the elections, they will get huge successes and could even control majority seats in the upcoming parliament. In this case, passing a new electoral system wouldn’t be much of a problem. With that being said, I hope that no one questions the true intentions of those who decide to run for parliament after boycotting the previous elections - a decision that stems from accepting the fact that the ruling leaves no other way to amend the electoral system but through the parliament. I hope we would see prominent opposition figures do the same in the near future.— Al-Rai

Ms Badrya, You have been championing many causes in Kuwait and I must tell you that you are admired for your outspoken nature. I read your editorials every day in Kuwait Times and you stand out for your forthrightness and just opinion on various issues. Of late, Kuwait has degenerated as a racial society with many Asian expats at the wrong end of the discrimination that has enveloped the country. Unfortunate and disheartening as it is, the lone and supportive voices of people such as you who give me reason to believe that there are still good people left in this country. Many of the people who come into this bookstore to read are all in praise of you. Thank you for your various expressions of support to the expat community during difficult times like these. Kuwait, and the world at large, needs more people like you. My sincere appreciation. Jacob Oommen Dear Madam Badriya, How are you? You are as an angel for expats and they all are praying for you. I request you to write your articles in Arabic too so that Kuwaitis can read it because many Kuwaitis don’t know English and they should also realize what situations expats are going through. Once again I wish you best of luck and will always be praying for you. A reader

kuwait digest

New Assembly looks doomed By Thaar Al-Rashidi

shall say it once more - the July 2013 Assembly shall be declared void. We face election day in less than a month’s time and during this period, new things are expected to happen which might lead to the change of the election date and maybe its timings too. I believe that the parliament’s makeup will change at a rate that exceeds 60 percent from what it was in the last house that was scrapped. Regardless of the political groups that will boycott the polls and the political calculations that will appear in the last two days of candidate registrations, all given current assumptions say that the percentage of change shall exceed 60 percent, especially that the boycott this time is different. The last boycott was over clear political attitudes that refused the one-man-one-vote decree. But after the constitutional court’s verdict, many of the boycotters or those who “claimed to be boycotters” have found an excuse in the court’s verdict to run for elections and encourage their supporters to participate in these polls. Therefore, the opposition will have no effect - at least its effect will not be as clear as in the previous election. Many observers believe that the coming parliament will be nullified for the very simple reason that the latest verdict of the constitutional court needs clarification. But since the matter was left to the government to explain it, this means that the door for challenging it remains widely open. I have a strange feeling that this government has nothing to do with what is going on. NOTE: With the closure of nominations for elections, new faces which will reach the parliament may be up to 75 percent. Because division on one vote is much likelier than divisions on four. — Al-Anbaa

kuwait digest

Political opposition and majority bloc By Dr Bader Al-Daihani

ur opposition is a general public entity that resulted in huge political mobilization of rejecters of the current political status that got even worse after ‘solo’ decisions and changing the basis of the political equation of our democratic system. Therefore, the opposition is not only limited to the “majority bloc” that is nothing more than a parliamentary bloc that comprised of a group of MPs who agreed upon certain issues, as we have explained more than once. The majority bloc is not a factious organization and there is no intellectual or political coherence amongst its members. It, rather, turned into a symbolic opposition bloc after the parliament was annulled, based on the fact that its members represent the nation’s free will to have the elections run in accordance to the elections law number 42/2006, that, as a result of public pressure, had been agreed upon by both powers. Hence, the reduction of the vast public and political opposition to be acknowledged as the “majority bloc” and mixing the controversial attitudes of some of its members with those of the public opposition has had negative impacts on public movements demanding the stop of violating the nation’s will and conducting immediate political and democratic reforms. This confusion between the vast meaning of opposition and the “majority bloc” was enhanced by two things. First, the media momentum covering the bloc’s movements and using some of the bloc’s attitudes by the corrupt-led media in order to negatively affect public movements. The second thing is the political vacuum after issuing the one-vote decree, which was filled by the bloc despite not being political and organizationally ready to do so. This led to some political mistakes on the ground that had negative impacts on both political and public movements that could not be avoided by other blocs. Therefore, any future success of the opposition will surely depend on its ability to face the challenge of shifting from an electoral opposition into a more political and demanding one, which, in turn, calls for merging all sects of the opposition, including the majority bloc, into one single “opposition coalition” that would be revived and reorganized to speak for all the opposition because political differences expressed by some sectarian and categorical statements still used by some majority bloc members are negatively affecting the whole opposition. —Aljarida

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

LOCAL

Kuwait serves as a model for Gulf region in democracy’ ‘A remarkable period’

GENEVA: Kuwait State Minister for Planning and Development Rola Dashti attending the United Nations Economic and Social Council yesterday. Dashti urged the developed countries and partners in development to meet their commitments towards developing countries.

Health minister in Washington WASHINGTON: Kuwait’s Health Minister Dr Mohammad Al-Haifi arrived to the US capital on Sunday evening with an accompanying delegation for a two-day official visit. The minister will attend the official opening ceremony of Kuwait Health Office in Washington DC, which will be held under his patronage and the patronage of Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber AlSabah. Al-Haifi, who will head from Washington DC to Canada, also on an official visit, is accompanied by Assistant Undersecretary for General Health Dr. Qais AlDuwairi, Director of Makki Juma Hospital Dr. Ahmad Al-Awadhi, Director of Public Relations and Media Faisal Al-Dowsari, and Director of the Minister’s Office Abdulaziz AlTasha. Earlier, Dr Al-Haifi announced in London that a team of IT specialists from the British Department of Health will visit Kuwait next month to discuss steps for implement-

ing a modernised patient database in Kuwait. “The delegation will work out the final guidelines for upgrading the electronic healthcare system,” the minister said in statements to KUNA and Kuwait TV. “The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health seeks help of the British team in adding the data of patients, their health conditions and their respective medications, as well as the availability of medicines on the network of the ministry by 2014,” Dr. Al-Haifi disclosed. On his visit to the UK, the minister said he held talks with senior officials of the Department of Health, health service providers and prestigious hospitals on cooperation in the areas of training, first aid and electronic systems. Dr. Al-Haifi added that he reached agreement with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to allocate 15 -20 seats for Kuwaiti obstetrician trainees. — KUNA

Amani Al-Waraa

CBK Instagram competition ongoing KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait released a statement yesterday announcing that a photography competition for graduate students is ongoing through July 8, after which an announcement will be made on winners of valuable prizes allocated for this occasion . Assistant Director of the Public Relations and Media Department, Amani Al-Waraa said on that regard that the competition allows students to share the joy of success through pictures posted on Instagram. She further explained that participating in the competition could be simply done by posting a picture that reflects its theme and using the tag #CBKgrads as well as mentioning and following CBK’s account @AltijariCBK.

GCC did not ask EU to blacklist Hezbollah KUWAIT: Gulf Cooperation Council countries did not ask their European Union counterparts to list Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the EU’s list of terrorist organization, a local daily reported yesterday, quoting a top diplomat familiar with a GCC-EU ministerial meeting held Sunday in Bahrain. “The Gulf states reiterated in a statement issued at the end of the meeting concern over the interference of militias in the Syrian conflict, including Hezbollah,” Kuwait’s ambassador to Belgium Nabila Al-Mulla told Al-Rai on Sunday. She explained that a request to blacklist the Lebanese militant group was not mentioned “because it is a subject of the EU’s jurisdiction”. Meanwhile, Mulla indicated that the joint statement of the gathering that was attended by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the foreign ministers of the sixnation GCC was “very important to Kuwait” with regards to Iraq “in light of developments in Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations following HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah’s visit to Baghdad and after the United Nations Security Council vote to remove Iraq from Chapter 7 of the UN Charter”. “It is important for us that the joint statement mentions continued cooperation between Iraq and Kuwait, as well as reiterating Iraq’s unity and sovereignty,” she added. Mullah also indicated that the GCC-EU talks included the issue of three disputed islands between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, as well as safety issues pertaining with Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor. - Al-Rai

Kuwait Energy raises output at Egypt concession KUWAIT: Kuwait Energy said it has increased production at its East Ras Qattara (ERQ) concession in Egypt’s Western Desert, along with main partner, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. Average net field production for the ERQ concession was increased to 21,000 barrels of oil per day after the completion of drilling of the Shahd South East-06 development well, which added 4,800 barrels a day, Kuwait Energy’s chief operations officer, Mohammad Al-Howqal , said in a statement. ERQ, Kuwait Energy’s largest producing asset, has 16 producing wells and two wells under development. The firm holds a 49.5pct working interest in ERQ, while the remaining working interest is held by Sipetrol, which is also the operator of the concession. Egypt makes up the largest share of the current total working interest production of the privatelyowned oil and gas explorer and producer, which started operations in the country in 2008. — KUNA

LONDON: Kuwait has a functioning parliament, and it is a parliamentary democracy that is unique in the region, a former UN under-secretary general for Mideast affairs has said. Lord Williams, who was also a former UN envoy and special Coordinator for Lebanon, said yesterday it is a credit to Kuwait and its rulers that, since an early time, they have decided on this political course. “It is a remarkable period for Kuwait since independence in 1961, and, in all that time, Kuwait has faced many challenges, above all the Iraqi occupation. But the country has always bounced back and recovered from adversity”, Lord Williams underscored. He described Kuwait as “a model for the GCC and the wider Arab world”. During his eventful diplomatic he was also the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Equally Lord Williams served as a UN envoy to the Balkans during the civil war in Bosnia and Croatia. In his wide ranging remarks, the highly experienced international diplomat also expressed his grave concern over the rise in the number of casualties in Syria to 100,000 people killed and many other thousands injured. “That figure is in itself a stark indictment of the failure of the international community to come to terms with this terrible conflict.” In some way, it reminds him of the failure of the West in dealing with the Bosnian conflict in the mid-1990s of the last century, as it took them over three years before there was a decisive intervention to end the war there, he recalled. Dr Williams voiced the hope that the Geneva conference could start as soon as possible and, if necessary, even without the parties to the conflict. He lamented the fact that “there is not enough diplomacy going on now to resolve the

Syrian conflict. In addition, representatives of all the key countries, the G8, who recently met in Northern Ireland, plus other key countries in the region, including Turkey and Iran, should be sitting down to discuss this crisis, the former UN undersecretary urged. In answer to another question, he stressed that “Geneva 2 is not only possible but also necessary, as perhaps there is “no alternative”. He noted that “history has taught us that wars end only in two ways: one by the victory of one party over the other, and the second by negotiations, and it is nearly always preferable to have a negotiated settlement”. Lord Williams was convinced that this was not going to be easy. On the position of both Washington and Moscow towards the Syrian crisis, Lord Williams said he was very pleased when the US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Russia and agreed with Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that there should be a second international conference in Geneva. “That development gave us all some hope, but unfortunately that did not happen, and the recent G8 summit in the UK, instead of moving forward on this, actually moved backward”. On the international aspect of the Syrian conflict, he said: “This is really quite worrying, and in some ways worse than during the Bosnian war in the 1990s of the last century, as it is clear that the Syrian regime is supported by Iran and Hezbollah. But there is also Russian assistance and continued arms supplies, as well as the political support that Moscow gives. On the other hand, some countries in the region are supporting the opposition, in addition to the backing of some western countries”, the former UN envoy to Lebanon said. “The last thing we can afford is this to turn

into a proxy war, where all the victims are the Syrian people”. Lord Williams called the intervention of both Hezbollah and Iran “a very dangerous development and an extraordinary escalation”. He noted that Hezbollah’s direct involvement in the war is getting deeper and deeper, and their role has not diminished. The former senior UN official warned against the dangerous rise of sectarian tensions in the region in Lebanon and some other countries. “We cannot afford to see this, but it is a direct consequence of this war”. On the direct impact of the Syrian crisis in particular on Lebanon, Lord Williams cautioned that he has “very deep fears about the fragile situation there”. Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lord Williams praised the active diplomacy adopted by Secretary Kerry to restart the negotiations between the two sides, and wished him “every success”. However, he suggested that the present situation is “appalling, as, for more than two years now, there have been no direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian authority”. Furthermore, Lord Williams noted that now there is “a sterile diplomacy against a background of an appalling regional situation and with the continued Israeli settlements activity”. He said he was not optimistic about the prospects of reaching a just solution to the dispute, declaring it “will take almost a miracle to see at the moment any breakthrough, and this would have consequences for both sides and, of course, for the wider region”. On the importance of the GCC, Lord Williams told KUNA that this group has proved to be a key regional association which is playing a significant role in ensuring peace and security in Arab and international domains. — KUNA

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

LOCAL

Stepmother arrested in six-year-old girl’s death Child molester in custody KUWAIT: Investigations are ongoing to reveal the mystery behind the death of a child who arrived dead at Mubarak Hospital on Sunday. Police have remanded the girl’s stepmother in custody on suspicion of murder. Preliminary medical examinations indicate that the six-yearold girl’s body had bruises on the face, neck and back. Her Moroccan stepmother told police at the hospital that she found the girl unconscious before rushing her to the hospital. Police got no answer when they tried to contact the girl’s Jordanian father who was at work at the time. The stepmother explained that the nature of her husband’s work requires that he stays away from his phone most of the time. A case filed at the Salmiya police station remains open pending the forensic department report as well as the father’s testimonies. Jail fire A fire broke inside a building within the Central Jail premises in Sulaibiya Sunday but no injuries were reported. The jail security managed to evacuate the burning building of all prisoners and personnel as well as take out important documents and computers before firefighters arrived at the scene. Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire was likely started by an electric short circuit. Meanwhile, firefighters tackled a blaze that engulfed a residence of 1,500 workers who were all evacuated successfully which prevented injuries. The fire was reported Sunday morning in Shuaiba Industrial Area in the accommodation camp located over 7,000 sq m. An investigation was opened to determine the causes of the fire.

Boy assaulted A child molester was arrested in Al-Qasr Sunday after he tried to assault a boy inside his store in the area. According to the police report, the kid was left alone inside a baqala near his house with the storekeeper who attempted to take advantage of him. The boy was quick to escape the suspect’s clutches and immediately went and told his father about what happened. Police arrested the suspect after the boy’s father reported the case. The man remains in custody pending further action. Teen driver held A teenager was arrested in Salmiya with multiple traffic violations after backup police were called in order to force him to stop. Traffic patrol officers went in pursuit of the suspect after he ignored orders to pull over for speeding. During the car chase, the young man failed to stop at several traffic lights and was seen swerving between other cars. He was eventually arrested after stopping at a roadblock and police found out that he was 17 - one year under the legal age for driving in Kuwait. Police impounded his car and he was taken to the nearest police station to be held pending legal action. Fighting gamblers held Four people were injured during a fight that started while they were gambling according to investigations carried out by Abu Halaifa detectives. Medical staff at the Adan Hospital called police to report four young men arriving together while suffering multiple injuries. The men said during preliminary questionings that the fight

was sparked by altercations when they ran into each other in public. However, further investigations which included questioning each person individually inside the Abu Halaifa police station revealed that the four were playing poker before two of them started a fight after losing a large amount of money. The four remain in custody pending legal procedures. Forgery network busted Salmiya detectives arrested seven people inside an apartment in the area where they stored counterfeit banknotes that they brought from outside Kuwait. The operation to arrest the suspects went underway based on information about their illegal activity to spread forged money inside Kuwait. The suspects - one Kuwaiti, one stateless resident, two Iranians and three Egyptians - where arrested in the apartment where police found the forged banknotes that they admitted bringing from sources located outside the country. They were referred to the Criminal Investigations General Department for further action. Maid charged A middle-aged woman filed a case of battery and assault against her domestic worker who claimed that it was her employer who mistreated her. The Kuwaiti woman told officers at the Firdous police station that her housemaid slammed her against a steel gate which left her bleeding. The Ethiopian woman was summoned for investigations during which she justified her actions by accusing her employer of overwork and mistreatment. The maid remains in custody pending further investigations.

Pakistan provides maximum security to tourists KUWAIT: Ambassador of Pakistan to Kuwait Syed Abrar Hussain has said that despite Nanga Parbat tragedy on June 22, foreign tourists continue to come to the northern areas of Pakistan. Only last week around 25 foreign tourists, including mountaineers and trekkers, reached Pakistan to carry out their tourism missions. The ambassador said that the incident targeting foreign tourists is condemnable, however, the spirit of the tourists is high and 25 tourists from different countries, including Ireland, Canada and Czechoslovakia flew from Islamabad to Skardu on June 27 to carry forward their tourism activi-

ties in various parts of the mountainous region. ‘ We are committed to make Pakistan safe for tourists,’ said Nawaz Sharif. He said that tragic killing of 10 foreign climbers on June 22 at the base camp of Nanga Parbat may not be unique to Pakistan alone as other parts of the world too, in the past, have witnessed such dastardly acts. However, as it was the first such incident in Pakistan that involved killing of foreign tourists, it drew countrywide condemnation. The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif described it as ‘inhuman and cruel act’, the parliament unanimously

passed a resolution to condemn the attack and the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan declared that the attack on foreigners was an attack on Pakistan. Northern areas of Pakistan including Nanga Parbat, world’s ninth highest peak, are known for their stunning beauty. Thousands of tourists, including mountaineers from Europe, come to these places each year during summer. The famous Himalayas are also located here which offer some of the most spectacular climbing in the world. The money from the licenses and the jobs created by the adventure tourism industry are an essential

source of income in the region which may get affected by such incidents. The government of Pakistan has ordered for a thorough investigation of the incident and has reiterated its resolve to provide maximum security to foreign travelers.”We are committed to make Pakistan a safe place for tourists’, the Prime Minister has said. The civil society including people from the area have also strongly condemned this act of terrorism and have demonstrated firm resolve to support the national cause of protecting foreign travelers from terrorists.

NBK offers training program to winners in PIN2 Challenge 2,000 candidates interviewed at VIVA’s walk-in interviews

A group photo of trainees with NBK officials KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) offers a training program to the winners in the PIN 2 Challenge for secondary school students. NBK has sponsored the “PIN2 Challenge”, a first of its kind business plan competition for secondary school students in Kuwait and offered the winners in this challenge training sessions to support talented and qualified youngsters and empower them to realize their potentials. “The PIN2 Challenge goes along with NBK’s initiatives to invest in youth and support their aspi-

Emad Al-Ablani rations. NBK views its sponsorship to such initiatives as an extension to its educative initiatives and as part of its corporate social responsibility”, said NBK Deputy General Manager, Human Resources Group Emad Al-Ablani. “The top three groups of winners in this challenge will have the chance to experience how the actual professional banking issues and transactions are handled and processed in different banking areas at NBK through their enrolment in specialized training sessions”, added Al-Ablani.

NBK received the students of the first session earlier this month and introduced them to their upcoming tasks. The second session of the training program will commence later on Aug 12. The daily sessions features a mixture of theoretical and practical training dedicated to providing the students with invaluable knowledge on a variety of subjects such as: the teamwork, creative thinking, means of self-expression and modern banking, in addition to helping them to have greater exposure to daily banking work procedures.

KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing telecom operator, announced yesterday that more than 2,000 candidates attended its three-day walk-in interviews event that was held at the Hotel Missoni from June 25 to 27. The event granted Kuwaiti professionals the opportunity to submit their resumes to VIVA’s Human Resources (HR) team, who interviewed them for 10 minutes. Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran, VIVA’s Chief Executive Officer said: “This year, VIVA’s three-day Walk-In interviews were yet again, a great success. More than 2,000 resumes were submitted, and each applicant had the opportunity to be interviewed by one of the HR team members. It was great to see so many Kuwaiti applicants.” “At VIVA, we have a firm belief in the potential Kuwaitis enjoy, and we look forward to recruiting, developing and retaining Kuwaiti talents and investing in community initiatives that encourage people to join the telecommunications sector” added Al-Badran. Worthy to note, VIVA has proudly conformed to the Kuwaiti Labor law, exceeding the mandated percentage of Kuwaiti employees within the company. VIVA is committed to employing skillful and ambi-

tious Kuwaiti’s who will add value to the company’s operations and services. VIVA would like to thank all the applicants who came to the three-day Walk-In Interview event. VIVA will continue to enhance its employees’ insight of the telecom industry while also providing its customers with the excellent services and telecom solutions, today and in the future. VIVA is the fastest-growing telecom operator in Kuwait. Launched in December 2008, VIVA makes things possible for its customers by transforming communication, information and entertainment experiences. The company has rapidly established an unrivalled position in the market through its customer centric approach. VIVA’s quest is to be the mobile brand of choice in Kuwait by being transparent, engaging, energetic and fulfilling. VIVA continues to take a considerable share of the market by offering an innovative range of best value products, services and content propositions; a state of the art, nationwide network and world-class service. VIVA offers internet speeds of more than 100 Mbps, due to the implementation of the most advanced fourth generation (4G LTE) network in Kuwait resulting in superior coverage, performance and reliability.

Amir patron of Islamic arts exhibit in Seoul

KUWAIT: Director General of Jordan’s Public Security Department Lt-Gen Tawfiq Hamid Tawalbeh and his accompanying delegation visiting Kuwait’s Criminal Evidence Department yesterday.

SEOUL: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s patronage of the “Art in Islamic Civilization” exhibition held in Seoul reflects the priority Kuwait assigns to preserving Islamic heritage, Sheikha Hussah Sabah Al-Salem AlSabah stressed. Director General of Dar Al-Athar AlIslammiyah (DAI), Sheikha Hussah Al-Sabah added, in a press conference on the sidelines of the DAI exhibition, that Kuwait is keen on strong bonds with countries across the globe. “It is cause for much pride for Kuwait to have the National Museum of Korea hosting the DAI exhibition of Islamic arts”, Sheikh Hussah added. The cultural communication between countries of east and west Asia, especially in the areas of trade and cultural exchange, dates back to the 9th centur y, a fact stressed by a large number of historians and Islamic scholars, she added. This bit of information was stressed by spouse of the South Korean ambassador to Kuwait, during a lecture she gave on Korean culture and relations with the

Islamic World as part of the DAI cultural season, Sheikh Hussah said. Sheikh Hussah noted Kuwaiti-South Korean ties are strong amid mutual respect and joint cooperation between the people of the two nations. He expressed hope that this exhibition will boost further cultural coordination and interaction. The Seoul exhibition is the third in a row after similar events were organized in the Italian City of Milan and the Austrian Capital Vienna recently. Organizing this exhibition that will last till July 20 comes upon invitations extended to DAI, aiming at spreading awareness of Islamic heritage and artistic values in various cities around the world, she said. Director-General of the National Museum of Korea Dr Kim Youngna expressed her pride over hosting this exhibition. She wished the exhibition would shed more light on the Islamic civilization and arts in order to help enhance ties between the people of South Korean and Kuwait. The Islamic art exhibition embraces 367 historical and geographical artifacts out of 30,000 pieces owned by the DAI. — KUNA

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

EU warns trade deal under threat over bugging claims

US presses China, Southeast Asia to ease sea tensions Page 9

Page 10

THIMPHU: A banner making a reference to Gross National Happiness hangs in a field during a cultural event. (Inset) Schoolgirls wear traditional Bhutanese dresses before a cultural event in Thimphu. — AFP

Bhutan’s youth struggle in kingdom of happiness ‘Last Shangri-La’ where happiness is prioritized over economic growth THIMPHU: It is known as “the last Shangri-La” a remote Himalayan nation, rich in natural beauty and Buddhist culture, where national happiness is prioritized over economic growth. But urban youngsters in the kingdom of Bhutan are quick to challenge its rosy reputation. “We can see the people are not happy,” said Jigme Wangchuk, a social worker and recovered drug addict in the capital Thimphu, where he works at a drop-in centre for young substance abusers. “We are facing so many challenges, where many people are suffering,” the 24-year-old said. Drinking, especially home-brewed rice wine, has long been part of Bhutanese culture, but alcohol liver disease has become one of the top killers at Thimphu’s main hospital, a National Statistics Bureau report said last year. Increasing drug abuse by young people, especially of pharmaceuticals, has also become a major concern as modernization takes hold in what was one of the world’s most isolated countries for centuries. The kingdom only allowed foreign tourists in 1974, television in 1999 and democracy in 2008. It still has an otherworldly feel to outsiders: the national dress is worn to work and school, monasteries and prayer wheels dot the breathtaking landscape and old fortresses serve as government offices. But the traditional social fabric is starting to show the strain. “The crime rate is increasing over the years, with breaking into people’s hous-

es and muggings that were virtually unknown 10 years ago,” said Damber K Nirola, one of two psychiatrists in the country of about 750,000 people. “The biggest problem that we are now challenged with, and I think will increase over time, is unemployment, and along with that comes drugs and alcohol.” Such problems may seem surprising in a nation whose trademark is “Gross National Happiness”-a term that began as an off-the-cuff remark by the former king in the 1970s and has since become a fully-fledged development model. Unlike other countries’ focus on gross domestic product, Bhutan’s “GNH” is designed to protect the environment and culture, promote good governance and pursue sustainable socio-economic development. This alternative vision of balancing spiritual and material wealth has won global attention and praise, drawing a stream of academics and well-being gurus to happiness conferences in Bhutan. But some Thimphu residents are skeptical of how GNH has evolved, mentioning jokey alternatives such as “government needs help” and “gross national harassment”. The Gross National Happiness Commission, Bhutan’s planning body, screens all new policy to ensure it complies with the guiding GNH principles, while a complex index has been devised to try and measure people’s well-being. Although the basic concept appears to have

support in Bhutan, there are doubts about its implementation. “Looking at the problems in the country, I don’t think GNH is there,” said Jamyang Tsheltrim, a 21-year-old student, in one of Thimphu’s popular snooker halls. ‘GNH IS A GOAL’ As with many others, one of Tsheltrim’s chief concerns is the lack of desirable employment for young people in Bhutan, where the median age is 26 and more and more people are trying to join the workforce. Officially, Bhutan’s youth unemployment statistics decreased from 12.9 percent in 2009 to 7.3 percent in 2012, although the figures have been questioned. Prized white -collar jobs for educated Bhutanese are limited by an under-developed private sector, while manual work in the booming construction industry is largely left to Indian laborers from across the border. “There’s a mismatch in the demand and the supply of jobs,” said Nirola, adding concern that youngsters are abandoning agriculture-still the main source of livelihood-and leaving their elders to manage the fields. Underlying the problems is Bhutan’s huge dependence on its giant neighbor India for investment, aid and imports. Last year the countr y ran out of Indian rupees on too much demand and suffered a major credit crunch. The economic crisis peaked around the time that Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley-standing for office

Croatia joins european union EU troubled by economic problems, divisions ZAGREB: To fireworks, cannon-fire and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Croatia joined the European Union at midnight on Sunday, two decades since fighting itself free of Yugoslavia. Thousands packed Zagreb’s Ban

Jelacic square to celebrate the accession of the bloc’s 28th member, setting aside for a moment the troubles of a country in its fifth year of recession. “This will change the life of this nation for good. I wel-

ZAGREB: Croatia’s President Ivo Josipovic holds a shirt received from Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite during the celebration of the accession of Croatia to the European Union at Ban Jelesic square in Zagreb. — AFP

come you wholeheartedly,” Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, told the crowd. Bells rang out from Zagreb Cathedral and two men in white abseiled from a nearby building carrying the flag of the EU. The mainly Catholic country of 4.4 million people becomes only the second of the seven states carved from federal Yugoslavia to enter the EU, following Slovenia in 2004. It marks a milestone in the region’s recovery from the wars of the 1990s, which gave the world the term “ethnic cleansing” and killed over 120,000 people, 20,000 of them in Croatia. It is also the first expansion of the EU eastwards since 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria joined, and the “Big Bang” enlargement of 2004 when 10 new members came aboard. The global economic crisis has since posed unprecedented challenges to the unity of the bloc, undermining popular support and

fuelling doubts over the wisdom of further expansion to the former Yugoslavia. The troubles of the EU have fed into doubts among many Croatians over their future inside the bloc, the pull of which helped stabilize the Balkans. “I was so jealous of the others who joined before us,” said Ivan Borovec, as he queued to pass tight security checks to enter the square. “It would have been better if we had joined in 2004 but I still hope it will be better, particularly for our children.” At Croatia’s eastern border with Serbia, its chief foe during the collapse of Yugoslavia, officials unveiled a sign that read “CroatiaEU”. The ex-Yugoslav republics of Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo are years away from EU accession. Their leaders were present in Zagreb, in a show of unity among states that are still coming to terms with their parting. —Reuters

again-was promoting the happiness philosophy at a high-level United Nations meeting in New York. “That is when GNH came under heavy criticism from a lot of people, saying that our government leaders are more interested in promoting GNH outside Bhutan,” said

Tenzing Lamsang, editor of The Bhutanese newspaper. He said there was a “denial mindset” over the growing problems back at home, where GNH has become a “highly intellectualized” concept that is popular with the elites, but yet to be fully grasped by most citizens. —AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

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

anatomy of Vatican money smuggling plot ROME: To most people, a book is a book. But to Monsignor Nunizio Scarano, a Vatican official arrested on charges of money smuggling, a “book” was a code word for one million euros in cash, a report by the judge on the case said. “Encyclopaedia,” and “bookmarks” were among other code words that Scarano, who had close connections to the Vatican bank, used in phone conversations with secret service agent Giovanni Zito and broker Giovanni Carenzio, it said. The three were arrested on Friday for allegedly attempting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26.00 million) in cash from Switzerland a year ago for Scarano’s rich shipping industry friends in their home town of

Salerno in southern Italy. The contours of the plot are detailed in a 48-page judicial document that includes transcripts or summaries of wiretaps, emails, letters and cheques passed on to investigators by police. The document, in which Judge Barbara Callari approves magistrates’ requests for the arrests, was obtained by Reuters. “I think the more books you can bring the better it is,” Scarano tells secret agent Zito, who was to have collected the cash from Carenzio in Switzerland and whisk it past customs controls when a private plane returned to Italy. Scarano: “Can you bring 20-25 books?” Zito: “Those for sure.” Scarano: “That is already a good goal,

ROME: Nunzio Scarano (front-left) is escorted by policemen after being arrested in Rome. —AFP

you understand, because it will allow us to do many things for ourselves.” All the conversations in the report came from official police transcripts of wiretaps. Scarano was interrogated by magistrates in Rome on Monday and one of his lawyers, Francesco Grimaldi, said he was cooperating with investigators, but declined to give any details of what he said. The other two defendants had not yet been questioned by magistrates, Grimaldi said, and one of them, secret agent Zito, was in a military prison south of Rome. Neither of their lawyers could be reached. VATICAN BANK CONNECTION The document says Scarano controlled vast amounts of money and felt he could act with impunity because of his connections to the Vatican bank. Scarano found an equally confident partner in Zito, a Carabiniere policeman seconded to the domestic secret services. He assures Scarano: “The customs people will clear us on the plane for me. They won’t do anything to me. They’ll see my (official) passport and they’ll say ‘good day, sir, goodbye, everything is in order’”. The money never left Switzerland because Carenzio, the broker, did not carry out his part of the deal - to withdraw the money from a bank - even though Zito had gone to Locarno in July, 2012 to pick it up. Scarano, who worked until recently as a senior accountant in the Vatican’s financial administration, and who magistrates say owned various properties and had accounts in the Vatican bank, was the

pivotal part of the plot and commanded respect. In one of the conversations heard by police, Zito tells the monsignor, with whom he is on first-name terms: “Nunzio, I am your humble servant ... maybe you have not understood. I don’t know what else to do for you. I am your humble servant”. In a conversation between Zito and Carenzio the secret services agent tells the broker to remember to “turn off (your cell phone) and remove the battery before you cross the border (into Switzerland)” when he drives to the country to arrange to withdraw the money. The cell phones were bought with false identity documents, code named “bookmarks,” and the phones were burned afterwards. The judge’s report includes an e-mail Carenzio received from a Swiss bank asking him for “a sworn statement” to “release the bank from anti-money laundering norms”. ORIGINAL AMOUNT WAS DOUBLE That e-mail, which Carenzio forwarded to Scarano, referred to 41 million euros, the amount magistrates said the three defendants originally planned to move into Italy before settling on 20 million euros. Even though the money never left Switzerland, Zito demanded his cut and Scarano begrudgingly complied. The prelate gave Zito two cheques, one for 400,000 euros and another for 200,000 euros from his account in an Italian bank near the Vatican. Zito cashed the first cheque but Scarano blocked the second before Zito could cash it by filing

a false report that it had been lost. In her report, Callari wrote that Scarano felt safe “thanks to his relations with the Vatican bank”. She said the monsignor saw the IOR as “the only safe and rapid instrument for financial and banking operations that could evade - if not outright violate - laws against money laundering and tax evasion”. Magistrates have said there was no indication so far that the bank was directly involved in Scarano’s attempt to smuggle the money into Italy for his rich friends. The judge wrote that the investigations showed that Scarano had “very vast economic resources” and that “the prelate did not hesitate to use complicated stratagems and to involve many third parties to carry out financial operations without respecting norms against money laundering”. In an earlier investigation in his home town of Salerno, Scarano was accused of attempting to launder money by taking 560,000 euros ($727,900) in cash out of his Vatican account and giving various amounts to friends in exchange for cheques. He then deposited the cheques into an Italian bank account to pay off a mortgage on a property, his lawyer, Silverio Sica, told Reuters. Sica said welloff friends had donated money to Scarano in order for him to build a home for the terminally ill. Scarano wanted to use that money to pay off his mortgage so he could sell a property in Salerno and use the proceeds to build the care home, Sica said, adding that Scarano would “clear everything up”. —Reuters

Hardliners gain power in Israeli PM’s Likud party Opponent of two-state solution grabs power JERUSALEM: Hardliners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud were elected into key positions in the party’s governing institutions yesterday, in a move that could create difficulties on making concessions to the Palestinians. Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, an outspoken opponent of the two-state solution, won the vote for the position of chairman of the party’s Central Committee, a Likud spokeswoman said. Another hardliner, Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, takes over the Likud bureau which outlines party ideology. Some 78 percent of the 3,600 members of the Likud Central Committee took part in the vote, the spokeswoman said, with Likud chairman Netanyahu distancing himself from the process and voting from a ballot brought to his residence in Jerusalem. Ballots were cast on Sunday, as US Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up four days of intensive shuttle diplomacy in a bid to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiat-

ing table. Netanyahu remains party leader, but his power within the Likud has diminished with rebels Danon and Elkin securing their new positions. “Netanyahu lost the Likud”, read a headline in top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily, citing a senior party official who said that the premier failed to find a candidate who would run for any of the party’s key posts. Hardliner Miri Regev, who was vying for chair of the Likud’s secretariat, lost out to Transportation Minister Israel Katz, who has held the position for 10 years. Danon, 42, had already taken control of the Likud party’s conference in a vote last week, a largely symbolic role but one which highlighted the growing power of the rebels. The deputy minister recently sparked uproar when he said Netanyahu’s government was not serious about a Palestinian state-and that if it were put to a vote, most Likud ministers, as well as other key coalition partners, would oppose it. Elkin also warned that if Netanyahu were to

push ahead with moves to create a Palestinian state, it would create “a deep split within Likud”. A senior Palestinian official said Kerry’s mission to restart peace talks ended on Sunday without a breakthrough, although the US Secretary of State himself hailed “real progress”. Likud MPs and the party faithful have been increasingly unhappy with Netanyahu in the wake of the disappointing results in a January general election. Just before the January vote, Netanyahu announced the party would run on a joint electoral list with the hardline Yisrael Beitenu of former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. But the joint list, which initially had 42 seats in the 120 seat parliament, suffered a major defeat at the ballot box, only managing to secure 31 Knesset seats. Israeli media yesterday said that Danon, who was opposed to the unification with Yisrael Beitenu-which Netanyahu presented as a temporary move ahead of the electionwould now use his new position to prevent its finalization. —AFP

US defends intel sweep as same as allies

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Towering above the other foreign ministers, US Secretary of State John Kerry walks with Brunei’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Prince Mohamed Bolkiah (2nd- right), Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr (right) and other ministers who were attending a cultural event and dinner at the conclusion of the second day of the ASEAN security conference in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei yesterday. —AFP

Restless Kerry puts the shuttling in diplomacy JERUSALEM: After a dinner lasting nearly until Sunday dawn with Israel’s premier and ahead of talks with the Palestinian president and flying to Asia, John Kerry had a window of just a few hours. But instead of slipping under the covers to sleep, the US secretary of state decided to see Jerusalem instead. With aides and bodyguards, Kerry took a 4 am stroll in a nearby park, enjoying the cool morning air of the hotly contested Holy City. Kerry finally had a brief rest and drove to Ramallah, where he voiced delight over Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf’s victory in the “Arab Idol” TV competition before speaking cheerfully to reporters on the prospects for peace talks. The round-the-clock pace, and agile shifts in focus, has become emblematic of Kerry’s style of diplomacy as he shows a willingness-even an eagerness-to toss aside routines and schedules and enmesh himself in the gritty details. Kerry, who has flown to the Middle East five times in as many months on a mission to solve one of the world’s most emotive conflicts, spent four days talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Whatever the outcome, Kerry’s initiative involves no small number of logistical headaches, with his staff and accompanying reporters sometimes left guessing in

the morning where they will end up that night. Kerry met three times each with Netanyahu and Abbas from Thursday through Sunday, journeying by motorcade, his own plane and Jordanian military helicopters, which gave him a lift between meetings with Abbas in Amman. He also scrapped entire stops. A visit to Islamabad, announced by Pakistan, was postponed so he could focus on the Syria crisis. And then an announced dinner in Abu Dhabi to discuss Syria was also put off so he could spend more time shuttling between Netanyahu and Abbas. His grueling pace inevitably draws comparisons to his predecessor Hillary Clinton, who visited a record 112 countries during her four years as secretary of state during President Barack Obama’s first term. Both secretaries of state have key issuesClinton pressed for women’s empowerment, while Kerry is passionate about climate change. But Clinton mostly stayed out of the notoriously divisive task of Middle East peacemaking, instead relying on a special envoy as Netanyahu butted heads with Obama. Few expect that Kerry, who at 69 has a long Senate career and failed presidential bid behind him, will run again for office. The son of a diplomat, Kerry has always been passionate about the need to try talks, even with US adversaries.

WASHINGTON: The US says it gathers the same kinds of intelligence as other nations to safeguard against foreign terror threats, pushing back on fresh outrage from key allies over secret American surveillance programs that reportedly installed covert listening devices in European Union offices. Facing threatened investigations and sanctions from Europe, US intelligence officials plan to discuss the new allegations reported in Sunday’s editions of the German newsweekly Der Spiegel directly with EU officials. But “as a matter of policy, we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations,” concluded a statement issued Sunday from the national intelligence director’s office. It was the latest backlash in a nearly month long global debate over the reach of US surveillance that aims to prevent terror attacks. The two programs, both run by the National Security Agency, pick up millions of telephone and Internet records that are routed through American networks each day. Reports about the programs have raised sharp concerns about whether they violate public privacy rights at home and abroad. The concerns came as the former head of the CIA and NSA urged the White House to make the spy programs more transparent to calm public fears about the American government’s snooping. Several European officials - including in Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg and the EU government itself - said the new revelations could scuttle ongoing negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty that, ultimately, seeks to create jobs and boost commerce by billions annually in what would be the world’s largest free trade area. “Partners do not spy on each other,” said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding. “We cannot negotiate over a big trans-Atlantic market if there is the slightest doubt that our partners are carrying out spying activities on the offices of our negotiators. The American authorities should eliminate any such doubt swiftly.” European Parliament President Martin Schulz, said he was “deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices.” And Luxembourg Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Jean Asselborn said he had no reason to doubt the Spiegel report, and rejected the notion that security concerns trump the broad US surveillance authorities. “We have to re-establish immediately confidence on the highest level of the European Union and the United States,” Asselborn said. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA planted bugs in the EU’s diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated the building’s computer network. Similar measures were taken at the EU’s mission to the United Nations in New York, the magazine said. It also reported that the NSA used secure facilities at NATO headquarters in Brussels to dial into telephone maintenance systems that would have allowed it to intercept senior officials’ calls and Internet traffic at a key EU office nearby. —AP

JERUSALEM: Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (right) is greeted by a supporter during the Likud party election for the position of the central committee chairperson and a number of other party positions in Jerusalem. —AFP

Danny Danon, an emerging force in Israel’s Likud party JERUSALEM: Danny Danon, elected yesterday as head of Likud’s central committee, is one of the Israeli ruling party’s most outspoken opponents of a Palestinian state and a champion of the settlement movement. His victory gave the deputy defense minister control of the 3,600-member main institution of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling rightwing party, propelling him into a vantage point to take over Likud after the premier. Born in the central Israeli city of Ramat Gan in 1971, Danon was active in Betar, the international Zionist youth movement whose principles are at the foundation of Likud. A reserve officer in the Israeli army, he entered the political arena at a young age after two years in Miami as an emissary of the Jewish Agency, working with the local Jewish community and encouraging emigration to Israel. In 1996 he started off as a parliamentary assistant to Uzi Landau, who at the time was in Likud, and served as head of Betar’s World Leadership, a key position that enabled Danon to make himself known in Likud circles and helped him win a seat in the Knesset in 2009. Danon had earlier faced off against Netanyahu in the 2007 vote over the Likud helm, and has since positioned himself as a symbol of the internal opposition to the prime minister and Likud leader. After serving as head of the parliamentary committee for immigration, absorption and diaspora affairs in the years 2009-2012, Danon took fifth place in the Likud primaries and was named deputy defense minister in the new government

formed by Netanyahu at the beginning of 2013. Conservative and close to the settler lobby, Danon claims to be the true voice of Likud voters who are disappointed by the direction Netanyahu has taken, particularly on the Palestinian issue. Author of the English-language book “Israel: The Will to Prevail,” in which he proposes an alternative to the two-state solution, Danon is opposed to making any territorial concessions in the West Bank. Countering Netanyahu’s remarks in support of a Palestinian state, Danon said recently in an interview that there was currently “no majority for a two-state solution” within the Likud.”Today we’re not fighting it (Netanyahu’s declared goal of a Palestinian state), but if there will be a move to promote a two-state solution, you will see forces blocking it within the party and the government,” Danon told The Times of Israel news website. Danon is a regular fixture in the media, often appearing on television to speak about a wide range of issues including USIsraeli relations, on which he is a self-proclaimed expert. He has openly stated his opposition to US President Barack Obama, saying that he has “not been a friend of Israel”. Unlike other party members, Danon does not hesitate to criticize Netanyahu, whom he accuses of speaking in favor of renewing negotiations with the Palestinians. The well-groomed and ambitious father-ofthree has emerged in recent years as one of the Likud’s key figures. —AFP

Israeli held after ‘price tag’ attack JERUSALEM: Police said yesterday they have arrested an Israeli suspected of vandalizing a Catholic monastery in an attack last year that shocked the Holy Land’s religious and political establishment. The 22-year-old man is a resident of Bnei Brak, a city near Tel Aviv with a predominantly ultra-Orthodox population, a police spokesman said. He is suspected of taking part in the September 2012 attack in which the wooden door of the Trappist monastery in Latrun was burnt and “Jesus is a monkey” was scrawled on a wall. The suspect will appear in court for a remand hearing later. The abbey, 15 kilometers west of Jerusalem on the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank hard by the 1949 armistice line, is one of the most famous monastic sites in the Holy Land. In addition to the anti-Christian graffiti, the words “mutual guarantee” and the names of demolished wildcat outposts were spray-painted on the monastery walls. This pointed to a “price tag” attack, a euphemism for extremist hate crimes that generally target Arabs. Initially targeting Palestinians in retaliation for

state moves to dismantle unauthorized settler outposts, such attacks have since become broader with racist and xenophobic overtones. The Latrun incident was condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian Authority urged Israel to bring the perpetrators to justice. Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger called it a “heinous crime”, and the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land urged the authorities to put an end to “this senseless violence” and “ensure a ‘teaching of respect’ in schools”. Last month Israeli ministers moved to increase the powers of the security establishment to crack down on the phenomenon, declaring that those involved belonged to an “illegal organization”. Shortly afterwards, 28 cars were vandalized in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem. After that attack, Education Minister Shai Piron pledged to institutionalize “coexistence meetings” between Israeli Jews and Arabs in the new school year. At a Sunday get-together of young Jews and Arabs at Abu Ghosh, Piron said such meetings vitally important and “an inseparable part of the educational system’s agenda”. —AFP

Lenin

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

I N T E R N AT I O N A L Saudi billionaire grilled in UK court over Gaddafi jet LONDON: A billionaire Saudi prince told a London court yesterday that “each dollar counts” as he was cross-examined over his sale of an opulent private jet to Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The appearance by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, was a rare instance of a senior Saudi royal being subjected to a hostile public grilling. The prince is being sued by Daad Sharab, a Jordanian businesswoman who says she was not paid a promised $10 million commission for brokering the sale of the jet to Gaddafi, which was completed in 2006 for $120 million after years of delays. At number 26 on the Forbes global ranking of billionaires, Prince Alwaleed is worth $20 billion according to the US magazine and closer to $30 billion by his own estimate. At one point when asked in court about a $500,000 commission he had paid Sharab for a previous Libyan deal, it was suggested to him that this was a small amount relative to his fortune. “Each dollar counts for me,” the prince responded. He told the court he had asked Sharab to “open the door” to Gaddafi over the jet sale but had never agreed a figure for her commission. He said he did not pay her anything in the end since in the course of the sale, she had “moved to the Libyan camp”. The prince was addressed as “Your Highness” by his lawyer and by Judge Peter Smith, but his royal status did not shield him from the robust questioning style of Sharab’s lawyer, Clive Freedman, who accused him of minimising Sharab’s role, contradicting himself and evading questions. “Would you please answer my question? I have asked it twice and I will ask it again,” Freedman told the prince at one point.

