20th Aug 2013

CR IP TI ON BS SU

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

Indian schools in Kuwait may hike fees

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SHAWWAL 13, 1434 AH

Uproar in UK over Snowden-linked detention

Indian train runs into pilgrims, killing 37

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11be freed; 20 3Mubarak 10 may 24 police killed in Sinai Tension mounts as Morsi detention extended conspiracy theories

A beautiful tool

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

N

owadays life is like nothing we have ever imagined it could be. Things have changed drastically in every country thanks to technology. Technology and the way we spread information has become like a juggernaut. No country can control and hide information for long any more. No dictator can muzzle people. No police can trash secrets easily. I am talking about the changes that happen in the East, the West, in the North and the South, on the sky or underground. It is a global phenomenon.

Look how many whistleblowers have come to the limelight lately giving out secrets of the most powerful organizations in today’s history. Let’s take the example of Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks. How many secrets and scandals were revealed with the help of WikiLeaks? How many whistleblowers made the headlines such as anti-war activist Susan Lindauer or John Perkins, the writer of the book ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’, who revealed many secret deals the US had with countries around the developing world.

How about Bradley Manning, the US soldier who provided WikiLeaks with all the secrets of the deals allegedly his country has done in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course, you have heard of Edward Snowden, the American operative who revealed NSA classified information and was trapped at the airport in Russia subsequently causing strains in US-Russia diplomatic relations.

I am not shocked by any news about the past any more. It has been pouring over us. The latest came in yesterday. A report linked the CIA to the coup in Iran in the 1970s. To me, the most interesting piece of news to revisit, however, was the digging of the “murder” or the “accident” or the “assassination” of Princess Diana who died in a car crash in France in 1997. All conspiracy theories surrounded her death. The new evidence that resurfaced from an ex-military called soldier N added more to speculations. A letter that was circulated in the media claimed that SAS was behind the murder of the charming princess.

Bless her soul, in her lifetime Diana was surrounded by a lot of controversies. So has been her death.

Nothing surprises us anymore.You can’t trust the news anymore. In five or 10 years, someone might come out and tell us that it was all a conspiracy. Is this due to the technology advancement that we have today? Does it make people more open and courageous and help them come out and share? It is a fatal tool. It could be used for good and bad. Still it is a beautiful tool.

LONDON: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arrived in the UK yesterday on a private visit accompanied by Deputy Chief of Kuwait National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah. Sheikh Sabah was greeted upon arrival by former Speaker of the National Assembly Jassem Mohammad Al-Khorafi, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi, Kuwait Ambassador to the UK Khaled Al-Duwaisan and other officials. — KUNA (See Page 2)

Max 48º Min 31º High Tide 10:31 Low Tide 04:42 & 17:53

CAIRO: Egypt’s former leader Hosni Mubarak could soon be freed from jail, giving a new jolt to a nation in turmoil, after a court ruled yesterday that he could no longer be held in custody on a corruption charge. His lawyer said he could be released within days, six weeks after the armed forces Mubarak once commanded deposed his elected Islamist successor to spark the bloodiest internal conflict in the modern history of the most populous Arab state.

The army detained President Mohammed Morsi on July 3 after huge protests against him. It has since cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood. Among hundreds of casualties, dozens of security personnel have died, including 24 policemen killed by suspected Islamists near the border with Israel yesterday.

At 85, Mubarak may have no political future but his release could stir emotions and raise new questions on whether the popular uprising that ended his 30-year rule in February 2011 is leading back simply to a new form of military-backed government. Arrested two years ago as talk of democracy swept the Arab world, the former strongman appeared in a courtroom cage at a trial in which he was convicted of complicity in the murder of protesters. In January, Egypt’s highest court ordered a retrial.

After yesterday’s court ruling, the only legal grounds for Mubarak’s continued detention rest on another corruption case which his lawyer, Fareed Al-Deeb, said would be settled swiftly. “All we have left is a simple administrative procedure that should take no more than 48 hours. He should be freed by the end of the week,” Deeb told Reuters.

Continued on Page 13

Arabs to cover cuts in Egypt aid: Saudi EU to review ties with Cairo JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia said yesterday that Arab and Islamic countries will step in to help Egypt if Western nations cut aid packages to Cairo over its deadly crackdown on Islamist protesters. “ To those who have announced they are cutting their aid to Egypt, or threatening to do that, (we say that) Arab and Muslim nations are rich... and will not hesitate to help Egypt,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said in a statement carried by the kingdom’s SPA state news agency.

Prince Saud was speaking upon his return from France, where he held talks with President Francois Hollande who has strongly condemned the violence in Egypt. Hundreds of people have been killed in the North African country since security forces began a clampdown on Muslim Brotherhood protests last week.

US Senator John McCain called on Washington to suspend its $1.3 billion in annual aid to Egypt’s military after it overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3. But some US lawmakers have expressed concern that cutting off aid could endanger Egypt’s 1979

peace treaty with Israel or compromise US privileges concerning the Suez Canal.

Foreign ministers of the European Union are to hold emergency talks tomorrow to review the bloc’s relations with Cairo. At stake is nearly five billion euros ($6.7 billion) in loans and grants promised by the world’s top aid donor to Egypt for 2012-2013. It includes one billion euros from the EU with the rest from European banks the EIB and EBRD. While Egypt’s Western allies have denounced the army’s crackdown on the Brotherhood, Riyadh has instead said the country is tackling terrorism and sedition. “We see international stances that have taken a strange course... as if the aim is to cover up for the crimes, the burning of Egypt and the killing of its people,” he said. Barack Obama last week cancelled annual military exercises with Egypt, while European Union foreign ministers were due to hold an emergency meeting Continued on Page 13

Senior MoI official in hospital after car chase

600-kilo Saudi forklifted to hospital RIYADH: A Saudi man weighing 610 kilograms (1,344 pounds) was forklifted to hospital yesterday for medical treatment at the expense of the monarch to reduce his weight. K haled Mohsin Shairi was flown from his southwestern hometown of Jizan to Riyadh on a speciallyequipped plane ,SPA state news agency repor ted. It posted a pic ture of over weight Shairi being lifted on a forklift out of the plane on arrival in the capital.

Ac ting on orders of K ing Abdullah, the health ministry had to acquire a specially-made bed and a crane to transfer Shairi from his second-floor apartment, SPA said. The bed was specially made for Shairi in the United States, Sabq news website said. The ministry did not specify the nature of treatment that the young man will RIYADH: Saudi Khaled Mohsen Shairi, who suffers from extreme obesity weighing 610 undergo and his age has not kilograms, is transported with a fork-lift track yesterday at the airport in Riyadh. — AFP been disclosed. — AFP

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CAIRO: An Egyptian soldier is seen manning an armored personnel carrier (APC) outside the Egyptian Constitutional Court in Cairo yesterday. —AFP

Some of hardest Gitmo cases to get new look

Boko Haram chief shot, may have died: Army KANO, Nigeria: Nigeria’s army said yesterday that the leader of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, may have died following a gunshot wound from a clash with soldiers. Intelligence reports “available to the (military) revealed that Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted Boko Haram terrorists leader, may have died,” a statement said. “It is greatly believed that Shekau might have died between 25 July to 3 August 2013.”

According to the statement, Shekau, declared a “global terrorist” by the US government, was shot on June 30 during a clash with troops at a Boko Haram camp in the Sambisa forest in northeastern Nigeria.

It said he was then clandestinely taken over the border into Cameroon for treatment. The army statement was contradictory, first saying that Shekau “may have died” while at other points implying that he was indeed dead. It said he had been taken into the border community of Abubakar Shekau, the suspected leader of Boko Amitchide in Cameroon and implied Continued on Page 13 Haram. — AFP

TUESVDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LOCAL

LONDON: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arrived in the UK yesterday on a private visit accompanied by Deputy Chief of Kuwait National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. His Highness Sheikh Sabah was greeted upon arrival by former Speaker of the National Assembly Jassem Mohammad Al-Khorafi, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi, Kuwait Ambassador to the UK Khaled Al-Duwaisan and other officials.

Plans to decrease percentage of Kuwaitis in some sectors Cabinet discusses MGRP proposal

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The Cabinet discussed Manpower and Government Restructuring Program’s (MGRP) proposal of changing the percentage of Kuwaiti employees in the private sector. The percentage was set in two timetables: one according to the commercial activity and the other according to profession.

This system of percentage was created by the government a few years ago to encourage Kuwaitis to work in the private sector as there were no available vacancies in the public sector for fresh graduates. The policy was applied to big companies with a certain number of employees, and penalties were set for the violating companies which did not respect the percentage of employment.

According to the law, the percentage should be reviewed every two years, and it can be decreased, increased, or left untouched depending on the economic situation. The recent proposed change is decreasing some percentages in certain sectors. Some percentages seem to be impossible to fulfill. “The 10 percent Kuwaiti manpower in sales and advertising in press is impossible.

Kuwaitis refuse to do this job.

Kuwaitis won’t go to a client and demand an adver tising. Some Kuwaitis who open advertising agen-

cies don’t work themselves and instead, have employees do the sales and marketing job. I know they won’t work in our field,” Ahmad Fawzi, Advertizing Manager at one of the local dailies told the Kuwait Times.

“Many companies can’t deal with a Kuwaiti as they are mostly Arab expats. The advertising field is not for Kuwaitis, it simply doesn’t suit them.

Maybe bedoons can do it, but not Kuwaitis. If our institution faced problems, we can employ any Kuwaiti just to avoid legal issues even if he is not really work ing,” added Fawzi.

Mohammed Lotfi, a Marketing Manager at a medical service company said that Kuwaitis do not continue in the field of sales and marketing.

“For five years, there have been no Kuwaitis working in this field but now we can find few Kuwaitis in marketing in private hospitals. In most hospitals, there are Kuwait doctors, who prefer to deal with Kuwaitis rather than expats. I think that the 10 percent quota in sales in hospitals and medical centers is really high,” he said.

Adel, a recruiting manager in an import-export company is not very optimistic about applying this high percentage. “Why not if both parties agreed to work and if the employee agreed with the salary offered by the private company? I don’t see this as

ver y realistic, though. Kuwaiti employees aren’t as efficient as expats. I don’t expect this proposal to succeed if this issue wasn’t regulated by the principle of demand and supply. I think that increasing the already existing percentage won’t encourage the Kuwait employees to work in the private sector,” he explained.

Economic analyst Hajaj Bu Khadour, thinks that these percentages shouldn’t be enforced by the MGRP on the private sector.

“Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) is not per forming their original role. It should be working on increasing the qualification of Kuwaiti employees in both the public and private sectors. It should be rehabilitating the employees. It should solve the unemployment problem, train and develop Kuwaiti employees in both sectors to become a good investment,” he said.

“MGRP is not fulfilling its role as there are some political groups and parties that have monopoly on this program and manipulate it according to their goals. There is also a problem in the education sector as we have graduates who don’t meet the market’s criteria. In this case, MGRP can manage their training in cer tain fields that we need like accounting and so on to decrease the cost and spending on Kuwaiti employees and increase his qualification,” he added.

KUWAIT: Deputy Amir and Crown Prince HH Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receiving Malaysian prime minister’s envoy and World Islamic Economic Forum Chairman Tun Musa Hitam in his Diwan at Seif Palace yesterday.

Amir receives invitations to attend WIef KUWAIT: Deputy Amir and Crown Prince HH Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Malaysian prime minister ’s envoy and World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) Chairman Tun Musa Hitam and his accompanying delegation in his Diwan at Seif Palace yesterday.

The envoy presented HH with a letter from the Malaysian Prime Minister to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, inviting the Amir to attend WIEF, which will be held in London from Oct 29 to 31 this year.

HH the Deputy Amir also received the British Ambassador to the country, Frank Baker who delivered a letter by the UK’s Prime Minister David

Cameron to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah, inviting him to attend the forum as well.

The meeting was attended by Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Khaled Yousef Al-Fulaij, HH the Crown Prince’s Diwan’s Undersecretary for Media Affairs Sheikh Mubarak AlHumoud Al-Salman Al-Sabah and Malaysia’s Ambassador to Kuwait Dato’ Adnan Haji Othman. — KUNA

News

in brief

Civil Service decision KUWAIT: An official source at the Civil Service Commission said that the government’s decision last May to stop transfers and delegation of workers is still in effect, adding that the government is committed to this decision. He expected the decision to continue for more than a year, because the new rules are still not discussed and expects them to be studied shortly because they are not a top priority on the agenda.

Minister holds meetings with youth, sport officials KUWAIT: Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud AlSabah held several meetings yesterday with a number of youth and sport events’ officials where they discussed future plans and programs.

Sheikh Salman discussed with the Kuwait Quarter Mile Club delegation, headed by Sheikh Ali Al-Fawaz Al-Sabah, the activities proposed by the club as he was briefed on the club’s programs, which sup-

port car enthusiasts and educate them to reduce the risk of having car accidents.

The meeting also tackled the latest developments on the land allocated for the club on the Seventh Ring Road and Oraifjan area, as well as the program of the international expert who is to visit Kuwait on Thursday to learn about the hobby of car enthusiasts, evaluate it and develop proposals that could contribute to its improvement.

The minister also received Kuwait

Endurance Team delegation, headed by Reem Al-Dhafiri, who discussed during the meeting, plans, proposals and ideas that can contribute to the activation of their role in the future.

Meanwhile, the chairman of “Kuwait says thank you” project, Mazyad AlMuosherji thanked the minister and officials at the ministry for their contribution in supporting the project’s campaign, which has concluded its activities for the current year.

The minister also met with Chairman of the Board of Directors of Talent Group, Abdulaziz Hajiya who briefed him on the future plans of the group projects, as well as the latest developments of the annual exhibition, which will be held in April next year. Sheikh Salman stressed the ministr y ’s suppor t of all youth projec ts through studies and research as it is ready to provide the necessary means to ensure the youngsters’ success and develop their potentials. — KUNA

Cabinet concerned over developments in Egypt KUWAIT: Kuwait is deeply concerned over the saddening developments in Egypt and hopefully the situation will be resolved for the sake of brotherly nation’s future, said State Minister for Cabinet Affairs and Minister of Health Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah here yesterday.

After the cabinet’s weekly session at Seif Palace chaired by Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad AlSabah, the Cabinet affairs’ State Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah said that Kuwait was following the situation in Egypt with deep concern.

He affirmed that Kuwait will always remember the strong Egyptian stance during the Iraqi invasion, noting that the current situation there required Kuwait to support Egypt during its darkest hours.

Sheikh Mohammad stressed that the cabinet expressed support to the Egyptian government’s efforts to maintain security

and stability in the country, adding that Kuwait was eager to see Egypt come back as a strong nation to play an integral role at the regional and international arenas.

Also during the meeting, the cabinet discussed its agenda for the current constitutional term, said Sheikh Mohammad, adding that Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs and Minister of State for Planning and Development Dr. Rola Dashti briefed the meeting on the government stance on challenges facing the national economic development.

Sheikh Mohammad also said that the minister touched on issues pertaining to citizens’ needs and priorities.

Topics concerning the state’s development plan were also touched upon during the meeting, stated Sheikh Mohammad.

He added that law 60/86 concerning economic and social development within the 2013-14 plan, which proceeds the midterm development plans for 2014-15 and 2018-19, was discussed by the cabinet

ministers. Recommendations to Article 37/2010 concerning privatization programs and operations were also discussed during the Cabinet meeting, said the minister, noting that steps to develop national economy and the state financial system were also touched upon.

He indicated that draft laws to develop the privatization law were sent to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for approval.

The Cabinet, said Sheikh Mohammad, also discussed international draft agreements in various fields with Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tajikistan, Oman, Nigeria, Burundi, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Women Development Organization.

The draft agreements were forwarded to His Highness the Amir for approval said Sheikh Mohammad.

The cabinet also talked about developments in the region, condemning the

recent bombings in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut which led to the death and injury of many people, said Sheikh Mohammad.

He said that the meeting expressed solidarity with Lebanon against this terrorist act. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti government and people strongly condemn the bombing of the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut which left many dead and injured, said a statement here yesterday.

This statement came during the weekly meeting of the cabinet chaired by Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

The cabinet expressed solidarity with Lebanon against this terrorist act, affirming that the people of Lebanon would stand strong against this heinous act. The bombing, which occurred last Thursday, led to the death of 24 people while over 336 others were injured. —KUNA

New mosque for Shiites Salem Al-Othaina State Minister for Housing Affairs and State Minister for Municipality Affairs is studying the municipal committee’s decision to designate a mosque for Shiites in Saad Al-Abdallah area bloc 8 over an area of 2,000 square meters along with a parking lot. The committee approved the mosque based on a request from Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Ministry and was sent to the minister’s office for approval.

VIP rooms in hospitals Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah, State Minister for Council Affairs and Minister of Health, said that the proposal to introduce VIP rooms in some hospitals was not meant to create two classes in healthcare, but was meant to deal with scarcity of beds in hospitals and put an end to “wasting” private rooms. He said that he proposed to area health directors and hospital directors to construct a number of private rooms in hospitals which will be accessible at an extra fee to people who are willing to pay more.

‘Women-only’ days at Messilah Beach KUWAIT: The Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) announced the new schedule for Messilah Beach which includes allocating three days ever y week exclusively for women, upon their request.

“In response to feedback requesting a return to the old schedule for ‘womenonly days’, TEC decided to allocate three days a week and men will not be allowed to enter before 7pm”, said Messilah Beach Abdul-Aziz Al-Ablani Supervisor Abdul-Aziz AlAblani in a statement yesterday.

He said that starting from Aug 22, women can enjoy privacy on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays every week from 7am to 7pm during which no male visitors will be allowed inside the facility.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Photos show morning assembly procedures at a school in Kuwait. These pictures are used for illustrative purposes. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Some Indian schools to raise school fees School year starts amidst fears of teachers’ shortage

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Schools in Kuwait employing more than 20,000 Egyptian teachers might face a serious shortage in the aftermath of the turmoil in Egypt. The teachers who are currently employed by the Ministry of Education are on annual leave in the country which is affected by ongoing protests and bloodshed.

This might hamper their return to Kuwait before the school year commences from September 8, a teacher from Egypt, told the Kuwait Times.

“I heard some of the teachers who went on vacation this summer are participating in the pro-Morsi rally back in Cairo. I don’t know if they are all safe,” he said. “You know what is going on in Egypt right now. Many people died and there have been ongoing protests.

Those teachers who are not participating in the anti-Morsi demonstrations will return for

the start of the academic year,” the teacher said.

Attempts to reach a spokesperson from the Ministry of Education to confirm or deny news about possible teachers’ shortage were in vain yesterday. The clock is ticking. Indian schools are starting classes by August 25, while many will begin their regular classes from September 1. Some private schools in Kuwait will start mid-September. The American International School Kuwait will open doors for students on September 1 (primary) and September 2 (secondary).

“All the teachers are returning from holidays and an orientation course for newlyhired teaching staff will begin next week.

Everything is ready in our school; there are new facilities installed in the compound to improve our teaching mechanism, the libraries, the science laboratories, the playgrounds are all ready with new and

improved amenities,” said Roula Beaini, Community Relations Officer at the American International School. “We have been in contact with the administration to prepare everyone for the start of the new academic year on September 1,” she noted.

The security threat that closed embassies across the Middle East last week might make western teachers think twice before taking up jobs in Kuwait, a teacher from the United States said. “There are no such cases in our school. All our teachers are coming back on time for the start of the school year,” Beaini said.

Kuwait National English School teachers have been called to report for duty from next week. “Our teachers will start reporting for duty next week, but our regular classes will begin only from September 1,” said an administrator from the Kuwait National English School who wished to remain anony-

mous. Most of the Indian schools will start their classes from August 25 to compensate for the Christmas break which they observed but this will bring an additional burden to parents’ pockets. With the re-opening of classes, parents were met with scores of responsibilities including an increase in tuition fees, textbooks, transportation and a host of other school-related payments. “Yes, we have increased tuition fees by three percent only. The increase is based on what the Ministry of Education set for private schools,” admitted a private school administration official. Besides costly tuition fees, parents will be greeted with countless additional miscellaneous fees from school projects, PE uniforms, field trips and additional books.

Education is virtually free in Kuwait in public schools, but only for Kuwaitis.

Expatriate students are all required to pay their school expenses. In fact, some expats

have already decided to send their children back home to save some money on tuition.

“Life is getting worse and harder in Kuwait for expatriates. I think it is high time to rethink the bigger picture. My concern is the future of my kids, and if we cannot save anything, why should I stay here?” a Filipino parent told this reporter.

“The basic education here costs as much as law school or medical school in Manila.

Let’s face it, it’s expensive, but we have to be practical too. I spoke to my wife and we both took a painful decision to send our children back home. We cannot help but take this decision for our own good. We need to save money for their higher education. We cannot save if they are around as we need to pay for everything here,” he admitted. Expatriate parents will have to think of house rentals, nannies, food and school-related payments. “We cannot afford all this.”

Ministry of Electricity and Water hails successful campaign KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW ) celebrated a successful campaign where they managed to meet growing demands on energy during summer ’s hottest weeks which saw a new record number in electricity consumption.

Meanwhile, a senior ministry official reiterated earlier statements in which several officials insisted that blackouts reported over the past few months were caused by thefts targeting high voltage cables at main transformers.

“After the end of this demanding season, we can say that the MEW has been able to meet the demand all over Kuwait to a large extent”, said a reliable source. The largest electricity consumption rate reached 12,060 MW mid-July, while the largest water consumption was 459 million imperial gallons recorded less than a month earlier. The officials reassured that the MEW is prepared to handle a potential increase on demand when the school year begins next month, and revealed at the same time that discussions are

KUWAIT: Members of the media, journalists and news agencies were invited on a cruise with the ships taking part in the 25th pearl diving expedition organized annually by Kuwait Sea Sports Club’s marine heritage committee. The media delegation was received with a special ceremony at Al-Khairan Sunday evening before they were taken to the diving beds the following morning.

—Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

ongoing to hire a security firm to protect transformers from theft.

Kuwait improved the daily electricity production to 14,000 MW before the beginning of summer this year.

Most electricity generated goes into powering ACs which translates to an overload in consumption with high temperatures that usually break the 50 degree Celsius many times in July each year. Annual reinforcement and maintenance operations at power plants, transformers and distribution networks helped the MEW cope with the yearly increase in demand, but senior ministry officials have repeatedly indicated that a new power plant is necessary to avoid shortage crises in the future. There are seven power plants in Kuwait that produce electricity and desalinated water for a total population of 3.8 million on a daily basis, with plans to fully operate a new power plant in North Zoor by 2015. Energy production costs Kuwait an annual budget of 3 to 4 billion Kuwaiti dinars.— Al-Rai

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LOCAL In my view

In my view

An inflated sense of US power

Useless decisions of our ministers

By Thaar Al-Rashidi

D

o you know why most of the ministers’ decisions are temporary or they never react to something that happens? Do you know why most of the decisions they take are useless? The answer is very easy, and regardless of the decision which ministers think will be in the favor of public, everyone discovers that the decision is a complete failure or it was intended to help some VIPs in particular or in favor of certain citizens only. This is because a minister has to never ask himself ‘how much will they deduct from my salary this month?’ or ‘how can I pay water and electricity bills?’

Of course he will never ask himself, is it logical to live with my family in a 3-bedroom apartment and pay KD 500 which is equivalent to half my salary? Does the family fund law cover me or not? How can I get ‘wasta’ to speed up my appointment at the ENT clinic?

Because the minister does not ask himself any of these questions and has no idea about the answers, he obviously

I think each minister should be forced to live with a normal Kuwaiti family for one month. He should stay with them, eat with them, drink with them and go to work with them. Personally I am ready to host one minister for one month. I would take him with me to cooperative society and the wholesale market and in fact any market he chooses. I would also take him with me when I have to pay the rent and car installments, and make him stand in line at outpatient clinics and hospitals for three hours, only for the doctor to say “Okay, come back after three months”. doesn’t understand the simplest needs of the citizens, or their worries. I think each minister should be forced to live with a normal Kuwaiti family for one month. He should stay with them, eat with them, drink with them and go to work with them. Personally I am ready to host one minister for one month. I would take him with me to cooperative society and the wholesale market and in fact any market he chooses. I would also take him with me when I have to pay the rent and car installments, and make him stand in line at outpatient clinics and hospitals for three hours, only for the doctor to say “Okay, come back after three months”.

I would also take him to three areas to look for an apartment for rent, and give him my car to drive it from my house to my workplace, during the “peak hour”. I would take him to a diwaniya so that he can understand the worries of the Kuwaiti people and how some of them are forced to pay KD 3,000 and enroll in a private university only because the government is unable to get him a seat in Kuwait’s one and only university.

As long as ministers wear their rose-tinted glasses, they will come up with useless studies and take decisions which have nothing to do with public worries or their dreams and this government will be similar to the previous government and their predecessors. — Al-Anba

By Mohammed Al-Rumaihi

I

n the 1960s, Mutiny on the Bounty was screened in Egyptian cinemas. It was jokingly rumored that the then-president, Gamal Abel Nasser, told his PR manager to send a telegram in support of the rebels. The joke is not only cruel, but also bitter. It indirectly mocks Nasser’s readiness to support any “rebellion,” on the assumption that all rebels have experienced injustice.

It appears that history is repeating itself. The political forces in the Arab region have failed to realize that the main catalyst of the events has been internal, not external, and that outside players offer nothing more than verbal condemnation.

kuwait digest

Sheikh Salem’s mission

By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

T

he appointment of former Central Bank governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah as finance minister left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, his return to the government as finance minister after resigning from his previous long-held post following a political scandal could perhaps indicate that he returns with an agenda to correct flaws seen in the financial sector. On the other hand, he could allow himself to become a prisoner in the ministry’s routine, occupying his time by replying to MPs’ questions, doing some reshuffles, signing a number of staff retirement papers and then walking out after the end of his term. But I am going to assume good intentions and that he will accomplish where his predecessors failed.

Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah knows very well that oil prices are under pressure in global markets and they are most likely going to be affected by projected shale gas production. As a result, it is safe to assume that the minister already has in mind the importance of taking swift steps to correct the terrible imbalance in the state’s budget by cutting spending, improving non-oil revenues and rationalizing government expenditure. Since cutting public sector payrolls is virtually impossible after they were considered ‘earned rights’, these steps are required to seek saving through rationalizing behaviors of citizens and residents alike.

First of all, we need a gradual reduction of the dinar’s exchange rate against other currencies, which would automatically drive people to cut spending. For example, many Kuwaitis would start realizing that a lot of food

items they usually buy are dispensable, and that their standard of living would not be affected if they stopped buying these items anymore. Others might reduce the number of days they travel or choose cheaper travel destinations, limit the number of domestic workers in their homes to one, buy a less expensive car, smoke less cigarettes and so on.

The next step would be to increase taxes on many unnecessary products, followed by lifting subsidies on electricity and water. These steps can be taken gradually starting with people earning high wages. The idea behind these steps is not purely economic, but also moral and humanitarian. It is time we start taking action to protect the environment and stop wasting natural resources.

I also believe that the government should enforce income taxes. There is no respected country around the world that does not collect taxes in one way or another from major companies and businessmen - such as myself.

A small-scale taxation system today could become the foundation of a stronger and more accurate one in the future. It is definitely better than waiting for a problem to erupt before introducing harsh taxes. Furthermore, these steps must be coupled with efforts to elevate the standard of public services - a direct result of administrative corruption in the government - which are touching rock bottom each passing day.

I believe that if applied through a swift, strong and systematic approach, the steps mentioned above can help without directly affecting people with limited income. — Al-Qabas

In my view

Kuwait and Brotherhood

By Dr Shamlan Y Al-Essa

R

esearch and studies centers in advanced countries move quickly to study new events around the world so that decision-makers can deal with the events to safeguard the countries interests and decide well. Events in Egypt lead to the dismissal of the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters from Rabeah Al-Adaweya and Nahdha Square, leading to the death of hundreds and injury of thousands. Egypt’s events will have domestic, Arab, regional and international effects, as displacement of the Muslim Brotherhood will have strong reactions in the Arab world and its neighbors like Turkey and Israel.

What interests us here in Kuwait is this: Will the bloody events in Egypt, reflect on us here in Kuwait, especially since the Muslim Brotherhood here in Kuwait is among the best and strongest Brotherhood organizations in the Arab world?

The question is whether Kuwait government has a clear vision on how to deal with the internal changes in Egypt after the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood from the Egyptian arena. The government does not have any view in many cases, so what about an important case like removing the Muslim Brotherhood? If the government was serious, it would invite those concerned with and specialized in political Islam to give a full vision on how to deal with new developments... especially since the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Kuwait controls many of the state’s departments such as Awqaf and education ministries. They also control NGOs such as the National Union of Kuwait Students, Kuwait Teachers Society and some trade unions, and most importantly cooperatives and Islamic charity societies.

Reactions of Kuwait government, speaker of the assembly and some members is limited to how to protect Kuwaitis who are in Egypt whether they are students or tourists and how to bring them back to Kuwait, before they are hurt.

What we know is that the government issued several warnings to citizens asking them not to travel for tourism or on business to some Arab countries like Lebanon, Syria and Egypt... but citizens did not heed the warnings, as Lebanon lovers went to Beirut and Egypt without bothering about risks, and some Jihadist youth went to fight in Syria despite government warnings.

The Muslim Brotherhood organization in Kuwait expressed, through their representatives in the social reform society, their rejection of what is going on in Egypt.

It called through its President Hmoud Hamad Al-Roumi, the government and the National Assembly to reject what is happening in Egypt and asked to condemn the massacres committed by Egyptian armed forces against peaceful demonstrators, according to them. The Brotherhood in Kuwait asked the government to reject the coup in Egypt, and this stand was supported by former national assembly members. The protests are expected from the Brotherhood and is requested from the because they are a part of the international organization.

Kuwait is the main financier of the Brotherhood in the Arab world. Democratic and liberal powers in Kuwait must support the Egyptian authorities in their fight against terrorists among the Muslim Brotherhood remnants. The removal of the Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt is the start of getting rid of political Islam powers forever. — Al-Watan

It is widely believed in the Arab world that the power and determination of the US are invincible and that Washington is the main player in the region. This belief has been fostered by Hollywood since the end of the Second World War. Almost all of the films that tackled the US war with Germany depicted Nazis as cruel, brutal and naive compared to the Americans, whose heroic deeds always prove to be witty, dynamic and creative-even when they are behind enemy lines.

Both sides of the conflict in Egypt claim that the US supports the other side. There is no need to cite examples given that anyone overseeing the media, whether written or audiovisual, can hear and see the accusations both sides exchange.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s slogans and stances are clear. They not only condemn the US for siding with what they call the “Putschists,” they also adopt delusory slogans like “Down with America” and “Down with Israel.” At the same time, the Brotherhood praises the stance of Senator John McCain and his colleagues to the extent that they claim that US politicians are on the side of Mohamed Morsi.

In contrast, many media outlets and politicians in Egypt accuse the US of supporting and empowering the Brotherhood in Egypt, while still expecting them to establish friendly relations with Israel on the other.

Nevertheless, wise viewers will realize that politicians twist facts in order to win supporters and tarnish the reputation of their rivals.

It is widely believed in the Arab world that the power and determination of the US are invincible and that Washington is the main player in the region. This belief has been fostered by Hollywood since the end of the Second World War. Almost all of the films that tackled the US war with Germany depicted Nazis as cruel, brutal and naive compared to the Americans, whose heroic deeds always prove to be witty, dynamic and creativeeven when they are behind enemy lines.

Movies about the US’s various wars-Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, and elsewhere-always end with the inevitable victory of the American troops, who prove to be heroes even when they are taken as prisoners by their enemy.

This image of the invincible American spurred voices from the Arab world to write about the exaggerated role of the US in Arab affairs.

Such stereotypes propagated by Hollywood, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, led ordinary Arabs to believe that the US is invincible. Even Al-Qaeda-whose power, I believe, has been exaggerated-found inspiration from Hollywood. Years before 9/11, there were several movies about some terrorist attacks carried out against US. In reality, in its wars after 1945 the US either failed to secure victory or did not manage to achieve its declared goals. To those interested in this subject, I recommend Richard Lebow’s Why Nations Fight: Past and Future Motives for War. The book documents the US’s failuresto achieve its desired or declared goals in its main five wars after World War II. US ability to intervene is much less than what Arabs have thought in the past. In fact, the US takes advantage of the others’ mistakes in the same way Clark Gable, the handsome protagonist in Mutiny on the Bounty, rebelled against the ship’s captain.

In an article in the Washington Post, “Egypt’s Path to a Better Future,” written by John McCain and Lindsey Graham last week after their visit to Egypt, one can see McCain’s fear over what is happening in Egypt. McCain does not sympathize with the Brotherhood. In fact, he is afraid that if the Brotherhood is removed from power, the group will turn into a “jihadist” organization that will attack widespread US interests. McCain is evidently also worried about the huge impact unrest in the region might have on the US economy, regardless of who will eventually rule the country.

In reality, politicians in Washington are under pressure take into account the interests of the US. The US formulates its stances based on its interests, rather than the facts on the ground or other peoples’ interests.

The majority of the Arab population is Muslim, and as a courageous Tunisian said: “We have been and will be Muslims before, during and after the Ennahda Movement.” The exact same remark applies to the Brotherhood in Egypt. The problem lies in the Brotherhood’s attempt to politicize Islam, and in their claims to be the exclusive representative of Islam that are motivated only by politics. Such measures go against the zeitgeist, as well as against politics in its practical sense. What’s more, the US assumption that terrorism and chaos will be the alternative to Islamism is illogical.

Many independent analysts used to think that talk about the clash between Islamism and the civil state was premature. Although I hate to rewrite my ideas, I will remind the reader of an article I wrote for Asharq AlAwsat on Dec 11, 2012. I wrote: “Governments and empires have fallen only because they did not promote freedom in its full and modern sense.” I added: “The Muslim Brotherhood, throughout their long history has not shown care for freedom, whether within the organization or regarding their view of the other.” My view, like others, is that the Brotherhood is based on metaphysical rather than political discourse. Thus, I thought it would fall-and it did fall-in Egypt, and it must fall in other countries. The Brotherhood’s failure was fully expected. If the US always takes advantage of the mistakes of the others and protects its interests, it sides with nobody but itself.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LOCAL

Kuwaiti philanthropists provide Lebanon with three ambulances Able to serve 20,000 people

KUWAIT: A report received by Operations Room at 4 am indicated that there was a car on fire in Saad Al-Abdullah and another car on Salmi Road. Jahra Fire Center responded to the call and a team led by Lt Mohammed Al-Salaili controlled the fire with no report of casualties. Investigations are on to determine the cause of the blaze. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

BEIRUT: Al-Sayer Group gifted three new ambulances to Lebanese areas in the north and eastern Baqaa valley for aiding Syrian refugees and Lebanese residents there. Through the endowment by Al-Othman and Al-Ghanim mosques, Kuwait has given away three ambulances to the villages of Mashha and Maniya in the north and Islamic Medical Association of Lebanon in the Baqaa through Abwab Al-Khair Society to meet the health needs of the nationals and Syrian refugees, head of the society, Shaikh Riyadh Obaid said.

The keys of the vehicles were delivered by Kuwaiti philanthropy delegation, headed by Khaled AlSubaihi, he noted.

Shaikh Obaid praised the humanitarian aid provided by Kuwait to Lebanon through its official institutions, associations and charitable organizations to meet the needs of the Syrian refugees.

“The State of Kuwait and Kuwaiti philanthropists have always helped the needy in the Arab and Islamic worlds,” said Obaid, stressing that

Kuwait was the first to support the needy wherever they are in the world, which confirms the humanitarian message that it has been meaning to convey. “ The ambulance that we have received will able to serve about 20,000 people, “ Mashha Municipality

450 students participate in NBK Internship Program KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) concluded its 2013 Summer Internship Program for high school and college students. More than 450 students participated in the Summer Internship Program this year. Students participated in field activities including visits to the NBK Hospital and other public and private institutions.

Yaqoub Al-Baqer, NBK Public Relations Officer said that NBK views the Summer I nternship Program as an extension of NBK’s education outreach services. “This

program is a demonstration of NBK ’s long-standing social involvement and commitment towards providing Kuwait ’s younger generation with appropriate opportunities to experience firsthand the banking profession.”

The five hour daily sessions featured a mixture of theoretical and practical training dedicated to providing the interns with valuable knowledge on a variety of subjects including team work, creative think ing, means of self

expression and modern banking procedures, in addition to providing interns with greater exposure to daily banking practices and norms,” Al-Baqer added.

The 2013 Summer Internship Program follows several successful years of NBK Summer Internship Programs.

NBK regularly organizes and designs events and packages for the youth of the country to familiarize them with the world of banking and make them responsible citizens.

Yaqoub Al-Baqer

UN-Habitat launches ‘Urban Sustainability’ youth campaign KUWAIT: The United Nations-Habitat announced that is has launched a youth program called ‘Urban Sustainability’ campaign, a competition open to all university students in Kuwait, as part of UN’s “I’m a City Changer” initiative in educating and raising awareness of the region’s urban dynamic trends.

The campaign aims to educate students on the environmental issues affecting the region, calling for youngsters to think of future strategies to minimize and tackle the implications of today’s dynamic trends. Such trends affecting the region are high unemployment, water scarcity, unaffordable housing and climate change by using eco-friendly solutions which can optimize Kuwait.

The competition targets both undergraduate and graduate students who are willing to think out of the box by giving them an opportunity to achieve a vision by exploring futuristic or contemporary designs or ideas that can be implemented to maximize benefits to the region.

Dr Tariq El-Sheikh, Chief of Mission at UN-Habitat said “Our cities are our future and we need to work hand-in-hand with our young generation to protect our cities from deterioration, the environment from pollution and its natural resources from degradation.”

Recent studies revealed some dynamic trends which have had adverse effects on the environment, stagnating the progress of the country and affecting the future well-being of the youth population, specifically below the age of 25. GCC countries are among the top 10 in the world with the lowest per capita of renewable water supply and the highest level of water consumption in the world. Focusing the need for fresh water will soon be considered, in the same category as oil and energy resources.

Further, trends are unemployment and unaffordable housing, in which a majority of young people are unemployed, waiting for 2-3 years or maybe more to find a job. If employment opportunities are available, it may not be within their specialization. “UN-Habitat’s campaign objective hopes to kick-start a platform of dialogue that could be shared between the UN and other local counterparts in introducing various solutions, to the region, with the help of the youth,” said Dalal A Al-Radhi, UNHabitat’s Program Communication & Advocacy Associate.

Dr El-Sheikh said “We encourage scholars to participate in the competition and share their ideas to leave an urban heritage that our young generation can be proud off. We call upon youth to share their ideas and designs which can help preserve our cities, improve its quality of life, reduce energy consumption and enhance urban mobility”.

It is worth mentioning that the competition launch is part of UN-Habitat’s advocacy program in cooperation with the State Ministry of Youth, Faculty of Architecture Kuwait University, Australian College of Kuwait and Gulf University, to capitalize on youth innovation and collect their architectural, urban, graphic designs or photographic posters that address city challenges and/or provide solution to problematic urban issue. The campaign and the associated competition will update them on the latest environmental trends with the aim of benefitting students on a personal and professional level, to help manage urban growth and avoid chaotic informal developments from taking place in the future.

UN-Habitat is a United Nations program established in 1978

to solve environmental and urban issues concerning world cities with the mission of promoting the aims of the Millennium Development Goals and the Habitat Agenda for more socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities and a common goal of providing adequate shelter for everyone in the

developing world.

UN-Habitat has been engaged with Arab nations in the region for over 30 years, expanding its operation to more than 10 countries.

Regional offices are located in Cairo, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, Morocco, Libya and the GCC office is in Kuwait.

Mayor Zakariya Ahmad Al-Zubi said, expressing his thanks to Kuwait, His Highness the Amir, the people and institutions of Kuwait.

Kuwaiti philanthropists, as well as charitable organizations such as Zakat House, Rahma Society, International Islamic Charity

Organization, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, Social Reform Society and Kuwait Red Crescent Society have been providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.

Meanwhile, His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah received a phone call yesterday from Sudanese Deputy President Ali Othman Mohammad Taha, who thanked HH for the urgent aid dispatched by Kuwait for the floodstricken victims.

Taha wished HH the best of health and more prosperity for Kuwait under the wise leadeship of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah.

Moreover, he expressed his deepest condolences to HH over the death of philanthropist Dr Abdulrahman AlSumait.

HH expressed his appreciation for the kind feelings shown by the Sudanese government, noting that the two countries share strong relations. — KUNA

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LOCAL

Senior Interior official in hospital after car chase Cop charged for hiding evidence KUWAIT: Investigations are ongoing in search for a driver who left a senior Interior Ministry official injured during a car chase on Sunday. According to a security source, Public Relations and Security Media Department Director Col Adel Al-Hashash chased a Japanese-made vehicle which jumped a traffic light on a street in front of the Interior Ministry’s building. After reportedly jumping three other lights during the pursuit, the driver was forced to stop at the fourth because of heavy traffic. Col Al-Hashash walked towards the suspect’s vehicle, but the driver locked the doors and refused to come out. The senior official tried to get into the car through an open window but the driver immediately raised the glass and Col Al-Hashash’s hand got trapped. Moments later, the traffic light turned green and the suspect drove away, dragging Col Al-Hashash a few meters before he was able to free his hand. Col Al-Hashash, who is in his forties, was rushed to the nearest medical facility and was able to speak to police officers only after treatment. He described the suspect and said that he was most likely intoxicated. Police were able to identify him after looking up his car’s license plate number.

Policeman charged A police officer faces charges after he hid evidence in a case regarding a teenager who was arrested for drinking alcohol in public and offending policemen. Jahra police transferred the suspect to the Qairawan police station following

his arrest Sunday, and charged him for public intoxication and assaulting police officers on duty. However, the chief police officer on duty pressed charges of concealing evidence against his colleague after discovering that the latter failed to show a liquor bottle confiscated after the teenager’s arrest during preliminary investigations. The officer was referred to the proper authorities to reveal why he tried to cover for the teenager.

Fight in custody Hawally detectives arrested four people who were involved in a fight more than a week ago at a Salmiya mall which left a two-and-a-half-yearold girl critically wounded. The girl was reportedly playing in the recreational area inside the mall when a fight between knife -wielding youngsters spilled over. The girl was rushed to the Mubarak Hospital where she was diagnosed with three stab wounds including a deep cut on her shoulder, and her condition required attention in the intensive care unit. Investigations intensified after the girl’s ordeal was featured in an Al-Rai newspaper report last Saturday, leading to the arrest of four runaway suspects the following day.

Missing teen Search is on for a male suspect who faces charges for sexually assaulting a minor. The victim who was reported missing by her mother

eight months ago returned home Sunday. She explained to her mother that she had been living with her boyfriend in Jahra after she ran away from home and recently, he kicked her out after a fight. The woman rushed to the police station with her daughter who told the police that the man had sex with her after obtaining a customary marriage certificate. Investigations are ongoing.

Man drowns An investigation was opened to probe the death of an Arab man who reportedly drowned at Salmiya beach on Sunday. Coastguards rushed after emergency calls were made about a body found off the beach adjacent to the Scientific Center. The body was recovered and the victim was identified as an Arab man. The body was taken to the forensic department for an autopsy and a case was filed.

Physical assault A domestic worker was put behind bars at the Subahiya police station where her employer pressed battery assault charges against her.

Paramedics and police rushed to a house in the area after the senior female citizen reported in an emergency call that her housemaid beat her up.

The Ethiopian woman was arrested and taken to the local police station where she is held before being eventually referred to the Public Prosecution.

KUWAIT: Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received yesterday a letter from Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi tackling bilateral relations and the latest regional and international developments. This came during the Kuwaiti minister’s reception of Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait Abdulkarim Suleiman.

Parliament plans survery on citizens’ priorities KUWAIT: Members of the National Assembly agreed yesterday to organize a survey to determine priorities of citizens “to place them before the government and parliament,” speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said.

The survery “will be the first in parliamentary life in Kuwait and we will organize it at the beginning of every term so the priorities of the government and parliament become close to each other and address needs and problems of citizens,” Al-Ghanem told reporters after a meeting of the office.

Al-Ghanem said committees of the parliamentary caucus would be visiting other countries and major organizations to convey Kuwait’s causes. He added he would organize regular meetings with all MPs to determine the priorities of the house, highlighting important role of media. Al-Ghanem brushed aside as “groundless” reports that former MP Adel Al-Saraawi was a candidate for the Audit Bureau top post, yet emphasizing on honesty and professionalism of AlSaraawi.— KUNA

‘Zain AlShuhoor’ app competition winners announced KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, announced the winners of the Ramadan-themed “Zain AlShuhoor” application competition, which was received with great recognition and praise from the participants during the holy month of Ramadan. The competition featured questions related to the “Rihlat Al-Saada” show that was displayed in the app.

These questions were revealed daily through Zain’s social media channels during the holy month.

Zain announces that the winners of the competition are: Ahmad Nassir, Shifa Al-Harbi, Ahmad Al-Attar, Haneen AlAmiri, Itidaal Al-Shatti, Abdulrahman AlIbrahim and Mohammed Al-Mazidi. The company awarded the winners, with the attendance of Shaikh Salah Al-Hashem,

96,000 sick leaves in govt sector during Ramadan KUWAIT: More than 96,000 sick leaves were taken by public sector employees during Ramadan this year, a local daily reported yesterday, quoting official statistics which further shed light on a challenge the government faces every year during the holy month.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) statistical report published by Al-Qabas yesterday indicates that 96,116 sick leaves were issued to public sector employees between July 7 and August 5, 2013, with a total of 131,673 days, costing the state a total of KD 2,633,460.

Almost 42,231 employees benefited from the leaves divided between 13,538 male and 28,693 female staff members. The government has tried in recent years to control the issuance of sick leaves in the public sector where more than 435,000 people work.

The efforts include connecting the CSC with state departments and medical facilities through a database that tracks an employee’s sick leave record for easy reference. Despite assurances that the system has been able to control the issue, allegations continue about sick leaves taken ille-

gally, especially as the system cannot identify when an employee might get a sick leave form signed unscrupulously by a doctor. According to recent statistics, the Health Ministry saw the largest number of sick leaves issued during Ramadan with 17,438 (22,762 days worth KD 455,240), followed by the Interior Ministry with 12,875 (18,750 days worth KD 374,100), and the Education Ministry with 11,067 (15,809 days worth KD 316,180). Incidentally, the Public Authority for Housing Welfare and Public Authority of Civil Information each recorded the lowest sick leaves with just two.

World Islamic Economic Forum chief in town KUWAIT: Tun Musa Hitam, Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) is currently in Kuwait as part of series of visits on behalf of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), which will be held in London in October to be attended by heads of the government and individuals engaged in different sectors of economy.

The visit does not carry or represent any bilateral or multilateral concerns but as special envoy to the Prime Minister of Malaysia to invite heads of government to participate in the forum as well as another official from Britain since the forum will be under the auspices in particular the Prime Minister David Cameron.

The forum is very significant since this is very first time is will be held outside an Islamic country. In the photograph left show Tan Sri Dato’ Ahmad Fuzi Haji Abdul Razak, Secretary General of World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation, Dato Adnan Haji Othman, Ambassador of Malaysia to Kuwait, Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) Tun Musa Hitam, and Counsellor Malaysian Embassy Yasin Yap.

Construction boom expected in Kuwait KUWAIT: Estimates reveal that the largest sector to benefit from this investment is likely to be the construction industry, dominated by the newly-sanctioned hospital projects and infrastructure in Kuwait.

Kuwait is estimated to be awarded $16 billion worth of projects by the year-end, marking a 60 per cent increase from 2012, according to the knowledge partner of the upcoming The Big 5 Kuwait exhibition.

The Sustainable Design and Construction Conference will be held at the event running from September 16 to 18 at the Kuwait International Fair.

Meed, a business intelligence service provider and official knowledge partner of The Big 5 Kuwait expo, estimates that the largest sector to benefit from this investment is likely to be the construction industry, dominated by the newly-sanctioned hospital projects and infrastructure in Kuwait.

While these long-term investments in infrastructure have led to an increase in new business oppor-

tunities for Kuwait’s construction and machineries sector, it has also raised questions on overcoming challenges in sustainable design and construction whilst ensuring that the projects are delivered on time and within the allocated budget.

The conference, which has already received great response from industry professionals, will be held on the second and third day of the exhibition, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. It will provide a dynamic platform for meaningful discussion and practical guidance on how the design and construction industries can best deliver sustainable infrastructure and green buildings in Kuwait.

Kuwait Ports Authority director of marine operations Tawfiq Shwab will share insights and best practices on Shuwaikh, Shuaiba and Doha Ports. “The session will be a hands-on discussion highlighting the latest developments taking place today in Kuwait’s ports and terminals,” he said.

“It will identify solutions to the

most common challenges one would come across in port construction projects,” he added.

Conference participants will learn about the role of the Kuwaiti Ports Authority in administering the mar-

itime transport strategy, and their use of new technologies and materials for marine construction and engineering. The discussion will also cover past and current port projects.

NA panel sets out financial priorities for next session KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee yesterday forwarded to Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim its list of priorities to be discussed in the next session of parliament.

The committee’s Secretary MP Faisal Al-Kanderi told the press that the list of priorities included 10 draft laws concerning the re-organization of state’s property system, public tenders, Kuwait Airways Corporation, commercial agencies and auditory jobs.

The draft laws also focused on Kuwait’s role in the capital increase of the Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), said the MP. He added that amendments to the laws governing the Civil service Commission (CSC) and the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) were also included in the list of priorities. — KUNA

with smartphones and tablets as a prize for winning the competition.

“Zain AlShuhoor” allowed customers to check the daily prayer timings as well as locate and browse all the mosques that hold Qeyam and Taraweh prayers during the holy month. Additionally, customers were able to listen to Holy Quran recitations and ‘dua’ prayers, and watch the daily Islamic videos and Ramadanrelated videos provided exclusively to Zain by Shaikh Salah Al-Hashem. For more information about Zain’s ongoing activities and numerous promotions, customers are advised to visit any of Zain’s branches located in more than 76 locations across Kuwait, visit the company’s website on www.kw.zain.com, contact its 24 hour call center at 107, or visit the company’s social media channels.

