10th Sep 2013

IO N CR IP T SU BS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

India’s navy on a goodwill trip to Kuwait

Filipino rebels storm villages, take hostages

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THULQADA 4, 1434 AH

‘Syria vote’ may weaken Britain position in GCC

Serena wins 5th US Open and 17th Slam title

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UN floats plan to destroy Syrian chemical weapons Gulf monarchies weigh measures against Syria conspiracy theories

War or peace?

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

S

yria yesterday, today and tomorrow. It looks like the Syrian topic is stretching into a never ending story. Politicians are changing their minds about the military intervention at any second. Of course, they are doing that as a result of the analysis of the consequences. Led by the United States, the West has rushed their decision to strike Syria.

As all of you know, this has escalated from Obama threatening to strike, to him taking permission from the US Congress to half of them giving their approval for such a strike. The United Kingdom also backed out and promised to help with logistics if war takes place. The whole world is waiting. Even some countries which previously came on board with George Bush to strike Iraq decided not to fly with Mr Obama this time.

My feeling is that Obama himself is reluctant to go to war and he is trying to find an exit. He discovered that Syria is not Iraq and a war in Syria will does not have the same consequences in the region. The West lied to the public that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam from the beginning started giving away the few missiles he had one by one. But the West led a war which demolished the country. The object of this war was to demolish the state of Iraq.

Syria is an excuse to demolish Hezbollah and drag Iran into the war. However, now the West has discovered that it will not be as easy to achieve this plan as it was in Iraq. Actually, it will be very tough. Neither the Arabs nor the West know what is inside Syria and whether the government or the opposition has chemical weapons. Who wants weapons of mass destruction to be with the opposition which has branched out into many fractions.

Some are 180 degrees extreme. These people are hard to control and the West has realized this. What are the consequences for Israel if a war broke out in Syria?

To make a precision hit, as per the new amendment to the strike, means that the United States is not really sure of the locations of the claimed chemical weapons.

Would it be worth to strike then? Suppose that they hit these sites, Assad will still remain in power. There are many complicated calculations regarding the Syrian dilemma.

I noticed the whole world has calmed down their trumpets regarding the war. They are offering other options, such as peaceful negotiations and confiscation of the alleged chemical weapons in Syria. Now the Mediterranean is crowded with warships and fleets from around the world. The whole world is waiting to hear what Mr Obama will tell us today US time. Whether he will disappoint many or please others remains to be seen. Come tomorrow morning and the world will know whether Mr Obama opted for peace or war?

MAALOULA: Aerial photo shows a general view of Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. Syrian troops launched an attack yesterday, on suspected rebel-held positions on hills overlooking a Christian-majority village near the capital Damascus, two days after rebel forces captured the ancient community. — AP

31 killed as Hindus and Muslims clash MUZAFFARNAGAR: Security forces have been ordered to shoot rioters on sight, as sectarian violence spread in northern India yesterday despite an armyenforced curfew imposed after deadly weekend clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims. Gunfire and street battles that erupted Saturday in villages around Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh state have killed at least 31 people and left many more wounded or missing, police said. Both sides have blamed the other for starting the violence.

Police had arrested 200 people by yesterday evening. Soldiers deployed to the region have been given orders to shoot rioters on sight, state government official Kamal Saxena said. Still, the violence spread to the neighboring districts of Shamli and Meerut. A state of alert has been declared for Uttar Pradesh, the scene of some of India’s worst communal violence when a Hindu mob razed a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.

Hundreds of people, some packed into bullock carts, tried to flee areas where their community represents a minority. One family trying to leave Kuttba village on Sunday was beaten with metal rods and Continued on Page 13

Max 44º Min 29º High Tide 02:05 & 15:01 Low Tide 08:55 & 21:03

UNITED NATIONS: In a bid to help the UN Security Council overcome its “embarrassing paralysis” on Syria, the UN chief said yesterday he may ask the council to demand that Damascus move its chemical arms stocks to sites where they can be safely stored and destroyed. Later this week or next week, the UN team of chemical weapons experts, led

by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, is expected to submit a report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about its investigation of an Aug 21 chemical attack that the United States says killed over 1,400 people, many of them children.

US President Barack Obama is seeking congressional authorization to launch military strikes against Syria because of the incident, which it blames on the Syrian government. Ban has warned that punishing Syria with military force and without a clear UN mandate could make the situation there even worse.

“I have already been considering certain proposals that I could make to the Security Council when I present the investigation team’s report,” Ban said, adding that the international community would be obligated to act if the use of poison gas in Syria’s 2-1/2-year civil war was confirmed.

“I’m considering urging the Security Council to demand the immediate transfer of Syria’s chemical weapons and chemical precursor stocks to places inside Syria where they can be safely stored and destroyed,” he said.

He was responding to questions about a Russian plan to place Syrian chemical arms under international control.

Moscow said it was urging Syria to hand over its poison gas stocks. Ban said it was a realistic plan but would require cooperation from Syria. He added that if Syria consents, “the international community will (take) very swift Continued on Page 13

‘Prepare for war but don’t panic’ Filipinos visit Kuwait exit point; Syria war looms

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Officials in Kuwait said they are ready for any cases of emergency as Syria war looms. The 3.8 million population, of citizens and expats, will be given due importance and everyone will be protected and receive basic services in case US strikes Syria. News reports stated that they have enough stock of food which can last for four months. But for some Filipinos however, they think it is better to be safe than sorry. Yesterday, Philippines embassy officials and Filipino media visited a possible exit point in Kuwait where they could easily leave from, in case of an emergency.

“I have already prepared something in case of an emergency,” a Filipino father of two said yesterday. “I bought some noodles and canned food and have already sealed the windows of my apartment to be sure. The upcoming war is scary; especially the videos of children dying in chemical attacks. I really hope and pray that we are not going to experience any of that,” he added.

To show their readiness and support for their citizens, Filipino Embassy officials in Kuwait met with community leaders and organizations to prepare them for any contingency plan and also reassure them of their readiness in the Continued on Page 13

Kuwait ranked 32nd in Happiness Survey

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Kuwait Airways may delay Airbus deal KUWAIT: Kuwait Airways may delay a plan to buy 25 new aircraft from Airbus, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported yesterday, saying the state-owned carrier would prioritize leasing planes instead. Kuwait Airways signed an initial agreement with Airbus in May to buy 15 A320neo narrow-body jets and 10 of Airbus’s new A350-900 XWB, in the biggest overhaul of its fleet since the 1990 Iraqi invasion. It also agreed to lease a further 22 Airbus jets as part of the deal. Under the plan, the new planes are expected for delivery in 2019.

Al-Qabas newspaper reported that Kuwait Airways’ board of directors had decided on Sunday to separate the leasing and purchasing parts of the plan and would concentrate first on renting an initial 20 aircraft

by April 2014. Kuwait Airways declined to comment on the report. Airbus, owned by aerospace and defense group EADS, said the matter was for Kuwait Airways to Continued on Page 13

Five ATM thieves in police custody

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

LOCAL

Kuwait banks well-equipped to deal with any emergency Majority of people not worried

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Local banks in Kuwait attempted to assure clients that they are prepared and wellequipped to deal with any eventuality of US striking Syria. They also announced that they don’t have any direct connection with Syrian banks and their relation with foreign banks is stable healthy. The banks also have an emergency plan in place which includes increasing the equity in case of any threatening situation.

They also noted that a higher amount of money will be available at the branches as a reserve to avoid any cash withdrawal crises.

Haitham from National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) noted that there were no increased withdrawal transactions or transfers to other countries registered recently. “In general, huge amounts of money are not available at local branches and the clients have to go to the main branch if they want to with draw a heavy amount. Regular transfers have been made by expat clients to their home countries but this happens on a monthly basis and we haven’t registered any exceptional transactions recently,” he told the Kuwait Times.

The majority of people in Kuwait are not worried about their local bank accounts. “I didn’t think of a possible crisis at our local banks. I feel secure with the local banking system. My family didn’t withdraw any extra money recently. Even during the war on Iraq, we didn’t withdraw our money, so why should I now?” asked Fatma, a 28-year-old Kuwaiti employee.

Also Knar, a 48-year-old expat is optimistic. “I don’t think anything serious will happen and I trust the Kuwaiti banks. During the war on Iraq, nothing happened, so I doubt that a potential attack on another country will affect the banking system. I have a bank account outside Kuwait and this may work as an emergency but I didn’t transfer any extra money to it recently,” she pointed out.

But 34-year-old Huda from Lebanon said she would withdraw money. “I don’t have money in my account right now, but I will withdraw it after I get my salary as I need money to head back to my home country, in case of any emergency. I heard that during the Iraqi invasion, people faced financial problems when the country was occupied, so I have to be careful. If I was a millionaire I would transfer my local bank

accounts to a bank abroad,” she pointed out.

28-year-old Jarrah, a Kuwaiti employee feels safe and he didn’t withdraw any money from his account. “Maybe an attack will take place and nobody knows the reaction. If the exact timing of the war was announced, maybe more people will withdraw their money. I didn’t transfer my money to another foreign bank as I’m not that rich and I trust the security system in the local banks,” he noted.

Haitham from the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) also mentioned the high level of security of the bank. “The safety boxes of the bank were never opened during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and our clients were withdrawing their money from London normally. We have a good administration in the bank with very many years of experience like Ibrahim Dabdoub and Sheikh Al-Bahar. We are definitely ready for any emergency. I didn’t notice our clients worrying about anything,” he further said. Some local banks also announced importing reserve spare parts for the ATM machines.

These machines have a secure treasury which can be manipulated by a computer system with the highest international levels of security.

RIYADH: Kuwait News Agency’s Deputy Director General for Editorial Affairs Saad AlAli holding talks with GCC Assistant Secretary General for Cultural and Information Affairs Khaled Ghassani and other officials.

Municipality tightens supervision on food companies KUWAIT: Kuwait Municipality tightened supervision on all food catering companies and restaurants, during the Municipal Council elections 2013, Director General of Kuwait Municipality Ahmed Al-Subeih, said yesterday.

He said yesterday that such measures are taken to encounter any promotion of food that does not meet health requirements.

The Municipality will continue its inspection campaigns on all food shops, centers and stores 24 hours, seven days a week, he said.

Such campaigns are meant to deter merchants who offer rotten or expired food

supplies to hotels, restaurants and shops.

The municipality will not only inspect food companies to check the validity of foods, but also to verify that the workers hold health certificates, he said.

He hailed efforts exerted by the municipality inspectors which contributed in raising health standards in various service facilities in the country, Al-Subeih said, calling on the owners of food markets and shops to check that operating transport meets health requirements.

He called on citizens and expatriates to contact the municipality if they suspect any form of manipulation by merchants, distributors, or shops. —KUNA

Cabinet forms panel to follow up Mubarak Al-Kabir Port project KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Cabinet agreed yesterday on a proposal to form a committee to follow up Mubarak Al-Kabir Port project.

“The committee will be chaired by the representative of the Ministry of Public Works and will include representatives of all relevant state bodies,” Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Minister of Health Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah said following the weekly cabinet meeting, held yesterday at Seif Palace under His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad AlSabah.

Sheikh Mohammad noted that the committee will report directly and on regular basis to the cabinet on the pace of achievement or problems facing the project.

The cabinet also discussed the main issues on the National Assembly’s agenda.

In this regard, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah AlKhalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah briefed the cabinet on the hearing session held by the foreign affairs committee at the Kuwait parliament and attended by him to discuss expected repercussions of a possible military action against Syria as well as Kuwaiti government’s preparations for such a regional development.

The cabinet also discussed the latest KUWAIT: The ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea SO Chan Sik hosted a reception at the Crowne Plaza hotel on the occasion of the 65th National Day. A number of high-ranking officials , diplomats and media person attended the reception.

—Photo by Joseph Shagra

Ministry probes 20,000 driver’s licenses KUWAIT: Local authorities are investigating the circumstance behind the issuance of around 20,000 driver’s license believed to be forged, according to a report published yesterday quoting a security source with knowledge of the issue. Speaking to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity, the source explained that the Traffic General Department officers discovered a large number of licenses issued without finding documents that explain the mechanism for their release. “The Traffic General Department keeps a record of paperwork that justify the issuance of every driver’s license in Kuwait”, the source said, adding that similar documents were not found for around 20,000 licenses during recent investigations. Al-Qabas also reported that Interior Ministry officials are investigating forgery cases of nearly 80 licenses, in which female employees admitted during questioning that they collected

KD1000 per forged license.

Extensive traffic campaigns since April saw thousands of traffic tickets issued, millions of Kuwaiti dinars collected in fines, as well as thousands of expatriate drivers deported while Kuwaitis facing firmer penalties. Foreigners living in Kuwait need to meet certain requirements in order to apply for a driver’s license, including having a valid work visa, a university degree, a minimum salary of KD400 a month as well as living in Kuwait for at least two years.

Kuwait is home to 2.6 million expatriates who make 68 percent of the country’s 3.8 million population. Swift deportation of drivers as well as illegal residents arrested in crackdowns that went in parallel with the traffic campaigns raised concerns that the measures could be unannounced procedures as part of a plan that Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-

Rashidi announced last March to deport 100,000 foreigners every year, and that as part of a strategy to cut the Gulf state’s expatriate community by one million within a decade.

Meanwhile, several streets around Kuwait saw traffic jams on Sunday as universities marked the beginning of the academic year while English school students returned to their classes. The traffic jams problem is expected to escalate when public schools welcome kindergarten and elementary students next week.

State departments including the Traffic General Department, Ministry of Education and Civil Service Commission are expected to meet later this week to make a decision regarding proposed changes to school timings as solutions to reduce traffic, but no changes are expected to be made given the short notice to implement them according to reports.

ABK supports KU engineering students KUWAIT: As part of its social responsibility towards the youth of Kuwait, Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait is privileged to support students of Kuwait University’s College of Engineering as the students prepare for their graduation project.