BRIBE The Airbus A340 at the centre of the dispute was used by Gaddafi in 2009 to pick up Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset alMegrahi when he was freed from a Scottish jail. In 2011, it became a trophy for rebels who toppled Gaddafi and were photographed on its silver-coloured leather sofas. The prince said the jet, which boasted a king-size bed and a meeting room with a throne-like leather armchair, was only one item on a huge business agenda he had with the Libyan leader. “I used to call him personally by the way,” he told the court, saying that in the era when Gaddafi sought international rehabilitation, he had seen Prince Alwaleed as someone who could help him bridge the gap between the Arab world and the West. The prince said the sale of the Airbus had run into trouble because after the Libyans had paid him an initial $70 million in 2003, Ahmad Qadhaf Al-Dam, a cousin of Gaddafi, demanded a bribe before arranging the payment of the remaining $50 million. The prince refused to pay and kept the plane in Riyadh, leading to several years of deadlock until he personally resolved the issue with Gaddafi in 2006, he said. He said Sharab had played no part in the final deal and that any gratitude he may have felt for her earlier role had gone since she had “stabbed him in the back” to work for the Libyans. He also denied proposing marriage to Sharab during the process, as she alleged in her evidence last week. “I can only assume that (Sharab) is seeking to gain some advantage in the proceedings by attempting to embarrass me,” he said in his written witness statement. — Reuters

Kerry presses Southeast Asia, Beijing to ease sea tensions BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: US Secretary of State John Kerr y pressed China and Southeast Asian nations yesterday to make progress on a plan to ease tensions in the South China Sea, reminding the region that Washington had national interests at stake in the disputes. Kerry, who made the comments as he arrived in Brunei for a regional security meeting, was speaking a day after China said it would hold formal discussions with Southeast Asian nations over the maritime disputes later this year. While marking a move forward, the talks are not seen as a major breakthrough in protracted efforts to bring China into a binding agreement over the energy-rich ocean, where Beijing’s assertive claims have sparked rising tensions. “We have a strong interest in the manner in which the disputes of the South China Sea are addressed, and in the conduct of the parties,” Kerry said in opening remarks at the conference in the oil-rich sultanate. “We very much hope to see progress soon on a substantive code of conduct in order to help ensure stability in this vital region.” China said in a joint statement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday that it agreed to hold “official consultations” on a proposed Code of Conduct (CoC) governing naval actions at a meeting with ASEAN senior officials in China in September. Thailand’s foreign minister hailed the step as “very significant”. China, accused by the Philippines on Sunday of causing “increasing militarization” of the sea, stopped short of saying that the meeting would mark the start of actual negotiations. China has shown little urgency in initiating substantial talks over the proposed code. CHINESE NAVAL STRENGTH Critics say it is intent on cementing its claims over the sea through its superior

naval might over ASEAN nations. Four members of the group have claims that compete with Chinese assertions. Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said the talks were an encouraging sign that China was finally willing to talk about the code with ASEAN. But it was not, he said, a very significant step forward. “Given China’s obvious lack of enthusiasm for a formal and effective code, Chinese officials are likely to draw out the talks for as long as possible,” he said. He said China was also likely to work to ensure the final agreement does not prevent it from asserting its territorial claims. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that any progress on agreeing the new framework would depend on countries following a confidence-building “declaration of conduct” agreed in 2002. Beijing and the Philippines accuse each other of violating that declaration. Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario gave a lukewarm response late on Sunday when asked about the significance of the proposed talks. “The agreement was that there will be a process that will be started with a meeting in China...I’d like to believe that China is in earnest in terms of moving forward in this process.” Naval standoffs and clashes between the Philippines, Vietnam and China since last year have sharply raised tensions over the sea at a time when the United States is shifting its military attention and resources back to Asia. In his opening remarks, Kerry attempted to ease concerns in Beijing that the US rebalancing of forces to Asia was aimed at countering China’s rising power. “We have many goals. We have economic and security interests. But I want to emphasize, importantly, our actions are not intended to contain or to counterbalance any one country,” Kerry said. — Reuters

Violence surges in Iraq as rows persist More than 1,500 killed in the past 3 months BAGHDAD: More than 1,500 people were killed in Iraq in the past three months, twice the previous quarter’s figure, data showed yesterday, fanning fears the politically-deadlocked country is slipping back into all-out bloodshed. The figures compiled by AFP come as the country grapples with months of protests by the Sunni Arab minority, tensions along a swathe of disputed territory in north Iraq and a protracted political standoff that has left key pieces of legislation unresolved. The violence showed no signs of letting up yesterday as a new attack left eight former anti-AlQaeda fighters dead. A total of 452 people were killed by violence in Iraq in June, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials, and 1,331 others were wounded, representing a 60 percent increase from the same month a year ago. It also brought to 1,527 the number of people killed from April through June, more than double the January-March death toll. Attacks in June targeted a wide cross-section of Iraqi society-government and security forces were hit by car bombs, mosques were struck by suicide attackers, anti-Al-Qaeda militiamen were shot dead, and Iraqis watching and playing football were killed by blasts. The AFP figures were markedly higher than those compiled by government ministries, which pegged last month’s toll at 240 dead and 379 wounded. Casualty figures compiled by the Iraqi government have typically been lower than those tallied by the United Nations mission in Iraq, AFP and Britain-based NGO Iraq Body Count. The UN and Iraq Body Count figures for June were not immediately available. The surge in violence comes amid a protracted political standoff within Iraq’s national unity government, with little in the way of landmark legislation passed since 2010 parliamentary elections. And while political leaders have pledged to resolve the dispute, with Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki meeting his two main rivals last month in a bid to ease tensions, no tangible measures have been agreed. Meanwhile, tensions along a swathe of territory in north Iraq that Kurdistan wants to incorporate

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi policeman checks his weapon at a checkpoint in Baghdad yesterday. Iraq has seen a marked rise in violence since the start of the year, coinciding with protests by the country’s Sunni Arab community, which says it is the target of discrimination at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities and security forces. — AFP into its autonomous three-province region over Baghdad’s objections have persisted. And months of protests by the Sunni Arab community, alleging discrimination and targeting at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities, have also continued unabated. Analysts and diplomats worry that the multifaceted standoffs are unlikely to see any long-term resolution before general elections due next year. At the same time, violence has shown no sign of slowing. Yesterday, eight former Sunni tribal militiamen were kidnapped from their homes nor th of

Baghdad in pre-dawn raids by gunmen wearing military uniforms before being shot dead, assassination-style. The men were all former fighters in the Sahwa, a collection of Sunni tribal militias that turned against Al-Qaeda and sided with the US military from late 2006 onwards, helping turn the tide of Iraq’s bloody insurgency. The Sahwa are regarded as traitors by Sunni militants, and as a result are frequently targeted for attacks. In the previous week alone, nine Sahwa fighters were killed and 18 others wounded in attacks, according to an AFP tally. — AFP

Rebels resist Assad onslaught in Homs Jordan air force captain joins Syria jihadists BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s troops pressed a fierce three-day assault against rebels in the central city of Homs yesterday but failed to make any new advances, a watchdog and activists said. Fighting between rebels and regime loyalists raged on the edges of insurgentheld districts, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group also said that members of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militia were fighting alongside government forces on one of the city’s main fronts. “The shelling of Homs rebel areas continues, and it is fierce,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. “But the army has made no advances. They haven’t been able to take any new areas back.” His Britain-based watchdog reported yesterday the army was shelling the Khaldiyeh and Old City districts which have been under tight army siege for more than a year. “Clashes raged on the edges of the districts. The army and (pro-regime militia) National Defense Force lost 32 men in two days,” Abdel Rahman said. “We can confirm now that Hezbollah is taking part in the fighting on the Khaldiyeh front, and that they are using the (majority Alawite neighborhood of ) Zahraa as a rear base,” he added. Homs city is home to a patchwork of religious communities. Most of Syria’s rebels-like the majority populationare Sunni Muslims, while Assad’s clan belongs to the Alawite community. Although Lebanon is officially neutral in Syria’s conflict, Hezbollah backed Assad’s army in a recent battle for the key town of Qusayr near Homs. An activist on the ground said the military was trying to storm Homs on four fronts. “They have made no new advances at all... Still the shelling is continuous,” Homs city-based activist Yazan told AFP via the Internet.Asked about civilians in the city, Yazan said they “have been living in shelters for months” because of the shelling. Dubbed the “capital of the revolution” by activists, Homs is important because it is on the road linking Damascus to the coast. Its central location is also key as a supply route. Elsewhere, the army kept up its shelling of rebel areas in and near Damascus as it tried to secure the capital, said the Observatory. Among the military ’s targets were Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus and Qaboon in the east, as well as rebel bastion Daraya southwest of the capital. —Agencies

ALEPPO: Homes are seen destroyed by Syrian government airstrikes and shelling in the neighborhood of Karam Al-Jabal in Aleppo, Syria. — AP

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Women teachers on the rise in Congo BRAZZAVILLE: At the Itsali primary school, on a dusty road near Brazzaville’s airport, all but one of the 20 teachers are women, a sign of the major gender shift in the Republic of Congo’s educational system over the past two decades. The small school employs almost exclusively women, from its directors and teachers to administrators and secretaries. “It is rare to ever find even five male members of teaching staff here,” said Rachel Mfina, who has been working at Itsali since the school was founded in 2003. At Itsali, conditions are basic. Since there is not enough space to hold separate classes at the same time, lessons take place in five-hour-long “shifts”-one from early in the morning and another from 12:30 pm-while the school yard serves as a shortcut for locals. But the teachers are enthusiastic. For 25-year-old Gloire Louzolo, who joined Itsala at the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year, teaching has always been her vocation. “I’ve loved the profession of

teaching since I was little because I liked when my nursery teacher was giving lessons,” she told AFP, her blue blouse covered in chalk dust. “I was 15 when I entered the national school for teachers (ENI) where I studied for two years. Just after that I started working,” said Louzolo. It was just over 20 years ago that the image of the teaching profession in Congo started to change. “The phenomenon of women in our education system began in 1990,” Vital Eka, general director of basic education, told AFP, pointing to the string of structural reforms that were implemented when the central African country fell into recession. “All of a sudden, teaching was the only profession that still recruited... Women showed more interest. It’s totally natural because a woman is the one who raises (children) in society,” said Eka. Men, who used to dominate the sector, now prefer to get into fields with better pay such as tax and customs services, he added. About one third of Congo’s

9,500 teachers work in primary schools, with the rise of female teachers now apparent throughout the country in both state and private institutions. “Women seem to be priority over men for teaching jobs-and there are more posts for them,” said 49-year-old Aime Godefroy Dianzinga, the parent of an Itsali student. According to official statistics, the capital Brazzaville tops the league with a record of 1,254 women among its 1,487 teachers. Coincidence or not, Congo boasts a high level of literacy, which stood at 87 percent in 2011 for a population of 3.6 million. Christophe Poaty, a spokesman for the CRPE teaching union, says women have come to the fore in the world of teaching “because the training is shorter and their salary arrives more quickly”. As for the salaries in Congo-an impoverished nation with significant oil resources wracked by two civil warsteachers can expect to earn a lowly 80,000 to 100,000 FCFA (130 to 152 euros) a month. — AFP

BRAZZAVILLE: Photo shows Congolese teacher Gloire Louzolo, 25, speaking to pupils in a classroom of the Itsali school in Brazzaville. — AFP

In crisis-hit Athens, plans for a mosque reveal deep divisions Athens - one of few EU capitals without formal mosque

JOHANNESBURG: Get well soon messages and drawings are seen outside Nelson Mandela’s house in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday. — AFP

With Mandela, end-of-life care dilemmas magnified CHICAGO: The emotional pain and practical demands facing Nelson Mandela’s family are universal: confronting the final days of an elderly loved one. There are no rules for how or when the end may arrive. Some choose to let go with little medical interference; others seek aggressive treatment. Mandela’s status as a respected global figure only complicates the situation, doctors and end-of-life experts say. Mandela “is not only revered he is loved and profoundly admired by people all over the world and the sense of letting go must be difficult for everyone involved,” said Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. In much of Africa, people are considered fortunate to live past age 60. For those who reach old age, death is still seen as sad, but friends and family typically celebrate with big parties to honor a life well-lived. Taking extraordinary measures to keep that person alive would be considered dishonorable, said Dr Sola Olopade, the Nigerianborn clinical director for the University of Chicago’s Center for Global Health. If such measures are being used for Mandela, many could consider it “quite painful,” Olopade said, “because those are not the last memories you want to have for someone with such an exemplary life.” US doctors said Mandela’s lung infection is most likely pneumonia, a very common cause of illness and death in the elderly. The infection is usually caused by bacteria and causes lungs to fill with fluid or pus, making breathing difficult and often causing fever and weakness. Treatment includes antibiotics and extra oxygen, often from a

mechanical ventilator. In the United States, an elderly person critically ill with pneumonia would typically be hospitalized in an intensive care unit and put on a mechanical ventilator, or breathing machine, said Dr JP Kress. He is director of the University of Chicago’s medical intensive care unit’s section on lung and critical care. Ventilators often require a breathing tube down the throat, and patients need to be sedated because of the discomfort. These patients typically are hooked up to feeding tubes, intravenous fluids and all kinds of monitoring machines to check heart rate, blood pressure and other functions. For long stays, lying prone in a hospital bed, they have to be periodically moved into different positions to prevent bed sores; their arms and legs have to be exercised to fight muscle wasting. Mandela has been hospitalized several times since December for a recurring lung infection, and he has had tuberculosis. In a hospitalization in March and April, doctors drained fluid from around his lungs, making it easier for him to breathe. He got care at home until he returned to the hospital on June 8. For elderly patients hospitalized repeatedly with lung problems, the chances for recovery are often grim, Kress said. “It’s possible he’s sitting in a chair asking, ‘When am I going to get out of the hospital?’ but that’s very unlikely,” he said. Patients so critically ill may have ups and downs, and small changes like needing a little less help from a ventilator may be seen as a sign of improvement even when the outlook remains poor, Kress said. —AP

US’ Snowden: a very modern spy thriller HONG KONG: A lone hero is on the run, eluding a spy-hunt across a globe-trotting storyboard as he strives to expose wrongdoing at the heart of Washington’s vengeful intelligence apparatus. The script’s ending is not yet written but that, for his supporters at least, is the Jason Bourne -style narrative of Edward Snowden. For them, the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor’s exposure of a many-tentacled eavesdropping campaign represents the made -forHollywood stand of one man fighting impossible odds. For the US government, the leaks made by the 30-year-old IT specialist risk allowing extremists to plot and maim unhindered. While Snowden has won sympathy internationally, Washington has cast him at best as a misguided fool, at worst as a traitorous villain in the pay of hostile powers. Whatever the validity of his actions, the scene-shifting drama has made for a riveting spectacle that observers believe will eventually end up on the big screen. The plot at times has strained credulity, but it is all real, starting with Snowden’s decision in May to abandon his pole-dancing girlfriend in Hawaii for Hong Kong and a life on the run. “Every spy novelist in the world is not writing at the moment, because they are glued to this-it is the biggest spy case there has been in decades,” Jeremy Duns, the author of three novels about a turncoat British agent in the Cold War said.

Like other observers, Duns expects a movie or book tie -in before long to explore the nuances of a stor y that seems ripped from the pages of John le Carre, dwelling on themes of moral ambiguity, conflicted loyalties and outright betrayal. Any adaptation of the Snowden saga will have to give prominent billing to the NSA, an organization so secretive that it was once dubbed “No Such Agency”. The NSA emerged from the shadows in the 1998 film “Enemy of the State”, featuring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. Well before the 9/11 attacks, it covered the encroaching reach of the surveillance machine - one that in the movie’s telling would stop at nothing, not even murder, to expand its powers and shield its secrets. In comments dismissed by his critics as paranoid ravings, Snowden on June 17 evoked the threat of the US government “murdering me”, but said his stream of revelations could not be dammed. “Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped,” he told Guardian readers, in what could pass for the tag line of a Hollywood film. Snowden has injected a twist into the traditional plot. The unglamorous IT guy, munching on pizza as he beavers away at his laptop, is now the leading man. “The geek in the van has become the Bourne,” said Duns, who has also written a history of the 1960s Soviet spy Oleg Penkovsky published this month. —AFP

ATHENS: Pakistani taxi driver Muhammad Zafeer says he has to look over his shoulder when he goes to pray in Athens, where racist attackers have targeted several of the many makeshift mosques set up in cramped garages or dingy warehouses. So Greece’s plan to build a state-funded mosque in the capital, more than a century in the making, comes as a relief, even if it will be housed in a disused naval base littered with weeds and rubble in a rundown neighborhood. “This place used to be packed but these days people are scared to even go out to pray,” said Zafeer, as Muslim men in long traditional robes and colorful caps prepared for Friday prayers behind the steel-grilled windows of a former factory. “Greece has to decide if it will be democratic or if it will go back to the Middle Ages,” he said with a shrug. Reviving the long-stalled project during Greece’s worst peacetime economic crisis has divided a country that spent four centuries under Turkish Ottoman rule, where the Orthodox Church is powerful and hostility towards immigrants is rising. Soon after the government launched a tender in May to build the mosque, the far-right Golden Dawn party, which denies accusations of links to attacks on immigrants but says it wants to “rid Greece of their stench”, pledged to “fight until the bitter end” to block the plan. One local bishop, Seraphim, was so furious he took the matter to Greece’s highest administrative court, the Council of State. A ruling is not expected for months. The mosque’s critics say Athens, kept afloat by an international bailout, cannot spare the almost one million euros it will cost given that Greece is in a sixth year of recession, with record high unemployment and sinking living standards. “There’s money to build a mosque but there’s no money for Greeks to live with dignity,” Golden Dawn, which polls show is the third most popular party in Greece, said in a statement. Protests have been gathering steam outside the planned site at the naval base in Votanikos, a rundown industrial neighborhood lined with car dealerships and factories. Led by the far-right National Front movement, flag-waving demonstrators including nuns and men in military-style shirts, chanted “If you want a mosque, build it in parliament!” at the first of the protests at the end of May. Flyers depicting a mosque in a circle with a line through it were strewn across the floor. “It’s not exactly the best time to go ahead with it right now,” said Theodore Couloumbis of the ELIAMEP foreign policy think tank. “The country has plenty of instability of its own due to the economic crisis”. RIVERS OF BLOOD In the port of Piraeus, where hundreds of Greek Orthodox faithful packed the 174-year-old Holy Trinity church to hear Bishop Seraphim deliver Sunday mass, 62-year-old retired naval captain Ioannis Kaniaros called the decision “provocative”. Seraphim, who is challenging the decision in court, says building a mosque is unconstitutional and part of a plan to “Islamize” Greece, a major gateway for Asian immigrants

trying to enter the European Union each year. “I want to emphasize that Athens is the only European capital that went through four centuries of slavery under Islam, and managed to free itself just 200 years ago by spilling rivers of blood,” he said in an interview. Greece is home to about 1 million immigrants, and groups like Golden Dawn say undocumented workers have pushed up crime and put a burden on state resources at a time of crisis. Muslim groups estimate more than 200,000 Muslims from countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh live in Athens alone. Racially-motivated attacks have risen to alarming levels during the crisis, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR, which said the authorities were doing little to tackle the problem. At least one informal mosque has been set on fire. On another, someone has scrawled profanities in black paint. “It’s very important for us that the mosque is built. We would feel like we live in a free country, we would feel safe”, said Shabaz Ahamed, a Pakistani Muslim motioning to a security monitor installed in his makeshift mosque after a group of men stormed in hurling abuse and threats a few months ago. The city, which has not had a formal mosque since Greece won independence from occupying Ottomans in 1832, has come under fire by human rights groups such as Amnesty International for being one of the few European capitals without one. Repeated plans for a post-Ottoman mosque in Athens began in earnest in 1880, with an act of parliament, but all fell through, including one timed for the 2004 Olympic Games. Reports in local media that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered to fund a mosque in Athens to his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras during talks earlier this year have also angered some Greeks, who feel a

mosque would represent a continuing Turkish presence in the country. While relations between the two neighbors have warmed and natural disasters in both countries have brought them closer, the two rivals have a history of enmity and came to the brink of war on several occasions, most recently in 1996. Local media say the new mosque, which will hold about 400 worshippers, will not have a minaret so as to blend in with the environment and not resemble a mosque, but the government has provided few details. The office of architect Alexandros Tombazis, which will design the building next to an existing chapel with a bell-tower, declined to comment, saying it has been advised by officials not to because the issue is “too sensitive”. Analysts say it could help Greece as it tries to lure foreign investment to its battered economy from cash-rich Gulf Arab states such as Qatar, which has pledged to invest up to 1 billion euros in Greek companies. “It could facilitate Arab money to enter the Greek market - especially moderate Arab,” Couloumbis said. Stavros Kalogiannis, the former deputy development minister who signed the decision to disburse the funds in May, denied there was external pressure to build the mosque and said simply that it was a project “that had matured”. The mosque’s supporters say Athens has gone too long without one and that its 1 million euro price tag is relatively small. “Athens needs a mosque because there are Muslims living here that’s why,” Athens Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis, a leftist, told Reuters, adding that Greece had to protect the right to religious freedom under its constitution. “You buy a maisonette in (the Athens suburb of ) Chalandri and it costs 500,000 euros and the country can’t afford to build a mosque?” he asked. “It’s not about money. I didn’t see us doing anything when we had money.”— Reuters

ATHENS: A cleaner walks down the stairs of a below-ground arcade in central Athens yesterday. Only one shop in the arcade remains open while the other 23 have closed, mostly during the financial crisis that has triggered store closures and a spike in violent crime. — AP

EU warns trade deal under threat over bugging claims BRUSSELS: A long-awaited trade deal between the European Union and the United States could be in jeopardy over allegations that Washington bugged EU offices, European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding warned yesterday. It is the latest spying claim attributed to fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. Revelations in Monday’s Guardian that the US also targeted the Washington embassies of France, Italy and Greece look set to further strain relations. Brussels, Paris and Berlin reacted angrily to a report in German weekly Der Spiegel on Sunday which detailed covert surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA) on EU diplomatic missions. The report was based on confidential documents, some of which it had been able to consult via Snowden. Reding warned that talks to create what would be the world’s biggest free trade area, formally launched

earlier this month, could be jeopardized if the bugging allegations proved true. “We can’t negotiate a large transatlantic market if there is any doubt that our partners are bugging the offices of European negotiators,” Reding said at a meeting in Luxembourg, her spokesperson said. “We have immediately been in contact with the US authorities in Washington DC and in Brussels and have confronted them with the press reports,” the European Commission said in a statement. The US said Sunday it would respond to the EU via diplomatic channels over the bugging allegations. “While we are not going to comment publicly on specific alleged intelligence activities, as a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations,” said a statement from the

office of the Director of National Intelligence in Washington. One document, dated September 2010 and classed as “strictly confidential”, describes how the NSA kept tabs on the European Union’s mission in Washington, Der Spiegel said. According to documents seen by the Guardian, bugs were implanted on the encrypted fax machine at the embassy as part of operation ‘Perdido’, set up to learn about rifts between member nations. The EU delegation at the United Nations was subject to similar surveillance, Der Spiegel said, adding that the spying also extended to the 27member bloc’s Brussels headquarters. The files also revealed that, in addition to the EU, the US embassies of France, Greece and Italy were among 38 “targets” of NSA spying operations, Monday’s Guardian reported. In the only US reaction to the Spiegel claims so far, Deputy

National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, while refusing to be drawn into commenting directly on the allegations, said Saturday it was “worth noting” the US was “very close” to EU security services. The reports are the latest in a series of allegations about US spying activity revealed by Snowden, a former NSA contractor. He is now stranded at a Moscow airport transit zone looking for a country to accept his asylum request after the United States issued a warrant for his arrest and revoked his passport. EU powerhouse Germany said the United States must quickly say whether the spying allegations were true or not. “It’s beyond our imagination that our friends in the US consider the Europeans as enemies,” Justice Minister Sabine LeutheusserSchnarrenberger said in a statement. “If the media reports are accurate, it is reminiscent of actions among enemies during the Cold War.” —AFP

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Southwest braces for more sizzling temperatures LAS VEGAS: High temperatures brought discomfort to much of the Southwest on Sunday as many parts of the region were coming off several record-breaking heat days and bracing for more sizzling temperatures. The National Weather Service’s thermometer recorded a peak temperature of 128 degrees in Death Valley National Park, which ties the record for the hottest June day anywhere in the country. However, the Los Angeles Times reports that the National Park Service thermometer - 200 yards away recorded a temperature of 129.9, which shatters the record for June. In Las Vegas, the mercury shot up to 117 degrees on Sunday to tie the city’s record high and to cause more discomfort for residents and tourists in the sprawling desert city. Since record-keeping began in Las Vegas in 1937, the only other times the temperature reached 117 degrees were on July 19, 2005, and July 24, 1942, according to the National Weather Service.

Triple-digit heat struck again elsewhere in Southern California, while metropolitan Phoenix saw just a slight drop in temperatures after experiencing record-breaking heat Saturday. Six half-marathon runners in Southern California were hospitalized Sunday for heatrelated illnesses. A day earlier, paramedics responding to a Nevada home without air conditioning found an elderly man dead. Runners in the Southern California race who required medical attention were extremely dehydrated, and some experienced cramps, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said. Several other runners were evaluated along the route but weren’t taken to the hospital, she said. Paramedics were deployed along the 13.1-mile race, and buses with air conditioning were provided for runners to cool off. The event was supposed to be a marathon, but it was downgraded due to low turnout last year. Hikers, bikers and dog walkers were scarce on typically busy

Round two of Texas’ fierce battle over abortion begins AUSTIN: Round two of Texas’ fierce ideological battle over abortion limits began yesterday, less than a week after a Democratic filibuster and hundreds of raucous protesters threw the end of the first special session into chaos. The Legislature’s Republican majority has vowed to pass wide-ranging abortion restrictions quickly and easily this time, even as opponents mobilize for more protests. “The world has seen images of pro-abortion activists screaming, cheering,” Republican Gov Rick Perry said. “Going forward, we have to match their intensity but do it with grace and civility.” Lawmakers finished their regular session May 27, but Perry called them back immediately for 30 more days to approve, among other things, the tight new limits on abortion. On the extra session’s last day, however, Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth was on her feet for more than 12 hours speaking most of that time - as Democrats used a filibuster to help kill the sweeping abortion bill. As the midnight deadline loomed, Republicans used parliamentary technicalities to silence her, but hundreds of protesters in the public gallery and surrounding Capitol corridors cheered so loudly that senators on the floor weren’t able to hear, and couldn’t pass the bill before the clock ran out. The scene was chaotic enough that Sen Donna Campbell, a New Braunfels Republican, called for the gallery to be cleared. She said that with lawmakers now heading back, “I believe more presence by law enforcement will help keep disruptive behavior from thwarting the democratic process.” She said more families may turn up to express their views and “every Texan’s voice deserves to be heard. Not just the noisiest and unruliest.” A repeat scene seems unlikely. Texas

Department of Public Safety state troopers provide security at the Capitol, and department spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said the agency doesn’t discuss its plans. “However, when necessary, we will adjust our security measures as a situation merits,” she said. Some of the same protesters already have planned a rally at the state Capitol yesterday, but there may not be much action for them to see. Both the House and Senate could simply gavel in long enough to assign committees to hear new versions of the bills they plan to pass, then adjourn for the rest of the week that includes the July 4 holiday. But Perry says he expects lawmakers to get their work done more quickly this time, making it harder for a filibuster to talk any proposed legislation to death. “I want the Legislature to be getting work done that actually that they had, by and large, finished,” he said. House Speaker Joe Straus and Lt Gov David Dewhurst, who oversees the Senate, haven’t revealed plans to do anything differently in the second special session - but it’s lost on no one that moving through the process faster, and ensuring both chambers carry out final votes long before the end of the session, will limit Democratic stall tactics and make any possible filibuster moot because too much time would be left. The legislative process now starts over, with lawmakers filing bills, committees holding public hearings on each, then passing them to both full chambers to consider. That means reviving the proposals Davis and the protesters killed: banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, requiring that the procedure be performed at ambulatory surgical centers, and mandating that doctors who perform abortions obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. —AP

al to match the Senate’s effort. A pathway to legal standing, similar to that of immigrants who have green cards, could be an option, he said. Unacceptable, said Sen Chuck Schumer, D-NY. “No Democrat will vote for any bill without a path to citizenship,” said Schumer, who helped write the Senate immigration plan that passed that chamber last week. The Senate bill would provide a long and difficult pathway to citizenship for those living in the country illegally, as well as tough measures to secure the border. In the

CHICAGO: Protesters demonstrate calling for immigration reform in front of the Illinois GOP headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. — AFP Meanwhile, both parties eyed the politics that could yield electoral victories or irrelevance among the growing Hispanic voting bloc. Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who leads the House Judiciary Committee, said he does not foresee a proposal that could provide a simple mechanism for immigrants here illegally to earn full standing as US citizens. His committee members have been working on bills that address individual concerns but have not written a comprehensive propos-

Democratic-controlled Senate, 14 Republicans joined all Democratic senators and independents in the 68-32 vote. In the Republican-led House, conservatives have stood opposed to any pathway to citizenship for those workers. House lawmakers have urged a piecemeal approach to the thorny issue instead of the Senate’s sweeping effort. House Speaker John Boehner has ruled out taking up the Senate bill and said the Republican-controlled chamber would

Conservative Longueira faces uphill battle for presidency SANTIAGO: Former Chilean leader Michelle Bachelet steamed toward another presidential bid on Sunday with a lopsided primary win that prompted her center-left rivals to concede early in the evening and vow to support her in the November election. On the right, former Economy Minister Pablo Longueira will face an uphill battle against Bachelet, after he beat out rival Andres Allamand. Bachelet, 61, who led Chile as its first female president from 2006 to 2010, received 73.07 percent of the vote, with 99.7 percent of the vote counted. Her two closest rivals in the primary, Andres Velasco and Claudio Orrego, conceded defeat on national television. “We’ll keep fighting until November 17 to get to the Moneda (presidential palace) in 2014,” Bachelet told cheering supporters. The presidential election is scheduled for Nov 17 and a second round of voting would be held in mid December if the front-runner does not get more than half of the votes. A pediatrician turned politician and single mother of three, Bachelet is widely expected to win back the presidency. “ The big winner tonight is Bachelet and the big losers are Allamand and Longueira, she got twice as many votes as they did ... the race in November will be for second place and not for first because if Bachelet doesn’t win in the first round, she’ll win the runoff election,” said Patricio Navia, profes-

chart its own version of the legislation with a focus on border security. Illustrating the strong opposition among conservative lawmakers, Rep Trey Gowdy, R-SC, said flatly: “The Senate bill is not going to pass.” If immigration falls, so too could the GOP’s national prospects. Sen John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and an author of the current Senate immigration bill, said “Speaker Boehner has a tough job ahead” to convince his caucus to act. “Republicans realize the implications of the future of the Republican Party in America if we don’t get this issue behind us,” McCain said. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi similarly predicted electoral doom if Republicans thwart the efforts to address the estimated 11 million immigrants now in the United States illegally. She said Republicans should follow the Senate’s lead “if they ever want to win a presidential race.” “We wouldn’t even be where we are right now had it not been that 70 percent of Hispanics voted for President Obama, voted Democratic in the last election,” Pelosi said. “That caused an epiphany in the Senate, that’s for sure. So, all of a sudden now, we have already passed comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. That’s a big victory.” In 2012, Obama won re-election with the backing of 71 percent of Hispanic voters and 73 percent of Asian-American voters. A thwarted immigration overhaul could again push those voting blocs toward the Democrats’ side. If an immigration bill fails, Democrats stood ready to blame Boehner and his party. “Will he allow a small group, maybe even a majority of his caucus, to control the debate and the future on this issue?” asked Rep Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. “If he decides to do that, we will then end in a stalemate and an impasse once again.” Goodlatte and Gutierrez spoke to CNN’s “State of the Union.” Schumer, Gowdy and McCain were on “Fox News Sunday.” Pelosi was on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” — AP

US to press China on cyber theft ASPEN: US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said he will keep up pressure on China over cyber security, especially stealing of intellectual property and trade secrets, which he sees as separate from other Internet-related issues between the two countries. The recently appointed Treasury secretary said on Sunday he had already raised his concerns on cyber security when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China recently. “It is fundamentally a different set of issues and is something that is going to remain high on our agenda of issues to talk to with them about,” he told an audience at the Aspen Ideas festival, saying the meetings in China were “productive.” Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry are set to host their Chinese counterparts in Washington DC next week for the annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Computer hacking is a contentious

Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Larry Nunez said the city hasn’t seen any deaths that were classified as heat-related, but emergency workers have gotten 98 heat-related calls within the metro area since Friday morning. The 119-degree high in Phoenix on Saturday marked the fourth-hottest day in metro Phoenix since authorities started keeping temperature records more than 110 years ago. The high temperature for the metro area hit 115 on Sunday. Temperatures could drop slightly in Phoenix within the coming days as monsoon storms are expected to make their way through the state. Such storms could bring cloud cover but could produce more humidity and possibly contribute to dust storms. Several Southern California communities set same-day record highs Saturday including Palm Springs, where the mercury peaked at 122 degrees. In Northern California, Redding reported a high of 110, Sacramento had 107 while Fresno saw 109. — AP

Chile ex-leader beats rivals for a new presidential bid

US immigration bill faces uncertain future in House WASHINGTON: The immigration debate is shifting to the Republican-led House, where lawmakers have shown little appetite for the large-scale, comprehensive approach their Senate colleagues embraced last week. The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Sunday that any attempt at comprehensive immigration legislation cannot offer a “special pathway to citizenship” for those in the United States illegally. Democrats have called that position a deal-breaker.

trails in the Santa Monica Mountains above Los Angeles. At midday, two women and a panting German shepherd huddled in a rare sliver of shade along a fire road before striking out in the hot sun. Atop San Vicente Peak, cyclist Jeff Disbrow, 49, of Santa Monica was clad in black and lathered in sweat as he took a break and refilled his water bottle. “It’s not the best day to be out here - unless you want to suffer,” he said. “It’s like Arizona.” In Utah, a record 105-degree heat caused an interstate on-ramp to buckle in Salt Lake City, and hampered firefighters in their battle against three wildfires. The Interstate 215 on-ramp had to be closed for four hours Saturday night after a short section of it expanded, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason said. The section looked like a pothole before it was repaved, he said. No problems were reported, and traffic was rerouted around the closed lane.

issue between the two countries. US intelligence leaders have said that cyber attacks and cyber espionage had supplanted terrorism as the top security threat facing the United States. For its part, China accused US recently of “double standards” in cyber security after the flight from Hong Kong of fugitive former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details of US cyber surveillance tactics. While not directly referring to the Snowden issue, Lew said cyber theft “is just different from other kinds of issues in the cyber area”. Lew said he also used the recent visit to Beijing to try and convince the new Chinese administration to reduce barriers to trade and open up the country to wider foreign investment. US companies face barriers to invest in around 100 Chinese sectors, while China holds that US bars Chinese investments on unjustified national security grounds. —Reuters

sor at New York University and Universidad Diego Portales. Bachelet received over 1.5 million votes, compared with Longueria’s 413,000 and Allamand’s 391,000, according to preliminary figures. A victim of torture during Chile’s dictatorship, Bachelet was one of the country’s most unusual presidents

barred from running for immediate reelection. Voters from Pinera’s conservative Alianza coalition gave Longueira 51.35 percent, versus former Defense Minister Allamand’s 48.64 percent, according to preliminary figures. “Having won these primaries in two months is the best proof that if we get to work tomorrow

SANTIAGO: Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet waves after casting her vote during primary elections in Santiago. — AFP since its return to democracy in 1990. After leaving office she served as the head of UN Women, the United Nations’ gender equality body. Chile’s present leader is Sebastian Pinera, a wealthy businessman who has struggled to connect with ordinary Chileans and is

we’re going to win the presidential election in November,” said a jubilant Longueira. He took the place of businessman Laurence Golborne midway through the primary campaign, after Golborne abandoned his candidacy over a billing scandal and allegations of

undeclared offshore assets. Longueira is hampered by having served under unpopular Pinera, who broke 20 years of uninterrupted centerleft rule when he took power in 2010. Bachelet has promised to tackle Chile’s steep economic inequality by raising corporate taxes to fund free universitylevel education and push for a new constitution to replace the one created under Pinochet in 1980. However, she is not expected to stray far from the market-friendly economic policies that have helped make Chile one of the most stable countries in the region. Nearly twice as many voters as forecast turned out on Sunday, which analysts have said bodes well for Bachelet in November. Analysts had cautioned that turnout has been a wild card since voting became voluntary last year, as opposed to mandatory, and that disenchantment with the political establishment could keep many voters at home. Chile, the world’s top copperexporting nation, is ranked the most unequal country in the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Bachelet, who belongs to the socialist party, expanded welfare programs during her rule but did little to disturb the country’s free-market economic policies. She appears to have swung further left since leaving office, however, in line with escalating demands by students and workers. —Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

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

Tens of thousands in HK stage rain-hit march for democracy Chinese ‘colonists’ under fire

MANILA: A resident begs police from chasing residents during a clash yesterday at an informal settlers’ community at suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila. —- AP

Police battle protesters in Philippines slum riot MANILA: Philippine slum dwellers hurling rocks, improvised explosives and human excrement fought running battles with riot police yesterday around a sprawling Manila shanty town that is set for redevelopment. Police said an officer was hospitalised with a head injury while several residents of the North Triangle slum were briefly detained, though none were charged and were later released. Police moved in as traffic backed up after squatters erected barricades across a street, said the district’s police chief, Senior Superintendent Richard Albano. “We arrested some people, but later decided to release them,” Albano told ABSCBN television in an interview. Residents hurled projectiles at officers who baton-charged them from behind shields. An AFP photographer said rocks, spikes and nails packed in small containers, as well as faeces, were hurled at the police. Television also showed police firing what appeared to be tear gas at the rioters, who were reined in just before midday.