Missing children found in Fahaheel

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Criminal investigators were on the look-out for a nine-year-old Asian girl and her six-year-old brother who disappeared suddenly.

Security sources said that the father of the children reported their disappearance while they were playing outside the house. It was not clear if marital dis-

cord between the children’s parents had anything to do with their disappearance.

A case was filed at Abu Halifa police station. Fortunately, things ended on a happy note after the Ministry of Interior announced that the two missing kids were found in Fahaheel. The children told the police that they were mistreated by their step-mother and they decided to leave home because of her.

MPs demand ‘multimillion deposits’, K-Dow deal probe KUWAIT: A lawmaker requested for an investigative committee to be formed to probe a case where 13 members of the 2009 parliament were accused of earning illegal profits during their tenure. The case which sparked public outrage after it was exposed in 2011 and led to the Cabinet’s resignation followed by a parliamentary dissolution, was shelved by the Public Prosecution for lack of evidence.

“When the political aspect of the case is taken into consideration, we must know the source of funds paid to the MPs, especially as some of them have been re-elected to the current parliament”, MP Riyadh Al-Adasani said in a statement on Sunday.

There have been allegations promoted mainly by the opposition that the MPs in question received multimillion-dinar payments from the government in exchange for their full support, but legal investigations found no evidence to support these accusations. Each of the parliament members questioned were suspected over unaccounted millions of dinars deposited into their bank accounts in a short period of time and the case soon came to be known as the ‘multimil-

lion deposits’ case. Meanwhile, MP Yaqoub Al-Ghanim made a request to allocate a parliamentary session for discussing the policies based on which the government signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Dow Chemical in 2009, canceled it a month later and subsequently paid a $2.16 billion fine as per a penalty clause mentioned in the contract.

In other news, MPs reacted to the Interior Ministry’s decision to deport nine Egyptian families for taking part in a demonstration last week outside the Egyptian consulate to protest crackdowns against Muslim Brotherhood suppor ters in their home countr y. “ The deportation is understandable given the risk that the protests pose to national security”, said MP Hamad Al-Harashani on Sunday.

Rallies for expatriates in Kuwait is completely banned. “The Interior Ministry’s duty is to maintain security and take decisions based on what serves the country best”, MP Madhi Al-Hajri said. On the other hand, MP Dr Husain Quwai’an criticized deporting Egyptian nationals who they say “have the right to express their opinions”, calling the Interior Ministry’s behavior as “siding with one party against the other”.

Awqaf introduces high-tech curriculum KUWAIT: The Ministr y of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs announced yesterday the introduction of high-tech robotic curriculum in the departments of Al-Siraj AlMoneer Center, in collaboration with Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity (SACGC), to keep pace with scientific and technological development.

The ministry takes care of people with potential and spreads creativity in recognition of the importance of supporting and improving such talents, Assistant Undersecretary of the Holy Quran and Islamic Studies Affairs in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Abdullah Mahdi

Barrak said. He added that this project will help elevate the reputation of Al-Siraj AlMoneer Center, as well as stimulate students in benefiting from this program, noting that paying attention to them is a necessity imposed by global circumstances and a key to any educational system.

The ministry aims at implementing several goals, including the implementation of the robotic curriculum and technology education in Al-Siraj Al-Moneer Center within the locally and globally-approved standards and the development and improvement of teachers’ skills and talents, noted Barrak.— KUNA

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

Indian train runs into pilgrims, killing 37

UK faces furore over Snowden-linked detention Page 10

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RAFAH: In this image obtained from an Egyptian emergency service worker which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, bodies of off-duty policemen who were killed near the border town of Rafah, North Sinai, Egypt, lie on the ground yesterday. — AP

Benghazi attack impacting US policy in Egypt Obama govt mulls suspending $250m in aid WASHINGTON: The specter of Benghazi is affecting US policy in an increasingly restless Egypt.

US officials said last year’s deadly attack on a diplomatic outpost in Libya weighs heavily in the Obama administration’s deliberations on how to respond to the growing violence across the Arab world’s most populous country.

Fighting between Egyptian security forces and recently ousted President Mohammed Morsi’s Islamist supporters has killed almost 1,000 people in the past week.

The fear in Washington is that any significant cut in military aid could prompt Egypt’s ruling generals to scale back their protection of the US Embassy in Cairo and other diplomatic properties. To respond to the growing death toll and security crackdown, the Obama administration is considering suspending about $250 million in annual US economic aid for Egypt, officials said. Congressional notification could arrive in the next week, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

However, officials said President Barack Obama and his national security team are still reluctant to make any similar decision on $1.3 billion in annual military assistance.

The administration has refused to declare Morsi’s ouster a “coup d’etat,” which would require the US to suspend military and economic funds to Egypt. The US could make more piecemeal moves like last week’s decision to put off the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and cancel USEgyptian military exercises planned for next month, officials said. Since the army’s overthrow of Morsi in early July,

US diplomatic facilities in the country have been well protected. But protesters last September marched on the US embassy compound in Cairo, climbed the walls and replaced the US flag with the black banner favored by Islamists before a belated response from Morsi’s government.

Many Egyptian citizens and even some in the government deride US financial assistance as unnecessary interference. The Obama administration defends the aid.

Obama stressed last week that cutting off the assistance “was not in the national security interests” of the United States.

The US has outlined the important operations such money supports - from fighting Al-Qaeda in the heart of the Middle East and safeguarding the stability of the Suez Canal to halting weapons flow to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and ensuring Israel’s security. The protection of American diplomatic assets is another major element in US policy considerations, officials said.

Any attack targeting the US overseas would be a political disaster for Obama, given the continued criticism over his administration’s handling of the Sept 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Benghazi has weighed so heavily on the administration’s perception of threats that it recently closed diplomatic posts across the Muslim world for a week after intelligence suggested an Al-Qaeda strike against Western targets. US officials said they acted out of “an overabundance of caution.” — AP

Pakistan PM invites extremists for talks ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday called for dialogue with extremists to end bloodshed that has left thousands dead in the country in more than a decade of violence. He made the offer in his first televised address to the nation since taking office after winning elections in May, a sweeping, hourlong speech that focused on Pakistan’s myriad problems.

He stopped short of unveiling specific policies designed to tackle the nation’s enormous budget deficit, solve a crippling energy crisis or clamp down on Islamist extremists and separatist rebels.

“Wisdom demands that we follow a path

where we minimize the loss of innocent lives,” said Sharif. He campaigned for an historic third term as premier by offering peace talks to the Pakistani Taleban, the leaders of a devastating domestic insurgency that has links to Al-Qaeda. He said he was expanding on his original offer after the elections of inviting all political parties to discuss together how best to resolve Pakistan’s security and economic woes. “This policy of reconciliation is not confined just to political parties. I take a step forward and invite for dialogue all those elements who have unfortunately adopted the path of extremism.” But Sharif said dialogue was not the only

Giant 23-kilo tumor removed SOFIA: Bulgarian surgeons removed a giant tumor that weighed 23 kilograms (50.7 pounds) from a woman’s abdomen yesterday, likening the curious case to something out of an old medical textbook.

The 67-year-old patient was hospitalized with complications and high temperature after a flu. But doctors from the university obstetrics and gynaecology hospital in Sofia discovered that a giant mass was squeezing a number of vital organs. “We removed a 23-kilo tumor, which is the size of a sevenor eight-year-old child,” surgeon Bozhidar Slavchev said in a hospital

statement. “I have not seen such a bad case of neglected health in my entire long-time career,” he added.

The woman told the doctors she had known about the tumor for some 20 years now but was afraid to undergo surgery. “We have seen similar curious cases described in medicine textbooks from the beginning of the previous century, and it is worrying that today there are still patients who have not had prophylactic examinations for 20 years,” another surgeon, Stefan Konstantinov, said. The woman lost one third of her total weight after the operation. — AFP

option. “I want an end to terrorism whether it is through dialogue and reconciliation, or through full use of force,” he added. He blamed the government, security services and the judiciary for failing to crack down on terrorism, but stopped short of naming names or of unveiling any new policies to check the violence.

“The time has come when we should admit that our administrative institutions, our agencies and our system of justice have failed to appear competent in dealing with the challenge of terrorism,” said Sharif. “The nation is justified to know why concrete steps were not taken to stop the bloodshed and destruction.”In addition to Islamist militancy, he said the government would help the southwestern Baluchistan province deal with a separatist insurgency waged by ethnic Baluch fighters. Sharif did not address recent violations of the ceasefire along the de facto border with India in divided Kashmir, but said that both countries had to work together to overcome social ills. “The wars they fought pushed them back to the past. The two countries should realize they have to wage a meaningful war against hunger and poverty instead of indulging in armed conflict.”

Earlier on Monday, India’s defense minister said the Indian army would take “all possible steps” to counter any ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control. Skirmishes have erupted across the heavily militarized border since five Indian soldiers were killed earlier this month in an ambush which India has blamed on the Pakistan army. —AFP

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Mass exodus as 30,000 Syrian refugees enter Iraq BAGHDAD: In a mass exodus, around 30,000 Syrians have fled their homeland’s bloody civil war over the past five days and streamed across the border into neighboring Iraq’s northern self-ruled Kurdish region, the UN refugee agency said yesterday.

The huge influx of people, many of whom are Syrian Kurds escaping escalating violence in northeastern Syria, has left aid agencies as well as Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional government scrambling to accommodate them all. The men, women and children who made the trek join some 1.9 million Syrians who already have found refuge abroad in what has become a massive strain on neighboring countries.

“Syrian refugees are still pouring into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region in huge numbers and most of them are women and children. The reason behind

this sudden flow is still not clear,” said Youssef Mahmoud, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency in Iraq’s Kurdish region.

“Today, some 3,000 Syrian refugees crossed the borders and that has brought the number to around 30,000 refugees since Thursday,” he said. The latest wave has brought the number of Syrian refugees in the Kurdish region to around 195,000, he added.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has set up an emergency transit camp in Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region, to house some of the new arrivals. Some of the refugees were reportedly staying in mosques or with family or friends who live in the area, according to the agency.

At one camp near Irbil, dozens of refugees carrying their bags, belongings and babies roamed through rows of tents, footage shot by AP Television

News showed. Some men lined up to get blocks of ice from a pickup truck. Nearby, children huddled around a truck to get watermelon distributed by the regional security forces.

UNHCR said it is sending 15 truckloads of supplies - 3,100 tents, two pre-fabricated warehouses and thousands of jerry cans to carry water - from its regional stockpile in Jordan. It said the shipment is already on the way and should arrive by the end of the week. Kurds are Syria’s largest ethnic minority, making up more than 10 percent of the country’s 23 million people. They are centered in the poor northeastern regions of Hassakeh and Qamishli, wedged between the borders of Turkey and Iraq. There are also several predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods in the capital, Damascus, and Syria’s largest city, Aleppo. Those Kurdish areas have been engulfed by

fighting in recent months between Kurdish militias and Islamic extremist rebel factions with links to AlQaeda. Dozens have been killed on both sides.

Following the assassination of a prominent Kurdish leader late last month, a powerful Kurdish militia said it was mobilizing to expel Islamic extremists.

Earlier this month, the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, vowed to defend Syria’s Kurds. He did not offer details on how he would do so, but Iraqi Kurdistan boasts a powerful and experienced armed force known as the peshmerga.

An armed intervention would carry enormous risks, and appears unlikely. Still, the pledge along with the fighting shows the potential of Syria’s conflict to spread to neighboring countries and shift into a full-blown regional war. —AP

Syria army drives rebels out of Latakia province Mystery shrouds whereabouts of UN inspectors

Refugees cross the border toward Iraq at Peshkhabour border point at Dahuk, 260 miles (430 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. — AP

Hezbollah commander killed near Damascus TYRE, Lebanon: A military commander of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah was killed in fighting near the Syrian capital and has been buried in his southern Lebanese hometown of Kfar Sir, residents said yesterday.

“Hezbollah military commander Hossam Ali Nisr, aged 33, was buried on Saturday. He was defending Sayyida Zeinab,” which houses a Shiite shrine southeast of Damascus, “when his group was attacked and he was killed,” one resident told AFP, without giving a date.

Hezbollah is a key Damascus backer and has sent fighters into Syria to support President Bashar Al-Assad in his regime’s bid to crush a 29-month rebellion. Fighters of Hezbollah played a key role in the government’s recapture in June of the rebel bastion of Qusayr,

near the Lebanese border. The report of Nisr’s killing comes after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said he was ready to go to Syria to fight extremists he accused of staging a deadly car bomb attack last Thursday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a bastion of his movement.

According to a final count, 27 people were killed in the attack. “I will go myself to Syria if it is so necessary in the battle against the takfiris (radical Sunni Muslims), Hezbollah and I will go to Syria” to fight rebels trying to oust the Damascus regime, Nasrallah said in an angry reaction to the car bombing. Tensions have soared in fragile Lebanon over the conflict in neighboring Syria. Though Lebanon is officially neutral, the country is deeply divided between those backing Assad’s regime and those who oppose it. — AFP

DAMASCUS: Troops loyal to President Bashar AlAssad drove rebels out of his Latakia home province yesterday as UN inspectors began probing the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syria war.

As the UN team left their Damascus hotel for an undisclosed destination, Jordan said it was receiving US technical assistance to prepare for any possible chemical warfare in neighboring Syria. State news agency SANA said the Syrian army recaptured a swathe of territory in northern Latakia, including a remote mountainous region where rebels launched operations earlier this month.

“The army retook control of the Nabi Ashia mountain range and adjoining areas in the north of Latakia province,” SANA quoted a military source as saying. Rebels positioned in remote enclaves in Latakia’s mountains launched the “battle for the liberation of the Syrian coast” about two weeks ago.

Latakia is the ancestral land of the Assad clan and the hinterland of his minority Alawite community-an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Over the past two weeks rebels had seized several Alawite villages near Qardaha, home town of Assad’s late father and long-time president Hafez al-Assad who is also buried there. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the army retook nine villages and military checkpoints that had been set up by the rebels in the area.

“The army has made progress,” in Latakia, said the Britain-based watchdog which relies on a wide network of medics and activists on the ground. But a Syrian security force told AFP the army still had to recapture the Salma region, a strategic area along the border with Turkey that has been in rebel hands since the end of last year. The Observatory said rebel fighters on Sunday shot down a military plane over Salma.

“The pilot bailed out but was later captured, most likely by insurgents,” it added.

The frontlines in Syria’s deadly war have stabilized in recent months, with Assad’s troops controlling the centre and the west, while rebels deployed in swathes of the north and east.

Southern Syria remains disputed, while parts of the north have witnessed the opening of a new front as Kurdish fighters seek to establish an autonomous area. Fighting in the north trig-

HOMS: A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) yesterday shows Syrian demonstrators waving their national flag and a picture of President Bashar Al-Assad during a march near the central city of Homs, in support of the country’s army. — AFP gered a new exodus of refugees with at least 15,000 Syrians pouring into Iraq in recent days, the UN says.

A team of more than 10 inspectors arrived in Damascus on Sunday to begin their hard-won mission which UN officials have said will last two weeks. They were not in their hotel yesterday, an AFP journalist at the scene said. Both UN spokesman in Syria, Khaled Al-Masri, and security officials refused to elaborate on where they had gone. The inspectors are expected to travel to Khan Al-Assal in the northern province of Aleppo, where regime and rebels accuse each other of using chemical weapons on March 19.

They are also expected to investigate Ataybeh near Damascus, where an attack was reported in March, and Homs, where chemical weapons are suspected to have been used on December 23.

The mission had been repeatedly delayed over differences with Assad’s regime concerning the scope of the probe into the alleged use of chemical arms. Syria last year admitted having

chemical weapons but said it will never turn them against its own people. The UN mission was cautiously welcomed by the opposition National Coalition, which stressed that inspectors “must go to all areas where there have been (chemical) attacks”.

“Although the Coalition trusts the mission’s impartiality, it will be difficult for it to reach real results, because the regime is known for manipulating evidence,” a statement said. Meanwhile across the border in Jordan, Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur said the United States was helping Amman to prepare for any chemical warfare.

“We are ready for the possibilities of chemical wars. UN investigators are in Syria now, so apparently there are chemical weapons,” Nsur told reporters.

“US teams are helping Jordan with this.

They provide training and other things should something happens, God forbids,” he said giving details on the exact nature of the US assistance. — AFP

Egypt on ‘right path’, says foreign minister TEHRAN: Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks in a garden, at the conclusion of an interview with AP in Tehran. — AP

Iran may be limiting nuke stockpile, say diplomats VIENNA: Iran appears to be holding back growth of its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by continuing to convert some of it into reactor fuel, diplomats said yesterday, potentially giving more time for negotiation with world powers.

The stock of medium-enriched uranium gas is closely watched in the West; Israel has threatened to attack if diplomacy fails to curb Iran’s program and it amasses enough of the material - a short technical step from weapons-grade - to make a bomb. The Islamic state says its program is for power generation and medical purposes only, but the election of the relative moderate Hassan Rouhani as president has raised hopes that talks to address the decade -old nuclear dispute could be unblocked.

Since Iran in 2010 began enriching uranium to a 20 percent concentration of the fissile isotope, it has produced more than the 240-250 kg that would be needed for one weapon.

But it has kept the stockpile below the stated Israeli “red line” by converting part of the uranium gas into oxide powder in order, it says, to yield fuel for a medical research reactor.

The diplomats, accredited to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Iran might even have stepped up this conversion in recent months. If this is confirmed in the IAEA’s quarterly report, due around Aug. 27-28, the inventory of 20 percent gas will rise by less than the output, which has been about 15 kg per month. One of the diplomats

suggested the stockpile may show little or even no growth during the last three months, saying: “Everyone expects there to be as much or more conversion.”

But he and others cautioned against seeing it as a signal by the new Iranian president as the uranium conversion began in late 2011. Iran’s stockpile of 20 percent uranium gas amounted to 182 kg in May, according to the IAEA’s last report, an increase of 9 percent since February but still well below the “red line” set by Israel, believed to be the region’s only nuclear weapons power. While the conversion activity may help to push back any Israeli decision on whether to attack Iranian nuclear sites, Western diplomats say Iran needs to do much more to allay suspicions about its atomic program. They note that uranium oxide powder can be converted back into gas form relatively quickly. The six powers negotiating with Iran - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia - want it to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and suspend work at the underground Fordow site where most of this activity is pursued.

Rouhani, a former nuclear negotiator who oversaw a previous deal to suspend Iran’s uranium enrichment, has pledged to improve ties with the outside world and secure an easing of international sanctions.

But he insists on Iran’s right to refine uranium, and the government has made clear that it would expect a major easing of sanctions, which are hurting its oil-dependent economy, in exchange for any agreement to curb enrichment. — Reuters

KHARTOUM: Egypt is on the “right path”, foreign minister Nabil Fahmy said yesterday in Sudan on his first trip abroad, after hundreds died in clashes between Egyptian Islamists and security forces. “Yes there is a crisis but we are on the right path and I believe in the future,” he said after talks with his Sudanese counterpart Ali Karti. Fahmy said Egypt would push ahead with its “roadmap”, an army-drafted plan providing for elections in 2014. “Our top priority is the national security of Egypt,” the minister said. “The coming Egyptian political system will be a democratic, open regime and open to all according to constitutional rules that will be written soon.”

Fahmy warned, however, that anyone resorting to violence would be held to account “under the law”, and would be left out of Egypt’s future. A former ambassador to Washington, Fahmy was sworn in as part of an interim government after

the Egyptian military toppled the country’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on July 3.

The ouster of Morsi, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader who became his country’s first elected president, followed popular mass protests calling for his resignation. But almost 800 people have died in Egypt since last Wednesday when security forces moved to disperse two Cairo protest camps of Morsi’s supporters, drawing global condemnation including from Sudan whose government calls itself Islamist. Egypt’s military chief Abdel Fattah AlSisi pledged a “forceful” response to further attacks on police and government buildings.

Such attacks, said Fahmy, “confirmed that there is a plan to spread fear among Egyptian citizens and to shake Egypt.

“We will not allow anyone to make Egyptians fearful.” Fahmy said his regime wants to clarify

Italian priest missing in Syria may be alive: Group BEIRUT: An Italian Jesuit priest who disappeared last month in eastern Syria may still be alive, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday, almost a week after it said he had been killed by al Qaeda-linked rebels.

The British-based monitoring group cited sources close to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) disputing assertions by local activists - and reported by the observatory - that Father Paolo Dall’Oglio had been killed while in the custody of the Islamist ISIL rebels.

Dall’Oglio, who supports the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, disappeared in the rebel-held city of Raqqa on July 29. Activists initially said he was kidnapped by ISIL fighters, although some later said he had met them to negotiate a truce with Kurdish brigades.

It was not immediately possible to confirm yesterday’s report.

The Observatory called on those holding Dall’Oglio to produce evidence that he is alive. Dall’Oglio served for three decades at the Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian, or Deir Mar Musa, before being expelled from the country in 2012. A Western diplomat said Dall’Oglio crossed into Syria from Turkey last month.

He has been an advocate of reconciliation for Syria’s myriad religious and ethnic sects, especially between Kurds and Arabs.

Dall’Oglio blamed Assad for provoking sectarian mayhem and called his forces “thugs.” — Reuters

the situation for its neighbors “especially Sudan”, which Egypt and Britain jointly ruled until 1956.

“We came here with a clear political message: We want cooperation for the interests of the countries.” Fahmy left Sudan immediately after his talks with Karti. Khalid Tijani, a Sudanese analyst, said he understood the visit had been planned ahead of the Egyptian crackdown, as part of efforts to reassure Sudan’s neighbors after the change of regime. “Unfortunately now, the scene is different” because of the violence, said Tijani, chief editor of the weekly economic newspaper Elaff. But he said he thinks both countries want to maintain good relations because they have many mutual interests.

There are close links between the peoples of the neighboring countries, which have extensive economic ties and depend upon the waters of the Nile river. — AFP

Iraq hangs 17, mostly for ‘terrorism’ BAGHDAD: Iraq executed 17 prisoners yesterday, all but one convicted for “terrorism,” shrugging off calls from international human rights organizations to reconsider the use of capital punishment.

In a statement posted on its website, the Justice Ministry said authorities had executed 15 Iraqis and an Egyptian convicted of terrorism for “carrying out crimes against the Iraqi people.” The other prisoner was convicted of another unspecified criminal offense. Two of those hanged were women, it added, without saying when the executions were carried out.

This year, a total of 67 people have been executed in the country. After the 2003 US-led invasion that topped longtime dictator Saddam Hussein, occupation authorities suspended Iraq’s death penalty. It was reinstated in 2004 by the country’s transitional government. Since then, Iraqi governments have shown increasing enthusiasm for its use as a law-and-order tool to deter insurgents. According to London-based Amnesty International, Iraq was ranked fourth among the top five

executioners in the world in 2011, after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US Human rights groups have questioned whether defendants receive a fair trial.

Meanwhile, violence continued in the country yesterday. Seven people were killed in different attacks in and outside the northern city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, a police officer said. Six of them were civilians who were killed in shootings and bomb attacks, while the seventh was a policeman killed when a bomb hit his convoy, he added.

A medical official confirmed the causality figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information. Mosul has been a major flashpoint in a recent surge of violence nationwide that has left more than 3,000 people dead over the past few months. The killings have raised fears Iraq could see a new round of widespread sectarian bloodshed similar to that which brought the country to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. — AP

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FBI agent defends 9/11 questioning at Gitmo Some of hardest cases to get new look GUANTANAMO BAY: A veteran FBI agent is defending his Guantanamo Bay interrogation of a suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Special Agent James Fitzgerald says in a pretrial hearing that Saudi prisoner Mustafa Al-Hawsawi was told the questioning was voluntary. He says the prisoner had a “friendly, reserved demeanor” when he was questioned back in 2007. Fitzgerald was part of a counter-terrorism team brought to Guantanamo to get statements from Al-Hawsawi and other prisoners suspected of involvement in the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.

But a defense lawyers is raising questions about those interrogations, including whether it was appropriate to question Al-Hawsawi in English when Arabic is his first language.

Fitzgerald was the first witness yesterday in a weeklong pretrial hearing for five prisoners charged in the attacks.

As the US renews its effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, it will soon begin reconsidering the fate of prisoners such as Mohammed Al-Shimrani.

The 38-year-old Saudi is in a special category among the 166 prisoners at Guantanamo - one of

nearly 50 men who a government task force decided were too dangerous to release but who can’t be prosecuted, in some cases, because proceedings could reveal sensitive information.

While the rest of the prisoners have been cleared for eventual release, transfer or prosecution, AlShimrani and the others can only guess at their fate. “The allegations against my client are no more serious than many, many Saudis who have been sent home,” New York-based attorney Martha Rayner said of al-Shimrani. “It just baffles me.”

The Pentagon says the men in the indefinite detention category are held under international laws of war until the “end of hostilities,” whenever that may be. As a group, they are one of the chief hurdles to President Barack Obama’s attempts to close the detention center on the US base in Cuba.

For the most part, they have been accused of being al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, couriers and recruiters. After more than a decade, their lawyers say it’s time to let them go.

Their lawyers recently began receiving notifications that intelligence officials from “various US

MASSACHUSETTS: Malia Obama (center) walks with an unidentified girl and sister Sasha Obama (right) toward Air Force One as their father President Barack Obama (far left) waves at a waiting crowd before boarding Air Force One at Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station, Massachusetts on Sunday.—AP

Obama back at White House after vacation WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama was back home at the White House late Sunday, ending his eight-day summer vacation at exclusive Martha’s Vineyard off the US east coast.

The president, his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia left their rental home on the island under steady rain and took a helicopter to a Coast Guard air station at Cape Cod, where they boarded their flight to Andrews Air Force Base outside the US capital.

Earlier in the day Obama played golf-his sixth round of the vacation-with partners who included World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. Obama interrupted his rest last week to denounce the bloody crackdown in Cairo by Egypt’s military.

The president received regular intelligence briefings, and both National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors were on the trip, White House spokesman Jay Carney earlier told reporters. A favorite summer spot for the well-heeled, Martha’s Vineyard is located off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and has hosted the likes of ex-president Bill Clinton and late first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

From 2009 to 2011, Obama spent about 10 days there each August, enjoying golf, picnics on the beach and eating out locally. He skipped a visit last year as he campaigned for reelection.

Obama’s last vacation, over Christmas, was compromised by the so-called fiscal cliff fight with Congress, which forced the president to cut short his stay in Hawaii and head back to Washington.

The coming weeks for Obama are expected to be dominated by showdowns with opposition Republicans in the US Congress. Turmoil in Egypt and the upcoming G20 summit in Russia are likely to take a backseat to the domestic agenda, as Republican legislators are threatening a government shutdown in October over the budget and debt ceiling. — AFP

Arizona fugitive faces capital murder trial ALBUQUERQUE: Prosecutors and defense attorneys will deliver their opening statements in the capital murder trial of an Arizona inmate who escaped from prison and is accused of killing an Oklahoma couple who were traveling through New Mexico.

John McCluskey is facing 20 counts in the 2010 carjacking and slaying of Gary and Linda Haas, of Tecumseh, Okla. He’s the last of three defendants to be tried in the case. The other two pleaded guilty and will likely testify during the trial.

Despite admissions made to authorities following his arrest, McCluskey’s defense team says he didn’t kill the Haases and didn’t intend for them to die that August day in eastern New Mexico.

Prosecutors are ready to prove otherwise. They have indicated in court documents that as many as 100 witnesses could be called and they have more than 1,000 exhibits to show the jury, including photographs, and hours of audio and video. The trial is expected to last up to four months. It took nearly three weeks for attorneys to settle on a jury of nine women and three men.

Dozens of prospective jurors were questioned about everything from their understanding of the justice system to their opinions about the death penalty. McCluskey’s attorneys filed a motion hours before the final panel was to be selected in hopes of delaying the case with claims that minorities were underrepresented in the jury pool.

US District Judge Judith Herrera cleared the way for opening statements to begin with an order issued last week. McCluskey has made no secret of his desire to steer clear of a trial and the death penalty. He agreed to plea negotiations earlier this year, but federal prosecutors said they were intent on moving toward trial. Prosecutors have said the Haases, both 61, were targeted for their pickup truck and travel trailer when they stopped at a rest area near the Texas-New Mexico state line.

According to court documents, they were forced at gunpoint to drive to a desolate spot off of Interstate 40, where they were then ordered into their trailer and shot.

The truck and trailer were then driven miles down a series of dirt roads to a more remote location. The trailer was unhitched and torched, with the Haases’ bodies inside.

A plume of black smoke is what led a rancher to the crime scene. The authorities were then called in.—AP

government agencies” would begin reviewing the detention of their clients to determine whether it was still necessary to hold them. A Defense Department spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Joseph Todd Breasseale, said the date for the first hearing hasn’t been set.

Details of how the panels will be conducted, whether, for example, lawyers for the men will be allowed to be present or can only appear by videoconference, have not been disclosed.

Rayner, a professor at Fordham University School of Law in New York, said she is hopeful because her client has family to receive him back in Saudi Arabia, and a government capable of providing any security assurances the US might need. “I am going into this with an open mind,” she said.

Many who have long pushed for the closure of the prison say the US needs to act fast because the legal premise for their indefinite detention will evaporate when the US pulls its troops out of Afghanistan in 2014, effectively ending the war that prompted the opening of Guantanamo in January 2002.

“Our credibility is strained to begin with, but whatever is left is going to be sorely harmed if we

continue to detain people after the rationale has expired,” said Morris “Moe” Davis, a retired Air Force colonel who served two years as the chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions. The men in the indefinite detention category include three Saudis, Al-Shimrani among them, who were held back as dozens of fellow citizens were sent to a rehabilitation program in their country. It also includes two Kuwaitis, Faez AlKandari and Fawzi Al-Odah, who have been accused of being part of a terrorist group and are being held even though Kuwait has built a rehabilitation center for them that sits idle. Also on the list are several Afghans, who officials have said are possible candidates for a prisoner swap with the Taleban involving an American POW, Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl of Idaho.

Al-Shimrani worked as a teacher in Saudi Arabia and was accused of training with Al-Qaeda and fighting against the Northern Alliance and possibly being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.

Rayner argues there is no longer any legal or security justification for holding him.

Most of the government’s court filings on him are sealed. In general, however, the reason the

government often opted not to prosecute men on the indefinite list was because their capture involved aid from foreign governments that did not want their assistance disclosed or because US authorities used technological capabilities they did not want to publicize, said Davis, the former chief prosecutor. “It wasn’t that there wasn’t good evidence; it was an inability to use that evidence,” he said. Air Force Lt Col Barry Wingard, a military lawyer for Al-Kandari, who is accused of producing Al-Qaeda propaganda, insists there is a lack of evidence. “If the government could successfully prosecute these guys they would,” he said. “But they can’t and they won’t.”

The US began using Guantanamo to hold “enemy combatants” in the chaotic early days of the war in Afghanistan. Al-Shimrani, captured in Pakistan after fleeing Afghanistan, was among the first arrivals, a core group who it was thought would yield valuable intelligence about AlQaeda. He was eventually interrogated at least 88 times, according to court documents. The prison, meanwhile, grew to a peak of about 680, with Afghans and Saudis the two largest groups by nationality.—AP

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British warship docks in Gibraltar amid dispute EU warns Spain not to slap Gibraltar tax

INGOLSTADT: A poster for an election campaign of German Chancellor Angela Merkel hangs in the city center of Ingolstadt yesterday. The campaign of Merkel and the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer at the Town Hall Square had to be canceled due to a hostage-taking in the city hall of Ingolstadt. — AP

Hostage drama forces Merkel to scrap rally BERLIN: A man claiming to be carrying a gun took three hostages yesterday in the town hall of a German city where Chancellor Angela Merkel had been due to give a campaign rally later in the day.

While the Merkel event was cancelled, police negotiated with the hostage-taker, who after five hours freed one of the captives, a deputy mayor of the town of Ingolstadt north of Munich. The hostagetaker was believed to be a 24-year-old man who had been stalking a female town hall employee, and who had been committed to a psychiatric institution.

He was carrying a real or imitation handgun, police said. The perpetrator had previously been barred from the town hall premises, said the Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann. Mayor Alfred Lehmann said the man had a history of violent assault and intimidation.

The man took hostage deputy mayor

Sepp Misslbeck, who was later freed, as well as Misslbeck’s secretary-thought to be the victim of his stalking-and the city government ’s complaints manager, local media reported. Police declined to speak about the hostage -taker ’s motives or demands.

A police tactical response unit arrived shortly after the hostage drama started around 9:00 am (0700 GMT) and stood by, while some 200 officers cordoned off the town centre. Merkel had been due to speak at a rally of her conservative party outside the town hall ahead of September 22 elections, along with political ally, Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer, who is also running for re-election next month. The hostage drama was not thought to be related to the political event, said a police spokesman, as Merkel’s conservative party and its Bavarian sister party cancelled yesterday’s appearance.—AFP

GIBRALTAR: British warship HMS Westminster docked in Gibraltar yesterday in a naval exercise coinciding with a furious diplomatic row with Spain over sovereignty and fishing rights in the surrounding waters. The Type 23 frigate, equipped with a weapons system including a magazine torpedo launcher, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Sea Wolf surface-to-air missiles and helicopter, arrived at the British outpost in the morning.

Though long-planned, the naval visit came at a time of high tension, a day after dozens of Spanish fishing boats sailed to waters around Gibraltar to demand it remove 70 concrete blocks it has dropped in their fishing grounds. A cordon of British naval and Gibraltar police patrols blocked about 40 Spanish fishing boats from entering far into the disputed waters in Sunday’s protest. No incident was reported beyond an exchange of insults between the two sides.

The Gibraltar government says the concrete reef will regenerate marine life and argues that the Spanish raked for shellfish there illegally. The Spaniards say they have been cut off from rich fishing grounds, hurting their livelihoods.

It is the latest in a string of diplomatic rows over the self-governing British overseas territory bordering the tip of Spain, which measures just 6.8 square kilometres (2.6 square miles) and is home to about 30,000 people. HMS Westminster sailed in along the boundary of the territorial waters claimed by Britain as it entered port, a socalled sovereignty patrol which is standard practice for visiting British warships.

A handful of Gibraltarians watched from shore as the grey frigate arrived with two auxiliary support vessels, the Lyme Bay and Mounts Bay. “It is a routine deployment but it couldn’t have come at a better time,” said one local, Tony Evans, as he stood watching the ships dock at the nearby naval base. Both Britain and Spain say the naval visits are unrelated to their disagreement over the concrete reef. Amid the row, Spain has imposed intense customs checks at the land border to Gibraltar, leading to daily hours-long queues of cars.

The European Commission said yesterday it hopes Britain and Spain will be able to resolve their latest dispute over Gibraltar by themselves, but warned that Spanish threats to impose a border tax would be illegal. European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said the

entry tax suggested by Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo was not official but that “any tax or fees imposed at the border of a member state will be illegal under EU law. Illegal.

Not in line with EU law.”

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso discussed the spat with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy by telephone Monday and agreed that a commission fact finding mission should go to the Gibraltar border area as soon as possible and examine the border control and movement of people and goods questions, the commission said in a statement. Barroso expressed hope that Spain and Britain would address the issues in line with their EU membership.

Last week, Barroso talked with British Prime Minister David Cameron. The row stems from Gibraltar’s construction of an artificial reef, which Spain says affects its fishermen. In apparent retaliation, Spanish police enforced border control checks on cars entering Gibraltar, creating massive tailbacks.

British Prime Minister David Cameron

GIBRALTAR: British Royal Fleet Auxiliary Lyme Bay arriving in Gibraltar. British warship HMS Westminster and two support vessels docked in Gibraltar yesterday in a naval exercise coinciding with a furious diplomatic row with Spain over sovereignty and fishing rights in the surrounding waters. — AFP

Zimbabwe court to rule on election challenge

In this undated photo released by Janine Gibson of The Guardian, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald (right) and his partner David Miranda, are shown together at an unknown location.— AP

Use of UK terror law to detain reporter’s partner ‘a disgrace’ LONDON: British authorities came under pressure yesterday to explain why antiterrorism powers were used to detain for nine hours the partner of a journalist who has written articles about US and British surveillance programs based on leaks from Edward Snowden.

Brazilian David Miranda, the partner of American journalist Glenn Greenwald, was detained on Sunday at London’s Heathrow Airport where he was in transit on his way from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro.

He was released without charge. “The detention of David Miranda is a disgrace and reinforces the undoubted complicity of the UK in US indiscriminate surveillance of law-abiding citizens,” Michael Mansfield, one of Britain’s leading human rights lawyers, told Reuters.

“The fact that Snowden, and now anyone remotely associated with him, are being harassed as potential spies and terrorists is sheer unadulterated state oppression,” he wrote in an email.

Miranda was detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows police to stop and question people travelling through ports and airports to determine whether they are involved in planning terrorist acts. The opposition Labor Party urged the authorities to explain how they could justify using Schedule 7 to detain Miranda, arguing any suggestion that anti-terrorism powers had been misused could undermine public support for those powers. The Home Office, or interior ministry, said the detention was an operational police matter. The police declined to provide any details beyond confirming the detention.

“Schedule 7 forms an essential part of the UK’s security arrangements. It is for the police to decide when it is necessary and proportionate to use these powers,” a Home Office spokesman said.

Keith Vaz, a Labour lawmaker who

chairs parliament’s powerful interior affairs committee, told the BBC he had written to the head of London’s Metropolitan Police to ask for clarification of what he labelled an “extraordinary” case.

Miranda was detained for the maximum nine hours allowed by the legislation, which is extremely rare. According to Home Office statistics, fewer than three out of every 10,000 people passing through British borders are stopped under Schedule 7. Of those, more than 97 percent are examined for less than one hour, while 0.06 percent are held for six hours or more.

Brazil has said Miranda’s treatment “has no justification”. Greenwald, who is based in Brazil and writes for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, said the detention of his partner was a “despotic” attempt to intimidate him and others involved in reporting on British and U.S. surveillance programs. “They completely abused their own terrorism law for reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism,” he wrote in a column in the Guardian, adding that Miranda was given no access to a lawyer.

“If the UK and US governments believe that tactics like this are going to deter or intimidate us in any way from continuing to report aggressively ... they are beyond deluded.”

He has published a series of articles based on documents leaked by Snowden, the former US National Security Agency contractor who faces criminal charges in the United States but has been granted temporary asylum in Russia. Schedule 7 has been under official review, with a public consultation published in July showing that 71 percent of respondents thought the detention time-limit of nine hours was excessive. The government plans to reduce it to six hours. —Reuters

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s highest court said it will rule today on a legal battle over disputed elections that gave President Robert Mugabe a landslide victory, even though the opposition dropped its challenge in protest to the state’s refusal to hand over polling data. Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court yesterday heard demands by Mugabe’s attorneys for a hearing to go ahead despite the opposition’s withdrawal, apparently reflecting the president’s confidence that the court will throw out the case and strengthen his assertions that the vote was legitimate.

Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, appoints the nation’s judges and they have frequently ruled in his favor in the past decade of political and economic turmoil. Terrence Hussein, an attorney for Mugabe, said a challenge to the presidential vote cannot be withdrawn under the constitution. The party of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai fears participation in the legal process would now give a stamp of credibility to the election.

“We can’t be forced to go ahead,” said Douglas Mwonzora, a spokesman for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. Tsvangirai alleged widespread vote-rigging but withdrew the legal challenge on Friday after the state election commission declined to hand over voters’ lists and poll tallies needed for evidence.

Opposition leaders said the proposed hearing also did not allow trial-style cross examination of witnesses and that they did not expect to receive a fair hearing on an appeal for fresh elections within 60 days. Mugabe’s office said arrangements are being made for his

described the border checks as “politically motivated” and has pressed European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to send observers to the border as soon as possible. With Madrid’s prior agreement, British helicopter and commando carrier HMS Illustrious on Sunday docked at a naval base in Rota in southern Spain for a technical stop of several hours before leading naval exercises in the Mediterranean.

The HMS Westminster and the two support vessels are due to stay in Gibraltar for three days.

They are all taking part in annual naval exercises, codenamed Cougar ‘13, planned long before the latest row broke out. The British ships will visit several ports, carrying out an exercise with the Albanian armed forces before heading through the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and the Gulf for exercises with other British allies.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity in 1713 but has long argued that it should be returned to Spanish sovereignty. London says it will not do so against the wishes of Gibraltarians, who are staunchly pro-British. — Agencies

inauguration Thursday for another fiveyear term in office after holding power for 33 years since independence in 1980.

Today’s court ruling is not expected to change the timing. The constitution sets a presidential inauguration for 48 hours after disputes are either thrown out or declared invalid. Mugabe’s ZANUPF party won 158 seats in the 210-seat legislature.

The opposition garnered 50 seats and two were won by independent candidates. Mugabe returned from Malawi on Sunday after a summit of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community, or SADC, a political and economic bloc. He said at the main Harare airport he had received “unanimous support” for his election victory from regional leaders, state radio reported. It said a jubilant Mugabe, 89, was appointed the vice chair of SADC at the summit and will take over as chairman in early 2014, replacing President Joyce Banda of Malawi.

Regional election observers and monitors from the continent-wide African Union commended the vote in Zimbabwe for being free of violence that has plagued previous elections. Western nations, barred by Mugabe from observing the vote, have criticized African monitors who swiftly endorsed Mugabe’s new term in office. Tsvangirai’s party insists up to one million eligible voters were denied the right to cast ballots and that voters’ lists were inaccurate, showing names of dead people and others who left the country as economic or political fugitives. His party lost by wide margins in urban strongholds it has dominated since elections it fought in 2002 and 2008.—AP

HARARE: Opposition Movement For Democtratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Dougals Mwonzora talks to the media after they were summoned to the Constitutional Court in Harare yesterday. — AP

Russia and Japan launch territorial row talks MOSCOW: Russian and Japanese diplomats held talks in Moscow yesterday in a bid to restart stalled negotiations over a territorial row that has kept the two neighbors from signing a World War II peace treaty and rejuvenating economic ties. The talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and his Japanese counterpart Singuke Sugiyama follow an April trip to Moscow by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The first high-level visit by a Japanese premier in a decade ended with Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreeing to try to find a solution to the status of the Kuril Islands-claimed by Tokyo despite being taken by the Soviet Red Army in 1945.

“As our leaders agreed, we are assuming the discussion of the main parameters and modalities for upcoming peace agreement negotiations,” Russian news agencies quoted Morgulov as saying at the start of the meeting. “We hope to move our joint work forward for the purpose of ... developing our partnership in the most varied fields.”

Sugiyama replied that he hoped to “speed up the search for mutually-acceptable solutions”.

“There is a feeling that we are close friends,” Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted Japan’s vice minister for foreign affairs as saying. “It would be good if we could conduct these consultations while sharing this new sentiment in our relations,” Sugiyama said. It is not clear when full peace negotiations might start.

“Holding hands, we should solve our problems together.” Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades because of the status of southernmost four of the Pacific islands known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. The Soviets claimed the Kuril chain that extends from Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula south to the tip of Japan in the dying days of World War II as Joseph Stalin pushed his counter-offensive on Tokyo.

The region’s status as a symbol of Moscow’s continued desire for post-Soviet influence was underscored in 2010 by a highly-controversial visit to one of the contested island by then-president Dmitry Medvedev.

A string of Russian officials and generals have since followed with the promise of infusing the region with money and updating the dilapidated armed forces whose positions are close enough to be visible from Japan.

Each of the visits and flyovers was met with loud protests from Tokyo and appeared to push back any talk of a reconciliation that could help spur on trade.

But some analysts believe that Abe-who has experienced tensions with both China and South Korea-is seeking to help break the chill in relations with Russia. Japan is particularly interested in increasing its imports of Russian energy as it seeks to diversify supplies in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Moscow’s trade with Tokyo reached $32 billion (24 billion euros) last year. But Russia-despite its size and proximity-was only Japan’s 15th most important trading partner.

One solution mooted in the past could involve Russia ceding control of the two smallest islands of Shikotan and Khabomai and keeping the much larger Kunashir and Iturup (known as Kunishiri and Etorofu in Japan). But analysts believe such a compromise may be a tough sell to some nationalists in Tokyo and even in Russia, which under Putin’s rule has always sought to present itself as a great world power.— AFP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

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

India: Pakistan testing restraint in Kashmir NEW DELHI: India said yesterday it was running out of patience with Pakistan army-backed transgressions across disputed Kashmir as cross-border firing spread further north for the first time since the two armies agreed a ceasefire in 2003.

Tension has been running high along one of the world’s most militarized borders in Kashmir since Aug. 6 when five Indian soldiers were ambushed and killed while on a patrol. Indian Defense Minister A K Antony said it was clear that specialist troops of the Pakistani army were involved in the attack on the soldiers whose deaths triggered criticism

that the government’s posture toward the neighbor had been too soft. Antony demanded that Pakistan act against its troops involved in the latest incident as well as the killing of two soldiers back in January, one of whom was decapitated.

“Naturally, this incident will have consequences on our behavior on the Line of Control and for our relations with Pakistan,” he told parliament, referring to the de facto border between the two countries in the disputed Kashmir region.

“Our restraint should not be taken for granted.” Pakistan has denied involvement and instead accused India of opening fire and killing one of its soldiers in

late July. Also the same month, police in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir said four civilians who had gone to collect herbs near the Line of Control had gone missing and their families believed they had been arrested by the Indian army.

The rhetoric in India has been steadily mounting as the Congress-led coalition government faces a difficult election less than a year away, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being criticized by opposition hardliners and even from within his party for trying to quietly relaunch peace talks with Pakistan.

On Sunday night, the two armies which are in close proximity in many

areas - exchanged fire along the Kargil stretch of the mountains where the ceasefire has held since November 2003.

“The firing continued for half an hour, however, there was no loss of life or damage”, said a police officer in the Indian side of Kashmir.

The two armies fought an undeclared war in Kargil in 1999 after Pakistani armybacked irregulars crossed the Line of Control, prompting Indian air and ground operations to evict them. They have fought three wars since 1947.

Indian army officials say the latest attack on its soldiers was carried out by Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT). The

unit includes members of Pakistan’s commando Special Services Group and irregular forces, including members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group. “Pakistan is making a serious mistake with regard to ceasefire and BAT attacks. It should not do it.

It is not going to deter us. The army is here to respond in each and every act of Pakistan,” said Indian army Major-General V P Singh, a division commander in the Rajouri sector along the border. So far, the two armies have exchanged smallarms firing, refraining from the artillery duels they engaged in before the ceasefire in 2003. — Reuters

Amid graft probe, India coal ministry loses files

PATNA: Indians walk on railroad tracks as train coaches of the Rajya Rani Express, set on fire by an angry mob, burns after the train ploughed into a crowd of Hindu pilgrims at the Dhamara Ghat railway station in Khagaria district, some 248 kilometers (154 miles) from Bihar state capital Patna, yesterday.—AFP

Indian train runs into pilgrims, killing 37 Mishap triggers riots, driver killed PATNA: An Indian express train ploughed into a crowd of Hindu pilgrims in the country’s east yesterday, killing 37 and triggering a riot that left one of the drivers dead, an official said.

The Hindu pilgrims were crossing the tracks at a station in the state of Bihar when the high-speed passenger train struck them, injuring dozens, a senior police officer said. “ The death toll is now 37,” S K Bharadwaj, an additional director general of police, who is overseeing security at the crash site, said. “Dozens of people have been injured. We do not have exact figures of those injured because they were taken away to various hospitals,” he said.

Angry crowds went on the rampage, converging on the Rajya Rani Express which stopped after the accident, attacking its drivers and leaving one dead with another seriously injured, Bharadwaj said. “One of the drivers of the train who was beaten up by the agitators has died. The other driver is struggling for his life in the hospital,” he said.

The crowds also set carriages on fire and ransacked the station in the small town of Dhamara Ghat, some 248 kilo-

metres (154 miles) from the state capital Patna, local railway chief Arun Malik told AFP. “Six carriages have been set on fire and the station has been ransacked by the mob. Our staff have fled the station fearing attacks,” Malik said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm “so that the relief and rescue operations can be carried out without any hindrance.” “ The Prime Minister has expressed deep sorrow and shock at the loss of lives of pilgrims caused by the accident,” the statement from Singh’s office also said.

A senior railways official said it appeared the pilgrims were not aware of the incoming express train on the middle of the station’s three tracks.

“Two trains were already stationary on other tracks and the Rajya Rani Express was given permission to pass,” Arunendra Kumar, chairman of the national railway board, told reporters in New Delhi. “ The accident occurred because some people left the platform of the station and came on the tracks,” Kumar said.

Large numbers of pilgrims had been gathering at a nearby temple to offer prayers, according to the Press Trust of

India. Some of the pilgrims are Kanwarias who are devoted to Lord Shiva, the god of destruction. There are hundreds of accidents on the railways annually. In 2012, a government report said that almost 15,000 people were killed every year crossing India’s rail which it described as an annual “massacre” due to poor safety standards.

Pedestrians guilty of “unlawful trespassing” walk across the tracks at many unofficial crossing points, the report said, adding that about 6,000 of the deaths occur in the congested and frenetic city of Mumbai alone.

Attempts to stop people riding on the roofs of trains have largely failed, vehicles routinely drive around barriers at crossings and passengers are often seen hanging out of open doors in the carriages.

The data is not broken down, but a vast majority of these deaths are people falling from the open doors of carriages or being hit on the tracks, which are mostly unsecured.

One of India’s worst rail accidents was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river also in Bihar, killing an estimated 800 people.— AFP

Karachi’s plague of violence brings armored car boom KARACHI, Sindh: As an unprecedented wave of killings and kidnappings hits Karachi, the Pakistani city’s elite are splashing out to have their luxury cars made bomb and bulletproof. The sprawling metropolis of 18 million people on the Arabian Sea is Pakistan’s economic heart, with ranks of factories, import-export wheeler-dealers and slick bankers.

But it is also the crucible of the country’s worst excesses of violence, criminality and inequality.

Bloody gang wars fed by ethnic and political bitterness, drugs and the Taleban, and a steady drum beat of gangsterism have created a culture of impunity under the stunned gaze of police. The past two years have seen record death tolls. In the first six months of 2013, 1,726 people were killed in Karachi compared with a previous high of 1,215 in the same period last year, according to the Human Rights

Commission of Pakistan.