Sahar Al-Therban, Public Relations Manager at ABK, explained that, “Being part of this project means that we can fully support these students and help them in completing their graduation projects. That is what our social responsibility is all about, helping and being an integral part of Kuwaiti society. ”To show their full support to the university and its students, ABK made a financial donation to ensure that students complete their project, in order to be a part of a prestigious exhibition at the university, at the end of the fall semester.

“It is a great honour for the management at ABK to witness what our support achieves and we look forward to being part of the completion of this project when the exhibition opens on campus,” stated Al-Therban.

political developments in the Arab region and the world.

Earlier, the ministers reviewed the letters addressed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah from Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and former US president Bill Clinton.

In his letter, President Suleiman tackled the strong ties between Lebanon and Kuwait. He also welcomed HH the Amir’s invitation to attend the Arab-African Summit, to be held in Kuwait on November 8. Meanwhile, Ban invited HH the Amir to attend a UN meeting on African Sahel on September 26 in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly 68th session.

In his letter, Clinton invited HH the Amir to participate in the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, slated for Sept 23.

The Cabinet touched upon the anticipated meeting between HH the Amir and US President Barack Obama on Friday. The ministers highlighted the importance of the meeting in light of the major developments in the Arab region.

They also extolled the continuous development and progress of Kuwait-American relations, wishing the meeting of the leaders of the two nations this weekly would take the relations to new heights. —KUNA

Asian held for drug trading

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Narcotics officers arrested an Asian who traded in drugs using innovative means.

Officials received a tip-off that he would leave the drugs in one area for the buyer to pick it up and collect the money from another area.

He also used to change his phone number often to ensure he didn’t leave any traces behind.

Police officers who raided his home found a kilogram of pure heroin and 700 tablets and after he admitted to trading in them, he was arrested KUWAIT: The Asian drug trader pictured after his and taken away. arrest.

Kuwait gets ready for Arab-African summit CAIRO: Members of the Arab Economy and Social Council’s economic committee meet at the Arab League headquarters to discuss a host of issues including preparations for the Arab-African summit, due in Kuwait in November.

The committee members, whose report will be referred to the Council’s ministerial meeting on Thursday, will discuss Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby’s economic report. Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, AlAraby’s assistant for economic affairs, said in a statement on Sunday the

members would discuss a host of reports related to preparations for the Nov 19-20 Arab-African summit and how to have positive outcome that would contribute to economic developments in the two regions.

The economic file of the summit, he added, would focus on boosting bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure and private sector. The Arab-African economic forum will be held in Kuwait on Nov 11 and 12, he noted.

The economic committee, meanwhile, is to touch upon the grand Arab

free trade zone, the custom union and liberlization of trade, in addition to appointing a commissioner at the Arab court of investment.

The committee members will also discuss a draft agreement to establish the Arab organization of industrial development and mining, and the organizational structure of the Arab civil aviation authority, supporting the Palestinian economy, the investment climate in the Arab countries, food security and Arab position vis-a-vis annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF. — KUNA

Kuwait, Dutch FMs discuss ways to strengthen ties KUWAIT: Deputy Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah held official talks yesterday with visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans concerning boosting bilateral relations, as well as issues of joint interests. Following the talks, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on holding consultations between foreign ministries of both countries. The talks

were attended by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Sulaiman AlJarallah, Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) Managing Director Bader Al-Saad, Director of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ambassador Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Foreign Ministry Protocol Director Ambassador Dhari Ajran Al-Ajran, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the Netherlands

Hafeedh Al-Ajmi, and Deputy Chairman of Europe Department Advisor Rashed Al-Adwani.

The Dutch minister, along with his accompanying delegation, arrived here earlier today on a two-day official visit.

He was received at Kuwait International Airport by Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah, Al-Jarallah, Ambassador Al-Ajran, and Dr. AlAdwani. — KUNA

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

LOCAL

Kuwait ranked 32 in UN Happiness Survey

By A Saleh KUWAIT: The foreign affairs committee at the Iraqi parliament defended the agreement signed with Kuwait to organize marine navigation at Abdullah creek and stressed that the treaty was not binding to either party. The agreement is currently facing opposition from Iraqi politicians and some lawmakers including former Iraqi Transport Minister Amer Abdul Jabbar. MP Asma Al-Mosawi, member of the foreign affairs parliamentary committee said that the agreement was not binding and Iraq made no concessions in signing it.

‘Negative impact’ of forcing employees to retire Chairman of Kuwait Labor Union (KLU) Fayez Al-Muttairi warned of the consequences of forcing public servants who had been in service for 30 years to retire. ”This means that hundreds of highly qualified officials with invaluable experience will retire and this will have a negative

impact on them, their families and on Kuwait in general”, he said. He also noted that if the aim was to get “new blood” and make way for younger employees, both generations need to work together so that the new employees could benefit from veterans’ experience. “If the aim is to create job opportunities, we should reduce the retirement age which was recently increased”, he underlined, urging HH the PM to rethink the decision.

Appeals Court adjourns hearing The Appeals Court yesterday adjourned hearing the case of Subahiya unlicensed protest marches filed against former MPs and citizens till September 30.

Kuwait placed 32 in UN survey According to the second UN Survey on Happiness and Contentment indicators amongst peoples of the world, Denmark came first and Kuwait came 32nd. UAE people came first amongst Arab countries and 14th worldwide

compared to the 17th place on the first survey made in 2012. The survey also placed Oman as 23rd, Qatar 27th and KSA 33rd.

Measure of happiness The Gallop World Poll made by the University of Colombia, US on 156 countries suggests that happiness could be measured by individuals’ happiness and contentment and that countries with higher rates were usually richer or those where people had second incomes, received social security, suffered no corruption and enjoyed high levels of freedom. The poll surveyed individuals asking them to rate their happiness and contentment levels on a scale of zero to ten.

CSC warns against ‘useless’ subjects The Civil Services Commission (CSC) described some major subjects taught by Kuwait University and the PAAET, including some newly-introduced ones, as a waste of public funds and efforts and warned that such degrees would not be recognized in the future in government establish-

ments. CSC also urged KU and PAAET to stop accepting students interested in physics, environmental technology, make-up and fashion, saying there are no more vacancies in these fields.

more money, regardless of overloading power and water supplies or potential fire threats”, he explained in an inquiry he made to the interior minister.

Qadisiya’s star footballer signed A delegation from Al-Ahli Sports Club, KSA arrived to meet officials at Al-Qadisiya Sports Club and complete a contract which would officially approve Qadisiya’s star footballer Bader AlMuttawwa to play for Ahli Jedah for a season. AlMuttawwa had played for Al-Nasr club, KSA about two years ago.

‘No chemical factories in Jahra’ MP Dr Mansour Al-Thefeiri said that he would file a grilling against the PM if any chemical factories were built in Jahra. “Such projects mean slow death for citizens, especially children”, he warned. MP Sultan Al-Shimmiri urged HH the PM to interfere immediately to stop an environmental crisis similar to that in Um Al-Haiman, which is surrounded by petro-chemical factories and has high cancer risk. “Stop the expansion of Jahra industrial area where 150 factories are planned to be built to recycle used oil and other oil wastes”, he warned. In another development, MP Massouma Al-Mubarak criticized what she described as a “massacre” of oil experts at the oil ministry. “Does the minister know of this massacre?”, she wondered, calling HH the Amir to interfere to protect the oil sector.

Block 12 Salmiya flats’ woes MP Dr Abdullah Al-Toraiji said that the sufferings of citizens living in Block 12 Salmiya had gone too far and that Kuwaiti families living there were surrounded by bachelors. “Those houses rented to bachelors are owned by some ruling family members and some influential greedy merchants who are keen on creating more space to include more bachelors and make

‘Health insurance’ IPO set for Dec 1 KUWAIT: An initial public offering (IPO) on shares of a company which will be established to build hospitals for treatment of expatriates covered by a governmental health insurance program is expected on Dec 1, said CEO of Arabi Group Holding which won the bidding for the strategic investor’s share last July.

Meanwhile, CEO Hamad Al-Bassam announced that the Arabi Group made an “unofficial request” to the Kuwait Investment Authority that calls the government to supervise the initial public offering on behalf of citizens. “The proposal has been sent to Finance Minister Sheikh Salem AlSabah and is being considered as we speak”, Al-Bassam told Al-Jarida daily on Sunday.

According to Al-Bassam, the value of shares put in the initial public offering could reach KD 50 million from the company’s total capital that reaches KD 230 million, and that as per a 100 fils per stock ratio. Al-Bassam added that his company has deposited its share of the capital “and is waiting for amendments to memoran-

dum’s articles to deposited the remaining funds”; further explaining that the amendments pertain to ‘governance regulations’ that the Ministry of Commerce and Industr y have recently announced.

Arabi Group Holding was selected last month as a strategic investor in the project with a KD 66.6 million offer to invest in 26 percent of the shareholding company. According to Al-Bassam, the company will work after the end of the IPO to establish three hospitals within four years, with a total capacity of 200 beds each. The hospitals, which will be constructed in three different governorates, will offer integrated medical services to foreigners living in Kuwait and covered by a government-sponsored medical insurance program in which insurance companies will handle payments for medical services at the hospital.

The project is classified as a ‘mega project’ which refers to those with a capital of more than KD 100 million and included in Kuwait’s five-year Development Plan that was launched in 2010. Its goal is to provide full med-

ical services to Kuwait’s expatriate community, as a part of the state’s attempts to reduce pressure on currently overcrowded public medical facilities. After strategic investors showed no interest when the tender was first offered for bidding, the government represented by the Kuwait Investment Authority placed the tender again with new specifications.

Essentially, the project’s capital dropped from KD 318 million to build three hospitals with a total bed capacity of 1,600, to KD 230 million for three hospitals with a bed capacity of 200 each. The new tender was opened to local and foreign investors whereas the initial one was only opened for local companies. Despite that, only local companies showed interest to invest in 26 percent of stocks in the shareholding company. The government will own 24 percent of the company’s stocks, and the remaining 50 percent will be put in the initial public offering. A senior official in the company’s founding committee said last July that the company should start operating by early next year. — Al-Jarida

Parliament ‘priorities list’ to be published soon

By A Saleh and Agencies KUWAIT: Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim announced that results of a survey of citizens’ opinions regarding subjects they wanted to be addressed first, will be announced in detail next week along with the latest updates regarding preparations for the upcoming parliamentary session that starts on Oct 29.

Speaking at a press conference at the parliament’s building yesterday, AlGhanim explained that the majority of committees filed reports listing subjects to be discussed as priorities when sessions resume. “The following step is holding meetings with MPs to agree on the priorities in general before meeting with the parliament to identify the common topics of interests which will be discussed in order of importance”, he said. Meanwhile, Al-Ghanim announced that Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah AlKhalid Al-Sabah plans to meet with the parliament’s foreign affairs committee after returning to the country as part of the convoy that accompanies His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah who is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday. The speaker also congratulated “Kuwaiti people in general” and citizen Ahmad Al-Kandari’s family, in particular, after his safe return following his kidnap drama which lasted for 11 days in the Philippines.

Al-Ghanim was also asked about a lawsuit that MP Safa Al-Hashem filed against him on Sunday where he was accused of libel over statements in which he accused unnamed lawmakers of being ‘paid’ to raise certain issues in the parliament. “Litigation is a guaran-

teed right for every citizen as per Article 166 of the Constitution”, Al-Ghanim said, describing court rulings as “affirmation of truth”.

Al-Hashem’s civil lawsuit is the first of its kind in the history of Kuwait’s parliamentary work. She is demanding KD 5,001 in compensation over allegations of bribery that Al-Ghanim named against MPs while using an Arabic feminine proverb. Al-Hashem is one of two women in the Kuwaiti parliament along with veteran lawmaker Maasouma AlMubarak. Lawmakers began the week with threats to question ministers over a variety of subjects that generally pertain to failure in taking action against alleged violations within their ministries.

MP Yousuf Al-Zalzalah said that filing a grilling motion against Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra AlRashidi is due. “The social affairs minister must face be held accountable politically after it was proven that she is incapable of carrying out her duties”, AlZalzalah was quoted by Al-Jarida daily yesterday. Meanwhile, MP Yaqoub AlSane sent a number of inquiries to Finance Minister Sheikh Salem AlSabah, Commerce Minister Anas AlSaleh, and Oil Minister Mustafa AlShamali that pertain to violations committed by the Director of the Public Institution for Social Security which are reportedly mentioned in State Audit Bureau reports and led small investors to lose money at the stock exchange.

Al-Sane also announced plans to submit a request to assign the parliament’s legislative committee to investigate the circumstances of a $2.16 billion fine that Kuwait paid to Dow Chemical as per a penalty clause in the

K-Dow project contract which the Kuwaiti government unilaterally canceled in 2009.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education Nayef Al-Hajraf attended the parliament’s education committee meeting on Sunday which discussed preparations for the new school year, as well as topics to be prioritized when the parliament resumes sessions on October 29.

Following the meeting, committee president Dr Mohammad Al-Huwailah commended the minister for his cooperation, but announced that his plans to file a grilling still stands, especially if Al-Hajraf approved a proposal to increase the minimum GPA that high school graduates have to score to be eligible to apply for Kuwait University.

In the meantime, the legislative committee approved three proposed amendments to the Kuwait Airways privatization law during a meeting on Sunday, and rejected three proposals related to conditions to obtain Kuwaiti citizenships.

Separately, several MPs urged the government to take threats made Saturday by Iraqi militant troops seriously, and prepare precautionary measures in accordance. “The government is asked to take the threats made by Secretary General of the Hezbollah of Iraq, Wathiq Al-Battat, seriously and hold emergency meetings to discuss plans in that regard”, MP Al-Sane said, hinting at the same time that “Al-Battat could have minions in Kuwait who might cause problems”. Al-Sane who made these statements to Al-Rai also called the Foreign Ministry to take official steps to condemn the threats “as long as their Iraqi counterparts are yet to officially condemn them”.