Slums, as well as riots sparked by government efforts to clear them, are prominent features of Philippine cities. Nearly a third of the population is considered poor. The 29-hectare (72-acre) North Triangle area had previously housed 10,000 squatter families, according to city mayor Herbert Bautista. About 8,000 families were relocated with government help in the past two years, he said. The government plans to redevelop it in partnership with a big real estate firm into a 65-billion-peso ($1.5-billion) central business district, with the first phase set to be completed in three years. Leah Valencia, leader of a support group for the squatters, told AFP they were protesting at a formal notice to leave the property by June 30. She said the holdouts complained the relocation site was too far from Manila, where they scraped a living in construction and other low-paying jobs. Most are migrants from the provinces and some have lived in the slum for 30 years, she added. — AFP

Inmates riot over conditions at Vietnam jail HANOI: Rioting inmates seized control of a Vietnamese jail for several hours, taking the prison chief hostage in a protest demanding better treatment and conditions, state media said yesterday. The disturbance started early Sunday at the Xuan Loc jail in Dong Nai province, about 40 km north of Ho Chi Minh City. According to reports on dissident blogs, the jail holds a number of high-profile political prisoners. Some 50 prisoners “smashed the prison and took the jailor hostage”, state-run Tien Phong newspaper reported. One policeman was slightly wounded in the fray, it added. Guards regained control of the prison several hours later and the prison chief was released. Police lieutenant general Ho Thanh Dinh said the disturbance “was ignited by some leading prisoners,” without specifying whether they were political prisoners. “We identified about 40 prisoners (who organised the riot and hostage-taking). They will be punished in accordance with the law,” Dinh told Thanh Nien Daily newspaper. The prisoners staged the riot to demand better food and treatment in the

prison or to be moved to another detention facility, Dinh added. Dissident blogs said internet entrepreneur and activist Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, currently serving a 16-year sentence for attempted subversion, is being held at Xuan Loc jail. Overseas dissident group the People’s Democratic Party of Vietnam-which is banned by Hanoi-said the riots were organised by political prisoners “to protest the inhumane treatment”, according to a statement emailed to AFP. The riot comes a week after high-profile dissident Cu Huy Ha Vu, serving a sevenyear sentence for spreading anti state propaganda, ended a three-week hunger strike protesting conditions at his prison. The 55-year-old French-trained lawyer is the son of Cu Huy Can, a revolutionary poet and a minister in the government of Vietnam’s founding president, Ho Chi Minh. With his hunger strike, Vu “delivered a message not heard before in Vietnam that prisoners in jail have the same rights as other citizens,” his lawyer Tran Vu said. “Vu wants to show that even in jail we can still fight for our rights. Vietnamese prisoners must know their rights.” — AFP

Australia’s first Muslim frontbencher sworn in SYDNEY: The dumping of Australia’s first woman prime minister Julia Gillard has paved the way for another milestone for the nation’s parliament-its first frontbencher of the Muslim faith, sworn in yesterday. Ed Husic, whose mother and father are Bosnian migrants, was sworn in as parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who retook the leadership last week. “This is a wonderful day for multiculturalism, and everything it stands for in our country,” GovernorGeneral Quentin Bryce told Husic during the swearing-in ceremony in Canberra. “I wish you all the best as you serve our country as parliamentary secretary.” Husic was the first Muslim elected to

Australia’s parliament when he won his western Sydney seat in the August 2010 election, and was sworn in back then with his hand on his parents’ Koran. The 43-year-old, who grew up in his electorate, had been a strong supporter of Rudd and his new appointment was seen as a reward. Asked about his religion in 2010, he said: “If someone asks me are you Muslim I say yes. And then if someone says ‘Well do you pray and go to a mosque and do all the other things that are associated with the faith?’ I say no,” he told the ABC. “I often get told that I describe myself as non-practising when in actual fact I don’t go round saying that. Like I just say ‘I’m Muslim’.” — AFP

HONG KONG: Tens of thousands of protesters, some waving British imperial flags and denouncing Chinese “colonists”, marched through torrential rain in Hong Kong yesterday to clamour for universal suffrage on the 16th anniversary of the city’s return to mainland rule. Tropical Storm Rumbia brought a drenching and strong winds to the march, now an annual outpouring of discontent directed at both China’s communist government and the semi-autonomous territory’s local leadership. The parade route from the city’s Victoria Park to the skyscrapers of the high-rent Central district was a sea of umbrellas as well as bannersbearing slogans that ranged from “Democracy now” to “Down with the Chinese Communist Party”. A handful of protesters scuffled with police as they tried to break out of the designated parade route but no major trouble was reported on the march, as curious tourists from mainland China stared at a licensed expression of popular anger that is unimaginable back home. Early Monday, China’s national anthem blared as the national and Hong Kong flags were raised outside the harbourside Convention Centre to mark the city’s transfer from British to Chinese rule in 1997 — a historic event that also took place in a torrential downpour. A small but rowdy protest took place near the ceremony with demonstrators burning a photograph of Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, who critics say is guilty of kowtowing to Beijing and doing nothing to ease quality-of-life issues such as sky-high property prices. On the march, one man carried a turtle made out of balloons to represent Leung, who stands accused of retreating inside his shell whenever trouble strikes. Protesters sang “Do You Hear the People Sing?”-the rabble-rousing anthem from the musical and film “Les Miserables”. “The main goal of the rally is to push through for genuine democracy and to ask for Leung Chun-ying to step down,” Jackie Hung of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organises the annual march, said. The procession came after a survey published by the Hong Kong University found that only 33 percent of Hong Kongers took pride in being a Chinese national, the lowest level since 1998. Leung was appointed by a pro-Beijing committee last July, promising to improve governance and uphold the rule of law in the bustling territory of seven million people. He is charged with overseeing the transition to universal suf-

frage to appoint the city’s chief executive, which was promised by 2017, though critics say little or no progress has been made on the issue as the deadline draws nearer. At the Convention Centre ceremony, Leung promised anew to address people’s grievances, which include a widening income gap fuelled by an influx of mainland Chinese wealth, but made no firm concession on direct elections for his job. “With the greatest sincerity and commitment, the SAR (Special Administrative Region) government will launch a consultation at an appropriate juncture,” he said about the demands for universal suffrage. Yeung Yuk, a 28-year-old social worker who was among those marching, said: “People don’t want ‘elections with Chinese characteristics’. The government should start consultations now so Hong Kong can have genuine democracy.” The widespread belief that Beijing meddles in Hong Kong’s affairs, with the complicity of the local government, has grown stronger since the handover and now founds expression in ironic calls to return the city to British rule.

The sight of Hong Kong’s colonial-era flag at last year’s July 1 march incensed commentators on the mainland, but it was out in force again yesterday. One group of protesters marched with the flag aloft and a large banner saying “Chinese colonialists get out!!” Police had no figure available for the size of the march but Hong Kong media estimated about 50,000. The poor weather appeared to have dampened turnout from last year ’s estimate of 400,000 protesters, although that was swelled by anger at the presence in town of China’s then president Hu Jintao for commemorations of 15 years since the handover. Beijing said the ability of Hong Kongers to protest in force proved that the freedoms guaranteed under the handover agreement were alive and well. “This year, with so many people going on the streets to protest, shows that under the ‘one country two systems’, Hong Kong has a lot of freedom and rights,” Zhang Xiaoming, who heads Beijing’s Liaison Office in the city, told reporters. — AFP

HONG KONG: Protesters scuffle with police officers in a downtown street during an annual prodemocracy protest in Hong Kong yesterday. — AP

West encouraging Xinjiang ‘terrorism’ URUMQI, China: The United States is encouraging “terrorism” in Xinjiang, Chinese state media said Monday, also claiming that separatists in the region - which has a large Uighur minority - had fought alongside Syrian rebels. Beijing denies that the unrest in the vast region bordering Central Asia - which last week left at least 35 people dead - is due to ethnic tensions between Uighurs and China’s majority Han. It has vowed to crack down on “terrorist groups” and ordered military exercises ahead of Friday’s anniversary of major riots in 2009 that left around 200 dead. But rights groups for the mostly Muslim Uighurs blame unrest on economic inequality and religious repression, and Washington has raised concerns about discrimination. The People’s Daily, a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party, slammed the US government and media for what it said was its role in the violence. “For fear of a lack of chaos in China,” it said in a commentary, the US was “conspiring to direct the calamity of terrorist activities toward China”. “America’s double standards on the issue of countering terrorism is no different than incitement and indulgence... How is this different than those who act as accomplices to terrorism?” it said. It asked if the 9/11 attacks and Boston marathon bombings in April meant “America’s ethnic and religious policies also have problems”, while rejecting such linkages in China. “The violent terrorist incidents in Xinjiang are not an ethnic issue or a religious issue,” it said, calling the “massacres” of officials and bystanders “inhumane”. According to the official Xinhua news agency, “knife-wielding mobs” attacked police stations and other sites in the town of Lukqun last Wednesday before security personnel arrived and opened fire. At least 35 people were killed. Two days later, Xinhua said, more than 100 “terrorists” provoked “riots” in the prefecture of Hotan, attacking people “after gathering at local religious venues”. Last Friday a US State Department spokesman said it was “deeply concerned about ongoing reports of discrimination against and restrictions” on Uighurs in China. He said the US urged a “transparent investigation” but did not

want to “draw broader conclusions” about the incidents. The state-run Global Times criticised Western media and public opinion Monday for misrepresenting the violence as ethnic conflict, referring to “violent terrorism fuelled by the West”. “Western public opinion is fooling these ignorant extremists through cheap support,” the paper said in an editorial. This “indulges the views of these violent terrorists, who are in fact a small, isolated group”, it said. In a separate article only available in Chinese, the paper accused members of the “East Turkestan” movement of joining “terrorist groups” in Syria to fight the government of Bashar alAssad before returning to Xinjiang to plot attacks. It cited the case of a man in his 20s recruited by an “education and mutual aid association” acting as a terrorist training front. After being sent to Syria, the recruit was ordered back to Xinjiang to “raise” the level of the struggle there, where he was caught. The Uyghur World Congress hit back

at what it called China’s “distorting accusations”. “Uighurs live in an outdoor prison,” it said in an emailed statement, adding that their “resistance” had “nothing to do with terrorism”. On Saturday much of the Xinjiang capital Urumqi was shut down as military vehicles took to the streets with at least 1,000 personnel from the People’s Armed Police. They marked the start of 24-hour patrols in the city ahead of the anniversary of 2009 riots, the Xinjiang deputy information chief Luo Fuyong told AFP yesterday. The fasting month of Ramadan is also expected to begin next week. But Luo denied any ethnic or religious link, calling those involved in Wednesday’s violence “against humanity”. In recent decades many Han Chinese have relocated to Xinjiang, which is rich in coal and gas, provoking friction. The two communities tend to live in separate neighbourhoods in Urumqi, and a greater security presence could be seen in the Uighur area yesterday. —AFP

URUMQI: Chinese paramilitary police stand guard in the Muslim Uighur minority area of this city on Sunday. — AFP

Japan lawmaker on boat near China dispute islands TOKYO: A lawmaker from Japan’s ruling party was aboard one of four fishing boats that sailed yesterday towards islands at the centre of a bitter dispute with China, the organiser said, as Chinese vessels loomed nearby. Japan’s national broadcaster said one of the Chinese maritime surveillance ships had been within a kilometre of the fishing boats, in an incident that could inflame a debilitating international row. There was no attempt by anyone on board to land on any of the islands, which Japan controls as the Senkakus, but which China claims as the Diaoyus. “The purpose of dispatching the fishing boats is to fish in the waters,” an official from the nationalist Channel Sakura

satellite broadcaster said, adding the company’s president was aboard one of the boats. “Most of the people on this mission are fishermen,” he said, but noted that Kenji Yamada, a parliamentarian and member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party had also taken part in the mission. The Japanese boats had left the area by the afternoon, he said. The incident passed off without confrontation but marked a change from recent months, which have seen regular forays by official Chinese ships into the 12-nautical-mile zone regarded as territorial waters. It has become customary for Japan’s

coastguard and the Chinese ships to exchange demands that the other side leave the waters, as part of a tussle between Tokyo and Beijing over ownership of the resource-rich islands. A Japanese foreign ministry official telephoned the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to protest at the presence of the Chinese vessels, the ministry said. The four ships made a circuit of the largest island in the chain before heading away, Japan’s coastguard said. A territorial row that dates back four decades reignited last September when Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain, in what it said was a mere administrative change of ownership. But the incident provoked fury in

Beijing, which maintains the Senkakus were illegally snatched by Japan as it built an empire in the half-centur y before World War II. Tokyo says it annexed an unclaimed archipelago that showed no signs of ownership. Commentators say the islands are a potential flashpoint for a military confrontation between Asia’s two largest powers. They say the occasional presence of nationalists from both sides introduces a wild card that increases the risk of a misstep by one of the armed official vessels, which could quickly escalate. Separately, the Japanese coastguard said a Bahamas-registered marine

research vessel, Discoverer2, was in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the islands. The zone is a 200-nautical-mile area around a territory over which the sovereign nation has exclusive rights to exploit resources. The ship, which is believed to belong to a Chinese oil company, has been spotted in the zone of the islands twice already this year and has been seen lowering wires into the water, a coastguard official said. “In response to our warnings, the vessel’s crew say it is operating with the approval of the Chinese government as the area is part of China’s EEZ,” he said. — AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

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

Kashmir shuts down as police, rebel killed Separatist group calls for strike

ALLAHABAD: Vehicles move along a waterlogged road after heavy rain in Allahabad yesterday. Construction along river banks will be banned in the devastated north Indian state of Uttarakhand amid concerns unchecked development fuelled June’s flash floods and landslides that killed thousands, the state’s top official said yesterday. —AFP

India bans building along rivers in flood-hit north DEHRADUN: Construction along river banks will be banned in a devastated north Indian state amid concerns unchecked development fuelled last month’s flash floods and landslides that killed thousands, the state’s top official said yesterday. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna, also announced that a regulatory body would be set up to scrutinise future construction as the Himalayan state begins the herculean task of rebuilding following the June 15 floods. “Permission will not be given for any kind of construction along the river banks,” Bahuguna told reporters in the state capital Dehradun. “All guidelines will be strictly followed,” he added. Raging rivers and landslides from torrential rains swept away houses, other buildings and even entire villages in the state known as the “Land of the Gods” for its revered shrines and pilgrimage sites. Some 1,000 people died in the disaster and more than 3,000 are still missing, Bahuguna said on Sunday, while conceding that the exact death toll may never be known. A state lawmaker has said the number killed could cross 10,000, as more bodies were recovered from under tonnes of debris and from rivers downstream, but this figure was rejected as “guesswork” by Bahuguna. Thousands of soldiers, backed by military helicopters, have wound down rescue efforts after evacuating more than 100,000 people stranded when roads and bridges were destroyed.

Environmentalists and aid agencies have said rapid and unregulated development and deforestation was partly to blame for the floods in the state, which attracts thousands of pilgrims and other tourists every year. Bahuguna announced that the Uttarakhand Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority would be established to spell out guidelines for all development activities in the state, keeping in mind the welfare of its residents for “the next 100 years”. International charity ActionAid said construction of hydroelectric dams and mining projects over the last decade in the state’s many valleys threatened its fragile ecosystem. “This aggressive and unregulated construction work has been playing ecological havoc for years,” said Debabrat Patra, ActionAid’s regional manager for Uttarakhand. “With little forest left to hold the earth, another burst of heavy rain could be disastrous for the people living there,” he said in a statement. Top industry body ASSOCHAM said it was time authorities woke up to the huge losses incurred every year from floods as a result of the development of flood plains throughout the country. “Encroachments into the flood plains over the years have aggravated the problem,” it said in a news release. “While we cannot do much about the natural phenomenon, we have to ensure that the nation remains always prepared for meeting any eventuality that can cause avoidable loss to human lives,” ASSOCHAM said. —AFP

SRINAGAR: Indian Kashmir largely shut down yesterday and hundreds of police were deployed in the troubled region’s main city after the weekend shooting of two civilians by the army, a police chief said. The shutdown to protest against the shootings came as a police officer and a militant were killed in a separate incident south of the main city Srinagar, said Kashmir’s police chief Abdul Gani Mir. The officer and the rebel died in the village of Mandoora, 35 km from Srinagar, during a gun battle that also wounded three soldiers, the police chief said. “We launched an operation based on intelligence of the presence of militants in the area,” Mir said. “One of our boys was martyred in the operation,” Mir said, also confirming the death of the rebel. In Srinagar shops and other businesses, along with schools, were closed and traffic was light after a separatist group called for a strike in the region to protest at the weekend killings. The region was tense after the weekend shootings in which soldiers opened fire on angry villagers, killing one. The villagers had been protesting the shooting of a teenager by the military just hours earlier during a hunt for militants in Markondal village north of Srinagar. Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops were deployed in the inner parts of Srinagar on Monday to try to prevent protests, while a curfew was imposed on parts of the region.

Kabul accuses Pakistan of playing double game KABUL: Pakistan has floated the concept of an Afghan power-sharing arrangement between Kabul and the Taliban as part of a peace talks “end game”, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Ershad Ahmadi said yesterday, a suggestion met with outrage in Kabul. The idea was raised in a Friday meeting between Pakistani national security adviser Sartaj Aziz and Afghan ambassador Umer Daudzai, Ahmadi said. It involved a form of federalism and ceding power in some Afghan provinces to the Taliban. The suggestion dashed hopes of a reset in the relationship between the South Asian neighbours following the election of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last month. It also suggests a visit by British Prime David Cameron to the region at the weekend to promote the Afghan-Pakistan relationship as well as peace talks with the

Taliban had failed before he had even arrived. “We believe this federalism is a means for the Pakistanis to achieve what they could not achieve through their proxy (the Taliban) on the battlefield,” Ahmadi said. In Islamabad, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Aizaz Chaudry denied any suggestion of ceding territory had been made during the meeting. “It was a courtesy call during which the adviser and ambassador also discussed bilateral relations. No reference was made to ceding of provinces to Taliban,” Chaudhry told Reuters. Pakistan has a considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban leadership, based in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta. It is seen as crucial to U.S. and Afghan efforts to promote peace in Afghanistan, a task that is gaining urgency as NATO troops prepare to withdraw from the

Sri Lanka leases out land for Packer-linked casino COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has leased some prime real estate in the capital to a local casino operator who is expected to develop a $350 million entertainment complex with Australian gambling mogul James Packer, an official said yesterday. The cabinet gave final approval last month to lease the lakefront land to a company set up by Sri Lanka’s top casino operator, Rank Holdings, for 2.78 billion rupees ($22.28 million dollars), the official said. “The land is given to the Sri Lankan company which is in partnership with the Crown group (of Packer),” the official from the investment promotion ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity. The developer, with investments from Packer’s Crown group, is expected to build a 400-room luxury hotel. The government earmarked the area as an exclusive gaming zone in line with a 2010 Act which legalised gambling. The official said the company had already paid 20 percent of the money and had another three months to settle the balance. It was not immediately clear when the project would take off. Documents seen by AFP Monday showed that Rank was given the land on a 50-year lease along with a 12year tax holiday. It would invest $350 million in what is officially described

as a “mixed development project”. The partnership between Rank and Crown has not been formally announced, but investment promotion officials have linked the two companies. Packer was reported to have visited Sri Lanka earlier this year to hold talks with local authorities on launching a casino with Rank Holdings, which already operates a plush gaming parlour in Colombo. Since his father Kerry’s death in 2005, Packer has moved the family business away from its traditional media operations and focused on creating Crown, a worldwide gambling empire. Asian high-rollers, particularly the growing ranks of wealthy Chinese, are said to be his target. Casinos and horse-racing bookies have been operating in Sri Lanka for decades, exploiting loopholes in the law to evade a ban on gambling which was lifted only in 2010. The main opposition United National Party has objected to the new casino operation with Packer, saying there was no benefit to the country because of the 12-year tax holiday. “What we are saying is that this gaming industry must be regulated and it should be taxed,” party spokesman Harsha de Silva said. “Otherwise there is no net benefit to the country or its people.” —AFP

country by the end of 2014. Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of playing a double game regarding the 12-year-old war, saying its neighbour, facing a Taliban insurgency of its own, makes public pronouncements about peace, but allows elements of its military to play a spoiling role. Afghan President Hamid Karzai also voiced his concern about Pakistan’s motive in the peace process during a Saturday news conference with Cameron, saying that “delivering a province or two to the Taliban” would be perceived as an invasion by the Afghan people. Pakistan was not immediately able to comment on what was said by Aziz or its view of Ahmadi’s assertions. Ahmadi also said the ceremonial opening of the Taliban office in the Gulf state of Qatar’s capital, Doha, which raised angry protests in Kabul that the office had the appearance of a government-inexile, was part of a Pakistani plan designed to increase the insurgents’ international prestige. “There are elements within the Pakistani government who have a grand design of using the peace process as a means to undermine the Afghan state and establish little fiefdoms around the country in which the Taliban - its most important strategic asset in Afghanistan play an influential role,” he said. Before Afghanistan suspended talks in Doha, U.S. officials had said they would have stuck to an insistence that the Taliban break ties with al Qaeda, end violence and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities. During their 1996-2001 reign, the Taliban banned women from education, voting and most work, and they were not allowed to leave their homes without permission and a male escort. Ahmadi said despite hopes the new Sharif administration may curb meddling in Afghan affairs, Kabul now felt the civilian administration was aiding the double game played by the military and the country’s powerful intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). “While we believe there are elements of the military and the ISI who endeavour to weaken the Afghan state, their narrative seems to be getting some kind of buy-in from other state institutions and that’s a major concern,” he said. In particular, the ISI had played a significant role in the events in Doha, Ahmadi said. Part of the reason Kabul was so outraged by the opening of the Taliban office was the use of symbols, including the Taliban flag, that had not been approved as part of the peace deal. —Reuters

SRINGAR: An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard outside his post during a strike in Srinagar, India, yesterday. A policeman and a militant were killed in a gunbattle in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, as shops and businesses remained closed in the disputed region to protest the killing of two people by the army. —AP Despite the curfew, hundreds of villagers in the northern town of Hajin took to the streets, shouting anti-India slogans, while some tried to torch an army-run school. “Curfew is strictly implemented. The area is calm now,” police superintendent Bashir Khan said. The army runs “goodwill” schools across the territory as part of an operation aimed at “winning the hearts and minds” of people who deeply resent their presence in populated

areas. Police have launched an investigation into the weekend shootings. The army has started its own probe, after describing both incidents as regrettable. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan by a UNmonitored Line of Control. Both countries claim the Himalayan territory in full. In a separate incident, Indian soldiers shot and killed a man at Saujaya in Poonch region who may have been carrying explosives from

across the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, an army spokesman said. “When our troops fired at him an explosion occurred. A badly mutilated body was found on the spot,” Colonel Rajesh Kalia said. About a dozen armed groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or for its merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting. —AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

ANALYSIS

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Jordan eyes have it in fight against hackers By Adam Nicky Jordanian firm specializing in cyber-security has developed “Iris” - security technology that uses the iris of the computer owner’s eye in the manner of a fingerprint in order to prevent identity theft. The new technology comes amid an increase of reported hacker attacks throughout the kingdom. Jordan prides itself of being a center for excellence in matters related to the cyber world, including software development. Recently, the Internet giant Yahoo bought a local email provider and made the kingdom its center of Middle Eastern operations. But the reputation of being a center for top talent in the cyber world came with a price: soaring Internet crimes. Last year alone police recorded 700 Internet crimes, mostly targeting financial institutions. Police figures show that Internet-based crimes have been increasing at an annual rate of 5 percent. A total of 180 cyber crimes were reported during the first three months of 2013, most of which involved hacking into bank accounts, ATM card theft, extortion, identify theft and taking over personal social media accounts. “We are witnessing an increase of Internet attacks on individuals,” a senior police criminal investigator told The Media Line. “The police have intensified their efforts to combat this phenomenon,” a senior police investigator told The Media Line. “Leading businessmen are being affected. Private images that could harm their family are targeted by hackers for the purpose of extortion,” the police official said. Culprits are mostly hackers from abroad. “Our records show 70 percent of Internet crimes are carried out by non-Jordanians. This includes foreigners living in the kingdom or hackers from overseas,” the police official told The Media Line. Local banks refuse to reveal the scale of Internet-related losses to protect their interests, but a source in Jordan’s central bank said banks are increasingly concerned over the rising attacks. Officials from the Arab Bank, the kingdom’s leading financial institution, said they had to implement stringent measures concerning Internet-based transactions such as requiring direct phone calls from clients in order to check personal information before it allows transactions to proceed. Computer experts said the hacking is often done through emails sent to individuals urging them to log into their bank account through a link provided by the thieves. “When the individual enters his username and password, the information is registered by the hacker who would later enter the victim’s account details and transfer funds to an overseas account,” Ebrahim Qadiri, a private consultant specializing in computer forensics, told The Media Line. Enter Iris, the technology being introduced by a growing number of banks in the battle against identity theft. The technology relies on the fact that each iris, the colored part of the eye, is unique, like a fingerprint. A camera connected to the Iris system takes a digital photo of the customer’s iris and algorithmically converts it into a template to be compared against others in a data base at banks or by any other end users to see if they match. The technology also allows bank clients to look into a special camera from home that does away with the need to enter passwords or user names, Iris technology owner Imad Malhas explained. “The Iris print prevents your neighbor or any other hacker from robbing you,” he said. Malhas said the Cairo Amman Bank has also successfully introduced Iris to its cash machines across the kingdom. Banks aren’t the only ones benefiting from the patented Iris technology. Jordanian border guards, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and other countries are using Iris, which has also helped the United Nations to register Syrian refugees. Despite inventions like Iris cutting into the hackers’ earnings and information, experts say authorities should also impose tougher penalties. The Cyber Crimes Law of 2001 makes Internet crimes punishable by only three months to one year in jail. Jordanian Internet law expert Fadi Alkawalee said, “We need to have laws that fit the nature of the crime. If someone hacks my account and robs millions, they will face a minimum jail sentence. The current law does not do the country a favor; it should be stricter on certain crimes,” he told The Media Line. Alkawalee also believes that attacks originating overseas also need to be dealt with legally, through cooperation with the Interpol or special international units to combat Internet attacks. “We are being attacked from Africa, Europe and even the United States, but the problem is that Jordanian authorities are unable to chase culprits or investigate further without help from other countries,” he lamented. —Media Line

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Turkey’s relations with the West solid By Ozgur Ogret he recent social unrest that led to the Turkish government’s verbal barrage against Western countries has placed Turkey’s relations with those nations into question. Led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been accusing those countries and their media outlets of exaggerating or even masterminding the protests which began in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and spread throughout the nation. Local experts differ over to what extent these accusations will impact on Turkey’s relationship with the West. Nuh Yilmaz, foreign news editor for the daily newspaper The Star, compared Turkey’s foreign policy with that of former French President Charles De Gaulle, suggesting that, “[Turkey] is a country that maintains its relations with the West in some way but defines its priorities by looking out for its own interests. In that sense, it is neither pro- or anti- the West.” Yilmaz believes that while the Turkish government has been using stronger language against the West of late, it will not lead to a policy change. According to Yilmaz, the Turkish government believes the civil unrest was blown out of proportion by the foreign media and some governments may be behind this, but nothing has happened to affect Ankara’s relations with Washington. “The US may voice some concerns but will

maintain its strategic ties with Turkey,” he opined. “The best example of that would be the talk between President Barack Obama and Erdogan over what policy should be followed regarding Syria, and the ensuing decision to continue working together on this issue.” Ties with Germany, whose relations with Turkey have been stressed for some time, might have been another area of concern. “However, I do not think that tension will be the same with entire West. This is not the stance of the whole European Union,” he said. As proof, Yilmaz cited the latest round in Turkey’s long campaign for membership in the European Union which began on Wednesday. Ceyda Karan, columnist and news analyst for the daily Taraf disagreed, saying officials are more concerned about Turkey’s relationship with the US than with getting accepted to the EU. “The government is paying more attention to the US, which is much more determinative in both financial and political means in the whole region and the global system,” she told The Media Line. Karan added that the current administration and its constituency have always had a deep suspicion of the West, perceiving it as a threat to Turkey. At the same time, she believes the west is confused about the Middle East, demanding both free market economies and a pro-Western culture. “This creates a useful ground in domestic politics,” she added. “Then you can spread propaganda

about how the foreigners glorify you while at the same time spreading a message that is picked up by grassroots supporters when events occur that do not serve your position.” Karan does not believe the AKP understands the disadvantages of distancing Turkey from the West in order to keep voters loyal. While she said it was “not possible to set a date,” she believes the recent developments are “the beginning of the end” of Turkey’s relations with the West. “Cutting ties with the West is not possible no matter what the government’s foreign policy may be,” economist Emre Deliveli told The Media Line. “Turkey is still selling 40 percent of its exports to the European Union; and as much as 50 percent when the whole continent is included, let alone the exports to the US,” he noted. Although relations with the EU are not what they used to be, “the ties regarding both commerce and hot money are there to stay,” Deliveli said. The story is no different regarding foreign direct investment, where the American and European shares in this category far exceed foreign investment from other parts of the world, he added. “Even if the social unrest continues and Turkey finds itself on a collision course with the West in term of rights and freedoms, that would not be the issue to disturb the foreign investor so long as political stability is preserved, Deliveli noted. “This may sound cold, but the foreign investor does not care how democratic Turkey is or isn’t,”

he said. Turkey is not indispensable for the hedge funds, for example. They can leave Turkey and go somewhere else but there are many companies which have made solid, long-term investments in Turkey, he pointed out. “They would not leave Turkey unless political stability is gravely disrupted,” he predicted. Political Scientist Maya Arakon told The Media Line that she believes that, “Turkey’s foreign policy towards the West has been something like: ‘I am your gateway to the Middle East, pay attention to me,’ since the very beginning and frankly, I don’t think that will change.” A neo-liberal party like the AKP cannot cut ties with either the EU or the US when its politics are so deeply rooted in economic relations,” according to Arakon. “This is all about the upcoming elections,” she said. “The ruling administration is making a play for the domestic vote.” Arakon recalled what is popularly known as the “One Minute Incident” - when Prime Minister Erdogan launched a verbal assault at Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in 2009, and how the widely-covered incident boosted support for the AKP among voters. The AKP is made up of experienced politicians aware of how important relations with the West are, but who want to compensate for the loss of prestige with the Gezi Park incidents, at least domestically. That is the reason for this current harsh tone toward the West, Arakon said.—Media Line

Move over Facebook! Socialpalz’s here! By Abdurrahman Shamlan ored with Facebook? Twitter not your thing? That’s what 24-yearold Yemeni computer programmer Saeed Al-Faqieh thought about the existing popular social networks, so he and a colleague took what seemed like the next logical step - they created their own. Socialpalz is the name of the new social network. It is a mixture of old and new features allowing users in the same area of expertise or study, or those who share common interests and hobbies to swap knowledge, exchange ideas and stay connected to each other. “I’m not the kind of man who spends long hours on Facebook or Twitter,” founder and CEO Faquieh told The Media Line. “I use them, but have always felt something was missing and frustrated when I was not able to access the material I needed about information technology, my area of specialization. My aim was to keep myself up to date with everything new. I know many people feel the same way I felt. That’s what drove me to establishing another social network that provides such service,” he added. After months of thinking about how to present his idea, Faqieh enlisted his former chief business competitor, Maher Al-Rahomie, 23, and convinced him to be his partner. The two then enlisted a nine-member young staff from Sanaa and Aden and successfully launched Socialpalz late last month. “It has not even been a month since we launched Socialpalz and we already have more than 13,000 users from around the world. This figure is rapidly increasing...We expect more user

turnout in the coming days and months,” Faqieh told The Media Line. “We expect that by the end of this year we will have approximately 400,000 to 500,000 users. I think we may even exceed that number,” he added “According to our estimates, at least one million users will join Socialpalz every year.” What’s new about it? Socialpalz is unique in the categories it offers on classified pages of expertise. There is a page for business, engineering, health, sports, entrepreneurship, tourism, and many others. These categories allow users who have common interests or hobbies to provide information and exchange knowledge seamlessly. They also allow users of other categories to obtain information on a certain topic to access information related to any field easily when they want to. The new network borrowed a little from other social networking sites. “Socialpalz combined some of LinkedIn’s career and business characteristics, Facebook ’s social sharing aspect, and Twitter’s speed in breaking news together with other new original features. Many people from different parts of the world showed a great deal of interest in our social network,” AlFaqieh told The Media Line. “We have received hundreds of calls in the past three weeks from the US, Germany, UK, Egypt and Lebanon,” he says proudly. “ They contacted us to either ask about or congratulate us on Socialpalz. We have also received some business offers - some wanted to advertise, and one was even seeking to buy the network from us.” They refused all the offers because they “realized that

business offers can come at a later stage, not now,” he told The Media Line. Initially he thought he would make the social network for Yemeni youth and then for all Arabs, but then decided not to restrict it and instead to make it a universal social service. Reflecting their commitment to the network, Socialpalz is currently funded by its two young founders’ salaries from other jobs, which they use to pay their young employees, all in their early twenties. Faqieh works as a freelance computer programmer and Al-Rahomie as an instructor of English at a top-paying language institutes. Faqieh said he also sold his car to help finance their new baby on the Web. Faqieh refused to say how much creating the network has cost until now, but said it has cost substantial amounts of money. The pair is currently applying the finishing touches to their soon to be opened office. For now, his young employees are all working from home. Another unique feature of Socialpalz is giving employers free access to jobseekers’ resumes. It also gives them free space to advertise jobs and let job-seekers easily know about any openings. Other features include giving the users the chance to design their own page and then add many pages in their account. Despite the rosy picture the two draw of what’s ahead, it remains to be seen whether Socialpalz, which is currently available in Arabic and English, will succeed. Media Line readers can try it out for themselves by going to its website, www.socialpalz.com, where they easily join by following instructions there on how to set up an account.

Users gave mixed reviews to Socialpalz. “I certainly think that the network is going to be a great success,” Asma Mohammed, 23, told The Media Line. “The best thing in the network is the categories, which make it easy for you to access any information in a specific field easily. But here is also a problem because some users can publish false information and we have to make sure which information is correct and which is false and misleading. The more users join Socialpalz, the more people are going to be interested in the network,” she said. “If people in charge of Socialpalz keep coming up with creative ideas and manage to attract millions of users in those few years, I think Socialpalz will one day be more popular than Facebook and Twitter. It was a good idea and I think it will succeed.” Accountant Ahmed Qasem, however, did not sound excited about the new network. “So far the Socialpalz network hasn’t added anything very interesting to the social network sites. And quite frankly, Socialpalz in its current form is incomplete,” he told The Media Line. “Yes, it has some good and creative features like the categories, but it still lacks basic features in social networking sites such as chatting or Smarrtphone applications. “It’s too early for us to know whether one day Scoialpalz will compete with Facebook or Twitter. But I don’t think much of it in its current format,” said Qassem. For now, however, its developers have high hopes for their network. Says a confident Faqieh: “I think Socialpalz will soon be competing strongly with other social networking sites, and will become very popular.” — Media Line

NEWS

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Pigeons fly outside Shah-Do Shamshira mosque in Kabul yesterday. — AP

Deadline looms for illegal expats in Saudi... Continued from Page 1 Sharon, a Filipina maid, stood queuing in the scorching heat outside her country’s embassy in Riyadh. “I’m trying to renew my passport as I am desperate to find an employer to sponsor me and keep me in the kingdom,” she said. “I’ve provided fingerprints and obtained a travel document, in case I don’t get my passport ready in time,” the 38-year-old said. But 25-year-old Anne, also from the Philippines, was concerned. “I have a travel document in hand, but I cannot find a seat on a flight to Manila. I am anxious to be with my daughter who I haven’t seen in four years and hold her in my arms,” she told AFP. In Jeddah, the commercial capital, Indonesian worker Ali Rahman stood outside Jakarta’s consulate, desperately waiting to finalise his documents. “I’ve lost hope unless the amnesty is extended to after July 3,” he said. “There are still hundreds of us waiting here for consular formalities. And once completed, the paperwork has to go to the immigration authorities and the labour ministry.” It is a worrying time for the workers, most of whom are from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, but with some from Yemen and Egypt too. They are fearful of the campaign of arrests promised by authorities once the amnesty expires. Saudi Arabia, the world’s

largest oil exporter, is a goldmine for millions of people from poor Asian and Arab countries where unemployment is high. According to official statistics, eight million expatriates work in the kingdom. The new labour ministry regulations aim to reduce the number of foreign workers to create jobs for millions of unemployed Saudis. Although the country has the largest Arab economy, its unemployment rate is above 12.5 percent. Saudi Arabia has warned employers who continue to shelter illegal workers that they risk up to two years in prison. Economic analyst Fadhl Al-Bouainain said the move will benefit both Saudis and foreign workers. “This will help reorganise the labour market to promote the work of Saudis and protect foreign workers from the abuse of sponsors,” he said. However, he warned that the massive departure of tens of thousands of workers will “negatively impact business”, pointing out that some sectors, including construction, “are not attractive for Saudis” who want better paid positions. He said the labour ministry should reduce by “at least 30 percent the number of workers in the kingdom, if the campaign is to be successful”. Another expert, Abdulwahab Abu Dahesh, was more sceptical of the amnesty’s touted benefits. “As foreigners do more low-paid jobs, replacing them with Saudis will not be quick and the impact on the national economy will take some time.” — AFP

Egypt army gives Morsi 48 hours to share... Continued from Page 1 The army is held in high regard, especially after it helped topple Mubarak. On Cairo’s Tahrir Square, thousands celebrated the army’s move: “We want a new armed forces council to govern until new elections,” said accountant Mohamed Ibrahim, 50. “The army alone supports the legitimate revolutionary will of the people.” Amr Moussa, a liberal politician and former foreign minister who stood in last year’s presidential election, said: “The invitation to meet the demands of the people within the next few hours is a historic opportunity which should not be lost.” It was the second time in just over a week that the armed forces had issued a formal warning to the politicians, piling pressure on Morsi to concede power-sharing with the liberal, secular and left-wing opposition. Analysts said the military intervention could serve Morsi if he wished to compromise, but it risked emboldening his opponents to harden their demands, at the risk of triggering a coup. “The ultimatum has the ring of a potential coup,” said Yasser Al-Shimy of the International Crisis Group think-tank. “What makes it not a coup is it gives time for the politicians to sort out their differences.” The second biggest Islamist group in parliament, the Nour Party, said it feared the return of army rule “in a big way”. The armed forces have played an important role in Egyptian politics since army officers staged the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952. After the destruction of its offices, the Brotherhood which operated underground until the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011, said it was considering how best to defend itself. Sunday’s mass rallies were bigger than anything seen since the Arab Spring uprising. Smaller crowds returned to Tahrir Square and other gathering points yesterday afternoon. Five non-Brotherhood government ministers tendered their resignations from the cabinet, apparently in sympathy with the protesters, underlining a sense of isolation for the party that won a series of elections last year. “Both sides are still in their trenches,” a senior European diplomat said just before the military statement. Eight people died in a night of fighting around the Brotherhood headquarters, where guards fired on youths hurling rocks and fire bombs. A Brotherhood official said two of its members were hurt. Another eight people were killed and 731 injured in clashes around the country on Sunday. Unknown attackers also firebombed the headquarters of the moderate Islamist Wasat party allied with the Brotherhood. The party called in a statement for dialogue among all parties. Security sources said security forces arrested 15 bodyguards of Brotherhood deputy leader Khairat El-Shater after an exchange of gunfire with them outside his home. The guards are suspected of illegal possession of firearms used in the shooting at the movement’s headquarters, the sources said. The Brotherhood’s political wing denied the arrests, saying only Khater’s driver had been “kid-

napped”. The Brotherhood’s official spokesman told Reuters that the attack had crossed a red line of violence and among possible responses might be to revive “selfdefence committees” former during the 2011 uprising. “The people will not sit silent,” Gehad El-Haddad said. Morsi’s movement complained at the lack of police protection, which can only heighten its sense of being under siege from both the liberal opposition and state officialdom inherited from the old regime. Liberal protest organisers, who declared Morsi ousted by people power on Sunday, said they hoped people would stay in the streets until Morsi left. Morsi, who has not appeared in person, earlier renewed offers via allies of dialogue and pledged to work with a new parliament if disputes over election rules can be ironed out. But he has so far offered no substantial concessions. The opposition does not trust the Islamist movement, which critics accuse of using a series of electoral victories to monopolise power. They want a total reset of the rules of a democracy imperfectly worked out over the past two years. The massive protests showed that the Brotherhood has not only alienated liberals and secularists by seeking to entrench Islamic rule, notably in a new constitution, but has also angered millions of Egyptians with economic mismanagement. Tourism and investment have dried up, inflation is rampant and fuel supplies are running short, with power cuts lengthening in the summer heat and motorists spending hours fuelling cars. The cost of insuring government debt against default surged to record highs. Forward contracts indicated a significant fall for the pound against the dollar. Some uniformed policemen marched among protesters in Cairo and Alexandria, chanting “the police and the people are one”, and several senior officers addressed the Tahrir Square crowd. An independent police association said they stood with demonstrators and would not let them down. “The Egyptian people will not fight this battle alone but will be supported by the judiciary, the national police and the armed forces,” the Police Club statement said. Adding to the failure to protect the Brotherhood headquarters, that cast doubt on whether Morsi could rely on the security forces to clear the streets if he gave the order. The United States and the European Union have urged Morsi to share power with the opposition, saying only a national consensus can help Egypt overcome a severe economic crisis and build democratic institutions. US President Barack Obama renewed a call for Morsi and his adversaries to cooperate, just as Sisi’s statement was made. Obama did not take a position on whether it was time for Morsi to go, but called on his government to reach out to the opposition. “What is clear right now is that although Mr Morsi was elected democratically, there is more work to be done to create the conditions in which everybody feels their voices are heard,” he said. The Pentagon, which funds the Egyptian army heavily, said it could not speculate on what was about to happen in Egypt. — Agencies

New petition to suspend polls filed Continued from Page 1 Al-Turaiji, members of the scrapped opposition-dominated Assembly elected in Feb 2012. Adasani said after ﬁling his papers that he has decided to take part after the constitutional court conﬁrmed the controversial amendment to the electoral law. Among other prominent candidates were senior liberal former MP Marzouk Al-Ghanem, former minister and MP Hussein Al-Huraiti and former Salaf Islamist MP Ali AlOmair. They also included Abdulrahman Al-Jeeran and Saud Al-Khuraiji, members of the scrapped Assembly.

Ghanem, a member of the liberal Labour Action Bloc, told reporters that all disputes must now be resolved within the constitutional framework after the constitutional court upheld the electoral law amendment. The former lawmaker called on voters to participate in the next election as he described the next Assembly as very crucial and expected it to make key achievements. Omair also called on voters to participate saying there is no more justiﬁcation for the boycott. The former lawmaker said it was premature to announce contesting the speaker’s post, adding he wanted to see the composition of the Assembly ﬁrst. Registration of candidates closes on Saturday.