In 2012, nearly 130 people were kidnapped in Karachi-another recordaccording to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee. Like many successful businessmen in the city, Nadeem Khan, who owns pharmaceutical labs and marble workshops, feels threatened and has no faith in the ability of the authorities to protect him.

“Karachi is more dangerous than Kabul. We have police here and we have Rangers (paramilitary) here but they won’t lay a hand on the criminals,” he told AFP. “So the people are compelled to have themselves secured by having their own personal bodyguards and armored vehicles.”

The epidemic of killings and kidnappings shows no sign of slowing, so those who can afford it are kitting their cars out with windows that can stop an AK-47 bullet and chassis that will survive a bomb attack.

KARACHI: Pakistani automobile workers preparing a bullet and bombproof vehicle at a workshop in Karachi. As an unprecedented wave of killings and kidnappings hits Karachi, the vast city’s elite are splashing out to have their luxury cars made bomb and bulletproof.— AFP

Khan recently armored two of his 4x4s and is waiting for two more to be completed for his father and brother. “I got threats many times. I am the head of the law and order committee of the Korangi Industrial Area and there are so many dacoits (bandits) and robbers there,” he said.

“There are bhatta (extortion) groupsthey always hurl threats on the phone.”

These are worrying times for Karachi’s rich but boom times for companies such as Streit, which armors vehicles.

Khalid Yousaf, head of Streit Pakistan, says business has doubled since they started work in December.

In a spotless workshop with a polished concrete floor set amid the city’s carpet of dust and dirt, a team of Streit mechanics work on a dozen strippeddown 4x4s. The hulking Toyota Land Cruisers are no more than skeletons: an engine, wheels and chassis with no bodywork, doors or seats.

The mechanics insert thick metal plates, laser-cut for a precise fit, into the doors, reinforce the floor, fit bulletproof windows, protect the battery with a metal cage and beef up the suspension to cope with the extra tonne of steel and glass that has been added.

All this costs anything between $30,000 and $45,000, said Yousaf-an incomprehensibly huge sum for most Pakistanis. But the rich are happy to pay for peace of mind, and the armourers’ business is booming. “We were expecting at the beginning to armour three to four cars per month, but initially in the first months and onward we had seven cars, then 10,” he told AFP. “Now we are around 15 cars per month. Maybe it is going to increase even more.”

Discretion is a valued commodity in the armored car business and other firms were reluctant to discuss business on the record, but several spoken to by AFP confirmed that orders were on the rise.—AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s opposition angrily denounced the government yesterday after the coal ministry admitted it had lost some files and was unable to turn them over to a high-profile corruption enquiry.

The federal Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating how the coal ministry, which was headed by current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from 2004-2009, allocated mining licenses. The national auditor alleged last year that the ministry had given away tens of billions of dollars in windfall gains to 100 private and some state-run firms-sparking a police investigation into whether kickbacks were paid in exchange. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal admitted Saturday that some files from 1993 to 2004 were missing and that a committee headed by a senior ministry official was investigating the matter. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which called for Singh to step down when the scandal erupted, said the government bore responsibility for the vanished files.

“Obviously we hold the government responsible for the disappearance of evidence... if something in my custody goes missing, I am culpable since it was my responsibility to begin with,” Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP spokeswoman, told AFP. “Now that these files have vanished, no one knows what transpired. In these circumstances, the least the government must do is to cancel all the licences, now that we have no evidence to show if the con-

tracts were valid,” Lekhi said. “This should not derail the investigation. It must go on,” she added.

Parliament was adjourned temporarily yesterday amid the uproar questioning the disappearance of the files. Singh’s coalition government,

dominated by the left-leaning Congress party, has been beset by a string of corruption cases in recent years. The latest allegations of mismanagement have piled pressure on him ahead of elections due by next year. —AFP

BANGALORE: Indian school children watch from behind a barricade near an under construction building, which collapsed partially in Bangalore yesterday. At least four laborers were injured and few others are feared trapped under debris, authorities said. — AP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

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

Philippine floods kill three, paralyze capital China death toll passes 100

SEOUL: South Korean soldiers put on gas masks during an anti-terror drill on the sidelines of South Korea-US joint military exercise, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, at a subway station in Seoul yesterday. — AFP

South Korea, US begin annual military drills SEOUL: South Korean and US militaries began annual drills yesterday amid signs of easing tension on the divided peninsula, with Pyongyang’s state media shunning typical rhetoric against what they call a rehearsal for an invasion. Earlier this year, the Korean Peninsula saw a spike in tensions, with North Korea vowing nuclear wars during earlier annual springtime USSouth Korean military exercises.

Pyongyang has since eased its rhetoric and pursued dialogues with Seoul and Washington.

The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills that continue until Aug. 30 are computer-simulated war games that involve 30,000 American and 50,000 South Korean troops, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the US military command in Seoul. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature, but Pyongyang has reacted angrily to them in the past, calling the drills a preparation for a pre-emptive attack. But in an unusual move, North Korean state media have not made any major statements on this year’s exercises so far.

“North Korea appears to have determined it’s necessary to take a cool-headed attitude” over the drills to maintain efforts to resume jointly run economic cooperation programs, said analyst Cheong Seongchang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea. The two Koreas last week agreed to work toward reopening a shuttered jointly run factory park, and

Pyongyang on Sunday accepted South Korea’s offer for talks on reuniting families separated by war.

Yesterday, South Korea approved a visit this week by four North Koreans to attend a UN-organized youth leadership program.

They will be the second group of North Koreans to visit since the new South Korean government of President Park Geun-hye took office in February, according to Park’s Unification Ministr y. A women’s soccer team was in South Korea last month to compete in a regional competition.

Despite the recent conciliatory gestures, some analysts in South Korea are wary of the North’s intentions, saying Pyongyang often follows provocations and threats with a charm offensive meant to win aid. North Korea said Sunday it had agreed to South Korea’s offer for Red Cross talks Friday on the family reunions but proposed another set of talks Thursday on resuming lucrative tours of Diamond Mountain, implying it wants the tourism restart in return for allowing the reunions.

South Korea suspended tours to Diamond Mountain after a South Korean woman was shot dead by a North Korean border guard there in 2008. The project had provided a legitimate source of hard currency to North Korea before its suspension. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said yesterday it is reviewing North Korea’s offer for talks on the mountain tours. — AP

Hunt for escapees after new Indonesia jailbreak LABUHAN RUKU, Indonesia: Indonesian security forces yesterday hunted for a group of inmates who escaped from an overcrowded jail on Sumatra island, in the latest breakout to hit the country’s decrepit prison system. Prisoners rampaged through Labuhan Ruku jail on Sunday, setting fire to the building and attacking wardens, angered at a failure to give them sentence reductions and their treatment.

Thirty prisoners managed to escape but authorities had recaptured 23 by 1:30 pm (0630 GMT ), said national police spokesman Ronny Sompie. “Seven inmates have still not returned,” he added.

Police and soldiers regained control of the prison in Batubara district overnight after firing tear gas and warning shots into the air, said district chief J P Sinaga. The prison had been almost three times over its capacity of 300 inmates when the violence erupted.

Officials did not know what offences the escapees had committed although Labuhan Ruku is not a high-security jail and was unlikely to be holding serious offenders, such as terrorism convicts.

Following two jailbreaks in Indonesia in

July, Interpol issued an alert saying it suspected Al-Qaeda involvement in those breakouts and other escapes that occurred around the same time in different countries. However, Indonesian officials have played down the possibility of links between the jailbreaks and the terror network.

Anti-terror agency head Ansyaad Mbai said he did not suspect Al-Qaeda involvement in Sunday’s escape. “We see no indications of Al-Qaeda links,” he told AFP. Around 350 police were guarding the roads around the prison complex, parts of which were fire-blackened and badly damaged, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Inmates had been moved to a church and a mosque within the complex.

A prison guard sustained minor facial injuries in the unrest but there were no other injuries, said Budi Sulaksana, head of the government’s justice and human rights office in North Sumatra province.

The violence flared when some inmates became angry that they were not given sentence cuts on Saturday, Indonesian Independence Day, when convicts are traditionally given remissions. —AFP

MANILA: At least three people have died in the Philippines after torrential rain engulfed parts of the main island of Luzon including Manila where neck-deep water swept through homes forcing thousands into emergency shelters. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said mountainous areas to the north of the island were experiencing floods of 1.8 meters (six feet), following persistent rain that began at the weekend. One person was killed in a storm-related car accident in the northern Apayao mountain region while a child was crushed by a collapsing wall and a man drowned in towns just outside the capital.

Four other people are missing including three washed away by floods and overflowing rivers and a local female tourist who got lost while exploring a cave in the northern resort town of Sagada. In the capital Manila, a megacity of 12 million people, schools, government offices and the stock exchange were closed as a red alert was raised in the morning-the highest level of a warning system in which widespread floods are predicted.

“We are trying to save whatever we can. But it was so sudden,” J R Pascual, a father-of-four, told AFP as he tried to take the most important possessions from his home that was flooded up to his waist. “My neighbor wasn’t even able to get his car out.” Pascual lives in a middle-class district of Cavite, a coastal area that is about 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the heart of Manila. Roads from Cavite and other southern areas into the city were impassable, while some motorists who tried to get through the flooded streets were forced to abandon their cars. Footage on ABSCBN television showed people in nearby shanty town communities standing on their corrugated iron roofs, as fast-moving water swept through the windows of their homes. By early afternoon, the rain had eased and the red alert was lowered for the capital.One of President Benigno Aquino’s top aides said he did not expect a major disaster.

“Compared to other calamities, this is not of

MANILA: Residents wade through floodwaters in the farming town of Novaleta, some 26 kilometers outside Manila yesterday. — AFP the same gravity as the rest. I hope this will be in decades” by state news agency Xinhua, while done by tomorrow,” Executive Secretary Paquito another 33 people died in the south as a result Ochoa told a nationally televised government of the weather, it said citing the ministry of civil disaster briefing. Nevertheless, thousands of affairs.

Liaoning, the worst-hit province, had 54 fatalpeople were believed to be sheltering in evacuation centres or trapped on rooftops while wait- ities and another 97 people missing, Xinhua said.

The worst-hit province in the south, battered ing for the water to subside.

It was immediately followed by Tropical by Typhoon Utor last week, was Guangdong Storm Parma, and more than 1,100 people died where 22 people were dead and eight missing, it in the back-to-back disasters. Chaotic urban added. Transport links were severely crippled, planning is widely blamed for exacerbating the affecting tens of thousands of travellers. Some impacts of storms in Manila and other parts of services from Guangzhou railway station, the country, which has had to deal with massive Guangdong’s most important transport hub, were suspended due to rain population growth over the past generation.

Meanwhile, devastating floods at opposite and landslides. State media said 80,000 passenends of China have left 105 people dead and gers were stranded over the weekend because another 115 missing in recent days, state media of the disruption. Services were beginning to said yesterday. Flooding in the northeast which return to normal from yesterday, the station said left 72 people dead was described as “the worst in a statement on its website. — AFP

Malaysian police kill 5, detain 200 in crime crackdown KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police said they killed five suspected gang members in a shootout early yesterday and arrested 200 people in a crackdown on a spate of violent crime that has shocked the country. Police launched the nationwide anti-crime push Saturday following a growing public outcry over lawlessness that for the past month has seen near-daily shootings and other violence.

The vast majority of crimes have gone unsolved.

The Barisan Nasional (National Front) ruling coalition blames a turf war between criminals released when a tough security law that allowed preventive detention was scrapped in 2011 under pressure from reform advocates. Critics blame the national police force, which is widely viewed as corrupt and unprofessional.National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters in the northern state of Penang where yesterday’s shootout erupted that 200 suspects have been rounded up nationwide. “Since Saturday, we set up operations centres and targeted operations to probe the suspects, secret societies’ nests and suspected drug traffickers,” he was quoted by news portal Malaysiakini as saying.

He said five gang suspects were killed in an exchange of fire early yesterday when police moved in on their hideout in Penang. Known for its beach resorts, multicultural Penang has experienced several of the recent shootings, some in broad daylight. The Star newspaper reported the five were suspects in the recent Penang violence. Malaysians have complained for years about a perceived surge in burglaries, robberies, and purse-snatching. But concerns have risen over the past month with a series of killings. They included the shooting of Bahrain-born Hussain Ahmad Najadi, 75, who founded one of Malaysia’s largest banks in the 1970s. —AFP

KAGOSHIMA: Buildings stand shrouded in ash after the Sakurajima volcano erupted in the afternoon in Kagoshima, on the southern Japanese main island of Kyushu. — AP

Clean-up begins after Japan volcano eruption TOKYO: Clean-up workers yesterday started removing a layer of grey ash that spread across a city in southern Japan after a volcano erupted at the weekend, spewing a plume 5,000 metres into the air.

Kagoshima city mobilised more than 60 street sweepers as well as water-spraying vehicles to remove ash that coated the streets, officials said.

The eruption of the 1,117-metre (3,665-foot) Mount Sakurajima overlooking the city happened on Sunday afternoon, spewing the highest ash plume from the volcano since an eruption in 2000. Television footage showed the mushroom-shaped grey plume shooting upwards against the backdrop of a clear blue sky. A large amount of volcanic ash fell in the northern and central parts of the city, causing a delay in train

services and temporary poor visibility, forcing car drivers to use their headlights. Residents turned to masks and umbrellas to protect themselves against the ash cloud, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, city officials said. “The volcanic activity had been subdued by Monday morning,” a local meteorological agency official said. “There is no sign of large scale eruptions in the near future, but we have not yet lifted a twokilometre (1.2-mile) no-go zone just in case.” The eruption also caused a small amount of lava to run down the side of the crater. It was the highly active volcano’s 500th eruption this year. Japan is a seismically active country with regular earthquakes and eruptions from volcanoes that dot the archipelago. Kagoshima city is about 950 kilometres southwest of Tokyo. — AFP

Same-sex couples tie knot in New Zealand WELLINGTON: Dozens of same-sex couples said “I do” in New Zealand yesterday, taking to the skies and horse-drawn carriages to exchange their vows as the nation became only the 14th in the world to celebrate gay weddings. Nuptials were held in venues ranging from an airliner flying at 30,000 feet (9,150 metres) to a historic bath house in the hot springs resort of Rotorua, as gay men and women took advantage of the changed law, in a first for the Asia-Pacific region.

The Campaign For Marriage Equality said it ended an historical injustice and meant the love of all people was recognized as equal in the eyes of the law. “A massive congratulations to the happy couples tying the knot today. Marriage equality has finally arrived in New Zealand,” spokesman Conrad Reyners said.

The amendment to the Marriage Act was passed by parliament in April but did not come into effect until yesterday. Since April, France has approved gay marriage, and Britain has changed the law for England and Wales although weddings have yet to start there. Air New Zealand staged a special flight for Lynley Bendall and Ally Wanikau to tie the knot in the air after 14 years together, with American gay rights campaigner and T V actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson in attendance.

“I’m very honoured to be here witnessing this historic day for New Zealand and for you as well,” the “Modern Family” star said aboard the flight between the resort town of Queenstown and Auckland. “It is so apparent to me when I see you together, that no law or legislation was ever going to diminish the love you have. But it is so wonderful that we can say that you are married legally.”

Two radio stations competed to host New Zealand’s first same-sex wedding, with the cere-

ROTORUA: Richard Andrew (center right) and Richard Rawstorn (center left) are showered in flower petals following their same-sex wedding ceremony held at Rotorua yesterday. — AP monies broadcast live during their breakfast programs. In the end the nuptials took place around the same time, at 8:30 am Monday (2030 GMT Sunday), after the government offices that issue marriage licenses had opened. Reverend Matt Tittle from Auckland’s Unitarian Church married one of the couples, Tash Vitali, 37, and Mel Ray, 29, who arrived at the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage

trailing a rainbow banner.

“It’s history in the making,” Tittle said. “Hopefully it will help other countries to do the same and help New Zealanders to realize that everyone has worth and dignity no matter who they love.” However, conservative lobby group Family First said changing the Marriage Act was “an arrogant act of cultural vandalism” that politicians had pushed through

without a public mandate. “Social engineers including politicians and activists are expecting marriage supporters to drop their deeply held convictions because of the misguided decisions of politicians,” said national director Bob McCoskrie.

The Anglican Church has also asked its ministers not to conduct same-sex weddings pending a report to its general synod next year.

New Zealand decriminalised homosexuality in 1986 and has allowed same-sex civil unions since 2005.

At least 31 same-sex couples planned to marry yesterday, while enquiries about staging same-sex weddings in New Zealand had been received from as far afield as Singapore, Guyana and Belgium.

Among the first to be married were Australian couple Paul McCarthy and Trent Kandler, who beat 300 other pairs to win a Tourism New Zealand competition.

Their wedding will not be legally recognized at home but McCarthy said he hoped that day would come, and the ceremony at Wellington’s Te Papa museum showed “we don’t have two horns, we’re not freaks (and) that there’s nothing to fear from marriage equality”. The town of Rotorua, famous for its boiling mud pools, hosted a double marriage of two brides, and two grooms, attended by a “flower guy” resplendent in a red cocktail dress as he scattered petals down the aisle.

Tourism New Zealand said the scenic countrywhich has profited from its association with “The Lord of the Rings” films-would also market itself as a gay-friendly destination. “New Zealanders are incredibly tolerant of people with different lifestyles, so I’m very confident the industry will embrace this opportunity,” the tourism agency’s chief executive Kevin Bowler told TV3. — AFP

NEWS

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

US prosecutors seek 60 years for Manning FORT MEADE, Maryland: US military prosecutors demanded yesterday that Private Bradley Manning spend at least 60 years in jail for handing a vast trove of secret files to anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks. Captain Joe Morrow urged trial judge Colonel Denise Lind to impose a tough sentence to “send a message to any soldier contemplating stealing classified information.”

The 25-year-old former army intelligence analyst has been convicted on a raft of espionage and theft charges that could see him jailed for more than a cen-

tury. But Lind is conducting a sentencing at Fort Meade, a military base just outside Washington, to decide how long the young man, who has apologized, should serve. Morrow dismissed the defense argument that Manning was a naive and troubled soldier who believed he was doing good by exposing what he saw as abuses in America’s conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, the prosecutor branded the leaks “destructive” and said Manning was a “determined insider who exploited an imperfect system.” — AFP

Boko Haram chief shot, may have died: Army Continued from Page 1 he may have died there. Shekau has been considered the leader of the main Islamist extremist faction of Boko Haram. The group’s insurgency has left at least 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

Nigeria’s military began a sweeping offensive in the country’s northeast in May aiming to end the insurgency. It has however often exaggerated claims related to the military effort targeting Boko Haram, and the report on Shekau had not been independently verified.

The statement was issued by Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for a security joint task force in northeastern Nigeria. National defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade seemed to distance himself from the statement when contacted by AFP, saying security forces were still looking for conclusive evidence

of Shekau’s death. The United States in March put a $7 million (5.3 million euros) bounty on Shekau’s head. He has often sent out video messages from unknown locations. In a video message seen by AFP on August 12, a man who appeared to be Shekau insisted that he was in good health and referred to attacks in early August. The military statement said the video was a fake. “The recent video released on 13 August 2013 by the purported sect leader was dramatized by an imposter to hoodwink the sect members to continue with the terrorism and to deceive the undiscerning minds,” the statement said.

Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for the creation of an Islamic state in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, though the group is believed to have a number of factions with varying aims.

Nigeria’s 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Christian south and mostly Muslim north. — AFP

Arabs to cover cuts in Egypt aid: Saudi Continued from Page 1 in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss how to press the Egyptian authorities for a compromise.

On Sunday, after meeting French President Francois Hollande, Prince Saud warned the West against putting pressure on Egypt to end its crackdown, saying it would not achieve anything.

Prince Saud accused countries that slammed Egypt’s crackdown of “believing propaganda” and assuming “hostile positions towards the interests and the stability of Arab and Islamic nations.” “Let those states that are taking negative stances know that the blaze and destruction will not be confined to Egypt, but will affect all those who supported trouble,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries welcomed Egypt’s ouster of Morsi, which infuriated supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood’s president and sent them to the streets. King Abdullah was the first leader to send a message of congratulations to caretaker president Adly Mansour, who was appointed shortly after the army deposed Morsi following nationwide protests.

Saudi Arabia later announced an aid package of $5 billion to Egypt. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates followed suit, bringing the pledges made by the three oil-rich Arab states of the Gulf to $12 billion. The Saudi monarch pledged on Friday the kingdom’s support for Egypt’s fight against “terrorism”, and has ordered the dispatch of three fully-equipped field hospitals to Cairo. —Agencies

Mubarak may be freed; 24 police killed in...

Continued from Page 1 Without confirming that Mubarak would be released, a judicial source said he would spend another two weeks behind bars before a court ruling on the outstanding case against him.

The former leader is being held at Tora prison on the southern outskirts of Cairo, which also hosts senior Brotherhood members detained in a clampdown that followed Morsi’s ouster.

Mubarak’s eventual release could generate more political tension in Egypt, where almost 900 people, including nearly 100 soldiers and police, have been k illed since the authorities forcibly dispersed Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo on Wednesday.

In the Sinai peninsula, where attacks on security forces have multiplied since Morsi’s removal, suspected Islamist militants killed at least 24 policemen yesterday. Three policemen were also wounded in the grenade and machinegun attack near the north Sinai town of Rafah on the border with Israel, medical and security sources said. Photos circulated on social media and purporting to show the aftermath of the attack showed victims lying with their hands tied behind them, apparently shot execution-style. They were not in uniform. The photos could not be immediately verified.

A sniper also shot dead a policeman in the Sinai city of El Arish, the state news agency said, quoting a security source. Mounting insecurity in Sinai worries Egypt and also the United States because the desert peninsula lies next to Israel and the Palestinians’ Hamasruled Gaza Strip, as well as the Suez Canal, one of the

world’s most important shipping arteries.

The attacks underlined the challenges facing Egypt’s new rulers, who portray their campaign as combating terrorism. The Brotherhood renounced violence decades ago, denies any links with armed militants, including those in Sinai who have gained strength since Mubarak’s overthrow, and disavows attacks on churches that have proliferated in the past week.

Pressing an official drive against the Islamist movement, a prosecutor ordered that Morsi, held in an undisclosed location since his removal, should be detained for another 15 days in a new case of inciting violence, the state news agency MENA said.

The Brotherhood itself has responded with outrage after 37 Islamists died in government custody on Sunday in an incident it described as “murder”. The authorities said the men died of tear gas suffocation during a thwarted jailbreak.

“The murders show the violations and abuses that political detainees who oppose the July 3 coup get subjected to,” said the Brotherhood, which has called for an independent, non-Egyptian investigation into the incident. The United States, an ally of Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, has postponed delivery of four F-16 fighters and scrapped a joint military exercise, but has not halted its $1.55 billion in annual aid, spent mostly on US-made arms supplies.

There are increasing calls from US lawmakers for the aid to be suspended. “For us to sit by and watch this happen is a violation of everything that we stood for,” Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential nominee, said. — Reuters

CAIRO: Friends and relatives mourn as they carry a coffin which allegedly contains the body of one of the 37 Islamist prisoners who suffocated on tear gas that was fired after they took an officer hostage on their way to a main prison, at the Zeinhom Morgue in Cairo yesterday.— AFP

Lawyers seek probe into deaths of 37 Islamists CAIRO: Egyptian lawyers called yesterday for an international investigation into the deaths in police custody of 37 supporters of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

A coroner’s report said the men died from suffocation after police used teargas to stop a mass escape on Sunday while a group of more than 600 suspects were being transported to the Abu Zabal prison on the outskirts of Cairo. Photos provided by the lawyers representing the detainees show dead bodies with charred faces and limbs and others covered in bruises which the lawyers said were signs of torture. Details of the incident remain unclear, they said.

“Neutral investigation committees must be formed, not Egyptian ones ... The real crisis is that the judiciary body is providing a veil to cover those who violate the law and sanction bloodshed,” said Ahmed Abu Baraka, one of the lawyers representing the 600 detainees.

Security officials denied accusations of foul play during Sunday’s incident. At least 850 people have died since Wednesday in clashes between security forces and supporters of Morsi, who was overthrown by the army

on July 3 following mass protests. Egypt’s army-backed government has accused Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement of seeking to destabilize Egypt. Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested in recent days in an effort to end weeks of protests. The detainees who were killed on Sunday were among those held after security forces stormed two pro-Mursi camps in Cairo on Wednesday.

Mustafa Azab, the spokesman for a committee of lawyers formed to defend the detainees, said they had complained to the International Criminal Court in the Hague about the killings. “We have submitted to the International Criminal Court reports of all the massacres and we will submit more ... We will address the United Nations and all the entities that Egypt is a member of,” he said. “We have a huge problem in the loss of neutrality among state institutions,” said Azab. “They have the forensics, the police, the army, the informants and the intelligence so all the reports that the judiciary needs are in their hands,” he said, adding that the lawyers had been denied any communication with the detainees. — Reuters

No reward for hacking Zuckerberg’s FB page SAN FRANCISCO: A researcher who hacked into Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg’s profile to expose a security flaw won’t get the customary reward payment from the social network. While Facebook offers rewards for those who find security holes, it seems that Palestinian researcher Khalil Shreateh went too far by posting the information on Zuckerberg’s own profile page.

Shreateh said on his blog he found a way for Facebook users to circumvent security and modify a user’s timeline. He said he took the unusual step of hacking into Zuckerberg’s profile after being ignored by the Facebook security team. “So i did post to Mark Zuckerberg’s timeline , as those pictures shows,” he said, including screen shots of the posting.

“Dear Mark Zuckerberg,” he wrote.” First sorry for breaking your

privacy and post to your wall, i had no other choice to make after all the reports i sent to Facebook team.

My name is KHALIL from Palestine.”

His reward for exposing the flaw was having his Facebook account disabled. He later got a message saying, “We are unfortunately not able to pay you for this vulnerability because your actions violated our Terms of Service. We do hope, however, that you continue to work with us to find vulnerabilities in the site.” Facebook said it appreciates help with security but not by hacking into user accounts. Facebook security engineer Matt Jones posted a comment Sunday on a security forum saying “we fixed this bug on Thursday,” and admitted that “we should have asked for additional... instructions after his initial report.” “ We get hundreds of reports every day,” Jones said. “We have

paid out over $1 million to hundreds of reporters. However, many of the reports we get are nonsense or misguided.” Jones added that “the more important issue here is with how the bug was demonstrated using the accounts of real people without their permission.” “We welcome and will pay out for future reports from him (and anyone else!) if they ’re found and demonstrated within these guidelines,” Jones said on the YCombinator hacker news forum.

Independent security researcher Graham Cluley said he had “some sympathy” with Facebook on the issue. “Although he was frustrated by the response from Facebook’s security team, Shreateh did the wrong thing by using the flaw to post a message on Mark Zuckerberg’s wall,” Cluley said on his blog. — AFP

14

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

ANALYSIS

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Issues

Egypt’s rulers can count on Gulf aid despite bloodshed

By Angus McDowall n his full-throated cry of support for the Egyptian authorities, Saudi King Abdullah on Friday described street protests by the Muslim Brotherhood as representing “terrorism and sedition”. That stark view of a crisis that has killed hundreds in the past week shows why the world’s top oil exporter will continue to back Egypt’s crackdown on the Brotherhood even while its Western allies try to convince the generals to back down. When the “Arab Spring” revolts blew across the Middle East in 2011 toppling one authoritarian president after another - the kings and emirs of the rich Gulf monarchies held on to power but were shaken as never before.

One of King Abdullah’s nephews, Holy Makkah Governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, decried the uprisings in a poem as a “dust storm sweeping Arab lands” in which traditional rulers had been defamed as “backward, reactionary and barbaric”.

Two years later, those same rulers now see a chance to restore the stable order that had held for generations in the region, and are determined to spend their oil billions to bring back trusted friends. Nowhere is that more true than Egypt, long Saudi Arabia’s most powerful regional ally and whose army chief Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi has close connections to the ruling family after serving as defense attache in Riyadh. The gulf rulers’ are alarmed by popular Islamist movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which benefited most from the downfall of entrenched dictators after 2011 and which the princes see as threatening the principle of hereditary monarchy. “Saudi strategists might see groups influenced by the Brotherhood as the only ones that could emerge to challenge their rule,” said a Saudi journalist speaking on condition he not be identified. The Saudi stance is shared with the United Arab Emirates, which this year put on trial Islamists it suspects of plotting to overthrow the state, and on Friday praised Egypt’s army for responding to protests with “maximum self restraint”.

Only days after Egypt’s army ousted the Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi from the presidency on July 3, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi pledged aid of $8 billion. A third Gulf monarchy, Kuwait, added another $4 billion, which should cover Egypt’s deficit for months.

Saudi princes regard the Brotherhood as an ideological competitor with an aggressively activist political doctrine that disdains Riyadh’s ties with the West and aims to introduce democracy. Riyadh accuses the Brotherhood of betraying its trust after it gave members shelter from persecution in Egypt in the 1960s, only to see them agitate for change in Saudi Arabia.

“There’s a lot of concern throughout the Gulf that the Brotherhood is attempting to infiltrate and to destabilize governments,” said Robert Jordan, former US ambassador to Riyadh and now based in Dubai.

Last month Saudi security forces summoned for questioning two prominent clerics who had signed a letter condemning the Egyptian army’s seizure of power, Saudi media reported.

On Saturday, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, another nephew of the Saudi king, sacked a Kuwaiti preacher from his top job at a religious television station he owns because of the cleric’s brotherhood ties. The tough Saudi line is shared with the Emirates, which has no quarter for the Brotherhood. “I don’t think the UAE will step back from giving help to Egypt according to how many are dying. They are convinced that the government is doing the right thing and defending the country from a terrorist group,” said Ibtisam Al-Qitbi, a political analyst in Dubai. Kuwait, the other Gulf kingdom to promise billions, is also wary of the Brotherhood and expelled nine Egyptian members of the group on Sunday for protesting, but its position is somewhat more nuanced than that of either Riyadh or Abu Dhabi. Brotherhood politicians serve as opposition members of Kuwait’s parliament and have long been part of the establishment. A Foreign Ministry statement on Friday regretted the “large number of Egyptian fatalities”.

I

Kuwait dilemma “There is a dilemma in Kuwait. The Muslim Brothers are well entrenched in the political scene and also in the government apparatus,” said Ghanem Al-Najjar, professor of political science at Kuwait University. The one rich Gulf country that did not share the Saudi-led consensus was Qatar, which backed Egypt with $7 billion during Morsi’s year in power. Qatar condemned both Morsi’s removal and last week’s violence, calling on the generals to “refrain from the security option” in tackling protests. Nevertheless, Qatar has a new ruler after its emir stepped down this year in favor of his son, and many in the Gulf believe it is stepping back from an ambitious foreign policy that saw it lavish funds on Arab Spring revolutionaries. In addition to cash, which Cairo urgently needs to buy food and fuel, Gulf friends provide it with diplomatic cover. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, another nephew of the king, used a visit to France on Sunday to warn Western countries not to pile pressure on Cairo, saying “we will not achieve anything through threats”.— Reuters

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

The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Focus

Al-Qaeda gets a new lease of life

By Myra MacDonald ou would probably have to go back a decade to find a cause with such potential to mobilize jihadis worldwide in a short space of time.

With images of dying Islamist protesters in media across the globe, the unrest in Egypt plays into al Qaeda’s narrative of victimization, giving it an ideal opportunity to expand a strategy of exploiting instability it has already used in Libya, Syria and Iraq.

Egypt may not become an open front for jihad - the situation there is too unpredictable to say - but the violence has made it more vulnerable to bomb attacks and a rallying cry for those advocating violence to bring Muslims under sharia, Islamic law.

“If ever there’s a ripe moment 2 support Al-Qaeda, it’s surely now. Raising the flag in Egypt in now a priority, Insha’Allah!” the Kenyan offshoot of Somalia’s Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab, said on its Twitter feed. It is one of numerous posts by Al-Qaedalinked jihadi groups calling on Egyptians to abandon democracy as a Western import and fight for the implementation of shariabased government since an upsurge of violence on Wednesday.

At least 850 people have died since then in the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protests against the Egyptian army’s intervention to oust Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on July 3. “The mobilisation of a jihadi front in Egypt serves Al-Qaeda’s recent agenda of exploiting local conflicts to further their intent for a jihadi-led revolution throughout the region,” the SITE monitoring service said.

Morsi’s overthrow was a propaganda boost for jihadis like AlQaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian who had accused the Brotherhood of treachery by seeking to introduce political Islam through peaceful means rather resorting to violence. In early August, he called for “the soldiers of the Quran to wage the battle of the Quran” in Egypt.

The worry is that some members of the Brotherhood, whose influence was demonstrated in election victories after Hosni Mubarak fell in 2011, will now be won over to the thinking of Zawahri, who intelligence sources believe is based in Pakistan.

The military, under fire from its ally and main sponsor the United States over the crackdown, says Al-Qaeda already has a role and firm action is the only way to stop it. The Foreign Ministry distributed photos on Sunday showing what it said were Muslim Brotherhood members carrying clubs and firearms - and in one picture a black Al-Qaeda flag. A day earlier, security sources said Zawahri’s brother Mohamed had been detained.

The Brotherhood denies links to the global militant network

Y

and analysts doubt hundreds of jihadis will pile into Egypt from outside, although more locals may be driven to violence. For outsiders looking to fight, Syria is still a more attractive destination with its well-organized operations by Al-Qaeda affiliates Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Syria also dovetails easily with Al-Qaeda’s anti-Shiite world view, projected as a battle between Sunnis and Alawite President Bashar Al-Assad and his backers in Shiite Iran.

“It is more complicated in Egypt, though Egypt has long been important for many jihadis, and the unrest and repression will almost certainly attract jihadist attacks or drive some Egyptians toward more organized violence”, said Andrew Lebovich, an academic focusing on Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Apart from the lure of Syria, al Qaeda is no longer the kind of organization in which Zawahri, despite his Egyptian roots, could give top-down orders to go to fight in Egypt. Since it was founded in the late 1980s by Osama bin Laden, Al- Qaeda has made itself into the most powerful of the Salafi jihadi groups, bringing in other groups as affiliates.

But it acts more as an essential link in a chain rather than a hierarchy, with different jihadi groups focusing on local and regional issues. They cooperate when it suits, are united by a common ideology and some of their leaders have shared experiences of war zones including Afghanistan.

They also have competing demands on their resources, whether it be building a presence in North and West Africa or providing expertise and an ideological core to the Pakistani Taliban waging war against the Pakistani state. Since becoming leader of al Qaeda in 2011, Zawahri has had to balance his own interest in Egypt with the need to show he is capable of uniting all the different parts of the organization, including its powerful branch in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

LIBYAN WEAPONS Inside Egypt, some fear the jailing of Brotherhood leaders will make it all the easier for younger members to gravitate towards Salafi jihadis, just as happened in earlier crackdowns in the late 20th century - among the recruits then was Zawahri. Egypt has a history of Islamist violence: President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamists in 1981, and militants killed 58 tourists at Luxor in 1997. Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 24 Egyptian policemen yesterday in the Sinai peninsula, where such attacks have multiplied since the army takeover, while Egypt’s border to the west with Libya is a convenient crossing point for weapons or foreign fighters with expertise in explo-

sives. Brian Fishman, a counter-terrorism specialist at the New America Foundation, said on Twitter: “Only a matter of time before a major strike, and it will be Cairo, not Sinai.”

Since the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Islamist militants, including those from AQIM, have used Libya either as a base or a source of arms supplies. Over the past two years, an unknown number of arms have made it into Egypt from Gaddafi’s stockpiles, adding to fears of instability created by the escape of hundreds of prisoners from Egyptian jails during the 2011 revolution which ousted Mubarak. How quickly any serious jihadi violence might surface is open to debate given the speed of the Egyptian crackdown.

In Syria, the first major bombing in the capital Damascus took place in late December 2011, nine months after the uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad had erupted. The Damascus blast and other attacks were later claimed by Jabhat Al-Nusra. Beyond Egypt, a shared narrative of Muslims besieged by the West - which has grown during the wars which followed the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington - is being fuelled by the perception, right or wrong, that the United States was complicit in the Egyptian army’s crackdown by virtue of its $1.3 billion a year military aid.

Arguably, not since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq has a development had such capacity to energize the Muslim world outside Egypt against US policies, in turn helping to provide a more permissive environment for Al-Qaeda.

The Afghan Taleban has been one of many groups to condemn Morsi’s overthrow; while far to the west, AQIM accused foreign agents of colluding with the Egyptian military and portrayed the crisis as part of a worldwide attack against Muslims. In Pakistan, the Egyptian crackdown played into the hands of those who blame the United States and its war in Afghanistan for militant attacks in the country, hampering efforts to muster a consensus to fight the Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taleban.

“Now we have to support Morsi,” said one Pakistani diplomat, arguing that Pakistan’s own painful experience of US-backed military rule meant it had to speak out for a democratically elected president regardless of its views on the Brotherhood. The crackdown in Egypt coincided with evidence that jihadi groups continued to have the power to instil fear in the West, despite a claim by President Barack Obama in a presidential campaign rally in 2012 that Al-Qaeda had been “decimated”. Earlier this month, the United States closed embassies across the Middle East and North Africa in response to an unspecified security threat. —Reuters

Gibraltar fears ties era of sour with Spain

By Fiona Ortiz he people of tiny Gibraltar - a wealthy British enclave perched on a rocky outcrop near Spain’s southern tip - have a tradition of griping about their big neighbor, which claims the territory as its own.

But the tetchy relationship has taken a sharp nosedive as an escalating spat over fishing has interrupted a decade of relative calm, igniting concerns that Gibraltar’s tourism and port industries could be hurt. From Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel GarciaMargallo’s claim that “the party was over” for Gibraltar, to the enclave’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo comparing Spain’s government to totalitarian North Korea, the rhetoric has turned ugly.

“I cannot remember anything quite so tense and language quite so vitriolic,” said Bruno Callaghan, owner of Callaghan Insurance company in Gibraltar. “They’ve set the clock back 50 years. Whatever happens now, the mistrust is there.”

For Gibraltarians and the thousands of Spaniards that stream onto the British outpost every day for work, many of them to build new homes for this overflowing town of 30,000 people, there is a lot at stake. It has seen its economy grow steadily since the 1990s, fuelled by online gambling operations and investment funds drawn to the low 10 percent tax on corporate earnings.

Across the border in southern Spain, many city halls are broke and battling joblessness as high as 40 percent. In contrast, Gibraltar has 3 percent unemployment, a budget surplus, and pays tuition for every youngster that gets accepted to a university in the United Kingdom. Though Britain maintains a military base in Gibraltar, the territory is self sufficient.

One in 10 vehicles in Britain are insured by Gibraltar firms, ships line up to fuel at its port,

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and 11 million tourists last year enjoyed its balmy weather, rare monkeys and hyperBritish pubs festooned with Union Jacks.

Stand-offs with Spain in recent years have erupted over the handful of small commercial fishing boats from the neighboring Spanish town of La Linea, which regularly cross into disputed waters that Gibraltar claims it has the right to manage. Then in July, Gibraltar dumped concrete blocks into a shallow part of the bay to form an artificial reef. About 30 Spanish fishing boats were circling in protest on Sunday. Spain, despite having built similar reefs along its own coastline to renew fisheries, said it was an environmental disaster, and retaliated by implementing a sporadic “go slow” policy at the narrow border crossing,

occasionally causing hours-long waits for tourists, workers and shoppers while agents meticulously searched cars for contraband.

Britain, which handles foreign relations and defense for the self-governing territory, is now demanding the European Commission urgently send a team of monitors to see whether the controls break European Union law. Spain says it will sue Gibraltarian authorities for environmental damage from the reef and has threatened to impose a 50 euro border fee on tourists, restrict air space or block the enclave’s lucrative ship-fuelling business.

The diplomatic row has unluckily coincided with yesterday’s scheduled arrival in Gibraltar of British warships on their way to practice manoeuvres in the Mediterranean,

Backdropped by Gibraltar, a fisherman fixes a Spanish flag on top of a boat in a port of La Linea de la Concepcion. Spanish fishermen in some 60 fishing boats protested on Sunday the building of an artificial reef near the disputed British territory of Gibraltar. — AP

leading right-leaning Spanish media to accuse Britain of military bullying.

Spanish pride over Gibraltar has in the past been ruffled over far less. British royals now avoid visiting after Prince Charles and Princess Diana upset Madrid by spending part of their honeymoon on “The Rock”. When Gibraltar was admitted in May into the Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, it was on condition that Spain and Gibraltar not directly play each other.

“It’s astonishing that this type of measure has been taken that is usually reserved for cases of military tension,” said Dennis Beiso, the Gibraltar team’s liaison to UEFA. The last shot fired over Gibraltar was more than 300 years ago when Spain ceded the territory to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht, a document written in Latin that has proven tough to interpret on issues such as airspace and that has unenforced conditions such as that the British expel Jews from Gibraltar.

Gibraltar’s Picardo says Margallo’s rhetoric is comparable to the regime of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who shut the border in 1969. It was not completely reopened until 1985. “We are in a new space where Spain has given herself no room for dialogue,” Picardo told Reuters. Britain has also alarmed Gibraltar in the past, especially when former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government in 2001 said it was willing to share sovereignty with Spain.

Gibraltar held a referendum, in which 99 percent of residents said they wanted to remain British, a desire Britain now pledges to respect.

The Spanish Socialist government of 20042011 took a softer stance on Gibraltar, for example allowing flights from Madrid to land at Gibraltar’s airport for the first time. Gibraltar is so small that the airport’s runway is crossed by a major road, on which traffic stops several times a day to let planes land. —Reuters

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

S P ORTS

Tremlett eyes Test recall

Ireland ban Hawk-Eye

United bids for Fellaini

LONDON: England paceman Chris Tremlett is aiming for a recall for this week’s fifth and final Ashes test against Australia after coming through some “dark and tough” times.

The 31-year-old Surrey bowler has been with the squad since the third test in Manchester and, in the absence of Tim Bresnan and Graham Onions through injury, is in the running to play in his first test since January last year. Steven Finn and the uncapped Chris Woakes are the other quick bowling options available to partner James Anderson and Stuart Broad at The Oval tomorrow. “I’m very hopeful,” Tremlett told a news conference yesterdy. “It’s been a long time coming. “It’s been great to have been back involved in the last two test squads.

Having injuries over the last two years I’m dying to get another opportunity.” Tremlett has only played in 11 tests having suffered frequent injuries throughout his career, the latest being a bulging disk in his back. He has proved a reliable bowler at test level when fit, taking 17 wickets in Australia during the 2010-11 Ashes series. “The motivation is the goal of playing for England,” said Tremlett.

“It was frustrating to go out of the team when you are injured rather than lack of form. “I’ve had some pretty dark and tough times coming back. Now I’m in a pretty good place again.” —Reuters

DUBLIN: Ireland’s Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has briefly suspended the use of its Hawk-Eye system following an error on Sunday, the same day the goalline technology made its English Premier League soccer debut.

In an under-18 hurling match at Dublin’s Croke Park on Sunday, HawkEye overruled a goalline umpire by adjudging that a ball went wide despite its own graphic showing that it had sailed over the bar. The game finished in a draw and the opposing team won in extra-time.

The GAA suspended the use of the system for the senior hurling semifinal that began directly after and that was watched by more than 60,000 spectators. It said it had begun a review in conjunction with Hawk-Eye. “It is expected Hawk-Eye will be in full working order for next Sunday’s minor (under-18) and senior football semi-finals,” the organisation said on its website (www.gaa.ie). Hawk-Eye, which has been successfully implemented in tennis and cricket, began a two-year trial at Croke Park stadium in June to help officials rule on contentious scores in hurling and Gaelic football. Both games feature rugby-style goalposts and points can be scored by aiming the ball over the crossbar and between the posts.

The ball often flies above the seven-metre height of the goalposts, making it difficult for officials to decide whether a shot has gone wide.

Hawk-Eye, owned by Japanese group Sony, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.—Reuters

LONDON: Everton have described as “derisory and insulting” a double bid from Premier League champions Manchester United for Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.

According to media reports United, now managed by former Everton boss David Moyes, offered a total of 28 million pounds ($43.72 million) for Belgium midfielder Fellaini and England defender Baines.

“Everton can confirm it has received bids from Manchester United for two players,” director of communications Alan Myers said in a statement on Monday. “Those bids were immediately rejected out of hand as derisory and insulting.

“The club did not make public these details as it was vital (manager) Roberto Martinez’s preparations for the opening game of the season were not disrupted,” Myers added in reference to Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Norwich City.

United, who beat Swansea City 4-1 in their opening match on Saturday, are yet to make a significant transfer-window signing although Wilfried Zaha, who joined in January and was loaned back to Crystal Palace for the rest of the season, has arrived.—Reuters

Yankees beat Red Sox

PITTSBURGH: Wade Miley No. 36 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the game at PNC Park. —AFP

Dodgers fall to Phillies PHILADELPHIA: Carlos Ruiz had four hits, and the Philadelphia Phillies benefited from two ninth-inning errors by shortstop Hanley Ramirez to beat the Dodgers 3-2 on Sunday, giving interim manager Ryne Sandberg his first victory and ending Los Angeles’ 10-game winning streak.

Sandberg took over when Charlie Manuel, the most successful manager in club history, was fired on Friday. The Phillies, shut out by the Dodgers in each of Sandberg’s first two games, snapped a four-game skid and won for the fifth time in 26 games.

Andre Ethier homered for the Dodgers, who have lost just nine of their last 51. Darin Ruf hit a home run to begin Philadelphia’s comeback from a two-run deficit. Jonathan Papelbon (3-1) struck out two in a scoreless ninth to earn the win.

Brandon League (6-4), who relieved Paco Rodriguez in the ninth, took the loss. Los Angeles was beaten for only the second time in 21 road games.

DIAMONDBACKS 4, PIRATES 2 In Pittsburgh, Adam Eaton’s bloop double in the 16th inning drove in two runs as Arizona outlasted Pittsburgh. Eaton’s careerhigh fourth hit came during his seventh atbat, with A.J. Pollock and Didi Gregorius on and two outs. Eaton fought off a 1-0 pitch from Kris Johnson and dunked the ball into shallow left-center.

Arizona remained five games behind Cincinnati in the race for the second NL wildcard spot. Pittsburgh’s lead in the NL Central dwindled to one game over St. Louis.

The Pirates dropped two of three to Arizona, losing their third consecutive series.

Wade Miley limited the Pirates to two runs over eight innings, and Aaron Hill went 4 for 7 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games for Arizona. Arizona’s victory was its 27th in its final at-bat, by far the most in the majors. It also was the Diamondbacks’ 36th comeback win - second-most in the majors - and clubrecord 13th in extra innings. Six Arizona relievers combined to pitch eight scoreless innings. Brad Ziegler (7-1) had two strikeouts while pitching perfect 14th and 15th innings, and J.J. Putz worked around two walks - one intentional - in the 16th to earn his sixth save.

Johnson (0-1) threw 82 pitches in six innings after being selected from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier Sunday.

REDS 9, BREWERS 1 In Milwaukee, homer Bailey allowed one run and three hits in eight innings as Cincinnati routed Milwaukee. Bailey (8-10) won his third straight decision and improved his career mark against Milwaukee to 2-7 with his first win in three starts against the Brewers this season. Scooter Gennett’s double in the second, and Khris Davis’ solo shot in the fifth and infield single in the seventh were the only hits for the Brewers. Bailey walked one and struck out eight, including Juan Francisco three times. Brewers starter Wily Peralta (8-13) allowed five runs. Cincinnati sent 10 men to the plate in the fifth and tacked on four more runs.

BOSTON: Alex Rodriguez was hit by a fastball his first time up and then homered to start a four-run sixth inning that rallied the New York Yankees to a 9-6 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi was ejected after storming out of the dugout to holler at plate umpire Brian O’Nora, who warned both benches immediately after Rodriguez was plunked by Ryan Dempster’s 3-0 pitch leading off the second inning. It struck his left elbow pad and ricocheted off his back. “He should have been thrown out of the game,” Girardi said.

“Everyone knows it was intentional.” Players streamed from the dugouts and benches, but no skirmishes developed in the latest testy game between the longtime rivals.

The dustup seemed to spark the Yankees, who were trailing 2-0 at the time. Mariano Rivera earned his first save since blowing three chances in a row for the first time in his career.

Rodriguez, who is appealing his 211-game suspension in the Biogenesis case, went 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs. His homer to deep center leading off the sixth pulled the Yankees within 6-4. New York loaded the bases and went ahead when Brett Gardner hit a bases-clearing triple.

Boston’s lead in the AL East was cut to one game over Tampa Bay. The game took 4 hours, 12 minutes. CC Sabathia (11-10) got the win and the Yankees took two of three from the firstplace Red Sox.

BRAVES 2, NATIONALS 1 In Atlanta, Julio Teheran pitched around trouble through six scoreless innings as a tired Atlanta bullpen held on in a win over Washington. The Braves won two of three in the series and stretched their NL East lead over the second-place Nationals to 151/2 games. Four Atlanta relievers made it through the final three innings, preserving the win for Teheran (10-6). Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 39th save. Both teams exhausted their bullpens in the Nationals’ 8-7 win in 15 innings on Saturday night.

Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson hit RBI singles off Gio Gonzalez (7-6) in the first.

Gonzalez gave up two hits and no runs in the next six innings.

TIGERS 6, ROYALS 3 In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera hit his 40th home run and had an RBI single to help Max Scherzer become baseball’s first 18-game winner in Detroit’s victory over Kansas City.

The reigning Triple Crown winner became the third player since 1921 to have at least 40 homers and 120 RBIs while batting .350 or better through 116 games, joining Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx, according to STATS. Scherzer (18-1) gave up two runs on five hits over eight innings. Scherzer and Roger Clemens are the only pitchers since 1919 to have 18 wins in their first 19 decisions, STATS said.

Cabrera, who has eight homers in 13 games, leads the majors in batting (.360) and RBIs (120).

His home run pulled him within five of Baltimore’s Chris Davis. The Royals lost three of five this weekend and trail the AL Central-leading Tigers by 81/2 games.

Kansas City’s Bruce Chen (5-1) allowed six earned runs - more than he had given up in his last six starts - and eight hits over 5 1-3 innings.