KUWAIT: Information Ministry Assistant Undersecretary for Radio Affairs Yousif Mustafa visiting Qatar Radio where he signed an agreement to exchange radio transmission with Qatar.

UN removes sanctions on Social Reform Society KUWAIT: The Social Reform Society (SRS) yesterday held a special reception to celebrate the UN’s removal of SRS’ Islamic Da’wa Committee from terror-supporting group lists and freeing its assets and funds frozen back in 2002.

“This decision means that the committee was focused on charity

and only works to help Muslims worldwide through building schools and mosques”, said SRS chairman, Humoud Al-Roumi noting that the decision was a mistake and targeted another committee with a similar name, which was cleared by the FM and Kuwait’s delegation to the UN.

SRS’ Secretary General Yahya AlAqeely said that because Kuwaiti people were religious, charity was deep-rooted in Kuwait and has nothing to do with financial abundance and the economic boom after the discovery of oil. “Kuwait is not only a capital of oil, but is also a capital of charity work”, he underlined.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

LOCAL kuwait digest

in my view

Invest in our own citizens

An ideological vacuum in Arab politics

Municipal council

By Bader Khalid Al-Bahar

28/09/2013

W

e blame the government for not focusing on Kuwait’s human resources. Last week, there was a first court session in a case we filed against the government represented by Kuwait municipality, for not implementing the law related to private residence areas. We went to court 30 minutes before the session began at 8 am, but the judge did not start the session until after 11 am. We went early and could feel our heartbeat every time the bailiff shouted the word “court” and it felt like we were in a black-and-white Arabic film.

This is not strange, but what is strange is that if you enter the Palace of Justice, and toured its rooms and entered one of the sessions, and if you were called to the public prosecution, as the case was with us many times, you will find that the majority of the Palace of Justice departments are in the hands of our Egyptian brothers, starting with the security man at the door, to composers, to the bailiff to sessions secretaries to advisor judges, to deputy prosecutors and administrators, which is also true in the Riqee courts complex. In fact we add advisors and employees of private law offices to this, so is this just a coincidence?

The same is true at the Health Ministry, as our Egyptian brothers will be receiving you starting with the security officer to all employees in all ministry departments, emergency doctor, pharmacy, doctors in wards, operations and X-Ray. Also at the Education Ministry, our Egyptian brothers are everywhere in all departments and schools, applied education and university, and this is also true for all interior, defence ministries as well as the higher sovereign state departments.

As for the private sector, the hands of our Egyptian brothers contribute to all activities such as construction, finance, trade, retail, even fishing. Official statistics indicate that there are 500,000 Egyptians in Kuwait, 36,000 work in the government sector and 270,000 in the private sector, but we think the number is much more, and despite that the number of Egyptian criminals according to a statistic published in Al-Qabas on Dec 23, 2012 is no more than 247, and those committing offences did not exceed 1,014 Egyptians which is a low rate in our opinion, as it is a community characterized by forgiveness and good treatment.

One of our dear Egyptian friends told us jokingly: We are with you from cradle to grave, from the maternity doctor to the grave digger, so we told him: You are right, and he will be angry with us along with the rest of Egyptians, with whom we stand because of what hit their brotherly country, they will be angry if they read this column, but it is not directed at them, rather to our government, so is this the policy of a state or the policy of no-state? Although the government does not have a large population and not enough land, no water, no agriculture, no animal wealth, it did not develop its resources and did not invest in its citizens, rather it was artistic in destroying their entity until expatriates controlled its key points, and an important part of its national security became Egyptian. —Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

The ‘All for 100 fils’ mentality

By Thaar Al-Rashidi

T

he policy of cutting down expenses recently followed by officials at the Information Ministry could be a successful one in a technical or services ministry. It can be fruitful in some of the ministry’s sections, namely the service-related ones.

Cutting down expenses is useless in radio and TV, especially for directors, producers, script writers, announcers, cameramen and actors whose work mainly depends on creativity and not abstract technology.

Have you ever considered studying why your three TV channels and various radio programs severely lack commercial ads? Let me answer this. Well, what private channels present is much way better because they generously pay for production while you don’t. You produced a series that was shown by other TV channels way before you did.

You also paid over KD 340,000 for another TV series which was really bad. You produced cooking programs where two fish and two kilos of meat were cooked for a million dinars.

Speaking more elaborately, one cannot produce a TV serial if he considers cutting down expenses and decides to purchase the accessories needed from a store selling ‘All for 100 fils’ items.

Viewers will realize how cheap the series is from the very first episode. Your series will then fail before reaching Episode Five.

That also applies to producers, directors, actors and presenters of programs that are supposed to fascinate viewers and attract them. You cannot limit or cut down these people’s wages and still ask them to be creative, especially with the frantic satellite TV race that has been going on for years leaving our own TV lagging way behind. Rephrasing this more closely to facts known by information ministry officials, let me ask this: Have you ever considered studying why your three TV channels and various radio programs severely lack commercial ads? Let me answer this. Well, what private channels present is much way better because they generously pay for production while you don’t. You produced a series that was shown by other TV channels way before you did. You also paid over KD 340,000 for another TV series which was really bad. You produced cooking programs where two fish and two kilos of meat were cooked for a million dinars. The reason for that is simply because those programs belonged to your friends. It is okay to pay them and to hell with the budget. But when it comes to creative directors and presenters, your production budget seems to suffer an asthma attack.

The Information Ministry’s budget ought to be re-distributed among programs, TV series and news bulletins in a way that fully honors the prestige of Kuwait radio and television because creative Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis who had worked there were the ones behind the success achieved by private TV and radio channels. —Al-Anbaa

By Daoud Kuttab

T

hroughout the post-colonial period, Arab countries have consistently failed to produce an efficient - let alone democratic - system of government. Now, after a half-century of competition between military or royal dictatorships and militant Islamist regimes, many Arabs are again seeking a “third way” - a path toward a credible form of representative democracy. But will their efforts prove as futile now as they have in the past?

The Middle East - named for its geographic position between Europe and East Asia - was under Ottoman rule for 400 years before the Allied powers, after defeating the

From Al-Anbaa

kuwait digest

‘Blame it on the expat’

By Mohammad Al-Awadhi

“Y

ou are the reason behind the majority of our problems which will end as soon as you leave our country. You took over job opportunities and caused unemployment for our children. Your large population is the reason behind the sharp increase in rent as well as deteriorating health and educational services. You spread contagious diseases in our community and you are the reason for us having to wait for weeks or months to get a doctor’s appointment”.

“You brought bad habits with you, including organized crime, bribery, corruption, routine and bureaucracy. You infiltrated our social life, harming our family cohesion, and leading to increases in levels of divorce, violence and deviation. The fact that your women are ‘stealing’ away the innocent hearts of our young men is the main reason behind increasing spinsters in our society”.

“We cannot find a place to shop or relax in peace after you crowded our malls, beaches and parks. You are the reason behind piled-up garbage and the spread of stray dogs. Your wornout cars are the reason behind traffic jams that force us to report late to work or drop our kids late to school. I blame those who allowed you to obtain a driver’s license and own a car to begin with”.

The stereotypical comments mentioned above summarize the majority of what some citizens and state officials often say during discussions regarding bad public service and governmental mismanagements; they try to justify by blaming the expatriate community.

Unfortunately, these stereotypes are present, and I felt the need to highlight them despite being fully convinced that they are not true. I believe that our Arab brothers and sisters as well as all residents of Kuwait, regardless of their background, are a main and indispensable tributary to the building and advancement of this country; one which cannot also be ignored. They are partners who share with us the respon-

sibility of success or failure in building our country, in accordance with their capabilities or powers.

Instant blaming of expatriates for the state’s failure to plan and provide solutions to our everyday problems as well as our future economic and developmental challenges not only adds to our failure, but also is an attempt to find excuses to avoid taking responsibility. Unfortunately, ‘blame it on the expatriate’ has become an easy way to promote allegations regarding the reasons behind decline in any field.

Why did I specifically mention Arab expatriates in my column? Many newspaper reports, columns (including this one) and TV programs have highlighted the misfortunes and injustice that many expatriates of Asian nationalities face in Kuwait; and they continue to do so while also highlighting the difficulties faced by stateless residents. However, we rarely come across a report or TV program focusing on the problems that Arab expatriates face or the lack of attention they receive.

While many human rights organizations have moved to defend the rights of low-wage Asian workers and domestic helpers in Kuwait, and while MPs continue to mention the stateless residents’ issue in the parliament, Arab expatriates do not find an organization to defend their rights or a union to go to when they become victims of injustice.

Arabs in Kuwait face a different and often ignored form of suffering compared to what their peers experience in other countries such as Oman and Bahrain where health, educational and humanitarian services are available equally. I know that some people might argue that if an Arab resident does not like life in Kuwait, no one is stopping them from leaving for Oman, Bahrain or even back to their home country. This arrogant, harsh, illogical and inhumane judgment will be the main topic of my next column. —Al-Rai

Unfortunately, these stereotypes are present, and I felt the need to highlight them despite being fully convinced that they are not true. I believe that our Arab brothers and sisters as well as all residents of Kuwait, regardless of their background, are a main and indispensable tributary to the building and advancement of this country; one which cannot also be ignored. They are partners who share with us the responsibility of success or failure in building our country, in accordance with their capabilities or powers.

kuwait digest

Possible scenario in Syria

By Dr Mohammad Al-Moqatei

O

nce again, Arab and Muslim countries find themselves the subject of other countries’ gambles. I believe that the potential scenario regarding a possible military strike against Syria will be similar to this: The core issue that made the West consider a military intervention or ‘disciplinary strike’ was not the genocides and ethnic cleansing that the Syrian people suffered at the hands of their regime, but the belief that Bashar Al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons against civilians in Al-Ghouta. Had he not used those weapons, the West would have probably let him continue committing war crimes against his own people.

The pressing question here is: Where did Assad and other tyrant regimes get their chemical weapons from? The same weapons the West is afraid would be used and ‘shocked’ when they were actually used?

Were they manufactured locally? Of course not. Were they bought from other countries? The answer is yes.

They were bought from Russia, China, Korea, and they are also sold by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and other countries known for advanced military industries.

While Assad’s regime deserves to be hit with a military strike, I believe that disciplinary action should also be taken against the countries who sold weapons of mass destruction to him and other tyrant regimes. I do not see the logic behind failing to criticize a country that sells weapons to criminal regimes who are most likely going to be use them against their own people.

The US administration says that they plan to carry out a limited ‘disciplinary strike’ that does not necessarily target the downfall of Al-Assad’s regime. In my opinion, this means that America and its allies plan to carry out a series of bombardments that destroy and paralyze the Syrian regime’s air force capabilities, such as hitting warplanes, airports, spare part supplies as well as rocket launchers. The strikes are also likely to target artillery that can be loaded with chemical

weapons, as well as possible routes for transporting those weapons in addition to possible targets for Hezbollah. The goal is to achieve balance without fully eliminating combat capabilities of Assad’s forces, which brings us to the following point.

What is the agreed-upon role of Russia who mobilized battleships at the Mediterranean near Syria? I believe that they will carry out strikes as per the Syrian regime’s request to prevent advancement of the Free Syrian Army. Strikes targeting locations and machines of the FSA could be promoted as ‘strikes against extremist groups to prevent the downfall of the Syrian regime and avoid weapons of mass destruction falling in the hands of those groups’. This would keep the war of attrition ongoing in preparation for dividing Syria into two states.

The huge presence of Russian, American and allied forces is in my opinion a clear indication for efforts to stop the war from “spilling over” to other than what it is designed for. If Iran or Hezbollah tried expanding the battlefield, all military forces will be utilized to stop their ambitions. The same will be done if similar attempts were made by Iraq, or if Turkey prepared to put the finishing blow to Al-Assad’s regime. All this is a part of military operations prepared to maintain the region’s stability and protect Israel’s security.

This is the likely scene from the military and political standpoints which we obviously will have no role in aside from financing the war, providing the battleground and the field for experiments, as well as human casualties and rebuilding funds, and finally willingness to accept the war’s consequences whether we liked them or not. If the military intervention was motivated by humanitarian sentiments and in order to protect the Syrian people from their regime’s crimes, it would have happened a long time ago without waiting for chemical weapons to be used. In the meantime, we stand helpless as a shattered nation with nearly 97 million illiterates and regimes that conspire against our wealth and freedom while depriving us from practicing true democracy. —Al-Qabas

While the Muslim Brotherhood has such an organizing principle, its internal rigidity - at least with Morsi at its helm - made it unfit to govern. Meanwhile, infighting among Egypt’s liberals prevented them from establishing a disciplined, reliable alternative to the Brotherhood based on principles like diversity, plurality, respect for women and freedom of expression. So when the Islamist government’s credibility collapsed, the military was Egypt’s only remaining option.

Ottomans in World War I, partitioned the region into distinct political units that, under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, fell within spheres of influence carved out by Britain and France. But, in response to these new divisions, an Arab awakening - shaped by pan-Arabism and support for Palestine - was occurring.

Charismatic young military rulers-turned-dictators such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Syria’s Hafez Assad used these popular causes to win public support. But their failure to deliver better lives to their citizens, together with the discrediting of left-wing ideologies following the Soviet Union’s collapse, fueled the rise of a rival movement: political Islam.

The Muslim Brotherhood - established in the Egyptian town of Ismailia in 1928 and political Islam’s oldest, best organized and most widespread proponent - was (and is) despised by secular Arabs and Arab monarchies. Indeed, secular dictators have worked to suppress the Brotherhood at every turn - often violently, as when Assad ruthlessly crushed a Brotherhood-led uprising in Hama in 1982.

Forced to operate clandestinely, the Brotherhood built its support base with a social agenda that targeted the needs of the poor, while consistently reinforcing its Islamic ties, even using the compulsory zakat (annual financial contribution to religious causes) to build up its social network.

The Brotherhood, with the help of a conservative society and the mosques, was prepared to seize power whenever the opportunity arose.