Snowden seeking asylum in Russia Continued from Page 1 Sheremetyevo airport and submitted a request from Snowden about granting him asylum,” consulate officer Kim Shevchenko told AFP. Sarah Harrison is an employee of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who accompanied Snowden on his June 23 trip from Hong Kong, where the former NSA contractor leaked details of the US surveillance program after leaving his job in Hawaii. Putin appeared to respond to Snowden’s request yesterday by saying at a news conference that Snowden, who is wanted in the United States on charges of espionage, must stop leaking information damaging Washington if he wants to stay in Russia. “Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” Putin said when grilled by reporters about the fate of the leaker believed to be holed up in the airport’s transit zone since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. “If he (Snowden) wants to remain here there is one condition - he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me,” Putin said. But Putin, whose comments came before the announcement by the consular officer that Snowden had applied for asylum, himself appeared to indicate that was an unlikely scenario. “Because he feels like a rights activist and defender of human rights all indications are that he is not going to stop this work. So he has to choose a country of residence for himself and move there.” The Russian president reiterated Snowden was not a Moscow agent and was not working with Russian special services. US President Barack Obama yesterday confirmed that there were high-level consultations between Moscow and Washington over Snowden’s fate. “We have gone through regular, law enforcement channels in enforcing the extradition request that we have made with respect to Mr Snowden,” he said while on his African visit. “Mr Snowden, we understand, has traveled there without a valid passport, without legal papers. We are hopeful that the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel.” Putin

had previously refused to immediately hand over Snowden to Washington due to the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries. The head of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev earlier yesterday said that Putin and Obama had ordered the chiefs of their respective security agencies, the FSB and FBI, to find a way out of the diplomatic deadlock. “Of course, (Putin and Obama) don’t have a solution now that would work for both sides, so they have ordered the FSB director (Alexander) Bortnikov and FBI director Robert Mueller to keep in constant contact and find solutions,” Patrushev told television channel Rossiya 24. “I have to point out however that the task ahead of them is not easy, because they have to find a solution within the framework of international legal norms, and today one cannot say that such norms exist, and that there is a ready solution,” Patrushev added. Putin also hinted yesterday Snowden might be swapped for another figure, saying that the only instance Moscow has given out people to other countries was “when we exchanged our intelligence officers for those people who were detained, arrested, and convicted in the Russian Federation”. Putin had last month reportedly sent a letter to Obama ahead of the G8 summit in Ireland, in which he listed a series of problems in ties with Washington. The letter mentioned Russians Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted and jailed in the United States, reported Kommersant broadsheet. The two convicted Russian citizens could both be bargaining chips in the current negotiations between Washington and Moscow over Snowden, said Dmitry Trenin, the head of Moscow Carnegie Center think tank. “If I was handling the negotiations, I would propose an exchange for Bout and Yaroshenko,” he told AFP. “Another option is signing an agreement about mutual extradition, something the Americans don’t want.” Snowden arrived in Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23 for a layover on his way to Latin America, possibly Ecuador, in a bid to escape extradition to the United States. However, Ecuador President Rafael Correa said on Sunday that “the solution of Snowden’s destination” was in the hands of Russian authorities. — AFP

US wildfire rages after killing 19... Continued from Page 1 will remember the brave men of the Granite Mountain hotshots.” The raging fire has ripped through more than 8,000 acres some 135 km north of Phoenix, up from 2,000 late Sunday, and was zero percent contained, officials said. High winds were expected to worsen the blaze, complicating the task for the some 400 firefighters now battling it, up from 200 on Sunday. “It’s a very difficult situation,” said Arizona land management spokesman Dennis Godfrey. “The high winds are a real danger .. It’s even a greater danger when those winds are shifting directions.” The dead firefighters’ names were not immediately released by authorities, but Juliann Ashcraft told the AZ Central website that her husband Andrew died in the blaze. “They died heroes .. We’ll miss them. We love them,” said Ashcraft, who learned about the tragedy while watching TV with her four children. Another of the victims was named as Kevin Woyjeck, 21, the son of a Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) captain, according to LACFD inspector Tony Aikens. The US southwest has seen soaring temperatures, with records broken over the weekend in Arizona and California, and this year’s wildfire season had already proved deadly elsewhere in the tinder-dry region. Officials said the deaths were under investigation but that the firefighters appeared to have deployed fire shelters last-ditch protection equipment - just before they were engulfed in flames. “It’s a very elite group of people who are highly trained, highly motivated, very fit... We don’t

know what happened,” Wade Ward, a visibly shocked Prescott Fire Department spokesman, told CNN early Monday. Hundreds of residents of Yarnell and Peeples Valley were meanwhile evacuated, officials said on a fire alert website, as the blaze continued to tear through the area. Figures from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) show that the Arizona deaths are the worst firefighter fatalities from a wildfire since 29 died fighting a blaze in Los Angeles’s Griffith Park in 1933. Federal help was set to arrive yesterday, local news site the Arizona Republic reported, but officials expected that at least 250 homes - about half the town of Yarnell - would be destroyed by the inferno. A Facebook page has been created in memory of the fallen firefighters, showing a picture of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew from Prescott, Arizona, with 19 people in the photo. The Yarnell Hill wildfire is the worst of several raging across Arizona and comes two weeks after two people died and 360 homes burned down in the western state of Colorado’s most destructive blaze ever. Record and near-record temperatures left much of the US southwest sweltering over the weekend, with Death Valley in California equaling the hottest ever June temperature in the United States, at 53 Celsius. The wildfire season in the southwest flared up earlier than usual this year, with California, Arizona and New Mexico the hardest hit. As of yesterday, there were over 40 active blazes in the four states, according to the inciweb fire information website. — AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

S P ORT S Ethiopia lose three points BERNE: South Africa were thrown a World Cup qualifying lifeline yesterday after rivals Ethiopia were docked three points by FIFA for fielding an ineligible player in a match against Botswana. In a statement released by soccer’s world governing body, FIFA said that Minyahile Beyene should not have played in Ethiopia’s 2-1 win as he was suspended for accumulated yellow cards. As a result, Botswana were declared winners of the Group A game by a 3-0 margin and Ethiopia, who had gone five points clear of South Africa at the top with one match each to play, had their previously unassailable lead cut to two points. Ethiopia are still favorites to top the group as they visit the Central African Republic in their final game on Sept. 6 while South Africa host Botswana on the same day. Ethiopia, who have never qualified for the World Cup, were also fined 6,000 Swiss francs ($6,300) for the mix-up, FIFA said. They had already admitted the mistake. The winners of the 10 African groups will then take part in two-leg playoffs to determine the continent’s five representatives in Brazil next year. Sudan and Gabon have already forfeited matches for fielding ineligible players in the qualifiers and there are also cases against Togo and Equatorial Guinea which could also have significant effects on their respective groups. — Reuters

Qatari elected to replace Kalmadi as AAA president NEW DELHI: Qatar’s Dahlan Jumaan Al-Hamad was elected yesterday to replace India’s scandal-tainted sports administrator Suresh Kalmadi as president of the Asian Athletics Association. Kalmadi, who has been president of the association since 2000 and was seeking a fourth term, spent nine months in jail awaiting trial for graft charges related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. Athletics associations from 45 Asian countries took part in the election yesterday in the western Indian city of Pune. AlHamad, 56, received votes from 20 countries, while Kalmadi got 18 votes. “As president of the Asia association, my objective will be to promote our sport in Asia,” Al-Hamad said. Kalmadi, 69, has been charged with forgery, cheating and conspiracy for illegally awarding a contract to install a timing and results system for the Commonwealth Games that caused a loss of more than $18 million to the government. The 2010 event was marred by construction delays and a budget that ballooned to $15 billion from an initial estimate of $412 million. — AP

Schumacher wins at Joliet JOLIET: Tony Schumacher’s engine exploded in a fireball Sunday as he crossed the finish line to win the Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Schumacher, the seven-time season champion from nearby Long Grove, raced to his third victory of the season and the 72nd of his career. He finished in 3.930 seconds at 269.29 mph to hold off Clay Millican and regain the season points lead. “It’s always great to have a hometown win here in Chicago,” Schumacher said after his fourth victory at track south of Chicago. “It was a great day for Don Schumacher Racing with another double-up (Matt Hagan’s Funny Car win). This is 37 times that we’ve done that, and it was personally gratifying with all the friends I had here this weekend.” Hagan extended his Funny Car series lead with his third win of the season, edging 64-year-old John Force at the finish line. Hagan’s Dodge Charger posted a 4.605 at 315.34, while Force’s Ford Mustang finished in 4.113 at 304.80. Jeg Coughlin topped the Pro Stock field, and Michael Ray won in Pro Stock Motorcycle. In Pro Stock, Coughlin raced to his second win of the season and fifth at Route 66 Raceway when he drove his Dodge Avenger away from final round opponent Greg Anderson. Coughlin covered the distance in 6.603 at 209.85, while Anderson’s Chevy Camaro lost traction near mid-track. It was Coughlin’s 54th career victory. —AP

Dodgers pound Phillies LOS ANGELES: Yasiel Puig capped his sensational first month in the major leagues with his first fourhit game and Stephen Fife scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in the National League on Sunday. Puig finished June with 44 hits, surpassing the 42 by Pittsburgh’s Bob Elliott in September 1939 for the second-most in a player’s first full calendar month in Major League Baseball. Joe DiMaggio had 48 in May 1936. Puig also eclipsed the Los Angeles Dodgers’ record for most hits in a month by a rookie, set by Steve Sax in August 1982. The Cuban-born right fielder got his first MLB triple in the fifth inning and scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s double for a 4-0 lead. AJ Ellis had three hits, including an RBI double, and threw out two baserunners to help the Dodgers to their eighth victory in nine games. Fife (3-2) had five strikeouts in his second straight win.

BALTIMORE: Pitcher Chris Tillman No. 30 of the Baltimore Orioles works the first inning against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park. — AFP

Orioles dump Yankees BALTIMORE: Chris Davis set a franchise record by hitting his 31st home run before the All-Star break as the Baltimore Orioles beat the skidding New York Yankees 4-2 in the American League on Sunday for a threegame sweep. Manny Machado and Nate McLouth also homered for the Orioles, who increased their MLB-leading total to 115. Davis’ secondinning drive against Hiroki Kuroda (7-6) broke Brady Anderson’s franchise record for home runs before the All-Star Game. Anderson had 30 in 1996 en route to finishing with a teamrecord 50. Robinson Cano homered for the Yankees, who have lost five straight - matching their longest losing streak of the year - and 13 of 18. Chris Tillman (10-2) gave up two runs on five hits over six innings to win his sixth straight start and reach a career high for wins in a season. Jim Johnson worked the ninth to earn his 28th save. INDIANS 4, WHITE SOX 0 In Chicago, Justin Masterson pitched his MLB-leading third shutout of the season as Cleveland completed its first four-game sweep in Chicago since 1948. Masterson (10-6) gave up six hits, struck out eight and walked one. He blanked the White Sox for the second time this year. The Indians turned four double plays. The win moved Cleveland into a virtual tie with Detroit atop the AL Central division. The White Sox have lost 23 of 31 and fallen a season-high 15 games under .500. Chris Sale (57) struck out 10 while allowing three runs in eight innings. RAYS 3, TIGERS 1 In St Petersburg, Jeremy Hellickson earned his fifth June win as the Tampa Bay Rays beat Detroit in a game that included an early warning by the umpires. Hellickson (7-3) allowed one run over sixplus innings. He tied the team record for victories in one month held by Matt Moore, David Price and Scott Kazmir. Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 17th save. Miguel Cabrera hit his 25th homer this season for the Tigers, sending a shot into a fish tank beyond the wall. Both benches were warned by plate umpire Vic Carapazza after Rick Porcello (4-6) hit Ben Zobrist with a pitch in the first. Both dugouts stayed calm and nothing further developed. A day earlier, Cabrera yelled at the Tampa Bay dugout after he struck out in the 10th inning. Rodney had thrown a high-and-tight fastball before fanning the Tigers star. ROYALS 9, TWINS 8 In Minneapolis, David Lough hit three doubles, then launched a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning that led the Kansas City Royals over Minnesota. Lough hit his second homer of the season, sending a solo drive off Jared Burton (1-5) into the right-field seats for an 8-7 lead. Eric Hosmer added a solo homer in the ninth for the Royals. Johnny Giavotella had three hits. Aaron Crow (5-3) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings. Greg Holland got his 17th save in 19 chances despite giving up a home run to Trevor Plouffe in the ninth. RED SOX 5, BLUE JAYS 4 In Boston, Shane Victorino’s hard grounder eluded first baseman Josh Thole for an error as pinch-runner Jonathan Diaz raced home with the winning run in the ninth inning to lead the Boston Red Sox over Toronto. Jose Bautista tied it in the ninth against Koji Uehara (1-0) with a solo homer, his 19th of the season and third in two games. Brandon Snyder singled with one out in the bottom half against Juan Perez (1-1),

Jacoby Ellsbury walked and Casey Janssen relieved. Diaz ran for Snyder and Thole, who had entered in the third when Adam Lind left with back tightness, couldn’t handle Victorino’s shot. Boston won for the fifth time in six games and improved to an American League-best 50-34. Toronto has lost five of seven. Jose Reyes homered for the Blue Jays. ANGELS 3, ASTROS 1 In Houston, Josh Hamilton doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and scored on shortstop Jake Elmore’s overthrow, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat Houston and extend their winning streak to six. CJ Wilson (8-5) won his fourth straight start and Mark Trumbo hit his 18th homer for the Angels, who swept three-game series at Detroit and Houston for their first undefeated road trip of at least six games since 2002. Wilson allowed an unearned run and three hits and struck out 10 in seven innings. Ernesto Frieri got his 21st save. Jose Cisnero (2-1) took the loss. RANGERS 3, REDS 2 In Arlington, Yu Darvish struck out eight in 6 2-3 scoreless innings for his first victory in eight starts and the Texas Rangers scored twice on a squeeze bunt to beat Cincinnati. Darvish (8-3) won for the first time since May 16, ending his longest professional winless drought - in his two years with the Rangers or seven in Japan before that. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 2.93 ERA in those seven games, when Texas scored only 12 runs while he was on the mound. The Rangers scored off Mat Latos (7-2) when Elvis Andrus bunted in the fifth. Latos made a barehanded grab and scoop in one motion. The toss home hit the earflap of Engel Beltre, who was still down on the ground when Leonys Martin also scored as the ball rolled away. The Rangers have won 10 of 13. Cincinnati has lost seven of nine. ATHLETICS 7, CARDINALS 5 In Oakland, Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson homered and Tommy Milone overcame a rocky start to win for the first time in nearly four weeks as the Oakland Athletics held off St. Louis. Donaldson reached base four times for the A’s, who padded their American League-best home record by taking two of three in this interleague series. Oakland has won 16 of its last 19 games at the Coliseum. Milone (7-7) gave up three home runs and pitched with runners in scoring position in four of his six innings. Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his 19th save. Carlos Beltran, Allen Craig and Matt Carpenter all homered for the Cardinals. Oakland had seven extra-base hits - five off St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook (4-3). CUBS 7, MARINERS 6 In Seattle, Alfonso Soriano and Darwin Barney each doubled twice and the Chicago Cubs built a six-run lead before topping Seattle. Anthony Rizzo drove in two runs and the Cubs tied a season high by hitting six doubles. Chicago led 7-1 after four innings. The Cubs’ bullpen, which has blown 16 save chances this season, gave up three runs in the eighth. Edwin Jackson (4-10) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing three runs and seven hits and striking out six. Jason Bay homered for the Mariners and Brad Miller doubled twice for his first MLB hits. Jeremy Bonderman (1-2) was chased after giving up six runs - four earned - and six hits in 3 1-3 innings. It was his shortest start since going 2 1-3 innings on July 29, 2007 with Detroit. — AP

PIRATES 2, BREWERS 1 In Pittsburgh, pinch-hitter Russell Martin singled home the winning run in the 14th inning, lifting Pittsburgh to its ninth straight victory. The Pirates extended their longest winning streak since 2004, when they took 10 in a row. Pittsburgh reached the midpoint of its season with the best record in MLB at 51-30. Gaby Sanchez led off the 14th with an infield single. With one out, he stole second for his first steal in more than a year. After a walk, Martin hit a soft liner to center off Francisco Rodriguez (1-1) and Sanchez ran around third and slid home ahead of the throw by Carlos Gomez. Tony Watson (2-1) struck out four in three hitless innings as six Pirates relievers held Milwaukee scoreless over the final 11 innings. GIANTS 5, ROCKIES 2 In Denver, Madison Bumgarner scattered four hits over seven innings and Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer to help San Francisco end its longest losing streak in three years. The Giants had lost six straight, their longest losing streak since dropping seven in a row from June 26-July 1, 2010. Bumgarner (8-5) struck out five and walked three, improving to 4-1 with a 2.18 ERA in his last five starts. Sergio Romo pitched a one-hit ninth for his 19th save in 21 chances. Colorado’s Michael Cuddyer singled in the eighth off Sandy Rosario, extending his hitting streak to 27 games, the longest in Rockies history and in MLB this season. He has reached base safely in a team-record 45 straight games. Drew Pomeranz (01) allowed four runs, seven hits and four walks in 4 1-3 innings. BRAVES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 2 In Atlanta, Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Brian McCann homered, powering Atlanta past Arizona for a three-game sweep in the matchup of division leaders. Paul Maholm (9-6) gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings for the NL East division-leading Braves, who improved to an MLB-best 28-11 at home. Trevor Cahill (3-10) allowed six runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings as the NL West-leading Diamondbacks lost for the fifth time in six games. Cahill is 0-6 with a 7.91 ERA in eight starts since a May 17 win at Miami. Arizona has gone 22 straight games without a win from its rotation, the longest streak in MLB since San Diego went 25 in row from April 17-May 14, 2009. NATIONALS 13, METS 2 In New York, Gio Gonzalez pitched seven

BOSTON: Jose Bautista No. 19 of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a double in the 9th inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. — AFP

MLB results/standings Washington 13, NY Mets 2; Miami 6, San Diego 2; Boston 5, Toronto 4; Atlanta 6, Arizona 2; Pittsburgh 2, Milwaukee 1 (14 innings); Tampa Bay 3, Detroit 1; Kansas City 9, Minnesota 8; LA Angels 3, Houston 1; Cleveland 4, Chicago White Sox 0; Texas 3, Cincinnati 2; Oakland 7, St. Louis 5; Chicago Cubs 7, Seattle 6; San Francisco 5, Colorado 2; LA Dodgers 6, Philadelphia 1; Baltimore 4, NY Yankees 2. American League National League Eastern Division Eastern Division W L PCT GB Atlanta 48 34 .585 Boston 50 34 .595 Washington 41 40 .506 6.5 Baltimore 47 36 .566 2.5 Philadelphia 39 44 .470 9.5 Tampa Bay 43 39 .524 6 NY Mets 33 45 .423 13 NY Yankees 42 39 .519 6.5 Miami 29 51 .363 18 Toronto 40 41 .494 8.5 Central Division Central Division Pittsburgh 51 30 .630 Detroit 43 37 .538 St. Louis 49 32 .605 2 Cleveland 44 38 .537 Cincinnati 46 36 .561 5.5 Kansas City 38 41 .481 4.5 Chicago Cubs 35 45 .438 15.5 Minnesota 36 42 .462 6 Milwaukee 32 48 .400 18.5 Chicago White Sox 32 47 .405 10.5 Western Division Western Division Arizona 42 39 .519 Texas 48 34 .585 Colorado 41 42 .494 2 Oakland 48 35 .578 0.5 San Diego 40 42 .488 2.5 LA Angels 39 43 .476 9 San Francisco 39 42 .481 3 Seattle 35 47 .427 13 LA Dodgers 38 43 .469 4 Houston 30 52 .366 18 shutout innings, Ian Desmond homered off a backup catcher and Washington roughed up rookie Zack Wheeler and the Mets. Adam LaRoche homered and Desmond and Denard Span had RBI doubles in a four-run second to spoil Wheeler’s home debut, which became such a lopsided contest that catcher Anthony Recker pitched the ninth inning. Jayson Werth also homered against the Mets’ touted rookie. The Nationals set a season-high for runs and improved to 4-8-2 in road series by taking two of three. Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run homer and Anthony Rendon had a two-run double when Washington batted around in a six-run eighth. Suzuki also had

an RBI single in the second against Wheeler (1-1). MARLINS 6, PADRES 2 In Miami, Jeff Mathis hit a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning, lifting Miami past San Diego. The Padres deployed a five-infielder, twooutfielder defense for Mathis, and he hit a 1-0 pitch past everyone and into the Padres bullpen. Logan Morrison walked against Tyson Ross (0-4) to start the ninth, took second on a single by Marcell Ozuna, then advanced to third on a flyout. Pinchhitter Greg Dobbs was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Mathis followed with his second home run. Steve Cishek (2-4) pitched a hitless ninth for the win. — AP

Silverstone kerbs not behind tyre blowouts, says Warwick LONDON: Silverstone’s owners hit back yesterday at suggestions that the circuit’s kerbs could be to blame for explosive Pirelli tyre failures at Sunday’s British Formula One Grand Prix. Derek Warwick, President of the British Racing Drivers Club, said he had been out to look at the kerbs and dismissed as “absolute rubbish” reports that sharp edges might have cut the tyre sidewalls. “These kerbs have been in since 2009. We’ve had thousands and thousands of cars go over these kerbs and they have been absolutely fine,” Warwick, an ex-Formula One driver whose brother Paul was killed in a racing accident in 1991, told Sky Sports television. “We’ve had them checked by the FIA (International Automobile Federation) and they comply completely,” he added as a safety debate raged, with talk of a possible driver boycott of the next race in Germany. The Briton said the Silverstone race - in which strips of tread containing metal belts flew off the tyres and narrowly missed the heads of drivers following behind - had at one stage looked like a disaster in the making. “We need to make sure it’s a good race here at Silverstone in order to bring the crowds back for next year so to say I was panicking would be an under-statement,” said Warwick. He pointed the finger at Pirelli, the three teams who prevented the supplier from introducing a

stronger version of the tyres for the race at Silverstone and the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone. “I think Bernie, the FIA and Pirelli are bringing the sport into disrepute and they need to have a serious look at themselves and change these tyres and not expect all the teams to agree,” said Warwick. “Take it out of the teams’ hands and put safe tyres on these cars,” he added. Ferrari, Lotus and Force India have resisted moves to change the construction and compounds of the 2013 tyres, which other teams say are too quick-wearing and not hard enough, because their

SILVERSTONE: Ferrari’s Brazilian driver Felipe Massa shredded tyre is seen in the pits at the Silverstone circuit during the British Formula One Grand Prix. — AFP

cars are working well with them. “The teams need to look at themselves,” said Warwick. “They made the decision not to bring a new tyre. I kind of blame Pirelli but they did their best to bring a new tyre to Silverstone and three teams voted against it.” The Pirelli tyres have come in for considerable criticism this season, with drivers also complaining that they have to pace themselves to make them last rather than racing flat out. Pirelli have pointed out they are merely doing what they were asked to do to improve the show, providing tyres that encourage overtaking and force more pitstops. When they tried to change them, they were prevented from doing so. The company has also chafed at the sporting regulations, which ban teams from track testing during the season and using their current cars to test with Pirelli. The Italian company was reprimanded by the FIA last month for carrying out a ‘secret’ tyre test with Mercedes in Spain. Warwick, who played down talk of a possible driver boycott threatening next weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring, said the Italian company made good tyres but had not lived up to expectations. “Pirelli and Formula One need to have a really good look at themselves and make sure that we have tyres that drivers can drive flat out all the time,” said the Briton. — Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

S P ORT S

Park wins US Women’s Open

BETHESDA: Bill Haas, left, poses with Tiger Woods after winning the AT&T National golf tournament at Congressional Country Club. — AP

Haas keeps winning streak alive BETHESDA: Bill Haas keeps winning the right tournaments to position himself on the periphery of the elite in golf. His three-shot victory Sunday in the AT&T National was his fourth straight season with at least one PGA Tour title, joining a short list with Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose. Some of that is good timing, though to suggest it’s merely a coincidence would be to ignore an abundance of natural talent. The trick is getting to the next level, and Haas knows the way. “Work a little harder,” he said. “This year I think I put in a little bit more work than I have in the previous years - easy to say now that it’s paying off. But all the best players, they’re working hard. And the best players ... there is a level, and I’d love to be a part of that. But the way you guys and the golf world ranks us, it’s by the majors. And I have not had that much success in the majors.” Indeed, Haas has never had a top 10 in a major. For now, he keeps winning on major golf courses. Faced with a rugged test at Congressional, which has hosted four major championships, Haas pulled away from a crowd of contenders with three straight birdies, two good pars and one good hop out of the rough by the 14th green that turned potential bogey into birdie. He wound up with a 5-under 66 and a three-shot win over Robert Castro, who made Haas work hard in the sweltering heat Sunday. Haas thought about a player such as Jason Day, who has only one win in his sixth year on the PGA Tour, but is looked upon now as a contender at the majors because that’s what the Australian has done. Day has finished two shots behind in the Masters twice, and he was runner-up by two shots at the US Open at Merion this year. “I would like to be part of that,” Haas said. “But honestly, I would just like to work hard, see the results, and if the next level comes, then I welcome it.” His last three wins have come at Congressional, Riviera last year and East Lake in 2011, when he won the Tour Championship and captured the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. His next big test will be Muirfield for the British Open. Haas, who finished at 12-under 272, still hasn’t won a tournament with Tiger Woods in the field. Sunday was close. Woods at least was on the property, waiting on the 18th green to give Haas the silver trophy of the US Capitol that the 31-year-old struggled to hoist over his head in the stifling conditions. For a tournament lacking star power Woods withdrew with an elbow injury and Rose withdrew from fatigue after winning the US Open - Haas at least kept up the pedigree of the AT&T National winners. In the sevenyear history of the tournament, the lowestranked player to win was Rose, who was at No. 35 when he won at Aronimink in 2010. Haas was at No. 29. The other winners were K.J. Choi, Anthony Kim, Nick Watney and Woods twice. “This golf course and even Aronimink, too, they’re ball-striker golf courses,” Woods said. “You have to hit your ball well. You look

at our list of champions, they’ve all been pretty good ball-strikers. You just can’t fake it around this golf course. It’s too big and too demanding.” Haas played big and he answered every challenge, including his own demons. He had enough scars this year, such as Riviera and the Memorial, that he never got too excited even when he began to pull away. He knew there was trouble around every corner at Congressional, and he only had to look back one day to realize that. His scorecard on Saturday was a mess - nine birdies but only five pars, along with a triple bogey on the 11th hole, the toughest on the golf course. He rolled in birdie putts from about the 10-foot range on the eighth, ninth and 10th holes to build a two-shot lead, and then stepped to the 11th tee looking for redemption, or at least a par. What gave him as much satisfaction as any birdie was a tee shot in the fairway, a 5-iron to the green and two putts. “I told myself, ‘Great par, but it’s not over yet,’” Haas said. “You can’t breathe a sigh of relief yet. You’ve got to keep hitting good shots. I was able to hit a few nice ones coming in.” He added a pair of birdies and Castro, who matched him shot-for-shot for much of the day, couldn’t stay with him. Castro, part of a four-way tie for the lead going into the final round, closed with a 69 for his best finish on tour. “He didn’t make any mistakes, and the birdies on 9 and 10 were big,” Castro said after his 69. The other leaders fell away. Andres Romero had a double bogey on the fourth hole and shot 75. James Driscoll didn’t make a birdie in his round of 74. Jordan Spieth, the 19-year-old from Texas who needs a win to become a PGA Tour member and be eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs, started his day by holing out from a fairway bunker for eagle and chipping in for birdie to tie for the lead. He dropped a shot at No. 11 - the hardest hole at Congressional about the time Haas was on his critical run of birdies. Spieth had a 69 and finished sixth, pushing his earnings for the year over $1.1 million. DH Lee made nine birdies to match a tournament-best 64 and tied for third with Jason Kokrak, who briefly shared the lead on the front nine and had a 69. Stewart Cink closed with a 67 and finished alone in fifth, his best finish on the PGA Tour in stroke play since he won the British Open four years ago at Turnberry. Haas made the long walk across a makeshift bridge and under the grandstands to the 18th green for the trophy presentation, high-fiving kids along the railing and raising his cap to thousands of fans who cheered as they saw him coming. His win was even sweeter when he compared it with all the times he failed. “As many times as I’ve choked and hit bad shots and I’ve been nervous and it hasn’t worked out - I was feeling all those things today - and to hit good, quality golf shots down the stretch is such a good feeling,” Haas said. “I wish I could explain it. It’s amazing.” — AP

Perry bags first major title at Senior Players PITTSBURGH: Turns out, Kenny Perry had been going at this whole “trying to win a major thing” all wrong. Three times during his otherwise solid professional career, Perry found himself in contention on golf’s biggest stage. Three times, he played too conservatively to win. Not this time. Perry fired a 6-under 64 in the final round to leapfrog Fred Couples on Sunday and win the Senior Players Championship by two shots over Couples and Duffy Waldorf at soggy and defenseless Fox Chapel. “I was trying to make birdies,” said Perry, who didn’t record a bogey over his final 37 holes. “I guess that was a different mindset from before where instead of trying to make pars, I was trying to make birdies.” Ridiculously easy ones at that. Perry knocked it to within a couple of inches on the par-4 16th to take a two-shot lead and followed it up with a 6-iron to 2 feet on the par3 17th. The collapses that befell him in setbacks at the 1996 PGA Championship, the 2009 Masters and the Senior PGA last month never happened. Perry calmly tapped in for par on the par-5 18th to fill the last remaining hole on his resume. Now that he’s finally figured out how to win a major after finishing at 19-under 261, the 52-year-old thinks more may be on the way. “I’m hoping the floodgates are going to open,” Perry said. “But I don’t know, anytime you get into contention you get nervous, you get antsy. But today I had a peace about me. ... If I can kind of draw upon this the next time

I get into the heat of things, hopefully I’ll finish it off like I did today.” Something Couples failed to do yet again in his fourth runner-up finish of the year, including each of the last two majors. The Hall of Famer leads the Champions Tour in putting average, but could generate little magic on Sunday. He began the day with a two-shot cushion, but couldn’t build on it, shooting a lackluster 2-under 68 that included a handful of crucial miscues. Couples drove the green on the short par4 seventh only to three-putt for par. He later knocked it within 8 feet on the 15th only to send his birdie attempt streaking past the hole. He pulled the comebacker to the left and the bogey gave Perry all the opening he would need. “There were a couple shots you always should have back,” Couples said. “The putt on (15) looked so easy and I just hammered it and I kind of flinched at it coming down the hill ... it was a little bit of a sour day the way I played after I teed off.” Perry stuffed a pitching wedge within inches on the 16th, then hit a 6-iron to within 2 feet on the par-3 17th. He tapped in the birdie to maintain his two-stroke lead, then played smartly on the 18th. He left it just short of the green in two and watched as Waldorf and Couples both reached the long par-5. Their long-range eagle attempts never sniffed the cup, and when Perry rolled in his par putt, he thrust the ball in the air in celebration just before the sky opened for one last deluge on the water-logged course. —AP

SOUTHAMPTON: Inbee Park understood the meaning of winning the US Women’s Open much better the second time around. She appreciated, too, the magnitude of this particular accomplishment. On Sunday, Park became the first player in the modern era to win the first three majors of the year. Babe Zaharias did it in 1950 when there were only three to enter. Now there are five. “I didn’t expect myself being in this kind of position, breaking some kind of record that hasn’t been broken for 50 years,” Park said. “I never dreamed of myself doing that.” The world’s top-ranked player finished at 8 under to win by four strokes. Her 2-over 74 in the final round was more than enough, with Sebonack’s trying conditions keeping any rivals from making a run. Only three players were under par for the tournament. Fellow South Korean I.K. Kim also shot 74 for her second runner-up finish at a major. Ahead by four strokes at the start of the round, Park birdied the ninth and 10th holes to extend her lead. She has won six times already this year, including three straight tournaments. Park added to another historic US Women’s Open victory in 2008, when she became the event’s youngest champion at age 19. “I didn’t know what was going on at that time,” Park said. “I played very good golf then, but I didn’t know what I was playing for, and that was just my first win. It was a great championship then, but now I think I really appreciate more and I really know what this means.”So Yeon Ryu shot 72 to finish third at 1 under. South Korean players took the top three spots and have won the last five majors. Ryu and Na Yeon Choi, the last two US Women’s Open champs, sprayed Park with champagne after she made her final putt on the 18th green. With lashing wind and devilish greens, Sebonack was a classically troublesome US Women’s Open course. And once Park built a lead, nobody could mount a charge. She certainly wasn’t going to make enough mistakes to come back to the field. Park had just 10 bogeys and no double bogeys in four rounds. She predicted Saturday that shooting even par in the final round would be enough, and she sure was right. All of four players were under par Sunday though that was still more than the third round, when only Park achieved it. Kim birdied No. 2 to pull within three strokes; she couldn’t claw closer. And when she bogeyed the fourth hole, the deficit was back to four shots. Park bogeyed the sixth and seventh, but so did Kim. Kim had what would have qualified as a sensational week if not for Park, finishing at least three

NEW YORK: Inbee Park, of South Korea, holds the championship trophy after winning the US Women’s Open golf tournament at the Sebonack Golf Club. — AP strokes better than everyone but the player currently dominating the sport. “You can obviously feel for someone like IK Kim who would be winning any other US Open on this golf course if it weren’t for Inbee,” said seven-time major champion Karrie Webb. This was Kim’s fourth top-four finish at a US Women’s Open, but she’s still seeking her first major title. She was a foot away last year at the Kraft Nabisco, then missed a short putt on No. 18 that would have clinched the championship and went on to lose in a playoff. Asked if she feels she’s on the verge of a major breakthrough, Kim paused for a moment then said: “Yeah, to be honest, yeah, it’s time to win it. “But I think things have to come naturally,” she added, “and it’s great to play with Inbee, and she’s doing so well. Seeing her doing it, it just makes me want it more.” Americans Paula Creamer (72) and Angela Stanford (74) and England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff (76) tied for fourth at 1 over. Shadoff was alone in third at 3 under after the third round but opened Sunday with three

straight bogeys. Soon-to-be Oklahoma State player Casie Cathrea shot 70 on Sunday to match Shanshan Feng for the best round of the day and finish as the low amateur at 9 over. Lydia Ko, the 16-year-old New Zealander who won the Canadian Open last August to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner, was next at 11 over. Park also became the second player to win the U.S. Women’s Open after victories in her previous two tournaments. Mickey Wright did it in 1964. The 24-year-old Park won the Kraft Nabisco and LPGA Championship for her first two major titles of the year. Up next is the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews on Aug. 1-4. The Evian Championship is Sept. 12-15. Park won the French event last year before it became a major championship. Park contemplated the current definition of a Grand Slam. “So I think the British Open is one I have to win,” she said. “So it would be great if I could win five, but I still think four means a Grand Slam.” Laughing, she added: “I think four out of five is very big.” — AP

Avalanche opt for MacKinnon NEWARK: The Colorado Avalanche opted for goalscoring over defense, taking Canadian Nathan MacKinnon ahead of top ranked Seth Jones with the first overall pick at an intriguing National Hockey League draft in Newark, New Jersey on Sunday. The suspense in the buildup to draft day intensified as trade rumors swirled around the Prudential Center and the surprises came quickly with MacKinnon taking number one honors. But it was left to the Vancouver Canucks to provide the biggest shock of the opening round when they sent first choice netminder Cory Schneider to the New Jersey Devils for the ninth pick. The deal created shockwaves on both coasts, with Schneider’s arrival in New Jersey casting a cloud over the future of Martin Brodeur, the NHL’s all-time leader in wins and shutouts and disgruntled Canadian Olympic gold medallist Roberto Luongo’s return to number one status in Vancouver. The Avalanche, who ranked near the bottom of the league in scoring last season, could not resist taking the 17-year-old MacKinnon, who hails from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia the same home town as Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. A powerful skater, MacKinnon does not turn 18 until September but possesses the offensive skill that many experts believe will allow him to make the jump to the NHL. “I have a couple more months of training, get ready for training camp and hopefully I can make the team and stick there,” said MacKinnon, the first player taken number one overall out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League since Crosby went first to the Penguins in 2005. “I feel like I can be a good contributor next year. “They’re such a prestigious organization, and I can’t wait to get started with them. Definitely a dream come true.” Described as creative and a fierce competitor capable of elevating his game at the big moments, MacKinnon saw his stock soar leading his junior team the Halifax Mooseheads to the Memorial Cup and being named most valuable player of the championship tournament. With defensemen traditionally taking longer to develop the Avalanche were also looking for a player capable of making an immediate contribution. “Nathan’s lived under the microscope for some time and he’s always lived up to that,” said Joe Sakic, Colorado’s executive vice-president of hockey operations. “He’s the most explosive player in this draft. “He

NEWARK: Nathan MacKinnon (center) puts on his Colorado Avalanche jersey as he stands with head coach Patrick Roy (left) and Joe Sakic (right) after MacKinnon was selected number one overall in the first round by Colorado during the 2013 NHL Draft. — AFP wants to be a difference-maker, he is a differencemaker. We’re extremely excited to have him in our organization.” With the number two overall pick the Florida Panthers also passed on Jones, a big puck moving defenseman, in favor of offense, taking Finland’s Aleksander Barkov. The trend towards offensive players continued with the Tampa Bay Lightning grabbing Jonathan Drouin, a dynamic playmaker who played alongside MacKinnon with the Mooseheads. Jones, the son of former-National Basketball Association journeyman Ronald ‘Popeye’ Jones, finally heard his name called when the Nashville Predators used the fourth overall pick to take the 6-foot-4, 205pound blueliner. Number one in NHL central scouting final rankings, Jones had appeared a perfect fit for the Avalanche. It was in Denver where Popeye Jones spent one of his 11 NBA seasons (1999-2000) with the Nuggets and started his son down the unlikely path to hockey stardom. Jones learned to skate during his time in

Colorado, prompting his father to approach then Avalanche captain Sakic for advice about what to do with a son fascinated by hockey. “First I am going to worry about myself and try and get better and make Nashville next year and second, in a good way, I’m going to try and make those teams regret not taking me,” said Jones. “That’s my job and I’m going to do whatever I can do to help Nashville win.” As usual more than half (17of-30) the first round picks were Canadians while four Americans were taken with two picks each from Finland, Sweden, Russia and Austria and one Swiss. Jones was not the only player selected in the opening round with sporting pedigree. Darnell Nurse, chosen seventh overall by the Edmonton Oilers, is the nephew of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb while Max Domi, taken with the 12th pick by the Phoenix Coyotes, is the son of Tie Domi, who was once one the NHL’s most feared fighters piling up more than 3,500 minutes in penalties in 1,020 career games. — Reuters

Kenseth wins Sprint Cup

SPARTA: Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. —AFP

SPARTA: Matt Kenseth has raced long enough to know that rough starts can still have good outcomes. Especially when his crew chief takes chances. Case in point was Kenseth’s fuel-only pit stop gamble that helped him beat Jimmie Johnson late to win the rescheduled 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Kentucky Speedway. A race that was Johnson’s to lose ultimately became Kenseth’s series-high fourth victory of the season - and third on a 1.5-mile track - after crew chief Jason Ratcliff passed on putting new tires on the No. 20 Toyota following the race’s ninth caution. “I thought he was slightly crazy when that happened,” said Kenseth, who widened his lead when the field went four-wide after the restart on lap 246 and saw Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy spin from second place on a day he led three times for 182 of 267 laps. “I didn’t think there was any way that we were going to hold on for that win. He made the right call at the right time and those guys got it done.” Kenseth led twice for 38 laps, including the final 23. Johnson, the five-time champion and series points leader, finished ninth and leads Carl Edwards by 38. The restart bothered Johnson, who accused Kenseth of breaking the pace car speed. But Johnson took solace in salvaging his 11th top-10 despite between sandwiched in the logjam that could have been worse. “We were kind of in an awkward situation in that restart there,” he said. “We were like three- and four-wide going in the corner, then something happened with the air and just kind of turned me around. Unfortunate, but at least we rallied back for a good

finish.” Second was Jamie McMurray in a Chevy, followed by Clint Bowyer (Toyota), Joey Logano (Ford) and Kyle Busch (Toyota). Rain Saturday night forced NASCAR officials to postpone the race to a daytime start. The event was red-flagged for 18 minutes following a seven-car wreck involving defending race and Sprint Cup winner Brad Keselowski, who returned to finish 33rd. It was the biggest incident of 10 cautions for 42 laps, but things were clean after Johnson brought out the final yellow flag. The checkered flag crowned Kentucky’s third different champion in as many events though Kenseth, like Johnson, was due for a breakthrough on the 1.5mile oval. He finished seventh here last year and sixth in the 2011 inaugural race. However, victory didn’t seem likely for the 2003 Cup champion after qualifying 16th and running outside the top 20 during the first quarter of the event. “I thought our first run, we were all right and I guess probably after the second run, we were able to move forward pretty good,” Kenseth said. “I felt pretty good about what we had. I thought we need to get it better.” From then on, the first-year Joe Gibbs Racing driver was a perennial topfive contender. Trouble was, he and other hopefuls seemed to need Johnson to suffer misfortune to have any shot of catching him. The way he was running, that appeared unlikely. Turns out, Kenseth needed to rely on the left-side tires Ratcliff ordered the previous stop. Taking fuel only the final time allowed him to gain the lead coming off pit road, and the rubber held up on the rough, bumpy track, both on the restart and through the final laps. —AP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