MARLINS 6, GIANTS 5 In Miami, Jeff Mathis hit an early home run, then lined a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning that bounced off center fielder Andres Torres and sent Miami over San Francisco. It was 5-all in a back-and-forth game when Ed Lucas led off the eighth with a single against Sandy Rosario (3-1). With one out, Mathis hit a liner to left-center and the ball dropped in front of Torres’ dive and caromed off him.

Chad Qualls (4-1) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings and Steve Cishek worked the ninth for his 27th save in 29 chances. Hector Sanchez singled with one out in the ninth before Buster Posey grounded into a gameending double play. Hunter Pence homered and drove in three runs, Brandon Crawford also hit a home run, and Gregor Blanco had three hits for the Giants.—AP

WHITE SOX 5, TWINS 2 In Minneapolis, Alexei Ramirez homered and had three RBIs, Hector Santiago won for the first time since June 21, as the Chicago White Sox beat Minnesota.

Ramirez finished a triple shy of the cycle. He homered to lead off the fifth inning, giving Chicago a 4-2 lead and helping his team win its first road series in more than a month.

Jeff Keppinger’s single scored Avisail Garcia to make it 5-2 later in the fifth.

Brian Dozier had two hits and an RBI for Minnesota, which went 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position and lost for the fifth time in six games.

Santiago (4-7) wriggled out of a basesloaded jam in the fifth. Addison Reed earned his 31st save in 36 chances. Twins starter Samuel Deduno (7-7) didn’t walk a batter for the second time this season, but he hit three batters with pitches and balked once.

BOSTON: Ichiro Suzuki No. 31 of the New York Yankees bats against the New York Yankees during the game at Fenway Park in Boston. —AFP RAYS 2, BLUE JAYS 1 In St. Petersburg, Jose Lobaton hit a solo home run in the 10th inning as Tampa Bay edged Toronto.

Lobaton sent a 2-1 pitch from Brad Lincoln (1-2) into the right-field seats. Lobaton had a game-ending triple in the ninth on Friday.

Jake McGee (3-3) struck out one during a perfect 10th. Tampa Bay took two of three from Toronto, which hasn’t won a series at Tropicana Field since April 2007. Rays starter Chris Archer allowed one run and four hits over seven innings.

Blue Jays right-hander Todd Redmond, a St. Petersburg native, gave up one run and six hits over six-plus innings in his first start at Tampa Bay. MARINERS 4, RANGERS 3 In Arlington, Kyle Seager hit an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting Seattle over Texas. The Mariners took two of three from AL West-leading Texas. They scored three runs in 7 1-3 innings against Rangers ace Yu Darvish in the series finale.

Texas closer Joe Nathan (3-2) took over to begin the ninth with the score 3-all, and Endy Chavez led off with a single. Humberto Quintero sacrificed and Nick Franklin drew a two-out walk before Seager’s go-ahead hit. Yoervis Medina (4-3) got the win and Danny Farquhar earned his seventh save in 10 tries.

The Mariners won for only the eighth time in 21 games. Each team scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings before Seattle won it.

Darvish, who had 50 strikeouts in his last five starts, left after throwing 120 pitches. He walked four after walking a total of four in his previous three August starts.

ASTROS 7, ANGELS 5 In Anaheim, Matt Dominguez hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning as Houston won back-to-back series for the first time in nearly two months with a victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Dominguez tied his career high with four hits in his native Southern California, and L.J. Hoes had his first career homer among three hits in the major league-worst Astros’ fourth win in six

games. After Houston blew an early three-run lead, Dominguez homered one pitch after reliever Juan Gutierrez (0-4) intentionally walked Carlos Corporan.

Brett Oberholtzer (3-1) pitched six effective innings during Houston’s sixth win in seven games at Angel Stadium. Mike Trout had two hits for the Angels before leaving in the sixth inning with right hamstring tightness. Josh Hamilton homered and tripled for Los Angeles, and Mark Trumbo drove in three runs and hit his 28th homer late in the Angels’ sixth loss in eight games.

ATHLETICS 7, INDIANS 3 In Oakland, Chris Young and Alberto Callaspo homered in the fifth inning of Oakland’s win over Cleveland. Jed Lowrie, batting leadoff for only the third time this season, had two hits and scored twice for Oakland. Josh Donaldson drove in three runs for the A’s, who pulled within a half-game of AL West-leading Texas.

Young hit his 11th home run of the season off Cleveland starter Scott Kazmir (7-6) to break a 3-all tie in the fifth. Three pitches later, Callaspo followed with his sixth homer and first since being acquired from the Angels in late July.

Ryan Raburn homered for Cleveland, which has lost six of seven in Oakland. Dan Otero (2-0) retired five batters for the win in relief of starter Tommy Milone. Grant Balfour pitched the ninth.

INTERLEAGUE ORIOLES 7, ROCKIES 2 In Baltimore, Chris Davis went 4 for 5 with his major league-leading 45th home run and Adam Jones had a two-run shot among his three hits as Baltimore topped Colorado.

Scott Feldman (3-3) pitched into the seventh inning to earn his first win in nearly a month.

Davis scored three times and got hits in his final four at-bats.

After the All-Star slugger’s two-out double off Jhoulys Chacin (11-7) in the third, Jones launched his 25th home run for a 3-0 lead.

Feldman allowed two runs and five hits over 6 1-3 innings for his victory since July 22.

Chacin, who entered with a 1.87 road ERA, gave up nine hits and three runs over 5 1-3 innings.—AP

Witnesses heard woman scream, then Pistorius fired Blade runner goes on trial March 3 PRETORIA: Witnesses heard a woman screaming before gunshots fired by Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend early on Valentine’s Day, South African prosecutors said yesterday, contradicting the Paralympic champion’s version of events as he was indicted for premeditated murder.

Pistorius, who was in court for the indictment and wept before proceedings began, also will face a charge of illegal possession of ammunition when he goes on trial March 3 in the South African capital, Pretoria. The much-awaited indictment in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yielded new detail about how prosecutors will pursue a case that has gripped the world because of the celebrity status of Pistorius, who overcame the loss of both his legs as a child to become a global phenomenon and Olympic competitor.

His girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a model and budding reality TV show star, would have celebrated her 30th birthday yesterday.

Pistorius has said he thought Steenkamp was in bed and he shouted at her to call the police, believing there was a dangerous intruder in his bathroom, and that he didn’t know she was in the toilet cubicle when he fired through its door four times. He has said

he shouted at her to call the police, but not that she screamed.

The prosecution will attempt to show the couple argued before she was killed as part of its case that Pistorius intended to kill Steenkamp.

Possibly covering their bases, prosecutors also said in the indictment papers that Pistorius shot “with the intention to kill a person,” and even if the trial judge believes that Pistorius didn’t know it was Steenkamp in the locked toilet cubicle when he fired through its door, they said he was still guilty of murder. “Some of the state witnesses heard a woman scream, followed by moments of silence, then heard gunshots and then more screaming,” the prosecution said in the 11-page indictment. The court set March 3-20 as the trial period. Prosecutors submitted a list of 107 witnesses, including Pistorius’ uncle Arnold, sister Aimee and brother Carl, as well as a number of people who lived in the same gated community where Steenkamp was killed.

If convicted of premeditated murder, Pistorius could face a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years in prison before parole.

There is no death penalty in South Africa. A

conviction of murder without premeditation can bring up to a 15-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors said Steenkamp died just after 3 a.m. on Feb. 14 of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the autopsy.

Steenkamp was hit by three bullets.

Pistorius, 26, appeared in court for Monday’s indictment, crying and holding hands with his siblings before proceedings started. Wearing a dark suit, the athlete wiped away tears with a tissue and sat in the dock with his head bowed.

Pistorius also stood and spoke twice, first responding to the magistrate’s question on whether he was OK by saying: “Under the circumstances, ja (yes).” He also was asked if he understood the indictment and he said he did.

The case will be sent to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, where a judge will ultimately pronounce the athlete innocent or guilty. South Africa does not have trial by jury.

Although the word “premeditated” was not contained in the indictment, prosecutors said afterward that it was a case of premeditated murder.

“When you talk of intentional, it’s pre-

meditated. Intentional. He wanted to do that,” prosecution spokesman Medupe Simasiku said. “In as far as a sound case, let the court decide on that. We believe it will go through in our favor.”

Prosecutors said the second charge of possession of illegal ammunition relates to a lack of proper licensing for .38 caliber bullets found at Pistorius’ home. Pistorius shot Steenkamp with his licensed 9mm handgun.

This month, the office of South Africa’s police commissioner said in a statement that detectives, forensic experts, ballistics experts, psychologists and other professionals are confident they have the evidence to convict Pistorius.

The most telling evidence - apart from the witness testimony - may be in records on cellphones found at Pistorius’ home and through examination of the toilet cubicle door through which Pistorius shot. The angle or trajectory of the bullets could show if Pistorius was standing on his stumps when he shot, as he says, or if he was on his prosthetics, as the prosecution maintains - a marked difference in the two accounts along with the alleged fight between him and Steenkamp.—AP

JOHANNESBURG: This picture taken on November 4, 2012 during the Feather Awards held at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg shows South Africa’s Olympic sprint star Oscar Pistorius and his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.—AFP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

S P ORTS

Europe wins Solheim Cup

BROOKLINE: Matthew Fitzpatrick, 18, of England, holds the Havemayer Trophy after defeating Oliver Goss, of Australia, in the 36-hole championship match of the US Amateur golf tournament. —AP

Fitzpatrick ends England’s US Amateur title drought BROOKLINE: Matt Fitzpatrick has won the US Amateur, beating Oliver Goss 4 and 3 in the 36-hole final on Sunday to become the first English champion of the tournament since 1911.

Fitzpatrick won when Goss missed a par putt on No. 15 at The Country Club. The event came on the 100th anniversary of local caddie Francis Ouimet’s landmark US Open victory over British pros Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. The 18-year-old is the first foreigner to win any major USGA event at The Country Club, a streak that grew into a legend when Ouimet beat Vardon and Ray here in the 1913 US Open.

“It’s fantastic and it’s nice to be the first (in) a while,” Fitzpatrick said. “I guess it’s great to go down in history. That’s sort of what everyone wants in golf, wants to achieve. ... It’s just fantastic, and I feel great.”

Fitzpatrick never trailed in the final match, taking the lead for good on the second hole of the afternoon round - the 20th of the day - and going 2 up one hole later.

Goss cut it to one on No. 9, but fell behind two again on the 10th hole when he lipped out on a 4-foot putt.

Fitzpatrick went 3 up on the 14th hole and then on No. 15, where he had won four of his previous five matches, he was short of the green and Goss was off the back.

Goss’ chip missed the hole by about 6 inches and rolled 3 feet past, while.

Fitzpatrick two-putted from the closely mown area leading up to the green, hitting his second from less than 6 feet. When Goss missed his par putt, the two shook hands and Fitzpatrick hugged his brother, Alex, who was caddying for him.

“It was nice to win 4 and 3 again today,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s kind of a strange thing.

I did have a feeling that I could close it out.”

Fitzpatrick, who was the low amateur last month in the British Open, got a gold medal for his victory along with exemptions into the 2014 US and British Opens where he will be paired with defending champions Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose and a likely invitation to the Masters. His name will be inscribed on the Havemeyer Trophy alongside five-time winner Bobby

Jones, three-time winner Tiger Woods and two-time winners Jack Nicklaus and Ouimet.

It’s the first time Englishmen have won the US Open and US Amateur in the same calendar year. And it was a victory 100 years in the making.

Vardon was already a five-time British Open champion - and Ray had won in 1912 - when the 1913 US Open was delayed several months so they could play in it.

Ouimet, who lived across the street and caddied at the club, was an unheralded amateur whose playoff victory over the British pros became the foundational event in American golf and turned The Country Club into the Plymouth Rock of putting.

With his 10-year-old caddie - turned lifelong friend - Eddie Lowery, Ouimet’s victory helped spread the sport beyond the realm of gentlemen and foreigners and turned the historic course into a veritable Plymouth Rock of putting.

A century later, Fitzpatrick came to The Country Club and became the first English champion of the US Amateur since Harold Hilton in 1911. And he did it with his 14year-old caddie - an irony that wasn’t lost on the Fitzpatrick brothers or the 5,200 in the gallery that followed them along the 7,188-yard, par-70 course.

“I also think it’s quite strange that I had my little brother on the bag, and most people have been saying we’re a bit like Ouimet and Lowery,” said Matt Fitzpatrick, who came into the tournament as the No. 2 amateur in the world. “We’re both really small. I kind of see the resemblance.”

Goss beat stroke play co-medalist Brady Watt in the semifinal and then drafted his fellow Australian as a caddie for the final.

The 19—year-old Goss, who plays college golf at Tennessee, also gets an exemption into the US Open and a likely invitation to the Masters.

“I’ve definitely got a couple weeks that I’ll keep open in my schedule,” Goss said.

“If someone told me at the start of the week I was going to have the opportunity to play the Masters and the US Open next year, I’d be speechless. I wouldn’t be able to believe it.—AP

PARKER: Europe never looked more at home at the Solheim Cup. Especially on the greens.

From the 45-foot putt that 17-year-old Charley Hull rolled in to re-ignite the momentum Sunday to the 4-foot tester Caroline Hedwall sank to end what little drama was left, the Europeans owned Colorado Golf Club. Led by Hull, the youngest player to suit up at the Solheim Cup, and Hedwall, the first player to go 5-0 at this event, Europe romped to a record-setting 18-10 victory over the Americans and won the cup on U.S. soil for the first time since the event began in 1990.

“We took it to them,” Europe’s Suzann Pettersen said, “and they couldn’t answer.” This was a wire-to-wire victory, the likes of which very few saw coming.

America had more top-20 players (5 to 3), more major-title winners (5 to 3) and more Solheim Cup experience (25 years to 17) to say nothing of more success over the history of this team event (8 victories to 4).

But Europe took the lead Friday, took an even firmer grasp of it with a sweep in the best-ball matches Saturday, then closed it out by winning five of 12 matches Sunday and earning half-points in five more.

A lightning delay of about an hour put off the inevitable, but when the weather cleared, Hedwall returned to the 17th tee box, tied with Michelle Wie, and didn’t miss a beat.

She halved that hole, then stuck her approach on 18 using a 9-iron from 150 yards out. She celebrated the putt that gave Europe its clinching 14th point with an uppercut into the air. A handful of her teammates, already off the course, ran to congratulate her.

A bit later, Catriona Matthew holed a 5-foot par putt to halve her match and give Europe the outright win on the seventh try in America. Within moments, the Europeans were in a full-throated rendition of “We Are the Champions.”

This is the first time they’ve defended the cup, which they won two years ago in Ireland.

Their eight-point victory was the largest in the history of the event. “In sports you just cannot always predict what’s going to happen,” American Cristie Kerr said.

The course was hand-picked by the Americans and captain Meg Mallon brought her team to Colorado a handful of times in the months leading up to the tournament to get used to the undulations in the huge greens that are subtly influenced by the Rocky Mountains to the West. With wide, almostunmissable fairways, this was a three-day chipping and putting contest and the United States lost badly, especially in the closing stretches.

On Sunday alone, the US saw leads turn into ties or losses over the final three holes in five matches. “The way we played 16, 17 and 18 I think is really what made the difference,” Mallon said. “It wasn’t for lack of preparation, because we played this golf course quite a bit.

So it wasn’t like it was a surprise for us, it was just a matter of who dropped the putts on

PARKER: Caroline Hedwall of Sweden and the European Team, with a perfect record of five points poses with the trophy and her captain Liselotte Neumann after they won the match 1810 during the final day singles matches in the 2013 Solheim Cup. —AFP

those holes and unfortunately it was the Europeans.” European captain Liselotte Neumann said many of her players headed back onto the greens after their practice rounds earlier in the week to soak in the subtleties of the greens.

“We did talk a lot about the speed,” she said. “As soon as we got here, we realized they were super-fast, some of the fastest we’ve ever played. It was a matter of reading the greens, reading the speed into the putts.”

American Paula Creamer went 1-3 for the week, including a 5-and-4 loss to Hull, who took the lead with a 45-foot birdie on No. 6 and never looked back. After Hull closed out the match on No. 14, she asked Creamer to autograph a golf ball for a friend back home.

“I’m going to take that as one of the highlights of my career right there,” Creamer said.

Kerr, another American veteran, went 1-2-1, earning the tie after she and Karine Icher agreed to halve the day’s final, meaningless match while walking up the 18th fairway in fading light. Stacy Lewis, ranked second and fresh off a victory at the Women’s British Open, finished 1-2-1.

Mallon put her at the top of the lineup Sunday, knowing the Americans needed some quick, momentum-building wins to

Reed claims maiden PGA play-off victory

Luna Rossa beat hobbled Emirates to level series SAN FRANCISCO: The Louis Vuitton Cup finals have been more about survival than sailing. Emirates Team New Zealand fell out of the second race of the series because of a mechanical problem Sunday, handing Italy’s Luna Rossa a victory that evened the finals at one each. After a nosedive sent two men tumbling overboard during its opening win, Emirates sailed smoothly at the start of the second day. The Kiwis pushed ahead by about 400 meters before the electronic system that controls the hydraulics malfunctioned near the end of the third leg of the five-leg race on foggy San Francisco Bay. “Devastated,” Emirates tactician Ray Davies said. “That was one we had in the bank.” For the second straight day, officials called off the second race due to strong wind. Two makeup races will be held Monday, previously a scheduled day off, if conditions permit.

The winner of the best-of-13 series will face Oracle Team USA in the 34th America’s Cup starting Sept. 7. Most of the maneuvering has been on the mechanical side of these high-performance 72-foot catamarans so far.

Both teams had to make overnight repairs following an opening day of damage and drama. Emirates tore the trampoline tarp in the center of its boat when skipper Dean Barker put the hulls deep in the water trying to make a sharp turn at high speeds and in windy conditions Saturday. The frightening scene brought back chilling memories of when

British sailor Andrew “Bart” Simpson died in the capsize of Swedish Team Artemis Racing’s first boat during a training run May 9.

The Kiwis still won the opener because the Italians dropped out just seconds into the race after struggling to repair a new lifting system around their right daggerboard.

Earlier Sunday morning, the left rudder of one Oracle’s boats broke during a practice competition between its crews. General manager Grant Simmer said the catamaran, skippered by Ben Ainslie, hooked a ferry demarcation buoy trying to avoid a small yacht Saturday and the problem resurfaced during a prestart maneuver Sunday.

Even Luna Rossa’s win came with collateral damage. The Italian catamaran had a few cracks in the rib of its wing. The crew quickly repaired the cracks, and skipper Max Sirena said they would’ve raced had there been a second competition.

“I think the main issue here is to do two races a day. They’re pretty painful for these boats,” Sirena said. “They’re pretty fragile boats. And probably, at the moment, not built to do two races a day.”

Regatta director Iain Murray expected a slightly calmer wind but a stronger current Sunday, giving the already challenging conditions another twist. Members of both teams insist they still prefer the afternoon start times, when the wind is often stronger and so is the risk of a wash out.—AP

have any chance at a comeback from five points down. Lewis lost her lead when Anna Nordqvist, who had made a hole-in-one on No. 17 to close out a match a day earlier, hit her tee shot to 20 feet and made the putt.

Lewis salvaged the tie by getting up and down on 18 after the last of a handful of shaky approach shots that marred her week on what Mallon called a “second-shot course.”

While the US veterans were struggling, Neumann got more than she ever could have expected from her six Solheim Cup rookies.

They combined to go 12-5-2. That included a 3-0 effort from Spain’s Carlota Cigunda.

It was Cigunda at the center of the week’s biggest, and strangest, drama - on Friday, when she hit her second shot on No. 15 into a hazard, triggering a 25-minute delay while officials figured out where she should drop.

Cigunda saved par after that, then went on to team with Pettersen for a 1-up victory over Lewis and Lexi Thompson.

That, it turned out, was the start of a European romp that the Americans were powerless to stop. “With such a young team, with nothing to lose, it just seemed like they were a little bit looser,” Mallon said. “They were making more putts and we were not.

And that’s what it came down to.”—AP

GREENSBORO: Patrick Reed celebrates with the trophy after making a birdie on the second hole of a playoff to defeat Jordan Spieth during the final round of the Wyndham Championship. —AFP

GREENSBORO: Patrick Reed hit the “best shot” of his life from a seemingly impossible position to set up a sensational play-off victory over fellow young gun Jordan Spieth at the $5.3 million Wyndham Championship on Sunday.

The 23-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Texas looked destined for defeat after slicing his drive almost out-of-bounds at the second extra hole, the par-four 10th at Sedgefield Country Club.

But Reed’s ball stopped barely one yard in bounds and he took advantage of his lucky break by conjuring up a piece of magic with his second shot, threading a seven-iron that somehow avoided the trees and finished within seven feet of the hole.

“It was the best shot of my life, that’s for sure,” said Reed, whose caddie - and wife Justine measured the shot at 167 yards.

“When I got the signal the ball was out of bounds my heart sank. I pulled my hat down and I was so frustrated and sad. If I didn’t close that out and win it I would have been heartbroken.”

But when Reed got word from other marshals that the ball was safe, his spirits soared. “I felt I was back playing T-ball. The ball was so far above my feet that it almost felt like I was taking a baseball swing. “The lie was fine. There was a little bit of dirt, a couple of pieces of grass, twigs, a couple of spiders, basically anything you’d find in a wilderness.

“The problem was the tree I had to go under. The tree trunk was right there and I had to hit the ball dead straight from a baseball lie. It’s hard for me to do that, because I play draws.

“I knew it was going to be do or die. I had to make a great golf swing and to pull it off meant everything.” The vanquished

Spieth was certainly impressed: “It was one of the best shots I’ve ever witnessed,” said Spieth. “I walked over to his ball (because) I wanted to see what he had to do and he didn’t have much.

“I didn’t think he could hit the ball that high and stop it from that lie.” Spieth gave Reed a sporting thumbs-up, but it still wasn’t over, because Spieth had a sharplybreaking 10-foot birdie putt that shaved the right edge of the hole but didn’t drop.

That opened the door for Reed, who made no mistake with his birdie putt to capture his first tour victor y, worth $954,000 and the Sam Snead Cup. Reed’s heroics prevented Spieth from becoming the youngest two-time winner on tour in more than a century.

Nevertheless, the 20-year-old, who won last month’s John Deere Classic, continued his emergence as one of the game’s rising stars.

The play-off was a rollercoaster of emotion for Spieth, who seemed destined for defeat at the first extra hole after pulling his drive into the woods.

He had no choice but to pitch his second shot back to the fairway and a poor third shot left him 26-feet above the hole, from where he defied the odds and sank the par putt.

Reed still had a chance to win with a seven-foot birdie attempt, but his putt was poor and the hole was halved, setting up even more drama at the next hole.

Earlier, Reed (66) and Spieth (65) finished regulation tied at 14-under-par 266. They both made tap-in pars at the 72nd hole to finish two strokes ahead of fellow America ns John Hu h, who bogeyed the final two holes, and Brian Harman.—Reuters

Jamie bags slopestyle gold

SAN FRANCISCO: Emirates Team New Zealand skippered by Dean Barker in action against Team Luna Rossa Challenge skippered by Massimiliano Sirena during race two of the Louis Vuitton Cup. —AFP

QUEENSTOWN: American snowboarder Jamie Anderson waited out a lengthy weather delay before producing a flawless performance to win a women’s world cup slopestyle gold medal at the New Zealand winter games yesterday.

The four-time X Games gold-medalist bettered her World Tour ranking of No. 2 as she beat Britain’s Jenny Jones and Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands to take first place.

Poor weather forced the postponement of the men’s slopestyle heats and final, and delayed the women’s event so that Anderson, among eight finalists, finished in

fading daylight.

Anderson scored 94.75 points on her first run and clinched the gold medal when none of her closest competitors could match her score on the second run.

“Today has been just wonderful,” she said.

“I’m so thankful it worked out and that everyone was patient with the earth.

“It’s just a part of the journey. I just wanted to land a run and do well but I wasn’t totally obsessed with winning. All of us had to deal with the weather which was quite challenging but we all rode really well and I’m so proud of all the girls and I’m really happy with myself.”

Jones was more than seven points behind Anderson after a solid first run. “I was pretty chuffed with my run, especially under the conditions,” she said. “I mean, it was foggy, it was windy and I managed to land all of my tricks.”

Maas was also pleased with her third placing in difficult conditions and in her first event back from injury. “I’m so happy today. I got third place and I couldn’t believe it, especially after being out for six months with an ACL and meniscus injury,” she said. “I’m really happy. There couldn’t be a better start than this.”—AP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

S P ORTS

Let’s hope athletes take a stand in Sochi MOSCOW: John Carlos took a stand for human rights during the Mexico City Olympics that resonates to this day.

Almost 45 years ago, Carlos climbed on the medals podium along with Tommie Smith. Each thrust a black-gloved fist toward the sky. Peter Norman stood in front of them, stoically wearing a badge that showed his support for the AfricanAmerican cause.

Let’s hope the athletes of the world are prepared to make a similar statement at the Sochi Games. They’re the best hope of getting through to the Russians that their anti-gay law is unacceptable.

“We were willing to sacrifice everything,” Carlos said. “It was not just a gesture for John Carlos and Tommie Smith and Peter Norman. It was for all of society.” Carlos, as much as anyone, knows that sports can be a potent tool to help address society’s ills.

“I’ll bet there are athletes out there that have as much power or recognition as the president of the United States,” he told The Associated Press. “Now, when I say power, I don’t mean they have the political power to dictate things one way or the other. I’m talking about a power amongst the people. So

many people will stop and listen to what these individuals have to say. They will stop and recognize what they are wearing or which direction they are going.” What would be more powerful than every athlete carrying a small rainbow flag - a symbol of the gay pride movement - when they walk into stadium in Sochi during the opening ceremony?

What would be more powerful than every athlete who wins a medal climbing on that podium with a replica of the OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights) badge that Smith, Normal and Carlos wore while receiving their medals at the ‘68 Summer Games?

Wonder how that would go over with Vladimir Putin? Let’s hope we get to find out. Certainly, there’s no chance of the International Olympic Committee taking any meaningful steps after Russia’s recent passage of a law that bans so-called gay “propaganda.”

Some of that is understandable, given we’re only months away from the start of the Winter Games - too short a timeframe to pull the mammoth event from Sochi and award it to another city, at least without delaying the games until 2015. But also, as we saw in

Beijing, the IOC is more concerned about its bottom line than advancing the cause of human rights.

The Russians insist this is a non-issue being pushed by the West to embarrass the Olympic hosts as they prepare for their moment on the world stage, that the law is merely designed to protect children and there is no desire to criminalize homosexuality. But every time they addressed the complaints during the world athletics championships, which wrapped up Sunday in Moscow, they stepped in the you-know-what.

When Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro painted her fingernails in the colors of the rainbow to support gays and lesbians, Russian pole vault star Yelena Isinbayeva called it a sign of disrespect for her homeland.

“If we allow to promote and do all this stuff on the street, we are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves like normal, standard people. We just live with boys with woman, woman with boys,” Isinbayeva said in English. Later, she would claim it was all just a misunderstanding because she wasn’t speaking in her native language.

We’re not buying it, not after we got

more of the same nonsense from a top Russian official on the final day of the world championships. Sports minister Vitaly Mutko said the law would not infringe on the private lives of athletes and spectators at the Sochi Olympics, but he seemed to leave open the possibility of prosecuting anyone making statements that were judged to be propaganda. More troubling, he appeared to indicate that homosexual relations were essentially the same scourge on society as substance abuse.

“We want to protect our children whose psyches have not formed from the propaganda of drug use, drunkenness and nontraditional sexual relations,” Mutko said. Maybe his true feelings somehow got lost in translation again. If not, that sort of talk is downright frightening.

“I’m stunned with the passing of these laws,” said Greg Louganis, probably the greatest diver ever and openly gay. “How can anybody call themselves sane and or even educated? That’s my biggest concern. There are gay kids born every day in Russia. Where are the voices to protect those children?”

That’s where the athletes of the world come in. Green Tregaro’s mani-

cure was a small step in the right direction. American figure skater Johnny Weir vowed to do more if he qualifies for the Olympics - even at the risk of getting arrested. Every athlete who winds up in Sochi should look deep into his or her heart and see if they can summon the courage to take a stand.

Rest assured, there’s strength in numbers. Putin isn’t likely to fill Russian jails with world-class athletes from around the world.

At the ver y least, ever y athlete should reflect on the example set by Smith, Carlos and Norman at the height of another civil rights movement - and the price they were willing to pay. Smith and Carlos were sent home from the Mexico City Games. Norman was ostracized in his native Australia and never got another chance to compete in the Olympics. “I was extraordinarily confident in my cause,” Carlos said. “I think courage is something that everyone has. It’s just difficult for some people to find that courage within themselves. It’s there. You’ve just to bring it out.”

Carlos, Smith and Norman found that courage and wound up on the right side of history. They’ll be joined by any athlete who finds it in Sochi.—AP

Bolt, Fraser-Pryce and Farah light up Moscow

BROOKLYN: Joey Logano celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup series Pure Michigan 400 auto race at Michigan International Speedway. —AP

Logano holds off Harvick for crucial Michigan win BROOKLYN: Joey Logano gave Ford a Sprint Cup sweep in Michigan - and enabled team owner Roger Penske to celebrate a victory in his home state.

Now Logano can start to envision a happy finish to what has been an eventful season for the 23-year-old driver. “We’re close, we’re close,” Logano said. “What a great place to win - what a great time to win, being in Ford’s backyard.”

Logano boosted his chances of reaching the Chase for the Sprint Cup, winning for the first time this season in a fuel-mileage race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

Logano and Kevin Harvick both breezed past Mark Martin with just over three laps to go in the 400-mile, 200-lap race. Martin had been trying to stretch fuel, but when he faltered, Logano was able to hold off Harvick.

The win put Logano in 13th place in the standings. He’s seven points behind Martin Truex Jr. for the second wild card.

It’s been an up-and-down year for Logano.

He and teammate Brad Keselowski were docked 25 points each after NASCAR inspectors confiscated parts from the rear suspensions of their cars before the April 13 race at Texas.

More recently, Logano has had to recover from back-to-back 40th-place showings at Daytona and Loudon, but he’s now right in the middle of a wild race for the final Chase spots. “A roller coaster, to say the least,” Logano said. “We’ve just got to keep that momentum going. It just goes to show, as long as nothing goes wrong - knock on wood - we’ve been pretty good. We’ve had some good speed in our cars.”

Everything went pretty much according to plan at Michigan. Logano won the pole Friday and took Sunday’s race by a second over Harvick, who is safely in fourth place in the standings.

“I was very pleased with the day,” Harvick said. “It’s just going to come down to getting on a hot streak over 10 weeks and not making any mistakes.”

There are three races left before the Chase, and the jockeying for the final spots is just as muddled as it was before Sunday’s race.

Keselowski, the defending champion, is still in eighth place with 667 points, but Kurt Busch is now only two points behind him after a third-place showing Sunday.

Greg Biffle (663) is in 10th place. Kasey Kahne (659) and Truex (653) are currently in line to be the wild cards, but Logano closed a lot of ground.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson lasted less than 60 laps Sunday before engine trouble knocked him out. He still has a 41-point lead over Clint Bowyer.

Biffle finished ninth after winning the previous two Cup races at Michigan. His victory in June was the 1,000th for Ford Motor Company across NASCAR’s three national series - Cup, Nationwide and Truck.

Biffle drives for Roush Fenway Racing. This time, it was Penske’s turn to celebrate. “I go back about 30 years here at the track - this is probably one of the biggest wins,” Penske said. “I say it’s my home state, it’s my home track, and Detroit’s my city.”

It was the third Cup win of Logano’s career, and it came after he posted the ninth-fastest pole-winning speed in NASCAR history during Friday’s qualifying.

Johnson, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were among the big names to have problems, but the race was a clean one for Logano in his No. 22 Ford. He was battling Kurt Busch for the lead at the very start and needed only to outlast Harvick at the end.

Sunday’s race began with 10 of the first 17 laps under caution. There were nine cautions in all, and Logano and Kurt Busch led for 94 of the 200 laps - nearly half the race.

The 54-year-old Martin emerged late, making a bid for his first Cup win since 2009, but his fuel didn’t hold up. He finished 27th.

“We saved a bunch of gas but we needed one more yellow,” Martin said. “One more yellow and we would have been in good shape.”

Johnson finished 40th and is now winless in 24 Cup starts at MIS. His lost weekend began when a practice crash Saturday forced him to use a backup car and start in the back of the field. He quickly made his way into contention before the engine problem ended his day.—AP

17 Indians found over-age at Youth Games in China NEW DELHI: India’s bungling sports officials were left red-faced yesterday after 17 track and field athletes were thrown out of the Asian Youth Games underway in Nanjing, China for being overage.

The athletes, who were part of a 27member track and field squad, were barred from taking part in the Games because they were above the stipulated age of 17, an official said.

“It should not have happened. We are trying to find out the reason,” the Indian Olympic Association’s interim chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters in New Delhi. Two days ago, four Indian badminton players were prevented from competing in Nanjing because organisers said their names had not been entered for the competition by officials back home.

India has been suspended from the Olympic movement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since December last year for electing corruption-tainted officials to its local association.

The country’s young sports stars are taking part in the Nanjing Games as “independent” Olympic athletes under the IOC flag.

They were selected by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and approved by the state-run Sports Authority of India (SAI). Athletics officials would not comment on the over-age problems, but SAI chief Jiji Thomson blamed the AFI for the mix-up.

“When a federation gives us a list, we never question it,” Thomson told the Times of India. “It’s entirely the responsibility of the federation to pick a team and ensure everything is in order.”—AFP

MOSCOW: Toppling Usain Bolt from his sprint throne could take a while yet with the untouchable Jamaican star of track and field still looking down on those who seek to challenge his reign.

While his jet engine still roars, others toil, with the fastest man on earth heading home from the Moscow world championships with another three golds, despite never needing to be at his peerless best. Bolt duly completed a 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay treble to match his feats of the last two Olympics, become the most successful athlete in world championship history - and left promising his goal was more Games glory in Rio in 2016.

Jamaican sprinters lauding it over waning powerhouses the United States was evident again in the Luzhniki stadium, the twinkle-toed Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce powering to her own treble.

In truth, it was far from a vintage championships, the buzz of last year’s Olympics long gone, with some notable London champions absent, a doping cloud hanging over the sport and not a world record in sight. Like Bolt and Fraser-Pryce, an ever-smiling Mo Farah shone bright. The Briton confirmed his place among the longdistance greats by brilliantly repeating his Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 double.

Farah took 10,000 gold on the opening night of the championships and made light of a stitch during the 5,000 final six days later with another supreme final lap.

Russia topped the United States in the medals table, by seven golds to six, helped by strong performances in the field events and walks.

Popular drama queen Yelena Isinbayeva was roared to victory by an ecstatic crowd in the pole vault, taking an emotional third world title after a difficult season then announcing she planned to return to action in the future once she has had a baby.

However, she suffered a backlash for her subsequent anti-gay comments, convincing nobody when she said later she had been misunderstood. While Isinbayeva and the controversial Russian law divided opinion, the world is united in appreciation of Bolt.

He came to Moscow after a lowkey season but, in the absence of injured Yohan Blake and Tyson Gay, banned after failing a drugs test, there was nobody able to pressure him. He regained his 100 metres title with a workmanlike win over Justin Gatlin, then sauntered to victory over

MOSCOW: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (center) competes in the men’s 4x100 metres relay final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships on August 18, 2013.—AFP his favorite 200. Anchoring the Jamaican 4-100m relay, he took his tally of world championship golds to eight - level with Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson and Allyson Felix but ahead of the American trio on silver countback. Apart from his false start and ignominious disqualification from the world 100 final two years ago, the 26year-old has won every global sprint gold since claiming his first Olympic 100 metres title in Beijing in 2008.

“My goal is to defend (for a second time) my titles at the next Olympics as it hasn’t been done before by anyone. And this world championships is a stepping stone towards that goal,” he said.

The colorful Fraser-Pryce, half her long hair dyed pink, also led her rivals a merry dance. Her scintillating 100 metres triumph, sealed from the moment she powered out of the blocks, was followed up with another virtuoso display in a 200 final that left three-time champion Felix prone and in tears after the American tore her hamstring in the first 30 metres.

New stars emerged in the hurdles in the shape of American Brianna Rollins and Trinidad and Tobago’s Jehue Gordon.

Rollins, 22 on Sunday, belied her inexperience to dethrone Sally Pearson while in the men’s one-lap event, Gordon, 21, pipped a tiring Michael Tinsley by one hundredth of a second to confirm the promise that made him world junior champion. Of the Olympic champions to flop in Moscow, Kirani James was the most surprising. Defending world and Olympic champion James trailed home seventh in a 400 metres final

won easily by LaShawn Merritt. “I was hungry. Probably the hungriest person in the field,” said the American after regaining his 2009 title and making up for last year’s Olympic disappointment when he suffered injury.

Compatriot David Oliver did not even make it to London after a wretched time but the ever-cheerful American took his first global title in the 110m hurdles, with world record holder Merritt sixth after an injury-hit year. In the closest gold medal finish of all, Briton Christine Ohuruogu brilliantly punished an inexcusable lapse by defending champion Amantle Montsho, who failed to dip at the line as the former champion edged her out by four thousandths of a second.

“I did not see Christine coming,” the Botswanan said with no hint of irony. While Farah left his African rivals still figuring how to plot his downfall there were no such problems for Ethiopia’s women.

Line up against Tirunesh Dibaba in the 10,000 and you can write off gold. The runner known as the “babyfaced destroyer” powered to her third world crown, extending her winning run in a distance she has never been beaten to 11. Not to be outdone, compatriot Meseret Defar eased home in the 5,000 metres. Kenya’s dominance of steeplechasing continued through the indomitable Ezekiel Kemboi, showing his younger team mate Conseslus Kipruto a clean pair of heels and equalling the hat-trick feat of his coach Moses Kiptanui.

Milcah Chemos Cheywa also led home a Kenyan one-two in the women’s event. Decathlon world

record holder and London champion Ashton Eaton admitted he had struggled to lift himself in 2013, but that did not stop the American winning a first world title after a first-day roasting from his coach kickstarted him to the fastest-ever decathlon world championship 400 metres.

An Eaton family double — he married Brianne Theisen-Eaton last month — was denied when the Canadian was pipped to heptathlon gold by Ganna Melnichenko, much to the delight of the vociferous Ukraine fans who were a constant presence in an all-too empty Luzhniki Stadium.

The Ukrainians also celebrated Bohdan Bondarenko’s impressive high-jump victory, while women’s long jumper American Britney Reese landed a third successive world title, going better than greats Heike Drechsler, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Fiona May who all won two apiece — all after sneaking into the final as the 12th and last qualifier.

Kenyan Edna Kiplagat defied hot and humid conditions to become the first woman to retain the world marathon title and Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich showed his surprise Olympic victory was no fluke by holding a trio of Ethiopians at bay.

Germany took four field event golds, led by Robert Harting who won his third successive world discus crown. New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams described her feat of four consecutive world titles “as good for women’s sport”, and on the final day, Frenchman Teddy Tamgho unleashed the fourth longest triple jump leap of all time - 18.04 metres.—Reuters

Wiggins targets track for 2016 Olympics tilt LONDON: Bradley Wiggins will retire from road racing after one more season before returning to the velodrome with the goal of adding to his gold medal haul at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. “I’m going to continue to the next Olympics and try for a fifth gold,” the 33-year-old Briton told The Times newspaper yesterday.

“That’s the plan. Having lost weight and muscle the last few years I wouldn’t be able to walk back into that team pursuit squad, so I’m not taking anything for granted, but I am working towards that.

“It would be nice to finish the career with another Olympic gold.” The Team Sky rider was unable to defend his 2012 Tour de France title due to injury, with compatriot Chris Froome winning a second title for the British team in his absence.

Wiggins had previously indicated he may never compete in the Tour again, but he said on Monday that he would like to ride it one more time, if selected, and was willing to play second fiddle to Froome.

“I don’t mind admitting that Chris is probably a better Grand Tour rider than me,” Wiggins said.

“He is a much better climber, he can time-trial well. He has age on his side, he has no kids, that’s

fine. “If Chris wants to, he could potentially win five Tours now. So if I want to win another Tour, I’d probably have to leave the team. “I love this team. This is my home, I’m not going to go, ‘I want to be the leader still, so I’m off’.” Wiggins won six Olympic track medals, including three golds, before switching to the road after the 2008 Olympics. He won an individual time-trial gold at the London Olympics last year, after his Tour de France success.

Despite that, Sky had thrown its backing for team leader behind 28-year-old Froome, even before Wiggins had to withdraw from Tour contention with a knee injury.

The pair have had a fraught relationship, with Froome reportedly saying recently Wiggins had not congratulated him on his Tour victory.

Wiggins said there was a simple reason for that. “For a start, this is a pathetic excuse — and it’s not an excuse — but I don’t have his phone number. “The second thing is, a lot of stuff happened with me and him and his girlfriend and it was left in a very bad way and rather than me send him some naff (worthless) little text message, I would rather wait till I see him, genuinely put my hand out and say ‘you know what, that was a good ride’.”—Reuters

Bradley Wiggins (front) in action in this file photo.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

S P ORTS

Marquez wins Indy GP INDIANAPOLIS: Marc Marquez passed two-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo midway through Sunday’s race and pulled away for a 3.495-second victory at the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old rookie took the lead Sunday with a smart inside pass, saved his wobbly bike two turns later and then pulled away from the pack for a victory over Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa.

He became only the third rider in MotoGP history, and the first rookie, to win three races in one country in the same season. Marquez’s fourth win of the season also tied Kenny Roberts’ single-season rookie record, set in 1978, and gave Marquez his fifth straight win on U.S. soil.

“It will be my second country,” he said after dousing himself with the traditional champagne. “We had the perfect weekend.”

The only downside is that Marquez won’t be back for about eight months. But for the Spanish star with the increasingly impressive resume, Sunday’s victory was another major milestone.

Marquez has now won three straight races, the longest overall streak by a rookie since Roberts. He joined two-time world champions Jorge Lorenzo, of Spain, and Casey Stoner, of Australia, as the only riders in series history to pull off a three-race season sweep in one nation. Lorenzo did it in his home country during his world-title winning season of 2010, while Stoner duplicated the feat in 2011 when he won a second world title.

Lorenzo, the 2009 Indy winner who competes for Yamaha Factory Racing, finished third Sunday, more than 5.7 seconds off the pace. Marquez extended his lead to 21 points over Pedrosa, who is still trying to recover from a broken collarbone he sustained earlier this season.

“I’m pleased to be in this chair,” Pedrosa said. “It’s a tough race, but also a tough situation. If you saw the X-rays, you wouldn’t

believe I could do this race.”

Marquez pulled off another rare feat by winning for a third straight time at the historic Brickyard. He won Moto2 titles in 2011 and 2012 on Indy’s 2.621-mile, 16-turn road course.

Not bad for a rider who started the season with aspirations of just trying to make regular appearances on the podium. Now, he’s the man everybody is trying to chase.

Marquez came into the race a heavy favorite after posting the fastest times in both practice rounds Friday and Saturday and becoming the first MotoGP rider to break the 1 minute, 38-second barrier with his record pole-winning run Saturday.

So when Lorenzo and Pedrosa beat Marquez into the first turn on the first lap, Marquez was forced to playing catch-up for the first time all weekend.

He didn’t fret. Instead, Marquez bided his time, saving his tires as Lorenzo’s and Pedrosa’s wore their down. Eventually, Marquez caught his teammate and the defending race winner with an inside move on the ninth lap. Four laps later, he ran down the defending world champ, again passing on the inside, before hitting the curbing in the fourth turn. Somehow, though, Marquez managed to save his bobbly bike without losing track position.

It was the only chance anyone had of derailing the American sweep.”I feel good in the USA, I won the three races here,” he said. “Now we go back to Europe and try to do the same thing.”

Pedrosa spent the rest of the race chasing Lorenzo, finally passing him with two laps to go in the 27-lap race. Two injured racers did not compete. Karel Abraham of the Czech Republic is trying to recover from a torn muscle in his shoulder in a crash Friday. He’s questionable for next week’s race in his home nation. American Ben Spies also did not compete Sunday because of a dislocated left shoulder and possibly injured left wrist.—AP

INDIANAPOLIS: (Left to right) Dani Pedrosa of Spain, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo pose on the podium at the end of the MotoGP race. —AFP

Sky rally to down Sun ROSEMONT: Sylvia Fowles had 20 points and 21 rebounds to help the East-leading Chicago Sky rally from a 25-point deficit for an 89-78 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.

Connecticut scored the game’s first 15 points, capped by a desperation 3-pointer

by Renee Montgomery with 4:35 left to beat the 24-second shot clock.

Montgomery’s layup with 1:58 remaining in the first half gave the Sun a 43-18 lead.

The Sky outscored Connecticut 62-35 in the second half, taking their first lead with 2:48 left in the game on Epiphanny Prince’s three-point play.

The Sky (17-8) were without Elena Delle Donne for the second straight game. The rookie star is day to day with a left foot she sprained Tuesday in Los Angeles. Tan White scored 16 points for Connecticut (7-17), which has lost five of six.

Prince scored 21 for Chicago, which won for the fourth time in five games and swept the four-game season series with Connecticut.

DREAM 76, MYSTICS 58 In Atlanta, Tiffany Hayes tied her career high with 23 points and Angel McCoughtry added 22 as Atlanta beat Washington for its second straight win.

Ivory Latta finished with 12 points and Monique Currie had 10 for Washington (1214), which ended a three-game winning

streak. The Mystics started fast, taking a 10point lead on Currie’s 3-pointer 2 minutes into in the first, and they didn’t trail until Hayes’ 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left in the second quarter made it 38-37.

Hayes scored 10 points in the second and nine in the third. She added a 3 with 8:14 left in the game to make it 66-48.

Atlanta (13-9) led the rest of the way to win its eighth straight in the series.

LYNX 88, LIBERTY 57 In Minneapolis, Maya Moore scored a season-high 28 points, including six 3pointers, as Minnesota beat New York to end a three-game losing streak.

Seimone Augustus and Janel McCarville each had 12 points for the Lynx (18-6), who moved one -half game ahead of Los Angeles atop the Western Conference standings.

Katie Smith and Alex Montgomer y scored 11 points each to lead the Liberty (10-15), who were without leading scorer Cappie Pondexter due to a foot injury. New York lost for the third time in four games and dropped one game behind fourthplace Indiana for the last playoff position in the East.

The Lynx used a 16-5 run - including 3pointers by Moore and Rachel Jarry - to take a 59-39 lead late in the third quarter.

Moore hit another 3 midway through the fourth to make it 74-50.—AP

Photo of the day

Adam Malysz performs at Silk Way Rally, Russia. —www.redbull.com

Azarenka defeats Serena to lift Cincinnati crown CINCINNATI: Victoria Azarenka won a showdown between the world’s two top players by beating number one Serena Williams in a three set 2-6 6-2 7-6 thriller in the final of the Western and Southern Open on Sunday.

For two hours and 30 minutes, Azarenka and Williams engaged in a seesaw battle before the Belarusian finally clinched the victory, winning a nervy tiebreak 8-6 to prevent the American from ticking a Cincinnati win off her ‘bucket list’.

“Obviously, a big win. It was a great match,” Azarenka told reporters. “Really, really pleased with the way I pulled it out. It was a great battle.

“There were no giveaways. It was pure fight.” In a career that has generated 54 singles titles, including 16 grand slams, Williams had won just about everything there is to win in her sport - but not Cincinnati, one of the WTA Tour’s most prestigious tournaments.

Cincinnati will remain a hole on her resume for at least another year after Azarenka answered the challenge by claiming just her third win in 15 attempts against the 31-year-old American.

Williams came into the contest with a chance to pass several career milestones beyond a first Cincinnati win but failed to secure any of them.

It was only the second time in 10 finals this season that Williams had failed to walk away with the trophy, while a victory on Sunday would have moved her up a notch on the career wins list into a tie for seventh place with Britain’s Virginia Wade and compatriot Lindsay Davenport. But the day belonged to Azarenka, who bagged her third title of the year and 17th of her career. “ We go against each other really tough, so I think, yeah, it’s a good rivalry,” said Williams. “I’m number one, she’s number two so we have that rivalry which con-

CINCINNATI: Azarenka of Belarus poses for photographers at the trophy ceremony after defeating Serena Williams during the final of the Western & Southern Open.—AFP

sists of meeting in the final, which makes it even more so exciting.

“I personally was thinking it is a good rivalry and it’s good to have someone out there that can play hard and fight so tough.

“She’s a great player. There’s a reason why she’s winning grand slams and doing so well.”

A marquee final featuring the world’s number one and two ranked players initially failed to deliver the high-quality spectacle expected from two women who have captured five of the last seven grand slams. Azarenka, who struggled with her serve against Jelena Jankovic in the semi-finals

and held just three times, opened the match with two double faults to hand Williams the early break.

Williams continued her assault on Azarenka with another break at 4-1 that left the Belarusian waving her racket in anger.

“I felt like my energy wasn’t maybe there 100 percent at the beginning but that’s what the match is about,” said Azarenka. “It goes up and down, and you battle against somebody and you have an edge or then you don’t have an edge. “ That’s what is exciting about that to try to take your opponent to that place where they don’t feel at their

best.” In the second set it was Azarenka who had Williams talking to herself as she turned the tables on the muscular American by breaking her three times to level the match.

In the third, Azarenka and Williams finally produced the tennis and edge-of-your-seat drama that fans had come to see, t wice trading breaks to send the set into a tiebreak .

With the title on the line, the quality of shots and effort skyrocketed at both ends of the court before the contest ended with Williams’ forehand into the net.—Reuters

King of Clay, Nadal looks to extend reign to hard courts

Sylvia Fowles (left) in action in this file photo.

CINCINNATI: The undisputed King of Clay, Rafa Nadal could soon extend his reign to the hard court after establishing himself as the red-hot favorite for the US Open with back-to-back wins in Montreal and Cincinnati.

With eight French Open titles, Nadal may be the best ever on the dirt but the Spaniard has also stood tall this year on the American hard courts, where he remains unbeaten with a 15-0 record.