Another Islamist movement, Algeria’s Islamic Salvation Front, almost had such an opportunity in 1991, when it won the first round of a general election. But the military prevented its victory by canceling the second round, triggering a brutal eight-year civil war in which an estimated 200,000 people died. Palestine’s Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, succeeded at the ballot box in 2006, but has since failed to deliver credible governance.

Then the Arab Spring erupted in 2011, creating new opportunities for political renewal. Within months, Islamist parties shaped by the Brotherhood’s ideology had replaced secular dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and seemed poised to take over Yemen and Syria, largely because they were the only well-organized political movements on the scene.

Moreover, the Muslim Brotherhood gained control of Egypt, the largest and most influential of the Arab Spring countries. But their exclusive, rigid ideology was poorly suited to governing such a large and diverse country. As a result, after only a year in power, the military - backed by the same secular, liberal young people who had opposed it in 2011 - drove President Mohammad Morsi out of power.

Unable to mount a political alternative, however, the protesters’ rejection of the Islamist government served only to put the army back in charge.

Some argue that the absence of a secular liberal option in Arab politics stems from fear of political Islam. For decades, Western powers backed military regimes in the Arab world, willingly ignoring their systematic repression of democratic movements and rights, in order to ensure that Islamists did not gain power.

Now that both the military- and Islamist-led systems have been discredited, an ideological vacuum has appeared in Arab politics. But Arabs today - most of whom are under the age of 30 - are less interested in an overarching political ideology than they are in an efficient representative government that implements sound policies aimed at creating jobs and bolstering economic growth. In short, they want a government that is focused on improving citizens’ lives.

In fact, the absence of a specific ideology was essential to the Arab Spring’s initial success in Egypt and Tunisia, for it allowed a large number of young activists to forge loose alliances. But mass movements can take a country only so far; establishing a credible representative government requires political parties organized around clearly defined principles.

While the Muslim Brotherhood has such an organizing principle, its internal rigidity - at least with Morsi at its helm made it unfit to govern. Meanwhile, infighting among Egypt’s liberals prevented them from establishing a disciplined, reliable alternative to the Brotherhood based on principles like diversity, plurality, respect for women and freedom of expression. So when the Islamist government’s credibility collapsed, the military was Egypt’s only remaining option.

In order to make progress, the youth-led movements that drove the Arab Spring must translate their shared principles into effective political structures, and choose leaders who are capable of placing the search for consensus ahead of personal ambition. If they succeed, the Arab world may finally have an alternative to rule by generals or mullahs.

Even if they fail to gain power, the emergence of such an alternative would surely influence the Arab world’s agenda for years to come.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

LOCAL

Kuwait-Vietnam relations ‘a role model’ Interview with Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Phuong Nga

By Javaid Ahmad Kuwait Times: Kuwait and Vietnam enjoy a very cordial and spontaneous relationship in various fields - political, economic and social.

What is the historical perspective that led to strengthening of these relations? However, in the economical field, it is felt that full potential has not been realized. What is being done towards this and what are the ‘big ticket’ imports/exports that are being envisaged by Vietnam in the field of trade?

Phuong Nga: In spite of geographical distance, Vietnam and Kuwait have been long bonded by the traditional friendship and cooperation strengthened and nurtured by generations of the two countries’ leaders and people. Since the diplomatic relations in 1976, the bilateral multi-sided cooperation has recorded remarkable progress.

The political relations have been marked by a series of milestones: the official visits to Kuwait by Vietnam President Le DucAnh in May 1995, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in May 2007 and the official visit to Vietnam by Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in March 2009. Ten years after the inauguration of Trade Representative Office in Kuwait in 1993, Vietnam officially opened its Embassy in Kuwait in 2003. In 2007, Kuwait launched its Embassy in Ha Noi and Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City. These respective missions have performed well, helping cement the bilateral ties in various fields.

Development cooperation: Kuwait since 1979 has been the very first Gulf nation advancing concessional loans to infrastructure development in remote and mountainous regions in Vietnam through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Ten projects in Vietnam, which are worth over US$ 140 million, have been funded by Kuwait. These projects are effective and contributing to the poverty reduction in Vietnam.

For quite a long time, businesses of the two sides did not have enough information on each other’s potential and market opportunities. Thus, bilateral cooperation in economic, trade and investment activities was rather limited. However, after various visits at different levels and sectors, particularly the high-level visits of historical significance of the Prime Ministers of the two countries in 2007 and 2009, and the active involvement of the two representative missions in providing information and promoting trade, bilateral cooperation framework has been gradually shaped, helping the two businesses get closer to each other. As a result, cooperation in economic, trade and investment activities between the two countries in general and in the oil refinery

field in particular has witnessed encouraging progress. Notably, the Kuwait Petrol Company (KPC) has committed to engaging in the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Project with $9 billion and providing long-term crude oil for the refinery. In 2012, the two-way trade turnover reached almost $669.5 million, an increase of 12 times compared to 2007.

In the future, Vietnam hopes that Kuwait would increase importing Vietnamese goods, especially those of Vietnam’s strength and of Kuwait’s needs, such as rice, dairy products, seafood, wood products, coffee, tea, pepper, rubber products, textile and garments, handicrafts, electronic components, etc. We also wish to expand and promote cooperation and investment in labor with Kuwait. Vietnam encourages Kuwait’s businesses to invest in potential areas such as infrastructure development, (high-way, airports, sea ports, and tourism complex, etc), modernization of agricultural production system, rural infrastructure, oil and gas projects and long-term provision of crude oil for these projects.

Vietnam is focusing on implementing comprehensive solutions to trigger economic development and create favorable conditions for foreign enterprises in general and Kuwaiti ones in particular to invest and do business in Vietnam. We welcome and will facilitate Kuwait’s business community to explore business ventures and investment opportunities in our country. I believe that with the determination of the leaders and people of the two countries, the multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Kuwait will be incessantly consolidated and promoted, meeting the existing potential and meaningful traditional friendship and cooperation between the two sides.

KT: The economic meltdown of 2008 left the world reeling. Economies are still recovering from the blow. How does Vietnam plan to revitalize its economy, and what are the specific steps that are being taken by Vietnam to enhance its economic health?

Phuong Nga: Vietnam has earned significant achievements in socio-economic development since the launch of the DoiMoi policy more than 27 years ago. Vietnam has grown to become a low-end middle-income country with the 2012 GDP per capita of approximately $1,600. The national economic structure has been shifting toward industrialization and modernization targets, whereby industries and services account for nearly 80 percent of the 2012 GDP. Vietnam has managed to establish and enhance economic and trade ties with over 200 countries and territories, alongside deepening integration into regional and international frameworks, such as the ASEAN and WTO. In the social domain, poverty rate was

reduced from more than 50 percent in the 1990s down to nearly 12 percent in 2011, and several MDGs have been attained ahead of schedule.

Amid complex ups and downs of the world economy exerting adverse impact on national economies in recent years, the Vietnamese Government has initiated various responses that produced positive outcomes on macroeconomic stability. The surged inflation of 2011 was curbed under the targeted 7 percent in 2012-2013. The average GDP growth of 2011-2013 was estimated to exceed 5 percent - a figure matching the government’s target of sustaining appropriate growth. Meanwhile, social security and poverty reduction remained high on the government’s agenda.

Rejoicing over such progress, we are also fully aware of the challenges to the socio-economic development of the country. The world economy is recovering with uncertainties. The global trade and investment are experiencing sluggish growth. Major economies, which are the key trade partners of Vietnam, are also encountering multiple difficulties. These factors have placed significant impacts on external economic affairs of Vietnam. Moreover, there are also internal factors impeding the Vietnamese economy, namely low competitiveness and efficiency of the national economy, the risks of climate change on the social and economic development of various regions in the country, and limited resources for development, particularly the absence of quality infrastructure. On the basis of the obtained and results, to make Vietnam become a modern and industrial countr y by 2020, the Vietnamese Government has identified and plans to implement various measures, including: First, implement economic reform and shift the growth model towards being more sustainable. In the period of 2011-2015, the key focuses of reform are placed on: investment reform, finance-banking reform and state -owned enterprise reform. In this process, we will continue implementing measures to improve macro-economic stability, maintain proper economic growth and improve social security.

Second, implement three strategic breakthroughs in the 2011-15 period, including perfecting the socialist-oriented market economy institution, developing high quality human resources and comprehensive infrastructure. The identification of these three strategic breakthroughs is based on the main national development objectives by 2020 as well as the potentials and strengths of Vietnam.

Third, actively and proactively pursue comprehensive international integration, includ-

ing the international economic integration as well as in other areas. In this process, we hope to continue strengthening and enhancing the multifaceted cooperation with partners in the Middle East and the Gulf, including Kuwait, particularly in promoting the economic, trade and investment cooperation as well as in solving development issues of mutual concern such as the assurance of energy security and food security.

KT: China is perceived as the mentor and ‘Big Brother’ of Vietnam. What is the level of strategic relationship between the two countries?

Phuong Nga: Vietnam and China are two neighboring countries that enjoy a time-honored traditional friendship. The two countries have established comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation, and witnessed sound progress in bilateral relations. The two sides are determined to promote and deepen healthy and stable relations between the two countries. Maintaining peace, stability and ensuring maritime security and safety are the shared aspirations, concern and interest of the regional countries and the international community. Vietnamese and Chinese leadership have reached important agreements in on important issues, particularly the Agreement on Fundamental Principles Guiding the Settlement of Vietnam-China Maritime Issues signed in October 2011. Accordingly, the two sides consistently pursue the satisfactory settlement of maritime issues through friendly, bilateral and multilateral negotiations based on the international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS and implementation of the DOC. Currently, the two sides have adopted the bilateral negotiation mechanism to settle conflicts concerning the sea, at the same time cooperating with each other within the ASEAN-China framework to promote the development of COC. The two sides agree to maintain good control on the maritime situation and do not allow maritime issues to adversely affect other domains of cooperation.

I am confident that the two sides will continue their efforts to, step by step, settle outstanding issues; further the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership; meeting the aspiration and interest of both people; contributing to peace, stability and cooperation; and development in the region and the world.

KT: ASEAN is a very powerful forum that is emerging as the most dynamic among the comity of Nations - not only of South East Asia but even of the Middle East. What role does Vietnam envision for ASEAN, and do you feel that GCC and ASEAN can work together for the betterment of the people of the two regions?

Phuong Nga: The ASEAN Foreign

Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-46), held in Brunei, was concluded successfully, contributing greatly to the enhancement of ASEAN unity, the realization of the association’s targets and strengthening the centrality of ASEAN in the region’s evolving architecture.

ASEAN has reached high consensus on the priority to build an ASEAN Community which is “politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible”, by 2015. To realize the roadmap for the ASEAN Community, member countries need to exert more efforts, particularly in resources mobilization, accomplishment of national targets and successful implementation of ASEAN’s important cooperation programs, with a view to narrowing development gap, ensuring sustainable and inclusive development together with maintaining ASEAN’s fundamental principles. This will constitute a firm foundation for ASEAN’s continued strong growth in the future, sustainable development in the region and effective response to challenges. Besides, ASEAN also agreed upon the need to promptly build the post-2015 vision and strategic roadmap for the ASEAN Community.

Building on this spirit of unity, ASEAN countries exchanged their shared position in crucial global and regional issues, with an aim to maintaining peace, security, development and prosperity in the region. At the meeting, ASEAN countries collectively agreed to ensure peace, stability, maritime safety and security of the whole region; support the stand on ASEAN’s six-point principle; and the implementation of DOC with respect to international law and UNCLOS - in particular the principles of exercising restraint, non use of force, peaceful resolution of disputes and formulation of a COC. In addition, ASEAN will continue to deepen its relationship with other partners and encourage a closer bond between partner countries and the region. At the meeting with partner countries, ASEAN won their support and appreciation for its unity and centrality in the region.

ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which Kuwait is an important member, are two dynamic and potential regions for cooperation with complementary advantages.

At the ASEAN-GCC Ministerial Meeting, contents and measures for cooperation between the two regions were worked out with a focus on economic and energy ties. In the future, Vietnam will collaborate with ASEAN to implement specific cooperation activities with GCC, and work with GCC to organize the 3rd Ministerial Meeting to further enhance the cooperation between ASEAN and GCC. We look forward to working closely with Kuwait in this process.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

LOCAL

Five ATM thieves in police custody KUWAIT: Criminal investigators arrested five suspects responsible for several ATM thefts reported recently in Kuwait after they managed to get away with KD 48,000, which they spent on drugs.

Investigations led Jahra detectives to identify a stateless resident with a criminal record as the main suspect. Officers with an arrest warrant went to a farm in Al-Mutla desert where the suspect was hiding and arrested him. During questioning, the suspect admitted that he was responsible for the thefts and revealed information about his other accomplices. All four were arrested and it was discovered that two of them were recently pardoned from prison. Further questioning revealed that the suspects used a Chevrolet Silverado they stole from Sabah AlNasser to steal an ATM in Shuwaikh which contained KD 24,000 in cash, and later carried out a similar crime in Ardiya where they dragged an ATM containing KD 24,000 in cash as well. The

suspects took the machines to Al-Mutla where they broke them open and extracted the money.

They further said that they spent most of the money to buy drugs and host late night parties and were referred to the proper authorities to face charges.

Elevator accident An Egyptian doctor died in Salmiya when his neck got trapped between the elevator’s doors and he choked to death. Firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after the incident was reported, but by the time they freed the man, his body had already turned blue and his breathing was sporadic. The man collapsed moments later and paramedics who rushed in failed to regain his pulse.

The man was pronounced dead on the scene and investigators were called to move the body to the forensic department. A case was filed to investigate the circumstances behind the incident.

Murder victim Ahmadi detectives managed to identify a man who was found dead more than a week ago at the Jlaiah road, as they discovered that he was reported missing three days before his death.

Evidence of foul play was found at the scene.