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India and Sri Lanka enter tri-nations fray KINGSTON: India and Sri Lanka go in search of their first points of the TriNation Series when they meet today at Sabina Park as the preliminary phase of the competition reaches the halfway point. With the West Indies completing contrasting victories over the other two teams and already on their way to Trinidad and Tobago, where the last three group matches and the final will be played from Friday, this duel of sub-continental neighbors almost has the feel of an eliminator. While defeat for either side will not rule them out completely from making the final on July 11 at Queen’s Park Oval, it will leave them having to win their two remaining matches in Port of Spain, a venue where the weather is notoriously fickle at this time of the year. India should be the more confident of the combatants in the Jamaican capital, although they are

likely to be without the services of inspirational leader Mahendra Singh Dhoni, unless he makes a remarkable recovery from what was reportedly diagnosed initially as a right hamstring strain sustained while batting against the West Indies on Sunday. His calm control of proceedings on the field were missed as much as his wicketkeeping, yet stand-in captain Virat Kohli ensured that the undisputed kings of One-Day International cricket made the home side battle all the way towards a modest target of 230, winning by just one wicket. “We aren’t too disappointed,” Kohli stated after that match. “Just one wicket made the difference in the end so it could have gone either way. We fought really hard.” While the weather at the start of the hurricane season in the Caribbean has so far been kind to the competition in Jamaica, both

captains will be keen to win the toss. That way they can give their bowlers first use of a pitch that has made run-scoring difficult in the first half of the day, only to flatten out in the afternoon, based on the evidence of the first two matches, in which the visiting captains called incorrectly and then struggled to build any sort of momentum at the crease. Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews gave his side’s innings some respectability with an unbeaten topscore of 55 in the losing effort on Friday. But it is not expected to be enough against an Indian team that is set to make an enforced change Murali Vijay is the obvious option to replace Dhoni with Dinesh Karthik as wicketkeeper - that breaks a run of six consecutive matches with an unchanged eleven dating back to the start of the Champioms Trophy tournament in England. — AFP

Marvin Musquin performs at the AMA Pro Motocross Series at Budds Creek Raceway in Mechanicsville, Maryland, USA. —www.redbullcontentpool.com

Charles shines as Windies defeat India by one wicket

Misbah-ul-Haq

Misbah: Pakistan needs to develop more players ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s veteran oneday captain Misbah-ul-Haq wants more young players to be developed after Pak istan lost all of its three group matches in the Champions Trophy last month. Misbah, 39, fought a lone battle with a total of 173 runs against West Indies, South Africa and India, but Pakistan could not pass the 170-run mark in any of the three matches. Opener Imran Farhat, wicketkeeperbatsman Kamran Akmal and allrounder Shoaib Malik all were major flops and are likely to be dropped for next week’s tour of the West Indies where Pakistan will play five ODIs and two Twenty20s. “We will make changes where necessary and we need to think which players should be groomed,” Misbah said after he returned home Monday after he stayed back in London to spend time with his family. The Pakistan Cricket Board’s acting chairman Najam Sethi has already warned selectors that they will be held accountable along with the captain, vice-captain and coach if the team failed to perform in international matches. Pakistan selectors met in Lahore yesterday and Misbah said he will also be meeting with chief selector Iqbal Qasim in a day or two before the team is finalized for the West Indies tour. Misbah said Pakistan should start preparing for the next 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in two years’ time by keeping in mind which players are good enough. “We can rebuild the team in the next two years by grooming players who are good enough,” he said. Pakistan has not hosted any test playing nation for more than four years since gunmen attacked

the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March 2009. Six police officials and a van driver were killed in the ambush that stopped foreign teams from touring Pakistan because of safety concerns. The PCB kept its ‘home’ series going by hosting England, South Africa and West Indies in the United Arab Emirates, but Misbah said Pakistan players’ performances were affected by not playing in front of their home crowds. “We are suffering because we are not playing at home,” he said. “We were hopeful that cricket will return (to Pakistan) but it’s not happening,” he said. Last year Bangladesh twice postponed its tour of Pakistan and the PCB had to shelve its plan to organize its first ever professional Twenty20 league - the Pakistan Super League. Pakistan batsmen find it easy to play on the slow subcontinent-like wickets in the UAE, but they seem to struggle in more testing conditions in countries like England, Australia and New Zealand, where the ball swings. “Simple thing is that we couldn’t handle ourselves in batting,” Misbah conceded. “These are technical faults and we need to address them. “Whenever we go abroad we will face such problems so we have to address them. If we don’t improve, don’t learn then such things will go on.” Misbah expected pitches in the West Indies to be on the slower side, but warned his batsmen to give enough runs for the bowlers to defend. “If the batsmen give bowlers a total of more than 250 then they can win us matches,” he said. “I think it will again be a test of our batting in the West Indies.” — AP

KINGSTON: Opener Johnson Charles struck 97 to help lead the West Indies to victory by one wicket over India in a thrilling second one-day cricket international of the Celkon Mobile Cup tri-series. Charles smashed eight fours and four sixes off 100 balls and had a fourth-wicket stand of 116 with Darren Bravo to lift the hosts after they had slipped to 26-3 in pursuit of India’s 229-7 off 50 overs. Lefthander Bravo hit 55 off 78 balls. After India fought back strongly to break that partnership, Kemar Roach got the winning runs in an unbeaten last wicket stand of 10 with Tino Best, who scored three not out. India’s bowling was led by Umesh Yadav, who ripped through the top order and ended with 3-43. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed 2-44 and Ishant Sharma contributed 2-51. The West Indies’ chase of India’s modest total was threatened early by the lively fast bowler Yadav, who dismissed Chris Gayle and Devon Smith in successive overs. When Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed Marlon Samuels to a deflection onto his stumps, India were on top 26-3 in the fifth over. But Charles and Bravo turned things around with their assured partnership. Charles was first to his fifty, off 60 balls, while Bravo soon joined him as the pair brought their side within 88 of their target. Ashwin kept the visitors in contention with the key scalp of Bravo, who miscued a pull straight to midwicket at 142-4. The West Indies innings then started to slip as captain Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin fell quickly and India had the momentum at 161-6. Charles, in sight of a third one-day century and seeking to guide his side home, fell three runs short as Yadav returned to strike for India. His attempted lofted shot over the off side could only pick out Ishant Sharma on the edge of the circle at mid-off. Charles’ dismissal left the tail with 19 runs to score with two wickets remaining before Roach and Best brought the hosts home. Earlier, Rohit Sharma’s 60 off 89 balls with four fours and a six helped India to 229-7 off 50 overs. The West Indies bowlers were led by Roach and Sammy, who both enjoyed figures of 2-41, while Best recovered from a wayward start to grab 2-52. India, sent in by stand-in West Indies skipper Pollard, was quickly derailed by Roach and Sammy. Shikhar Dhawan, the left-hander fresh off the Player of the Tournament award in the ICC Champions Trophy, fell for 11, driving a return catch to Roach, who held it at the second attempt at 25-1. It was 39-2 in the 10th over when Virat Kohli edged Sammy to first slip where Gayle dived to his right to pluck a one-handed catch. Sharma and Dinesh Karthik revived the innings in a measured third wicket stand of 59. But Marlon Samuels struck when the stand was emerging, grabbing a return catch to send Karthik packing for 23 off 56 balls. Sammy completed a fine spell with the wicket of Sharma, who lofted down long-off at 124-4. Captain M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina ensured India got to a respectable total through a fifth wicket stand of 58 off 75 balls. But West Indies cut both short before they could engineer a final surge. Raina chased a wide ball from Roach to be caught behind for 44. The left-hander faced 55 balls and hit four fours. Dhoni, who seemed to injure his right leg while running a single, batted on but fell soon afterwards as he missed a swing at Best and had his leg stump rocked. The innings got a late boost from Kumar, who hit a six and a four in Sunil Narine’s final over that cost 17. — AP

KINGSTON: West Indies cricketer Johnson Charles (right) looks on as teammate Darren Bravo celebrates scoring a half-century during the second match of the Tri-Nation series against India. — AFP

SCOREBOARD KINGSTON, Jamaica: Scoreboard of the second match of the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri-Nation OneDay International Series between West Indies and India yesterday: India Innings R. Sharma c Charles b Sammy 60 S. Dhawan c & b Roach 11 V. Kohli c Gayle b Sammy 11 D. Karthik c & b Samuels 23 S. Raina c wkpr Ramdin b Roach 44 M.S. Dhoni b Best 27 R. Jadeja b Best 15 R. Ashwin not out 5 B. Kumar not out 11 Extras (5b, 6lb, 9w, 2nb) 22 Total (7 wickets, 50 overs) 229 Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Dhawan), 2-39 (Kohli), 3-98 (Karthik), 4-124 (R. Sharma), 5-182 (Raina), 6-197 (Dhoni), 7-212 (Jadeja). Did not bat: I. Sharma, U. Yadav. Bowling: Roach 10-2-41-2 (3w), Best 10-0-54-2 (4w, 2nb), Sammy 10-3-41-2, Pollard 1-0-8-0 (1w), Narine 10-0-56-0 (1w), Samuels 9-1-20-1. West Indies Innings C. Gayle c Raina b Yadav J. Charles c I. Sharma b Yadav

11 97

D. Smith lbw Yadav 0 M. Samuels b Kumar 1 D.M. Bravo c Dhawan b Ashwin 55 K. Pollard c wkpr Karthik b I. Sharma 4 D. Ramdin b Ashwin 4 D. Sammy c Ashwin b I. Sharma 29 K. Roach not out 14 S. Narine c Dhawan b Raina 5 T. Best not out 3 Extras (2lb, 5w) 7 Total (9 wickets, 47.4 overs) Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Gayle), 2-25 (Smith), 3-26 (Samuels), 4-142 (D.M. Bravo), 5-155 (Pollard), 6-161 (Ramdin), 7-197 (Sammy), 8-211 (Charles), 9-220 (Best) Bowling: Kumar 7-1-36-1 (1w), Yadav 9.4-2-42-3 (2w), Jadeja 10-1-50-0, I. Sharma 9-0-51-2 (2w), Ashwin 10-0-44-2, Raina 20-4-1. Result: West Indies won by 1 wicket Man of the match: J. Charles Next match: Today - India vs Sri Lanka

Dhoni out of series KINGSTON: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ruled out of the remainder of the TriNation Series with a right hamstring strain sustained while batting against the West Indies in his team’s first match of the tournament on Sunday at Sabina Park. His place in the 15-man squad is to be taken by the uncapped 27-year-old batsman Ambati Rayudu. Vice-captain Virat Kohli, who led the team on the field in Dhoni’s absence against the West Indies,

takes over as captain for the remainder of the series. India face Sri Lanka today in Kingston with both teams looking for their first points after each lost to the hosts in their respective opening fixtures. Following that encounter, the tournament shifts to the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, for the remaining three preliminary matches at the final, starting with India against the West Indies on Friday. — AFP

Gerrans wins 3rd stage of Tour

FRANCE: A combo photo shows (from top, left to right) the pack riding; Overall leader’s yellow jersey Belgium’s Jan Bakelants drinking while riding in the pack; fans standing along the road next to a placard reading ‘A thought for Laurent Jalabertî and Australia’s Simon Gerrans crossing the finish line at the end of the 145.5 km third stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France. — AFP

CALVI: Australian sprinter Simon Gerrans held off a late charge by Peter Sagan to win yesterday’s hilly third stage of the Tour de France by less than half a wheel. Belgian rider Jan Bakelants did enough in the sweltering heat to keep the yellow jersey. Gerrans looked to have the finish line to himself with about 100 meters to go, but Sagan launched a late sprint and almost caught him. Gerrans dug deep to clinch his second career Tour stage win. Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas finished third. “Sagan is a guy who can often climb with the best climbers and sprint with the best sprinter so I’m really thrilled to be able to beat such a classy rider,” Gerrans said. “I surprised quite a few people a little bit today, including myself.” Gerrans shouldn’t be too surprised, though, as he had prepared well. “This is a stage that I’ve been targeting for quite some time,” he said. “We were down here in Corsica last weekend doing a recon and scouting the finishes and it all paid off today.” Although Gerrans has clinched a stage win on all three Grand Tours, his previous stage win on “Le Tour” was five years ago - when it actually finished in the northern Italian ski resort of Prato Nevoso.

He was slowing up but just managed one last effort to throw his bike forward the way a 100-meter runner would dip for the line. “I wasn’t sure if I had won - a half-wheel length?!” Gerrans said. “All went perfectly well, my team took great care of me after the last climb.” He will especially need to thank his countryman and teammate Simon Clarke, who was in the early breakaway. “It was the team plan. I was brought to the Tour de France to join breakaways, so I made sure I did my job,” Clarke said. “I was quite relaxed today and when you’re relaxed it means you have good legs.” It was a particularly welcome win for Gerrans’ Orica Greenedge team after the confusion of Saturday’s first stage, when the team grabbed the attention of the world’s media when its bus was stuck on the finish line and was removed only moments before the riders arrived. “We saw the footage,” Gerrans said. “You really can’t do (anything) but laugh at the situation. (Our driver) did a fantastic job, we are proud of him. He was embarrassed so we felt quite sad for him.” Sagan is in the coveted sprinter’s green jersey he is expected to contest with British sprinter Mark Cavendish - who is already 49 points behind.

“I’m a bit sad about the stage, but the team’s objective is to get the green jersey and that’s what we have,” Sagan, a Slovak, said through a translator. “I don’t feel at my best yet. But the Tour is long and there are still a lot of good stages to come.” Bakelants, the winner of Sunday’s second stage, finished in 19th place. “The team worked very hard for me, and I’m very happy to keep the yellow jersey,” Bakelants said. “It was a very hot day and the conditions were not easy.” Yesterday’s 145.5-kilometer (90-mile) leg started from Ajaccio, where French emperor and military mastermind Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769, and finished in Calvi after three moderate climbs and a steeper last climb tested the legs of the peloton. Gerrans clocked about 3 hours, 40 minutes. It was the last of the trio of Corsican stages before the race heads back to mainland France for Tuesday’s team time trial in Nice. With the Tour heading through Corsica for the first time, some fans got their first glimpse of the showcase race - and made a point of getting noticed themselves. One defied the heat to dress up in a full Napoleon outfit, saluting from the roadside. —AP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

SPORTS

Brazil win and lose at memorable Confederations Cup

BRAZIL: Riot squad officers clash with protestors on a street near Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro a few hours before the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament between Brazil and Spain.—AFP

Winners and losers RIO DE JANEIRO: Confederations Cup winners and losers: AFP Sports selects the winners and losers from the 2013 Confederations Cup, the quadrennial tournament of continental champions that concluded on Sunday when Brazil beat Spain 30 in the final in Rio de Janeiro: WINNERS Neymar (BRA) The 21-year-old superstar came into the tournament carrying a gigantic burden of expectation on his shoulders after his $75.3 million (57 million euros) move to Barcelona, but he delivered in thrilling style. He sparked the competition into life with a stunning half-volley in the third minute of Brazil’s opening 3-0 win over Japan, and after two more spectacular goals against Mexico and Italy, he created both goals as Brazil edged neighbours Uruguay 2-1 in the last four. Another great strike in the final where he orchestrated a tumultuous performance to see off the world champions and a lovely dummy also provided a goal for Fred. Luiz Felipe Scolari (BRA) Brazil was divided on his reappointment last November yet here he has delivered a trophy at the first time of asking. And even if there is a bigger prize to chase next year, the veteran coach has swiftly done something arguably even more important than putting a cup on the sideboard. He has restored confidence and self-belief at home and made the Selacao once again a team to be truly feared, especially on their own patch. Andres Iniesta (ESP) Even when Spain laboured, such as in the narrow penalty shoot-out win over Italy in the semi-finals, Iniesta provided a guiding light, illuminating the path to goal with his shimmying runs and feathery touches. “He’s made us great as a team and it’s really important that a player makes himself available to the team,” said coach Vicente del Bosque. “He has that collective sense of the game, but he’s also capable of doing things as an individual.” In the final he and his teammates clearly had nothing more to give as the Spanish wilted after the early opening goal by Fred. Jonathan Tehau (TAH) Tahiti’s first taste of a global tournament proved a chastening experience, but 25year-old midfielder Tehau made history by becoming the first player from the Pacific island nation to score a goal at a FIFA event. Tehau found the net with a back-post head-

er in the 54th minute of Tahiti’s opening 6-1 loss to Nigeria, although he undid some of his hard work by putting through his own goal later in the game. Centurions Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo and Uruguay forward Diego Forlan both celebrated their 100th caps in goal-scoring style at the tournament. Pirlo netted with an exquisite freekick in his side’s 2-1 win over Mexico, while Forlan claimed a magnificent winner in a 21 victory against Nigeria with a first-time shot that flew into the top-left corner. But Forlan would later experience penalty misery against both Brazil and then the thirdplace playoff against the Italians. LOSERS Leonardo Bonucci (ITA) The semi-final between Spain and Italy was decided by one of the most high-quality penalty shoot-outs in recent memory, and Bonucci was to prove the unfortunate fall guy. After 12 players had successfully found the net at Estadio Castelao, the Juventus centre-back hoisted the 13th kick over the bar, allowing Jesus Navas to put Spain in the final. To compound matters, team-mate Emanuele Giaccherini admitted he had been scheduled to take Italy’s seventh kick, only for Bonucci to volunteer after he lost his nerve. Andres Scotti (URU) Uruguay’s 8-0 demolition of Tahiti, ranked 119 places below them in the FIFA ranking, ended up being a walk in the park, but Scotti almost complicated matters by getting himself sent off. The experienced 37year-old centre-back was shown a pair of yellow cards either side of half-time, but luckily for Uruguay, it only proved to be a flesh wound. Tahiti goalkeepers Tahiti coach Eddy Etaeta used all three of his goalkeepers during the group phase, but there no discernible improvement as the minnows finished the tournament with a goal difference of -23. Xavier Samin conceded six goals against Nigeria, Mickael Roche was beaten 10 times by a merciless Spain, and Gilbert Meriel had to retrieve the ball from his net eight times against Uruguay. Nigeria A row over bonus payments meant that Nigeria did not arrive in Brazil until the day before their opening game, and despite crushing Tahiti 6-1, losses to Uruguay and Spain brought their tournament to an end after just seven days in the country.—AFP

Chelsea still upbeat after decade under Abramovich LONDON: Chelsea officials predicted more success for the English giants yesterday after a decade under the ownership of Roman Abramovich. The Russian billionaire, still very much at the helm at Stamford Bridge, has spent an estimated £874 million ($1.33 billion) on transfers and £1.5 billion ($2.28 billion) on wages in the 10 years since he took charge of London club Chelsea on July 1, 2003. In so doing, Abramovich set a template for a host of wealthy foreign owners who’ve since taken charge of leading English football clubs and transformed the landscape of the game in its birthplace. Abramovich’s investment has so far yielded three Premier League titles- prior to that the club were last crowned champions of England in 1955 —, four FA Cups, two League Cups and, significantly, a highly coveted European Champions League title and last season’s Europa League. “It has been a hugely successful decade for Chelsea Football Club since Roman Abramovich took control, with an unprecedented number of trophies in the last 10 years,” said Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay in a statement yesterday. “The club has also taken great strides off the field in that time, adapting to meet the challenges of football’s changing landscape. “Mr Abramovich’s early investment in playing staff paid dividends in creating a team admired around the world, but to keep Chelsea among the elite we have always known we must produce our own world-class talent and we are beginning

to see the benefits of our Academy, which will help us meet our long-term objectives for Financial Fair Play. “As we prepare for the next 10 years, I feel we are well positioned to continue the success we have so far enjoyed under Mr Abramovich and everybody here is determined to build on that progress we have made.” Meanwhile Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, writing in The Times, said Abramovich had transformed the west London club from mid-table mediocrity into a major global force. “What came through to me loud and clear in those early days was the new owner’s passion for the game and the potential he saw for what Chelsea FC could achieve, both on and off the pitch,” Buck wrote in the Times. “But few people could have comprehended 10 years ago how Roman Abramovich’s ownership would quickly transform Chelsea, taking them from a club facing mid-table mediocrity and near bankruptcy to become one of the most formidable football teams in the world. “Yes, there is no denying that there have been almost the same number of managers as there have been trophies (11, if the recently returned Jose Mourinho’s two spells are counted separately). But the proof is in the pudding. “Now of course, Chelsea fans, the fans of other clubs, journalists and observers of the world of football look forward. “Will Roman Abramovich become bored, having won all the major trophies? My answer is no. “Can Jose Mourinho bring more success to the club? My answer is yes.”—AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil ended an unforgettable Confederations Cup both winners and losers after a superb competition on the field was played out against a violent backdrop of social unrest off it. The Confederations Cup captured global attention as it had never done before as citizens across this huge, restless nation used the event as the catalyst to vent their frustrations at a system they regard as corrupt. The cost of building or refurbishing the 12 stadiums for next year’s World Cup was the initial focus of the anger, with the message from protesters being that money spent on football should have been used instead on improving public transport, education and national health facilities. Those issues must now be urgently dealt with by the Brazilian government if it wants to avoid television images being broadcast again during the World Cup of riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. While the image of Brazil suffered internationally, spectators inside the new and refurbished stadiums saw a series of superb football matches and the confirmation that Brazilian striker Neymar could lead a young and exciting team to glory in 12 months’ time. It is too early to judge if Brazil’s outstanding 3-0 victory over world and European champions Spain in Sunday’s final marks a turning point for both teams or was a one-off success for Brazil over tired opponents. What is undeniable, however, is that Brazil were the best of the eight teams in the tournament, deserved to win it and could do very well next year. “With all respect to Spain, they’ve enchanted the world but football has a hierarchy and Brazil have won the World Cup five times and Spain didn’t face Brazil when they won any of their other tournaments,” Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar said after the final. “Now they will understand that playing Brazil is not easy. We respected them and know they will respect us and they will know that when they come here for the World Cup in Brazil they will not want to play us.” Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari went

BRAZIL: A dancer performs during the closing ceremony of the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 football tournament. —AFP into the competition under scrutiny after two wins in his first seven games back in charge, but much of the pressure dissipated when Neymar scored a brilliant opening goal after three minutes of the first match against Japan. Brazil went on to beat the Asian champions 3-0 and never looked back, with a 2-0 win over CONCACAF champions Mexico and a 4-2 victory over Italy giving them first place in their group. A laboured 2-1 semi-final win over old rivals and South American champions Uruguay set them up for Sunday’s final when two goals from Fred and another stunning strike from Neymar brought them their third successive Confederations Cup crown and ended Spain’s record run of 29 unbeaten competitive matches. Brazil’s players were clearly stung by a decade in which Spain won the World Cup once and the European Championship twice and created a tiki-taka style of play that had some commentators declaring them the greatest side ever. At the same time, Brazilians, who consider their teams of 1970 and 1982 better than Spain, watched their own side plummet to 22nd in the world rankings,

their lowest ever. Although Spain left emptyhanded, coach Vicente Del Bosque said they had gained huge experience and knowledge which would benefit them if they returned as expected next year. Spain gave a masterclass of their own in their opening 2-1 win over Uruguay and took first place in their group with a 10-0 win over amateur Oceania champions Tahiti followed by their 3-0 victory over African champions Nigeria. They then started poorly but recovered to finish the stronger side against a highly impressive Italy, winning on penalties to reach the final where they looked jaded and never found their rhythm. The chances of another Brazil-Spain final in the World Cup next year cannot be dismissed. Italy might have something to say about that as their team, despite some uncharacteristically poor keeping from Gianluigi Buffon, showed signs of reemerging after a spell among the also-rans since their 2006 World Cup triumph. Their 4-3 comeback win over Japan after trailing 2-0, their 4-2 defeat to Brazil, their semi-final with Spain, and even their penal-

ty shootout victory over Uruguay to take third place thrilled the crowds and Cesare Prandelli’s men could well be involved in the later stages next year. Striker Mario Balotelli played with a growing maturity before injury curtailed his involvement and, like his young contemporary Neymar, could have a big influence next year. The tournament produced record global television viewing figures, and a record 68 goals, 24 of which flew into the back of Tahiti’s net. The South Pacific part-timers, whose players included a professional mountaineer, managed to score once in their 6-1 defeat to Nigeria which represented a major achievement. They also brought a welcome Olympian spirit to the cup, playing with an attacking abandon that was widely applauded. The Confederations Cup is not the most important tournament in international football but it serves its purpose as a test event and one of its hallmarks is its competitive but friendly spirit. The Brazilian government will be working hard to ensure that the friendly spirit also extends to the streets of the country in June and July 2014.—Reuters

Neymar to have throat surgery RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian striker Neymar was named as the best player of the Confederations Cup after he helped Brazil seal a 3-0 win over world champions Spain in the final on Sunday, then said he would need minor throat surgery before his move to Barcelona. Neymar, who has joined Barcelona from Santos for 57 million euros ($74.09 million) won the Golden Ball, awarded to the best player in the competition after a vote among the media. Andres Iniesta of Spain and Paulinho from Brazil were second and third respectively. The 21year-old Neymar, who scored four goals during the tournament, said he would have the surgery on Friday before he goes to Spain. “It’s a problem that I have, my throat always bothers me, so we’re going to operate to resolve it once and for all,” he said in

adding that it was not a serious issue. He also urged a word of caution to his compatriots among the celebrations following Brazil’s demolition of the world and European champions at the Maracana. “Lets keep calm, let’s keep our feet on the ground,” he said as Brazil emerged as serious contenders to win the World Cup on home soil in a year’s time. “We did very well and we are on the right track. “We needed this time to train, we get to know each other and to work together and we are much better than we were. We won the title and that was a great end to a great tournament.” Neymar began the tournament with a brilliant strike against Japan, added goals against Mexico and Italy then ended it with another superb goal against Spain when he lashed the ball past keeper Iker

BRAZIL: Brazil’s forward Neymar celebrates after scoring against Spain during their FIFA Confederations Cup. —AFP Casillas just before halftime. Spain’s Fernando Torres, who scored five goals and was joint top scorer along with Fred of Brazil, won the Golden Boot for having an assist in his four match-

es, while Fred had one assist but played one more match. Brazil’s Julio Cesar collected the Golden Glove for the best goalkeeper while Spain took the FIFA Fair Play Trophy.—Reuters

New era at Man United as Moyes starts work MANCHESTER: As a new era began at Manchester United yesterday, a lingering problem from the final days of Alex Ferguson’s trophyladen tenure was casting a shadow over David Moyes’ first official day in charge of the English champions. Nearly two months after being hired as successor to Ferguson, Moyes was met by a row of photographers under gray skies when

he arrived at United’s training ground to start his planning ahead of the new season. Moyes has already put his stamp on the new role, bringing in three coaches from former club Everton to join his backroom staff, but it’s the future of Wayne Rooney that will be the Scot’s biggest priority this week. Speculation over where the England striker will be playing

David Moyes looks on in this file photo.

next season has been dominating the sports pages in British newspapers this offseason - and will continue to do so until he sits down with Moyes and the pair decide where Rooney’s future lies. Rooney, who isn’t due in for the first day of training until Wednesday or Thursday, sat out the final matches of Ferguson’s 26year tenure after putting in a transfer request because he was frustrated at being substituted in some matches last season, notably the Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid. Arsenal, Chelsea and Paris SaintGermain have been heavily linked with the burly striker, even though Ferguson insisted before he ended his time at United that Rooney wouldn’t be leaving. The situation is even more delicate because it was Moyes who sold Rooney to United back in 2004, when manager of Everton, and then launched successful legal action against the striker over allegations in Rooney’s autobiography that the Scot leaked details of a private conversation to the media about the factors behind the move

from Everton. The pair’s relationship has improved since then, but Moyes has to decide whether to persevere with a player who has tested the patience and loyalty of United fans after putting in two transfer requests in 2 1/2 years. If there is no official announcement regarding Rooney over the next week, the make-up of the United squad to tour the Far East from July 10 will make interesting reading. Life at United will be much different compared to Moyes’ 11 years at Everton, where he was heralded as one of the brightest managers in English football despite never winning a major trophy. Silverware will be demanded at United in the first year of his sixyear deal, with the northwest club having been accustomed to capturing titles under Ferguson. Moyes will also be under the spotlight much more off the pitch. United’s global appeal was further underlined Monday when it added True Corporation Plc, one of Thailand’s leading telecommunications companies, to its growing array of commercial sponsors on a three-year deal.—AP

Park wins US Women’s Open

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Charles shines as Windies defeat India

New era at Man United as Moyes starts work

Page 19

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s Neymar (center) lifts the trophy after winning the soccer Confederations Cup final against Spain at the Maracana stadium. — AP

Brazil crush Spain to win Confed Cup RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil humbled world and European Champions Spain with a crushing 3-0 win in the Confederations Cup final on Sunday, ending their opponents’ three-year record run of 29 unbeaten competitive matches. Two goals from Fred and a stunning left-foot shot from Neymar gave next year’s World Cup hosts their fifth straight win in the competition as they clinched the trophy for a third time in a row. Spain endured a miserable night with Sergio Ramos missing a penalty early in the second half and Gerard Pique sent off for a lunge on his new Barcelona team mate Neymar after 68 minutes. Fred put Brazil ahead after two minutes, Neymar added a majestic second just before halftime with his fourth goal of the tournament and the crowd erupted again when Fred made it 3-0 two minutes after the re-start with his fifth of the competition. The Maracana crowd taunted Spain and chanted “the giant is back” as Brazil overpowered Vicente del Bosque’s team whose

last competitive defeat was against Switzerland at the 2010 World Cup. “We had a bit of bad luck in the opening minutes of each half but I don’t want to make any excuses, they were better and that’s that,” Del Bosque told Telecinco. “They possibly had a bit more energy than us. Instead of being 1-1 we went 2-0 down in the last moments of the ﬁrst half. But I don’t think that right now we can analyse details. They were superior and that’s it.” Brazil started this competition just over two weeks ago with a third minute goal against Japan and began this ﬁnal in similar fashion with an even faster opener. Fred’s second minute hook-in while he was sitting on the ground lacked the powerful beauty of Neymar’s strike against Japan, but its impact was even more emphatic. The crowd, who just minutes earlier gave a rousing rendition of the Brazil national anthem, raised the decibel levels even high-

series of swift breaks, often initiated by David Luiz after some Spanish-style passing of their own. David Luiz’s name boomed through the cavernous ground four minutes before halftime when he raced back to clear a goalbound shot from Pedro one metre in front of the line with Julio Cesar beaten. Instead of finding themselves pegged back to 1-1, Brazil were 2-0 ahead within three minutes. Oscar provided the final pass to Neymar who smashed an unstoppable angled leftfoot shot past Casillas into the roof of the net. Spain were bidding to become the first team since Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup’s decisive match to beat Brazil in a competitive international at the Maracana, but after falling behind so early, that never looked likely. Instead Brazil fans left believing that coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who won the World Cup with Brazil on June 30, 2002, could deliver a sixth world title to the Maracana in a year’s time. — Reuters

Lisicki stuns Serena in latest giant-killing

WIMBLEDON: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic slides after making a return against Germany’s Tommy Haas during their fourth round men’s singles match on day seven of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. — AFP

Djokovic in Wimbledon q-finals LONDON: World number one Novak Djokovic downed 35-yearold Tommy Haas 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) yesterday to book his place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The Serbian top seed was tested by the German 13th seed in some extended rallies but ground his way through their fourth round encounter on Centre Court. Djokovic faces Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, in the quarter-finals. The 2011 Wimbledon champion is seeking a seventh Grand Slam title. “Tommy is always a tough opponent. I had lost to him twice on grass before. He has great variety in his game and I always knew it would be a tough challenge,” said Djokovic who dropped his serve for the first time in the tournament in yesterday’s encounter. “It was never going to be easy. I had to work for my games but I served well and returned well. I am happy to have closed it out in straight sets.” Djokovic lost to Berdych at Wimbledon in 2010, but believes he is a much better grass court player now. “I am playing really good tennis now, maybe even better than when I won the title in 2011.” Andy Murray took another step closer to ending Britain’s agonising 77year wait for a men’s Wimbledon champion yesterday as Jerzy Janowicz and Lukasz Kubot guaranteed Poland a semi-final place. British second seed Murray survived a second set wobble to carve out a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win over Russian 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny to reach the quarter-finals. Murray, the runner-up to Roger Federer in 2012, will face Spain’s Fernando Verdasco for a place in the semi-finals. The Scot has an 8-1 winning record over unseeded Verdasco, a former top10 player. Murray had to battle back from 2-5 down in the second

er in celebration to settle Brazil’s nerves, unsettle Spain and put the hosts firmly in control. Oscar should have quickly doubled the lead but fired wide after eight minutes when Fred set him up with a clever back heel, while Paulinho went close in the 14th minute when he had Spain keeper Iker Casillas back-pedalling to keep his lobbed shot out. Spain were clearly rattled by Brazil’s rampaging start and they survived another scare when defender Alvaro Arbeloa escaped with a yellow card when he was the last defender and sent Neymar tumbling. Spain, who usually dominate matches with their intricate midfield passing moves, showed patches of their usual self-assured control, but they also looked tired and leggy following Thursday’s exhausting semifinal penalty shootout victory over Italy. In contrast Brazil, with Fred, Neymar and Paulinho looking fresh and powerful, continually had Spain on the backfoot with a

set to quell the threat posed by Youzhny, who needed treatment on a shoulder injury after one game of the third set. Murray put in an impressive serving performance, firing 15 aces and hitting 45 winners past the experienced Russian. “It was a tough match, the first couple of sets especially. He also had a few chances at the beginning of the third set as well but once I got ahead in the third I concentrated very hard not to let him back in like I did in the second set,” said Murray. The Scot said he wasn’t getting carried away by the national hysteria as he tries to become Britain’s first champion since Fred Perry in 1936. He is wary of becoming another shock Wimbledon victim, like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. “Roger’s lost and Rafa’s lost. All these guys are better players than me and have achieved a lot more than me and so if they can lose so can I. I just concentrate on the next one and try and get through it.” Verdasco, a former world number nine who now stands at 54 in the world and is playing his 41st successive major, reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over unseeded Frenchman Kenny De Schepper. Davis Cup teammates Janowicz and Kubot set-up the first ever all-Polish quarter-final. Janowicz, the 24th seed, defeated Austria’s Jurgen Melzer, 36, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on the back of 16 aces and 34 winners as he reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final. The 22-year-old was joined in the last eight just moments later by 31-year-old Kubot, the lowest-ranked player left at 130 in the world, who defeated France’s 111th-ranked Adrian Mannarino, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. —AFP

LONDON: Serena Williams became the latest victim of this year’s Wimbledon giant-killings as the world number one slumped to a stunning 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 defeat against German 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round yesterday. Williams followed second seed Victoria Azarenka and world number three Maria Sharapova out of the women’s tournament, while defending champion Roger Federer and two-time Wimbledon winner Rafael Nadal suffered shock exits from the men’s draw in the first week. Since an embarrassing first round loss against Virginie Razzano at last year’s French Open, Williams had won 77 of her 80 matches, collecting the Wimbledon, US Open, French Open and Olympic titles in the process. The 31-year-old, a 16-time Grand Slam champion, had swept through the first week, dropping just 11 games in her opening three matches to extend her winning run to 34 matches, but she had no answer to Lisicki’s big-serve and booming ground-strokes. “I’m still shaking, I’m so happy”, said Lisicki, breaking into tears. “Serena played a fantastic match. She’s such a tough opponent and it’s just an amazing feeling to win.” Serena felt she let victory slip away, saying: “I definitely made too many errors, but she was playing with nothing to lose. When you play with such freedom this kind of thing can happen. “I felt I was on the verge of winning in the third set but I was physically unable to hold serve after that.” Lisicki, a semi-finalist in 2011 who has never been past the fourth round at any other Grand Slam, will play Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi for a place in the last four. Kanepi had shattered Britain’s dreams of a first woman in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for 29 years, beating unseeded Laura Robson 7-6 (8/6), 7-5. Robson was bidding to become the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final since Jo Durie at Wimbledon in 1984, but the Australia-born teenager left Court One crying tears of frustration. Former champion Petra Kvitova booked her fourth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final appearance with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 win over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. Czech eighth seed Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011, overpowered Spanish 19th seed Suarez Navarro with 23 winners and will face Belgian 20th seed Kirsten Flipkens for a place in the semi-finals. As the highest seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw, Kvitova has a golden opportunity to reach her second Grand Slam final. “I was pretty nervous today. There’s a bit more pressure because everyone expects me to win,” Kvitova said. “I knew I had quite a good chance to beat her. I didn’t play my best but it’s most

WIMBLEDON: Germany’s Sabine Lisicki celebrates defeating US player Serena Williams during their fourth round women’s singles match on day seven of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament. — AFP important to win the last point and I did.” Flipkens, the 2003 junior champion, sealed her first Grand Slam quarter-final berth with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 victory against Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta. The 27-year-old, who had failed to get past the third round in five previous Wimbledon appearances, appeared overwhelmed by her success as she crouched down to kiss the grass before wiping away tears as she waved to the crowd. Chinese sixth seed Li Na raced into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Italian 11th seed Roberta Vinci. The 2011 French Open champion took just 55 minutes to win, matching her Wimbledon best, having made the quarter-finals in 2006 and 2010. “My coach said this was a match I should win and if I can come to the quarter-final, tomorrow is a bonus. I really want to cash the bonus,” Li said. Next up for Li is Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, last year’s runner-up, who is now the highest ranked player left after a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova. American 17th seed Sloane Stephens reached her first quarter-final after battling back to beat Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Stephens, 20, next faces French 15th seed Marion Bartoli, the runner-up in 2007, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win against Karin Knapp, the Italian world number 104. — AFP

Business

Asian stocks sag on Fed policy worries Page 24 Thai govt stuns market by scrapping cut in rice price Page 25

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Indonesia inflation hits 5.90% after petrol hike

Stakes raised as Greece, lenders resume bailout talks Page 23

Page 22

TOKYO: People cross the street in Tokyo yesterday. The Bank of Japan’s closely-watched quarterly “tankan” survey for June showed that the index for major manufacturers rose to positive 4 from negative 8 in March. The survey released yesterday was the first to be higher than zero since September 2011. A positive reading means more companies are optimistic than pessimistic. — AP

Nokia ‘buys itself a future’; Shares surge Nokia to buy out Siemens equipment venture HELSINKI: Nokia shares surged yesterday after it announced plans to buy out partner Siemans AG’s share of their valuable network equipment joint venture, betting on the technology to run 4G networks after it stumbled as a maker of smartphones. Loss-making Nokia gains full control of the profitable venture Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for $2.2 billion, a cheaper than-expected price, analysts said, although they also noted the acquisition would put pressure on Nokia’s balance sheet. “With this transaction, Nokia buys itself a future, whatever happens in smartphones and feature phones,” Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu wrote in a note to clients. However, the cost to the balance sheet is still a risk for a company that is burning through cash to keep its handset business running. Nokia shares were up around 7.3 percent to 3.05 euros by 0915 GMT. JP Morgan raised its rating on the shares to overweight from underweight, lifting its target price to 3.6 euros from 2.0 euros. Siemens shares were also more than 1.8 percent higher, with analysts saying it was good news for the German firm to finally execute a plan to exit a business that had weighed on it with high restructuring costs. Morgan Stanley said the price Siemens would receive for its stake was at the low end of estimates, but it was “encouraged by the fact that this is a clean solution”.