“On clay, we only had three (Masters events), I won two, and I played the final,” Nadal told reporters after grinding out a 7-6 7-6 win over American John Isner in the final of the Western and Southern Open. “ The results on clay were amazing. On hard, I play three, I won all three. Is only one more

match. That’s all. “I think it’s just a coincidence, in my opinion, but no doubt I am better player on clay than on hard.” Some would debate that assessment based on Nadal’s play on the hard courts this season which — based on his record — has so far been flawless.

To be fair, Nadal has already proven himself to be a man for all surfaces with grand slams titles on clay, grass and hard court.

With the exception of grass and his opening-round slip up at Wimbledon, the Spaniard has impressed on all surfaces again this season.

He added to his grand slam collection at the French Open and has captured five of seven Masters Series events, including three-of-four hard court stops.

The US Open has always been

the hardest grand slam for Nadal because of its unforgiving surface and timing. Of his 12 grand slam titles, only one has come at Flushing Meadows and he only reached the final on one other occasion.

Nadal usually arrives at the back end of the tennis schedule with his knees creaking like two rusty gates and nursing a mountain of aches and pains that are the payment for his relentless action-packed style. The ongoing battle with the debilitating tendonitis in his knees continues.

But this year, after a long injury layoff that bridged the end of last season and the start of the current campaign along with a six week break following his Wimbledon exit, Nadal has arrived in U.S. ready for action.

“If I am able to be healthy for

the rest of the year, probably the rest is going to be positive,” said Nadal. “For the last eight years before the injury, I didn’t stop, I played every year long, very long seasons with ver y, ver y high intensity.

“So mentally and physically, to have a period of rest and recovery, your body is great. “When you are in tough moments, in hard moments, when you are suffering, working every day, trying to recover, when you are back, the only thing you want to do is try to enjoy every moment, try to be at your 100 percent and play with the higher intensity and passion.

“After from the place that I came, just to be here playing and competing is fantastic and that gives me this extra power, intensity to compete well.”—Reuters

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

SPORTS

Costa helps Atletico forget about Falcao

FRANCE: Paris Saint-Germain’s forward Edinson Cavani celebrates after scoring a goal during the French League football match against Ajaccio. —AFP

Cavani rescues PSG PARIS: Edinson Cavani’s first Ligue 1 goal salvaged a point for a wasteful Paris St Germain as the French champions drew 1-1 at home against Ajaccio on Sunday.

PSG, who drew their opening three games last season, have two points from two matches, four less than big-spenders Monaco who thrashed Montpellier 4-1 thanks to Emmanuel Riviere’s hat-trick and a Radamel Falcao penalty.

Uruguay striker Cavani fired PSG’s 32nd attempt on goal into the net with four minutes left to cancel Benoit Pedretti’s splendid curling ninth minute opener.

PSG had 78 percent of possession and were left frustrated infront of a crowd of 43,000 by their visitors’ heroic defensive performance and multiple saves by goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.

They also lacked some luck after captain Thiago Silva saw both a powerful 81st minute header and a stoppage-time strike hit the crossbar.

Monaco shone at a sun drenched Stade Louis II with Riviere finding himself in the side following injuries to summer signings Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez.

Falcao put Monaco ahead in the 18th minute following Siaka Tiene’s foul on winger Lucas Ocampos in the box, but his fellow Colombian Victor Montano levelled for Montpellier six minutes later with a powerful header.

The hosts then took a decisive advantage thanks to Riviere’s first two goals which came either side of halftime.

Montpellier were reduced to 10 men after Daniel Congre was dismissed and quickly surrendered as 23-year-old Riviere, who has never scored more than eight goals in a league season, completed his hat-trick with eight minutes left.

Monaco are one of four teams to maintain a perfect start to the new season along with Olympique Lyon, Olympique Marseille and St Etienne.—Reuters

High stakes for Arsenal in Champions League GENEVA: Even by Champions League standards, the stakes are dramatically high for Fenerbahce and Arsenal in a playoff round first-leg clash tomorrow.

Arsenal seems to be in turmoil after a Premier League opening day loss fueled fans’ fury at the cash-rich club’s failure to sign big-name offseason targets.

“I believe our season will depend on how we respond to this defeat,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Saturday after a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday provoked hostile boos at the Emirates Stadium.

Fenerbahce hosts Arsenal in Istanbul hours after its lawyers begin a two-day court hearing in Switzerland to challenge expulsion from the Champions League

by UEFA in a long-running domestic match-fixing case. UEFA agreed to let Fenerbahce play while the appeal proceeds.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s verdict - promised next week after the return match in London - could yet decide which team advances to the lucrative group stage, and collects 15-25 million-plus euros ($20-$33 million) in UEFA prize money.

Like Arsenal, AC Milan regards a place in the Champions League group stage as key to its image and finances. The seventime European champion begins its season today away to PSV Eindhoven, the 1988 European Cup winner which already reeled off three wins to sit atop the Dutch league.

Zenit St. Petersburg offers a tricky debut for Champions League newcomer Pacos de Ferreira, which hosts the first leg in Portugal today.

Also Tuesday, Celtic has made the six hour-plus flight to face Kazakhstan champion Shakhter Karagandy; Lyon hosts Real Sociedad and Viktoria Plzen hosts Maribor.

Tomorrow’s five-match lineup includes: Dinamo Zagreb vs. Austria Vienna, Steaua Bucharest vs. Legia Warsaw and Ludogorets Razgrad vs.

Basel.

Schalke hosts PAOK Thessaloniki, which was reinstated by UEFA last week.

PAOK previously lost to Metalist Kharkiv, which was later expelled when a 2008 match-fixing case was resolved this month.

Three of the 10 playoff pairings have been affected by UEFA match-fixing investigations since current champion Bayern Munich beat German rival Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium in May. Fenerbahce’s case has the greatest potential for drama. The club, UEFA and CAS could not process its challenge to a two-season ban from European competitions before the matches against Arsenal.

During an offseason legal saga, Fenerbahce forward Dirk Kuyt wrote to UEFA on behalf of the players. Kuyt said they had “a lot of questions” about the punishment dating back to matches

allegedly fixed in the 2010-11 Turkish season.

“This is not even proven that we are guilty” wrote Kuyt, whose club president was among several officials convicted in a criminal trial. They deny wrongdoing and have appealed.

Injury-hit Arsenal knows it could lose over two legs and still get a 16th straight season in the group stage - though Salzburg, Fenerbahce’s beaten opponent in the previous qualifying round, could also seek reinstatement.

England winger Alex OxladeChamberlain is the latest Gunners casualty, sustaining a serious knee injury Saturday to join defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Nacho Monreal, plus midfielders Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby on the sidelines.

Milan, which begins in Serie A at Verona on Saturday, has played only friendlies ahead of facing match-fit PSV, now coached by former Netherlands midfielder Phillip Cocu.

Schalke lost Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to a knee ligament injury in its 4-0 loss at Wolfsburg on Saturday. The revised fixture with PAOK brings the Greek club’s coach Huub Stevens back to Schalke where he won the UEFA Cup in 1997, and a second spell in charge ended last December.

Romanian champion Steaua, the 1986 European Cup winner, hosts Legia while club President Gigi Becali serves prison time for financial wrongdoing.

In June, UEFA weighed allegations that Becali tried to pay bribes to influence a 2008 league match, and deferred Steaua’s one-year suspension for a fiveyear probation period.

The 10 playoff winners join 22 elite teams that qualified directly for the lucrative group stage. The draw is made Aug. 29 in Monaco.—AP

MADRID: Brazilian striker Diego Costa proved there was life after Radamel Falcao at Atletico Madrid as he scored twice to help the King’s Cup winners to a 3-1 win at Sevilla in their La Liga opener on Sunday. Colombia forward Falcao was sold to Monaco for more than 50 million euros ($66.66 million) in May after scoring 28 league goals for Atletico last season.

Costa had reportedly also been a multi-million euro target for Liverpool, but last season’s third-placed finishers hung on to the powerful frontman and last week extended his contract to 2018.

He returned the faith shown in him with a poacher’s goal on Sunday, volleying in the opener at a corner in the 35th minute and, after Sevilla had equalised, tore onto a through ball to strike the second low into the corner 11 minutes from time.

Cristian Rodriguez scored a wonderful solo effort to make sure of the points for the visitors at the end. “Costa had a very good pre-season, putting in a lot of work, and he knows he has to be physically strong at all times,” coach Diego Simeone told reporters after a game that finished at almost one in the morning local time.

“He is very important for us because of his character which is contagious for the rest of the squad. “Goals are a consequence of all this. Diego unsettles rivals and opens up the pitch for us.”

Costa, a player very much cut in the same abrasive image as former Argentina captain Simeone, was the ideal foil for Falcao last season with his physical presence and uncanny ability to get under the skin of his opponents.

He had to be restrained by his colleagues from getting involved in a dispute with Sevilla players as the teams left the pitch at halftime. His new strike partner is Spain international David Villa, signed from Barcelona for a fee that could rise to 5.1 million

SPAIN : Atletico Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (down) vies for the ball against Atletico Madridís Brazilian defender Filipe Luis (up) during the Spanish League football match. —AFP euros, but the 31-year-old had a relatively quiet competitive debut and was substituted in the second half.

“Falcao will be missed because he is a great player but we have Villa who is different type of beast,” Costa told reporters.

“We know he will do just as well as Falcao. His work and commitment to the team is impressive. He is humble and has a great attitude. I think his quality shows and he will give a lot to Atletico.”

Villa will get to meet his former team mates on Wednesday when Atletico host the La Liga champions at the Calderon in the Spanish Super Cup first leg.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid new boy Isco went some way towards justifying his 30 million euro signing on fee when he set up the equaliser and then scored the winner against Real Betis on his competitive debut on Sunday.

The Spanish Under 21 international fed Karim Benzema for the

26th-minute leveller in Real’s La Liga opener at the Bernabeu, and then rose to power a header under the crossbar four minutes from time for a 2-1 victory.

The diminutive playmaker is more noted for his ability with his feet than with his head, but broke through from midfield to head home from Marcelo’s curling cross.

“It is the first header I have scored in La Liga and I’m delighted especially as it turned out to be the winner,” the 21-year-old told Spanish broadcaster Canal Plus. “It was important to win the first game at home. Betis surprised us a little bit but it is the first game of La Liga and we lack a little match-practice.”

Isco appeared to be on the point of joining former boss Manuel Pellergini at Manchester City when he was signed by Real from Malaga two months ago.

He was a central figure as Spain won the European Under

21 championship in Israel in June, and has quickly become a popular figure among Madrid fans after some impressive performances during the pre-season.

The midfielder is on the fringes of Vicente del Bosque’s senior Spain squad and is widely tipped to be in the running for a place at next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

“The centre was superb and Isco’s movement has been that of an expert at heading the ball,” Real director and former striker Emilio Butragueno told Canal Plus.

“To give the pass for a goal and to score the winner, isn’t a bad way to debut at the Bernabeu. “I hope this is the start of a great era for him and Real Madrid. He is a different kind of player, and when he receives the ball everyone thinks something magical is going to happen. “I am sure he will continue to develop.”—Reuters

Boca down Rafaela, River Plate held BUENOS AIRES: A second half strike from Emanuel Insua handed Boca Juniors a 2-1 victory over Rafaela on Sunday, while archrival River Plate drew 0-0 against Godoy Cruz.

Boca now has six points from its first three games of the Argentine league along with leader Argentinos Juniors, Gimnasia and San Lorenzo. River has four points in joint third place.

In other results Sunday, reigning champion Newell’s Old Boys drew 0-0 with Belgrano and Tigre defeated Racing 3-1.

Boca’s winner came in the 68th minute, when Insua latched onto a back-heeled pass and hit a first time shot into the top left corner of the net.

Argentina great Juan Roman Riquelme had given Boca the lead in the 30th when he drilled the ball into the roof of the goal after a pass was laid off to him from an indirect free-kick inside the penalty box, but Luis Albertengo struck back for Rafaela 11 minutes later.

River struggled in the attacking third of the pitch and had a number of chances to win the game, but couldn’t score. The closest opportunity came in the 26th, when Giovanni Simeone’s shot from Carlos Carbonero’s cross forced a close-range save from Godoy Cruz goalkeeper Jorge Carranza.

Sergio Araujo found the net in the 18th minute, and again in the 54th of Tigre’s win over Racing. Jose Sand added the third, before Rodrigo de Paul got a consolation for Racing in the 71st.

In Saturday games, Gimnasia won 3-1 against Rosario and Argentinos Juniors

ARGENTINA : Boca Juniors’ midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme (right) vies for the ball with Atletico Rafaela’s midfielder Adrian Bastia during their Argentine First Division football match. —AFP defeated San Lorenzo 3-0. On Friday, Arsenal overcame Olimpo 3-1 and Colon secured a 1-0 victory over Quilmes. The final

two matches will be played late yesterday when All Boys take on Velez and Lanus play Estudiantes.—AP

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

UEFA Champions League Shakhter v Celtic Aljazeera Sport +6 Aljazeera Sport 5 HD PSV v AC Milan Aljazeera Sport +6 Aljazeera Sport 5 HD Pizen v Maribor Aljazeera Sport +2 Lyon v Sociedad Aljazeera Sport +5 Aljazeera Sport 4 HD Pacos v Zenit Aljazeera Sport +7 Aljazeera Sport 3 HD

18:00

21:45

21:45 21:45

21:45

Keeper sent off in Brazil for kicking ball into crowd BRAZIL: Atletico Mineiro goalkeeper Victor was sent off for angrily kicking a ball into the crowd after his team’s goalless draw at Internacional in the Brazilian championship.

Corinthians forward Alexandre Pato was jeered by his own fans in a 1-0 win over Coritiba and sixtimes champions Sao Paulo missed another penalty as they extended their winless run to 12 matches in other matches on Sunday.

South American champions Mineiro played for more than one hour away to former Brazil

coach Dunga’s Internacional with 10 men after Fernandinho was sent off for elbowing an opponent, but still managed to hang on for a point.

After the final whistle went, goalkeeper Victor immediately collected the ball, turned around and hoofed it into the Internacional fans behind him.

As he left the field, Victor, who had already been booked for time-wasting during the game, was given a second yellow card and sent off.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” he told reporters, adding he had been

provoked. “There are matches where you are spat for the whole match and they throw other liquids which you can’t identify.”

Corinthians fans lost patience with former AC Milan forward Alexandre Pato after he missed two good chances against Coritiba and jeered him off the field when he was substituted by Peru forward Paolo Guerrero.

Guerrero later scored from a penalty to take Corinthians up to fourth with 25 points from 15 games while Coritiba, fading after a good start to the championship, dropped to sixth (24

points).

Sao Paulo (11 points) remained one place off the bottom after their 0-0 draw against Flamengo in which Jadson missed a penalty.

Jadson stepped up to take the kick instead of goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni, the regular penalty taker who also missed during the 2-1 defeat to Portuguesa one week ago.

Botafogo stayed top with 29 points after winning 3-1 at Portuguesa while second-placed Cruzeiro, one point behind, thrashed Vitoria 5-1.—Reuters

Azarenka defeats Serena to lift Cincinnati crown

Logano holds off Harvick for Michigan win

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

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17 Indians found over-age at Youth Games in China

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ITALY: Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (center) partially hidden, holds up the trophy as he celebrates with teammates at the end of the Italian Super Cup soccer match against Lazio at the Rome Olympic stadium. — AP

Juventus crush Lazio, win Italian Super Cup ROME: Juventus won the Italian Supercup for a sixth time on Sunday after humiliating Lazio 4-0 with Carlos Tevez scoring in his first official match with the Italian champions.

The match was marred by racist chanting from the Lazio ultras shortly before fulltime and a warning had to be made over the loudspeaker. There was also trouble in the buildup as two local Juventus fans were stabbed in the backside and had to be taken to hospital.

On the pitch, Juventus substitute Paul Pogba scored in the 23rd minute, less than three minutes after coming on for the injured Claudio Marchisio.

Giorgio Chiellini and Stephan Lichtsteiner extended Juventus’ advantage early in the second half before Tevez’s 56th-minute strike.

Juventus is level with AC Milan as having won the season’s traditional curtain-raiser between the league champion and the Italian Cup winner the most times.

The ease with which Juventus tore Lazio apart in its own stadium will be a warning sign to the rest of Serie A. Antonio Conte’s team is already favorite to win the league for a third consecutive time.

“I knew that we would face the match with the right attitude, and I am happy to have brought home

for the second consecutive year the double of the title and the Supercup,” Conte said. “It was a deserved victory.

“It’ all credit to these lads. I knew they would have the right attitude and that’s how it was. It will be a difficult year, we have to start fully charged as we did today, playing with our head and with desire.”

The hefty defeat will have come as a shock for Lazio and its fans, still celebrating after beating bitter city rival Roma to lift the Italian Cup in May. “We collapsed after the second goal and we were a bit naive, while Juve was clinical,” Lazio coach Vladimir Petkovic said. “But until the second goal, they didn’t create much.

“They deserved it, now we have to return with our feet on the ground after winning the final against Roma. We have to examine our conscience, realize our errors and start again from zero.”

There was an early blow for Juventus as a visibly frustrated Marchisio limped off with a knee injury in the 20th minute. It took replacement Pogba only 2 minutes, 35 seconds to put Juventus in front following a well-worked free kick.

Specialist Andrea Pirlo was expected to have an attempt on goal but instead rolled it to Lichtsteiner and

his cross was deflected by Stefan Radu into the path of Pogba, who swivelled and fired into the bottom left corner.

Radu almost leveled 10 minutes later but Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon pulled off a fantastic save to fingertip the ball away to safety with his trailing hand.

Juventus doubled its lead seven minutes after the break, with Chiellini tapping in Lichtsteiner’s cross after a swift counterattack.

Having made the two goals, Lichtsteiner - who was signed from Lazio in 2011 - found the net himself two minutes later, racing through the Lazio defense before firing into the bottom right corner.

Juventus was running rampant and scored a fourth shortly after as Tevez opened his account following his offseason move from Manchester City. Lichtsteiner was again involved.

His effort was acrobatically parried by goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, who reacted immediately to then save Pogba’s header. But the ball rebounded back to the Frenchman, who cut it back for Tevez to drill into the bottom left corner. Lazio went close to reducing the deficit in the 75th minute. Miroslav Klose easily beat Leonardo Bonucci to race clear on goal but Buffon did well to parry with his legs.— AP

Lazio fans banned over racist chanting ROME: A section of Lazio’s home ground has been closed for one match after fans from the notorious Curva Nord abused black players during the Italian Supercup, Italy’s Sporting Justice Commission said yesterday. Juventus trio Paul Pogba of France, Ghana midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah and Angelo Ogbonna, an Italy defender of Nigerian descent, were subjected to racist chanting during the Serie A champions’ 4-0 defeat of Lazio at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

But footballing authorities were quick to react under new anti-racism directives. It means Lazio will face Udinese in their opening Serie A match of the new season without fans at one end of the stadium.

The end that faces the closure is the Curva Nord (north curve) where Lazio’s hardcore ‘Ultras’, known for their fascist leanings, watch games.

France midfielder Pogba, who was on the score-

sheet in Juve’s thumping victory, hit out at the fans but said there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

“We heard it, they’re ignorant,” Pogba told AFP. “What can I do? I’m alone against 30,000 fans. They do that even though there are blacks in their team. “It’s also a lack of respect towards their own players.

“It’s really not nice to come to a football match and hear those sort of things, but I’m a player, I concentrate on my job.” Lazio themselves lined up with Angolan-born Belgian Luis Pedro Cavanda in their side while Nigerian midfielder Ogenyi Onazi came on as a substitute. It was not the only incidence of football terrace-related racism of the weekend as German under21 international Danny da Costa was subjected to racist taunts from an 1860 Munich supporter during his team Ingolstadt’s second-tier match. The supporter was arrested at the stadium and hit with a ban. — AFP

Qatar index makes second rise above 10,000 points Page 22

Business

Oil above $110 on Libya, Egypt unrest Page 23

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Asian markets mixed after Wall St losses

Poles ready to shrug off shortest of Euro downturns Page 24

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NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday in New York City. Having dropped for two consecutive weeks, the Dow Jones industrial average was up slightly in morning trading. —AFP

US bond yields hit two-year high Fed meeting could offer clues on policy NEW YORK: US bond yields hit a two-year high yesterday and emerging market currencies from India to Indonesia tumbled as markets braced for the Federal Reserve to start withdrawing support for the US economy.

US stocks were mixed as trading began but then edge higher, while European shares slipped. Fear that the Fed will scale back stimulus spending next month battered Wall Street last week, with the Dow industrials putting in their worst weekly run of the year.

Minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting will be released tomorrow and could shed light on when the central bank plans to slow its $85 billion-amonth in bond purchases, a tricky process that has been making markets nervous for months.

The Fed has said it expects the economy to improve in the second half of this year and in 2014, and recent signs of firmer growth have bolstered expectations that it will start winding down stimulus.

However, policymakers have also stressed that any sign of weakness could delay the timetable for

tapering purchases. Those expectations have helped push up long-term interest rates, with the U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury hitting a two-year high of 2.87 percent on Monday, up more than a percentage point since May. German 10-year government bond yields rose 1.3 basis points to 1.89 percent, having hit their highest since March 2012 at 1.924 percent at the open.

“What you are seeing at the moment in a way is central bankers versus the markets,” said ABN Amro economist Nick Kounis. “The markets are pushing up the rate (increase) expectations and central bankers have been trying to pour cold water on the moves, but it is proving more difficult against a background of stronger economic data.”

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 6.84 points, or 0.05 percent, at 15,088.31. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.70 points, or 0.10 percent, at 1,657.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.61 points, or 0.49 percent, at 3,620.39.

While the notion of less Fed support has rattled Wall Street in recent weeks, European shares have

held up fairly well. The 17-country euro zone ended an 18-month recession last quarter, growing 0.3 percent, and August business surveys this week are likely to show the modest recovery is slowly broadening out.

Major European indexes were down slightly yesterday, pushing the FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.6 percent. An index of global stocks slipped 0.3 percent.

As rising core debt yields make it harder for developing nations to fund widening current account deficits, emerging markets - whose economies are heavily linked to US fortunes and the dollar - took a spill.

The Indian rupee slid as far as 62.73 per dollar, emphatically breaching the previous low of 62.03.

The country’s share market lost 1.4 percent, on top of a 4 percent drubbing on Friday.

The country’s central bank has tried to restrict how much money Indian residents and companies can send offshore, but that only raised fears of outright capital controls that would further undermine the confidence of foreign investors.

“The foreign investor community wants tangible and ambitious reforms that look and feel like a worthy ‘second generation’ to the fundamental measures adopted in the early 1990s,” Westpac analysts said in a note.

Indonesia’s rupiah shed 1 percent to four-year lows at 10,485 per dollar and the strain also showed in MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan , which fell 0.5 percent.

Crucial data later in the week will be an early reading on Chinese manufacturing from HSBC. Recent data suggested the economy might be stabilizing and any improvement in the purchasing manager index will be welcomed by Asian investors.

In the currency market, the dollar gave up early, modest gains to stand at $1.3355 per euro, little moved from Friday. Against the yen it pulled up to 97.95. The dollar has been in gradual decline for the past few weeks, in part on concerns that the prospect of Fed tapering would scare foreign investors out of US bonds.

At some point yields should reach levels that are

attractive to investors. But Lee Hardman, a currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, said for now the view on the currency was split between advanced and more vulnerable emerging economies.

“The rising US yields are making the global financing conditions more difficult, especially for countries which have elevated current account deficits,” he said. “We think gradually over time the dollar will begin to outperform against the major currencies, but at the moment it is being offset by higher (bond) yields in Europe, where markets have been very much focused on the improving cyclical momentum.”

Hopes for a pick-up in growth globally have also supported commodities. Copper slid 0.7 percent to $7,359 a tonne after hitting a 10-week peak of $7,420 on Friday, while gold and platinum both edged down from two-month highs. Brent crude inched up toward $111 a barrel as oil markets remained focused on the violent unrest in Egypt, which has stoked fears for exports from oil producers in the Middle East and North Africa. —Reuters

India rupee hits new low, WB says gloom overdone

MUMBAI: A commuter stands in front of an advertisement for a brokerage firm at a bus stop in Mumbai yesterday. India’s rupee hit a new low and shares slipped another 1.3 percent on growing fears about the country’s slowing economy and the government’s ability to stem a deepening economic crisis. The rupee, now Asia’s worst-performing major currency this year, fell to 62.35 rupees to the dollar, past its previous low of 62.03 on August 16. —AFP

MUMBAI: India’s currency plunged to a new lifetime low against the dollar and shares tumbled yesterday even as the World Bank’s chief economist said the country’s problems were “overplayed”.

Kaushik Basu said India was not in danger of a fullblown economic crisis, despite Asia’s third largest economy struggling with a gaping current account deficit that has helped push the rupee to lifetime lows.

“Growth may not have bottomed out. We may have further to go (down), but the situation is not as bad as is being captured by the mood and captured in the headlines,” Basu said in New Delhi.

Basu, himself an Indian and a former chief adviser to the finance ministry, said things were very different from 1991 when India had to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund in what was considered a national humiliation.

“India is nowhere near the 1991 crisis. The gloom is being overplayed,” he told a business audience. “In 1991 we had foreign exchange reserves ultimately for 13 days of imports, we now have enough for seven months.”

“There is no comparison. I don’t think we are anywhere near that situation. We are a much stronger economy than in 1991.” The partially convertible rupee, Asia’s worst-performing major currency this year, fell 2.3 percent, the sharpest single-day decline in years, to 63.22 rupees to the dollar in trade Monday on concerns about the slowing

economy. Shares, which fell nearly four percent on Friday, plunged over two percent before retracing some losses to close down 1.56 percent at 18,307 points. India’s 10-year benchmark bond hit a five-year peak of 9.17 percent, reflecting eroding investor appetite for Indian debt as worries about the economy and potential default mounted.

Basu said India’s economy-even with 4.8 percent annualised growth in the quarter to March-was among the world’s fastest-growing. He urged people not to fall into a “spiral of pessimism”.

In the long run the crux of India’s problems lie with issues such as “governance, bureaucratic efficiency, the business ethos”, Basu said. “The countries that have done well historically... they have managed to clean up their business ethos” so nobody has to pay bribes to get tasks done, he said.

Corruption has long been a central issue in India and the Congress-led government has been racked by a string of graft scandals that have alarmed foreign investors.

Basu and analysts urged the central bank to use its foreign exchange reserves to curb turbulence in the rupee.

The central bank has been sparing in its use of reserves to defend the currency.

If India bank indicated its “number one initial priority is to stabilise the rupee... I suspect it would go a long way to calming the situation,” said Credit Suisse economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde.

But Basu said India should “not try to buck the trend of the exchange rate”. “If you deny the laws of the market, you will come to grief,” he said. As of yesterMonday, the rupee had fallen over 14 percent against the dollar this year, closing at 63.14 against the US unit.

Last week, in the latest of a series of steps to prop up the currency, the central bank spooked investors when it tightened controls on the amount of money Indian firms and individuals can send abroad.

The move has been criticised as a disturbing throwback to before the country unleashed its economic liberalisation drive in the early 1990s, when Indians’ access to foreign exchange was strictly limited.

In the past few weeks, policymakers have raised shortterm interest rates, announced plans to let state firms raise foreign funds abroad, and curbed gold imports to narrow the deficit and stabilise the rupee.

Analysts have dismissed many of the moves as “firefighting” that do not address reforms needed to put the economy on its feet.

In its latest initiative, the government announced late Monday it had decided to “disallow import” of duty-free flat screen TVs by airline passengers as part of their personal luggage. Emerging-market currencies have been hit by expectations the United States will roll back massive stimulus measures responsible for huge inflows of foreign investment into developing countries. —AFP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

BUSINESS

Gold hits two-month highs on US data, SPDR inflows SINGAPORE: Gold hit fresh two-month highs yesterday, helped by weak US data that increased the metal’s safe-haven appeal, and further inflows into the world’s biggest bullion-backed exchange traded fund (ETF).

Gold has gained about 8 percent in the last nine sessions on the back of a weaker dollar, short-covering and technical buying. Signs of increasing physical demand, and a turnaround in the outflows from gold-backed ETFs have also supported prices.

“Last quarter what was tugging at gold prices was the fight between money managers who are very bearish on gold and physical buyers who were

quite bullish,” said Joyce Liu, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“The outlook (for gold prices) is slightly better now as it looks like we have bottomed out on the outflows.” SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest goldbacked ETF, posted a 0.4 percent increase in holdings last week to 915.32 tonnes - its first increase since November 2012.

The fund has seen about $19 billion in outflows this year, and has weighed heavily on gold prices that have lost nearly a fifth of their value in 2013.

Hedge funds and money managers raised net long positions in gold and silver, a report by the

Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday, indicating that investors’ sentiment towards gold may be changing.

Spot gold had fallen 0.2 percent to $1,372.91 an ounce by 0726 GMT on profit-taking, after hitting a two-month peak of $1,384.10 earlier. Bullion climbed the most in five weeks last week, posting a near 5 percent gain. Silver gained 14 percent - its biggest weekly increase in almost five years.

Liu said charts show that the momentum for gold prices is still positive. Spot gold is expected to break a $1,386 per ounce resistance and rise more to $1,403, Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao said.

Shanghai gold futures rose 2 percent yesterday.

Demand from China and India is set to soar to a record 1,000 tonnes each in 2013, the World Gold Council said last week. US consumer sentiment ebbed in August and residential construction rose less than expected last month, potentially dimming hopes of an acceleration in economic activity in the third quarter and increasing gold’s safe-haven appeal.

Economic data is being monitored by investors to gauge when the US Federal Reserve would begin tapering its commodities-friendly stimulus measures.

Minutes of the Fed’s July policy meeting are due to be released on Wednesday. — Reuters

Kuwait’s GDP at $177 billion MUSCAT: Oman’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached USD 81 billion in 2012, according to a freshly-released report by the GCC Chambers of Commerce. The sultanate oil sector constituted three percent of the GDP, due to hike of oil prices, and the non-oil sector, seven percent.

As to Kuwait, the GDP, last year, amounted to USD 177 billion, Saudi Arabia USD 642 billion, the UAE USD 376 billion, Qatar USD 200 billion and Bahrain USD 27 billion.

GCC states’ economies grew by 5.5 percent, in 2012, whereas the overall GDP of the Council member states reached USD 1.48 trillion, the report said, also noting that the GCC states’ daily crude oil output stood at 16.1 million barrels.

The GCC countries’ net current account reached USD 378 billion, Gulf and foreign assets rose to USD 2.2 trillion. Their exports of services and commodities amounted to USD 850 billion while imports stood at USD 578 billion.

Majority of the GCC states depend on oil as a source of income. The countries of the bloc have been seeking to diversify sources of income and broadening affiliate industries such as petrochemicals. The GCC, founded in the early 80s, comprises Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman.

Meanwhile, the Kuwait Stock Exchange is showing action within a limited horizon in August, supported by announcements of first half profit by leading companies, and there is minor shifting of positions among a few small shares.

In interviews with KUNA, economic experts said small and medium shares are directing the market at present amid absence of big players and due to the customary summer holiday lull. Traders tend to prefer to wait for the more active periods with the start of September.

One expert, Ali Al-Nemesh, said a review of market action recently shows good action in terms of value, especially after Ramadan and the Eid holiday and in view of the state of affairs in some Arab countries.

Al-Nemesh added traders are currently reacting to first half profit announcements, which showed noticeable growth from last year. He said September would also bring much change in main indices, most specifically value, which could reach a daily KD 40 million. This is particularly probable since operational companies have announced good figures, which in turn gives them an opportunity for a hike in share price.

Meanwhile, expert Mohammad Al-Naqi pointed out that in addition to the Ramadan and Eid and summer lull, the market was affected by the political situation. He predicted the market would rally and boom now with the return of parliament and the new younger spirit in parliament. The new parliament is expected to speed up review and decision on many bills that would bolster the economy, which is hoped to restore investors trust with the cooperation of the executive authority.

Focusing on absence of blue chips from the action, Nayef Al-Enizi for his part said that the market is in a period of stability that still requires some caution and reserve. The market must avoid too much risk and the traps of speculation, particularly with both leading shares and banks shares absent from the scene, more or less.

“What we are seeing now is shuffling of positions among smaller companies. This requires us to come up with incentives and measures to sustain the tempo of the action, so as to protect the capital of investors who focused on the stock market for lack of satisfactory opportunities in other sectors,” he noted. — KUNA

NEW YORK: People wait in line for a chance to enroll for one of 750 spots for jobs being offered by the New York District Council of Carpenters at its lower Manhattan office on Sunday in New York City. An estimated 500 people waited in line for days to be the first through the door at 9am yesterday to apply. While there is no guarantee of immediate placement and many will get apprentice jobs first, a fully trained union member can earn $99 an hour with benefits. — AFP

RUSTENBURG: A picture taken on October 5, 2012 shows striking mine workers gathering outside the Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) Mine in Rustenburg. World number one platinum producer Anglo American Platinum announced yesterday it will begin firing an estimated 6,900 workers in South Africa on September 1. — AFP

Qatar index makes second rise above 10,000 points Property stocks traded heavily in Dubai DUBAI: Qatar’s bourse rose back above the psychologically important level of 10,000 points yesterday, buoyed by second-quarter corporate earnings and government budget plans, while Egypt stabilised after big losses due to political violence.

The Qatari index rose 1.3 percent to 10,038 points, extending its 2013 gains to 20.1 percent. Trading volume jumped to its highest this month. The index broke 10,000 points last week for the first time since September 2008.

“Second-quarter earnings created a momentum in the market,” said Yassir Mckee, wealth manager at Al Rayan Financial Brokerage.

Government spending plans are also buoying the market; state spending rose only 2.2 percent to 178.2 billion riyals ($48.9 billion) in the fiscal year to March because of delays in pushing forward infrastructure plans, but the government aims to raise spending to 210.6 billion riyals this year as projects get underway.

Some investors are still looking out for the planned listing of Doha Global Investment Co, a $12 billion investment company backed by assets from the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund. The listing was initially planned for late April but summer and Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, have slowed down the listing process; authorities have not said when the share offer may proceed. State-run Qatar Petroleum is also expected to list some units eventually. If the Doha Global offer does go ahead, it could have a short-term dampening effect on the market as investors withdraw money to buy the new shares.

Some analysts believe it could help Qatar in the long

run, however, by deepening the market and attracting more foreign investment.

“We’re heading in the right direction. If we add two to four new companies, it will add huge interest in the market,” Mckee said.

In Egypt, the index slipped 0.1 percent after a choppy trading session. It had tumbled 5.5 percent over the previous two trading days in response to the army-backed government’s bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Foreign investors were net sellers on Monday while locals were buyers, according to exchange data, and many traders said the market remained vulnerable to more losses if the political crisis continued.

“People are pretty cautious - foreigners have their own concerns regarding repatriation,” said Amr Reda, assistant vice-president on the foreign sales desk at Pharos Securities in Cairo. Foreign investors have had trouble remitting profits out of the country because of foreign exchange shortages.

“Some locals are optimistic the army will take control of the situation on the ground. The main concern is of more violence on the street and uncertainty about when it will end,” Reda added.

Daily trading sessions were shortened to three hours from four in the past two trading days to give employees more time to obey a curfew; normal trading hours will resume on Tuesday, the bourse said. In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s bourse resumed rising after three sessions of declines as buyers returned in property-related shares. The main index rose 1.5 percent, extending year-to-date gains to 64.3 per-

cent.

Construction firm Arabtec led trading volumes, rising 4.1 percent. Blue chip bank Emirates NBD, heavily exposed to the property sector, climbed 2.7 percent.

Union Properties, which soared 11 percent on Sunday in massive trading volume, pulled back 0.4 percent on Monday and was the second most active stock.

In Saudi Arabia, the index climbed 0.6 percent to hit a fresh 59-month high. Banking and cement shares supported gains with their indexes up 1.0 and 2.1 percent.

MONDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS QATAR The index rose 1.3 percent to 10,038 points.

EGYPT The index slipped 0.1 percent to 5,329 points.

DUBAI The index advanced 1.5 percent to 2,666 points.

ABU DHABI The index gained 0.6 percent to 3,899 points.

SAUDI ARABIA The index climbed 0.6 percent to 8,203 points.

KUWAIT The index eased 0.03 percent to 8,132 points.

OMAN The index climbed 0.8 percent to 6,899 points.

BAHRAIN The index ticked up 0.1 percent to 1,203 points.

— Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

ASIAN COUNTRIES Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal Irani Riyal

2.919 4.561 2.766 2.158 2.860 223.960 36.710 3.654 6.518 9.088 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

76.937 78.244 739.640 756.340 77.551

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

42.450 40.642 1.328 173.570 402.130 1.910 3.094 34.503

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 284.650 Euro 380.720 Sterling Pound 446.190 Canadian dollar 276.360 Turkish lira 147.070 Swiss Franc 308.400 Australian Dollar 263.590 US Dollar Buying 283.450 GOLD 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

260.000 131.000 68.000

COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL DRAFT 265.69 279.62 311.92 382.96 284.05 448.40 2.97 3.668 4.606 2.159 2.901 2.771 77.40 756.02 40.63 404.27 738.71 78.44 75.88

SELL CASH 263.000 282.000 311.000 384.000 287.400 443.000 3.000 3.800 5.150 2.700 3.600 2.920 78.000 759.500 41.100 416.200 746.400 79.000 76.300

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen

Selling Rate 284.350 279.560 441.895 379.800 308.900 752.820 77.395 78.050 76.690 400.835 40.329 2.157 4.687 2.775 3.651 6.508 697.520 3.945

Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

9.270 4.060 3.980 89.575

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Scottish Pound Swedish Krona Swiss Franc

SELL CASH Europe 0.4369558 0.0065515 0.0467961 0.3737893 0.0441271 0.4351225 0.0396846 0.3023052

SELLDRAFT 0.4459558 0.0185615 0.0517961 0.3812893 0.0493271 0.4426225 0.0446846 0.3093052

Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Uganda Shilling

Australasia 0.2522278 0.2232773 0.0001127

0.2642278 0.2332773 0.0001127

America Canadian Dollar Colombian Peso US Dollars

0.2685459 0.0001447 0.2823000

0.2775459 0.0001627 0.2844500

Bangladesh Taka Cape Vrde Escudo Chinese Yuan Eritrea-Nakfa 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

Asia 0.0036121 0.0031552 0.0454730 0.0164300 0.0000441 0.0341269 0.0045235 0.0000223 0.0028406 0.0028323 0.0031863 0.0818349 0.0027015 0.0027349 0.0060701 0.0000727

0.0036671 0.0033852 0.0504730 0.0195300 0.0000501 0.0372269 0.0045885 0.0000274 0.0038406 0.0030123 0.0034163 0.0888349 0.0029015 0.0027749 0.0065401 0.0000757

Singapore Dollar Sri Lankan Rupee Thai Baht

0.2193189 0.0021177 0.0087010

0.2253189 0.0021597 0.0093010

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

Arab 0.7480832 0.0386287 0.0126525 0.1446254 0.0000791 0.0001837 0.3956266 1.0000000 0.0001744 0.0222364 0.0012076 0.7278199 0.0774761 0.0753200 0.0462492 0.0019382 0.1712025 0.0760179 0.0012831

0.7565832 0.0406437 0.0191525 0.1464154 0.0000796 0.0002437 0.4031266 1.0000000 0.0001944 0.0462364 0.0018426 0.7388199 0.0782591 0.0759600 0.0467992 0.0021582 0.1772025 0.0774679 0.0013831

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) 284.100 381.400 445.750 280.000 4.605 40.635 2.160 3.653 6.500 2.766 756.400 77.400 75.900

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

BUSINESS

Spirit of boom-time mortgages lives on in Europe ATHENS/BERLIN: Remember the days when you could take a mortgage big enough to buy the house and furnish it, a car to park outside and a holiday to celebrate - all on a repayment schedule that only Methuselah could honour?

Those days have never gone away in pockets of Europe. While countries like Spain and Ireland battle to reform the boom-era mortgage lending that has left millions of borrowers at risk of losing their homes, corners of the continent better known for their sturdy finances seem to be still lending as if the financial crisis never happened.

In the AAA-rated Netherlands, home to one of the earliest and biggest bailouts of the crisis - ABN Amro’s 2008 rescue ultimately cost 30 billion euros - first-time buyers can still borrow up to 105 percent of the value of their new home and can get up to five and a half times their gross salary.

A deflating housing bubble means the Dutch government is now cutting back on some of the riskier mortgage products so the maximum amount lent will fall by 2018, but still only to 100 percent.

And in AAA-rated Sweden, a mortgage will outlast the youngest buyer, and their grandchildren.

Such disparities show the lack of coherence in the 28 lending markets that will become part of the region’s grand banking union, which is designed to create a more harmonised financial system, though it is unlikely to have a direct impact on access to credit for citizens.

In Greece, banks will now only fund 70

percent of the house price compared with 100 percent before the crash, putting home purchase beyond the reach of most after six years of recession.

With an unemployment rate of nearly 27 percent, twice the euro zone average, young Greeks have to rent, if they can, or lean upon the hospitality of their parents - an uncomfortable compromise in a country that traditionally has had one of the highest home ownership rates in Europe.

“You have dreams and plans of starting a life together, and then reality hits you,” said Vasiliki Dimitriadou, who lives with her husband in her parents’ small, three-bedroom apartment in Athens.

Vasiliki, 32, lost her job at a nursery a year ago, and her husband, who works at a small construction company, fears for his job, too. Without cash, they can’t afford to rent, let alone buy.

“There were things we took for granted, like having your own house, that are now a luxury,” she said. “I don’t see any light, our generation has been destroyed.”

In Ireland, where the housing collapse all but took the country with it, lenders are taking a much tougher line.

Where once a borrower could take up to five times gross salary, banks are now offering two to three times net income.

The maximum loan is capped at 92 percent of the price of the house, down from pre-crisis peaks of 120 percent.

Transactions that used to be completed in four weeks now take three times as long.

“In the boom time there was no paper-

work ... You’d tell the bank what your salary was and they wouldn’t check up on it,” said one Dublin-based broker. “Now it’s all about the paperwork. You should see our files. It is like ‘Lord of the Rings’.”

Bailed-out Permanent TSB, once Ireland’s biggest mortgage lender, has been leading the paperwork charge by getting all borrowers to fill out a household expenditure form to see if they can really afford the repayments.

Red flags for all the banks include preschool kids - monthly creche fees can top 800 euros a month in parts of Dublin and any hint of online gambling, said the broker. “The buzzword now is ‘forensic lending’. Back during the boom it was, ‘How much do you want?’,” he said.

CIVIL SERVANTS SOUGHT In Europe’s periphery, home ownership is more culturally ingrained, with around 80 percent of people in Greece and Spain owning their home, compared with a 70 percent EU average, according to the European Mortgage Federation.

With lending standards tightening and unemployment stubbornly high in both countries, that looks certain to drop.

“We’ve gone from a world in which mortgages were dispatched as easily as someone going into a bakery to buy a loaf of bread, to the complete opposite,” said Pedro Javaloyes, director of family financing research at Madrid-based mortgage broker Agencia Negociadora.

“Banks are now focused on your minimum income. They want people in certain jobs; civil servants are very highly

prized, for example.”

Where once, loans were made for 50 or 60 years, terms are now capped at 40 years, Javaloyes said, while loan-to-value ratios have fallen from 110 percent to 70 percent, or 80 percent “on rare occasions”.

In Italy, where 72 percent of people own their homes, mortgage lending fell by 37 percent in 2012, according to the Italian statistics office, as the country reels from its longest recession since World War Two. Borrowers in Italy now borrow an average of just 50 percent of their property’s price, though some banks continue to offer 40-year mortgages.

That might sound like a long time, but in Sweden, where there were no direct bank bailouts after the 2008 crisis, it takes an average of 140 years to pay down home loans. Children or next of kin assume the debt when the mortgage outlives the original buyer, though policymakers there are considering changes to encourage speedier repayment, and a maximum loan to value of 85 percent was introduced in 2010.

A DIFFERENT WORLD In Europe’s ‘core’, home ownership is less significant. Just 46 percent of Germans own their homes, 59 percent of the Dutch and 63 percent of the French.

In Britain, nearly two thirds of people own their own home, and lending standards have been tightened as capitalconscious banks think long and hard about who they trust with their precious cash. Borrowers have reported higher due

diligence from the banks, and the average deposit has also risen to around 17 to 20 percent, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Attitudes to savings and deposits are markedly different. While some southern Europeans would gasp at being asked to stump up a 10 percent deposit, it is routine to the Germans and French.

Fixed-rate mortgages are also popular in the core, with around 90 percent of mor tgages structured that way in Germany and over 95 percent in France.

Terms of 20 years or more are common.

In many other European countries, fixed mortgages that long simply aren’t available, though in the UK a niche lender Manchester last year introduced a 25-year fixed mortgage.

Oliver Thoben, a market researcher and gallery owner, borrowed 200,000 euros to build his house in Berlin. He paid all the other costs, including buying the land, from savings, so his loan came to around 75 or 80 percent of the property value.

The 41-year old had to disclose all financial receipts for the past three years bills, invoices, his profit and loss account, as well as proof of income. His wife, a salaried employee, had to show proof of income for the last six months as well as her open-ended job contract.

“I realise they aren’t doing this to frustrate me, but only to be certain that I can pay off the loan,” he said. A point that only needs making because for five or six years before disaster struck, banks barely seemed to care.—Reuters

Oil above $110 on Libya, Egypt unrest Goldman Sachs sees Brent rising to around $115

Nissan maintains top rank in automotive marketing in ME DUBAI: Nissan continues to be recognized as a leading automotive brand and advertiser for marketing effectiveness across the Middle East and North Africa region according to the world marketing authority, Effies Worldwide.

Retaining its top ranking for the second year running, Nissan has a clear lead at the top of the table on the Effies Effectiveness Index.

Each ranked company in the Effie Index undergoes rigorous evaluations of their case studies and work by industry-expert judges to prove that their marketing achieved compelling results. The Index criteria measures all the marketing campaigns which scored points on the Effie index based on the Effie global criteria, including effectiveness, results, creativity and good executions among others.

The jury gives points for each brand based on meeting the above, and Nissan has been the top scorer for the past two years in the automotive category.

This continues Nissan’s dominance of automotive marketing awards, having claimed the highest number of honours among automotive brands in the past 12 months. Campaigns such as ‘Desert Nemesis’; ‘Speed Personified’; and ‘House Hunter Test-

Drive’ have led the impressive tally.

Samir Cherfan, Managing Director, Nissan Middle East, said: “At Nissan we build innovation and excitement into everything we do our brand, our products and our marketing.

We believe in delivering innovative products and excitement for everyone but not at the expense of practicality - when we innovate we do so in a way that is useful to people in the real world. This commitment to intelligent, customer-focused innovation shapes our entire business.”

“The automotive and Marketing industries in the Middle East are becoming increasing competitive, so we are proud to have been recognized in all the recent major awards and to maintain this over a prolonged period is an outstanding achievement. We will continue to build on success as we continue to strengthen Nissan’s brand power in the region.”

In the past year, Nissan has claimed multiple honours at the following awards: 2012 GEMAS Effie MENA Awards (three) MENA Cristal Festival (six) Dubai Lynx Festival of Creativity 2013 (five).

LONDON: Brent crude oil strengthened above $110 a barrel yesterday as the loss of Libyan oil exports tightened supply and violent unrest in Egypt stoked fears for exports from other oil producers in the Middle East and North Africa.

Libya’s oil production and exports have been crippled by violence and strikes, pushing exports to the lowest level since the 2011 civil war, although the country’s largest refinery has reinstated some oil product exports.

Brent crude oil futures for October were up 10 cents at $110.50 a barrel by 0930 GMT. Brent hit a four-month high of $111.53 on Aug. 15 on concern that violence in Cairo could affect the Suez Canal, a major oil conduit.

US oil for September was down 20 cents to $107.26. “Bloodshed and unrest in Egypt and the disruption of oil supplies from Libya have put a floor under oil prices,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Egypt is not a major oil producer, but investors are wary that unrest there could spread through the Middle East, which pumps more than a third of the world’s oil.

Egypt is home to the Suez Canal and the SuezMediterranean (Sumed) pipeline, which together carry around 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from the Red Sea. The Egyptian army has said it will guarantee the safety of the Suez Canal and the Sumed pipeline, but any disruption to supplies could have a dramatic impact on the oil market. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said security forces killed dozens of detained Islamists, upping the pressure in a crisis that has rocked the Arab world’s most populous state. At least 850 people have died since Wednesday in clashes pitting the followers of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi against the army-backed government.

Goldman Sachs said yesterday it expected tighter oil markets to propel Brent to $115 “in the very near term”.

“The disruptions in Libyan oil supplies have lasted far longer than we initially thought with no near-term resolution in sight,” Goldman analysts led by Jeffrey Currie said in a note.

Easing some supply fears, crude flows resumed through a pipeline from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields to

Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Iraqi oil officials said on Sunday.

Investors remained cautious as they awaited more clues on when the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, will start to trim a monetary stimulus programme that has helped bolster asset prices such as oil over the last three years.

Minutes on Wednesday of the US Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting will provide some clues to when it will start scaling back stimulus, which could boost the dollar.

“Since the timing and magnitude of the Fed’s tapering to its QE program (are) not yet known, market participants will be reading the FOMC minutes closely for implications regarding policy,” said Jason Schenker, president and chief economist at Texas-based Prestige Economics.

Some fears of supply disruption eased in the United States with BP Plc saying on Sunday it could start returning offshore workers to its deep water Gulf of Mexico oil and gas facilities after a tropical storm had dissipated. Gulf of Mexico oil production accounts for 23 percent of total US crude output, according to US government data. — Reuters

Dow slips to worst week of 2013 NEW YORK: Stocks fell Friday, closing out what was the worst week of the year for the Dow Jones industrial average.

The market was dragged lower by a weak performance from retailers and companies sensitive to higher interest rates. Homebuilders and banking stocks were among the best performers.

Stocks had a decent start to the week, but investors were hit hard the last three days. The Dow retreated 2.2 percent for the week, its worst in 2013. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 2.1 percent for the week, its second-worst performance of the year.

The possibility of a cutback in the Federal Reserve’s massive bond-buying program in September has roiled the bond market, which has spilled over into stocks. The yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.83 percent, its highest level since July 2011. A week ago, the yield was 2.58 percent.