Detectives identified the man as a Kuwaiti citizen in his thirties who matched descriptions of a man reported missing at the Ahmadi police station three days before his body was found. Police contacted the man’s brother who arrived and identified the body. He said during investigations that his brother did not have a criminal record and had left the house normally on that fateful day but never returned home. Criminal investigators did not find any traces of drugs in his body though they did find marks on his face.

Investigations are on to identify the suspect and his phone records are being checked to find out who he communicated with before he died.

INS Mysore

INS Tarkash

Indian naval ships to visit Kuwait

Group photos of students with NBK public relations team.

NBK hosted 3,000 students last year KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) hosted several groups of visiting school and university students on field visits in the last academic year 2012-2013, during which more than 2000 students were invited to tour the bank and learn firsthand about banking procedures and practices.

“The school visits are part of NBK’s ongoing commitment to its corporate social responsibility program and to promoting the education and development of the country’s youth, “said Abdulmohsen Al-Rushaid, NBK Public Relations Manager. “NBK takes this opportunity to work in coordination with various educational institutions with the aim of helping students successfully transition to the workforce.”

Al-Rushaid added “More than 3000 students

had the chance to learn about the broad range of NBK financial and banking products and services and got introduced to the multi-benefit Al-Azraq and Al-Shabab accounts, exclusively designed for high school, college and university students”.

NBK is committed to encouraging a meritbased educational system that promotes the best and the brightest the country has to offer and rewards students for their hard work and excellence.

NBK supports fresh graduates and Kuwait’s youth and offer a range of initiatives and services to satisfy their needs. Other initiatives include providing summer training programs for students, hiring fresh graduates and offering professional development programs for new hires.

Abdulmohsen Al-Rushaid

KUWAIT: Two Indian naval ships INS Mysore and INS Tarkash will be on a goodwill visit to Kuwait from Sept 10 to 13. The visit is aimed at further strengthening bilateral ties and cooperation between India and Kuwait.

The visiting ships form part of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet under the Western Naval Command and are based at Mumbai. This group is headed by Rear Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla, NM, VSM, the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, who is flying his flag INS Mysore.

The Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Western Naval Command Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, PVSM, AVSM, NM & BAR, ADC will also be in Kuwait from Sept 11 to 13. During the visit, the senior Indian officers will be calling on the senior dignitaries and officials of Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense.

Indian Navy has close and friendly ties with all navies in the Gulf and has been regularly exercising with many of them.

Indian Navy is also privileged to provide training and hydro-graphic support to several navies in the region. The involvement of Indian Naval ships in combating piracy off the coast of Somalia since October 2008 has further strengthened bilateral ties and interaction with navies in the region.

India and Kuwait have traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations.

Cooperation between the two countries covers a broad spectrum including trade, investment, human resources, culture and arts, science and technology and defense. Defense cooperation between the two countries covers high level military visits, training and port visits by naval ships. India and Kuwait are also members of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a voluntary and co-

operative initiative between 35 countries of the Indian Ocean Region, which has served as an ideal forum for sharing of information and cooperation on maritime issues.

INS Mysore is an indigenously designed destroyer class of ship built by the Mazagaon Dock Limited, Mumbai and embodies the very cutting edge of technology. She was commissioned on June 1, 1999 and has since been at the forefront of all operations undertaken by the Indian Navy. INS Mysore is capable of operating in a multi-threat environment.

INS Mysore is powered by four gas turbines, providing her with 64,000 HP and a top speed of over 32knots. It has a state-of-the-art sensor package comprising radars, sonar and electronic warfare equipment. The ship carries two versatile Seaking Helicopters on board. The ship is commanded by Capt Sameer Saxena, a navigation and direction specialist.

INS Tarkash, the second of the Teg class frigates, is among the very latest in the inventory of the Indian Navy. The ship has been built by Yantar Shipyard, Kaliningrad, Russia and was commissioned on Nov 9, 2012. With a judicious mix of state -of-the -art Russian and Indian systems, Tarkash is equipped to dominate all three dimensions of the maritime domain. The ship operates both the Air Early Warning helicopter Kamov 31 and the Anti Submarine Warfare helicopter Kamov 28.

Powered by four gas turbines that produce 56000 HP, the ship is capable of doing speeds in excess of 30 knots.

Electric power is supplied by four diesel alternators, which together produce 3.2 MW of power. The ship is commanded by Capt Antony George NM VSM, an antisubmarine warfare specialist.

Kuwait to honor disability challengers sports champions KUWAIT: Dalia Wafai, executive manager of Expotag for Organization Exhibitions and conferences Company, in cooperation with the management of Kuwait Handicapped Sports Club, under the sponsorship of Sheikha Sheikha Al-Abdulla Al-Khalifa AlSabah, the honorary president of Kuwait Handicapped Sports Club, stated that preparations are on to organize the honoring ceremony of sports handicapped challengers for more than 42 sports champions for 8 Olympic athletics games, including shooting, running, swimming, archery, table tennis and basketball. This is also in participation with more than 15 authorities and companies to offer all entertainment surprises and gifts to those with special handicaps. An entertainment festival will be held on the sideline of the exhibition, in which talents are presented in the recitation of Quran, poetry, drawing and everything of interest to disability challengers such as banking services and disability equipments of all types, as per the type of disability, sports ware, and employment opportunities in major sectors, shopping coupons, free air tickets, free internet subscriptions, and medical services presented by medical authorities. The ceremony starts on Wednesday at 9 am up to 9 pm on Sept 18..

Fatema Dashti, Wataniya Telecom Company public relations manager, said the company is sponsoring the ceremony and sideline exhibition, by inviting Kuwait Society of the Disabled Parents, Abeer 2 Voluntary Team for the Mentally Disabled, Kharafi Center for Disabled Children Activities, under Wataniya’s sponsorship and being present to activate all the all the

services related to them, in order to satisfy the needs of those with special needs. This in view of our strong belief for the necessity of supporting the achievements of disability sports challengers and provide happiness and pleasure to all those with special needs, as well as our belief in their great role for building our society and upgrading it, as they are a part of the society. We are pleased and encourage their belief in challenging disability and their participation in the various athletics sports such as shooting, running, swimming and archery in the face of challenges.

Abeer Al-Saffran and Abeer Al-JImaz, chairwomen of Abeer 2 voluntary team for the disabled, extend their warm gratitude and appreciation for the sponsorship of Wataniya Telecom and their support of the Center for attending this significant event.

Among the most significant services and products to be displayed during the celebration for those with special needs are the works of the youths professional workshop products (accessories, frames, recycling, artistic national works). We look forward from participation in the functions of those with special needs to integrate them in the society, display their achievements and various works, as well as raise the awareness of the youths and volunteers to work with the disabled. We observe that the Kuwaiti society in the field of satisfying the requirements of those with special needs is that it needs more awareness in th e field of dealing with the disabled. We propose the following to be implemented in Kuwait: l Allocate academic curricula at the schools at all educational stages.

l Provide special education specialization at the universities and institutes in Kuwait.

Among the most significant projects which have been completed or in which Abeer 2 voluntary team for the handicapped participated during the last years for serving everything of concern to those with special needs and disability chal-

Handicapped, extended her warm appreciation for Wataniya Telecommunication’s sponsorship of the Society’s presence in this event.

She said “we are concerned to be present in order to inform the exhibition visitors about the Society and its activities and functions, which are all directed for serving those with special needs, by displaying the Society’s publications to raise the society’s awareness of this

the rights of the disabled. This is considered as a leading step for offering full care for the disabled, although a number of its articles have not been implemented yet, which every responsible person in the civil society institutions should endeavor to apply and effect them, each according to his location.

Since the incorporation of the Society in 2005, we have put ahead of us the fun-

Dalia Wafai

Rehab Boursely

Raad Dhaer

lengers were receiving difficult cases, training them in the morning and evening shifts, winning the first position as the best Kuwaiti volunteer work from Awqaf Public Foundation, continuation of the summer and spring camp constantly and successfully for 16 years consecutively and the team’s winning of diamond prizes from Burgan Bank and sports awards outside and inside the State of Kuwait such as the horse and balling championships.

Rehab Mohamed Boursely, chairwoman of Kuwait Society for the Parents of the

dear category to our hearts. Participating in such events is one of the significant communication means with the society, through which we endeavor to establish the concept of their full integration in the society. This is one of the basic objectives for which the Society was established, in addition to involving them in everything which provides them with the opportunity to assert themselves.

The handicapped in the Kuwaiti society enjoy the noble care of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait. This is evident through the enactment of law No.8 of 2010 in connection with

damental rights of the disabled, which include work, learning, training and an honorable life. Hence, we participated in the National Assembly committees to lay down a law for the disabled in 2010 and endeavor to raise the society’s awareness of the handicapped and making their families aware of their rights and how to claim them, during the annual cultural season in which the society holds a number of lectures, seminars and organizes international conferences. This is in addition to the comprehensive integration of the handicapped

children in the society. Hence, since 2007, the Society adopted the summer training program which met a significant community acceptance, as it reflected positively on our handicapped children for developing their practical skills.

Raad Dhaer, deputy manager of Kharafi Handicapped Children Activity Center, said the Center is distinguished by the quality and distinction of the services, activities and functions it presents to the handicapped children and persons in the State of Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf region, by providing a safe and specialized entertainment climate which ensures the right of free play for all handicapped children throughout the year in an atmosphere of happiness and freedom. The Center is considered as one of the projects of Kuwait Handicapped Child Support Foundation, a non profit charity organization concerned with the affairs, issues and rights of the handicapped in the State of Kuwait. Our participation in the disability challenger festival is based in our belief in the significance of integrating the disabled, activating their role, giving them the real opportunity to prove their abilities and potentials and manifest the talents they enjoy. Further, it reflects the significance of partnership and cooperation between the various sectors of the civil society which will have a significant effect in integrating the disabled and their containment, as well as providing them with the best care as being an indivisible part of the parent society, which they affect and are affected by, in order to reach a promising future and a more safe and stable life for them.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Kenyan deputy president heads to Hague for trial

Italian Senate panel meets on Berlusconi Page 10

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SULU: In this photo taken on August 12, 2013, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari (C) addresses his armed followers in one of their camps in Indanan, Sulu, on the southern island of Mindanao, following his declaration that he was breaking away from the government because he believed they were sidelining his group. Followers of Misuari entered the coastal area of Zamboanga city by boat at dawn yesterday, triggering clashes that left at least one soldier dead and six wounded, the military said. — AFP

Filipino rebels storm villages, take hostages Muslim rebels locked in standoff with army Kremlin foe disputes Moscow poll result MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny yesterday disputed the results of the Moscow mayoral poll after narrowly failing to push the pro-Kremlin incumbent into a run-off in closer than expected elections he claimed were marred by fraud.

Several thousand supporters of Navalny gathered in the centre of the Russian capital after the Moscow election commission released the final tally showing that an ally of President Vladimir Putin, Sergei Sobyanin, barely crept over the finish line with 51.3 percent of the votes.

In a major surprise, Navalny, a charismatic 37-year-old leader of the opposition movement who campaigned under the shadow of a controversial conviction for embezzlement, polled far more strongly than projected with over 27.2 percent. Navalny, who had threatened protests if the vote were rigged, contended the results were falsified and demanded a recount. “I know you are already sick and tired (of protesting),” he said in a message on Twitter.

“But you have to come again,” he said, urging supporters to turn up yesterday evening at a central Moscow square, which was the focal point of huge anti-Putin protests in the winter of 2011-2012. Ahead of the rally the general prosecutor’s office issued a statement saying it had noted Navalny’s calls for “civil disobedience” and had issued a formal warning.

In a nationwide day of local polls whose results may worry the Kremlin, opposition anti-drugs campaigner Yevgeny Roizman defeated a pro-Kremlin candidate in elections in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg.

Putin congratulated all the winners in the polls, pointedly noting the campaign was over and urging everyone to begin “joint positive work”. Analysts said that after Navalny’s stronger than expected showing he had become a force to be reckoned with. “From a civil activist he has turned into a politician. Twenty-seven percent is a colossal trump card,” said Maria Lipman, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center. “As a result of the poll he’s become even more dangerous” (for the Kremlin), she said. Before the election, which analysts saw as a crucial test of the protest mood in Russia more than a year into Putin’s new Kremlin term, nearly all pollsters had forecast Navalny would receive 20 percent of the vote. —AFP

ZAMBOANGA: Philippine troops were locked in a standoff with hundreds of Muslim gunmen who killed six people and took at least 20 hostages in the south yesterday in a bid to derail peace talks. Armoured troops surrounded the southern port city of Zamboanga after between 200 and 300 Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen entered six coastal villages on its outskirts before dawn, the military said.

“We want an independent Mindanao,” one of the gunmen, Asamin Hussin, told local ABS-CBN television, referring to the southern third of the mainly Catholic nation. The attack came as the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which split from MNLF in 1978, prepared to resume peace talks aimed at ending a 42-year-old rebellion that has claimed 150,000 lives. The city of nearly one million people woke to loud predawn explosions as security forces exchanged fire with the gunmen, who were still holding their ground as night fell.

Heavily armed soldiers and police streamed into the streets firing machine guns at the rebels, sending terrified residents running from their homes clutching small children and scant belongings, ABS-CBN footage showed.

“They were trying to march on the city hall and we cannot allow that,” military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said of the gunmen, adding that two had been arrested.

Zamboanga mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said two security forces and four civilians had been killed, 24 people were wounded, and 1,500 others fled their homes. At least 20 people had been taken hostage and were being used as “human shields”, Zagala said.

President Benigno Aquino denounced the deadly attack and sent his top security advisers to the former Spanish colonial port to handle the crisis, his spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. “The authorities are responding to the situation in a manner that will reduce the risk to innocent civilians and restore peace and order to Zamboanga City at the soonest possible time,” Lacierda said.

The long-running Muslim insurgency in the Philippines has led to a proliferation of armed groups that have left parts of Mindanao in a constant state of lawlessness. MNLF chairman Nur Misuari has criticised a preliminary peace deal signed last year by the government and the MILF, saying it marginalised his group and a peace treaty it signed in 1996.

Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Manila-based security think-tank Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence, and Terrorism Research, said the action was likely designed to sabotage the peace talks. “Misuari’s motive is to convey a message... (that) the signing of the peace agreement between the government and the MILF will no longer guarantee the end of war,” Banlaoi said. The gunmen identified have been linked to Habier Malik, Misuari’s top lieutenant, said Philippine military spokesman Brigadier-General Domingo Tutaan.

The gunmen have not made any demands apart from their wish to raise their flag at Zamboanga city hall, he added. Jose Lorena, a senior Aquino adviser on the peace talks, dismissed Misuari’s concerns yesterday, telling AFP that the group had been fed “misinformation”.

“It is an inclusive process, not just MNLF or MILF. Whether we like it or not, there is only only one people and one area,” Lorena added. Yesterday’s attack marked the second time that Misuari had publicly repudiated the 1996 peace deal.

Last month, declaring independence in Mindanao, he called on his forces to “surround and secure all military, police and all other installations”. In 2001 his men took dozens of hostages and left many more dead in Zamboanga and in nearby Jolo island, his home base. The MNLF later freed all the hostages after several days, in exchange for free passage out of the city as Misuari fled to Malaysia, where he was arrested and deported.

He was held in a police camp near Manila until 2008, when the government dropped all charges against him.

Military officials say Misuari no longer commands all of the MNLF, which has splintered into a number of groups. “We do not support this. This is about power. This independence thing is maybe secondary,” Abdul Sahrin, secretary-general of a rival MNLF faction, told ABS-CBN in an interview.

However, analyst Banlaoi said: “The fear now is Misuari could create one united front along with other threat (armed) groups against the Philippines.” Mindanao is also a hotbed of Islamic militants behind deadly bombings and kidnappings of westerners, as well as a MILF faction called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters which opposes peace talks. — AFP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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

Flow of refugees to Italy grows as Syria strikes loom ROME: As the threat of US-led strikes on Syria looms large, Italy is preparing for the dramatic rise in refugee landings on its shores to increase even further.

Thousands of Syrians have arrived so far this year in a markedly different type of influx to landings seen since the start of the Arab Spring revolts in 2011.

Scores or even hundreds more arrive almost daily, in what officials say has created an “emergency” in Sicily. They are usually better off and better connected than the thousands of Eritreans and Somalians who also come and their final destination is Sweden, not Italy. “ They have money and are welldressed, carrying tablets,” said Carla Trommino, a local lawyer in Syracuse in Sicily where most of the Syrians have arrived.

“They try to avoid identification by the authorities because they want to go to Sweden and not end up in the system of Italian refugee centres,” she said.

Their Mediterranean journeys also begin in Egypt or Turkey, much farther afield than Libya or Tunisia where many recent asylum-seekers had started from.

“We often see relatives waiting with cars on the dock,” said Trommino, who is also a local representative for the immigrant rights group ASGI. “They stay one or two days and then escape,” she added. Sweden this month became the first European Union country to announce it will give asylum and

permanent resident status to all Syrian refugees who apply.

Around 1,300 Syrians landed in Syracuse in August alone, compared to 646 landing in July, officials said. “There has been a real intensification. We have had to call in reinforcements,” Antonio Spampinato, the local border guard commander for Syracuse, told AFP. Entire families, unaccompanied children and pregnant women have been among those landing, fleeing the twoyear civil war in hope of a better life in Europe. “I do expect the Syrian crisis can lead to the worsening of the refugee problem,” Italy’s Prime Minister Enrico Letta said earlier this month. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano last week visited Syracuse and declared the refugee influx had become an “emergency” in Sicily-a part of Italy that has already been badly hit by a painful recession.

He said Italy was tripling bed spaces in refugee centres to 16,000 in expectation of more arrivals and would push for a change in European asylum rules to facilitate family reunions-which would make it easier for Syrians to leave Italy for northern Europe.

“This region is unprepared. There aren’t enough bed spaces and the refugee centres that are being used right now are informal ones,” Trommino said.

There have often been emotional scenes in Syracuse in recent weeks, with relatives embracing in the port after

receiving word ahead of time about the arrivals.

One Syrian woman gave birth during an eight-day voyage on a boat carrying 354 other refugees, while another died as she crossed with her husband and two children.

The woman was a nurse in Damascus and her husband gave his permission for the donor use of her liver and kidneys, which saved three Italian patients.

Several Syrians arriving have had to be hospitalised with dehydration in the hot summer sun, sometimes airlifted by helicopter directly from their boats.

There have also been tensions: for example, when two Syrian men were unjustly accused by others on the boat of being crew members just because they had tried to defend their children’s water rations in the crossing.

Under Italian law, crew members are arrested and deported since aiding illegal immigration is a crime. Syrians say they pay around $3,000-$4,000 (2,2753,000 euros) for adults and $1,500 for children for the trip.

Spampinato said people smugglers had come up with a “lucrative” system to maximise their intake by taking large numbers of asylum-seekers across on “mother ships”-large fishing boats or cargo vessels.

Before reaching Italian national waters, they are then transferred to smaller vessels to be taken to shore. “We

CILVEGOZU: Mustafa Abu Bekir, 23, is carried on the shoulder of a relative as he arrives at the Turkish Cilvegozu gate border, yesterday. Abu Bekir, of Syria, said he was severely wounded by a bomb dropped from a Syrian Army warplane, while fighting with the Free Syrian Army a month ago in Idlib. Public opinion surveys show intense American skepticism about military intervention in Syria, even among those who believe Syria’s government used chemical weapons on its people. — AP identify the mother ships but we cannot intervene because they are in international waters,” he said.

Similar smuggler routes from the eastern Mediterranean are used for the import of far more sinister cargo.

On Friday, a police patrol off Sicily arrested nine Egyptian and Syrian crew members, plucking them from the sea after they set fire to their own ship, an 85-metre (279-foot) cargo vessel laden with drugs. —AFP

Mubarak’s last PM backs Sisi for Egypt president Vote expected early next year, but politicians hesitant

ISTANBUL: Turkish leftist protesters take cover from riot policemen as they throw stones during an anti-government demonstration in Istanbul yesterday. — AFP

Kurdish rebels discontinue withdrawal from Turkey ANKARA: Kurdish rebels announced yesterday they are suspending their withdrawal from Turkey into bases in northern Iraq over what they say is the Turkish government’s failure to advance peace talks aimed at ending a nearly 30-year-old conflict.

The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, declared a cease-fire in March and began withdrawing fighters from Turkey in May as part of the peace efforts. Turkey in turn was expected to enact reforms to improve Kurdish rights. But a statement from the PKK, carried by the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency, accused Turkey of failing to honor its side of the bargain and called on it to take steps toward “democratization and the resolution of the Kurdish problem.”

The group said the cease-fire would stand. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag dismissed the rebel statement and said Turkey was determined to take steps toward ending the conflict. “Whatever the terror organization does is up to them,” Bozdag said. “But Turkey will do whatever needs to be done.”

“Turkey has always taken precautions in relation to all sorts of alternative scenarios and will continue to do so. We shall continue to work and to struggle until the terror comes to an end,” he said, without elaborating. This is a politically sensitive time for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is facing local elections in March and may be reluctant to take controversial steps that may be seen as concessions to the rebels.

Erdogan’s government has said it is working on a package of democratic reforms, but it has delayed bringing the proposals to Parliament. The government has also argued that the rebels have not fully pulled out from Turkey, with Erdogan

stating last month that only 20 percent of the fighters had left Turkish territory.

The rebels blamed Erdogan’s government for their actions. “The government which gave no importance to the fact that the guerrillas had significantly withdrawn out of Turkey’s border, which did not reciprocate and which tried to use the process as a diversion and to enter local elections in a peaceful environment - is responsible for the situation,” the rebel statement said.

The PKK said it wants the government to ease the isolation of the PKK’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan and change antiterrorism laws to ensure the release hundreds of Kurdish activists accused of links to the rebels. Ocalan, who is leading the peace talks on behalf of the rebels, is serving a life term on a prison island off Istanbul and has limited access to lawyers and Kurdish politicians involved in the talks. Other demands include the education of Kurdish school children in their mother tongue. The PKK’s northern Iraqbased commander Cemil Bayik accused the government last week of not fulfilling obligations and warned that fighting could resume. But Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk said the announcement was a move to force the government to act but did not spell an end to the peace process. “It is a decision to enable (the PKK) to see what the government’s intentions are,” Turk told the private Dogan news agency. “If it displays projects toward peace, then the process will continue.” The conflict between Turkey and the autonomy-seeking PKK has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984. The group is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. —AP

British sergeant denies firing at bodies in Iraq LONDON: A former British army sergeant denied yesterday he had fired at bodies on the ground in a fit of anger during a battle in Iraq in 2004 and said he had opened fire because an Iraqi insurgent was about to shoot at him.

Paul Kelly was testifying at the AlSweady Public Inquiry in London, which is investigating allegations by Iraqis that British troops committed atrocities at or after the battle of Danny Boy near Majar alKabir in southern Iraq on May 14, 2004.

The allegations include that the soldiers captured some Iraqis alive and executed them at their camp, that they mutilated bodies, and that they tortured detainees.

Most of the soldiers deny that any of this happened.

A former private in Kelly’s platoon at the time, Duncan Aston, alleged at the inquiry last week that he had seen Kelly spray bullets with an automatic rifle at six Iraqi bod-

ies lying in a ditch, two of which were twitching.

Kelly’s own evidence was that there were six or seven bodies lying or crumpled in the ditch but also two standing men, one of whom turned towards him raising an AK47 rifle to fire. “ What I’m saying is I walked into a trench and somebody pointed a weapon at me and I started firing,” Kelly said.

“Whether I hit people on the ground I don’t know, but I swept up in a motion and it’s possible I hit people on the ground,” he said, disputing that Aston was present.

The inquiry took evidence from 60 Iraqi witnesses between March and June and started hearing British military witnesses last week. A final report is expected in late 2014. The inquiry has no power to prosecute but, depending on its conclusions, military prosecutors could decide to bring charges.— Reuters

CAIRO: Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq says he will back army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for president, adding to speculation that the man who led the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi could become head of state.

Shafiq, a former air force commander who came second in last year’s presidential election, said he would not run if Sisi stood in the election expected next year.

The comment suggests why, just months before the election, there are no declared candidates as politicians wait to see if Sisi is going to run before announcing their own intentions.

In separate comments, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who also ran in last year’s election, said Sisi would win by a landslide.

Egyptians had become “angry and afraid of anarchy and terrorism” and wanted a decisive leader, he said.

Sisi has said he does not seek authority though speculation he will run has mounted since he toppled the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mursi from the presidency on July 3. He is feted on state TV, while his picture appears across Cairo.

In an interview with Dream 2 television, Shafiq said he would run for president if he had broad support but he would not contest an election if Sisi did.

“May God give him good fortune. We would all support him and I am the first one to support him,” said Shafiq, who came second to Mursi in the presidential election in 2012. “If Sisi is nominated I will not run.”

The last election, which followed the ousting of strongman Hosni Mubarak, was the first time Egyptians had freely chosen their head of state. It was preceded by months of frenzied campaigning, in stark contrast to now.

Mursi was the first civilian to run

PARIS: Egypt’s Foreign minister Nabil Fahmi (L) talks yesterday during an interview held at the residence of the Egyptian Ambassador to France in Paris. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi arrived in Paris on September 7 for a three-day visit to participate in a series of meetings centered on the volatile situation in the Middle East. — AFP Egypt since the army overthrew the monarchy in 1952. A Sisi presidency would mark a return to rule by men from the military.

Sisi has emerged as the public face of the new order, enjoying fawning coverage in Egyptian media and sowing doubts about the military’s promise to hand over to full civilian rule with a “road map” to parliamentary and presidential elections.

The army-backed interim government, with the support of a sizeable section of the population, has been cracking down hard on the Muslim Brotherhood, a millionmember movement that emerged from decades of repression under Mubarak’s military-backed rule to win five popular votes in all.

More than 2,000 Islamist

activists have been arrested since Mursi was ousted and most of the Brotherhood’s leaders, including Mursi, have been jailed on charges of inciting or taking part in violence. Some have also been accused of terrorism or murder.

Over the same period, more than 1,000 people have been killed in political violence. Most were protesters killed by security forces breaking up pro-Mursi camps in Cairo. Abound 100 were members of the security forces.

Even if Sisi does not run, analysts say the military will remain at the heart of power, curbing the influence of the next head of state.

Analysts have suggested retired or serving military officers might run if he does not.

Amr Moussa, who came fifth in

last year’s election, told Al-Shorouk newspaper that he did not intend to run. He said Egyptians wanted a president able to take “decisive decisions regardless of their political impact”.

A military president “immediately comes to the Egyptian mind”, he said, adding that Sisi was the most popular person in the country. “If he runs he will win a landslide, according to the current situation and the current moment,” he said. Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist politician who came third in the 2012 election, has also said Sisi would win, while sidestepping questions on his own intentions.

The Brotherhood has accused Sisi of trying to rehabilitate the old order that ran Egypt for 30 years under Mubarak. — Reuters

Yemen Sunni-Shiite clashes kill 42 SANAA: At least 42 people have been killed in 10 days of clashes in Yemen between Sunni Islamists and Shiite rebels, tribal sources and an official said yesterday.

Tension is mounting with stumbling national reconciliation talks, begun after the ouster of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh last year, set to conclude this month.

There have been days of clashes between gunmen loyal to tribal chief Hamid al-Ahmar-a leader of the Sunni Islah party, and Shiite Huthi rebels in Amran province north of the capital, several sources said.

More than 30 people have been killed in the past 10 days in fighting in Osaymat and Ozur, a tribal chief said of two areas named after the Sunni and Shiite tribes who live there.

At least 12 others were killed in firefights between Huthis and Sunni Islamists in the Rudma region near Ibb, a local official said.