“Despite the optically low price at this time, we believe this is the best possible outcome for Siemens shareholders.” Nokia’s future has been cloudy since it fell behind rivals Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in the smartphone race, making the decision to switch to Microsoft’s untried Windows software in 2011. In contrast to Nokia’s phone business, NSN turned profitable in the second quarter of 2012 after slashing costs and as its focus on fourth-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks began to pay off. NSN’s adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to 196 million euros in the first quarter of this year. Nokia will pay 1.2 billion euros in cash and the other 0.5 billion euros in the form of a secured loan from Siemens that will be repaid later. “Nokia Siemens Networks has established a clear leadership position in LTE, which provides an attractive growth opportunity,” Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop said in a statement. Elop, long under fire for sticking with a Windows handset operating system that did not catch on with consumers, said the acquisition did not mark a shift in strategy for Nokia. NSN would continue to run as an independent entity and he did not rule out listing or selling it. “As for the future of NSN, as we’ve said consistently there is a range of options that could exist for NSN over time. All of those options

remain open,” he told a conference call. For its part, Siemens has made no secret of its desire to exit NSN, having said often that the telecoms market is a tough one to be in, whether as an operator or as an equipment maker. “The fact of the matter remains that this obviously is an industry which you rather avoid if you can help it,” Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser told analysts back in November at the group’s full-year results presentation. Siemens said the sale price of its NSN stake was based on a fair valuation of the business according to the joint venture contract, without specifying the method used to determine its value. Nokia and Siemens formed the 50-50 joint venture in April 2007 and the agreement lapsed in April this year. Nokia had said it had wanted NSN to be sold or listed and many analysts had believed it might be sold. Danske Capital portfolio manager Juha Varis said that some might prefer that Nokia’s would do something to boost its cash position: “If they want some buffer, maybe they should consider selling NSN manufacturing.” Nokia said it expected to close the transaction, subject to regulatory approval, during the third quarter of this year. Nokia said it estimated its net cash position was 3.7-4.2 billion euros, adding that if the NSN deal had closed in the second quarter, its net cash position would have been 2.02.5 billion euros. — Reuters

ESPOO: A general view of Nokia Siemens Networks in Espoo. Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia is buying the half stake owned by German engineering giant Siemens in their mobile broadband venture NSN for 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion). — AFP

Oil thefts threaten Nigeria’s economy and environment DIEBU: The first drops of crude float in the languid muddy currents of Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta, then slowly grow into the splatter of a massive crime scene. Oil thefts, long a problem in the Niger Delta, are growing at an ever-faster rate despite government officials and international companies offering increasingly dire warnings about the effect on Nigeria’s crude production. Some 200,000 barrels a day - representing about 10 percent of Nigeria’s production - are siphoned off pipelines crisscrossing the region. While drums end up leaking in villages and used to make crude kerosene and gasoline, the major thieves appear to belong to international criminal gangs that sell it into world markets, analysts and experts say. And the same Nigerian politicians and military leaders now targeting the small-scale local refineries that dot the delta likely are the ones benefiting from those massive thefts. “This oil that you are buying is bought is the same thing” as blood diamonds, said Patrick Dele Cole, a former Nigerian ambassador now spearheading a group trying to call attention to the thefts. “It is bought at the expense of people’s blood in the Niger Delta.” Oil is the lifeblood of Nigeria’s economy. Since the company that would become Royal Dutch Shell PLC discovered the first commercially viable well in 1956, oil earnings grew to account for some 80 percent of all govern-

ment revenue in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people. While corruption sees much of that money frittered away, it still provides needed funding for projects in the country. A government-sponsored amnesty program largely halted militant attacks in the delta in 2009, allowing production levels to return to more than 2 million barrels of oil a day. But while production grew amid the relative peace, the level of thefts grew quietly and quickly across the region of winding creeks and mangroves about the size of Portugal. Locals call the practices “bunkering,” which sees thieves use hacksaws and blades to cut into the pipes. When the companies see the pressure drop on their lines, they dial back the pressure on the lines just long enough for thieves to attach spigots to the lines. As the pressure rises back up, the thieves simply divert some of the oil out of the line to their own uses. In Diebu, a village in Bayelsa state, the home of President Goodluck Jonathan, children ran and played around leaking drums of stolen crude oil. The crude likely came from lines run by Shell and Italian oil company Eni SpA, though residents there demanded money from visiting journalists to see the sites of the thefts. Many here view the thefts as their opportunity to have a taste of a commodity that built Nigeria’s sterile central capital of Abuja, a city of gleaming towers and massive

highways. In Diebu, the locals pointed out a large clinic of empty rooms without medicine and a local doctor ’s quarters that appeared to have squatters inside. The dilapitated schools had large holes where windows were supposed to be. Amid the neglect, locals rationalize the thefts with a simple question: If governors, politicians and everyone else stole the money, why shouldn’t they steal a taste as well? “We are bleeding,” said one man working at a nearby illegal oil refinery, who gave his first name as Prince. “We need this one to balance out our life.” But that balance comes at an environmental cost as well. Operations at local refineries, which produce crude gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel, see oil spilled everywhere, soaking the ground into a mix of mud and crude that can swallow a leg up to the knee. Large dug-in pits hold the crude until it passes through makeshift piping to create fuels sometimes so volatile they can explode at will. Massive fires that send plumes of smoke towering into the air fuel the process. “It is the only job we are doing,” said an illegal refiner who gave his name as Ibeci. “There is no other job.” Nigeria’s military, which maintains a presence in the delta since the militant attacks, has begun targeting illegal refineries in the region. Local refiners like Ibeci say they now work only at night, as the smoke plumes

draw soldiers to their operations during the day. The military claims to have dismantled dozens of such illegal refineries, though journalists in the region in May came across multiple sites where the ground was still warm from refining the night before. Lt Col Onyema Nwachukwu, a military spokesman for the region, declined several interview requests regarding the military’s efforts in the region. But as Nigeria’s government focuses on illegal refineries, Cole said the vast majority of the thefts actually see the oil taken out of the country into eastern Europe, South America and Asia for sale. Cole’s organization, which received initial seed money from Shell and later received support from the Dutch government, wants there to be stricter monitoring of oil entering international markets, as well as testing done to ensure that such stolen crude can’t be slipped into the system. However, he acknowledges the true challenge facing the effort: Those supporting the thefts include Nigeria’s military and the nation’s political elite. “There must be some kind of collusion,” Cole said. “The whole thing started really because of the political need to raise a lot of money during the elections. The whole idea of selling oil illegally was sponsored and maintained by our political leaders. There is no doubt about that.” —AP

Telecom Italia denies report on Qatari talks MILAN: Telecom Italia denied yesterday it was in talks with Qatari funds to sell a stake in its fixed-line business after it completes a planned spin-off, saying a media report as such was groundless. The board of Italy’s biggest phone company last month approved a plan to hive off its fixed-line network assets into a new company, a move that could raise cash and trigger a regulatory overhaul. The Financial Times reported yesterday that Telecom Italia “has held discussions with Qatari funds about taking a stake in its spun-off fixed-line business,” citing two people with knowledge of the situation. “The report is groundless,” a company spokesman said. The separation of the network, which has an estimated value of 13-15 billion euros ($17.4-20.1 billion), could pave the way for a sale of a stake in the newly-created network company to state-financed agency Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). Italy’s Industry Minister Flavio Zanonato is in favor of CDP taking a stake in strategic industries, he reiterated in an interview with daily newspaper Corriere della Sera yesterday. The spin-off could take up to 18 months to complete. Telecom Italia has put unrelated talks about a potential tie -up with Hutchison Whampoa on hold while it focuses on the network spin-off. The board of the Italian company, which meets on Thursday, will acknowledge that talks with Hutchison are stalling, daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Sunday, giving no details of its sources.— Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

BUSINESS

Brent holds above $102 US Fed may scale back bond-buying program SINGAPORE: Brent crude held above $102 a barrel yesterday as uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program kept investors on edge, while weak factory data from China and India raised demand growth worries and capped oil price gains. A top Fed official signaled that the US central bank may move to roll back its bond purchases in its September meeting, a move that could strengthen the dollar. But the timing will also depend on the US labor market, and investors are waiting for more clues from a job report on Friday. “Weaker job data on Friday could encourage investors to bet on long positions as it would mean that the end of QE (quantitative easing) could be postponed,” Yusuke Seta, a commodity sales manager at Newedge Japan said. Dollar-denominated commodities move inversely to the greenback, and fluctuations in the currency over the past weeks have been a primary mover of oil prices. A weak jobs report would undercut the dollar again

and lift Brent. Brent crude dropped as low as $101.63 a barrel after the Chinese factory data, before recovering to $102.23 by 0812 GMT, up 7 cents. Front-month Brent shed more than 7 percent in the second quarter ended June, its third straight quarterly decline and the longest such stretch of losses in 15 years. US crude fell 1 cent to $96.55 a barrel. Jitters over the Fed’s bond-buying program partly led hedge funds and other large speculators to slash their bets on rising US crude oil prices in the seven days to June 25, regulatory data showed on Friday. Weak economic data from emerging economies also continues to drag on oil prices. Crumbling foreign and domestic demand knocked factory activity in China down to multi-month lows and shrank orders for Indian producers for the first time in more than four years. “We’re likely to see China growing slower going forward and that is going to be reflected in slower oil demand growth,” said Lee Chen Hoay, an analyst at

Phillips Futures. Uncertainty over the Fed’s program and the slow-growth outlook helped to offset curtailments in supply that might have otherwise pushed up prices. Oil supply in the United Kingdom fell in June on lower output from Britain’s Buzzard field, and as a survey showed, OPEC pumped less crude due to disruptions in Libya and Nigeria. Mexican crude production also hit its lowest in nearly two years in May, while exports were the weakest in more than two decades, official data showed. In the Middle East, investors are closely watching whether Iran’s president-elect Hassan Rouhani can improve the country’s antagonistic relations with the West, while protests flared up again in Egypt. The United States has maintained its tough stance on Iran, with its top US energy official saying on Sunday that he believed the oil market could cope with any further reduction of Iranian oil exports from the tightening of sanctions on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. —Reuters

JAKARTA: An Indonesian man waits for customers at Ancol beach in Jakarta yesterday. Indonesia’s inflation accelerated in June after the government hiked the price of fuel for the first time since 2008, official data showed on July 1. —AFP

Indonesia inflation hits 5.90% after petrol hike JAKARTA: Indonesia’s inflation accelerated in June after the government hiked the price of fuel for the first time since 2008, official data showed yesterday. The increase had been expected after the price of fuel rose by up to 44 percent last month, pushing up the cost of transporting everyday goods and public transport. The decision to reduce huge fuel subsidies seen as a drag on Southeast Asia’s top economy has sparked angry protests across the country. The consumer price index rose 5.90 percent from a year earlier compared with 5.47 percent in May, according to the Central Statistics Agency. The increase also puts it above the upper limit of the government’s 2013 target range of 3.5-5.5 percent. However, statistics chief Suryamin, who goes by one name, said “the impact of the change to fuel subsidies was not fully felt in June” as the hike was only implemented on the 22nd. Economists have warned inflation will

likely accelerate to above seven percent in coming months. The price of a liter of petrol has gone up 44 percent from 4,500 rupiah ($0.46) a liter, one of the cheapest in Asia, to 6,500 rupiah. A liter of diesel rose 22 percent to 5,500 rupiah. Concern had been growing among international investors about the failure to cut the subsidies, which are blamed for a widening current account deficit, as demand for fuel increases and the government is hit with ever bigger bills. Economists now expect the central bank to raise its key interest rate next week, after hiking it 25 basis points to 6.00 percent last month. It was the first increase in more than two years as Bank Indonesia sought to head off the expected rise in inflation and shore up the rupiah. The Indonesian unit has been hit by huge outflows of foreign capital on expectations the US Federal Reserve will end its stimulus drive soon. —AFP

DAR ES SALAAM: US President Barack Obama dances to music upon arrival on Air Force One at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania yesterday. —AFP

SriLankan Airlines opts for 6 A330’s and four A350 XWB’s

Obama seeks to build African business ties China has helped fix Africa’s shoddy infrastructure DAR ES SALAAM: US President Barack Obama is seeking to build a new US economic partnership with Africa as he visited Tanzania yesterday at the end of a tour of the fastgrowing continent where Washington faces competition from China. Obama’s trip to Dar es Salaam occurs three months after a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who came shortly after taking office. Many Africans see the US leader’s three-nation tour of Africa as an attempt to play catch-up. The US president, whose arrival was marked by a 21gun salute, meets his predecessor, George W. Bush, who is also visiting. They will join a ceremony today to lay a wreath to those killed in the 1998 US embassy bombing in Tanzania. China has built roads, airports and other infrastructure in Africa, but has had to fend off some criticism for stripping the continent of its mineral wealth to feed its giant industrial base. Tanzania is in talks with China on plans for a new port. Obama said in South Africa, the second stop of a tour that began in Senegal, that his country was not threatened by China’s role but

told Africans to make sure any investors were giving back to Africa as well as consuming its raw materials. Apparently trying to regain ground, Washington plans a $7 billion initiative to help tackle Africa’s crippling lack of electrical power. Today, Obama will visit an independent power plant in Tanzania run since 2011 by USbased Symbion. The White House said Obama would launch a project in Tanzania, called Trade Africa, on Monday, initially focusing on an east African trade bloc that has a combined population of 130 million people. It would later be expanded, the statement added. Although growing quickly, economists said Tanzania’s economy could expand faster with reliable power and more internal trade. Tanzanian businesses often complain of the expense of running standby generators and other related costs. “Electricity supply is very erratic,” Susan Maganga, who runs a hair salon in Dar es Salaam, said as Obama arrived in the commercial capital. “I have to buy petrol for a power generator almost on a daily

basis, which is a major drain on my business.” It is a grumble heard across Africa, including in neighboring Kenya, the homeland of Obama’s father. Many Kenyans were upset that Obama chose Tanzania and not Kenya, east Africa’s biggest economy, for his third stop. Explaining his decision, Obama said it was not the “optimal time” to travel to Nairobi when the new Kenyan administration was dealing with cases at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. He also said he could do so later in his term. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, elected in March, both face charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in post-election violence five years ago. Kenyatta’s case starts in November. During Kenya’s campaign, then-US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told voters “choices have consequences”, riling many who saw his remarks as aimed at discouraging a vote for Kenyatta. Some Kenyan media commentators have said Obama’s decision not to visit is one such consequence. —Reuters

COLOMBO: SriLank an Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, has signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) for six A330-300s and four A350900s with the European Airbus consortium. The airline, an all Airbus operator, has chosen the highly reliable A330 and the latest generation A350 XWB aircraft as part of its long-haul fleet renewal. “The efficiency, reliability and passenger appeal of our in-service A330s form the pillar of SriLankan’s long haul operations,” said Kapila Chandrasena, CEO of SriLankan Airlines. “Adding more new A330’s to our fleet, combined with the unbeatable economics of the A350 XWB will allow us to achieve a strong economical performance.” “We are grateful for the renewed confidence SriLankan Airlines is placing with us,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers “The winning combination of A330’s and A350 XWB’s will allow SriLankan Airlines to offer the highest levels of comfort to their passengers while also benefitting from superior efficiency levels at any time.” Airbus aircraft share a unique

cockpit and operational commonality, allowing airlines to use the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers, bringing operational flexibility and resulting in significant cost savings. The twin engine A330 is one of the most widely used wide-body aircraft in service today. Airbus has recorded more than 1,200 orders for the various versions of the aircraft and nearly 1,000 aircraft are flying with nearly 100 operators worldwide. The A330-300 has benefited from numerous product improvements and stands as the most cost-efficient and capable aircraft in its class, achieving average dispatch reliability above 99 percent. The A350 XWB is the all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in spacious threeclass layouts. The new family will bring a step change in efficiency using 25 percent less fuel and providing an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions. To date the A350 XWB has already won 613 firm orders from 33 customers worldwide.

EXCHANGE RATES Malaysian ringgit Irani Riyal Irani Riyal

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 2.884 4.822 2.876 2.189 2.989 226.940 36.868 3.666 6.614 9.203

.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

Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

94.271 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 76.284 78.601 743.020 759.800 77.905

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 285.950 Euro 375.740 Sterling Pound 438.930 Canadian dollar 274.420 Turkish lira 148.850 Swiss Franc 305.180 Australian Dollar 264.220 US Dollar Buying 284.750 GOLD 239.000 121.000 63.000

SELL DRAFT 267.56 276.36 307.48 377.01 285.70 439.22 2.93 3.689 4.823 2.190 3.010 2.886 77.85 760.41 40.19 406.61

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 286.050 275.305 437.965 375.500 303.170 757.330 77.860 77.860 78.515 403.235 40.110 2.191 4.809 2.876 3.673 6.609 701.700 3.880 9.365 4.085 3.154 90.395

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

747.600 79.100 76.400

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 39.950 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 40.148 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.335 Tunisian Dinar 174.730 Jordanian Dinar 403.970 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.919 Syrian Lier 3.108 Morocco Dirham 34.123

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

743.00 78.89 76.32

SELL CASH 266.000 275.000 310.000 380.000 287.800 445.000 3.000 3.700 5.110 2.800 3.600 2.990 78.200 760.700 40.200 410.900

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 0.4285400 0.0067217 0.0459301 0.3676509 0.0432066 0.4262560 0.0386906 0.2980239 Australasia 0.2528948 0.2144824 0.0001123 America 0.2652593 0.0001458 0.2839500 Asia 0.0036286 0.0031744 0.0456286 0.0165400

SELLDRAFT 0.4375400 0.0187217 0.0509301 0.3751509 0.0484066 0.4337560 0.0436906 0.3050239 0.2648948 0.2244824 0.0001123 0.2742593 0.0001636 0.2861000 0.0036836 0.0034044 0.0506286 0.0196400

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

0.0000444 0.0343279 0.0047635 0.0000238 0.0028600 0.0028005 0.0032650 0.0856667 0.0028633 0.0028519 0.0061857 0.0000731 0.2218600 0.0021485 0.0088278 Arab 0.7524592 0.0381547 0.0128198 0.1454715 0.0000796 0.0001813 0.3979604 1.0000000 0.0001755 0.0219939 0.0012181 0.7321073 0.0779292 0.0757600 0.0465197 0.0019500 0.1722147 0.0764672 0.0012909

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar 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) 285.750 375.750 437.250 274.050 4.810 40.170 2.188 3.665 6.633 2.875 760.850 77.850 76.300

0.0000504 0.0374279 0.0048285 0.0000290 0.0038600 0.0029805 0.0034950 0.0926667 0.0030633 0.0028919 0.0066557 0.0000761 0.2278600 0.0021905 0.0094278 0.7609592 0.0401847 0.0193198 0.1472615 0.0000801 0.0002413 0.4054604 1.0000000 0.0001955 0.0459939 0.0018531 0.7431073 0.0787122 0.0764000 0.0470697 0.0021700 0.1782147 0.0779172 0.0013909

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

BUSINESS

US factories rebound as China struggles Good news for Japan, Britain NEW YORK: US manufacturing staged a modest rebound in June even as hiring declined sharply but activity among China’s large goods producers slowed to multi-month lows as global demand weakened. Worries about the strength of the factory sector in the world’s two biggest economies took some of the shine off survey results showing that Europe’s prolonged economic slump may have at least stabilized and possibly reversed in some areas. “Global manufacturing is showing signs of renewed weakness. With not very strong momentum in China, we wonder if this trend in the euro-zone can continue,” said BNP Paribas strategist Evelyn Herrmann. Markit’s final Euro-zone Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to a 16month high of 48.8 in June, and some debt-strapped countries such as Spain appeared on the verge of growth. But a cheerless outlook for China - an official survey showed factory growth stalling while a private one showed it at a ninemonth low - remains a concern as demand dries up from customers at home and abroad. “The Chinese economy is far from out of the woods. A few sub-indicators of the PMI have long indicated that the economy is in sharp distress,” said Xianfang Ren, an economist at IHS. The picture for the US factory sector was also mixed. The Institute for Supply Management’s closely watched index bounced back last month after indicating an unexpected contrac-

tion in the sector in May. But firms took on the fewest new workers since September 2009. “It’s nice to see manufacturing moving back into growth territory from contraction,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. “But unfortunately on the employment side, they are not hiring. That’s not a good sign. The issues in Europe and China are not going to help exports,” he added. A separate index from Markit also showed modest growth in the sector but sharp slides in hiring and new orders from abroad. “Firms are responding to the increasingly worrying order book trend by pulling back on recruitment,” said Markit chief economist Chris Williamson. That may complicate things for the Federal Reserve, which said it could begin scaling back its massive stimulus program later this year provided the US economy does not lose momentum. Economists polled by Reuters expect growth in the broader US economy to have slowed to 1.7 percent in the second quarter from 1.8 percent in the first, though most say it should pick up steam in the second half. WATCHING, WAITING AT ECB, BOJ Any hint of recovery in Europe will be welcomed by the European Central Bank, which has come under pressure to take more action to help bring a quicker end to recession that has persisted for 18 months. The euro-zone, according to a Reuters poll last month, will show flat growth for the

second quarter and eke out just 0.2 percent expansion this quarter. This would, however, take it out of recession. But ECB President Mario Draghi and other policymakers said last week that an exit from the current stimulative monetary policy stance remained “distant.” The bank is not expected to change its main interest rate from a record low of 0.5 percent when it meets this week. One central bank that can take comfort from recent data is the Bank of Japan, which embarked on a massive monetary stimulus campaign in April aimed at ending decades of falling prices and stagnant growth. For now, Japan appears to be bucking the manufacturing trend in Asia as sentiment at the country’s big manufacturers turned positive in the three months to June for the first time in nearly two years. The improvement in sentiment shown in the BoJ’s quarterly “tankan” survey indicated that recent market turbulence has yet to hurt the feel-good mood created by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy of aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus. “More evidence that Abenomics is working. Monetary and fiscal stimulus should boost Japanese growth this year and next,” said Rob Wood at Berenberg Bank. In Europe, outside the euro currency bloc, British manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in more than two years. But in China, officials warned that things could worsen and the official growth target appeared to be under threat. Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician at

the statistics agency, said after yesterday’s data that the country’s factory growth is likely to founder further and that factories, preparing for glum times, have cut jobs for 13 consecutive months. In India, Asia’s third-largest economy, an HSBC PMI edged up even though output

shrank for the second month and order books contracted for the first time in four years. Taiwan, a barometer for global electronic exports, saw its PMI rise, but in South Korea the PMI showed factories suffered their first drop in business in five months. —Reuters

BEIJING: A vendor takes a nap on an electric bike at his shop in Beijing yesterday. China’s manufacturing weakened again in June amid a credit crunch and slower US and European orders, two surveys showed yesterday, adding to signs that growth in the world’s second-largest economy is decelerating. —AP

Euro-zone crisis cools EU unemployment hits record

ATHENS: Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Mission Chief for Greece Poul Thomsen arrives at the Finance Ministry in Athens for a meeting with the Greek finance minister. A chief mission representing the indebted country’s creditors arrived to Athens to resume a regular audit monitoring Greece’s progress in implementing the terms of its bailout deal. —AFP

Stakes raised as Greece and lenders resume bailout talks ATHENS: Greece and its international lenders resume talks yesterday to unlock 8.1 billion Euros ($10.5 billion) of rescue loans after a two-week break during which the government almost collapsed over redundancies at state broadcaster ERT. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said he expects the talks to conclude successfully, despite setbacks to the country’s privatization program and delays in public sector reforms. To pressure Athens to deliver on reforms, the trio of lenders might refuse to pay the full sum in one go and break it up into three monthly payments instead, Greek media reported. “The biggest issue in the negotiations will be the delays in public sector reforms,” a senior finance ministry official said. Athens missed a June deadline to place 12,500 state workers into a “mobility scheme”, under which they are transferred or dismissed within a year. The country is battling through its sixth year of recession, and the latest installment is one of the last big cash injections it stands to get before the 240-billion-euro bailout expires at the end of 2014. The stakes are high. If the talks fail, the International Monetary Fund might have to withdraw from Greece’s rescue to avoid violating its own rules. Athens also needs to redeem about 2.2 billion Euros of bonds in August. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras will have his first meeting with representatives of the troika of lenders - the IMF, European Union and European Central Bank - at 1400 GMT. Samaras wants to wrap up the talks quickly for the funds to be released by the end of this month. He appointed two reformers, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Adonis Georgiadis, in a cabinet reshuffle last week to push for reforms at key ministries, civil administration and health. “The lenders will give us trouble but less so than in previous reviews,” one govern-

ment aide told reporters on Sunday. MISSING TARGETS The government plans to ask its creditors to lower this year’s privatization target of 2.6 billion Euros after failing to find a buyer for natural gas company DEPA. A shortfall of more than 1 billion Euros has emerged at state-run health insurer EOPYY, meaning automatic spending cuts may have to be agreed to bring it back on an even keel. Athens and the troika are also at loggerheads over an unpopular property tax and a possible reduction in a sales tax for restaurants. Samaras has ruled out imposing new austerity measures after losing a coalition partner in the ERT crisis, with his majority in the 300-seat parliament shrinking to just three votes. More measures would be impossible to steer through parliament, analysts and lawmakers have said, after four years of austerity that plunged Greece into its deepest peacetime recession with the jobless rate at a record 27 percent. The economic crisis has also boosted support for anti-bailout parties such as the ultraright Golden Dawn. According to Greek officials, the country has enough spare cash to offset any short-term slippages in the bailout plan. Helped by tight spending, the budget deficit was about 3 billion Euros smaller than expected in January-May, Stournaras said last week, adding that the country had also money left over in bank rescue fund HFSF. But even if it clears this review, Athens will require additional help after the bailout ends. According to provisional EU/IMF estimates for 2015-2016, Greece must plug a budget shortfall of about 4 billion Euros and a funding gap of up to 9.5 billion. These estimates are to be updated later this year. The euro zone has already pledged to shave off part of Greece’s debt to make it sustainable in the long term. But it is still unclear how much debt will be written off and how. —Reuters

BRUSSELS: The economic crisis in southern Europe may be easing, a key survey signaled yesterday, but unemployment figures showed the euro-zone jobless rate hit a previous record-high of 12.1 percent in May. The Eurostat figures offered little hope of a quick end to the social fallout from austerity seen in many countries, with the unemployment rate for the entire European Union being unchanged at 10.9 percent. Provisional official data in Italy showed the unemployment rate rising to a record high level of 12.2 percent, an increase of 0.2 points from the April level and 1.8 percentage points higher over 12 months. EU leaders agreed to deploy up to 8.0 billion euros ($10.4 billion) in programs to fight youth unemployment at a summit in Brussels last week after US President Barack Obama warned of the risk of a “lost generation” in Europe. The Eurostat report, which revised previous figures, showed the euro-zone rate reached 12.1 percent in March, then inched down to 12.0 percent in April a slight improvement that ended two years of increases-before rising again in May. The results were far worse than in May of last year, when eurozone unemployment was at 11.3 percent and the EU jobless rate at 10.4 percent. For under-25s the picture was even worse, with the rate for the euro-zone rising to 23.0 percent for the EU as a whole from 22.8 percent in May 2012 and to 23.8 percent for the euro-zone from 23.0 percent over the same period. Eurostat said 26.4 million men and women in the EU are now out of work. There were wide differences between EU members, however, with unemployment actually decreasing in May in 10 countries on a 12-month comparison. The best results were in Latvia, where the rate fell to 12.4 percent from 15.5 percent and Estonia, where it went down to 8.3 percent from 10.0 percent. The worst was Cyprus, an island nation that has been plunged into a banking crisis over the past year that has drastically cut down its financial sector and where the jobless rate rose to 16.3 percent in May 2013 from May 2012. Unemployment data is a lagging indicator, and in a separate set of figures, however, euro-zone manufacturing showed signs of continued improve-

PROTARAS RESORT: A Cypriot man (in the background) fishes as a tourist enjoys the sun at Protaras resort in the southeast of Cyprus Island. Officials say prospects for tourist arrivals to Cyprus this year are strong as the country tries to cope with the most severe economic crisis it has had to deal with in decades. —AP ment in June. The Markit Euro-zone Composite Purchasing Managers Index, a survey of what businesses see happening in their production processes, rose to 48.8 in June-a 16-month high-from 48.3 in May. The PMI index is considered to be a reliable indicator of the future trend of activity. Ireland saw an improvement and Spain remained stable, while the rates of contraction eased in Austria, France, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands. “Strong improvements in Spain, Italy and France more than offset a mild German setback as exporters there struggle with weakness in China and competition from Japan,” said Christian Schulz, an economist at Berenberg bank. “On current trends,

the end of recession in the crisis countries is approaching fast. Spain’s manufacturing PMI left contraction territory for the first time since April 2011 and Italy was not far behind,” he said. The PMIs for Italy and Spain were higher than Germany’s for the first time since the euro-zone debt crisis reached its peak in 2011. Meanwhile, William Jackson, the emerging markets economist at Capital Economics in London, said that the latest batch of “emerging European” PMI indicators for several countries in central Europe added “to the growing sense that things are improving in the region.” But he also commented: “Even so, we still expect the recovery to be pretty lackluster.” —AFP

Gulf markets rise at the start of Q3

ASTANA: British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev shake hands after signing a strategic partnership agreement at the Presidential Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan yesterday. —AFP

UK promotes business ties with Kazakhstan BISHKEK: British Prime Minister David Cameron has promoted business ties with energy-rich Kazakhstan during meetings with the Central Asian country’s president that were overshadowed by concerns about human rights. British businesses sealed deals worth 700 million pounds (nearly $1 billion) during yesterday’s visit, the first by a British leader, Britain’s Press Association news agency reported. Human rights groups criticized the trip,

saying President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s government imprisons critics and limits freedom of expression. Cameron said at a joint news conference that he had discussed these concerns with Nazerbayev and that the two countries had agreed to open a new chapter in their relationship based on stronger economic ties and closer cooperation on security and defense. Cameron arrived in the Kazakh capital, Astana, after visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan. —AP

DUBAI: Gulf bourses rose yesterday as investors triggered a fresh buying spree at the start of the third quarter, and expectations of a strong earnings season in coming weeks boosted stocks in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s index climbed 2.5 percent to a oneweek high and extending 2013 gains to 40.4 percent. Trading volumes improved compared to recent sessions but remained unimpressive. “UAE markets started the quarter in a positive note investors are betting on strong and solid Q2 numbers, they don’t want to miss the bottom after the major drop we have witnessed last week,” said Mohab Maher, senior manager of the institutional desk at MENA Corp brokerage. Dubai’s measure has been in a correction phase since it hit a 55-month high in early June. Bluechips led gains with Emaar Properties rising 3.8 percent. Abu Dhabi’s index added 1.7 percent to hit an 11-day high. Aldar Properties surged 6.4 percent, extending gains since its merger with Sorouh Real Estate. HSBC raised the stock’s price target to 2.6 dirhams with a ‘neutral’ rating in June and said recurring-revenue generating assets, contracting business and a large land bank would drive the value of the combined entity. Ratings agency Moody’s yesterday upgraded Aldar to B1 from B2 and said it will review the stock for another upgrade. “Volumes are picking up again. Investors will start to accumulate the market from here, especially on real estate and banking sectors,” MENA Corp’s Maher added. In Saudi Arabia, the benchmark rose 1 percent to a near three-week high and closed less than 100 points away from matching an 11-month peak of early June. Banks and petrochemical shares led gains with banking sector index adding 1.5 percent and the latter gaining 1.1 percent. Many of the banking shares were deemed undervalued as they lagged a rally in other sectors such as retail, and increasing lending growth is expected to result in strong quarterly earnings, analysts said. Shares in Saudi Steel Pipes rose 4.6 percent to 27.10 riyals ($7.23) after NCB Capital raised its price target to 29 riyals. Elsewhere, Oman’s measure advanced 1.5 percent to its highest level since June 16 after an annual adjustment to the constituents of the main index takes effect. —Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

BUSINESS

Syria govt tenders to buy wheat with frozen funds HAMBURG: A Syrian state buyer has issued a tender to buy 200,000 tons of wheat flour on the international market and plans to pay with funds from bank accounts frozen by trade sanctions. The tender, from Syria’s General Company for Mills, said payment would be made from Syrian money frozen in European and Arab bank accounts. “Bidders should present a document from the relevant body in the country that has frozen Syrian money, which would allow for the finance of these imports from the frozen money,” the tender said. Food is excluded from Western trade sanctions imposed on President Bashar Al-Assad’s government, which is fighting to suppress a two-year uprising, but banking sanctions have made it difficult for traders doing business with Damascus. “The Syrian government has a lot of money held up in banks in Europe and elsewhere, and this is a new method to pay for the imports. We will see

whether it works or not,” one observer in Damascus said. “If this makes the transactions easier, then for sure it will be a method we will use again.” Under the tender, supply should take place within 180 days after the opening of a letter of credit on the purchase. The tender deadline is July 10. A Middle Eastern trader said funds in the stateowned Commercial Bank of Syria that have been frozen by European Union and Arab League sanctions will be used for the flour imports. “ The Commercial Bank of Syria has branches in Europe, but its assets are frozen due to the sanctions, and as food is not covered by sanctions, you can get approvals to use part of its assets to fund the purchases,” the trader said. After difficulties securing grain supplies last year, Syria has been more successful at purchasing grain this year through middlemen setting up deals, traders say. The Syrian government also

tapped the international market for rice and sugar in late June, issuing two tenders. “The system of using frozen bank account funds as payment for food imports has apparently given the Syrians the hope that they can purchase through large international tenders,” one trader said. One trader said he believed the new system had already been used to pay for some state Syrian sugar imports Syria’s state grains agency said on June 27 it had bought around 550,000 tons of domestically produced wheat this season and did not expect to buy from foreign markets. But a United Nations food agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has said Syria’s wheat output is expected to fall further this year after last year’s harvest was 37 percent below average. The FAO said Syria’s wheat harvest had fallen to 2.3 million tons in 2012 from 3.6 million in an average year. — Reuters

SYDNEY: The business district (below) is seen alongside the Harbor Bridge yesterday. Australia has completed its 22nd consecutive year of growth, despite the financial crisis, former treasurer Wayne Swan said on June 30 in his final weekly economic note. — AFP

Asian stocks sag on Fed policy worries SINGAPORE: Asian equities edged lower yesterday, hurt by worries that the US Federal Reserve could start scaling back its massive monetary stimulus in September and signs of an economic slowdown in China. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent, having last week posted a 2.8 percent rally, its biggest weekly gain since September 2012. The index, though, ended the first half of the year down 7.3 percent. The MSCI index has retreated since hitting a 21-month high in early May, as investors began to fret that the US central bank might start tapering its massive bond-buying later this year and lead to a slowdown in inflows into Asian assets. “I don’t think this corrective mode will end immediately,” said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore. Besides the growing speculation about a possible scaling back of the Fed’s quantitative easing, worries about Chinese economy’s outlook may weigh on Asian equities in the near-term, Okagawa said. China’s factory activity reached its lowest in nine months in June as new orders fell despite price cuts by producers, a private survey showed yesterday, reinforcing signs of an economic slowdown in the second quarter. The HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for June retreated to 48.2, the lowest level since September 2012 and down from May’s final reading of 49.2. A separate PMI survey released by China’s government statistics office earlier yesterday was less dour. Its index slipped to 50.1 in June from 50.8 in May, but came in above the median market forecast of 50.0. Tokyo’s Nikkei share average slipped 0.5 percent, after having climbed 3.4 percent last week. The Nikkei, however, is still up more than 30 percent since the end of last year. Optimism that Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe’s aggressive stimulus push will lift the economy has helped light a fire under the Nikkei. Data yesterday suggested Abe’s plans are on track with a survey showing the mood of Japanese manufacturers turning positive for the first time in nearly two years. Yesterday’s market moves followed a subdued finish on Wall Street after Fed Governor Jeremy Stein suggested that September could be an opportune time for the central bank to consider scaling back its massive asset-purchase program. Stein’s remarks, echoed by President of the Richmond Fed, Jeffrey Lacker, undid some of the calm that spread through markets last week after several other officials sought to play down market fears of the Fed’s plan to taper stimulus. Critical for markets this week is the US jobs data due on Friday, given it is a key measures the Fed will consider before deciding to start withdrawing stimulus. In currency markets, the dollar held near a one-month high against a basket of major currencies. The dollar index stood at 83.157, not far from Friday’s high of 83.344, its highest level since early June. Against the yen, the dollar hit a one-month high of 99.55 yen, and was last up 0.2 percent on the day at 99.31 yen. The Australian dollar touched a near three-year low against the US dollar earlier yesterday, but later regained a bit of ground, getting some support after China’s official PMI was less dire than expected. The Australian dollar rose 0.4 percent to $0.9172. Earlier, it fell to $0.9110, its lowest level since September 2010. Spot gold was up around 0.5 percent at $1,239.31 per ounce, still not far off a near three-year trough of $1.180.71 plumbed on Friday. Worries about the end of the Fed’s stimulus had contributed to the panic selling of the precious metal. US crude fell 0.4 percent at $96.16 a barrel.—Reuters

MILANMORE: Indian farmers plant paddy saplings in a field at Milanmore village, on the outskirts of Siliguri yesterday. — AFP

Emirates finds a huge demand for lease deal LONDON: Dubai’s flagship airline carrier Emirates last week raised $630 million through the issuance of enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETC) to fund the purchase of four Airbus A380 aircraft. EETCs are secured financing, and are used by airline carriers to buy aircraft, mainly in the United States. Typically they are issued through a special purpose vehicle which assumes ownership of the aircraft and leases them out to the airline carrier. The lease payments received by the SPV are then channeled to bondholders through coupon payments. After opening books on the dualtranche deal, leads launched a $168 million Class A tranche at 6.125 percent and a $462 million Class B tranche at 5.25 percent the following day. The difference in the coupon reflected the difference in seniority. Both deals priced Thursday night at par, the smaller junior tranche having an expected tenor of 6.4 years and the larger senior one an expected tenor of 9.9 years. The EETCs were issued through SPV DNA Alpha, and the aircraft when purchased will be held by the SPV and leased to Emirates until maturity, at which point Emirates will assume ownership of the planes. Through the lifetime of the deal, the investors have recourse to the collateral -

the aircraft in this case - and to the equity of DNA Alpha’s parent. The key point was the jurisdiction of the SPV in case Emirates does go bankrupt. In this case, DNA Alpha is governed by Cape Town law in an insolvency event. Cape Town law was chosen to reassure investors that it will be governed by international courts rather than UAE ones, especially as Emirates is stateowned. The EETC investment community is a niche investor group in the US, since most deals happen there. They accounted for the bulk of the orders in this deal, though there was some demand from Europe as well. The proceeds will be held in escrow and withdrawn when each of the four aircraft is bought. Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley were book runners while Credit Agricole was co-manager on the deal. The first Emirates deal in June last year was expected to pave the way for other airlines issuers in EMEA to move to the US-style of funding the purchase of aircraft, especially as banks are becoming less active in providing loan financing. This year, British Airways raised $928 million through the issuance of EETCs, and Turkish Airlines is believed to be in talks with banks on a similar deal to raise $500 million to fund its aircraft orders from 2014. —Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

BUSINESS

Macau’s junket operators branch out MACAU: When junket operator Suncity opened its first high roller baccarat table at Steve Wynn’s Macau casino in 2007 to lure China’s wealthiest punters, the firm had fewer than 30 employees and no computers or equipment other than pen and paper. Five years later, Suncity has emerged as the dominant junket in the Chinese territory. It is planning to open its own resort, independent of casino stalwarts such as Las Vegas Sands, and is expanding into everything from mining to films. Macau’s booming revenues that totaled $38 billion last year six times that of the Las Vegas strip - are indebted to its unique VIP junket system, where licensed middlemen act on behalf of the casinos to attract “big whale” spenders by arranging their travel and accommodation and handle their gambling credit. Now the transformation of the former Portuguese colony from a hotbed of crime into a playground for China’s nouveau riche has spawned a new breed of junkets, eager to shed the industry’s shady image and establish themselves as multinational conglomerates. “Suncity is a young and very energetic corporate. There is a need to be diversified,” said YM Choong, a senior executive at the company, in an interview. “For future investments we would look to expand in different areas, particularly property, finance and media. We would look to list other parts of the business.” The evolution of the junkets is welcomed by the authorities, who are eager to re-position Macau as an all-round inter-

national travel destination, but could shake-up the dynamics of the world’s largest gambling market. The junkets have traditionally worked for the casinos, which rely on them for more than two-thirds of their revenue. Now, leveraging their extensive customer databases and sophisticated resources, they could one day start competing with them. “Macau’s junket operators are fully aware that their network and database of high net worth VIPs is valuable,” said Edmund Lee, a partner at PwC in Hong Kong who focuses on the gaming sector. Suncity, headed by 39-year-old Alvin Chau, is one of more than 200 junket operators licensed in Macau, on China’s southern coast, the only place in the country where locals are allowed to gamble in casinos. The biggest operators, which include Neptune, Golden Group, Jimei and Dore, account for more than half the monthly junket turnover of $75 billion. Despite robust mass market demand, a crackdown on corruption and pervasive graft has seen the supply of millionaire VIP players to Macau decline over the past year, prompting junkets to seek to diversify their income streams. Suncity, which makes around HK$135 billion ($17 billion) in monthly gaming turnover, according to Choong, has expanded into mining with iron ore operations in Indonesia. It has also branched out into financial services in Hong Kong with 24-hour securities, forex and commodities trading, real estate in China, food and bev-

erage, film and media. The company has two listed arms, Sun International Resources Limited and Sun Century Group Limited. Golden Resorts Group, headed by Hong Kong billionaire Pollyanna Chu, has been invested in financial services through listed arm Kingston Financial Group since 2011. But the trend for larger junkets, flush with cash from the gambling boom over the past decade, to diversify as a hedge against the volatile VIP gaming sector has accelerated over the last year. NEW IMAGE? Large junkets such as Jimei, which operates casinos in the Philippines and hosts golf tournaments, have moved into wealth management and securities, which complement their VIP clientele base. Neptune, which also uses the name Guangdong Group, sponsored a high profile poker tournament this month, while Dore Holdings announced it was buying a majority stake in a Chinese pawn loan business. Macau’s junket system was created in the 1970s with the rise of Stanley Ho, an influential local businessman who opened the gaudy egg shaped Casino Lisboa. Ho gave the junkets control of the casinos’ VIP rooms, sparking a turf war in the late 1990s as rival gangs fought to dominate. Since the liberalization of Macau’s casino market in 2002, which marked the entry of foreign players such as Las Vegas moguls Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, the junket industry has been a subject of

scrutiny from US regulators, who allege the operators have ties to organized crime and facilitate illicit money flows. To combat this image, Emilie Tran, a professor at the University of Saint Joseph Macau, says junkets are trying to associate with more wholesome activities, such as organizing community and youth events. “Working for a junket is now seen as respectable and a job like any other,” said Tran. The shift to sophisticated corporate entities with sizable business development, accounting and marketing teams is clearly visible. Shabby junket storefronts at the Hong Kong-Macau ferry terminal have been replaced with marble offices in prime business districts, while customized Hummer limousines owned by the operators are frequently seen parked outside Macau’s newest casinos. BIG AMBITIONS Politics is the next phase of the junkets’ makeover, says Tran, who cites the example of Suncity’s Chau, who joined the Guangdong provincial committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s parliamentary advisory body, this year. Chau, with his dapper appearance is often likened a famous Hong Kong movie star. An avid tennis player and gym-goer, he is frequently pictured in the local tabloids at parties. Pollyanna Chu of Golden Resorts Group, ranked by Forbes as the 35th richest billionaire in Hong Kong, sits on the CPPCC national committee, while Hoffman Ma, deputy chairman of Success Universe

Group sits on the Chongqing Committee of the CPPCC. Manuel Neves, head of Macau’s gaming body the DICJ, said junkets diversifying into other industries fitted into the government’s attempts to wean the territory, home to 600,000 people, off the gambling industry that accounted for more than 80 percent of government revenues last year. “For the government, when people talk about Macau, we want them to not talk about gaming. We are doing a very big effort to push the diversification. It’s not an easy task,” said Neves. Despite the move to diversify, the role of the junket is likely to remain critical to Macau gaming sector over the coming years, as gambling debts are not legally enforceable in China. Junkets bring in gamblers from the mainland and then find their own ways to collect debts. Suncity is massively expanding its gaming division, doubling its workforce to 1,200 over the past year and is still short staffed. But as major junkets move from operating one or two VIP rooms in Macau’s flashy casinos to owning their own properties, Macau’s licensed concessionaires Sands, Wynn, MGM , Melco Crown and Galaxy may have to find new ways to lure the customer. “I think everybody is fighting for the customer,” said Francis Lui, head of Galaxy Entertainment. “We are doing the same thing, I am sure the junket would be thinking the same thing. We just have to offer more, a bit extra something new, something more creative to get them to come back again.” —Reuters

Thai govt stuns market by scrapping cut in rice price Farmers fume, threaten to protest

Gulf Bank announces the Al Danah winners KUWAIT: Gulf Bank announced Louai Mohammed Sarhan as the Al Danah KD250,000 draw winner of 2013. Saleema Sameer Handel was the winner of KD125,000 and Mohammad Abel Hassoun won KD25,000. The draw announcing the winners was the highlight of a special Al Danah event that took place at the Bank’s Audaliya branch on 27 June, held under the supervision of a Ministry of Commerce representative and hosted live by 103.7 FM’s Al Gayla Show with Najla Al-Essa, Executive Manager at Gulf Bank as co-host. Mike Mbalta from Al Gayla Show called the winner live on air to inform him of the news. Reacting upon hearing he had just won KD250,000, Louai Mohammed Sarhan said: “I have full confidence in Gulf Bank, and

for this reason I invested all I had into Al Danah and I thank God for winning this draw prize. I would like to thank Gulf Bank for turning my dream into reality and I advise everyone to invest in this account.” Gulf Bank would also like to congratulate Saleema Sameer Handel (KD125,000 winner) and Mohammad Abel Hassoun (KD25,000 winner). The next Al Danah Quarterly draw will be held on 26 September for draw prizes of KD500,000, KD125,000, and KD25,000. To be part of the Al Danah draws, customers can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 56 branches, transfer on line, or call the Customer Contact Center on 1805805 for assistance and guidance. Customers can also log on to www.e-gulfbank.com/aldanahwinners, to find out more about Al Danah and who the winners are.