“When yields are going up like this, that’s scary for most equity investors,” said Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist at Rosenblatt Securities. Rising bond yields have a direct impact on the cost of borrow-

ing for everyone - from home owners trying to refinance their mortgages to companies trying to sell debt making them a potential long-term drag on the economy. The Federal Reserve bond-buying programs were designed to keep the cost of borrowing as low as possible.

On Friday, the S&P 500 lost 5.49 points, or 0.33 percent, to 1,655.83.

The Dow fell 30.72 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,081.47 and the Nasdaq composite lost 3.34 points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,602.78. Shares of utilities and telecommunications companies, which typically perform poorly in a higher interest-rate environment, closed broadly lower. New Yorkbased utility Consolidated Edison Inc. fell 75 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $56.64 while California’s PG&E was down 71 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $42.64.

Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. fell 1.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Stocks such as utilities, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications are often purchased because they provide a higher-than-normal dividend. As Treasury yields rise, it makes all dividend-paying stocks less attractive to investors because Treasuries can provide a similar return with sig-

nificantly less risk.

“You try to focus on stocks that usually benefit from higher interest rates-banks are a good example,” said John Fox, who oversees $873 million in assets as co-manager of the FAM Value Fund.

The Dow has fallen 3.7 percent from its all-time high of 15,658.36 two weeks ago. Even so, the bluechip index is up 15 percent this year while the S&P 500 has climbed 16 percent. “Keep it in perspective we’re down modestly from what was an all-time high,” Fox said.

Retailers continued their multiday selloff. Nordstrom Inc. gave a bleak sales outlook late Thursday that echoed similar forecasts from WalMart Stores Inc. and Macy’s Inc. earlier this week.

The outlooks have raised worries that US shoppers might be pulling back on spending. Nordstrom’s stock fell $2.90, or 4.9 percent, to $56.43, making it the biggest decliner in the S&P 500.

The retail industry is a closelywatched part of the US economy as consumer spending makes up roughly 70 percent of economic activity.

The disappointing outlooks are worrisome because they take into account

the back-to-school shopping season, typically the second-biggest shopping period for US retailers.

“It’s left us scratching our heads,” Fox said. “It really forces you to ask the question: ‘is the consumer slowing down?’”

Investors have also been concerned about what will happen to the stock market-and the US economy-if the Fed begins winding down its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program in September. Some investors think that the Fed’s program has been a large contributor to the stock market’s record run.

“The big question is, will the Fed eliminate the bond-buying program in September, and, if so, how they will they remove the bond buying,” said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading for LEK Securities.

With the bond market declining and stocks selling off, investors shifted into a safer asset - gold. Its price rose $10.1, or 0.7 percent, to $1,371.

Gold had its third-best week this year, rising 3.7 percent.

Also in focus were homebuilders.

The government reported that new home construction was up 6 percent in July to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 896,000.—AP

Campaign seeks to push Seattle minimum wage to $15 SEATTLE: Washington already has the nation’s highest state minimum wage at $9.19 an hour. Now, there’s a push in Seattle, at least, to make it $15.

That would mean fast food workers, retail clerks, baristas and other minimum wage workers would get what protesters demanded when they shut down a handful of city restaurants in May and others called for when they demonstrated nationwide in July.

So far, the City Council and mayoral candidates have said they’d consider it in the famously liberal city. One said, however, that it may not be soon. Venture capitalist Nick Hanauer said there’s no time to waste. What the nation needs is money in the hands of regular consumers. “A higher minimum wage is a very simple and elegant solution to the death spiral of falling demand that is the signature feature of our economy,” he said.

Some businesses advocates say a higher minimum wage will make it harder for companies in Seattle to survive. They cite WalMart, which has all but refused to accept a Washington, D.C., decision to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour in big box stores.

A higher minimum wage eliminates low wage jobs because that’s how small businesses cut costs and that ends up hurting the people it was supposed to benefit, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. More than 15 million workers earn the national minimum wage, making about $15,080 a year - $50 below the federal poverty line for a family of two. San Francisco currently has the highest minimum wage for all workers at $10.50 an hour.

Economist Chris Benner of the University of California at Davis does not agree that a higher minimum wage would lead to job losses. “There may be some job impact in

those small businesses themselves,” he said.

But in the entire economy, when you increase income to low-wage workers, it creates jobs because those workers are likely to spend their additional income and that increases demand for goods and services.

Benner also doubts a higher minimum wage would affect prices enough to scare away consumers. His research has shown that even a large increase in wages, like the proposal in Seattle, has only a 4 to 5 percent effect on prices.

One of those affected by a potential wage increase is Caroline Durocher, 21, who has been working low-wage jobs since high school. She has been working at a Seattle Subway restaurant for about a month, since she was fired by another chain shortly after participating in the minimum wage strike. “I have co-workers who are single moms. I honestly don’t know how they make it,” said Durocher,

who sleeps on her father’s couch. City Council member Nick Licata doesn’t expect the issue to get any official traction soon. One of the council’s most liberal members, he said there are other issues the council should tackle to help lowwage workers, including wage theft and affordable housing. Pushing it forward before it can actually pass would kill he idea, he said. One Seattle City council candidate has made the topic the centerpiece of her campaign. Economist Kshama Sawant is basing her campaign on similar efforts in New York City and Washington, DC. While saying her chances of getting elected are not great, she is pushing the rise in the minimum wage and said she is hearing about it on the campaign trail. An alternative, yet politically mighty, weekly newspaper, the Stranger, has endorsed her idea. “We’re getting a huge echo for the idea,” she said. — AP

JAMMU: An Indian laborer smokes as he sits near sacks of onions at a wholesale market in Jammu, India, yesterday. The prices of onion, a staple food of the Indian middle class, have been soaring in the past weeks leading to protests by people in the streets. —AP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

BUSINESS

GCC: FDI stabilised in 2012 on positive sentiment to the region NBK’S Economic update KUWAIT: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the GCC in 2012 increased slightly over the previous year to reach $26.4 billion, according to data published by UNCTAD in their annual World Investment Report 2013.

(Chart 1.) This brings to an end three consecutive years of declining FDI flows to the region since the pre-financial crisis peak of $61.7 billion in 2008.

• The GCC’s positive performance is further accentuated when placed in the context of developing economy and world FDI flows, both of which declined in 2012, by 4.4% and 18.2%, respectively. The GCC increased its share of developing economy FDI to 3.8% from 3.6%.

• While global FDI flows-especially those originating from developed economiesremain inhibited by the deleveraging of international banks and investors’ heightened sensitivity to risk, the GCC, as a destination for foreign investment, has benefited from a combination of relatively high hydrocarbon prices, buoyant economic growth and an ambitious program of government-sponsored investment projects.The region also regularly accounts for more than 50% of all FDI to the Arab Middle East and North Africa.

• Within the GCC, in 2012 FDI flows to all the countrieswith the notable exception of Saudi Arabia increased over the previous year.The latter, by virtue of its size,was rather more susceptible to the difficulties

experienced by investors in accessing capital from retrenching international banks and witnessed a 25% decline in FDI to $12.2 billion. (Chart 2.) The Kingdom remainsthe most attractive destination for foreign investment in the Arab world, however.

• In the UAE and Kuwait, FDI inflows increasedin 2012 to $9.6 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.The 25% increase in FDI to the UAEover the previous year was further evidence of the recovery in investors’ appetites after the Dubai World debt crisis.

In Kuwait, the doubling of FDI was primarily the result of Qatar Telecom’s acquisition of additional shares in the mobile operator Wataniya.

• GCC FDI flows have also been facilitated by the significant improvements made by individual countries in the ease of doing business. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, for instance, ranked 22 and 26 in the world, respectively, have made positive strides in reformingthe procedures, costs and time taken to start a business, trade across borders and deal with construction permits, for example. (Chart 3.)

• Meanwhile, FDI flows from the GCC to other countries declined last year, by 17.7% to $18.6 billion.(Chart 4.)Kuwait was once again the largest investor overseas, accounting for 41% of GCC outflows with $7.6 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia with $4.4 billion and the UAE with $2.5 billion.

Honda Alghanim launches Best Summer Offer on all 2013 Honda Cars Instant Cash back up to KD 1000 KUWAIT: Staying true to its tradition in offering exceptional promotions for its customers, Alghanim Motors, the exclusive distributor of Honda in Kuwait, announced the launch of a new and special promotion that will enable car enthusiasts to own a brand new 2013 Honda vehicle and receive instant cashback up to KD 1000.

This new and exclusive offer is available on all 2013 Honda vehicles, the Honda Accord, Accord Coupe, Civic, City and the Honda family cars, the Pilot, Odyssey, CR-V and Cross tour where customers can purchase any of these vehicles and get instant cash back from Honda Alghanim.

Customers can take advantage of this offer by visiting the Honda showroom in Safat Alghanim which operates from 8:30 am until 10:00 pm from Saturday to Thursday and from 9:30 am until 10:00 pm on Fridays.

Alghanim Motors, the sole distributor of Honda automobiles, power products and motorcycles in Kuwait is committed to providing customers with flexible payment solutions, as well as offering comfortable amenities in its new service center located in Shuwaikh. The Alghanim Motors Service Center provides efficient and cost-effective services at all times. The waiting lounge offers customers a wide array of amenities such as an electronic gaming area, digital satellite channels, free wireless Internet access as well as relaxing massage chairs.

Honda’s customers will also enjoy excellent customer service, quality maintenance options and competitive prices on genuine spare parts, all of which are provided t by a team of professional and highly skilled technicians.

Poles ready to shrug off shortest of Euro downturns WARSAW: Only months after a stagnant winter marked the end of one of Europe’s few recent economic success stories, financial experts are increasingly convinced Poland is mounting a robust recovery.

The question when the European Union’s biggest eastern member stalled at the end of 2012 was whether a decade of growth after its entry to the bloc in 2004 had been a oneoff honeymoon, or could be repeated.

No doubt Poles are feeling the effect of the slowdown after a rise in joblessness and insecurity. Living standards still trail a long way behind those of their western neighbours, or even the Czech Republic.

But all signs in Warsaw this week are that the conditions are in place for a gradual and sustainable revival.

“The economy is still weak overall but there are green shoots now which we can say are firmly in place,” said Peter Attard Montalto, emerging markets economist with Nomura in London. Profits and productivity gains had proven easy in the years after EU entry as a population used to low wages, cramped housing and the search for a cheap solution to every problem discovered new ideas like easily available consumer credit.

Millions of Poles headed west to work - far more proportionally than any of their eastern European neighbours - and sent cash pouring back that has bought cars, built houses and bolstered small businesses.

But many wondered how long the credit boom could run as cash-strapped Western banks cut back on funding for subsidiaries; whether Polish firms were capable of investing to compete with bigger companies in Germany and elsewhere; and how long labour costs would remain competitive as wage expectations rose.

The answers on all those fronts are looking positive. Investment in longer-term and bigger scale projects both public and private has been strong throughout the boom and the results are beginning to show.

Warsaw is finally well connected by road to Germany, the Czech Republic and the country’s other major cities and - importantly for a population of 37 million in this year’s heat wave - lake, mountain and coastal holiday resorts. Exports, whose long-term growth

slowed after 2008, rose 6 percent in the first six months of 2013 compared to a year earlier, including a rise of 2 percent to other EU countries and some 22 percent to other emerging economies.

Poland’s government shied away from cutting as aggressively as some economists demanded in the early days after the 2008 financial crisis, and has now opted to allow this year’s budget deficit to widen to help the recovery.

State bank BGK has issued 2.7 billion zlotys ($863 million) of loan guarantees since mid-March, translating into 4.5 billion zlotys of new loans for companies.

With private sector debt among the lowest in Europe at 78 percent of GDP, there is plenty of room left to grow.

“Poland maintains an advantage over the region as the balance sheets of households and firms are improving,” says Goldman Sachs economist Magdalena Polan.

“The problem of foreign exchange mortgages is much less pronounced and we think that a recovery can be sustained with less risk than in more indebted or export-oriented countries of the region, like Hungary.”

Second quarter figures last week showed annual growth accelerated to 0.8 percent and economists and the central bank agree it will improve further in the second half of the year.

But the slow down did not come without costs. Corporate bankruptcies are up by a third this year to their highest since the financial crisis of 2008 and unemployment is only just showing signs of stabilising at around 13 percent.

Ordinary Poles, used to a steady rise in living standards since the 1990s, are not happy and may well vote out Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a 2015 election. Opinion polls show his party has slipped behind the opposition.

“All anyone seems to want to talk about is crisis. How much longer?” says 63-year old Pawel Sikorski, who runs maintenance on a housing cooperative on Warsaw’s poorer eastern half.

“Somehow there always seems to be money for them (bosses), there are bonuses, there are contracts for their friends. Just nothing for the ordinary man from whom they only want more every day.”—Reuters

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

BUSINESS

S Korea targets growing Asian defence market with fighter jets SACHEON: South Korea, renowned for making hi-tech consumer devices, cars and ships, now has its sights on exporting fighter jets amid a projected sharp increase in demand for military weapons in Asia over the next decade.

South Korea’s first home-built light fighter, the FA-50, will roll out today from the Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (KAI) assembly plant in the southern city of Sacheon.

KAI officials say that they aim to sell about 1,000 FA-50s and T-50s overseas over the next three decades, and are eyeing markets in Southeast Asia,

Eastern Europe and the Americas.

“Countries in Southeast Asia and South America are finding FA-50s enormously attractive,” Park Jeong-soo, a senior official from KAI’s external affairs department told reporters.

Global defence budgets are forecast to increase by 9.3 percent to $1.65 trillion by 2021, according to analysts IHS Janes. Defence budgets in the Asia Pacific are forecast to outstrip North America by 2021, up 35 percent from 2013 levels to $501 billion, it added in its Balance of Trade report in June.

That will pit South Korea’s fighters

against US, European, Chinese and Russian companies in an increasingly crowded - yet still lucrative - market.

South Korea is also planning to develop a much larger KF-X fighter with the help of U.S. defence contractors, although that has been delayed by budgetary constraints. The first FA-50 is part of an order for 20 fighters by South Korea’s air force, which will use them to replace its ageing Northrop F-5 fighters.

Negotiations are ongoing with the Philippines, with a local online news outlet reporting that a $460 million deal with Manila for 12 FA-50s could be com-

pleted this month. Officials at the Sacheon headquarters of KAI declined to comment due to the sensitivity of the matter. KAI CEO Ha Sung-yong said while South Korea’s conventional export markets such as cars and shipbuilding faced tough competition, its aerospace industry should grow strongly.

“Now that has KAI established the groundwork with its own technology, it is necessary to grow the industry ... by contributing to the national military’s force integration and creating jobs and exports,” Ha said.

The FA-50 is based on the T-50

advanced jet trainer, which is already in service in South Korea and was developed together with U.S. defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

The T-50 can also be fitted with weapons under its wings and used as a light attack aircraft. Indonesia was the first export customer with a 2011 order for 16 T-50s, and Iraq is in negotiations to buy 24. KAI and Lockheed are gearing up for a lucrative US Air Force competition for at least 300 aircraft and maybe hundreds more worth several billion dollars, a deal that one South Korean officer called the “jackpot”. —Reuters

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street losses US retailers report poor earnings

TOKYO: US Trade Representative Michael Froman delivers his opening speech at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo yesterday. Japan and US had agreed on copyrights issues over globally popular characters Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty in a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, a Japanese minister said earlier in the day. — AFP

Traders await next Fed step BANGKOK: Global stock markets sagged yesterday as traders weighed the consequences of an anticipated phasing out of the US central bank’s unprecedented stimulus.

The Federal Reserve has been aggressively buying government bonds to push down interest rates and return employment to normal levels after millions lost jobs in the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis.

The Fed says the program has helped stimulate the economy by making it easier to buy homes and invest in businesses. The Fed has also said the program is not indefinite and will be phased out when the economy improves.

Recent economic data and public statements by Fed policymakers have led investors to conclude that the Fed will begin winding down its $85 billion a month in bond purchases starting as early as September. Falling bond yields in the US is one sign that traders believe the Fed’s move is imminent.

But analysts said a sharp increase in the cost of credit could stifle growth, which will make the transition tricky and could make stock markets shaky. “If it looks like the removal of funding is having too much of an adverse effect on the local economy it (the Fed) will have to step back in; or the more likely scenario, it will extend the timeframe for the complete removal of monetary stimulus,” said Evan Lucas of IG in Melbourne, Australia.

In early European trading, Britain’s FSTE 100 fell 0.3 percent to 6,481.56.

Germany ’s DAX fell 0.6 percent to 8,340.48 and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.7 percent to 4,094.38.

Wall Street appeared headed for a flat

opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures nearly unchanged at 15,036. S&P 500 futures were marginally lower at 1,650.70.

One of the day ’s few gainers was Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, which closed 0.8 percent higher at 13,758.13. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.1 percent to 1,917.64.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.2 percent to 22,463.70. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell less than 0.1 percent to 5,112.50.

Trading was suspended in the Philippines due to severe flooding.

Mainland Chinese shares rose. Taiwan and Indonesia fell.

Among individual stocks, Australian steel maker BlueScope Steel plunged 14 percent after reporting a net loss of $84 million Australian dollars for the 2012-13 financial year. Internet-related companies in Hong Kong posted gains.

NetDragon rose 1.7 percent, while Tencent Holdings advanced 1 percent.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed out its worst week of the year. The Dow was dragged lower by a weak performance from retailers and companies sensitive to higher interest rates. The Dow fell 0.2 percent to 15,081.47. The Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 1,655.83. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 3,602.78.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was down 44 cents to $107.02 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 13 cents to $107.46 on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3329 from $1.3319 late Friday. The dollar rose to 97.63 yen from 97.53 yen. —AP

JPMorgan investigated for hiring Chinese children NEW YORK: US regulators are looking into whether JPMorgan Chase hired the children of Chinese officials to help it boost its business in China, The New York Times reported.

The Times said Sunday details of the civil investigation were in a confidential US government document that it saw. According to the document, the anti-bribery unit of the Securities and Exchange Commission asked JPMorgan for records about some of the bank’s hires in China. According to the Times, the document shows that the bank hired the son of a former Chinese banking regulator who is now chairman of the China Everbright Group, a state-controlled financial conglomerate. The paper reported that after the chairman’s son joined the bank, JPMorgan won several assignments from Everbright.

JPMorgan’s Hong Kong office also hired the daughter of a Chinese railway official. The official was later detained on accusations of taking cash bribes in exchange for handing out government contracts, the Times reported, citing the U.S. document and public records.

The woman came to JPMorgan at the time that The China Railway Group was in the process of picking JPMorgan to advise it on its plans to go public. JPMorgan helped China Railway raise more than $5 billion

when it went public in 2007.

Information sought by the SEC included “documents sufficient to identify all persons involved in the decision to hire” her, the Times reported. SEC spokesman Myron Marlin declined to comment. JPMorgan referred to the investigation in a securities filing earlier this month. It said the SEC’s enforcement division is seeking information about the bank’s employment of some people in Hong Kong and its business relationships with some clients, but didn’t give any other details.

On Sunday, JPMorgan issued a statement saying “We publicly disclosed this matter in our 10-Q filing on Aug. 7, and are fully cooperating with regulators.” A spokeswoman for the New York bank declined to comment further.

The Times report said it’s common for global companies to hire the children of Chinese politicians, but that it’s unusual for a company to hire the children of officials of state-controlled companies. The government document did not definitively link JPMorgan hiring to its ability to win business, or suggest that the employees were unqualified, the Times reported. It also noted that there’s nothing illegal about hiring well-connected people, as long as they’re qualified for the job. — AP

HONG KONG: Asian markets were mixed yesterday following a weak lead from Wall Street as traders erred on the side of caution on expectations the US Federal Reserve will soon begin reeling in its stimulus programme.

Tokyo rose 0.79 percent, or 108.02 points, to 13,758.13, Sydney was flat, edging down 1.4 points to 5,112.5 and Seoul eased 0.13 percent, or 2.47 points, to 1,917.64. Hong Kong fell 0.24 percent, or 54.11 points, to 22,463.70 while Shanghai ended 0.83 percent, or 17.15 points, higher at 2,085.60. US shares ended lower Friday, bringing a close to one of Wall Street’s worst weeks of 2013, as a consumer confidence report showed weaker sentiment in August than July while retailers also reported poor earnings.

The Dow fell 0.20 percent, the S&P 500 declined 0.32 percent and the Nasdaq was 0.09 percent off. However, while the latest economic data out of Washington were soft investors feel the US central bank will begin to wind down the $85 billion a month bond-buying scheme that has supported global markets for almost a year.

Many market-watchers predict the bank will begin its tapering next month. However, BNP Paribas economist Julia Coronado said: “While clearly a September move is on the table, we think it is less of a done deal than most market participants are currently thinking.”

She told Dow Jones Newswires that minutes from July’s Fed policy meeting that are due out this week will likely show a variety of views within the bank over the programme’s future. On forex markets the dollar bought 97.60 yen in afternoon trade, against 97.53 yen in New York Friday.

The euro fetched $1.3325 and 130.03 yen compared to $1.3326 and 130.01 yen, with the single currency getting support from last week’s figures showing some economic life returning to the eurozone.

India’s rupee, Asia’s worst-performing major currency this year, fell to a record low 62.35 against the dollar as concerns about Fed tapering as well as the domestic economy cause jitters among investors.

In Tokyo, shares rose despite figures showing Japan’s trade deficit had almost doubled as the weaker yen led to a surge in the cost of energy imports.

However, the data also showed exports to the United States jumped 18.4 percent while those

to the eurozone were up 9.5 percent.

On oil markets New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for deliver y in September, was down 22 cents at $107.14 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for October delivery was up 18 cents at $110.58.

Gold fetched $1,375.20 at 1030 GMT from $1,362.40 late Friday.

In other markets: Mumbai closed down 1.56 percent, or 290.66 points, at 18,307.52 points. India’s telecom services firm Bharti Airtel fell 5.51 percent to 317.35 rupees while private bank ICICI Bank fell 5.07 percent to 815.10 rupees.

Singapore closed down 0.76 percent, or 24.20 points, at 3173.33. Singapore Telecom rose 0.81 percent to Sg$3.75 while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation shed 0.66 percent to Sg$10.48.

Jakarta ended down 5.58 percent, or 255.14 points, at 4,313.52. State miner Aneka Tambang fell 4.51 percent to 1,270 rupiah, while while tin

miner Timah lost 6.72 percent to 1,250 rupiah.

Kuala Lumpur fell 0.55 percent, or 9.88 points, to close at 1,778.36. CIMB Group Holdings lost 1.7 percent to 7.90 ringgit, while UEM Sunrise Bhd eased 1.1 percent to 2.69.

DiGi.com gained 0.7 percent to 4.68 ringgit.

Bangkok fell 3.27 percent or 47.28 points to 1,398.48. Siam Cement dropped 4.37 percent to 438.00 baht, while telecoms company Advanced Info Service lost 3.65 percent to 264.00 baht.

Taipei slipped 0.31 percent, or 24.79 points, to 7,900.21. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co dropped 1.04 percent to Tw$95.5 and Hon Hai Precision was 0.38 percent higher at Tw$79.4.

Wellington fell 0.24 percent, or 10.66 points, to 4,503.22. Fletcher Building was down 1.44 percent at NZ$8.20 and Trade Me fell 2.29 percent to NZ$4.70 while Telecom rose 0.44 percent to NZ$2.26.

Manila’s bourse was closed owing to severe floods in the capital. —AFP

SHANGHAI: An investor gestures at a private securities company yesterday in Shanghai, China. Asian stock markets were little changed yesterday as traders weighed the consequences of an anticipated phasing out of the US central bank’s unprecedented stimulus program. — AP

Thai economy shrinks 0.3% BANGKOK: Thailand’s economy shrank 0.3 percent in the three months to June, the second quarterly contraction this year, as lacklustre demand hit manufacturing and exports, data showed yesterday.

However, the slide from the previous quarter was better than the revised 1.7 percent contraction in the three months to March as the country recovers from devastating floods in late 2011 that swamped major factories.

On a year-on-year basis, gross

domestic product (GDP) expanded 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2013, weaker than 5.4 percent in January-March, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) said.

Manufacturing output eased 1.0 percent, with manufacturers hit by slowing domestic demand and ongoing global weakness, the NESDB said in a statement, as the US and China struggle to get up to speed. Exports shrank 1.5 percent in the quarter from a year earlier. In light of the latest figures that NES-

DB cuts its forecasts for 2013 GDP growth to 3.8-4.3 percent, from 4.25.2 percent projected in May, which was itself a downgrade from 4.5-5.5 percent previously estimated.

Analysts at Capital Economics warned the weak growth in the second quarter was likely to continue, adding: “We think a strong rebound in growth is unlikely. For a start, falling consumer confidence suggests the household sector is struggling.” However, it saw export growth improving, boosted by a gradual recovery in global demand

combined with recent weakness in the Thai baht, which makes the country’s exporters a more competitive.

In July Thailand’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.50 percent to bolster the economy.

The bank said a slowdown in China was hurting the international outlook, while domestic private consumption had weakened in the face of rising debt worries and the waning effect of measures to stimulate consumer spending.— AFP

Noticeable growth in Chevrolet sales in Kuwait and Middle East Tahoe and Malibu top the list KUWAIT: Chevrolet dealers in the Middle East recorded best ever sales for the Tahoe and Malibu which helped drive the brand’s sales in the region 6 percent higher year-on-year in July. Dealers sold a total of 6,670 Chevrolet vehicles, as they registered their best July sales month since 2008.

Sales of the Tahoe, the full-size SUV long revered in the region for its capability and dependability, increased 24 percent in the Middle East.

Sales of SUVs, crossovers and pick-ups rose 17 percent year-onyear in the Middle East in July.

Meanwhile, sales of the eighth

generation Malibu midsize sedan, launched in May last year, increased by 7 percent year-onyear. Figures nearly trebled in the UAE, Chevrolet’s second largest market in the Middle East, while in Kuwait, sales edged 9 percent higher.

“July was an excellent sales

month for Chevrolet across the Middle East with best ever sales for both the Tahoe and Malibu,” said John Stadwick, President and Managing Director of General Motors Middle East. “ The Tahoe has per formed impressively this year while the Malibu has been outstanding since its launch in 2012. The Chevrolet brand continues to go from strength to strength and offers a comprehensive product line up that meets the needs of customers here in the Middle East.”

The 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe ensures optimal customer satisfaction, according to the 2013 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Survey. The Tahoe received the highest possible five-star overall quality score in the survey - garnering the coveted 2013 J.D. Power Initial Quality Award in the Large CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle) Segment.

Other sales highlights for Chevrolet included best July figures for both the Spark mini car and the Camaro sports car across the Middle East. Sales of the Spark more than doubled year-on-year as sales in the UAE jumped sharply.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

BUSINESS

US expats flee taxman’s reach by giving up citizenship WASHINGTON: The decision was not easy for the Gulf War veteran. After 20 years living in Switzerland, Scott Schmith renounced his American citizenship, to escape the obligation to report his income and assets to the US government despite living overseas.

“I have nothing to hide. But I don’t want to be punished because I chose to live outside the US,” said the new Swiss passport holder, a photographer who lives near Zurich.

Schmith is just one of a rising number of Americans giving up their citizenship to avoid the increasing efforts of US authorities to collect taxes on its citizens who keep money offshore, even those who live and work outside the country.

Starting next January, the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act-now known worldwide as Fatca-has required banks in a rising number of countries, including Switzerland, to report to US authorities all accounts held by Americans.

Americans discovered to be not reporting their offshore accounts, and not paying taxes on them where due, face stiff penalties. The US is

the only major country that requires its citizens resident abroad to report their income to their country’s tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service.

For years, Americans abroad have mostly been able to ignore that requirement. But Fatca, by requiring their banks to report the accounts, is now serving as a painful reminder of the obligation. US expats “are now learning that not only are they going to be reported by their local banks, but also that the IRS could treat them as criminals,” said Allison Christians, a tax law professor at Canada’s McGill University.

Increasingly, US expats are choosing another way out: renouncing US citizenship entirely. In the second quarter of this year, the number of Americans that gave up their marine-blue US passport hit a record of 1,131. That was 66.5 percent higher than the previous quarter and up nearly six-fold from a year earlier, according to official data tabulated by AFP. While still a small part of the seven million US citizens living overseas, experts are certain the rise is driven by the new tax and account report-

ing rules. “Fatca is an aggravator to the renunciation figures. It’s making it very difficult for Americans to live overseas,” said Marylouise Serrato, executive director of American Citizens Abroad, which lobbies the government on expatriate issues.

Some banks around the world have already stopped taking new accounts from US citizens, to avoid having to report them or falling into the sights of US regulators, as happened to the Swiss bank UBS in 2009.

Schmith said his bank closed his two accounts in the summer of 2012 due to Fatca.

“More and more US expats are finding themselves abandoned in a financial black hole,” Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, a financial consultancy, said in a statement.

Peter Spiro, professor of law at Temple University in Philadelphia, said Fatca is “creating a terrible dilemma” for US expats.

“If you make a rational calculation, you wonder if it’s worth it to keep your US citizenship in the face of the higher administrative burden and the risk of higher penalties,” he told AFP.

And that solution could still prove problematic. An IRS spokesperson told AFP that even someone who renounced their US citizenship could still be required to file an annual income report, depending on when they gave up their passport and how they earned the money. To be in the clear, someone renouncing their citizenship would have to establish that they had completely satisfied their tax obligations for the preceding five years.

Christians said the real problem was the US authorities’ unique approach to taxing their nationals who live and work abroad.

“It’s not Fatca, it’s citizenship-based taxation that is the problem. “If you had residence-based taxation like every other country in the world, you can have a Fatca regime and go after the taxpayer that tries to hide money abroad,” leaving those who live abroad alone.

Schmitt himself says he is not too worried about it, saying he has “nothing to hide” in his finances. But still he is paying a price: from now on he can only travel to the country of his birth as a tourist. — AFP

BMW Concept M4 Coupe - the true essence of BMW M The CFRP roof reduces weight and ensures a lower centre of gravity, thus facilitating an even sportier driving experience. Here, form and functionality are optimally combined in typical BMW M fashion.

The coupelike roofline flows into the muscularly designed rear end, which then adopts the contour of the roof. A rear spoiler lip is integrated into the trunk lid for optimum downforce. Thanks to this feature, the BMW Concept M4 Coupe not only has better downforce values, but when viewed from the side, also gains in volume and length, in athletic presence.

Below it, the boldly shaped, muscular sill emphasizes the car’s sportive stance on the road.

Aconspicuous detail on the car’s side panels is the redesigned M gill. This characteristic M design element constitutes a both sporty and functional statement. On the Concept M4 Coupe, the M gills incorporate the Air Breather, which together with the Air Curtain within the front apron serves to ventilate the wheel arches and facilitate better airflow values.

Exclusively designed, bicoloured 20” M light alloys boasting the typical M double spoke design complete the sportive design of the car’s sides. The five filigree doublespokes rims with polished outer surfaces reveal M Carbon ceramic brakes.

PEBBLE BEACH/MUNICH: On 15 August, surrounded by both current and historic BMW models, BMW M offered a first outlook on a highperformance sports car of tomorrow - the BMW Concept M4 Coupe. The car was unveiled at the BMW opening media reception for the iconic annual Pebble Beach/Monterey automobile weekend.

“The BMW Concept M4 Coupe reflects the BMW M philosophy in ideal form: It combines motor racing genes and unrestricted everyday suitability in a highly emotional overall concept. For four generations, the BMW M3 has put motor racing on the road and the BMW Concept M4 Coupe consistently continues to pursue this fundamental idea.

The new model designation “M4” refers - like all other BMW M automobiles - to the series on which this concept car is based,” explains Dr. Friedrich Nitschke, President BMW M Division.

Design of the new BMW concept M4 coupe The BMW Concept M4 Coupe, finished in the colour “Aurum Dust” exclusively developed for this model, continues with BMW M’s design language - strong in character, emotional and extremely dynamic. From every perspective it is the embodiment of agility, dynamism and superior performance. Large air inlets in the dynamic front, a swift design language in the side and a sporty, low rear give clear visual indication of the car’s tremendous dynamic potential. CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastics) elements such as the front splitter, the roof, or the rear diffuser underline the optimized lightweight concept down to the smallest detail.

“At BMW M, design is above all an expression of function. Each design element is based on the underlying technical demands of the BMW M high performance concept.

Thanks to this authenticity, the design provides a taste of what can be experienced with each model: Power, precise control and superior handling - an unforgettable driving experience on the racetrack as well as on the road” says Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design.

THE FRONT END Faceted surfaces, precise contours and distinctive visual depth shape the powerfully expressive front end of the BMW Concept M4 Coupe. The classic “BMW face” with its

double kidney and a modern interpretation of the twin round headlamps featuring LED technology provides the car with a distinctive identity, making it recognizable as a BMW M automobile at very first glance. The bonnet with its characteristic power dome symbolises the immense power of the engine that lies beneath it. This dynamic element is further emphasized by a distinctive contour. A further striking feature on the front of the new BMW Concept M4 Coupe is the BMW M double bar kidney grille: The black kidney grille bars imitate the characteristic M double spoke design of the BMW M wheels, the M4 emblem on the kidney grille adding an exclusive accent to the front end.

The powerfully shaped front apron sporting the carbon fibre front splitter immediately catches the eye. The three large air intakes supply the high performance power unit with sufficient cooling air. At the same time, the interplay of surfaces, contours and volume authentically express the car’s supreme potential. The sharply outlined vertical air vents located in the outer section of the side air intakes,

the socalled Air Curtain is a design statement of its own.

Together with the Air Breather, this feature ensures the aerodynamic closure of the wheel arches and consequently, improved air flow and fuel consumption.

THE SIDE Viewed from the side, the dynamic impression conveyed by the front end continues. Astreamlined, flat silhouette and an athletic body design characterize the BMW Concept M4 Coupe. Typical BMW proportions - a long bonnet, long wheelbase, setback greenhouse and a short front overhang - create an exceptionally dynamic appearance even when the car is at a standstill. Muscular wheel arches and the powerfully expressive surface language reveal the BMW Concept M4 Coupe’s supreme performance capabilities at very first glance. The flowing roofline enhances the BMW Concept M4 Coupe’s sporty design with elegant finesse. As a visible hightech lightweight element, the contoured CFRP roof characterizes the BMW Concept M4 Coupe’s technically innovative design.

AAW reinforces leadership position, brings quality furniture to Kuwait KUWAIT: Ali Abdulwahab Al Mutawa Commercial Co. (AAW) yesterday extended its current agreement with Europe’s leading furniture producer, Nolte Group, by adding two more high quality brands, CS Schmal and Express Furniture, to its multi-brand furniture portfolio.

AAW now represents five of Nolte Group’s subsidiary brands, almost 75% of the group’s offering following the launch of numerous furniture and kitchen lines, including the recent launch of CS Schmal and Express Furniture brands in the Kuwait market.

The newly introduced CS Schmal and Express Furniture brands serve a new market segment and carry with it the same motto as the other subsidiary brands. Being one of the world’s most reputable furniture manufacturers established in the 1920s, all of the manufacturing process occurs in Germany to ensure integrity, reliability and above all, quality.

CS Schmal and Express Furniture’s soft opening took place in May 2013 andthe living room furniture and stand-alone

AAW adds CS Schmal and Express Furniture to its multi-brand furniture portfolio. wardrobes arenow available at AAW product lines. We have been able to provide Furniture at medium to low-end price posi- customers in Kuwait with a wide-range of quality cupboard systems and bedroom tion.

General Manager at AAW Furniture, solutions since day one, that are either Mubarak Abdulmohsen Al-Ali said: “AAW has affordable or luxurious. We are ready to a 20-year relationship with Nolte Group, sell- work even closer together to tap into a new ing an extensive variety of units from its market segment with lower-end, functional

furniture.” Sales director at Nolte Middle East, Marc Philipp Hoffmann said: “We supply AAW with various products on a yearly basis with our core brands for kitchens and bedroom furniture. With the two additional brands added to AAW’s portfolio, we aim for a much bigger market share offering the Kuwaiti customer furniture solutions by Nolte in all price segments, whilst underlining the strong partnership between Nolte Group and AAW.” Headquartered in Dubai, Nolte Middle East FZE is a 100 percent daughter company to Nolte Group.

For now, the two brands will be represented in its flagship store located in Farwaniya. With this new expansion, AAW’s furniture division currently represents a variety of brands from Europe and North America.

AAW Furniture currently represents reputed brands in two branches across Kuwait. This original concept is fully-owned and operated by AAW and currently displays furniture brands like Kingsdown, Bassett, Lazyboy, Legacy, Craftmaster, and Lifestyle.

THE REAR The muscular rear end of the BMW Concept M4 Coupe gives visual indication of the car’s supreme power. The entire tail section boasts a sculptural and broad appearance. The large shaded areas beneath the spoiler give the rear end an even flatter and athletic appearance. At the same time, the flat taillights located far to the outside, the wide track and the powerfully flared wheel arches underscore the car’s stable stance on the road. Horizontal lines accentuate the car’s width, lowering the visual centre of gravity even further.

Within the tail section of the BMW Concept M4 Coupe, the design feature of the front apron comprising faceted surfaces is formally replicated and continued further. The interplay of surfaces and precise contours around the optical air vents further accentuates the rear end’s dynamic design. Twin tailpipes are a characteristic M feature on the rear end. The two pairs of carbon fibre tailpipes are encompassed by the sculptural rear apron. A carbon fibre rear diffuser completes the overall aerodynamics package.

Burgan Bank announces winner of VISA card KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the name of the winner of its weekly VISA Card draw to win KD 2000. The lucky winner of this week is Hanadi Anwar Al Saleh.

The winners’ announcement comes as part of Burgan Bank ’s cards promotion that was launched earlier, each 20 KD spent in Kuwait or abroad using Burgan Bank’s VISA Credit Cards will grant the card holder 1 chance to enter the weekly draws; and each transaction done abroad on any Burgan VISA ATM Card will earn 1 chance.

The draw will be carried out on a weekly basis, commencing on the 14th of July and will end on the 30th of September, 2013.

Burgan Bank’s latest promotion is in-line with its overall commitment to provide its customers with exclusive benefits that go beyond their banking needs. To find out more about Burgan Bank’s services as well as its latest promotions, customers are required to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

technology

BlackBerry CEO may get almost $55.6m TORONTO: BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins could receive almost $55.6 million if the company is sold and he is ousted from the top job. Heins would receive $48 million in equity awards, based on the company’s share price at the end of its latest fiscal year, according to a regulatory filing earlier this year. He would also get $7.5 million in compensation for his salary and bonus under the change of control provisions in his contract.

The company would pay $72,000 in benefits and retirement savings. The plan was approved by shareholders at its annual meeting on July 9.

BlackBerry announced that a sale of the company was one option that would be considered under a strategic review of the company, which has lost

market share to Apple and Android-based phones. The long-awaited debut of its new phones this year has failed to turn around the struggling smartphone maker.

The company’s strategic review is being headed by Timothy Dattels, a BlackBerry director and a senior partner at TPG Capital, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. Fairfax Financial and its chief executive, Prem Watsa, which hold approximately 11 percent of BlackBerry, are considered among possible buyers. Watsa resigned from the BlackBerry board on Monday due to potential conflicts of interest.

If Heins were to be removed from his job at BlackBerry without a change of control, he would

receive a package valued at $22 million, including $5.8 million in compensation for his salary and bonus, $72,000 in benefits and retirement savings and $16.1 million in equity awards. The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007. In the years since, BlackBerry Ltd. has been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals.

Heins was named CEO in January 2012, replacing co-founders and co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who stepped down after shareholders demanded a management shakeup. This past

January, the company unveiled new phones running a revamped operating system called BlackBerry 10 designed to better compete. But its market share continues to lag. IDC said last week BlackBerry has fallen to fourth place in global smartphone sales, now trailing Microsoft.

BlackBerry also warned in June of future losses.

CIBC analyst Todd Coupland suggested BlackBerry could be worth as much as $20 per share in a takeover, and that big technology companies as well as private equity firms could be interested. Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said Tuesday the stock is up on takeover speculation. He believes the company is worth $8 per share. — AP

Silicon Valley awaits latest Lego robot kit designed for kids but has adult fan following

John and Kathleen Kocher look over pictures of their son, Matthew, who drowned in Lake Michigan recently in a rip tide. — MCT

Cruel online posts add to family’s grief CHICAGO: As they prepared to bury their 15-year-old son, John and Kathleen Kocher received a call from a nephew warning them not to go on the Internet. A Facebook memorial page dedicated to Matthew Kocher, who drowned July 27 in Lake Michigan, had attracted a group of Internet vandals that mocked the Tinley Park, Ill., couple’s only child, posting photos of people drowning with taunting comments superimposed over the images.

One photo showed a submerged person’s hand breaking through the water with text reading “LOL u drowned you fail at being a fish,” according to a screen grab of the page shared with the Chicago Tribune after the post was removed. “I was very angry right away, and then I said, ‘Well, these are some dirtbags,’ “ John Kocher recalled. “How could they possibly want to do that? How could somebody want to be so evil, so vile?”

What the Kocher family experienced is known as RIP trolling, in which people, known as trolls, post offensive comments and images on Facebook pages or other social media outlets that are intended to memorialize the deceased. Posting an extreme viewpoint or rude comment simply to get a reaction is known online as trolling. Experts who have studied the phenomenon point out three types of RIP trolling: people simply being mean, seeking attention in an outrageous manner or offering social media criticism in an offensive way.

The Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media published a study last fall of online memorial page postings. The researchers incorporated RIP trolling into their analysis “because it appeared so frequently” on memorial pages, said Alice Marwick, the study’s co-author and an assistant professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University.

Many trolls claim to post on memorial pages as a response to what they call “grief tourism,” in which strangers extend their sympathy after a tragedy to people they don’t know, Marwick said. Such condolences can be viewed as hollow and selfserving, and RIP trolling is one unfortunate

way some people choose to target it, experts said.

A lot of the hurtful posts are designed to wound, Marwick said. “The trolling we witnessed was very cruel. It was very meanspirited, and it was designed specifically to upset the friends and family of the loved ones,” Marwick said. “People would post horrible comments about the deceased, calling them names, saying... things like they deserved to die.”

Troll comments often spark a war of words, as the comments violate many traditional social norms. “Trolls are really violating every taboo we have around the way that we think of our loved ones when we pass,” Marwick said. “The taboos around speaking ill of the dead.” One case of RIP trolling involved Chelsea King, a 17-yearold from Southern California who was raped and murdered in 2010 after she went for an afternoon run. It was spotlighted in an academic research paper titled “LOLing at Tragedy” by former New York University lecturer Whitney Phillips.

At first, a number of Facebook pages were created to call on users to “Help Find Chelsea King,” who was missing, according to the study. But then some people began making light of the tragedy online and posting rude comments, which escalated.

Eventually, the family ’s volunteer spokeswoman, Sara Muller Fraunces, helped organize a support group with “virtually around the clock shifts of helpers” to monitor the family’s Facebook page and delete insensitive comments, Fraunces said.

Given that the page grew to more than 100,000 followers, it was a “huge job,” Fraunces said.

“We were very aggressive about keeping the page dignified and protecting Chelsea’s family,” Fraunces said. Brent King, Chelsea’s father, who has since moved with his family to Naperville, Ill., to escape the painful memories in San Diego, had a similar reaction to the RIP trolling as the Kochers. “I can’t for the life of me understand why somebody would want to hurt somebody that’s so broken and so grieving,” King said. “I don’t understand why any human would want to do that.” — MCT

SAN JOSE: Few are more excited about Lego’s new Mindstorms sets rolling out next month than Silicon Valley engineers. Many of them were drawn to the tech sector by the flagship kits that came on the market in 1998, introducing computerized movement to the traditional snap-together toy blocks and allowing the young innovators to build their first robots.

Now, 15 years later, those robot geeks are entrepreneurs and designers, and the colorful plastic bricks have an outsized influence in their lives.

Techies tinker at Lego play stations in workplaces. Engineers mentor competitive Lego League teams. Designers use them to mock up larger projects ideas. And executives stand Lego creations on their desks alongside family photos. “Everyone I work with played with them as children. We sit around talking Lego. It’s a shared common experience,” said Travis Schuh, who reaches into his bin of plastic blocks when he needs a quick prototype at the Silicon Valley medical robotic firm where he works.

The new Mindstorms sets, on sale Sept 1, are simpler for the younger crowd and more versatile for sophisticated users than two earlier versions. The sets are designed for kids over 10 and make it easy to build basic, remote-controlled robots, including a cobra-like snake that snaps Lego brick fangs. Some shoot balls, others drive along color-coded lines. But for $349, far more expensive than typical building toys, customers get a much more complex and powerful system.

“There’s actually a lot of engineering that goes into Lego bricks and the systems you can prototype out of them are pretty sophisticated,” says Stanford University engineering professor Christian Gerdes, who uses them in his classroom. Professional hackers will also find plenty to do with the new Mindstorms, as the open source software uses Linux for the first time, and controller apps are integrated for tablets and mobile phones.

San Francisco-based software engineer Will Gorman is one of those adult users. He has torn apart Mindstorms kits to create a Lego toilet flusher, a Wii-playing robot that bowled a perfect game and a Lego Mars Curiosity Rover. “I don’t consider myself an adult really,” said the 36-year-old father of two last week, setting up yet another creation on a table in a sunny Redwood City librar y overlook ing San Francisco’s bay wetlands.

ProtoTank co-founder Adam Ellswor th, whose headquarters are on the third floor of TechShop San Francisco, says, “there is a culture of design in the Silicon Valley, and Lego bricks are how so many of us started.” “This place is just one big Lego station,” he added, raising his voice above the buzz of laser cutters and 3-D printers. “Taking an idea, a concept, and finding the right way to turn it into something real, that’s fundamentally what you’re doing with Lego bricks.”

Denmark-based Lego first sold their plastic bricks 55 years ago, and watched them grow into one of the world’s most popular toys. But company officials say Mindstorms, designed for children but quickly snapped up by adults, changed their market.

“In the last 15 years, we have worked hard to balance the needs and wants of this shadow

ST LOUIS: In this photo, Christina Stephens sits on a couch wearing her prosthetic leg and next to a prosthetic leg she made out of Legos at her home in St Louis. — AP

REDWOOD CITY: In this photo, Will Gorman demonstrates a Track3r Lego Mindstorms robotic unit in Redwood City, Calif. — AP market while at the same time engaging kids,” superheroes in the worlds of entertainment said Michael McNally, a brand director at LEGO and sports. We need to create superheroes in Systems, Inc. Kellen Asercion, a Stanford the world of innovation,” said Dean Kamen, University engineering graduate student, first who founded FIRST (For Inspiration and snapped Lego bricks together around the time Recognition of Science and Technology), which he started kindergarten, and he was still build- includes the First Lego League.

Nagy Hakim first played with Mindstorms at ing when he graduated high school.

“Lego sets are almost single -handedly a robotics summer camp when he was in 6th responsible for my interest in engineering,” he grade. Since then, the college-bound 18-yearsaid. Many Bay Area engineers also grew up old from Santa Clara, California, has joined competing in the First Lego League, which also and even mentored - Lego leagues. Is this launched in 1998 with 200 teams. Since then something he’s going to grow out of? “Time will the league has expanded - last year more than tell,” laughs Hakim. This fall he heads to Olin 280,000 children around the world, ages 6-18, College of Engineering in Boston, where profesparticipated. Organizers expect 600 teams par- sors posit theoretical Lego problems, students are encouraged to mentor Lego teams and the ticipating in Northern California this autumn.

“We have a culture that only celebrates library stocks Mindstorms kits. — AP

Skepticism over N Korea’s home-grown smartphone SEOUL: North Korea’s announcement that it is mass producing a home-grown smartphone has been met with skepticism in the tech industry in South Korea and abroad. The North’s state media last week showed leader Kim Jong Un inspecting “Arirang” phones at a Pyongyang factory. The Korean Central News Agency’s Aug. 10 report said the factory began manufacturing smartphones “a few days ago” and they were already in high demand.

North Korea has promoted the development of science and technology as a means of improving its moribund economy. It says it developed a tablet computer last year and has its own Red Star operating system. But access to the global Internet is severely restricted and mobile phones used on the state-authorized network cannot make overseas calls. The North’s Intranet gives access to government sanctioned sites and works with its own browsers, search engine and email programs, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

Factory workers in photos released by the state news agency are inspecting and testing finished phones but no manufacturing is shown, said tech expert Martyn Williams on the northkoreatech.org blog. “Despite KCNA’s reporting that the handsets are made at the factory, they are probably made

to order by a Chinese manufacturer,” said Williams, who writes for PC World and other publications.

South Korean computer experts say North Korea is strong enough in software technology to have launched cyberattacks that disrupted banking and government websites in the South but it lags in hardware capabilities behind South Korea.

The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce and the Korean Peninsula remains technically at war. Since then, the South has prospered and produced giant corporations such as Samsung Electronics Co., which is the world’s biggest maker of smartphones, computer memory chips and displays.

The North’s economy has languished under socialist central planning though the capital Pyongyang is an oasis of relative affluence.

North Korea has shown a persistent interest in computer technology since the early 1980s so it is conceivable that a country, which has launched long-range missiles and tested nuclear weapons has also developed a smartphone, said Kang Ho Jye, a research fellow at Ewha Institute of Unification Studies.

But it might face difficulties in securing the necessary components for mass production. “If people believe it is impossible for North Korea to make smartphones because it lags intechnology, that’s not right,” he said “If people believe it is

impossible because they are wondering how North Korea supplied components, then that makes sense.”

North Korea said the Arirang phone features “Korean style” apps and can be used for “communications and learning.” It sports a high-resolution camera and a touch screen. Kim Mun-gu, a manager at a South Korean mobile phone company, said the Arirang smartphone appears to be using the Android operating system. He said the photos aren’t convincing as proof the North is manufacturing the phones.