The Huthis’ Ansaruallah website accused Ahmar and his Islah party of sending scores of gunmen to Amran and Ibb. Meanwhile, two bombs exploded yesterday in Sanaa. They targeted two buses carrying members of the air force and the military academy, a security official was quoted by the official Saba news agency as saying. One bomb exploded on Airport Road and the other on Al-Nasr Street in eastern Sanaa, the official said.

He said the explosions caused only minor damage, and did not say who was suspected of carrying out the attacks. Last month, a bomb planted on an air force bus killed one person

and wounded 25 when it exploded on the road to Sanaa’s international airport.

The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the most active franchise of the global jihadist network, has staged many attacks on the country’s security forces.

However, the rising unrest is also seen as an attempt to derail an already shaky national reconciliation dialogue aimed at drafting a consti-

tution and preparing for elections in February 2014. “These are attempts to destabilise Yemen and push the national dialogue to failure,” said Mohammed al-Moqbeli, a representative of Yemeni youth in the talks.

Southern separatists yesterday returned to the talks after staging a walkout last month over various demands, including that the talks be held abroad. — AFP

SANAA: A forensic expert takes a photograph of a damaged bus at the site of a bomb attack in Sanaa, Yemen, yesterday. Two bombs targeting buses carrying military, exploded, causing no injuries. —AP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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

Kenyan deputy president heads to Hague for trial Kenyatta faces similar charges

PARIS: French Police officers investigate the scene of a night raid at a jewelry shop, near Place Vendome, in Paris, yesteday. Jewels, watches and diamonds were stolen in the early hours of yesterday morning from the shop after a 4X4 vehicle broke through the front door. — AP

Blind people granted gun permits in Iowa DES MOINES: Iowa law enforcement officials are debating the wisdom of granting gun permits to blind people. The Des Moines Register reports (http://dmreg.co/15O9I83 ) that Iowa law doesn’t allow sheriffs to deny a permit to carry a gun in public based on physical ability.

Some sheriffs have been granting gun permits to people with visual impairments while others have been denying them. Blind people and other Iowans can obtain the permits for carrying a weapon in public because of changes to state law that took effect in 2011.

Jane Hudson with Disability Rights Iowa said keeping legally blind people from obtaining weapon permits would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some other states, including Nebraska, require anyone applying for a gun permit to provide proof of their visual ability by supplying a driver’s license or doctor’s statement. Hudson said she thinks someone could successfully challenge Nebraska’s vision restriction because federal law requires states to analyze a situation individually before denying a service. “ The fact that you can’t drive a car doesn’t mean you can’t go to a shooting range and see a target,” Hudson said.

Polk County officials said they have issued weapons permits to people who can’t drive legally because of vision problems at least three times. Sheriffs in Jasper, Kossuth and Delaware counties say they’ve also granted permits to Iowans with severe

visual impairments. “It seems a little strange, but the way the law reads, we can’t deny them (a permit) just based on that one thing,” said Sgt. Jana Abens, a spokeswoman for the Polk County sheriff’s office, referring to a visual disability.

It’s not clear how many people with visual impairments have permits to carry weapons in Iowa because no one collects that information.

Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere questioned whether visually impaired people should be able to obtain these weapons permits. “At what point do vision problems have a detrimental effect to fire a firearm? If you see nothing but a blurry mass in front of you, then I would say you probably shouldn’t be shooting something,” LeClere said. Even Patrick Clancy, superintendent of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, said guns may be a rare exception to his philosophy. “Although people who are blind can participate fully in nearly all life’s experiences, there are some things, like the operation of a weapon, that may very well be an exception,” Clancy said.

But in Cedar County, blind people would find a welcoming audience if they applied for a weapons permit. Sheriff Warren Wethington has a legally blind daughter who is 19, and she plans to apply for a permit when she’s eligible at 21.

“If sheriffs spent more time trying to keep guns out of criminals’ hands and not people with disabilities, their time would be more productive,” Wethington said. —AP

NAIROBI: Kenya’s deputy president left for The Hague yesterday to face trial on charges that he helped orchestrate the country’s 2007-08 postelection violence.

William Ruto is due to appear today at the International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity. More than 1,000 Kenyans were killed during weeks of vicious tribe-on-tribe attacks following a disputed presidential vote in late 2007 that took Kenya to the brink of civil war.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta faces similar charges of helping to orchestrate the violence.

Both leaders have pledged to cooperate with the court, but the current court schedule has Kenyatta and Ruto in The Hague at the same time in November, something Kenyatta said over the weekend is not possible.

The trial is the culmination of years of work by International Criminal Court investigators after Kenyan authorities failed to hold to account any of the leaders of the violence. It is the first time a sitting president is being tried at the ICC. While Kenyans once overwhelmingly supported the intervention of the ICC, opinion - soured in part by the long passage of time - has turned against the international body. Kenya’s parliament last week passed a voice vote motion to withdraw from the ICC. The vote is symbolic and non-binding; only Kenya’s government can decide to withdraw from the ICC and it will have no effect on the trials of Kenyatta and Ruto.

But the vote was carried out by the majority in parliament, which Kenyan voters put into office in March, the same time they voted in Kenyatta and Ruto, who were under indictments by the ICC. The pair’s election campaign had played up the idea that the West was meddling in Kenyan affairs.

Ngujiri Wambugu, a prominent social activist in Kenya, once helped collect more than 1 million signatures in support of an ICC intervention, after Kenyan prosecutors failed to bring forward significant

France moves to toughen ban on religion in schools PARIS: France yesterday unveiled a new charter designed to reinforce rules banning religion from schools which have been a recurring cause of tension with Muslims and other faiths.

The “Charter for Secularity in School,” is to be displayed in poster form in every state-funded school in the country in a move pioneered by the Socialist government’s education minister, Vincent Peillon.

The 15-point statement contains nothing new in legal terms.

Instead, Peillon says, it represents an attempt to promote better understanding, and more consistent enforcement, of longestablished principles which have their roots in the anti-clericalism of the French revolution and the country’s 1905 law enforcing a strict separation of church and state. Peillon’s initiative was greeted coolly by leaders of France’s five million Muslims, some of whom see the aggressive promotion of secularity as an assault on their culture and traditions.

Recent years have seen a string of legal disputes arising from the exclusion from school of girls wearing headscarves in defiance of a 2004 law which prohibits the wearing of “ostentatious” religious symbols.

Dalil Boubakeur, the chairman of the French Muslim Council, said the charter’s emphasis on that law and to the equality of girls and boys amounted to “allusions” to Islam which would trigger concern in the community.

“Ninety percent of Muslims are going to have the feeling they are being targeted by this charter,” Boubakeur told AFP. That interpretation was rejected by Peillon. “Secularity is about the equality of everyone in the Republic. There are those who think it is all about banning things. In fact it was what allows us to live together freely.”

The charter starts out by emphasising that France “respects all faiths” and that the state is neutral in regard to them. It goes on to explain, in child-friendly terms, that the absence of religion from schools affords pupils the conditions to forge their own personality, exercise free will and become citizens in an environment free from pressure or proselytising. In practice, that means that teaching staff must never give any indication of their religious (or political) convictions during lessons and that pupils cannot use their faith as a reason to challenge the content of the national curriculum, the manner of teaching or the rules of the school.

The notion of the “Ecole laique” (secular school) as one of the cornerstones of the Republic and a guarantee of the universal right to the freedom of expression and thought is one that is cherished by France’s intellectual elite.

Outside minority faith communities, it also enjoys strong support among the population. “To me it’s not right people coming to school with religious symbols,” said 16-year-old Arthur Rivelois outside his Parisian Lycee. “Their faith is their business, it’s nothing to do with the rest of us.”

But critics wonder whether the model is suitable for modern-day, multicultural France and accuse the government of double standards.

They question whether a truly secular school system would allow Christmas trees or December visits by Santa Claus, and whether it would still observe holidays on Christian Saints days.

While the vast majority of school canteens dish up fish every Friday-in keeping with Roman Catholic tradition-any principal who provides halal meat for Muslim students risks incurring the wrath of militant secularists, whose cause is enthusiastically backed by the far-right, anti-immigration Front National. Interpreting the rules correctly has proved a headache for school leaders.

Earlier this year a Muslim girl was excluded from her school after a headband and long skirt were deemed to constitute overtly religious garb. The exclusion was overturned on appeal and her parents are now suing the school for racial discrimination.

The legislation has also caused much anguish among France’s 30,000 Sikhs, whose male children are required by their faith to cover their hair from an early age.— AFP

THE HAGUE: In this file photo, William Ruto sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands. Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto left for The Hague yesterday to face trial today on charges of crimes against humanity that he helped orchestrate the country’s 2007-08 postelection violence during which more than 1,000 Kenyans were killed during weeks of vicious tribe-on-tribe attacks following a disputed presidential vote in late 2007 that took Kenya to the brink of civil war. — AP judicial action. Today, Wambugu is against the ICC intervention, because it has a “fundamentally flawed execution capacity.”

“I would like to suggest that the court listen very carefully to what Kenya, and Africa, is saying. That is the only way that they will understand that whereas Kenyans want to get to the bottom of what happened in 2007, we will not chose that over an opportunity to forge ahead as a young nation-state if put in that position,” Wambugu wrote. “It is quite clear ICC is not being fair,” Wambugu said in a column that asked why the leaders of the United States and Britain haven’t been indicted for the invasion of Iraq, or why Syrian President Bashar Assad is not being held responsible for the tens of thousands of deaths over the last year in

Syria. Kenyatta over the weekend again pledged that he and Ruto would cooperate with the court, but added that he and his deputy couldn’t be in the court at the same time. “One of us must remain behind to run affairs of the state,” Kenyatta said. The two leaders spent the weekend in Kenya’s Rift Valley, where hundreds of Kenyan families booted from their homes during the 2007-08 violence still live in shabby United Nations tents.

The government gave the internally displaced families a check for about $5,000 each - enough to buy a small plot of land - in an attempt to close one of the sadder chapters of Kenya’s internal violence.

On Sunday Kenyatta and Ruto attended church together. The two invoked the name of God frequently during the weekend. “God, who

enabled us to win elections and bring peace in this country, will be the same one to enable us to win in that court,” Ruto said.

“God will enable us to go there and clean our names and embarrass those who thought Kenya would not progress,” Kenyatta said, saying at another stop: “We know we are innocent and we will go there and defend ourselves. We will prove wrong those lies, and the truth will stand.” The Nairobi newspaper Daily Nation on Monday ran a two-page spread of photos from the post-vote violence, including the scarred face of a man who apparently was hacked by a machete. What the headline called the “Orgy of Violence” that nearly led to a full-blown Kenyan civil war took 2,079 days to reach a court proceeding at The Hague. — AP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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

Under-pressure ETA heading for disbandment

MADRID: Two years after vowing to end their bombings and shootings, Basque militants may soon take a further step towards disbanding ETA, western Europe’s last major armed separatist group, observers say.

The Spanish and French governments refuse to have any contact with the group, blamed for 829 deaths in its four-decade campaign for an independent homeland, insisting it disarm and disband unconditionally. But sources close to the group and experts say it may follow up its historic announcement in October 2011 of a “definitive end to armed activity” with a further gesture in the hope of resolution.

“My understanding is that ETA will in the near future make a statement,” said Brian Currin, an Irish lawyer in an international contact group, not recognised by Madrid, which supports dialogue on the issue.

“A statement by ETA is expected this

autumn,” said a source close to the matter in France. “It is difficult to say whether it will be in September or October,” but “significant advances” are expected, the source added.

Hundreds of ETA members are in prison in Spain and France, including many of its leaders who have been arrested over recent years. Peaceful nationalist groups meanwhile have gained influence and votes in Basque regional politics, changing the game for ETA militants still in hiding.

“The main demand of Basque society is the disarmament and disbandment of ETA,” said Inigo Urkullu, the moderate leader of the nationalist party PNV who was last year elected president of the regional government. A new party, Sortu, was formally launched this year, born from the ashes of Batasuna, outlawed by the Spanish government, which considered it to be the political wing of ETA.

“ETA is determined to lay down its arms and would like the (Spanish and French) governments to act as witnesses,” Sortu’s leader Hasier Arraiz told AFP. “Because we consider that disarmament is something that must be done in an ordered way, and in such a way that it can be guaranteed,” like the disarmament of the Irish Republican Army, Arraiz said.

Another source close to the matter on the French side of the border added: “ETA doesn’t want to just throw its weapons down in the street.” Currin said the handful of ETA leaders still at large would also have to be taken into account in any resolution, for example by offering them a political role.

“The residue of ETA still there because they have not had decommissioning” of arms, Currin said. “You don’t only decommission arms, you decommission people as well.”

Madrid’s refusal to talk with ETA, which it brands a terrorist group, as do the European Union and the United States, may be holding up steps towards disbandment, he warned.

“I do not expect that ETA will announce a unilateral disarmament because there is nobody to engage with” to discuss reintegrating ETA members into civil life, he added.

The Spanish government says that if ETA does not disband, its members will be hunted down and arrested in time.

“We are going to carry on that way. That is our policy and I hope ETA will grasp that as soon as possible,” said Spain’s Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz this month.

ETA is maintaining its demand that its imprisoned members be moved to prisons closer to home.

“The prisoners are one of the keys to this,”

said one expert on the issue, Gorka Landaburu-a journalist who was injured in an ETA attack in 2001.

The European courts are due to rule on Spanish legal practice that allows prisoners’ jails terms to be recalculated and extended.

Under the so-called Parot Doctrine, ETA prisoners faced new restrictions on how remissions for prison work were applied to their sentences, often meaning they faced many more years behind bars.

This would affect 70 ETA convicts, said Maritxu Paulus Pasurco, a lawyer acting for some of them in France. Landaburu also flagged up a key date looming: October 10 and 11, when the Basque city of San Sebastian hosts a peace conference with delegates from around the world.