AirAsia boss outlines Indian growth plans MUMBAI: Asia’s largest budget carrier AirAsia outlined plans yesterday to aggressively grow its Indian joint venture, including by adding 10 planes a year and focusing on flying new routes. AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes said more than 50 staff, including pilots and engineers, have been recruited for the new no-frills airline, which plans to start operations in India later this year. Fernandes said the new airline plans to add 10 Airbus A320s a year to its fleet, which will focus on routes in southern India, rather than Mumbai and New Delhi, before expanding elsewhere in the country. “India’s aviation has not grown. There are lots of routes which have not been done and lots of airports have been under-utilized,” Fernandes told reporters in Mumbai. “We will give the lowest possible fares,” he added. Malaysia-based AirAsia won approval from India’s foreign investment panel in March to set up the airline in a joint venture with the giant Tata group and entrepreneur Arun Bhatia’s Telstra Tradeplace. The new venture will be the first by a foreign airline since India relaxed for-

eign investment rules in September allowing overseas carriers to take up to a 49 percent stake in domestic firms. AirAsia will own 49 percent, the Tata group 30 percent and Telstra the balance of 21 percent. Fernandes said making the new airline a success would be “challenging” but he was determined to persevere. Low-cost carriers already dominate Indian skies with a near 65 percent market share. India’s aviation sector, once vaunted as a symbol of the nation’s economic vibrancy, has seen its fortunes fade in the face of multiple problems including aggressive fare rivalry, a slowing economy, rundown infrastructure and high airport charges. Last week, AirAsia terminated its joint venture with Japan’s All Nippon Airways as business slumped amid management clashes. Fernandes yesterday called it a “bad partnership” but said he was open to looking for a new alliance. Fernandes, a former record industry executive, took over insolvent AirAsia in 2001 and turned it into one of the aviation sector’s biggest success stories. —AFP

BANGKOK: Thailand’s government yesterday reversed a cut in the rice intervention price that had been agreed less than two weeks ago, apparently giving in to farmers who had threatened protests in the capital. Finance Minister Kittirat Na Ranong told reporters the national rice committee, made up of government officials and industry representatives, had decided to push the price back up to 15,000 baht ($480) a tonne. That is way above the market price and has not only made Thai rice uncompetitive on world markets but also been a major drag on the government budget. In the year to September 2012, the government says it lost $4.4 billion from the scheme, which caused rating agency Moody’s to

warn that a target of balancing the budget might be jeopardized and fuelled a public outcry. The 20 percent cut in the price to 12,000 baht had only become effective yesterday, having an immediate impact by pushing the export price of 5 percent broken rice down to $480 a ton, the lowest level since June 2011, from $520 on Friday. Exporters were astonished at the about turn. “We don’t know where prices should be now. We may have to wait until the dust settles before offering prices again,” said Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association. “But what we know for sure is that this government has no credibility at all.” Finance

Minister Kittirat was unconcerned. “Everything is still going according to our plan and the framework we set out, and it should not be a problem,” he told reporters. He said the government estimated there was not much rice left with farmers from their second crop, which is marketed until late September, so it would not be a huge burden on the budget to continue to buy at 15,000 baht a ton. Most traders anticipated that export prices would jump back up to where they were last week before the cut came into force. “But the market is in a state of shock right now and both buyers and sellers are holding back. They don’t dare take any position,” said one Bangkok-based trader. —Reuters

Lufthansa bags 3 awards ‘Best First Class Airline Lounge’, ‘Best Transatlantic Airline’ KUWAIT: Over the past ten months, 18 million passengers from over 100 countries have participated in the world’s largest aviation passenger survey and have recognized Lufthansa’s First Class lounges as the best in the world. The airline has also been voted “Best Western European Airline” and “Best Transatlantic Airline”. Dr Reinhold Huber, Senior Vice President Product & Marketing, received these prizes on Lufthansa’s behalf at the World Airline Awards, hosted at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. Especially the Lufthansa First Class Terminal at Frankfurt Airport received top marks in the survey. Also the First Class Lounges at the hubs Frankfurt and Munich were highly ranked by customers. According to the assessing institute Skytrax this reflects the high standard and service of the facilities. The fact that additionally Lufthansa was awarded best airline in Western Europe and on transatlantic routes was a clear sign that Lufthansa standards were satisfying customers, Skytrax stressed. “We are working hard to make our customer services even better and even more comfortable. These awards are further confirmation of the investments we have made in the passenger experience and in our employees’ training. With our exclusive First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, we offer a tailored premium service on the ground - we are delighted that our guests appreciate this,” said M Waseem Shaikh, General Manager Passenger Sales, Kuwait, Lufthansa German Airliines. “We are investing around one million euros a day in the refitting of our new Business Class alone. We have made significant improvements to our in-flight meals and have opened a large number of new lounges on the ground. We are currently in the process of expanding our entertainment service, and innovative products such as FlyNet - which we are the only airline worldwide to offer on long-haul flights - round off our range of services. We have a clearly defined goal: to become the first Western Five Star Airline by 2015. We still need our fifth star in Business Class to get there, and that is what is driving us forward,” Shaikh added. This customer survey was handled by the airline quality assessment institute Skytrax, an aviation specialist. The study examined over 40 different customer satisfaction and service quality issues for each airline. It focused equally on the airlines’ in-flight experience and their airport services. Skytrax has carried out this independent study every year since 1999.

Credit crunch, slower orders hit economy BEIJING: China’s manufacturing weakened again in June amid a credit crunch and slower US and European orders, two surveys showed yesterday, adding to signs that growth in the world’s secondlargest economy is decelerating. HSBC Corp’s purchasing managers’ index declined to 48.2 from May’s 49.2 on a 50point scale on which numbers below 50 show a contraction. A separate measure by an industry group, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, showed activity declined to 50.1 from May’s 50.8. The numbers follow data showing May export growth weakened while retail sales growth failed to meet government projections. The slowdown in Chinese manufacturing could have global repercussions, depressing demand for iron ore and other commodities from Australia and Brazil and for industrial components from Southeast Asia, Taiwan and South Korea. Manufacturers were hurt by falling orders and a shortage of credit in June as Chinese regulators try to cool a lending boom they worry could race out of control. A shortage of cash in financial markets caused interest rates paid by banks for loans from other banks to spike to a record high. “As Beijing refrains from using stimulus, the ongoing growth slowdown is likely to continue in the coming months,” said HSBC economist Hongbin Qu in a statement. New export orders suffered their sharpest decline in nine months, and manufacturers shed jobs at their fastest rate in 10 months, according to HSBC. Its measure is based on a survey of 420 manufacturing companies. The logistics federation said its survey also showed production and new export orders declined. “The June PMI declined, mostly in the main index, indicating the economy in the future will face downward pressure,” said economist Zhang Liqun in a statement issued by the federation. China’s economic growth decelerated to 7.7 percent in the first quarter from 7.9 percent the previous quarter. Forecasters have said the clampdown on bank lending could cause growth to dip below 7 percent in coming quarters. That would be China’s weakest performance since the early 1990s. —AP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

BUSINESS

GE launches innovative RtOI solutions DUBAI: GE Intelligent Platforms (NYSE: GE) has launched new software solutions in the GCC region that address the challenge of making sense of complex and extensive data available in business today, to promote greater operational efficiencies in the oil & gas, manufacturing, power, water and metal sectors. These powerful solutions, accessed by simple apps, deliver Real-Time Operational Intelligence (RtOI) to exploit existing data sets and transform them into actionable knowledge with easy-to-use mobile interfaces coupled with powerful and scalable server-based components. The first component to help companies achieve true RtOI is Proficy Mobile, which will spark customers to drive efficiency with real-time access to operational information, using the latest generation of mobile iOS and Android devices. It features an easy-to-use standard interface with GE’s patented GEO-intelligence technology that provides situational awareness typically found only in consumer apps like Facebook, with a powerful back-end server that transforms existing raw data into intelligent, actionable information. It also provides companies with the option of allowing employees to use their own devices quickly, easily and securely.

“We are excited to bring Realtime Operational Intelligence to Middle East and Africa region starting with the GCC countries,” said Daniel Coetzee, General Manager for MEA, GE Intelligent Platforms. “The RtOI concept, and specifically Proficy Mobile, adds tremendous value to the oil & gas and infrastructure businesses. Geographically dis-

persed assets can be safely monitored and the vast amount of associated data turned into simple, actionable knowledge, available anywhere, anytime. Information is delivered by role allowing for reduced travel times, better informed decisions and less execution errors. In some cases, mobile operators have seen their efficiency

and productivity up to a level of 20 percent.” Proficy Mobile accesses structured information through equipment models that can be configured specifically to a company’s operations, allowing users to find the information they need quickly and easily. Once data is mapped into the model, users can add intelligence through easy-to-use tools that can outline relationships and connections to multiple disperse systems transforming it to information. And, with GE’s patented GEO-intelligence technology, the system automatically navigates and provides information based on user location, role, and asset condition and context. With a standard downloadable GE app, “point-and-click” server configuration and an extensible analytics engine - systems can be deployed on top of existing systems such as SCADA, HMI, MES, BMS, ERP and Historians. This capability is essential for industry as new visualization, mobility, analytics and collaboration tools enable action in real time, in the required locations and with the contextual information operators, engineers, managers and executives need to make quicker decisions. The structured navigation features of Proficy Mobile provide

the ability to map data from existing GE or third-party applications, allowing companies to add the necessary context to existing data no matter the source. The built-in intelligence foundation allows companies to define applicable key process indicators (KPIs) and equipment relationships forming standard plant/site -wide and asset-level detailed displays accessible from within the app. Assets and processes are tracked using KPIs to notify users of alert conditions, as well as trends that may be occurring in the plant. In addition, Proficy Mobile provides aggregated asset health displays intelligently to alert the user to a current condition drawing attention to the most critical information. GE has been a partner in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey for over 80 years, committed to the region’s progress and prosperity, through its waves of change and growth. Supporting the generation of more than twothirds of the region’s electricity, GE’s technologies purify over 800 million liters of water daily for drinking, irrigation and municipal uses across MENA. Today, 90 percent of hospitals in Middle East are equipped with GE technologies, while GE and its joint ventures help to fly two-thirds of the region.

Gold gains 1 percent Barclays cuts price forecast, citing weak demand SINGAPORE: Gold gained 1 percent yesterday after posting its biggest quarterly fall ever, as bearish economic data from China hurt Asian stocks and boosted bullion’s safe-haven appeal. Comments from a US Federal Reserve official on the need to maintain the bank’s stimulus measures for longer also helped gold recover some losses from last week when it fell 5 percent to three-year lows. Investor confidence in the metal has been eroded after it plunged 23 percent in AprilJune, as fears over an early end to the Fed’s $85 billion monthly bond purchases hurt gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge. “What really needs to happen now for gold to regain the trust of investors is that at the very least it needs to consolidate for a few days and gain a little bit more credibility,” said a precious metals trader in Hong Kong. Spot gold rose 0.75 percent to $1,242.40 an ounce by 0644 GMT, while Comex gold rose about $18 to $1,241.80. Gold fell below $1,200

an ounce last week for the first time since 2010. Outflows from gold backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have accelerated due to the recent decline in prices. Outflows from SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold ETF, have totaled nearly 13 million ounces so far this year. “Every time prices try to come back, there seems to be steady selling coming out of the West,” the trader said. Hedge funds and money managers slashed their bullish bets in gold futures and options to their lowest levels in six years, as bullion prices fell to a three-year low, a report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said on Friday he had backed off from his earlier view that the Fed should start cutting back on stimulus this summer in part because inflation has been lower than he expected. Asian equities edged lower yesterday after China’s factory activity reached its lowest in nine months in June, deepening worries

about the world’s second-largest economy.

LE MERIDIEN RIYADH The 15-storey hotel will feature 219 guest rooms and 12 suites all with the Le Meridien Bed, as well as three restaurants. Le Meridien Riyadh will offer nearly 7,000 square feet of extensive meeting and event space to cater to the growing number of business travelers into the capital. Leisure facilities will include a spa with four treatment rooms, an outdoor pool and a fitness center.

Air Arabia named the Best Low-Cost Airline in Mideast SHARJAH: Air Arabia (PJSC), the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, has been awarded Best Low-Cost Airline, Middle East at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2013 which took place recently as part of the Paris Air Show. The award recognizes the airline’s commitment to providing the best quality, low cost travel for airline passengers in the region. “We are honored to be named as the Middle East’s Best Low Cost Airline by Skytrax, particularly because it is voted for by our customers,” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia. “We are committed to providing the best possible service at the lowest possible prices, to our ever growing customer base.” The awards took place in Paris recently as part of the Paris Air Show, and at the event Air Arabia was also recognized as one of the top 10 airlines in the Middle East. The Skytrax World Airline Awards are voted for by air travellers from 160 countries across the world, surveying their experience with airlines on the ground and onboard as part of the industry’s largest customer satisfaction survey. This wholly independent survey covers 200 airlines, from large international groups to smaller domestic carriers across all classes of travel.

flydubai offers 50% Ramadan discount KUWAIT: As the month of Ramadan approaches, flydubai is offering its passengers 50% off its lowest return fares from Kuwait. Discover the values, culture and heritage of the Holy Month or simply take the opportunity to visit family and friends in Dubai. Whether you want at world-class shopping malls, watch cultural performances or sample a variety of international foods after sunset, Dubai offers all of this and much more. DUBAI, UAE With extended opening hours at all major shopping malls and department stores, Dubai is a shoppers paradise during Ramadan. With plenty of promotions and sales on major international and local brands, Dubai is suited to all your shopping needs. With raffle draws and competitions, there is also a chance to take home some remarkable prizes

Jehad Abu Shakrah brand refilled ink cartridges leaked, streaked, or failed either during use or right out of the box. On average, Original HP ink cartridges printed up to 34.7 per cent more pages than the refilled cartridges tested, making HP cartridges the best in the market. The Ink Advantage series of printers include: The HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 2515 and 3515 e-All-in-One printer now comes with an intuitive graphic display for easy printing, scanning and copying, while delivering high-quality prints at low running costs. The HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 2515 and 3515 All-in-One printers are priced at 16 KD and 21 KD respectively. * The new HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 3525 and 5525 e-All-in-One printers offer HP wireless direct printing that allow users to easily print from wireless-enabled mobile devices without a network or router. The HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 3525 and 5525 All-in-One printers are priced at 26 KD and 31 KD respectively. * The HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 4615 All-inOne and 4625 e-All-in-One printers allow users to print, scan, copy and fax, and save up to 40% on energy consumption with Scheduled On/Off. It is a 35-sheet Automatic Document Feeder. The HP Deskjet 4615 All-in-One and 4625 e-Allin-One printers are priced at 28 KD and 35 KD respectively. The ink capacity of the cartridges has increased which enables them to print twice as much for the same cost. This translates into significant cost-savings and added flexibility for customers with varied print needs or those who have limited their printing due to ink costs. The HP Ink Advantage series offers an unrivalled combination of quality, reliability, speeds and ease of use at competitive prices. The printers are also equipped with AirPrint, allowing wireless and mobile printing from any Apple iOS device via a Wi-Fi network. Users simply have to make sure the device and printer are operating on the same network.

Bayt.com Specialties unveiled

Le Meridien Riyadh will offer the brand’s awardwinning “Arrival” experience, curated by LM100TM members - a group of international creators of mixed generations and interdisciplinary artistic fields like architecture, cuisines, design and art. The hotel will feature the Le Meridien Hub concept, which re-interprets the traditional lobby into a social gathering place for creative people to converse, debate and exchange, providing both guests and locals with a creative atmosphere where contemporary, curated artwork sets the environment. The hotel is located in the heart of Riyadh, at the intersection of Al Olaya Road and King Abdullah Road and is in close proximity to the city’s main business district and the King Khaled International Airport. Starwood in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia “Le Meridien is our largest brand in Saudi Arabia and we continue to see opportunities to grow the brand in the country,” said Bart Carnahan, Senior Vice President Acquisitions & Development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East. “Today, our Le Meridien portfolio is the strongest it has ever been and the brand is poised for expansive growth around the world.” Starwood currently operates 10 hotels in Saudi Arabia under its Sheraton and Le Meridien brands and recently opened the Four Points by Sheraton Riyadh Khaldia, marking the debut of the mid-market brand in the country. Later this year, the company will open two hotels in Medina - the Sheraton Medina Hotel and Four Points by Sheraton Medina Hotel. With its current development pipeline, Starwood expects to add more than 3,000 rooms to its portfolio in the country. In the Middle East, Starwood operates close to 50 hotels and resorts under eight of the company’s nine distinct lifestyle brands including: The Luxury Collection, St Regis, Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, Le Meridien, Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft.

KUWAIT: HP’s Ink Advantage series offers efficient and affordable printing system for home users and micro-business customers allowing them to print twice as much for the same cost. This series demonstrates HP’s ongoing commitment to offer its customers the best products and services. HP is the first to introduce the Ink Advantage series that enables customers to print twice as much for the same cost and offers the most extensive line-up of printers and ink cartridges in Kuwait. The new line-up of Deskjet Ink Advantage printers are enhanced with more features and faster print speeds than predecessors, while offering different price-points to address customers’ varying needs. “Users can now print up to two times more than before, thanks to our expanded range of HP Deskjet Ink Advantage portfolio.” said Jehad Abu Shakrah, Brand Manager, Imaging and Printing Systems Supplies & Media Printing and Personal Systems, HP Middle East. “We at HP persist on bringing innovative and practical choice of products to our customers, and HP Ink Advantage is one of our many revolutionary technologies, designed to make printing more affordable than ever and aimed at optimizing our customers’ experience. Print more, pay less. It’s pretty easy maths.” The new HP Ink Advantage series offers a range of functionalities to suit its customers’ needs. It offers versatility, creativity and significant savings with one of the lowest cost per page for any printers in the market today. HP Advantage series has the best page yield, reliability, print quality, speeds, usage patterns, cost per cartridge or page, and better longevity than similar products in the market. Two new ink cartridges, the HP 650 and HP 655, have been introduced in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) with the new line-up of Ink Advantage Deskjet printers. The Original HP Ink cartridges that are used with the Deskjet Ink Advantage printers can print up to 600 pages delivering archive-quality documents and labquality photos. In tests conducted by QualityLogic, results revealed that more than 15 per cent of all other

WEAK PHYSICAL DEMAND Despite gold prices being close to three-year lows, strong physical demand from India and China - the top two gold consumers - has failed to materialize. In April, Asian demand helped cap some of the metal’s losses when prices fell the most in 30 years. However, this time demand has not picked up to the same levels, dealers and traders have said. Barclays cut its forecast for gold prices yesterday, citing weak demand and ETF outflows. “While the physical market was able to suspend the downward trajectory of gold in April following hefty disinvestment, this time, preliminary data suggest a much weaker physical market footing,” Barclays analysts said in a note. Sales of American Eagle gold bullion coins plunged to 57,000 ounces in June, the lowest sales since August last year, as physical demand from retail investors and collectors sank, according to data on the US Mint’s website on Friday. —Reuters

Starwood Hotels & Resorts expands footprint in Saudi RIYADH: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (NYSE: HOT) has signed an agreement with Al Jazeerah Al Oula Real Estate Co, an entity managed by Kuwait’s leading financial institution, First Investment Company, to debut the company’s Le Meridien brand in Riyadh. Set to open in 2016, Le Meridien Riyadh will be the first new build Le Meridien to open in Saudi Arabia since the brand was acquired by Starwood in 2005. With this signing, Starwood continues its aggressive growth throughout Saudi Arabia where it currently operates 10 hotels, with another nine under development, and is the second largest market for the company in the Middle East behind the UAE. “We are delighted to work with Al Jazeerah Al Oula Real Estate Co. as we debut our Le Meridien brand in Riyadh,” said Michael Wale, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East. “Over the past seven years, Starwood has made significant investments in developing Le Meridien as a contemporary lifestyle brand focused on bringing destinations to life through cuisine, the arts and local culture. We believe Le Meridien Riyadh will offer a compelling experience in the capital, which has become a leading business destination in the Middle East.” “We are excited to work with Starwood to bring its Le Meridien brand into Riyadh,” said Tariq Al Adsani, Deputy CEO of First Investment Company and Manager of Al Jazeerah Al Oula Real Estate Co. “We believe a world-class brand like Le Meridien with its unique and contemporary approach will make the hotel a popular destination for both business travelers and the local community.”

HP Ink Advantage: Print twice ‘for the same cost’

with raffle draws and competitions at leading malls. With a host of international restaurants and hotels, Dubai becomes a culinary hotspot, with world-class iftars and suhoors for all tastes and budgets. As night falls, Dubai comes alive with its Ramadan tents available throughout the city. OFFER DETAILS Book your flight between noon on Monday 01 July and noon on Saturday 06 July 2013 for travel from Kuwait to Dubai between 12 July and 03 August 2013 and get 50% off the lowest ‘pay to change’ return fares. For more information on the promotion and the terms and conditions, please visit flydubai.com, contact the flydubai Call Centre (+971 4 231 1000) or through Barakat Travel (+965 22 41 44 00) and accredited travel agents. flydubai also offers visa facilitation services to

passengers travelling to the UAE. Details of the carrier’s car rental services and holiday packages are also available through the website. FLIGHT DETAILS flydubai operates eight times a day to Dubai. flydubai has a simple model where customers only pay for services they want to receive. Fares are inclusive of all taxes plus one piece of hand luggage weighing up to 7kg and one small laptop bag or handbag. A checked in baggage or a seat with extra legroom can be booked for an extra small fee. Once on board, passengers can choose from a range of optional extras, including in-flight entertainment packages or select from the varied menu of refreshments and Duty Free items.

DUBAI: Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, is pleased to announce the launch of Bayt.com Specialties, a new, socially-enabled platform that reinvents the hiring process and further empowers job seekers and employers across the Middle East and North Africa. Bayt.com Specialties is Bayt.com’s latest and biggest move to transform its portal into an open and socially active platform that brings professionals and employers together in new and innovative ways. Having a professional online presence is absolutely essential, as 84% of employers take the time to research candidates online before making a final hiring decision. Of these, 57.1% ‘always’ check, and 26.9% ‘frequently’ check. The biggest challenge stated by employers is sourcing relevant candidates for senior executive and management positions, which suggests that those candidates who do have an online presence, and who are able to prove their expertise such as through Bayt.com’s Specialties, will stand out from the competition. Industry knowledge is also a highly desirable trait for senior executive and management candidates, which Specialties allows job seekers to demonstrate. The Bayt.com Specialties platform enables professionals to express their thought leadership in their professional areas of expertise, and allows employers to tap into this with innovative tools for finding professionals whose true abilities surpass those represented through traditional CVs. Bayt.com Specialties brings together professionals in an online environment that empowers them to share their knowledge within their self-specified areas of interest and expertise. It allows them to demonstrate their skills and knowledge amongst their peers and to potential employers, by contributing to open dialogues related to their specific specialties. It presents the opportunity for professionals to expand their circle of connections, while establishing a definitive presence as an expert in their particular field. “We are very excited with the launch of Bayt.com Specialties, and with the possibilities it brings to redefine the online recruitment landscape in the region. We are especially excited with the extent and depth of engagement of our users on Bayt.com Specialties during the past controlled invite period. The feedback has been very positive and encouraging. The platform has evidently addressed an urgent need by our users to express their skills and expertise beyond the confines of the CV document,” said Omar Tahboub, VP of Product, Bayt.com. He continued; “We want to enable professionals to tell the stories that go far beyond a CV, and we want to help employers discover these stories, and learn what these professionals are really all about. Often, the classic markers of competence, such as work history, education, credentials, and the like, are not the only pointers to professional leadership. It is well thoughtout, intelligent, original content related to areas

of interest and expertise that can make people shine. That’s what Bayt.com Specialties is all about: helping professionals at all career levels and in all industries and roles, highlight their unique abilities and truly shine.” Bayt.com Specialties completes Bayt.com’s transformation from a closed job portal towards an online platform that enables professionals in the region to explore career opportunities through an open, social, and insightful experience. Bayt.com’s Public Profiles channel already boasts over 1.5 million professional profiles, and withBayt.com Specialties, users on Bayt.com are able to choose from thousands of specialties, which are then added to their professional public profiles. Upon selecting specialties, they are automatically connected to others who share the same expertise, and are able to create discussions and ask questions within their professional peer group. Additionally, they are able to share their knowledge and provide answers to questions posted by other Bayt.com users, thereby demonstrating their expertise in their chosen specialty areas. Users can expand their connections by following other professionals and inviting them to return the follow. They can have their contributions ratified by their peers as their contributions are voted on based on the insight shared, improving their overall rank and thereby proving their expertise through peer approval. Bayt.com Specialties will also provide ranks based on points accumulated, which show up on user’s profiles for potential employers to see. All answers, interactions, and ranks on Bayt.com Specialties can then be viewed by hiring companies as they look to source the best qualified candidates. The Bayt.com Specialties platform will be especially pivotal in that it catapults Bayt.com into a new interactive arena by making Bayt.com more open, social, and communicative than traditional jobsites. Bayt.com has a rapidly growing community of over 12 million professionals and with over 6.75 million visitors a month is already amongst the most trafficked and visited professional networks in the world. “Bayt.com Specialties will not only enable professionals to ask pressing professional questions and receive answers from other specialists in a timely and organized manner, but also to build a far more powerful personal online brand by empowering them to turn their thoughtleadership into relevant content and showcase it in front of audiences that have the potential to further their careers. The platform will be host to a constant stream of valuable, engaging, fruitful discussions between experts, who can follow each others’ profiles, contact each other, browse the knowledge base, and expand their domain of professional interest by following any specialty that they are interested in,” concluded Tahboub. To begin exploring Bayt.com Specialties, visit http://www.bayt.com/en/specialties/.

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

technology

Technology makes America’s Cup a sport for the masses SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube, mobile applications, and the tech wizardry of veteran sailor Stan Honey are out to make America’s Cup yacht racing as thrilling a spectator sport as Formula One. Along with sailing ‘in-shore’ for the first time ever along courses on the picturesque San Francisco Bay, a sophisticated network of cameras, sensors and computers will make it simple to understand tactics playing out on the water. “The venue is spectacular with the city and the Golden Gate Bridge; the boats are stunning in terms of speed and size, and then there is the technology,” Honey said while taking AFP into America’s Cup control rooms. “The objective is for the technology to stay out of the way and yet allow the sport to be much more easily grasped.” It has been 15 years since Honey co-founded Sportvision, a company based on technology he developed to show television viewers the paths of hockey pucks, baseballs, and race cars, and US football first-down lines in real time. Honey, who has sailed professionally since he graduated college decades ago, left Sportvision in 2004 to sail full time and was hired to navigate Larry Ellison’s racing yacht Sayonara a year later. But in 2010 after the billionaire yachtsman’s boat won the America’s Cup, he

pulled Honey back into engineering. “I mentioned to Larry what we were doing” with technology being used to enhance live sports feeds with graphics “and that sailing would be the perfect sport for it because there is a ton of stuff that is important and hard to see,” Honey said. Ellison was intent on making the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco a television-friendly event with spectator appeal beyond die-hard sailors. Honey and his team wove cameras and sensors on catamarans, marker buoys, and a helicopter into a network for precisely tracking boats. Data is shared between devices and with computers on shore, where real-time graphics in the form of lines on water are added to video to show boundaries; who is winning, and tactics being used by crews. “Then it becomes easy to understand, and you give commentators a tool to tell a story,” Honey said. The team began testing the video graphics system in races in early 2010 and, in one case, it worked so well that viewers criticized the event for polluting water by putting colored trails behind the boats. “We were flattered,” Honey said. Each AC72 catamaran competing in the Cup is fitted with six high-definition cameras remotely controlled from an operations room on shore. Crew members wear microphones, and addi-

tional microphones capture sounds such as winches being turned and water hitting hulls. “We have had a mantra from when we first started: to present the sport from the inside out,” said Cup television production executive Denis Harvey. “As a viewer, we are taking you on board with the crew,” he continued. “We see it as part of humanizing it and getting the viewer to see that it is pretty cool.” Cup umpires also get the benefit of using the boattracking technology and helicopter overhead view to make calls instead of having to rely solely on what is seen from chase boats. Deals for television broadcasting of Cup races have been made in various countries, with NBC having rights in the United States. Channels on globally popular Google-owned online video venue YouTube feature customized feeds showcasing favored aspects or teams. Nearly 49,000 people had subscribed to the America’s Cup channel as of Friday. “You’re immersed in the action and can enjoy the sport more than ever, whether you’re a new fan or a lifelong fan,” YouTube global head of sports partnerships Claude Ruibal said of the Cup channel. “On any device, you can watch live feeds from each boat with every sailor miked up and multiple cameras on the boats to capture the action.”

Online viewing allows for customized and immersive viewing, along with letting people “time-shift” to watch when they want. The Cup’s technical team is also making real-time feeds of all race data- except video, because of broadcast rights deals-available free on a public “slave server” for smartphone or tablet application makers. Applications using Cup data must be free. One smartphone application allows spectators to stream position, speed and other details simply by aiming the handset at a particular AC72 catamaran from shore, Honey said. “The spectator can also listen to on-board audio,” Honey said of the application. “So, your phone feels like this amazing directional microphone because where ever you point it you can hear on-board audio.” Cup organizers vow the premier yacht-racing event will launch as planned here next week despite protests over last-minute rule changes triggered by the death of British sailor Andrew Simpson during training. Racing is scheduled to start on July 7 in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the series of races that will produce the challenger to Oracle Team USA for the America’s Cup races in September. Team New Zealand, Italian syndicate Luna Rossa and Artemis Racing of Sweden are slated to compete. — AFP

WatchABC now in LA, Chicago, San Francisco for pay TV subs

Software AG & Tech Mahindra partner to create efficiencies for the public sector DUBAI: As a leading System Integrator and Global Partner of Software AG, Tech Mahindra recently hosted a conference for the public sector organizations in Abu Dhabi, UAE to share best practices and methodologies on how government institutions can achieve operational excellence and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the four forces, mobile, social, cloud and Big data, using Software AG suite. For over two decades, Mahindra Satyam (now merged with Tech Mahindra) has partnered with Software AG to enable public sector organizations around the world provide high-quality services to citizens via reliable data, integration and BPM solutions. Their partnership has enabled customers to deliver superior and faster citizen-centric services 24/7 anywhere, develop crossagency and cross-department business processes that optimize collaboration, and enhance operational efficiencies through process improvement. The ‘eGovernment & Beyond’ conference follows the heels of the recent announcement of the launch of a new Mobile Government initiative (mGovernment) that aims to provide the citizens of the UAE access to government services via their mobile devices at any time. This initiative clearly reflects a growing interest from the government to transform into a digital gov-

ernment by leveraging the opportunities presented by the four forces. “We have been delivering high quality services in application integration and business process management to public sector firms. Our association with Software AG bears testimony to our commitment to serve this sector and bring about enhanced operational efficiencies through significant process improvement” stated G B Kumar, VP & head of MENA region, Tech Mahindra “Government institutions in the UAE are looking at new IT initiatives aimed at modernizing their services to be citizen-centric, responsive and accessible anywhere at any time. We are therefore particularly pleased to be supporting this conference led by Tech Mahindra who has proven to be a reliable partner based on several engagements that we had with them globally “ said Nicky Sheridan, SVP - Middle East, Africa & Turkey, Software AG. The conference featured subject matter experts from Software AG and Tech Mahindra in addition to a customer presentation. The agenda was carefully designed to provide the attendees a solid understanding on how they can achieve their strategic objectives using Software AG’s unrivaled data, integration and process platforms to exploit mobile, social, cloud and big in partnership with Tech Mahindra’s highly regarded delivery capabilities.

BURBANK: Disney faces one of the first big tests of its WatchABC app yesterday, as customers who had enjoyed free live viewing of local ABC stations in New York and Philadelphia on mobile devices will now need to show they are pay TV subscribers. The app also launched yesterday in four new markets, where use will likewise be limited to pay TV subscribers: Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Raleigh-Durham, NC. Since the middle of May, anyone who downloaded the app in New York and Philadelphia could catch live local broadcasts from Disneyowned ABC stations WABC and WPVI on iPhones, iPads and Kindle Fires. Now they’ll have to enter the username and passwords they use to access online tools from their cable T V provider. Participating providers are Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, Charter, Midcontinent and AT&T. Customers who don’t have a pay TV subscription or get service from a different provider will not be able to watch live programs on the app. Previously aired full episodes will still be available for free on demand over mobile devices. WatchABC is part of the TV industry’s “TV Ever ywhere” initiative, which is meant to increase the value of a pay TV subscription by giving viewers access to their favorite TV shows anytime and on multiple mobile devices. But executives have acknowledged it is taking a long time to become a reality, partly because rights deals haven’t been completed. WatchABC now has live mobile viewing available for just six of about 200 TV stations that carry ABC, although the latest rollout includes its biggest markets. Two more stations owned by Disney in Houston and Fresno, Calif., will offer live viewing through WatchABC by September. Another 13 stations owned by Hearst Corp. plan to offer live viewing the app in the coming months. Complicating the issue, The Walt Disney Co.’s arrangements with local ABC affiliate TV stations and pay TV operators currently cover just over a third of the approximately 100 million people who pay for TV nationwide. So some people living in the covered markets will not be able to watch live programming on the app, because their provider has not reached a deal with the local ABC affiliate for the service. Albert Cheng, chief product officer for digital media for Disney/ABC, says the rollout is similar to how the wireless phone industry gradually brought faster “4G LTE” service to different cities over time. “It is as confusing as that - when is my market going to happen?” he said. “The markets will be

PITTSBURGH: One of the Gettysburg apps available on an iPhone is seen on the device screen on June 27. Those interested in the 150th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Gettysburg can access apps that offer maps and information about key battle spots. — AP lit up as these agreements come into place, not too different than it takes time for cell carriers to put up new towers.” There are plans to possibly make the on-demand portion of WatchABC also limited to pay TV customers in the future, Cheng said, but the service would have to be more widely available to justify the loss in advertising revenue that would occur when non-pay TV users lose access. ABC is the first broadcast network to try live streaming its programming over an app. Some pay TV networks like ESPN have been streaming

live programming for some time. WatchABC’s expansion comes as upstart Aereo attempts to capture a slice of the mobile viewing audience with its $8-a-month service that started in New York last year and expanded to Boston and Atlanta this spring. Aereo plans to offer service - which includes live streams of major local T V stations - in Chicago in September. Broadcasters have sued Aereo for copyright infringement, but so far Aereo has won court rulings that have kept it in business. — AP

Tech Mahindra - Mahindra Satyam merger consummated

TAIWAN: Yu Hsiao-cheng, vice chairperson of Taiwan’s telecom regulator National Communications Commission, gestures while unveiling a list of seven local companies to bid for up to seven 4G operation licenses at a press conference. — AFP

Taiwan’s Hon Hai, six others to bid for 4G mobile licences TAIPEI: Taiwan technology giant Hon Hai Precision has joined six other firms to bid for the island’s 4G mobile spectrum licences, the telecom regulator said yesterday. “We’re glad that local companies have displayed faith in the domestic 4G operation,” Yu Hsiao-cheng, vice chairman of the National Communications Commission, told reporters while unveiling the list of interested bidders. Among them is Hon Hai, the parent company of Foxconn and the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer. Earlier in the day, Hon Hai spokeswoman Laura Liu told AFP the application was made through Ambit Microsystems Corp, one of the 26 companies affiliated with Hon Hai. Ambit Microsystems is largely engaged in the production and development of connectivity and power solutions for PC and telecommunication enterprises, including routers, modems and wireless products. The move comes as Hon Hai founder Terry Gou said last week it plans to spin off some units as part of measures to battle

global sluggishness and falling share prices. The conglomerate assembles Apple’s iPads and iPhones, plus mobile devices for Sony and Nokia. Hon Hai saw its sales in the three months to March fall 19 percent from a year earlier to Tw$809 billion ($26.97 billion) as orders from its biggest client Apple slowed. Screening of the applicants will begin Tuesday and bidding on September 3, Yu said, adding that four to seven licences would be issued contingent upon the bidding results. “We hope that at least some winners of the bidding will be able to provide 4G services from 2014,” Yu said. 4G, which operates five times faster than the current 3G network, allows users to download large email attachments quickly, watch live television without buffering, make high-quality video calls and play live games on the go. Taiwan lags behind the global rollout of 4G, with dozens of countries including the United States and Germany as well as parts of Asia already offering the service to businesses and consumers. — AFP

DUBAI: Tech Mahindra Limited, a specialist provider of information technology (IT) solutions and services to the telecommunications industry and Mahindra Satyam, a leading global consulting and IT services provider, recently announced the formal amalgamation of Mahindra Satyam with Tech Mahindra. The merged entity, which has been ranked among the top five Indian IT services companies, creates a technology services powerhouse with revenues of USD 2.7 Billion and a team of 84,000 professionals servicing 540 customers across 46 countries, including the Middle East region. According to the company’s senior officials, the new Tech Mahindra brand dons a new look and logo, which reflects the heritage of the Mahindra Group while its new positioning represents the new connected world, offering innovative and customer-centric services and solutions. Also being noted is that the strengths of the two entities remain widely intact, even after the consummation of the merger. In light of the announcement, Tech Mahindra’s focus will continue to be on telecommunications, enterprise and business services group (BSG)-which are the three key pillars of the combined organizations. The combined entity is being positioned to service more than 100 clients in the Middle East region, across key industries like Energy, Utilities, Retail, Banking, Finance, Airports, Railways and Sports. Industry experts have shared that traditional enterprises are now making the shift towards becoming digital-based enterprises. The transformation requires the convergence of cutting edge skills in Network, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud, Security, Social & Sensors (NMACS). The new Tech Mahindra positioning will be ‘Connected World, Connected Solutions,’ wherein all of its solutions and services will bring the ‘connectedness’ needed in leveraging NMACS technologies to provide a seamless and unparalleled experience for our customers. “Today we have fulfilled the commitment made in 2009, when we acquired Satyam, to jointly become one-of-the largest, diversified players leveraging Technology for Business Solutions. Tech Mahindra is a testimony to the tireless efforts of our associates and

the trust reposed by our investors. I’m confident that we are now geared to grow even faster in the future,” said Anand Mahindra, Group Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra. “Over the past four years while we worked through the statutory and legal issues, our teams worked closely on the ground to integrate processes, eliminate overlaps, leverage best practices and deliver enhanced value to all our stakeholders. Today, as we formally become one, our unified Go-To-Market strategy will allow us to meet the growing needs of businesses with renewed vigor and pro-activeness,” said Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice Chairman, Tech Mahindra. CP Gurnani, Managing Director and CEO, Tech Mahindra said, “Consumerism across today’s connected world is being fuelled by a convergence of technologies. Our new positioning ‘Connected World.

Connected Solutions.’ reflects this business opportunity and reality. Our innovative and customer centric offerings integrate technology with business, enabling Enterprises, Associates and the Society to Rise. I thank all stakeholders for their continuous and unfailing support at all times.” Replacing Bobby Gupta in MENA will be G B Kumar, a well-known IT industry veteran with 20+ years of in product and services, sales, marketing, business and solution development across Asia Pacific, India, Japan and China. Kumar is expected to help grow the company’s Middle East revenues, contributing to the global target of USD 5 billion by 2015. To date, ongoing projects in the region are worth in excess USD 150 Million “The announcement of this merger makes Tech Mahindra a technology powerhouse to reckon with in the Middle East region.