“It looks too clean for a factory. If it’s a factory, there should be components. There seemed to be machines but I can’t tell whether they are operating or not,” he said. The “May 11 Factory” where North Korea says it is producing smartphones has been promoted as the country’s hub for research, development and production of high-tech electronics. Kim’s previous visit to the factory was in July 2011 to see what state media called an automated production system for LCD televisions - an announcement also doubted abroad. Kim, who became leader after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011, said making phones based on homegrown technology “can instill national pride and self-respect into the Korean people,” according to KCNA. — AP

This undated photo shows North Korean Arirang smartphone. -— AP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

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

Feral cats should be altered rather than neutered, study says LOS ANGELES: Sterilizing feral cats without removing their sexual organs would do more to control their population than spaying and neutering, according to a new study. Colonies of feral cats can grow at a rapid pace, leaving them to compete in miserable conditions and causing the death of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish. In Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, such cats have been blamed for the extinction or severe reduction of populations of imperiled species. The US Navy and other agencies spent $3 million over several years to rid San Nicholas Island of wild cats that preyed on native animals there.

In urban areas, wild-born cat colonies can create health hazards to humans and other species, and quality of life

issues that include foul odors, loud fighting and flea infestations. In the US, the population of wild-born cats exceeds that of cats living with humans, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, which published the study Thursday in its monthly journal. Truly feral cats are difficult to tame and adopt.

Estimates vary, but animal advocates report 1 million to 3 million feral or stray cats in Los Angeles, including those that are fed by residents but don’t reside in a home. Traditional methods to control feral cat populations involve trapping them and removing the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes of females, and removing the testes of the males. The method also tamps down hormone production, reducing behaviors such as territorial fighting and spraying.

But veterinarians from Tufts University ’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine propose that performing vasectomies and hysterectomies instead would preserve hormone-driven behavior that can help reduce a colony’s reproduction rates. Sex drive and social status would remain intact, allowing males to protect turf from other feral males, ward off new strays, and compete for females, which go into a prolonged state of “nonreceptive” pseudo-pregnancy after sexual activity. Females likewise continue to compete with sexually functional females. The result: fewer successful matings, the researchers conclude.

Using data on cat populations and behavior, the Tufts researchers created a program that tracked a virtual feral cat

population over 6,000 days, under different population-control regimes and with many nuances that allow for such factors as age, reproductive cycle and ovulation probabilities. The academic farm game showed that the less destructive surgical technique was 10-90 percent more effective, depending on variables.

For spay-neutering methods to have any long-term effect on feral cat colonies, they would have to be applied to at least 57 percent of the population each year, the study found. For the vasectomy-hysterectomy method, the threshold was lower: 35 percent. And if the less destructive method had a capture rate of more than 57 percent, it would eliminate the population entirely in roughly a decade, according to the study. Neither method would work if less

than 19 percent of the feral population was altered per year, the study concluded.

“The next step is to gather evidence on how it actually works in the field,” Tufts University veterinarian Robert J McCarthy, lead author of the study, said in a written statement. The Humane Society of the United States advocates spaying and neutering, a position that generally gets more public support. But the society remains open to other methods. “We would agree that it needs to be tried somewhere,” said John Hadidi, senior scientist for wildlife at the society.

The study, he said, “exemplifies what we would hope to see in this very controversial area: new approaches, new strategies and bringing new science aboard, and better science.”—MCT

Ukraine weddings can bring sickness before health

UKRAINE: In this photo hospital nurses treat a patient after food poisoning in the town of Ruzhyn.

Australian doctors bring woman back from the dead SYDNEY: An Australian woman has lived to tell the tale after being brought back to life from being clinically dead for 42 minutes, doctors said yesterday. Mother-of-two Vanessa Tanasio, 41, was rushed to Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne last week after a major heart attack, with one of her main arteries fully blocked. She went into cardiac arrest and was declared clinically dead soon after arrival. Doctors refused to give up and used a compression device called a Lucas 2 the only one of its kind in Australia-to keep blood flowing to her brain while cardiologist Wally Ahmar opened an artery to unblock it. Once unblocked, Tanasio’s heart was shocked back into a normal rhythm. “(I used) multiple shocks, multiple medications just to resuscitate her,” Ahmar said.

“Indeed this is a miracle. I did not expect her to be so well.” Tanasio said she had no history of heart conditions and was grateful to be alive. “I remember being on my couch, then the floor, then arriving at hospital, and then two days go missing,” Tanasio said. “I was dead for nearly an hour and only a week later I feel great. It’s surreal.” The Lucas device physically compresses the chest, like during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), allowing doctors to work non-stop to put a stent into a blocked artery. It is the first a time a patient has successfully used the device, which was donated to the medical centre, for such a length of time in Australia, the hospital said. Clinical death is a medical term for when someone stops breathing and their blood stops circulating.

MELBOURNE: This handout picture taken yesterday and released by Philip Blackman shows Australian woman Vanessa Tanasio along with son Max, daughter Ella and Sergeant Mark Robertson (behind) from the Victoria Police smiling from her hospital bed.—AP

New contamination scare hits N Zealand dairy industry WELLINGTON: A new contamination scare hit New Zealand’s multi-billion dollar dairy industry yesterday after it was revealed a milk product with excessive nitrate levels had been exported to China. Both New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and the company at the centre of the latest scare, Westland Milk, insisted the product called lactoferrin did not pose a safety risk. But the timing could not be worse for the country’s dairy industry-which generates a quarter of New Zealand’s exports-as it struggles to recover from a botulism contamination crisis earlier this month.

Westland said two batches of lactoferrin totaling 390kg (860 pounds) were exported to China despite showing nitrate levels of 610 and 2,198 parts per million-well above the New Zealand standard of 150 parts per million. Chief executive Rod Quin said it appeared the contamination was an isolated incident caused when cleaning products were not properly flushed from a South Island processing plant before a new run of product was sent through. “We immediately initiated a process to find

and quarantine all of the product and it has been put on hold,” he said.

The government said that by the time the product had been through the manufacturing process, nitrate levels would have been so diluted as to be harmless. “MPI’s technical experts have looked closely at this issue and believe any food safety risk to Chinese consumers is negligible because the quantities of lactoferrin used in consumer products was very small,” MPI acting director-general Scott Gallacher said.

“The nitrate levels in those products would easily be within acceptable levels.” New Zealand’s reputation for producing top-quality dairy products was damaged when Fonterra revealed earlier this month that some whey product used in baby formula was contaminated with a potentially deadly bug that can cause botulism. The scare, blamed on a dirty pipe at a North Island processing plant, caused product recalls from Saudi Arabia to China. New Zealand’s dairy exports are worth more than NZ$12 billion ($9.7 billion) a year, according to government data, with China its largest market.—AFP

RUZHYN: It was meant to be the happiest day of her life. Instead, Yulia Yukhimets’ wedding ended with her being rushed to the hospital, weak, pale and hooked to an IV together with nearly 60 guests. “I have always wanted all of this, but look how it ended,” Yukhimets, 20, a slim and shy blonde, said from her hospital in the town of Ruzhyn, where she was taken in an ambulance from a nearby village this month. Every year, hundreds of Ukrainian newlyweds and their guests need medical treatment after suffering food poisoning at wedding banquets. They are victims of Ukraine’s cult of traditional big wedding hospitality, which calls for treating guests to more food than they can eat and the hosts can safely prepare. Most often, the poisonings take place because the homemade food at village weddings is not properly refrigerated while it is prepared in huge batches over several days.

Many cultures favor big weddings, but a traditional Ukrainian village wedding is nothing short of a sacred ritual, bringing together the entire community at food-laden tables for song, dance and celebrations that last several days.

Ethnographer Olena Shcherban says that in folk culture, a wedding is considered to be one of the three key events in a person’s life, along with birth and death, and is an occasion for the community to give its official blessing to the new family. “A wedding is not just anything, it’s a culmination of a relationship of members of a community,” Shcherban said. “This culmination must take place publically in front of the eyes of the entire village, of the entire small community that knows these people and that will legalize this relationship”.

The very Ukrainian word for wedding - “vesillya” - is derived from the words “joy” and “rejoice.” And in popular belief, the bigger the party, the happier the marriage. So it was supposed to be at Yukhimets’ wedding. After registering their marriage in a civil ceremony, the wedding party headed for the first day of celebrations at the bride’s home in Nemyryntsi, a small village in central Ukraine, surrounded by corn and sunflower fields. A large tent went up in Yukhimets’ garden and about 150 guests sat down to toast

the bride, a primary school teacher, and her groom, Oleksandr, 29, a mobile phones salesman. In line with tradition, the tent was covered with birch branches and a maroon carpet was hung behind the newlyweds’ table, decorated with an Orthodox Christian icon and a hand-embroidered towel. Yulia’s mother, Valentyna Hrabchak, was in charge of whipping up the once-in-

meat patties, pate, stuffed cabbage rolls, meat rolls, sausage, salads, chicken wings, 12 round loaves of bread, fried steaks, smoked fish, pancakes, and much more. The food was delicious and the party was fun, complete with a lemon-eating contest, traditional Ukrainian songs and a wedding dance. The next day, Yulia and Oleksxandr were wed in a church and the celebration moved

UKRAINE: In this photo patients take medical treatment in a hospital after food poisoning in the town of Ruzhyn.—AP photos

UKRAINE: In this photo three-year old Yaroslav and his mother Lyudmila, front bed, as well as other patients lie down on their hospital beds after food poisoning in the town of Ruzhyn. a-lifetime event - one that local cus- to the groom’s house. But already tom dictated should last at least by the afternoon, many started feelthree days with a minimum of 35 ing unwell. First, suspicion fell on dishes, not counting desserts. She men drinking too much “horilka,” or slaughtered a home-grown pig two Ukrainian drink.

But after the bride, the guests days before the wedding and summoned 20 girlfriends to help with and even the musicians suffered preparations. Together they served fever, stomach aches, vomiting and up a colossal feast, all home-made: diarrhea, it became clear that some-

thing else was to blame. Yulia was rushed to the Rozhyn Central District hospital in her pajamas, having just changed out of her wedding dress. She and others were given antibiotics and intravenous drips. Some were in such bad shape that they were carried on stretchers and rushed into emergency care, among them a 2-year-old boy.

Fourteen of those who fell ill were children.

There were so many wedding patients that the hospital quickly ran out of beds and drugs. Some patients were put on trolleys in the corridors of the hospital’s infections unit; a rich villager donated money and medications to help fellow townsfolk. A week after being admitted, most patients were feeling better and some were being discharged. Mykola Zozulya, the hospital’s head doctor, said that lab tests showed that the infection was caused by salmonella. He frowns upon lavish weddings, saying preparing and eating so much food is a health hazard: “It’s our Ukrainian mentality: We want for the table to collapse under the weight of the food.”

The Health Ministry said it does not keep statistics of wedding poisonings. But such incidents are frequent, especially during hot summer months that are the preferred season for weddings. Hrabchak, who did not get sick, blamed the eggs she bought at a local store and used in most of the dishes. She said the food was all home-made and properly stored in refrigerators and a cold cellar. And most wedding participants being treated at the hospital defended the big “vesillya” as a wonderful tradition - saying they simply got unlucky.

“These traditions were invented not by us, but by our ancestors,” said Svitlana Yukhimets, the wedding’s toast maker, “so we try to maintain them.” Hrabchak was nearly in tears at what happened. She said she regrets that the wedding she organized caused her loved ones so much suffering, but still believes that the sacred tradition of big and hearty weddings should live on. “You should have, and have and have weddings and not be afraid that something would happen,” Hrabchak said. “If you are afraid of wolves, don’t go into the woods.”—AP

For ‘Biggest Loser’ trainer, diet trumps exercise in weight loss NEW YORK: Celebrity trainer Bob Harper, of the weight-loss TV show “The Biggest Loser,” has built a career putting very obese people through some grueling fitness paces but if he’s learned anything from the experience, it’s that diet trumps exercise every time. The Los Angelesbased trainer, who was born on a cattle farm in Tennessee and arrived in California some 20 years ago, said gone are the days when he believed it was possible to just exercise the pounds away. “It is all about your diet,” Harper, 48, said during a break from filming Season 15 of the long-running US show. “I used to think a long time ago that you can beat everything you eat out of you and it’s just absolutely not the case.”

Harper has spun his TV fame improving the fitness of people who are 100 pounds (45 kg) or more overweight into an empire with DVD workouts and the best-selling book “The Skinny Rules,” which offers tips to drop excess weight.

He said if the ‘Skinny’ of his book titles and fitness DVDs is meant tongue-in-cheek, it is also the word that his morbidly obese clients attach to most. “People say, ‘Shouldn’t I be fit?

Shouldn’t I be healthy?’, and I say ‘Yes, absolutely.

But what I always hear from my contestants on the show is, ‘I just want to get skinny.’”

In addition to promoting a healthy diet, a big part of his exercise routine includes lunges and other core -strengthening moves to burn enough fat to let the inner six-pack shine through. Harper said the workout is aimed at getting the heart rate up because that’s when people are going to be able to burn fat and when fat is burned off, the abdominal muscles are exposed.

He also adheres to the no-frills strength and

condition program called Crossfit, which is a series of timed, ever-changing physical challenges that he says are suitable for everyone.

“I’m working with people who are 500 pounds (227 kg) and doing Crossfit on a regular basis,” said Harper, who described the approximately 20-minute workout as well-balanced. “To me Crossfit just completely makes sense (as long as) you work at your level doing the things you can do with proper coaching,” he explained.

But Dr Mark Kelly, an exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise, said that even with supervision, Crossfit can be risky if the fitness groundwork isn’t in place. “Crossfit has very ballistic training. You’re asking people to move fast through a large range of motion. Even with coaching, the foundation of stability, mobility and psychomotor skill has to be laid (first),” he said. Kelly agrees that diet is the main factor that can lower weight, but it’s exercise, he adds, that allows that lower weight to stick.

He cited the National Weight Control Registry, a research study that includes people 18 years or older who have lost at least 13.6 kg (30 lb) of weight and kept it off for at least one year.

Ninety percent of those in the study exercise regularly. “They’re the biggest losers across the nation,” Kelly said. “And the No. 1 thing they did was exercise on a regular basis.Many simply through walking.” Harper said he values working with people who have gotten far off the diet and fitness track more than the celebrity status conferred upon him by reality TV. “Of course with everyone being on a television show, from people working on fishing boats to people being interior designers, you get this platform,” he said.

“But I think for me, celebrity trainer is not who I am.” He is, he said, someone who has found

what he loves to do.“When you find your passion, it makes for a good life.”—Reuters

Trainer Bob Harper

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

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

OxyContin maker closely guards its list of suspect doctors LOS ANGELES: Over the last decade, the maker of the potent painkiller OxyContin has compiled a database of hundreds of doctors suspected of recklessly prescribing its pills to addicts and drug dealers, but has done little to alert law enforcement or medical authorities. Despite its suspicions, Purdue Pharma continued to profit from prescriptions written by these physicians, many of whom were prolific prescribers of OxyContin. The company has sold more than $27 billion worth of the drug since its introduction in 1996.

For years, Purdue has promoted the idea that the country’s epidemic of prescription drug deaths was fueled largely by pharmacy robberies, doctor-shopping patients and teens raiding home medicine cabinets. The database suggests that Purdue has long known that physicians also play a significant role in the crisis. Purdue’s database, which contains the names of more than 1,800 doctors, could provide leads for investigators at a time when they are increasingly looking at how reckless prescribing of painkillers contributes to addiction and death.

Purdue has said little about the list since it began identifying doctors in 2002. A company scientist offered a glimpse into the database at a June drug dependency conference in San Diego, noting it was the first time the program had been discussed in public. In a series of interviews with the Los Angeles Times, Purdue attorney Robin Abrams said the company created the database to steer its sales representatives away from risky doctors. Policing physicians, she said, was not Purdue’s responsibility. “We don’t have the ability to take the prescription pad out of their hand,” she said.

Abrams said the company had alerted law enforcement or medical regulators to 154 of the prescribers about 8 percent of those in its database. The company’s tally could not be independently verified. Asked to provide cases reported to law enforcement, she identified three Southern California physicians implicated in major schemes to funnel OxyContin to addicts and dealers. One of them, Masoud Bamdad of San Fernando, took in $1.5 million a year prescribing OxyContin and other painkillers to young addicts. He is serving a 25-year prison sentence on a

drug dealing conviction. Bamdad was linked by prosecutors to six patient deaths.

Another doctor, Eleanor Santiago, is awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she helped flood Los Angeles’ black market with more than 1 million illicit doses of OxyContin.

Physician Kevin Gohar was linked to a suspected prescription mill in Reseda that authorities say sold OxyContin prescriptions to addicts across Southern California. Gohar died of a drug overdose in 2011 while a criminal investigation was pending.

Mitchell Katz, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said Purdue has a duty to report all the doctors on the

scription drug overdoses an epidemic.

Last year, a Times analysis showed that drugs prescribed by doctors played a role in nearly half the prescription overdose deaths in Southern California from 2006 through 2011.

Seventy-one doctors prescribed drugs to three or more patients who fatally overdosed. Oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin, was one of the most often cited drugs in the deaths.

Concerned by the mounting death toll, a congressional oversight committee in June called three top federal officials to testify about the government’s response to the prescription drug crisis. Louisiana Republican Rep Bill Cassidy asked why the govern-

NEWYORK: Purdue Pharma has sold more than $27 billion worth of the powerful painkiller OxyContin since its introduction in 1996.—MCT photos list, not just a select few. “There is an ethical obligation,” said Katz, a critic of what he says is the overuse of painkillers. “Any drug company that has information about physicians potentially engaged in illegal prescribing or prescribing that is endangering people’s lives has a responsibility to report it.” Abrams said that some of the doctors in the database may no longer be active prescribers, but she could not provide a specific number.

OxyContin and other prescription painkillers have fueled a surge in drug overdoses, which in 2009 claimed 39,147 lives, surpassing for the first time traffic accidents as a leading cause of preventable deaths. Two years later, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared pre-

ment wasn’t mining prescribing data to target rogue doctors. “I’m expecting it’s going to be a small percent writing a lot of the inappropriate prescriptions,” said Cassidy, himself a physician. “What’s the challenge in figuring out which doctors are the bad actors?”

President Barack Obama’s drug czar, R Gil Kerlikowske, testified that the federal government didn’t have access to such information.

Unbeknownst to Cassidy and Kerlikowske, Purdue Pharma had a database similar to what the congressman was looking for. For decades, physicians avoided prescribing narcotic painkillers for anything but cancer and end-of-life pain because they feared the risk of addic-

tion and overdose. But as Purdue and other drug companies pushed for their broad use, doctors began widely prescribing them for bad backs, bum knees and other common ailments.

OxyContin twice as potent as morphine became one of the nation’s most widely prescribed painkillers by marketing its patented time-release formula as safer than other drugs. But it didn’t take long for addicts to discover that “Oxy,” as it is known on the streets, produced a heroinlike rush when crushed and snorted, releasing the pill’s full potency at once.

By 2001, OxyContin sales hit $1 billion a year. The privately held Stamford, Conn., company was also under fierce attack. Local authorities

Abrams said that if she and two other attorneys determine doctors to be too risky, Purdue bars sales representatives from marketing to them and stops paying commissions on the doctors’ OxyContin prescriptions.

Suspicious doctors are removed from the company’s numbered sales territories and assigned to the database known as “Region Zero,” she said. By Purdue’s account, the company has fielded 3,200 reports on suspicious doctors and other prescribers. About 70 doctors in the database did not prescribe OxyContin, according to Purdue. Abrams said putting a doctor into the database is “essentially a judgment call.”

“A lot of these are circumstances

CALIFORNIA: Investigators raid an alleged “prescription mill” in Los Angeles. up and down the East Coast, where problems with OxyContin first emerged, complained that the drug inflicted addiction and crime on their communities. Lawmakers pressed Purdue to do something. At a hearing on OxyContin abuse that year, Pennsylvania Republican Rep James C Greenwood, then the chairman of a House oversight committee, told Purdue’s top executives to use sales data to “weed out” bad doctors prescribing their drug.

The next year, Abrams said, Purdue’s legal department began training sales representatives to report “red flags” at doctors’ offices, including young patients, long lines, people nodding off in waiting rooms and frequent cash transactions.

that if you were to walk into a doctor’s office would give you pause and would make you turn around and walk out,” said Abrams, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in criminal health care fraud cases. Abrams declined to say precisely how the company decides which cases to refer to authorities. “I don’t really want to open up an opportunity for folks come in here and start looking and second-guessing,” she said.

Among the situations that would lead to referrals, she said, are cases in which sales representatives witness apparent drug deals in physicians’ parking lots or observe doctors who appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Law enforcement, she said, “wouldn’t be interested” in

more vague reports. Steve Opferman, who heads a prescription fraud task force for the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department, said Purdue could be sitting on valuable leads. “ That ’s definitely data that law enforcement and prosecutors could use,” he said.

Purdue used its database this year to bolster an extraordinary argument to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: The OxyContin it had sold for 14 years was so prone to abuse that generic drug companies should not be allowed to copy it.

Purdue said in a letter to the FDA that the argument was based in part on an analysis of prescriptions written by 364 “active prescribers” of OxyContin in Region Zero.

According to Purdue, when the company introduced a tamper-resistant formulation in August 2010, the doctors’ prescriptions for maximumstrength OxyContin _ the one favored by addicts plummeted by 80 percent. Prescriptions for Opana, a narcotic painkiller made by a rival that could still be crushed and snorted, shot up about 400 percent, the internal study found. When crushresistant Opana came out two years later, the same doctors’ prescriptions for that drug also plunged.

Purdue concluded that a small number of doctors might account for a “substantial portion” of the nation’s black-market supply of prescription painkillers, according to a summary of the unpublished study. The findings held “important implications,” Purdue said, for policies aimed at curbing prescription abuse. The company provided the study to the FDA in a confidential filing; it did not include doctors’ names. On the day Purdue’s patent was set to expire, the FDA agreed that the original OxyContin was too dangerous to allow generic drugmakers to copy. At the San Diego conference in June, Purdue epidemiologist Howard Chilcoat made a brief presentation about the study. He said doctors in the database were prescribing painkillers “for what appears to be the wrong reasons.” When he opened the floor to questions, Jane Liebschutz, a medical professor from Boston, made her way to a microphone. “Shouldn’t those 364 prescribers be investigated?” she asked.—MCT

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

IDF bids farewell to Mohan

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YMCA Kuwait celebrates 169th Founders Day

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MCA Kuwait conducted 169th Founders Day celebrations and 67th Independence Day celebrations at Hi-dine Auditorium, Abassiya presided over by Babu Johnson. Meeting began with the opening prayer of Mathews Mammen. Parimanam Manoj (General Secretary) welcomed the guest and members.

Rev K A Varghese (Vicar - Ahmadhi MarThoma Church, Kuwait) inaugurated the function. Rev Achen Kunju George (Vicar - St Thomas Evangelical Church) delivered the Independence Day Message. Deacon Santhosh Mathew, Dr A T Varghese and Br Sunny Andrews felicitated on this occasion. Solos were sung by Sangeetha Remy and Anna Elsa Raju. Different games were also arranged. Mathews Eapen (Vice President) gave vote of thanks. Closing prayer was led by M C Mathew Tharakan.

Enjoy the taste of true Espresso at Vergnano Cafe at Olympia Complex

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he superior quality of the blends comes from the meticulous selection of the best raw materials available, and from an extraordinary production process. Cafe Vergnano is the first to introduce an innovation that brings all the passion and pleasure of the perfect

espresso to everyday life at home.

Espresso is now available in Kuwait, through Al-Sanabel Al-Thahabiya Est. Tel: 22413795/98. Espresso Vergnano can be ordered through www.taw9eel.com Espresso Vergnano capsules are compatible with other espresso machines.

he Indian Doctors Forum, led by President Dr Amir Ahmed, bid farewell to H K Mohan, First Secretary: Community Affairs & Education, Indian Embassy of Kuwait, on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 at 4:30 pm, at the Indian Embassy premise, in a prestigious and emotive manner in the presence of Shri Satish C Mehta, Ambassador of India to Kuwait.

Dr Amir Ahmed initiated the ceremony by praising all efforts and actions taken by H K Mohan, towards strengthening the bonds of friendship between the Indian Embassy and Indian Doctors Forum. He even recalled the time when he represented the Indian Embassy for one of the Health Screening Camps, wherein he was overwhelmed by his welcoming smile and pleasant gestures. H K Mohan has been a common face and witness to most of the activities of IDF, be it community oriented or cultural. Dr Vinod Grover (Vice President) wished him all success in his future undertakings and underscored the fact, that he will be missed by the Indian Community at Kuwait at large. To this Shri Satish C Mehta responded saying that the loss of one good employee becomes the gain of another and that this is the a trend that goes on regularly in the Foreign Services.

Dr Jaganath R C (General Secretary IDF) shared a few nostalgic moments, wherein H K Mohan won the hearts of IDF and the Indian Community by his mere cool, calm and friendly attitude.

H K Mohan responded modestly and humbly to all our kind words of praise. He even highlighted that the Indian Doctors Forum, is one of the most well appreciated associations in Kuwait and affirmed that the Bharati Pravasi Samman Award was well deserved by IDF and this definitely reflected the respect and love that IDF has created in the Indian Community in Kuwait and India. He also added that IDF is a role model, from which other like-minded associations in the Gulf need to learn and follow suit. He requested IDF to continue its community activities particularly and attain greater heights by this sincere perseverance and dedication. He informed IDF that though he will be taking up his next posting in Jamaica, he wishes to keep in touch with us on a regular basis. This was then followed by the presentation of a prestigious memento depicting the landmark of Kuwait, the Kuwait towers in crystal, which was handed over by Dr Amir Ahmed , as a token of appreciation. This was in remembrance of his distinguished contribution to IDF.

Announcements 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.

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GPCC celebrates India’s 67th Independence Day

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ulf Pravasi Cultural Congress (GPCC) Kuwait celebrated India’s 67th Independence Day with zeal and zest in United Indian School, Abbasiya with colorful events.

Patriotic fervor and gaiety marked the celebrations. The proceedings got under way with GPCC President Rajeev Naduvilemuri, followed by Patriotc Song Vandematharam”. Prominent leaders of GPCC lead the

Independence Day celebrations.

During the event, GPCC Chief Coordinator Jils Kudakassery inaugurated the function and delivered a speech on the eve of Independence Day. In his speech, Independence Day marks the end of British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and paid tribute to the five soldiers who were killed on Tuesday morning by Pakistani troops along the Line of

Control in the Poonch Sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

GPCC leaders Bacon Joseph, Simon Baby, Sunil Varghese, A I Kurein, Philip C V Thomas, Binoy Chandran, Francis Cherukol, Arun Jacob, Sabu Paul, James and Sabu Parumala also shared messages during the auspicious occasion. The welcome speech was rendered by GPCC General Secretary Jomon Thomas Koikkara and Treasurer

Mathew Chennithala who delivered the vote of thanks. The ceremony was attended by a cross-section of Indian community as part of the Independence Day celebrations, GPCC Members distributed sweets at the end of the program.

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 ww.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 non-refundable. All children would have to obtain separate visa on their respective passports.

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AIS participates in NESA Virtual Science Fair

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

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his was the second year that AIS Kuwait Middle School has participated in this exciting global initiative, NESA Virtual Science Fair (NVSF). Congratulations for this amazing achievement by 7th graders at AIS. They worked

hard for a long time on this project and have made AIS very proud. 3rd place overall: AIS Kuwait Team #2 (Ghena Lababidi, Olivia Wright, Stacey Mathews). 2nd place overall: AIS Kuwait Team #4 (Bassil Zeineddine, Ralph Snabian, Ali

Behbehani) . Two of our other teams also ranked highly (14th and 18th). This is out of approximately 400 teams from Asia and Europe.

MANSOORI

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Embassy of Australia has announced that Kuwait citizens can apply for and receive visit visas in 10 working days through www.immi.gov.au. All other processing of visas and Immigration matters are handled by the Australian Visa Application Centre located in Al Banwan Building, 4B, 1st Floor, Al Qibla Area, Ali Al Salem Street, Kuwait City. Visit. www.vfs-augcc.com for more info. The Embassy of Australia does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters is conducted by the Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: Info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VIS), immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office), Tel: +971 4 205 5900 (VFS), Fax: + 971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). Notary and passport services are available by appointment. Appointments can be made by calling the Embassy on 22322422.

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EMBASSY OF CANADA

Aquapark hosts family event The Aquapark hosted a family event recently featuring singer Mustafa Al-Najjar, and competitions organized for visitors of all ages.

—Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

The Embassy of Canada in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-imenquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

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EMBASSY OF UK As of July 22, the British Embassy’s Visa Application Center (VAC) will be extending opening hours to be from 08:00 to 15:00 (previously from 09:30 to 14:30). This will generate more appointments in addition to the ones created from the Iftar opening time from 20:00 - 22:00. This step comes in response to the increasing number of applicants during summer.

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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, Al-Qibla 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.

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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 I-20.

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 ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait would like to inform that submission of the documents for tourist visa is temporary closed (from August 26 till September 26). Within the above-mentioned period, the visa will be issued only in the case of emergency. In the case of planning travel to Ukraine, please apply for visa before August 20.

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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

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 01:35 02:25 03:15 04:05 04:55 05:20 05:45 07:00 07:25 08:15 09:10 09:35 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:20 12:50 13:45 14:40 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:25 18:20 19:15 19:40 20:10 20:35 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Beast Lands Untamed & Uncut Big Five Challenge Too Cute!

My Cat From Hell The Snake Buster Shamwari: A Wild Life Call Of The Wildman Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Must Love Cats The Most Extreme Project Puppy Project Puppy Big Five Challenge Animal Cops Philadelphia The Snake Buster Call Of The Wildman Gator Boys Animal ER Big Five Challenge Shamwari: A Wild Life Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild The Most Extreme Penguin Safari Too Cute!

Going Ape Call Of The Wildman The Snake Buster Shamwari: A Wild Life Big Five Challenge Bondi Vet Pit Bulls And Parolees Animal Cops Philadelphia

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 06:00 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:05 09:30 09:55 10:20 10:45 11:10 11:35 12:25 13:15 14:05 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 20:45

Gold Divers Alaska: The Last Frontier Ice Cold Gold Mythbusters Auction Kings Auction Hunters Auction Kings How Do They Do It? How It’s Made American Guns Mythbusters The Hunger: Death Race What Happened Next?

Magic Of Science Border Security Auction Hunters Auction Kings How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Gold Divers Alaska: The Last Frontier Ice Cold Gold Border Security Auction Hunters Auction Kings Ultimate Survival What Happened Next?

Magic Of Science Ultimate Survival Deadliest Catch Mythbusters American Guns Auction Hunters Auction Kings

00:05 The Tech Show 00:30 Mean Green Machines 05:15 The Gadget Show 05:40 The Tech Show 06:05 Cosmic Collisions 07:00 Scrapheap Challenge 07:50 Punkin Chunkin 2010 08:40 The Gadget Show 09:05 The Tech Show 09:30 Scrapheap Challenge 13:50 Mean Green Machines 14:20 The Gadget Show 14:45 The Tech Show 15:10 Scrapheap Challenge 16:00 Prototype This 16:55 Mighty Ships 17:45 Smash Lab 18:35 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 19:30 Scrapheap Challenge 20:20 Junk Men 20:45 Junk Men

21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:15 23:40

The Gadget Show The Tech Show Scrapheap Challenge Junk Men Junk Men The Gadget Show

00:45 01:10 01:35 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:10 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:45 09:35 10:30 11:20 12:10 13:05 13:55 14:50 15:45 16:40 17:35 18:25 19:20 20:10 20:35 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Ultimate Cars A Racing Car Is Born Danger Hunters Crime Scene Wild I Shouldn’t Be Alive Bone Detectives Empire Mighty Mississippi Prehistoric Disasters Ultimate Cars A Racing Car Is Born Mighty Mississippi Hell On High Water Weaponology I Shouldn’t Be Alive Bone Detectives Empire Mummy Autopsy Danger Hunters Prehistoric Disasters Weaponology Bone Detectives I Shouldn’t Be Alive Welcome To India Ultimate Cars A Racing Car Is Born Empire Welcome To India Crime Scene Wild Murder Shift

00:00 00:45 01:30 02:15 03:00 03:45 04:30 05:15 06:00 06:25 06:45 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:05 09:30 10:15 11:05 12:15 13:00 14:10 14:30 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:10 16:35 17:20 17:45 18:10 18:30 18:55 19:20 19:40 20:30 20:50 21:15 21:40

Hannah Montana Brandy & Mr Whiskers Emperor’s New School Replacements Brandy & Mr Whiskers Emperor’s New School Replacements Brandy & Mr Whiskers Austin And Ally Suite Life On Deck A.N.T Farm Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Doc McStuffins Mickey Mouse Clubhouse A.N.T Farm Jessie Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up A.N.T Farm Jessie Teen Beach Movie First Look Shake It Up That’s So Raven Good Luck Charlie Jessie Shake It Up A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up That’s So Raven Suite Life On Deck Jessie A.N.T. Farm Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Austin And Ally That’s So Raven

00:05 00:15 00:40 00:55 01:10 01:30 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:20 03:40 04:00 04:10

Special Agent Oso Imagination Movers Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Imagination Movers Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Timmy Time Imagination Movers

04:35 Little Einsteins 05:00 Jungle Junction 05:15 Jungle Junction 05:30 Little Einsteins 05:50 Special Agent Oso 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:45 Handy Manny 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:30 Higglytown Heroes 07:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:10 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 08:35 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 08:50 Doc McStuffins 09:05 Doc McStuffins 09:20 Zou 09:35 Henry Hugglemonster 09:50 Henry Hugglemonster 10:00 Sofia The First 10:25 The Little Mermaid 10:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 11:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 11:20 Sofia The First 11:45 Mouk 12:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 12:05 Art Attack 12:30 Doc McStuffins 12:45 Doc McStuffins 13:00 Zou 13:15 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 13:30 Henry Hugglemonster 13:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 14:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 14:45 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 15:00 Lilo And Stitch 15:25 Mouk 15:40 Higglytown Heroes 15:55 Zou 16:20 The Little Mermaid 16:45 Lilo And Stitch 17:10 Doc McStuffins 17:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:10 Henry Hugglemonster 18:35 Sofia The First 19:00 Timmy Time 19:10 Pajanimals 19:25 Doc McStuffins 19:35 Zou 19:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 20:25 Pajanimals 20:35 Doc McStuffins 20:45 Mouk 21:00 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 21:25 Pajanimals 21:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:00 Timmy Time 22:10 The Hive 22:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 22:30 Jungle Junction 22:45 Handy Manny 22:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 23:20 Little Einsteins 23:50 Special Agent Oso

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:10 Iron Man Armoured Adventures 06:35 Kickin It 07:00 Max Steel 07:25 Phineas And Ferb 07:50 Slugterra 08:15 Pair Of Kings 08:40 Kickin It 09:30 Lab Rats 09:55 Lab Rats 10:20 Pair Of Kings 10:45 Kick Buttowski 11:10 Mr. Young 11:35 Slugterra 12:00 Kickin It 12:25 Max Steel 12:50 I’m In The Band 13:15 Lab Rats 13:40 Almost Naked Animals 14:05 Phineas And Ferb 14:30 Lab Rats 14:55 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja 15:20 Phineas And Ferb 15:45 Pair Of Kings 16:10 Kickin It

16:35 Crash & Bernstein 17:00 Lab Rats 17:30 Max Steel 18:00 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja 18:10 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja 18:25 Phineas And Ferb 18:35 Phineas And Ferb 18:50 Phineas And Ferb 19:15 Slugterra 19:40 Crash & Bernstein 20:05 Pair Of Kings 20:30 Zeke & Luther 20:55 I’m In The Band 21:20 Rated A For Awesome 21:45 Kick Buttowski 22:10 Mr. Young 22:35 Scaredy Squirrel 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:55 United Tastes Of America 01:45 Jonathan Phang’s Caribbean Cookbook 02:10 Jonathan Phang’s Caribbean Cookbook 02:35 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 07:25 Unwrapped 07:50 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 08:15 Unique Sweets 08:40 Reza’s African Kitchen 09:05 Jonathan Phang’s Caribbean Cookbook 09:30 Amazing Wedding Cakes 10:20 Extra Virgin 10:40 Unique Sweets 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Have Cake, Will Travel 12:00 Food Network Star 13:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 13:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 14:05 Tyler’s Ultimate 14:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 14:55 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 15:20 Symon’s Suppers 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Tyler’s Ultimate 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:40 Guy’s Big Bite 19:05 Symon’s Suppers 19:30 Food Wars 19:55 Food Wars 20:20 Chopped 21:10 Chopped 22:00 Reza’s African Kitchen 22:25 Reza’s African Kitchen 22:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:40 Food Wars

00:15 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 00:45 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 01:10 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 01:40 Bondi Rescue 03:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 04:25 Endurance Traveler 05:20 Deadly Arts 06:15 Market Values 06:40 Kimchi Chronicles 07:10 Exploring The Vine 07:35 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 08:05 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 08:30 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 09:00 Bondi Rescue 10:50 Bondi Rescue: Bali 11:15 Bondi Rescue: Bali 11:45 Endurance Traveler 12:40 Deadly Arts 13:35 Market Values 14:00 Kimchi Chronicles 14:30 Exploring The Vine 14:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 15:25 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 15:50 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 16:20 Bondi Rescue 18:10 Bondi Rescue: Bali 19:05 Endurance Traveler 20:00 Exploring The Vine 20:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 21:00 Market Values 21:30 Kimchi Chronicles 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 22:25 The Best Job In The World 22:55 Maverick Chef 23:20 Delinquent Gourmet 23:50 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

MISSION TO MARS ON OSN ACTION HD

World’s Toughest Fixes Inside Inside Ultimate Disaster Naked Science 2.5 Hunter Hunted Lockdown Blowdown World’s Toughest Fixes Inside Inside Lockdown Naked Science 2.5 Hunter Hunted Lockdown Blowdown World’s Toughest Fixes Inside Inside Banged Up Abroad Naked Science Shark Men Banged Up Abroad Doomsday Preppers

00:20 Wild Case Files

A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN ON OSN CINEMA 01:10 Snow Leopard Afghanistan 02:00 Hooked 02:50 Shark Men 03:45 Wild Wild West 04:40 Wild Russia 05:35 Hooked 06:30 Shark Men 07:25 Wild Wild West 08:20 Maneater Manhunt 09:15 Animal Underworld 10:10 When Sharks Attack 11:05 Dead Or Alive 12:00 Sharks Of Lost Island 12:55 I, Predator 13:50 Shark Men 14:45 Wild Wild West 15:40 Maneater Manhunt 16:35 Animal Underworld 17:30 When Sharks Attack 18:25 Dead Or Alive 19:20 I, Predator 20:10 Shark Men 21:00 Wild Wild West 21:50 Maneater Manhunt 22:40 Animal Underworld 23:30 When Sharks Attack

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Of

Intruders-18 The Blood Bond-PG15 Carjacked-PG15 Jurassic Park-PG15 Iron Sky-PG15 Metal Shifters-PG15 Mission To Mars-PG15 Iron Sky-PG15 Paycheck-PG Mission To Mars-PG15 Cherry Falls-18 Ong Bak 3-PG15

01:15 Saving Grace B. Jones-PG15 03:15 Ring Of Deceit-PG15 05:00 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 07:00 Planet Ocean-PG15 09:00 Saving Grace B. Jones-PG15 11:00 Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl-PG 13:00 Lying To Be Perfect-PG15 15:00 Waiting For Forever-PG15 17:00 Katy Perry The Movie: Part Of Me-PG 19:00 Cowboys & Aliens-PG15 21:00 A Little Bit Of Heaven-18 23:00 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-R

00:00 Wilfred 00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 01:30 Family Guy 02:00 Cougar Town 03:00 Men At Work 03:30 Men At Work 04:00 Hope & Faith 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Hope & Faith 06:00 The War At Home 06:30 Brothers 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Hope & Faith 08:30 Hope & Faith 09:00 Men At Work 09:30 Two And A Half Men 10:00 1600 Penn 10:30 Brothers 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 The War At Home

12:30 Hope & Faith 13:00 Hope & Faith 13:30 Brothers 14:00 Men At Work 14:30 Two And A Half Men 15:00 1600 Penn 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 16:30 The War At Home 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Last Man Standing 18:30 Raising Hope 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 Arrested Development 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The Big C 22:30 Enlightened 23:00 The Ricky Gervais Show 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Good Morning America American Idol Good Morning America Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Once Upon A Time Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Survivor: Philippines The Bachelor Live Good Morning America Survivor: Philippines Once Upon A Time The Bachelor Touch Once Upon A Time The Carrie Diaries Glee American Idol

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Revenge The Newsroom In Plain Sight Homeland Parenthood Covert Affairs Revenge Eureka Alphas In Plain Sight Parenthood Covert Affairs Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Alphas Revenge Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Alphas Royal Pains Franklin & Bash The Killing Breaking Bad Homeland

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00

Taxi Driver Intruders The Blood Bond Carjacked

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

Jurassic Park Iron Sky Metal Shifters Mission To Mars Iron Sky Paycheck Mission To Mars Cherry Falls

00:00 The Angel’s Share-PG15 02:00 Slap Shot-PG15 04:15 Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear-PG15 06:00 Ernest Scared Stupid-PG15 08:00 Police Academy 7: Mission To Moscow-PG15 10:00 Mad Buddies-PG15 12:00 Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear-PG15 14:00 Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate-PG 16:00 Mad Buddies-PG15 18:00 Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult-PG15 20:00 Eurotrip-18 22:00 The Angel’s Share-PG15

01:15 03:30 05:30 07:30 09:45 11:45 13:30 15:00 17:15 19:00 21:00

Mr. Nobody-PG15 The Door In The Floor-18 The Debt-18 The Way-PG15 Beneath Hill 60-PG15 The Forger-PG15 Virtual Lies-PG15 Here-PG15 The Forger-PG15 Ondine-PG15 Scarface-18

01:00 Chronicle-PG15 03:00 33 Postcards-PG15 05:00 A Monster In Paris-PG 07:00 American Girl: McKenna Shoots For The Stars-PG 09:00 Hugo-PG 11:15 Joyful Noise-PG15 13:15 A Dog Named Duke-PG15 15:00 Something Borrowed-PG15 17:00 Hugo-PG 19:15 Contagion-PG15 21:00 Bel Ami-18 23:00 Ted-18

01:00 The Nimbols: Part II 02:45 Daddy Day Camp 04:30 Princess Sydney: The Three Gold Coins 06:00 The Nimbols: Part II 08:00 D’Fenders 10:00 Happy Feet Two 11:45 Wheelers 13:00 Elf 14:45 Everyone’s Hero 16:15 Olentzero And The Magic Log 18:00 Happy Feet Two 20:00 A Venetian Rascal Goes To America 22:00 Everyone’s Hero 23:30 Olentzero And The Magic Log

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:15 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:15 22:00

Arena-18 Men In Black 3-PG Mission: Impossible III-PG15 Perfect Plan-PG15 People Like Us-PG15 Nacho Libre-PG Men In Black 3-PG Burden Of Evil-PG15 People Like Us-PG15 Battleship-PG15 Gone-PG15 Moonrise Kingdom-PG15

01:45 03:15 05:05 07:00 09:20 10:50 12:50 14:20 16:00 17:35 19:35 22:00

Elvis On Tour-PG Brass Target-PG Something Of Value-PG Anchors Aweigh-FAM The Fastest Gun Alive-PG A Streetcar Named Desire Elvis On Tour-PG The Gazebo-U Tribute To A Bad Man-PG Hell Divers-PG The Human Comedy-FAM Cool Hand Luke

00:00 World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides 01:00 Xtreme Waterparks 01:30 Bert The Conqueror 02:00 Off Limits 03:00 Globe Trekker 04:00 Bizarre Foods America 05:00 Bizarre Foods America 06:00 Hotel Impossible 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Man Time: Mancations 08:30 Man Time: Mancations 09:00 Off Limits 10:00 World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides 11:00 Bert The Conqueror 11:30 Xtreme Waterparks 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Bizarre Foods America 14:00 International House Hunters 14:30 International House Hunters 15:00 Hotel Impossible 16:00 Inside Luxury Travel - Varun Sharma 17:00 World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides 18:00 Off Limits 19:00 Bizarre Foods America 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

13:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 23:00

Agatha Christie’s Poirot Murdoch Mysteries The Jonathan Ross Show 60 Minute Makeover Emmerdale Coronation Street Coach Trip Come Dine With Me Ireland Lewis Trial & Retribution

Classifieds TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

Kuwait SHARQIA-1 KILLING SEASON (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) STREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

SHARQIA-2 THE WOLVERINE (DIG) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG)

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

SHARQIA-3 RED 2 (DIG) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-1 CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 12:30 PM ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI DOBARA CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 6:30 PM HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) 9:30 PM PACIFIC RIM (DIG) 11:45 PM MUHALAB-2 KILLING SEASON (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG)

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-3 THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG)

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-1 DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 1:00 PM RED 2 (DIG) 3:00 PM DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) 5:30 PM ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI DOBARA RED 2 (DIG) 10:30 PM RED 2 (DIG) 12:45 AM FANAR-2 KILLING SEASON (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) STREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) FANAR-3 CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) THE LONE RANGER (DIG)

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (15/08/2013 TO 21/08/2013) CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) THE LONE RANGER (DIG)

6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM

THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) NO SAT

FANAR-4 THE WOLVERINE (DIG-3D) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG-3D) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

360º- 1 RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG)

2:30 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

360º- 2 THE LONE RANGER (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) RED 2 (DIG)

1:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 1:00 AM

FANAR-5 THE SMURFS 2 PACIFIC RIM THE SMURFS 2 EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET PACIFIC RIM

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-1 KILLING SEASON (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

3:30 PM

7:30 PM

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM 12:30 PM 3:30 PM

MARINA-2 THE WOLVERINE (DIG) STREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG)

1:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM

MARINA-3 DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

AVENUES-1 HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) STREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG)

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-2 CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI)

12:30 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-3 EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG)

2:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

AVENUES-4 THE WOLVERINE (DIG)

3:00 PM 5:30 PM

SITUATION VACANT For a family of two adults, a live-in house boy and home care. Good English and Arabic is preferred, transferable visa. Contact: 99060969.

20-8-2013 ACCOMMODATION

360º- 3 DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AL-KOUT.1 THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) EL7ARAMY & EL3ABIET (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG)

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

AL-KOUT.2 DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG) KILLING SEASON (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM

AL-KOUT.3 RED 2 (DIG) STREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) STREET DANCE ALL STARS (DIG) RED 2 (DIG) RED 2 (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AL-KOUT.4 HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG) PACIFIC RIM (DIG) HAMMER OF G’S (DIG) THE LONE RANGER (DIG)

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

For ladies or bachelor Filipino only near big Jamiya Farwaniya. Available August 25, 2013. Contact 66158188 or 66826412.

20-8-2013 CHANGE OF NAME I, Thamer Medhat Moh. Khattab holder of Filipino Passport No. T T0990386 hereby change my name to Tamer Medhat Moh. Khattab, hereafter all dealings in my new name.

20-8-2013 I, Juzar Ali, holder of Indian Passport No. E 6573312, have changed my name to Juzar Ali Bohra as per affidavit. (C 4484) 18-8-2013 I, Bhaskar Hungarkatha of Indian Passport No. G 0638528 hereby wish to change my name to JOHN B. ALMEIDA. (C 4482) 15-8-2013

(28/160/fair), BB Kuwait, Masters UK, well employed in Kuwait, from well qualified and employed Marthoma/CSI/Orthodox/Ja cobite boys preferably in Kuwait/Dubai/USA/Australi a/Canada with good family background and clean habits. Email: jacobthomask3@yahoo.com (C 4485) 20-8-2013

Prayer timings Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:54 05:19 11:51 15:27 18:24 19:45

SITUATION WANTED

BAIRAQ-1 DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) DESPICABLE ME 2 (DIG-3D) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) THE WOLVERINE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM

12:30 PM

LOST Original document Policy No. 633002728-1 of Mohammad Naeem by the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan, Gulf Zone is reported to have been lost. Anyone finding the same or claiming any interest in it should communicate with State Life Office Kuwait Tel: 22452208.

(C 4483) 18-8-2013 MATRIMONIAL Marthomite parents in Kuwait, invites proposals for their daughter

Indian lady Accountant, B.Com with 3 years experience in Kuwait. Looking for a suitable accounts job. (Can join immediately). Contact: 65173606/67668929.