Apple applies to register ‘iWatch’ trademark in Japan TOKYO: Apple Inc has applied for a trademark for “iWatch” in Japan, a patent official said on Monday, signalling the iPhone maker may be moving ahead with plans for a watch-like device as gadget makers turn their attention to wearable computers. The trademark application, submitted on June 3 and released on the Japan Patent Office website on June 27, would cover computers, computer peripherals and wristwatches, the official said. He said it was unknown how long the application process would require. An Apple spokesman in Japan could not immediately be reached for comment. Speculation has mounted that Apple is preparing to launch an iWatch and CEO Tim Cook told a gathering of tech and media executives a month ago that wearable products were ripe for exploration, but added he was sceptical, including

about Google Inc’s recently unveiled Glass which combines a mobile computer and eyeglasses. “There’s nothing that’s going to convince a kid who has never worn glasses or a band or a watch to wear one, or at least I haven’t seen it,” Cook said. Wearable devices are considered a potential area for hit products as smartphones such as the iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co’s Galaxy series are losing their ability to impress consumers and investors. Samsung, which has leapfrogged Apple as the world’s leading smartphone maker, is also developing a wearable device similar to a wristwatch, a source with knowledge of the matter has said. The New York Times reported in February that Apple was experimenting with the design of a device similar to a wristwatch that would operate on the same iOS platform as its iPhone and iPad and would be made with curved glass. — Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Halving world hunger by 2015 ‘within reach’ GENEVA: Despite economic crises and dwindling aid, the UN said yesterday huge progress had been made towards meeting the so- called Millennium Development Goals, including its bid to slash world hunger in half between 1990 and 2015. “Given reinvigorated efforts, the target of halving the percentage of people suffering from hunger by 2015 appears within reach,” said a UN progress report on its eight Millennium goals. Thirteen years ago, world leaders drew up the MDG’s, with specific targets to reduce poverty, stop the spread of AIDS and improve education, gender equality, child and maternal health and environmental stability.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the progress made, insisting in yesterday’s report that the goals “have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history.” The MDG target of cutting in two the number of people living in extreme poverty, defined as subsisting on less than $1.25 a day, was reached already in 2010 — five years ahead of schedule. The repor t also stressed major advances in health, pointing to strides to rein in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as drops in the death rates from malaria and tuberculosis, saving more than 20 million lives. Less than 1,000 days from the cut-off

date, all was not rosy, however. Ban pointed out that “too many women die in childbirth when we have the means to save them (and) more than 2.5 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities.” “Our resource base is in serious decline, with continuing losses of forests, species and fish stocks, in a world already experiencing the impacts of climate change,” he added. One in eight people around the world are still chronically undernourished, and more than 100 million or 16 percent of kids under the age of five are underweight. But yesterday’s report also pointed out that the proportion of undernourished people in the world fell from 23.2

percent in 1990-92 to 14.9 percent in 2010-12, and that there were today 59 million fewer children under five who were under weight than in 1990. Despite the significant drop, the UN repor t stressed that “the rate of progress is insufficient” to reach the target of halving the number of hungry people by 2015. But progress had been “more pronounced than previously believed,” it said, insisting that if the world hit the accelerator in its bid to root out the scourge of hunger, the 2015 target could be reached. Noting that progress towards the Millennium goals had been uneven, the UN report urged the international com-

munity to smooth out the disparities between regions and countries, as well as between population groups within countries. The report also warned that the world’s ability to reach its goals had been impacted by dwindling aid money, with global aid funds falling two percent from 2010 to 2011 and another four percent in 2012, to $126 billion. But this too was unevenly distributed, with aid to the least developed countries shrinking a full 13 percent last year alone, to about $26 billion. The report called on the world to look beyond 2015 and begin crafting “an ambitious, yet realistic, agenda for the period after the MDG target date.”—AFP

Tobacco taxes, smoking bans set to save millions of lives Raising taxes on cigarettes, smoke-free areas save lives

JALALABAD: An Afghan health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during the first day of a vaccination campaign on the outskirts yesterday. Polio, once a worldwide scourge, is endemic in just three countries now - Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. —AFP

US sets birth control rule for employers with religious ties NEW YORK: The Obama administration made it final that employees of religiously affiliated, nonprofit institutions would receive insurance coverage for birth control amid mounting legal challenges to a rule in the recent healthcare law. The White House proposed in early 2012 an arrangement that allows universities, hospitals and other employers with a religious affiliation to avoid paying directly for contraceptives. Instead, insurance companies provide coverage and foot the bill under the law. The rule requires an institution’s health insurer or third-party insurance administrator to notify employees about birth control benefits and provide beneficiaries with direct payments that cover the cost of contraceptive services. The announcement was made by the US Department of Health and Human Services. It puts into effect a requirement that has been beset by more than a year of talks between administration officials and religious employers. The US Roman Catholic bishops and other denominations oppose contraception on religious grounds and have protested against the requirement as have conservatives. “Today’s announcement reinforces our commitment to respect the concerns of houses of worship and other non-profit religious organizations that object to contraceptive coverage, while helping to ensure that women get the care they need, regardless of where they work,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. The rule formally takes effect on August 1. Thanks But the administration gave nonprofit

employers an additional five months to adjust to the new regulations by having it apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1. Other employers have been required to make contraceptives coverage available to their workers since last August. Women’s advocates applauded the regulations as a milestone that could have profound impact on the education and economic opportunities of women including college students. “Birth control is basic healthcare for women, and this policy treats it like any other kind of preventive care,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Roberts said in a statement. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has spearheaded opposition to the policy, responded to the ruling. “We have received and started to review the 110-page final rule,” New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in a statement. “It will require more careful analysis. We will provide a fuller statement when that analysis is complete.” Legal fight expands Opponents say the policy, part of President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, violates religious tenets of nonprofit and for-profit employers alike, particularly coverage for the morning-after pill to stop pregnancy and other types of contraceptives, which they view as tantamount to abortion. Employers have had legal successes, raising speculation that the lawfulness of the rule may eventually be tested by the US Supreme Court.—Reuters

GENEVA: Anti-smoking measures including higher taxes on tobacco products, bans on adverts and controls on lighting up in public places could prevent tens of millions of premature deaths across the world, researchers said yesterday. Similar steps taken by Turkey, Romania and 39 other countries between 2007 and 2010 were already saving lives, the independent study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) said. “If the progress attained by these ... countries were extended globally, tens of millions of smoking-related deaths could be averted,” Professor David Levy, the study ’s lead author from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, said in the WHO’s monthly bulletin. Wider use of the controls could also lead to lower health care costs and higher birth weights for babies, he added. Tobacco-control measures already introduced in the 41 countries, that also included Pakistan,

Argentina and Italy, were on track to persuade an estimated 15 million people not to smoke, the study said. That would prevent around 7.4 million smoking-related deaths by 2050, it added. The researchers found the most effective measures were increasing taxes and banning smoking in offices, restaurants and other public places. The first method would prevent 3.5 million smokingattributable deaths, while the second would prevent 2.5 million, they said. “If anything it is an under-estimate,” Dr Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO’s department of noncommunicable diseases, told Reuters in an interview in his Geneva office. “It is a win-win situation for health and finance ministries to generate revenues that have a major impact on improving health and productivity,” he added. Turkey’s steps led to a sharp drop in smoking rates to 41.5 percent among men in 2012 from 47.9 percent in 2008, he said. Six million people die every year from smoking

and the toll is projected to rise to eight million by 2030, according to the WHO, a United Nations agency waging war on “Big Tobacco”. The WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into force in 2005, lays down measures to curb smoking and tobacco use. About 175 countries have ratified the pact, shunned by others that are home to large tobacco companies, including the United States, Switzerland and Indonesia. Measures include raising taxes on tobacco products to 75 percent of the final retail price, smoke-free air policies, warnings on cigarette packages, bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and offering treatments to kick the habit. “We know that in many poor countries, the poor spend a lot of money on tobacco. They would be able to use it for nutrition and education which is a huge opportunity cost,” said Dr Edouard Tursan d’Espaignet, from WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative.—Reuters

PTSD tied to raised heart disease risk NEW YORK: People suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may also be at increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to a new study of Vietnam War veterans. After following nearly 300 pairs of male twins, all Vietnam vets, for more than a decade, researchers found that almost a quarter of the men diagnosed with PTSD also had heart disease, compared to less than a tenth of the men without the combatrelated stress disorder. “As time goes by, it’s become more and more clear that PTSD is not just something that impacts psychological health. It has broad repercussions throughout the body,” said Dr. Viola Vaccarino from the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, the study’s lead author. Behavioral symptoms of PTSD include reliving the traumatic event in memories or nightmares, avoiding situations that may trigger those memories and feelings of paranoia, fearfulness and guilt, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

The symptoms tend to start shortly after a person experiences a traumatic event, such as combat, terrorist attacks, serious accidents, natural disasters and personal violence or abuse. Physically, Vaccarino’s team notes, PTSD sufferers are known to often have raised levels of stress hormones and other chemicals signaling overactivation in the fightor-flight pathways of the nervous system. Previous research, including one study examining US veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, have found that people diagnosed with PTSD and other stress disorders are more likely to develop heart troubles (see Reuters Health story of August 5, 2009 here:). Vaccarino said, however, that other studies found conflicting results and some relied on data from inter views and questionnaires, which may provide inaccurate information. For its study, Vaccarino’s group used data from a study of twins who were all Vietnam War veterans born between 1946 and 1956. None of the men in the new analysis had

heart disease when the study started, between 1987 and 1992. The 281 twin pairs were asked to return for follow-up exams and interviews between 2002 and 2010 - about 13 years later - and were tested to see how many of the men had developed heart disease. Overall, 137 participants had met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD at the start of the study and 69 men developed heart disease by the time of their follow-up exam. About 23 percent of those with PTSD had heart disease, compared to about 9 percent of those without the stress disorder. The results translated to those with PTSD at the outset being twice as likely as men without the disorder to develop heart disease by the end of the study. That difference remained even after the researchers accounted for the higher rates of smoking, drinking and high blood pressure among the PTSD sufferers, which could also contribute to heart risks. Vaccarino told Reuters Health that she and her colleagues were able to confirm their findings by imaging the participants’ hearts and show-

ing reduced blood flow in the men with PTSD. While their study cannot prove that PTSD caused heart disease in the men, she said, people should know the two conditions share an association. “This study and the other studies provide pretty good evidence that there’s an association here and it’s likely to be causal, but we don’t have the proof,” said Dr Stephen Sidney, director for research clinics at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland. “There is enough of an association that physicians should be aware of it,” said Sidney, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Vaccarino said more research is needed to find out exactly how the two conditions are related, but “in the meantime, we need to act on those things that are protective against heart disease in general.” “Patients with PTSD need to realize that they need to take care of their heart, because they are at a higher risk,” she said.—Reuters

Three-year-old Japan boy gets lung part from mother TOKYO: Part of a Japanese woman’s lung was transplanted to her three-year-old son yesterday in what was described as the world’s first successful graft of a middle lobe from a living donor, a hospital said. Lung transplants from living donors usually involve transferring the inferior lobe which has greater breathing capacity. But a middle lobe was transplanted in this case as it is smaller than an inferior lobe and is of the right size for the boy, the Okayama University Hospital said. The boy and his mother were not identified. The transplant of a middle lobe is seen as difficult, said the university in western Japan. “A pump-oxygenator was detached from the recipient and he started breathing with the transplanted part of the lung,” the hospital said in a statement. “We deem that the operation has been successful,” it said.

The hospital said earlier that a successful operation would be the first of its kind in the world. The surgery started at 1:35 pm and the boy started breathing with the transplanted lung about five hours later, the statement said. The boy is the youngest lung recipient in Japan, the hospital said. He underwent a bone-marrow transplant for leukaemia about two years ago but later developed graft-versus-host disease, a complication in which the newly transplanted material attacks the recipient’s body, Kyodo News said. Takahiro Oto, associate professor of respiratory surgery at the state-run university hospital, said the transplant of a middle lobe would pave the way for saving the lives of babies who have not been able to undergo other types of lung transplant, Kyodo reported.—AFP

PENINSULA VALDES: These undated handout pictures released by the CENPATCONICET institute show a seagull pecking the back of a whale.—AFP photos

Gulls feasting on whales? In Argentina, yes VALDES PENINSULA: It’s a weird, lopsided fight if ever there was one: seagulls dive bombing to attack and feed on the fat of 50-ton whales and their babies. And the birds are winning. The battle, new in recent years, is playing out in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, and is not known to be happening in waters elsewhere in the world that are home to the mighty mammals. The effect of all the relentless nibbling is a pernicious disruption of an eco-system. One theory as to why it is happening is there is an overpopulation of seagulls-in this case, the kelp gull. Whales use these Argentine waters to mate, give birth and nurse their young, and what with all the airborne harassment, whales are taking new evasive measures as they swim, separating mothers from their calves and denying them nourishment. Whales do not have lips for sucking, so mothers expel a thick milk in the water for their calves to ingest. The babies need more than 100 liters of it per day. “With each attack this process is interrupted, and it is a crucial moment for the growth of the whales,” said Mariano Sironi, director of studies at Argentina’s Institute for Whale Conservation. In 2012, Sironi tallied 116 whales found dead in these waters, and all but three of them were calves. That mortality rate was up 100 percent from the previous year. Ever y year, for six months starting in June, hundreds of whalestheir formal name is the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) — come to waters off the Valdes Peninsula to reproduce. The area has

been declared a UN World Heritage site, and every year more than 100,000 tourists come to watch the spectacle. Dodging attacks It is estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 whales, who like the cold waters of the South Atlantic, come for the annual mating fest. The species also live in the Antarctic, South Pacific and southern Indian Ocean. Adults measure 13 to 16 meters (43 to 53 feet), while the calves are 3-5 meters at birth. “The lack of nursing causes serious nutrition problems for the calves. Postmortem studies have shown evidence of malnutrition, and this is a working hypothesis that needs to be confirmed with several studies,” Sironi said. Indeed, in recent years the gulls have been wreaking havoc. They used to feed on refuse tossed overboard by fishing boats. Now, they have added whales to their menu in frenzied waves of pecking. “The seagulls attack the skin first, and then the fat of the whales. They peck several times in each attack. Then the whale submerges, and when it comes back to the surface, the gull is there waiting,” said Jose Anibal Cepeda, a guide who takes tourists out on the ocean to see the whales. The calves are a riper target because they have less lung capacity than adults and thus have to come up for air more often, he added. Seagulls may be small but their beaks leave a grisly toll: gashes up to four inches (10 cm) deep and scabs up to five feet (1.5 meters) long.

Biologist Ana Fazio of the Patagonia National Center says whales have even changed the way they swim so as to dodge the birds. “They arch as they swim to avoid exposing their backs. You can only see their head and their tail. They swim deeper. They are constantly fleeing. They spend an enormous amount of energy reacting to the seagull attacks,” Fazio said. Last year the center’s director Marcelo Bertoletti hired professional hunters to cull gulls. They downed 140 of them. About 10 kilometers (six miles) from the fishing port of Puerto Madryn, Bertoletti looks on as a monstrous flock of up to 8,000 gulls feed madly on rotting fish remains at a landfill. The stench is nauseating. Those remains are supposed to be buried, but companies rarely do that, so the gulls gorge themselves on fish heads, tails and guts that helps their numbers multiply. “This is like a McDonald’s for seagulls,” Bertoletti said. He said there is also the fear that the gulls carry viruses or bacteria that can infect whales. Whales of the same species in waters off South Africa or Australia have no seagull problem, so scientists reckon the Argentine phenomenon is caused by seagull overpopulation. Experts discard whales beaching themselves or falling victim to solar radiation as an explanation for the increased mortality rate. Authorities in southern Chubut province plan another seagull cull in July to try to keep the peace for the whales, which are the main tourist attraction in the Valdes Peninsula.—AFP

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

White man’s skull has Australians scratching heads SYDNEY: The centuries-old skull of a white man found in Australia is raising questions about whether Captain James Cook really was the first European to land on the country’s east coast. The skull was found in northern New South Wales in late 2011, and police initially prepared themselves for a gruesome murder investigation. But scientific testing revealed that not only was it much

older than expected, but possibly belonged to a white man born around 1650, well before Englishman Cook reached the eastern seaboard on the Endeavour in 1770. “ The DNA determined the skull was a male,” Detective Sergeant John Williamson told The Daily Telegraph. “And the anthropologist report states the skull is that of a Caucasoid aged anywhere from 28 to 65.” Australian

CANBERRA: This handout picture shows a centuries-old skull found in northern New South Wales in late 2011.

National University expert Stewart Fallon, who carbon-dated the skull, pulling some collagen from the bone as well as the enamel on a tooth, said he was at first shocked at the age of the relic. “We didn’t know know how old this one was, we assumed at first that it was going to be a very young sample,” he said. “When we first did it we weren’t really thinking about people coming to Australia and things like until we started to look at the dates and say, ‘Oh, that’s becoming intriguing’.” He said the test used was quite accurate for dates after 1950 but for earlier samples it was more difficult, and the two samples yielded different datesthough both were within the error range. “Using them (the dates) together we can do some modeling as to what we expect the calendar age to be ... and the way it works out by using those two dates is that we get about an 80 percent probability that the person was born somewhere around the 1650s and died somewhere between 1660 and 1700,” Fallon said. He said there was a 20 percent probability the skull, which was found well-preserved and intact but without any other remains near the Manning River, belonged to someone born between 1780 to 1790 who died between 1805 and 1810. Historians were cautious. “Before we rewrite the history of European

CANBERRA: This handout picture released by Daniel Cummins yesterday shows Australian National University’s Dr Stewart Fallon holding a skull found in northern New South Wales in late 2011.—AFP photos settlement we have to consider a number of issues, particularly the circumstances of the discovery,” archaeologist Adam Ford told the Telegraph. “The fact the skull is in good condition and found alone could easily point to it coming from a private collection and skulls were very popular with collectors in the 19th century.” Cassie Mercer, editor of Australia And

New Zealand Inside History, said the skull “could be an incredible find”. “I guess it’s a very exciting find because it could open up a whole lot of avenues of history that we haven’t been able to explore before,” she said. Dutch explorers made the earliest European landings in Cape York in Australia’s far nor th and Western Australia in the 1600s.—AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Dr Jekyll and M Hyde at AUK SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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

Announcements Issue of online visa by Indian embassy oreigners requiring visas for India need to apply it online from 16th June 2013. Applicants may log on to the Public portal at www.indianvisaonline.gov.in. After successful online submission, the hard copy, so generated, has to be signed by the applicant and submitted with supporting documents in accordance with the type of visa along with the applicable fee in cash at any of the two outsource centres at Sharq or Fahaheel. It is essential that applicants fill in their personal details as exactly available in their passports. Mismatch of any of the personal details would lead to non-acceptance of the application. Fees once paid are nonrefundable. All children would have to obtain separate visa on their respective passports.

Indian Embassy sets up helpline he Indian Embassy in Kuwait has set up helpline in order to assist Indian expatriates in registering any complaint regarding the government’s ongoing campaign to stamp out illegal residents from the country. The embassy said in press release yesterday that it amended its previous statement and stated if there is any complaint, the same could be conveyed at the following (as amended): Operations Department, Ministry of Interior, Kuwait. Fax: 22435580, Tel: 24768146/25200334. It said the embassy has been in regular contact with local authorities regarding the ongoing checking of expatriates. The embassy has also conveyed to them the concerns, fears and apprehensions of the community in this regard. The authorities in Kuwait have conveyed that strict instructions have been issued to ensure that there is no harassment or improper treatment of expatriates by those undertaking checking. “The embassy would like to request Indian expatriates to ensure that they abide by all local laws, rules and regulations regarding residency, traffic and other matters,” the release read. It would be prudent to always carry the Civil ID and other relevant documents such as driving license, etc. In case an Indian expatriate encounters any improper treatment during checking, it may be conveyed immediately with full details and contact particulars to the embassy at the following phone number 67623639. These contact details are exclusively for the above-mentioned purpose only.

8th Expo Pakistan to commence in September he 8th Expo Pakistan will be held from Sept 26 to 29 in Karachi. Held annually, Expo Pakistan is the biggest trade fair in the country showcasing the largest collection of Pakistan’s export merchandise and services. Foreign Exhibitors also use the event to launch their products. Expo Pakistan 2012 was visited by delegates from 52 countries and generated a business of over $ 518 million. A 16 member delegation from Kuwait including reputable companies like Al-Yasra Foods also took part in the last exhibition. Expo Pakistan 2013 is being held under the auspices of the Trade Development Authority Pakistan. Details about the event can be viewed www.expopakisan.gov.pk. Further information and details of sponsorship can be obtained from the office of Commercial Secretary, Pakistan Embassy, Jabriya (25356594) during office hours.

he Drama Program at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) presented its production of Jeffrey Hatcher’s Dr Jekyll and M Hyde, performed at The Black Box Theatre, located on AUK’s campus. Hatcher’s interpretation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 19th-century novella was directed by AUK’s Assistant Professor of Theatre/Drama, Dr Kathleen R Downs, under the auspice of the recently established Music and Drama Department. The production included performances by veteran AUK actors Tori Danner, Eamon Issa and Mohammed Saeed, as well as newcomers to the University’s theatre community Omar Al-Farsi, Dana Mann, Rateb Shehadeh, Abdulmohsin Al-Nassar and Talal Faraj. Also appearing in the production were AUK academic reading and writing Professor Alison Koushki, and Maria Lambert, daughter of AUK English Professor James Lambert. The production crew included co-stage managers

Nouf Al Mazidi and Yousef Nayef, shift crew captain Ahmed Mohammed, sound technician Abdullah AlGharabally, and lighting designer Kendall Downs. As part of the DRAM 360 production class, the company met all semester, immersing themselves in the characters they portrayed in this psychological drama that explores Man’s innermost nature. The play was scheduled to stage four performances, however, due to sold out tickets and the high demand they received from the audience, the actors agreed to stage a fifth performance, which also sold out. Ingenuity was required to create a stage in which the actors could examine age-old questions about the nature of good and evil. By repositioning a “red door” on wheels and manipulating the lighting, the stage was transformed into six separate areas that allowed the actors to explore these questions. The story of how Dr. Henry Jekyll unleashes evil (in the form of Edward Hyde)

in a failed attempt to isolate and control the evil aspects of his own personality, has been republished numerous times since the book’s first edition in 1866. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has been adapted for stage and screen more than 100 times. AUK is proud to have added to that legacy. The AUK community looks forward to the next theatrical event, planned for the Fall semester of 2013. The Department of Music and Drama offers a wide range of opportunities for both beginning and advanced students within the context of a liberal arts education. The Music and Drama faculty of talented professionals work closely with students to prepare them for campus concerts and plays, and to academically challenge them in courses on performing arts. The department fosters artistic proficiency, cultural appreciation, a sense of community, and a lifelong commitment to the arts.

Treat your family to an unforgettable Ramadan at Marina Hotel Kuwait

The Embassy of Russia he Embassy of Russia has launched its official page on Facebook social network which can be found by following address: http://www.facebook.com/RussianEmbassy Kuwait All necessary information about Russia, bilateral relations between Russia and Kuwait and information for those who are going to apply visa can be found there. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We’ll be happy to help you.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

o celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, Marina Hotel Kuwait has created a number of special promotions designed to offer guests the very best. Break your fast with an exquisite iftar buffet at the Atlantis restaurant with panoramic views of the Arabian Sea and experience a remarkable ghabka and sohour buffet with a wide selection of delicacies at the Kamar Al Marina Tent inside the Six Palms. The Kamar Al Marina Tent is complete with rich drapery and comfortable seating which reflects the warmth of the true spirit of Ramadan. Fully equipped to cater for groups and organizations with a capacity to accommodate up to 200 guests at a time, it is the best choice to dine during the holy month. For the entire period of Ramadan the “Kamar Al Marina Tent” will be sponsored by AirFrance/KLM.

Nabil Hammoud, General Manger, said: “We have striven to create an ambience that reflects the true spirit of Ramadan as the focus shifts to prayer and abstinence during fasting while the evenings come alive with families and friends getting together to share the blessings of the month from sun set to sohour. We have lined up a grand iftar buffet for our guests available daily with a large selection of local and international food, including shawarma stations, mezzas, salads, soups, main courses and delectable Ramadan sweets.” “This Holy Month of Ramadan, the Marina Hotel will create compelling guest experiences that are in line with the spirit of the season marked by solidarity and compassion. We wish to extend our warmest greetings to you and your families and I take this opportu-

PGA Ramadan timings

ear Players and Parents The PGA Summer Program timings will continue until Ramadan as follows; Coaching Course Saturday/Monday/Wednesday 5.30-7pm Centre of Excellence U-10s/12s Friday/Sunday/Tuesday 5.30-7pm Centre of Excellence U-15s/17s Friday/Monday/Wednesday 7-8.30pm Girls and Goalkeepers Sunday 7-8.30pm *During the first two weeks of Ramadan there will be ‘Football for All’ four evenings a week; Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday 10-11.30pm

nity to invite one and all to our property to enjoy the flavorful feast that we have prepared for our guests.” For private functions and corporate events, Salwa Sabah Al Ahmed Theatre and Hall gives special personalized attention, this exquisite hall can accommodate up to 500 guests at a time. It also offers a selection of different menus for iftar and sohour at exclusive prices and is fully equipped to cater for groups and organizations. The highly qualified and professional chefs of the hotel will prepare mouthwatering dishes to satisfy every palate. Savor the delicious delicacies from the open buffet and live cooking stations and quench your thirst with the traditional Ramadan beverages. Guests can feast on an extensive array of Arabic and Oriental cuisine in a tranquil setting com-

plemented by live cooking stations, sweets, beverages and a wide selection of flavored Shisha. Guests are invited to avail special room packages where they can relax and enjoy their stay in the luxurious rooms throughout the Ramadan period. The Hotel’s rooms are specially designed and have all the requisite facilities and luxurious amenities. They can also use the state of the art fitness centre. Hammoud stressed, “With the convenient location of the hotel, close to many Ramadan and shopping attractions, Marina Hotel is an ideal base for both guests and residents to discover local traditions.” Make this Ramadan a truly memorable one by sharing special moments with family and friends at The Marina Hotel Kuwait.

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Holiday Inn Salmiya presents unique Ramadan experience

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-gcccom for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm. nnnnnnn

s the holy month of Ramadan approaches, Holiday Inn Salmiya has arranged special offers for their devoted customers to enjoy with their family and friends. The Ayam Zaman restaurant has been transformed into a Ramadan Tent with an atmosphere that reflects the spirit of the holy month through its various iftar and

sohour meals, drinks and desserts complemented with light oriental music. The guests of the Ramadan Tent will get a chance to enter a weekly raffle with four lucky winners receiving airline tickets to Egypt, Jordan, Istanbul or Vienna. As well as complimentary hotel stays at one of InterContinental Hotels Group in the region. There will also be a

draw for a grand prize on the first day of Eid. Whether you are planning for a private iftar of a large corporate Ghabqa, Holiday Inn is the best place for your occasions as it is equipped with two state of the art ballrooms. The dedicated team will personalize your event and cater all your needs. Special Ramadan

menus will be available even for outside catering services. Since Ramadan is best enjoyed with the family, Holiday Inn has introduced the “Stay Close” package providing its guests with a comfortable stay, the chance to enjoy a delicious meal, 24 hours access to the gym and many other facilities.

HSBC Kuwait rewards staff for outstanding achievement

EMBASSY OF CANADA he 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, U.A.E. 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-im-enquiry@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 will be closed on Monday July 1st 2013, for Canada Day, and will resume its duties on Tuesday 2 July 2013. 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.

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SBC in Kuwait recently recognised a number of staff for their special achievements during a staff event at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach

Hotel. Eight members of staff were recognized for their achievements in gaining accreditation as first aiders, having successfully completed a comprehensive training programme. Budour Al-Saleem, Vincent Lobo, Suleiman Al-Oqaili, GhadaQaq, Shaik Abdul Bari, Mohammed Ismael, Nisreen Al-Khuraibet and FahadAbbas received special certificates for their efforts.

“We do encourage employees to develop skills outside banking and finance. At HSBC, there is a strong emphasis on health and safety and I would like to thank my colleagues for volunteering as first aiders and to congratulate them on successfully completing the training course.,” said Simon Vaughan Johnson, CEO of HSBC in Kuwait. Four other members of staff received special accolades for exceptional achievements and for championing the HSBC corporate values. Mirna Arab, Fahad Abbas, Shaik Abdul Bari and Mohammed Al-Rudaini were rewarded for their ability to deliver their business

targets in line with the HSBC Group values. Simon Vaughan Johnson said: “Not only do we encourage our staff to work hard and deliver their business targets, but we also emphasise the importance of doing so in a way that is consistent with the values of HSBC. The HSBC Kuwait team has very high standards of excellence, and it is a hard task to pick only a small group of people for special recognition. However, our four colleagues were exceptional in their achievements and it is a real pleasure to celebrate their success.”

EMBASSY OF US Parents of Kuwaiti citizen children may drop off their sons’ and daughters’ visa applications - completely free of an interview or a trip inside the Embassy. The children must be under 14 years of age, and additional requirements do apply, but the service means parents will no longer have to schedule individual appointments for their children, nor come inside the Embassy (unless they are applying for themselves). The service is only available for children holding Kuwaiti passports. To take advantage, parents must drop off the following documents: Child Visa Drop-off cover sheet, available on the Embassy website (http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/child_visas.htm) - Child’s passport; The Child’s previous passport, if it contains a valid US visa; 5x5cm photo of child with eyes open (if uploaded into DS160, photos must be a .jpg between 600x600 and 1200x1200 pixels, less than 240kb, and cannot be digitally altered); A completed DS160 form; Visa Fee Receipt from Burgan Bank; A copy of the valid visa of at least one parent. If one parent will not travel, provide a visa copy for the traveling parent, and a passport copy from the non-traveling parent with a letter stating no objection to the child’s travel. - For children of students (F2): a copy of the child’s I20. Children born in the US (with very few exceptions) are US citizens and would not be eligible for a visa. Parents may drop off the application packet at Window 2 at the Embassy from 1:00 to 3:00 PM, Monday to Wednesday, excluding holidays. More information is available on the U.S. Embassy website: kuwait.usembassy.gov/child_visas.html nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF 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 VATICAN The Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See, Vatican in Kuwait has moved to a new location in Kuwait City. Please find below the new address: Yarmouk, Block 1, Street 2, Villa No: 1. P.O.Box 29724, Safat 13158, Kuwait. Tel: 965 25337767, Fax: 965 25342066. Email: nuntiuskuwait@gmail.com Diana, the daughter of Al-Shaikh, who heads the photography department at Al-Shahed newspaper, graduated from Jordan University’s Computer Science department. Fouad held a celebration on this occasion, attended by family and friends who wished Diana all success.

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

14:35 Border Security 15:05 Auction Hunters 15:30 Auction Kings 16:00 Ultimate Survival 16:55 One Man Army 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 Sons Of Guns 19:40 Deconstruction 20:05 How It’s Made 20:35 Auction Hunters 21:00 Storage Hunters 21:30 Off The Hook: Catches 21:55 Off The Hook: Catches 22:25 Robson’s New Fishing Challenge 23:20 Moonshiners 00:15 Off The Hook: Catches 00:40 Off The Hook: Catches 01:10 Robson’s New Fishing Challenge

14:20 14:45 15:10 16:00 16:55 17:45 18:35 19:30 20:20 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:40 00:05 00:30 01:00 01:25 01:50

00:30 01:20 02:10 02:35 03:00 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

00:30 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00

Extreme Extreme Extreme

06:00 The FBI Files 07:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 07:30 Snapped 08:00 Beyond Scared Straight 09:00 Crime Stories 10:00 Nightmare In Suburbia 11:00 Crimes That Shook Britain 12:00 The FBI Files 13:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 14:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 14:30 Snapped 15:00 Beyond Scared Straight 16:00 Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook 17:00 Crimes That Shook Britain 18:00 The FBI Files 19:00 The FBI Files 20:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 21:00 Crimes That Shook Britain 22:00 Private Crimes 22:30 I Survived 23:30 Paranormal Cops

Extreme Extreme Extreme

The Gadget Show How Tech Works Scrapheap Challenge How Stuff Works Superships Thunder Races Through The Wormhole Scrapheap Challenge Flying Anvils The Gadget Show How Tech Works Scrapheap Challenge Flying Anvils The Gadget Show How Tech Works Weird Connections Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory

Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab I Was Murdered I Was Murdered Blood Relatives I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab Nightmare Next Door Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry? On The Case With Paula Zahn Solved Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Extreme Forensics On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry? Disappeared Solved Extreme Forensics On The Case With Paula Zahn Dr G: Medical Examiner Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Couples Who Kill Deadly Women I Almost Got Away With It

Born To Kill Private Crimes Crimes That Shook Britain Psychic Kids Nightmare In Suburbia Crime Stories

03:00 The Bourne Legacy-PG15 05:15 The Wishing Well-PG15 07:00 Perfect Plan-PG15 09:00 Something Borrowed-PG15 11:00 Spooky Buddies-PG 13:00 Dead Lines-PG15 15:00 Christmas Comes Home To Canaan-PG15 17:00 Something Borrowed-PG15 19:00 Down The Shore-PG15 21:00 American Reunion-18 23:00 Contraband-18 01:00 The Change Up-18

07:00 Joyful Noise-PG15 09:00 My Afternoons With Margueritte-PG15 11:00 Golden Christmas 3-PG15 13:00 Web Of Lies-PG15 15:00 Encounter With Danger-PG15 17:00 Wrath Of The Titans-PG15 19:00 In Time-PG15 21:00 Best Laid Plans-18 23:00 Hesher-18 01:00 Encounter With Danger-PG15

04:00 Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax-PG 06:00 The American President-PG15 08:00 Brave-PG 10:00 Big Miracle-PG 12:00 Cheaper By The Dozen-PG 14:00 Cheaper By The Dozen 2-PG 16:00 Brave-PG 18:00 The Odd Life Of Timothy Green-PG 20:00 Flying Lessons-PG15 22:00 Skyfall-PG15 00:30 Brave-PG 02:15 The Odd Life Of Timothy Green-PG

04:15 Aeon Flux-PG15 06:00 Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome-PG15 08:00 Dangerous Flowers-PG15 10:00 Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?-PG15 12:00 Kull The Conqueror-PG15 14:00 Dangerous Flowers-PG15 16:00 Hide And Seek-PG15 18:00 Kull The Conqueror-PG15 20:00 7 Below-18 22:00 Commando-18 00:00 Dread-18 02:00 7 Below-18

08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 PG15 20:00 22:00 00:00

Wild Wild West-PG15 The Smurfs-PG Jumping The Broom-PG15 Below The Beltway-PG15 The Smurfs-PG While You Were SleepingFriday After Next-18 Casino Jack-18 Bucky Larson: Born To Be A

Star-18 02:00 Friday After Next-18

09:00 Senna-PG15 11:00 Too Late To Say GoodbyePG15 13:00 Wuthering Heights-PG15 15:00 The Memory Keeper’s Daughter-PG15 17:00 Honey 2-PG15 19:00 Yelling To The Sky-PG15 21:00 What’s Love Got To Do With ItPG15 23:00 Any Given Sunday-18 01:30 The Butcher Boy-PG15

00:00 Super Rugby Highlights 01:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 02:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 03:00 Rugby World Cup Sevens 07:00 Cricket Friends Life T20 10:00 British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia 12:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 13:00 Live Cricket Test Match 21:00 NRL Full Time 21:30 Futbol Mundial 22:00 Trans World Sport 23:00 Super League

00:00 Cricket Test Match 07:00 Super League 09:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 10:00 PGA Tour Highlights 11:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 12:00 ICC Cricket 360 12:30 Futbol Mundial 13:00 Rugby World Cup Sevens 16:00 NRL Premiership 18:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 19:00 PGA Tour Highlights 20:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 21:00 Live Cricket Friends Life T20

00:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 16:30 18:30 19:00 21:30 23:30

Live Web.Com Tour Super League World Cup of Pool World Cup of Pool Golfing World Golfing World Super Rugby Futbol Mundial World Cup of Pool World Cup of Pool Trans World Sport Golfing World Super League Web.Com Tour Futbol Mundial AFL Premiership British & Irish Lions Tour NRL Full Time

00:00 01:00 03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:30 17:30 18:30 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00

UFC The Ultimate Fighter NHL Porsche GT 3 Cup Porsche GT 3 Cup Motor Sports 2013 NHL WWE NXT WWE Bottom Line Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing NHL Mass Participation Mass Participation Mobil 1 The Grid WWE Experience Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing NHL Mobil 1 The Grid Porsche GT 3 Cup Porsche GT 3 Cup UFC Unleashed

CONTRABAND ON OSN MOVIES HD

IN TIME ON OSN CINEMA 23:00 UFC Countdown

14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 00:00 01:00 02:00

C.S.I. Miami Glee Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. Miami Royal Pains House Of Cards The Killing Banshee The Closer Glee Banshee The Killing

03:00 Breaking In 03:30 Breaking In 04:00 Brothers 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Two And A Half Men 06:00 Hope & Faith 06:30 Arrested Development 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Brothers 08:30 Two And A Half Men 09:00 Breaking In 09:30 Hot In Cleveland 10:00 Parks And Recreation 10:30 Arrested Development 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Hope & Faith 12:30 Brothers 13:00 Friends 13:30 Arrested Development 14:00 Breaking In 14:30 Parks And Recreation 15:00 Hot In Cleveland 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 16:30 Hope & Faith 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Last Man Standing 18:30 Raising Hope 19:00 Hot In Cleveland 19:30 Men At Work 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The New Normal 22:30 The New Normal 23:00 Brickleberry 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 00:30 The Daily Show 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The New Normal 02:00 The New Normal 02:30 Brickleberry

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

Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Doc McStuffins A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Shake It Up Shake It Up Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Shake It Up Shake It Up A.N.T. Farm A.N.T Farm Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Jessie Jessie Shake It Up A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally That’s So Raven Suite Life On Deck Dog With A Blog Shake It Up Austin And Ally

19:20 19:40 20:30 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:10 00:00 00:45 01:30 02:15

Jessie A.N.T. Farm Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Austin And Ally That’s So Raven Jessie A.N.T Farm Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Forever Brandy & Mr Whiskers Emperor’s New School Replacements

14:30 Style Star 15:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 17:00 What Would Ryan Lochte Do? 18:00 Married To Jonas 19:00 Fame In The Family 20:00 Chasing The Saturdays 20:30 Kourtney And Kim Take Miami 21:30 Playing With Fire 22:30 Fashion Police 23:30 Chelsea Lately 00:00 Dirty Soap 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS

03:10 Coastal Kitchen 03:35 Bargain Hunt 04:20 Food Poker 05:50 Cash In The Attic 06:35 Coastal Kitchen 07:00 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer 07:25 Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery 07:50 Planet Cake 08:15 Phil Spencer - Secret Agent 09:05 Bargain Hunt 09:50 Antiques Roadshow 10:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 11:25 MasterChef Australia 11:50 Coastal Kitchen 12:15 Come Dine With Me 13:05 Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery 13:30 Planet Cake 13:55 Bargain Hunt 14:40 Cash In The Attic 15:25 Antiques Roadshow 16:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:00 Phil Spencer - Secret Agent 17:55 Hairy Bikers’ Bake-ation 18:50 Food & Drink 19:20 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer 19:45 Come Dine With Me 20:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 21:20 Antiques Roadshow 22:15 Bargain Hunt 23:00 Phil Spencer - Secret Agent 23:55 Cash In The Attic 00:40 Come Dine With Me 01:30 MasterChef Australia 01:55 New Scandinavian Cooking With Claus Meyer 02:25 How Not To Decorate

03:00 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 03:25 Food Wars 03:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 04:15 Unique Eats 04:40 Chopped 05:30 Iron Chef America 06:10 Food Network Challenge 07:00 Unwrapped 07:50 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 08:15 Unique Sweets 08:40 Red, Hot And Yummy 09:05 Barefoot Contessa 09:30 Amazing Wedding Cakes 10:20 Extra Virgin 10:45 Kid In A Candy Store 11:10 Charly’s Cake Angels 11:35 Unique Sweets 12:00 The Next Iron Chef 12:50 Red, Hot And Yummy 13:15 Barefoot Contessa 14:05 Tyler’s Ultimate 14:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 15:20 Guy’s Big Bite 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To

Basics 17:00 Red, Hot And Yummy 17:25 Reza’s African Kitchen 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:40 Guy’s Big Bite 19:05 Charly’s Cake Angels 19:30 Amazing Wedding Cakes 20:20 Chopped 22:00 Reza’s African Kitchen 22:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:40 Food Wars 00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:55 Unique Eats 01:45 Reza’s African Kitchen

00:00 Trabant Trek 00:30 Trabant Trek 01:00 Off Limits 02:00 Departures 03:00 Globe Trekker 04:00 Inside Luxury Travel - Varun Sharma 05:00 Bizarre Foods America 06:00 Eden Eats 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Departures 09:00 Off Limits 10:00 Bert The Conqueror 10:30 Xtreme Waterparks 11:00 Trip Flip 12:00 Eden Eats 13:00 Bizarre Foods America 14:00 International House Hunters 15:00 Inside Luxury Travel - Varun Sharma 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Bert The Conqueror 17:30 Xtreme Waterparks 18:00 Off Limits 19:00 Departures 20:00 Ultimate Braai Master 21:00 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 21:30 Jonathan Phang’s Caribbean Cookbook 22:00 Bizarre Foods America 23:00 Inside Luxury Travel - Varun Sharma

t might not have the lyricism of “Mud,” the eccentricity of “Moonrise Kingdom” or the angst of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” but “The Kings of Summer” brings its own strengths to the table, from the oddball wit of Chris Galletta’s screenplay to a charming ensemble cast that includes vets like Nick Offerman and Mary-Lynn Rajskub as well as a slew of young TV talent. This big-screen debut from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts is a delightful spree, a goofy lark and the perfect hot-weather diversion for audiences who want summer movie escapism without summer blockbuster gigantism. Joe (Nick Robinson) and Patrick (Gabriel Basso) have just finished their freshman year in high school and are facing a dreary summer of parental supervision; not that their parents are awful or abusive, just irritating. Joe’s dad Frank (Offerman) hasn’t been doing the whole widower thing all that well, alienating his son in the process, while Patrick’s folks (played by Megan Mullally and Marc Evan Jackson) are equal parts meddling and clueless. Fed up with their home lives and itching to get out on their own, Joe and Patrick, along with odd duck Biaggio (Moises Arias), who has attached himself to them, find a beautiful and secluded stretch of land in the woods not far from their suburban Ohio homes. And even though the movie begins with Joe building a spectacularly terrible birdhouse for his shop final (which was due the previous week), the three chums manage to build a passable shack out of filched two-by-fours, a swimming-pool slide, the door of a porta-potty and various other pieces of construction detritus. While the parents go on the hunt for their missing kids - with very little help from local cops Rajskub and Thomas Middleditch - the boys have a swell time swimming in lakes, climbing trees, letting their pubescent beards grow and generally avoiding adult supervision. The plotting here is as breezy as our heroes’ summer vacation: Will Biaggio ever succeed at hunting down dinner that isn’t from Boston Market? Can Joe and Patrick’s friendship survive their mutual interest in pretty classmate Kelly (Erin Moriarty)? Will Frank and Joe ever learn to play a friendly family game of Monopoly without one of them calling the cops? Robinson (“Melissa & Joey”) and Basso (“The Big C”) have a relaxed, comfortable rapport, and almost everything uttered by Arias (“Hannah Montana”) feels like a wonderfully weird non sequitur. So the young cast more than holds up its end of the comedy, even balanced against an impressive collection of veterans (that also includes Alison Brie as Joe’s older sister and Tony Hale as an alarmist parent). And while the laughs come like clockwork, we come to care about Joe as well - we want Frank to learn how to be a better parent, and we also want Joe (whose scruffy mustache becomes almost a character unto itself by the end) not to let his feelings for Kelly get in the way of his lifelong bond with Patrick. “The Kings of Summer” is a glossy teenage fantasia, but it sails through without leaving behind any victims. On the contrary, it’s so amiable that you can sense empathy for almost everyone on screen. And what could be better, when it’s too hot outside to argue?—Reuters

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Classifieds TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Kuwait

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (27/06/2013 TO 03/07/2013) SHARQIA-1 WORLD WAR Z (DIG) MAN OF STEEL (DIG) WORLD WAR Z (DIG) WORLD WAR Z (DIG) MAN OF STEEL (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

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FOR SALE Mitsubishi Galant, model 2013, excellent condition, 10,500 km, registration up to end of 2015, price KD 3,150/-. Contact: 97487330. (C 4452) 1-7-2013

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