(C4486) 20-8-2013

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is

FOR SALE Mitsubishi Jeep Nativa model 2011 white color, 6 cylinder engine, alloy rim excellent condition, 4 wheel drive (installment possible), cash price KD 3,400 negotiable. Tel: 99194874. (C 4487) 20-8-2013

1889988

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Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

Airlines BBC QTR RJA THY JZR JZR PIA THY ETH GFA UAE ETD LZB THY RJA FDB MSR RBG OMA QTR THY DHX FDB BAW KAC JZR JZR KAC KAC JZR FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY FDB IRA QTR ETD GFA MEA JZR TMA JZR UAE MSR THY KNE QTR FDB JZR SVA KNE KAC

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 20/8/2013 Flt Route 43 DHAKA 148 DOHA 644 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 5464 SABIHA 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 239 SIALKOT0 764 SABIHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI-INTL 7779 BOURGAS 768 ISTANBUL 642 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 555 ALEXANDRIA 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 69 DUBAI 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 555 ALEXANDRIA 1541 CAIRO 416 JAKARTA 206 ISLAMABAD 503 LUXOR 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 55 DUBAI 605 ISFAHAN 132 DOHA 301 ABU DHABI-INTL 213 BAHRAIN 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 213 BEIRUT 561 SOHAG 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 766 ISTANBUL 480 TAIF 140 DOHA 57 DUBAI 257 BEIRUT 500 JEDDAH 472 JEDDAH 562 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA

Time 00:05 00:05 00:30 00:10 00:20 00:40 01:05 01:40 01:45 01:55 02:25 02:30 02:35 02:50 03:10 03:10 03:15 03:15 03:20 03:30 04:35 05:10 05:50 06:30 06:15 06:20 06:25 6:35 7:25 7:40 07:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:15 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:20 09:25 09:30 10:40 10:55 11:35 12:00 12:00 12:45 13:00 13:10 13:20 13:45 13:50 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40

KAC KAC KAC RJA JZR QTR ETD KAC UAE ABY UAL GFA SVA JZR JZR KAC SYR QTR KAC KAC KAC FDB GFA KAC KAC KAC JZR AXB KAC KAC JAI RBG OMA FDB ABY JZR MEA IRA MSR KLM ALK UAE ETD QTR DHX GFA QTR JAI FDB AIC JZR UAL JZR JZR DLH JAI JZR MSR THY

672 514 546 640 535 134 303 1802 857 127 982 215 510 177 777 542 341 144 786 166 104 63 219 618 742 678 557 393 674 774 572 553 647 61 129 189 402 619 618 415 229 859 307 136 872 217 146 576 59 981 239 981 185 135 636 574 513 614 772

DUBAI TEHRAN ALEXANDRIA AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA CAIRO DOHA ABU DHABI-INTL CAIRO DUBAI SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES BAHRAIN RIYADH DUBAI JEDDAH CAIRO DAMASCUS DOHA JEDDAH PARIS LONDON DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA DAMMAM MUSCAT ALEXANDRIA KOZHIKODE DUBAI RIYADH MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA MUSCAT DUBAI SHARJAH DUBAI BEIRUT LAR ALEXANDRIA AMSTERDAM COLOMBO DUBAI ABU DHABI-INTL DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DOHA COCHIN DUBAI CHENNAI AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN FRANKFURT MUMBAI SHARM EL SHEIKH CAIRO ISTANBUL

13:40 13:40 14:15 15:55 16:10 16:15 16:35 16:40 16:55 17:10 17:15 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:50 18:15 18:25 18:25 18:30 18:40 18:45 18:55 19:05 19:10 19:30 19:35 19:10 19:15 19:25 19:25 19:35 19:40 20:00 20:00 20:05 20:10 20:15 20:20 20:30 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:45 22:00 22:05 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:40 22:40 23:00 23:10 23:20 23:20 23:30 23:45

Airlines AIC PIA AXB JAI UAL DLH MSR KLM THY JZR BBC RJA PIA THY THY ETH LZB THY UAE FDB RBG MSR OMA ETD QTR QTR JZR FDB RJA GFA THY KAC JZR BAW FDB JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC ABY UAE FDB KAC ETD IRA QTR KAC GFA KAC KAC MEA JZR JZR KAC KAC JZR TMA MSR

Departure Flights on Tuesday 20/8/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA 206 LAHORE 490 MANGALORE 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 411 AMSTERDAM 5465 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 502 LUXOR 44 DHAKA 645 AMMAN 240 SIALKOT 773 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 765 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 621 ADDIS ABABA 7780 BOURGAS 769 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 556 ALEXANDRIA 613 CAIRO 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 70 DUBAI 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 545 ALEXANDRIA 164 DUBAI 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 513 TEHRAN 671 DUBAI 561 AMMAN 126 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 1803 CAIRO 302 ABU DHABI 604 ISFAHAN 133 DOHA 101 LONDON 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 405 BEIRUT 556 ALEXANDRIA 776 JEDDAH 677 MUSCAT 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 223 DUBAI 611 CAIRO

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Time 00:05 00:15 00:15 00:20 00:25 00:30 00:30 00:55 01:10 01:30 01:30 01:30 02:20 02:20 02:40 02:45 03:25 03:40 03:45 03:50 03:55 04:15 04:20 04:20 04:25 05:15 05:35 06:30 06:35 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:25 08:25 08:25 08:50 09:10 09:15 09:25 09:25 09:30 09:50 09:55 10:05 10:15 10:20 10:25 10:25 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:10 12:25 13:00 13:00 13:20 13:45 14:00

THY KNE UAE FDB QTR KAC KNE SVA KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC RJA JZR JZR QTR ETD JZR ABY UAE GFA SVA UAL JZR JZR SYR QTR FDB GFA JZR KAC AXB RBG JAI FDB ABY OMA KAC KAC MEA IRA MSR DHX KLM ETD ALK UAE KAC QTR DHX KAC GFA FDB KAC QTR JAI JZR JZR KAC JZR

767 481 872 58 141 673 473 501 617 188 773 503 741 641 238 512 135 304 538 128 858 216 511 982 184 266 342 145 64 220 134 283 394 554 571 62 120 648 343 351 403 618 607 171 415 308 230 860 381 137 873 301 218 60 205 147 575 554 1540 411 528

ISTANBUL-ATATURK TAIF DUBAI DUBAI DOHA DUBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH DOHA DUBAI RIYADH BEIRUT DAMMAM AMMAN AMMAN SHARM EL SHEIKH DOHA ABU DHABI CAIRO SHARJAH DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT DAMASCUS DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DHAKA KOZHIKODE ALEXANDRIA MUMBAI DUBAI SHARJAH MUSCAT CHENNAI KOCHI BEIRUT LAR LUXOR BAHRAIN DAMMAM ABU DHABI COLOMBO DUBAI DELHI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI ISLAMABAD DOHA ABU DHABI ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BANGKOK ASYUT

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

34

stars CROSSWORD 285

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) Secrets, taboos and mysteries appeal to you. Learning about people is an exciting adventure for you. You wear your heart on your sleeve and your emotional life is an open book for all to read. Others sense an interest in their welfare when they meet you. Your instinctive need at this time is to get down to basics and find the perfect path in which to make your dreams come true. If you put as much energy into your personal relationships as you do your business relationships and adventures, all sorts of communication, education and growth are possible. You may enjoy getting away from routine this evening and doing something completely different. Poetry, art, music or a movie could prove most enjoyable.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Someone that serves you, such as a dentist, accountant, housekeeper, etc., may be due for a change. Some change in location, physical wellbeing or some other change has occurred to make you rethink your relationship with those that serve you. Be observant and take your time, the attention you give to this matter will be most useful to you in the future. You make your home situation more pleasant with plans to revise and update. Perhaps a new maintenance person or the purchase of new and better tools is in order. A sale or purchase of real estate could bring you much gain. Perhaps this evening is a good time to take notes of the pros and cons regarding a concern of yours and ask opinion from those who will benefit from your decision.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. A unit of electrical resistance equal to the resistance between two points on a conductor when a potential difference of one volt between them produces a current of one ampere.

4. A republic in southeastern Europe on the Adriatic coast of the Balkan Peninsula.

11. A city in northern India.

15. Seed of a pea plant.

16. Type genus of the Coerebidae.

17. The act of grasping.

18. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

19. A purplish dye obtained from orchil lichens.

20. Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort.

21. Tropical genus of small trees or shrubs.

23. A doctor's degree in religion.

25. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.

26. Unable to meet financial obligations.

28. A sac or cavity containing fluid especially lymph or cerebrospinal fluid.

31. Beyond what is natural.

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

35. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

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

42. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

43. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

46. A metric unit of volume equal to one tenth of a liter.

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

48. The clay from which adobe bricks are made.

49. Being three more than forty.

51. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

54. The law enforcement agency in the Justice Department.

56. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.

58. A language group of the Hokan family.

60. Malevolent aspect of Devi.

64. The cardinal number that is the sum of seven and one.

67. Solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times.

70. An undergarment worn by women to support their breasts.

71. Type genus of the Amiidae.

74. A persistently annoying person.

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

76. Having nine hinged bands of bony plates.

DOWN 1. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

2. Perceive sound.

3. God of death.

4. Submit or yield to another's wish or opinion.

5. Large silvery fish found worldwide in warm seas but nowhere common.

6. Wish harm upon.

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

8. Necessary for relief or supply.

9. A large Yoruba city in southwestern Nigeria.

10. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

11. A yellow pungent volatile oil (trade name Agene) formerly used for bleaching and aging flour.

12. The father of your father or mother.

13. A growth in strength or number or importance.

14. Someone who copies the words or behavior of another.

22. Type genus of the Tetraonidae.

24. The United Nations agency concerned with the interests of labor.

27. (Greek mythology) The rarified fluid said to flow in the veins of the Gods.

29. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting (especially in cases of drug overdose or poisoning).

30. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

33. Being a bard or relating to a bard's poetry.

34. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf of Antalya.

36. Cause annoyance in.

37. Norwegian mathematician (1802-1829).

39. Having help.

40. Muscular and heavily built.

41. The act of mixing.

44. An island of central Hawaii.

45. A unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns.

50. Completely lacking nobility in character or quality or purpose.

52. East Indian tart yellow berrylike fruit.

53. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

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

57. Any of the openings to the nasal cavities that allow air to flow through the cavities to the pharynx.

59. A public promotion of some product or service.

61. (sport) Used of your own ground.

62. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

63. German tennis player who won seven women's singles titles at Wimbledon (born in 1969).

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

66. An informal term for a father.

68. 4-wheeled motor vehicle.

69. South American wood sorrel cultivated for its edible tubers.

72. A member of the military police who polices soldiers and guards prisoners.

73. A physician who is not a specialist but treats all illnesses.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

You will find this a productive workday. You have a lot of ideas that are important for group discussions. Be careful in how you choose your words— you may be selected to make a presentation of your ideas in front of a board meeting. This option becomes enticing as you put together an outline for a film presentation. Your management and directional abilities are in high focus and others sense your carry-through abilities.

You could come up with new solutions or inventions. There are penetrating insights into your own inner workings—what is hidden or going on behind the scenes. This insight is also good for planning and setting goals. Creativity, when it comes to inspiring and encouraging others, is positive and productive.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) People value you for your ability to make practical decisions. You could be called on often to help with the art of solving problems. You would be wise to think about how you solve problems and create some outline that you really like. This way you could create some guideline for others to follow that will help them to solve their own problems. It is fun to see the growth in others and you will learn something in the process. A high-caliber friend will meet you for dinner tonight. You may learn something new this evening and decide to join your friend in some activity that you never thought would be of interest to you. This could include yacht racing, rock climbing or some other activity that is adventuresome. If you don’t participate, you may want to be the cook.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may be surprised by your feelings or your ability to act and get things done today. This is a time for new accomplishments, during which insights and breakthroughs in organization and determination are in order. There is a need for change in some areas of your life or work. New ideas and methods become clear. You will find yourself ready, willing and able to implement changes. Outer circumstances and the flow of events make it easy for you to make clear decisions, see the road ahead and move forward. Things seem to fall in place and progress is easy. With your love of life and travel, you would make a great travel guide for others. You treat the entire world as your home and if you wanted, people would pay for your ideas on travel.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Emotional considerations may block or oppose how you proceed with a project or plan. Listen carefully to what higher-ups are saying. You could have trouble with authorities, due to a tendency to assert your own ambitions against the realities of the situation. Your career is central to everything you do so this would be a good time to weigh all the options before making a quick decision. You may discover new ways of working with traditional materials. You could be most persuasive with others. Your ideas will receive quite a lot of attention and you may need to back up your words. This evening you may decide to help a friend reach beyond that comfort zone of compliance and try something new. You encourage positive outcomes.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) You shine when it comes to practical matters or those involving work and career. You have an easy way with superiors or those in authority and can always manage to get the most out of any skill or ability you have. You like work and career. There are family income and family security issues on your mind this afternoon. This is a great time to reflect and understand your own situation, just how you feel about yourself and the ways in which you are achieving your goals. The feelings of your loved one may be very clear.

Budget issues can receive progress through the help of your loved one this evening.

Positive results are bound to happen! You endear those you love to you with your soothing words of encouragement.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You can be a real moving force in the lives of others now. You are a natural group leader or trainer. Your vitality and drive are communicated to all that are around you. You may find yourself taking charge, organizing and managing important business transactions. This puts you in a boss type of position and you love being the boss today. Careful—your enthusiasm is so strong that it can sometimes be a little too much, making others uncomfortable. You put a lot of effort into those around you and also into your surroundings and home environment. You may feel like being different this evening.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Positive self-esteem is a necessity this month. You seem more interested in the emotional communication between business friends and love partners now. It is very important for you to know how you come across to others. Taking a great amount of work home all the time will damage your home life. Pace yourself and say no when you feel you are reaching your limits. This is a rewarding day and you may come to some understanding with a co-worker about something that was confusing to you in the past. This is a good time to get things done, at work and at home—just do not forget to pace yourself. This evening is a good time to relax and enjoy your loved ones. There is a determination to be open and positive in a difficult relationship.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) CAPRICORN Creating a work manual may be in order for those that follow you. When you are on vacation or gone for other reasons, your responsible act to provide information to others is important. An orientation guideline or study guide will also come under the same sort of energies that are present at this time. You quickly eliminate the nonessentials and gain the attention of higher-ups in most positive ways. It is always good to be a self-starter; as long as you do not take too many things upon yourself. This afternoon is a good time for surrounding yourself with friends and young people and for having a good time. Big heart, big love, you are seldom petty. Given to grand gestures and dramatic scenes, you love independence and greatness in all forms—smile.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You or your company may be involved in lectures or conventions, etc.

Connections with people on a grand scale play a big part in your life at this time and for some time to come. Entertaining, catering, education, law, advertising, travel, philosophy and religion may be a part in this process. Understanding a co-worker or someone around you today may occupy too much of your free time—careful. Learning what makes people tick is educational and insightful; you find the experience of understanding people very satisfying. This afternoon you may find yourself with your friends, perhaps a dinner out or a class in some form of art. You may find different approaches to the arts, theater or sports.

Luck is in your corner this evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Your energy at this time is toward getting down to work and really getting a lot accomplished. This could mean progress in the workplace as well as progress in accomplishing your personal goals. All of this should go rather smoothly. Your drive in life is expressing your responsibility—your trustworthiness. You are able to find yourself in others, in relationships, rather than alone—a mirror or clear pool. You can be peaceful, calm and undisturbed.

You are a genius at bringing out others and getting them to perform—you are a born strategist. You may be able to enjoy your own life situation today or feel especially kind toward a friend or loved one. Someone visiting you in your home this evening may compliment you on your tastes or belongings.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

Al-Madeena

22418714

Al-Shuhada

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Al-Jahra

25610011

Khaldiya

24848075

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Omariya

24719048

N Khaitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Robert De Niro celebrates 70th with famous friends

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obert De Niro celebrated his 70th birthday with a host of famous friends, including Christopher Walken, Keith Richards and Harvey Keitel. The Hollywood icon reached the landmark age on Saturday and to mark the occasion he threw a huge party at his New Paltz estate in New York. The ‘Goodfellas’ star treated his guests to a menu created by the restaurant Nobu - which he co-owns - while entertainment was provided by Lenny Kravitz who performed live. De Niro shared a table with Walken and Keitel and fellow guest Samuel L. Jackson couldn’t resist taking a photo of the three legends together. The ‘Pulp Fiction’ star posted the image on Twitter, along with the caption: “Lunched on da photo! Sorry! (sic)” He wrote in another tweet: “Kietel, Walken & De Niro! TRIPLEBADMUPFUCCAHHZ!!

Happy Bday Bob!! (sic)” Other guests included Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Harvey Weinstein, ‘The Butler’ director Lee Daniels and Martin Scorcese - who has directed De Niro in several acclaimed movies, including ‘Taxi Driver’. ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘Casino’. De Niro’s six children and grandchildren were also present as was his actress wife Grace Hightower. Michael Douglas and his father Kirk Douglas couldn’t attend but sent happy birthday messages via video, while Robin Williams and Billy Crystal recorded a comedy skit lampooning their pal.

He’s little rascal, says Prince Williams on his son

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ritain’s Prince William says Prince George is a “little bit of a rascal”.

The Duke of Cambridge admits the tiny tot - who was welcomed into the world four weeks ago - reminds him of himself and his cheeky sibling Prince Harry when they were youngsters because he is quite a character and has a habit of playing up when it’s time to go to sleep. Speaking in an interview with CNN, he said: “He’s a little bit of a rascal, I’ll put it that way. He either reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger, I’m not sure, but he’s doing very well at the moment. “He’s growing quite quickly actually. But he’s a little fighter - he wriggles around quite a lot and he doesn’t want to go to sleep that much.” The prince admits him and his wife Duchess Catherine - previous-

ly known as Kate Middleton - were on “a high” when they introduced their newborn to the world for the first time outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London, and were pleased that George - third-in-line to the throne - didn’t cry the whole way through. He explained: “I think more shock was the feeling I felt, but I was on such a high anyway, and so was Catherine, about George that really we were happy to show him off to whoever wanted to see him. “As any new parent knows, you’re only too happy to show off your new child and, you know, proclaim that he is the best looking or the best everything. It’s nice that people want to see George - I’m just glad he wasn’t screaming his head off the whole way through!”

Michelle Heaton is pregnant T

he Liberty X singer took to her Twitter account today to announce she is expecting her second kid with husband Hugh Hanley, and she can’t wait for their 20-month-old daughter Faith to have a new brother or sister. She revealed: “Myself and @hughhanley are thrilled we are expecting a mini Michelle or Hugh. “this is a very exciting time for us after everything that’s happened.Thank you as always for your love & support! Whoop whoop! Xxxx “Awww thank u for your well wishes. Yes, faith is gonna be an amazing big sister. She’s already kissing my stomach. Have a great day all! X (sic)” The 33-year-old star’s joy comes after she had a double mastectomy last year after she was found to be carrying the BRCA2 cancer gene, meaning she had an 85 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and 40 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer.

Michelle previously said she wanted to have more children, but if she wasn’t able to have more kids because of her medical problems then she was content with her “healthy, beautiful baby” Faith.

She said: “There’s a lot to consider about ovary removal. It starts the menopause, which would obviously mean I couldn’t have any more children.

“I have one healthy, beautiful baby, and if I never have another I know I’m lucky to have her - but I would love more if possible, so that will be a big decision.”

Malik was almost kicked out of ‘One Direction’

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he 20-year-old hunk came close to being ousted by his fellow bandmates - who were put together by Simon Cowell on ‘The X Factor’ in 2010 - at the start of their career, when they realized the lazy singer was always late for rehearsals. At the press conference for their new 3D film, ‘One Direction: This Is Us’, in London Liam Payne talked about Zayn’s precarious position, saying: “The first week we got together it was all a bit strange trying to get people together for rehearsals. Still to this day it’s a struggle to get Zayn out of bed.” Jogging the other band members’ memories, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock - who shot the movie - said: “Remember he didn’t show up and you were going to fire him.” Now definitely a permanent member of 1D, Zayn opened up about buying his mother Tricia Brannan her dream home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, with some of his pop earnings, and said the emotional scene from the film will stay with him forever. The ‘Little Things’ hit-

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maker confessed: “It was quite strange filming because it was the first time I’d actually spoken to my mum about it and she’d gone round the house. It was quite strange but it was good and it’s amazing thing to do. “I can look back on that in a few years time and I’ve got amazing footage of my mum seeing the house for the first time.” While the band - also made up of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan enjoyed their time being followed around by cameras for the fly-on-the-wall tour movie, they have no plans to ditch music for acting in the future. Harry mused: “It was weird in a way, it was really strange having the cameras around but at the same time it doesn’t make that much of a difference, there was no big set ups and stuff so it was kind of just getting on with your day.” Zayn added: “It wasn’t really an acting thing, it was just like following us around ... so we won’t be going into acting any time soon!” ‘One Direction: This Is Us’ is released in cinemas on August 29, 2013.

Hilton has no time to party

aris Hilton doesn’t have time to party anymore. The heiress is said to have amassed a fortune of around £20 million from her business interests - which include fashion and property companies - and they keep her too busy to be part of the bustling Los Angeles social scene. She said: “Yes, as a teenager, I used to love to go to parties. Every single night almost. “But now I’m so busy with work I don’t have time. When I’m at a party it’s either I’m paid to be there, it’s a promotion for one of my products, or it’s for a special occasion. So I don’t really enjoy going out as much as I used to. I’m more of a homebody now. “I like to be with my boyfriend, stay home and cook, just chill.” Paris, 32, is dating Spanish model River Viiperi, 21, who she loves because he is “not like one of those Hollywood guys” and, most importantly, he loves animals. Paris - whose personal menagerie includes several dogs of different breeds, ferrets, a miniature pig and a miniature pony - told the Sunday People newspaper: “He’s so good with pets. I wouldn’t date someone unless they did love animals because animals are such a big part of my life. “You can tell if someone has a good heart by the way they treat animals. I really notice that with people. “I just love that he’s so loyal and so sweet. He has a big heart. In relationships, I’ve never really trusted a guy before but with him, I don’t worry at all.”

Fraser’s ex-wife issues 50K demands

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rendan Fraser’s ex-wife claims he is lying about not being able to afford spousal support fees. ‘The Mummy’ actor filed documents in Connecticut in February, asking the court to lower his $50,000 monthly alimony payments because he wasn’t getting enough acting jobs to come up with the cash. According to TMZ, his former spouse, Afton Smith, has now hit back with her own legal papers, claiming he is earning enough thanks to new film roles in ‘Extraordinary Measure’ and ‘Furry Vengeance’. She insists Brendan’s net worth of $25 million also justifies the financial support payments, especially since his earnings haven’t yet fallen below $3 million a year, the figure agreed in their divorce settlement for the reduction of alimony. Brendan, 44 - who has three sons with Afton; Griffin, 10, Holden, nine, and Leland, seven - divorced the blonde in 2009. He strongly denies hiding his riches from his ex-wife, alleging a number of “medical issues” have affected his earnings. The actor has also been involved in an expensive and bitter legal dispute with film producer Todd Moyer, who sued Brendan last year for allegedly physically attacking him on two occasions in 2011 and 2012.

37

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Woodley cuts hair for movie and a good cause

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ctress Shailene Woodley is sporting a new, much shorter blonde “do” these days. It’s for a new film role - and a good cause. The 21-year-old Woodley cut her hair in preparation for her portrayal of cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster in the upcoming movie “The Fault in Our Stars,’ according to US Weekly. And the star of the indie film “The Spectacular Now” is donating her hair to Children With Hair Loss, and organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer therapy or other diseases. Woodley on Friday tweeted a photo of her trimmed locks with the message “hair nubbins” with the hashtags #itgrowsback and #hairforhazel.

She followed that up with a Twitter shot of herself shorn, and the message “work in progress... but luckily, #itgrowsback!!!” It isn’t her first hair color switcheroo. The natural brunette dyed her hair red for “The Amazing SpiderMan 2” earlier this year, and has been sporting blonde tresses for the last month.

No charge for West in LAX paparazzi scuffle

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anye West won’t face felony charges after being accused of attacking a photographer at Los Angeles International Airport. But he’s not completely off the hook. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Friday it is declining to prosecute the rapper, but his case will go to the city attorney for possible misdemeanor charges. In the July 19 incident, West scuffled with a member of the paparazzi who staked out the airport to snap celebrity photos. Videos showed West lunging at a photographer’s camera and trying to wrestle it away. West has had similar run-ins with paparazzi at LAX in the past. Prosecutors say the photographer did not have a significant injury and it’s unknown if his camera was damaged. They also say no weapon was used and West doesn’t have a felony record.

Alba

has a ‘muffin top’ Lady Gaga slams former friend Perez Hilton

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ady Gaga has blasted her former friend Perez Hilton - accusing him of “stalking” her. The 27-year-old singer took to Twitter to post an angry rant about the “sick” blogger after one of her fans informed her he was being shown around an apartment inside her New York building, and she also claimed he has been “harassing” her. She wrote: “STAY AWAY FROM ME + MY FAMILY YOU ARE SICK TRYING TO RENT AN APARTMENT IN MY BUILDING TO STALK ME. LEAVE ME ALONE!!! “DO I NEED TO BE SHOT IT IN THE HEAD FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT HIM AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT HARASSES ME HAS GONE TOO FAR? I’M A HUMAN BEING. (sic)” However, Perez - who has a six-month-old son Mario Armando Lavandeira III - hit back at the ‘Born This Way’ hitmaker by posting a 352-word blog post entitled ‘A Statement On LadyGaGa’s Lies (sic)’, in which he denied stalking her and insisted he wasn’t aware she lived in the same apartment block. He wrote: “I learned only after the fact that Lady GaGa lives in one of the buildings we looked at, and she was across the country in Los Angeles when I viewed that building. “After a day of innocent house-hunting, I am devastated and my heart hurts that my former very good friend, a person I used to call my “wifey” and traveled the world with, is making very public and very untrue allegations about me on Twitter. “While it is still too painful for me to go into detail about why I chose to no longer make her a part of my life, I will say that I am a critic and not a “stalker”. “Any allegation that I am stalking her, based on a day of house hunting with my baby boy and my mother, is utterly false, defamatory and now appears to be putting me and my family in danger. (sic)” Shortly before the feud erupted, Gaga took to Twitter to reveal Perez had poked fun at her when she was left wheelchair-bound after suffering a labral tear on her right hip earlier this year. She wrote: “Still have the text Perez sent me of me in a wheelchair w the words KARMA written across + Madonna pointing a gun at me.

Day of my accident (sic)”

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essica Alba has a “muffin top” because she is “useless” in the gym. The ‘Machete’ actress has a reputation for keeping her lean figure despite having children Honor Warren, five, and Haven Warren, two, but insists she still has a number of imperfections, including her tummy bulging over her waist of her trousers, known as a “muffin top”. Jessica told Women’s Health UK: “I have cellulite and stretch marks -and I have a muffin top! I have a brutally short attention span. It means I’m useless at work out. I get so bored.” The 32-year-old’s lack of workouts are outweighed by the fact she has restricted herself to a healthy diet from a young age.

She continued: “I started cooking for myself at 12 because a lot of food my family ate was processed. I wanted fresh. I eliminated microwave foods, things with too much salt, and tried to eat more natural food, things that were cooked in a kitchen as opposed to a factory.” Jessica - who is married to film producer Cash Warren - has collected all her healthy recipes in a new book, ‘The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True To You’. The star previously claimed her book was “more grounded” than vegetarian actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest cookbook, ‘It’s All Good’. She told The New York Daily News newspaper: “Gwyneth Paltrow probably lives a very similar lifestyle, but I didn’t grow up with a bunch of money, so my tips are much more grounded: re-purposing things and making things at home.”

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he 22-year-old singer - who is in a relationship with Calvin Harris - thinks the One Direction heartthrob is “cute”, and she believes many other famous women are attracted to the 19-year old star but just won’t admit it. When asked if she had a crush on Harry, Rita said: “Yeah! But it’s not like I’m ever going to do anything - no! “But everyone has a crush. I mean, me and the whole music industry probably have a crush on Harry Styles! Everyone’s acting like it’s a shock, but I’m sorry, I think I’m just the only one admitting it! I like his hair! I just think he’s funny and cute!” Although she has a soft spot for her pal Harry, ‘Radioactive’ hitmaker Rita insists she is besotted with her DJ beau Calvin and finds it tough when she sees paparazzi pictures showing the pair enjoying romantic times together. Rita - who performed at the Virgin Media V Festival at the weekend - said: “It’s always a bit difficult when you have somebody that you really like and people take pictures of you liking that person. It’s a weird scenario, so I just ignore them. “Also, it’s about where you choose to go and what you choose to do, and how private you are as a couple.”

s t i u s s ’ n e m g n i r a e w s ve o l t

t e h c n a l B ‘T

he Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ actress likes the feel of male fashion, and has always liked to mix both masculine and feminine looks together. She told The Sunday Times newspaper: “It’s hard to describe my own style. I think it’s probably quite eclectic. Even in high school, I wore men’s suits. I was always in men’s jackets, men’s pants, which I’d get my mum to adjust. Ultimately, it’s about great tailoring, but I love the mix of masculine and feminine, playing with traditional men’s silhouettes.” The Australian star also likes to add to her mystique with fragrance, because she loves how evocative it can be. She added: “Fragrance is such a mood changer, because it is so full of memory and desire and aspiration. That’s why people purchase fragrance, they think, ‘I’d love to walk through that door’. it transports me backwards, but it can also change the way I feel. “My mother wore a lot of fragrance. She chopped and changed. I’m just realizing that people inherently have a natural smell. I notice it when my children come out of the shower.”

38

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LIFESTYLE F a s h i o n

Paul Frank teams up with Native American artists

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t was Fashion’s Night Out in Los Angeles.

Celebrities and models packed parties and shopping extravaganzas thrown by designers and retailers. The people at Paul Frank Industries - famous for putting Julius the monkey on everything from T-shirts to bicycles - were hoping to have some fun with the latest trend of Native American inspired designs. Their offerings included feather headbands, toy tomahawks and glow-in-the-dark war paint. The backlash

right, said Elie Dekel, president of Saban Brands, the parent company of Paul Frank.

The beaded sunglasses, brightly colored handmade accessories, tote bags and graphic T shirts were set to be unveiled Friday evening at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe as part of the annual Santa Fe Indian Market festivities.

Bloggers Adrienne Keene, a member of the Cherokee

Photo shows handmade jewelry and accessories made by Autumn Dawn Gomez of the Comanche and Taos tribes. —AP was in full swing within 24 hours. Bloggers and other critics blasted last year’s neon-lit powwow as racist and the latest fashion faux pas to anger Native Americans.

After apologizing, Paul Frank Industries spent nearly a year working with its most vocal critics and a diverse team of Native American artists and designers to create a new collection of merchandise with a distinct Native flavor. This time, it was done

but said it was important to remember what sparked the collaboration.

“Remembering the beginning is how we continue to move forward together,” she wrote. “History is written by those in power, so we need to continue to push to have our version shared and not forgotten.”

People who worked on the project

Dekel said. Dekel said it wasn’t until he started talking to Keene and Metcalfe that he learned the problem was much bigger than a Warholesque flier featuring Julius in a headdress.

“It illuminated a larger issue of wow, Native American imagery and cultural references have been appropriated by numerous companies and businesses and industries over generations now,” he said. “This is an

line of Navajo-branded clothing and accessories that included underwear and a liquor flask.

The collection created by Paul Frank and the Native designers incorporates beading techniques and designs that are influenced by tribal cultures that stretch from the Navajo and Taos Pueblo in the Southwest to the Great Plains and Canada.

The designers include Autumn Dawn Gomez, who is Comanche and Taos; Louie

Photo shows a series of T-shirts designed by Dustin Martin, a member of the Navajo Nation.

Photo shows merchandise created through a collaboration with four Native American artists and designers.

tribe who writes Native Appropriations, and Jessica Metcalfe, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa from North Dakota who runs Beyond Buckskin, were among those involved in the monthly conference calls and hundreds of emails that were shared over many months as the project developed.

Keene, in a recent blog post, called the collaboration “a big win for Indian Country”

were hoping the collaboration will serve as a template for other manufacturers to be more thoughtful when dealing with cultural imagery. “We were sincerely aghast at how we had found ourselves in that situation about a year ago, and today it’s truly humbling to all involved that it has emerged into something so positive,”

ongoing issue.” Last fall, Victoria’s Secret apologized for putting a Native American-style headdress on a model for its annual fashion show. The outfit was criticized as a display of ignorance toward tribal culture and history. The band No Doubt also apologized after running into criticism for its cowboys-andIndians-themed video. In 2011, Urban Outfitters Inc. set off a firestorm with its

Gong of the Nooksack Tribe; Candace Halcro, who is Plains Cree and Metis Aboriginal; and Dustin Quinn Martin of the Navajo Nation.

Since some of the items are handmade, Paul Frank officials say they will only be available in limited quantities. Items such as the T-shirts, pillows and blankets will be available to a wider audience. The prices range from under $20 to $200. —AP

Look beyond the laces: Emotions around sneaker culture continue to run high

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Giorgio Armani’s new collection: The men’s project

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strong and precise image.

Clean and essential styling that portrays a virile man, defined by outerwear with a broad silhouette and trousers with a clean cut. Surfaces are opaque and warm, and underline the preciousness of the collection. Research into craftsmanship is key, and is evident in the fabric treatments and tailoring of the pieces. It is this quality of craftsmanship that brings together the apparently contrasting aesthet-

ics of sport swear and classic menswear.

Thus, neoprene envelops precious material s such as velvet and suede - a contemporary combination that makes one re-think definitions of techno and sartorial.

Sportswear enters a new phase without renouncing to high-performance technical fabrics and treatments; luxury is expressed through the focus on precious fabrics and the practicality of the clothing.

Leather is treated using traditional methods practiced at great Italian tannerie s where hand dyeing is done with sponges and brushes.

The refined knitwear is lightweight.

There are complex pieces created by the interweaving of cashmere and mohair in a sensual geometrical game of colors.

The color palette is drawn from the established Armani code, and is composed of tried and trusted hues, such as warm greys and

shades of brown (including cocoa and colors referencing precious woods), which fuse with intense tones such as wenge, before passing to absolute black. Ruby red is a key color for this season.

Aristocratic and precious, it runs through the collection following an elegant narrative path, standing out in the male wardrobe and reaching the pinnacle of an original, rich and magical chromatic pyramid.

aurice Holoway had been obsessing for six days. On that Monday he had read that the classic Air Jordan IIIs were being rereleased. These were the original red, white, and black kicks first made available to the public in 1988. Holoway, 28, knew he had to get to the store early if he wanted a crack at the $160 shoes.

He didn’t want to be disappointed. By 7:30 on that Saturday morning, when the UBIQ store opened in the downtown Philadelphia Gallery mall, Holoway was standing pretty first in line. For the occasion he wore his Nike Barkley Posite Max Phoenix Suns in rich purple faux crocodile skin with zigzags of bright powder blue and a Nike swoosh in shocking orange that cost him about $250.

The importance of getting to the store early could not be overstated, said Holoway, a mental health counselor from West Philadelphia. Nike releases only so many of the shoes in each size to each retailer the company won’t specify the exact number. “You don’t really know” if there will be enough to go around at any given store, Holoway said. “You just go with your gut.” A half-hour later, he had been joined by more than a dozen other men when the doors opened. A UBIQ sales clerk started reading off names. And Holoway realized he wasn’t really first.

Sneaker fans had come a week earlier to reserve their spot for the new Air Jordans. He bided his time as a half-dozen or so men got their shot, two by two, at the shoes before him. Then it was his turn. He and another customer were let in to the store to claim their prizes. A metal gate clanged behind them. Mall security lingered nearby. Demand for sneakers is so high, fans have been driven to violence and rioting while waiting in line.

What makes a man get up early on a Saturday to wait in line for sneakers? Style, status, nostalgia, and, in many cases, the entrepreneurial spirit.

In a city where people are passionate about what they wear on their feet, sneakerheads like Holoway can be found weekly, following the release dates on the Internet, sizing up which shops have the shortest lines. Experts and there are experts on this subject trace the obsession with sneakers to 1985 with Michael Jordan’s first release, with its signature pair of wings gracing the upper ankle. The Air Jordan I sold for $65, the most expensive shoe on the market at the time.

Today you can grab a pair on eBay for up to $1,500. Jordan’s influence still colors the shoes today. Red, white, and black colors of the Chicago Bulls, led by Jordan to six NBA championships are the most coveted. A flashy pair of Adidas or Reebok will earn the long stare, but it’s the

Jordans that get double-takes.

Sneakers are riding high on the surge of ‘80s and retro fashion that has been swelling over the last several years, said Natalie Nixon, director of Philadelphia University’s Strategic Design MBA program and a retail expert. They’re more than shoes, they’re the center of a subculture of style.

Each silhouette and color carries a symbol of status, the flashier the better. “When you see someone walking down the street with a flash of color, even if it’s just a neon orange shoelace against a gray canvas sneaker, it’s a nice surprising pop of color,” Nixon said. “You’re definitely not trying to blend in with the crowd.”

Limited numbers of each shoe are released, spurring a frenzy to be one of the trendsetters to snag a pair, said David Reibstein, professor of marketing at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. It’s also a justification to hike the prices higher and higher. Demand is so high for sneakers, it has bred an underworld of shoe resales in specialty stores and on eBay. It’s even led to killings. In 2010, a group of teenagers shot 15-year-old Willy Tineo and stole his shoes as he lay dying in the street in Reading, Pa. When the LeBron X Denim shoe was released in June, a patron shot a man pick pocketing cash-rich targets outside a store in Atlanta. After fatally shooting him, he went back to his spot in line.

Jemayne King, a self-styled sneakerhead and author of “Sole Food: Digestible Sneaker Culture,” once sold a pair of LeBron South Beaches for $500 at a convention to help pay for an engagement ring. That was a relative bargain, he said, for the teal blue kicks paired with either black or hotpink laces. King, speaking by phone from Charlotte, NC, where he teaches English at Johnson C Smith University, has so many kicks, he can go more than a year without wearing the same pair twice. He intends to be married in his most-coveted pair, Ewing Athletics 33 Hi, which he picked up as an adult he had pined for them since age 12.

King said the greatest moment of his life was opening the box and touching the cushiony royal blue fabric, accented with macaroni orange eyelets and a sewn white signature of the 11-time all-star, Patrick Ewing. “There’s not a corner of this country not affected by sneaker culture,” King said. “Philly is ... like New York, it’s going to leave its mark on any subculture. So it goes in Philly, it goes everywhere else. It happens in Philly first.”

Maurice Holoway wound up getting his Air Jordan IIIs that day. He planned to play basketball in the afternoon, but was worried about the forecast for rain. He decided to wear them after the game. —MCT

People wait in line for a shoe store to open to purchase the latest in fashionable sneakers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. —MCT

39

Lohan

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

LIFESTYLE F E A T U R E S

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says she’s an addict, aims ’to shut up and listen‘

eeks after finishing her sixth trip to rehab, actress Lindsay Lohan said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that she was an addict and realizes she needs “to shut up and listen” because her approach to dealing with personal problems had not worked.

“I’m my own worst enemy, and I know that and I admit it,” Lohan, 27, told Oprah Winfrey in an interview on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). She said she only realized she had a problem “over a period of time” rather than at any one moment.

Asked whether she was an a d d i c t , Lo h a n re p l i e d “ Ye a h ,” adding that her drug of choice was alcohol, which she said had been a “gateway to other things.”

Lohan, who shot to fame as a child star in “The Parent Trap” before huge success in hit films such as “Mean Girls,” has seen her image tarnished by a string of arrests, court appearances, bouts in rehab and a stint in prison, not to mention nearly continuous media coverage of the scandals.

She recently sought treat-

m e n t a t t h e B e t t y Fo r d C e n t e r, t h e n f i n i s h e d t r e a t m e n t at another facility. Lohan told Winfrey she had often felt shame, and “tons of guilt” over her frequent relapses with substance abuse, public quarrels with her parents and scrapes with the law.

When Winfrey asked what was different about this latest time in rehab, Lohan said that she no longer takes adderal, which she took for ADD (attention deficit disorder), saying being on the drug was “all I know” but that she was now calmer without it. Lohan said she now only takes vitamins. And she said her attitude had evolved.

I just need to shut up and listen. I n this case (in rehab) I wasn’t fighting at all,” she said, adding that it was clear that her idea of what works hasn’t in the past. Lohan spoke of a life steeped in chaos, starting with her home life, although she diffe re d w i t h a com m on p e rce p t i on that her parents had exploited her talents for financial gain. “Nobody’s perfect,” she said of her parents, themselves tabloid

fodder, adding “I love my family.”

“I don’t think anything was intentionally done ... they’re just parents,” Lohan said when Winfrey asked about the possibility of her parents having exploited her.

“I don’t blame anyone for my mistakes,” she added. “I did that, and I’m not proud of it.” But Lohan said she felt many of her demons have endured due to “all the chaos around me, that I was so comfortable with.” Since completing a court-ordered 90-day stint in rehab on July 31, the actress has enlisted a “sober coach” to help her stay clean and guest-hosted comedienne Chelsea Handler’s talk show “Chelsea Lately” on US cable network E!. Her latest film, “ The Canyons,” was excoriated by critics, but many praised her performance. Lohan, who will also be the subject of a reality series on OWN next year, is required to attend weekly therapy sessions over the next 15 months to comply with a court order for a reckless driving charge.—Reuters

1D

goes 3-D in boy band’s debut feature film

Robert Downey Jr fronts new HTC campaign

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n the tradition of great music movies, One Direction’s feature-film debut has sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll - just without the sex or the drugs. The Morgan Spurlockdirected documentary “One Direction: This Is Us” hangs out with Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn at home and on the road and comes to the conclusion that the five lads who have conquered the world are, well, pretty nice.

Spurlock - who made his name with socially engaged documentaries such as “Super Size Me” - is on a mission to convert unbelievers into One Direction fans. “These boys are so charming and so fantastic, I challenge you to go to the movie and not like them after the film is done,”Spurlock said Monday. The movie premieres Tuesday in London.—AP

TC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, has unveiled acclaimed actor and director, Robert Downey Jr, as the star of its ‘Here’s to Change’ brand-building advertising campaign. The ad creative marries Robert Downey Jr’s wit and charisma with HTC’s playful nature to instill the HTC brand name into consumers’ minds. Celebrating HTC’s disruptive impact on the mobile industry over its 17-year history, Here’s To Changeequates change with the innovation that’s essential to move the industry forward.

Recognized as one of the most popular faces on the bigscreen, Robert Downey Jr has signed a two-year deal with HTC to bring HTC’s Change platform to life. In the creative, Robert Downey Jr is the instigator of change – he inspires it, creates it and curates it. He takes consumers on a journey to show how HTC can be “whatever you want it to be”, using scenarios that bring to life imaginative word associations based on the letters of the brand name, HTC. The quirky and offbeat creative sees Robert Downey Jr as an advertising executive who animates HTC’s brand with playful iterations of the HTC acronym. His imaginative direction includes a life size incarnation of a Humungous Tinfoil Ca-

tamaran which he sets to sail, and a Hipster Troll Carwash complete with lovable green-haired trolls who are busy washing cars to music under his direction. The creative ad also features many other interpretations of HTC that consumer fans are invited to spot, guess and share including Hot Tempered Cheerleaders, Hawaiian Tickling Ceremony, Happy Taco Cart, and Hands That Clap. In addition to starring in the ad, Robert Downey Jr. has injected his own maverick style by working closely with HTC’s brand team to shape its creative direction, putting change at the core of HTC’s brand.

Ben Ho, CMO of HTC comments, “As a leading change-maker in the movie industry, Robert Downey Jr was the natural fit to star in our new ‘Here’s to Change’ advertising campaign and we are incredibly excited to have him on board as a result. Just as he champions change in his approach to movie roles and characters, here at HTC our innovation, authenticity and boldness have made us the change-makers in the mobile industry.”The campaign heroes the HTC One, HTC’s award-winning handset that has won global praise including‘the best phone in the world’as nominated by Tech Radar.

Australian singer and musician Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform on stage on the last day of the Lowlands music festival in Biddinghuizen.—AFP

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‘Elysium’ edges ‘Percy Jackson’ for top spot at overseas box office

ony got some good box office news from abroad this weekend, with “Elysium” taking the top spot at the foreign box office with $23.4 million and “The Smurfs 2” adding another $20 million for third. Fox’s “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” was second with $21.8 million from 37 markets. The little blue guys from “Smurfs 2”upped their overseas total to $145 million and their worldwide gross to $202 million after three weeks. Matt Damon’s sci-fi adventure “Elysium” opened in 20 markets this weekend and

was in 42 territories all told, and upped its foreign total to $37.7 million and its worldwide haul to $93.6 million.

In Western Europe, it brought in just over $13 million from eight markets, all of which surpassed the openings of “District 9,” director Neill Blomkamp’s previous movie, according to Sony.

It debuted at No. 1 in France ($4.1 million), Spain ($3.3 million) and Germany ($3.2 million as well as Holland, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. It also opened on top in Australia with $3.2 million.

“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” disappointed in its US box office debut, but international audiences sparked to Fox’s teen action fantasy.

“Percy Jackson” finished No. 1 in 10 International territories. Its biggest hauls came from Brazil with nearly $4 million, France ($3.6 million) and Germany ($2.1 million). Its international total is now $36.5 million and its worldwide is $75.4 million. Universal’s ‘Despicable Me 2” wasn’t behind the leaders by much, adding $19.5 million from 26 territories to raise its overall overseas to-

tal to $435 million. With its $346 million domestic haul, the minions’ worldwide figure is now $781 million. That puts it No. 3 for the year both overseas and worldwide, behind Disney’s “Iron Man 3” and Universal’s own “Fast & Furious 6.”

The $12.2 million opening in Russia for “Despicable Me 2” was Universal’s second-best ever there - behind “Fast & Furious 6” - and tops for an animated film this year in that market. Elsewhere, Fox’s Hugh Jackman superhero sequel “The Wolverine”took in $10.8 million from 73 markets, War-

ner Bros’Jennifer Aniston-Jason Sudeikis comedy “We’re the Millers” brought in $10.6 million from just 14 markets and Sony’s Adam Sandler comedy “Grown Ups 2’ added $10 million from 33 countries. The magic-themed heist thriller“Now You See Me” brought in $9.6 million from 65 markets. That upped its international total to $158 million and its global haul to nearly $275 million.—Reuters

Lohan says she’s an addict, aims ‘to shut up and listen’

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013

Ethnic Chinese devotees throw “hell money” before setting fire to a 20 foot (6.10 m) high paper-made statue of Chinese deity “Da Shi Ye” or Guardian God of Ghosts during the festive event of Hungry Ghost in Kajang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. In the Chinese tradition the seventh month of the lunar year is regarded as the Ghost Month in which spirits and ghosts come down to earth. During this festival the devotees burn paper-made models to appease the wandering spirits and offers prayers. —AFP

Myanmar’s ‘tallest man’ seeks medical aid abroad “B

ig Zaw” has known he was different since a teenage growth spurt sent him soaring above his neighbors in a remote Myanmar village. Now at seven foot eight inches he is believed to be the country’s tallest man, and a recent rise to fame means he can finally seek treatment abroad for the health condition behind his towering height.

“My friends call me Big Zaw,” said Win Zaw Oo, who at 233cm is significantly taller than the 168cm (five foot six) average Myanmar man. “I do not fit in an ordinary car. When the doctor brought me here, he had to hire a truck,” said the 36-year-old, who was given access to healthcare after a story about him in state media this year sparked a flurry of interest from reporters and medical experts.

He is now set to undergo surgery in Singapore for a pituitary gland tumor which causes the body to produce excessive growth hormones-because the procedure is too advanced to be carried out in Myanmar, where the health system was left chronically underfunded by the former junta. Win Zaw Oo, who left Myanmar on Thursday, said he was anxious about the trip. “I have only seen a toy plane before, so I feel a bit worried about having to fly. But if it is for my health, I must do it,” he told AFP ahead of his departure, adding that he was concerned about the future costs of treatment.

His height brings day-to-day challenges.

Win Zaw Oo walks inside the international airport in Yangon as he gets set to depart for Singapore for treatment.“ —AFP photos Win Zaw Oo has gone barefoot for most of his life in his rural village in Magway region, central Myanmar, where his parents and three sisters scratch a living from growing peanuts and sesame seeds on a couple of acres of land.

While his family was able to make extra-large

longyis-the sarong-like skirt worn by both men and women in Myanmar-for him, custommade footwear was far beyond the family’s modest means. His condition also means he tires easily and is unable to hold down regular employment, although he says he can help

Win Zaw Oo posing wearing his large sandals next to Win Zaw Oo getting a check up at hospital. regular sized ones, while at hospital in Yangon.

out in village construction because he does not need a ladder.

Shy but friendly, Win Zaw Oo attracts stares when he travels, but at home people are accustomed to him. “We see him every day in our village... so we do not really think of him as being extraordinarily big,” said his cousin Than Htoo. Myanmar doctors said Win Zaw Oo appeared to have stopped growing, but that his condition carried future health risks. “He needs to be cured,” said Myatthu Mynn, part of the medical team travelling with him to Singapore on a trip funded by private donations from Myanmar and Singapore.

He explained that the procedure-which usually involves accessing the pituitary gland at the base of the brain through the nose or an incision in the mouth-is too specialised for Myanmar’s hospitals. Decades of military dictatorship in the Southeast Asian country left the vast majority of citizens without access to even basic healthcare, as the junta state focused on its military spending. A new quasicivilian regime took power in 2011, but medical care remains woefully inadequate. Official figures show the state only allocated around one percent of its expenditure to healthcare in its 2011 to 2012 budget, rising to three percent in 2012 to 2013.

Win Zaw Oo’s condition-acromegaly-which can lead to gigantism when it develops in puberty, is extremely rare. Accurate data for Myanmar is unavailable, but Britain’s Pituitary Foundation said only around four to six new cases per million of the population are diagnosed each year. It said health risks include “diabetes, high blood pressure and heart problems with a reduced life expectancy compared to the normal population”. Doctors said only one other extremely tall person has been recorded in recent memory in Myanmar.

Zee Kwet Sein, who is believed to have died in the 1970s, was left blind by her condition and her exceptional height saw her exhibited at fairs in the country’s central region. Win Zaw Oo’s recent fame had led him to consider the possibility of a film career to help support his family, although he would rather start a business with his sisters. But the condition takes its toll. “I cannot move quickly like the others do. I feel depressed about that sometimes,” he told AFP, adding that he does not expect to have a family of his own but hopes medical care will secure his future.

“After the treatment is finished it will be enough to live my life, even if it does not change my appearance,” he said. —AFP

This handout picture taken on June 30, 2013 and released in Hong Kong by Sotheby’s auction house yesterday shows “The Premier Blue” diamond. —AFP photos

Rare blue diamond to be auctioned in Hong Kong

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rare round blue diamond will go under the hammer in Hong Kong in October, with auctioneers hoping the sale will fetch a recordbreaking $19 million despite fears over the slowing Chinese economy. Auction house Sotheby’s expect the 7.59-carat fancy vivid blue diamond, which is about the size of a shirt button, to set a new record for price-per-carat. Quek Chin Yeow, Sotheby Asia’s deputy chairman, said Hong Kong was the natural venue to sell the gem, known as “The Premier Blue”, with collectors expected to fly in from all over the world.

“While there is a slowdown (in Chinese economy), the number of top-level collectors are still there,” he told AFP. “We have been selling very well in Hong Kong.” Hong Kong has become a centre for jewellery auctions thanks to growing wealth in China and other parts of the region, as well as the region’s increasing taste for art. But there are fears for the future of the Chinese economy, the world’s second largest, where growth fell to 7.8 percent in 2012 — its slowest pace in 13 years.

Blue diamonds seldom hit the market and have been coveted by royals and celebrities for centuries, while a round cut is rarely used in colored stones because of the high wastage. The most famous example of a blue diamond is the “Hope Diamond”, which was bought by King Louis XIV of France in the 17th Century. The term “fancy” is used to describe a diamond of intense color, while a gem’s saturation grading ranges from light to vivid for colored diamonds. The Premier Blue will go up for auction on October 7. Quek said the owner wanted to remain anonymous.

In April, a rare 5.3-carat fancy deep-blue diamond was sold for £6.2 million ($9.5 million) at a London auction, then setting a record for priceper-carat at $1.8 million. —AFP