It was after a similar conference there on the same date in 2011 that ETA announced an end to violence, he said. —AFP

Italian Senate panel meets on Berlusconi Committee begins considering Berlusconi expulsion ROME: Italian lawmakers yesterday began hearings to decide whether Silvio Berlusconi should be expelled from parliament following his criminal conviction in an unprecedented case that has stoked political tensions.

Berlusconi’s defiance over the possible sanction is unique in Europe’s

meeting to discuss his ejection, even though stalling tactics from Berlusconi’s supporters could drag the process on for months before a compulsory final Senate vote.

The meeting began with a lengthy statement in Berlusconi’s defence by PDL senator Andrea Augello.

before its adoption, as in his case.

The law would also prevent Berlusconi from taking part in the next general election set for 2018.

The PD’s leadership has said it will vote to apply the law but the PDL argues that Berlusconi should receive “political freedom of movement” since

ROME: Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi waving to reporters after attending a meeting with the People of Freedom party’s lawmakers at the Lower Chamber in Rome. An Italian parliamentary committee began debating yesterday whether ex-Premier Berlusconi should be stripped of his Senate seat following his conviction for tax fraud. —AP recent political history and threatens the coalition between his People of Freedom (PDL) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

As the eurozone’s third biggest economy struggles to exit a recession that has led to record unemployment, the 76-year-old former prime minister and billionaire tycoon has once again taken the political centre stage.

A Senate committee began its

Berlusconi has complained that a new law against criminals in parliament adopted last year with the aim of cleaning up Italian politics and approved with votes from his own party in fact violates his rights.

The three-time premier has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, arguing that the law should not apply for convictions relating to crimes committed

he leads a party for which millions of Italians have voted. Some of Berlusconi’s critics have pleaded with him to resign voluntarily and spare Italy more embarrassment. PD leader Guglielmo Epifani has warned that Italy risks looking like a “banana republic” internationally.

Nichi Vendola, leader of the leftist SEL party, said the case is “unique for a Western democracy”.

Berlusconi could lead his party from

outside parliament but expulsion would be a blow as he has been a lawmaker ever since entering politics in 1994.

The stand-off follows a landmark supreme court ruling on August 1 that turned down Berlusconi’s final appeal against a tax fraud conviction and upheld a 12-month sentence with a hearing next month to decide whether he should be committed to house arrest or community service.

An appeals court will also begin hearings on October 19 to decide whether Berlusconi should be temporarily banned from holding public office for one to three years.

The verdict was the first definitive ruling against him in decades of legal proceedings that Berlusconi says are part of a left-wing crusade by prosecutors.

He is also currently appealing convictions for having sex with an underage 17-year-old prostitute and abusing his official powers when he was prime minister. Most experts agree that Berlusconi’s supporters are unlikely to bring down the government, even though they have repeatedly threatened to do so if their leader is expelled from parliament.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta warned on Sunday that political instability “carries a cost” but said he did not believe the PDL would abandon the coalition.

Financial markets have held up relatively well and the FTSE Mib stock market index was up 0.55 percent during trading on Monday, while borrowing costs fell in an indication of improved investor confidence.

But tensions are still bound to rise as Berlusconi has shown no sign of backing down even though some of his aides have advocated a more humble approach that could earn him a pardon from the Italian presidency.

The government was forged between the rival PD and PDL parties after a two-month deadlock following a general election in February that failed to give any party a ruling majority in parliament. —AFP

Norway seen moving right in vote OSLO: Prosperous Norway voted yesterday in elections likely to lead to a governing coalition of Conservatives and anti-immigrant populists, two years after Muslim-hating Anders Behring Breivik’s deadly rampage.

The Scandinavian nation’s voters, who were casting their ballots at polling stations from the Arctic north to Oslo 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) further south, were seen opting for change after eight years of centre-left rule, despite a crisis-defyingly robust economy and near-full employment.

“Even if many things are going well, there are always many things that could go even better,” incumbent Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Jens Stoltenberg told national news network TV 2 Nyhetskanalen. “It won’t be easy to win the election, but it’s possible,” said the self-described “optimist by nature”. The last pre-election opinion poll, published Sunday by the daily Aftenposten, showed Stoltenberg’s centre-left coalition, composed of his Labour Party, the Left Socialists and Centrists, garnering just 39 percent of voter sympathies. That would translate to 68 of the 169 seats in parliament.

By contrast, the paper’s poll had 54.3 percent of voters backing the four centre-right parties currently in the opposition, which would give them a comfortable majority of 95 seats.

“The opinion surveys have been very good, and hopefully the results tonight will be the same,” said Stoltenberg’s likely successor, Conservative leader Erna Solberg, as she cast her vote in her hometown, Norway’s second-largest city Bergen. Stoltenberg has governed for two consecutive terms since 2005, an unusually long tenure, even in politically stable Norway.

During this period, he has steered the oil-rich nation through Europe’s worst post-war economic crisis, warding off any threats to the population’s very high living standards. Significantly, one of the top election issues has been the proper use of Norway’s oil fund, which at $750 billion (570 billion euros) is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.

Given the general material wealth, and the lack of any serious discontent in society, the likely weak showing of Stoltenberg’s coalition is mostly put down to “power fatigue”. “The three parties (in the governing

coalition) haven’t come up with a strong and innovative reform programme that would justify 12 years of uninterrupted government,” the Aftenposten daily said in an editorial.

Stoltenberg’s coalition has also been criticised for the authorities’ failure to prevent Breivik’s July 22, 2011 attacks. The xenophobic extremist killed 77 people when he set off a van bomb at the foot of the government offices in Oslo before opening fire on a Labour youth camp on Utoeya island. In an ironic twist, the right-wing’s widely anticipated victory is expected to open the door for the populist anti-immigration Progress Party to join government for the first time in its 40-year history. The party, which counted Breivik among its members until 2006, has condemned the attacks and has also toned down its rhetoric on immigrants, of which Norway received 70,000 last year, including 25,000 non-Europeans.

No one in Norway associates the party with the carnage wrought by the right-wing extremist-an issue that has been conspicuous by its absence from the

campaign. Instead, the issues that have dominated the run-up to the election have been healthcare, education, taxes and what to do with Norway’s vast oil wealth. The Progress Party, led by Siv Jensen, has been credited with around 15 percent support in the polls, down by about a third from the last election in 2009.

The most likely scenario is a minority government made up of the Conservatives and the Progress Party.

The smaller Christian Democrats and the Liberals would not be in the government due to disagreements with the populist right, but would provide backing in parliament to pass legislation.

Significant differences divide the four parties, in particular the issues of immigration and the environment, as well as the Progress Party’s intention of dipping into the sovereign wealth fund to finance their election promises.

Norway has 3.64 million eligible voters, and of these 842,000 had already exercised their right prior to yesterday’s election in advance voting. Some districts also opened their polling stations on Sunday. —AFP

BERGEN: Chairman of the Conservative Party in Norway, Erna Solberg, casts her vote in the general election yesterday at the polling station at Apeltun School in Bergen, western Norway. The Conservative party is expected to do well, and Solberg may well, according to opinion polls, be in a position to form a a new coalition government after the elections. —AP

BERLIN: Election campaign posters of German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union, CDU, right, and her challenger of the Social Democratic Party, SPD, Peer Steinbrueck stand in Berlin, Germany, yesterday. —AP

SPD struggles under Schroeder’s legacy BERLIN: Battling to topple Chancellor Angela Merkel and her centre-right administration, Germany’s Social Democrats are struggling to overcome a feeling they betrayed their left-wing ideals the last time they held power.

Gerhard Schroeder was the last chancellor of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and his government engineered and implemented the sweeping social and economic reforms that have helped buttress Europe’s biggest economy against the worst of the eurozone crisis in recent years.

But Schroeder’s drastic policies, known as Agenda 2010, also alienated much of the SPD’s traditional grass-roots base and the party has never really managed to win back many disenchanted left-wing voters. “It’s still very much an issue even today,” says Benedikt Falszewski, head of one of the SPD’s local branches in Duisburg, a large industrial town in the west of Germany.

“People see the Agenda 2010 as very unjust. They feel the SPD betrayed its values,” Falszewski told AFP, as he campaigned for the SPD’s candidate for Duisburg.

Conceived at a time when Germany was known as the “sick man of Europe”, Agenda 2010 was a vast programme of reforms drawn up 10 years ago, making the economy more competitive, slashing welfare payments and making it easier to hire and fire employees.

But in pushing through those reforms, Schroeder, “in the eyes of many voters, surrendered (the SPD’s) trademark-social justice,” said Jens Walther, political scientist at Duesseldorf University. As a result, a total 130,000 SPD card carriers-the party is Germany’s oldest political party and recently celebrated its 150th birthday-handed in their membership cards between 2003 and 2008.

Their score has plummeted in the popularity polls and a new far-left party, Die Linke, has

won over many disenchanted SPD voters.

Ten years on and Germany is one of Europe’s most prosperous economies, with its low unemployment rate the envy of many of its neighbours. And most economists, even the political right wing, puts its success down to Schroeder’s reforms.

Abroad “everyone is envious,” said Walther. A number of fellow EU members, such as France, are even debating whether to copy the German model. For a great many, Schroeder is the man who “put the necessity of advancing the state ahead of his own interests”, the daily Rheinische Post wrote in a recent analysis.

But large groups within the SPD just do not agree. And this conflict is a serious hurdle for the party’s chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck, who is seeking to unseat Merkel on September 22. According to a recent opinion poll, the Social Democrats would win 26 percent of the votes compared with 41 percent for the conservative CDU and its CSU Bavarian sister party.

The SPD has put social justice at the centre of its election campaign. It wants to curb rents, increase family support and introduce a minimum wage. But for many left-wing voters, Schroeder’s reforms compromised the party’s credibility as a champion of the rights of the weakest in society. All the more so because Steinbrueck is from the party’s right wing. “If we say: ‘we want to repeal some aspects of the reforms,’ the response is: ‘but it was you who initiated them in the first place’,” said Falszewski. Among the grassroots supporters, “the disappointment runs deep”, even if the SPD remains the first choice for left-wing voters.

Among the different reforms, the raising of the retirement age to 67, agreed by a grand coalition of Social Democrats and conservatives in 2007, is also a source of resentment, Falszweski said. —AFP

Freed Belgian, Italian faced ‘mock executions’ in Syria BRUSSELS: Pierre Piccinin, the Belgian freed in Syria with Italian journalist Domenico Quirico, said yesterday they faced “real violence” and mock executions after being captured by rebel forces in April.

Scant detail has emerged of their release on Sunday but Quirico’s newspaper said Italy’s secret services had stepped up efforts to secure their release ahead of feared US military strikes.

“Physically, we are okay despite the torture we suffered,” Piccinin told Bel RTL radio station shortly after returning to Belgium.

“There was sometimes real violence ... humilation, bullying, mock executions ...

Domenico faced two mock executions, with a revolver,” he said. Piccinin, a history teacher in a southern Belgian town, and Quericio, a correspondent for Italy’s La Stampa daily, entered Syria via Lebanon in April.

Shortly afterwards, the Western-backed Free Syrian Army picked them up and handed them over to the Abu Ammar brigade, a rebel group “more bandit than Islamist,” Piccinin told Le Soir daily.

The five months they were held proved to be “a terrifying odyssey across Syria,” he told Bel RTL. “We were moved around a lot... it was not always the same group that held us, there were very violent groups, very anti-West and some anti-Christian.”

Piccinin said they tried to escape twice, once while their captors were at prayer, but they were tracked down after two days and “seriously punished.”

Piccinin, an Arabic speaker who has travelled to Syria seven times since the conflict broke out in 2011, said the rebel cause had changed, descending into banditry.

“I think it has become very dangerous for Westerners to go to Syria in current conditions, with the revolution (against President Bashar al-Assad) disintegrating,” he said. After the two men were freed Sunday, they were flown to Rome on an Italian government plane.

Quirico, who was on his fourth trip to Syria when he was kidnapped, spoke to prosecutors in Rome on Monday about his ordeal after meeting with Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

Quirico looked gaunt and tired in images shown on Italian television. “I have lived for five months as if I was on Mars. I was badly treated and scared,” he told journalists.

La Stampa said the kidnappers were part of the “galaxy of rebel groups-a jumble of slogans, movements and war profiteers that is hard to work out.” The concern had been that as the possibility of US-led air strikes on Syria increases, “the frontline could move rapidly and contact could be lost with kidnappers,” it said. —AFP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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

Debate begins as India gang-rape trial draws to close NEW DELHI: The serial rapist stalks her for days.

Eventually he breaks into her home when she is alone and tries to rape her at knife-point. But she somehow manages to overpower and trap him.

Now, she has to decide what to do. Kill him and bury him in the garden? Or call the police, who are known to be insensitive and where there is a likelihood he will be let off?

The plot is from “Kill the Rapist?” - a new Bollywood thriller which aims to embolden Indian women to report rapes, but also deter potential rapists by making them “shiver with fear before even thinking of rape”, says its Facebook page.

It may be a controversial, but it is all part of a growing conversation in India about violence against women following the fatal gang-rape of a 23-yearold trainee physiotherapist in December which prompted tens of thousands of urban Indians to take to the streets to protest.

Nine months on, the protesters have disappeared, but the case has left a more lasting impact on Indian society. The judge in the trial of the four men charged with raping and killing the woman is due to deliver his verdict in a Delhi court on Tuesday.

A teenager tried separately in the same case was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention last month. “The December incident shook me to the core,” says Siddhartha Jain, the 39-year-old producer of “Kill the Rapist?”

“I didn’t want this just to be another story that would be forgotten in a year. My film is an excuse to amplify the discussion of women’s security and hopefully bring about some positive changes.”

The increased awareness is not just reflected in cinema. Newspapers and television news stations have stepped up their coverage of gender crimes, social media sites are full of debate and even Bollywood stars and cricketers are joining the discussion in campaigns to promote women’s safety.

Social commentators say the issue - once only really debated by civil society activists, feminists and academics - is gaining ground and is being widely discussed by the urban middle classes.

“I think the conversation has changed, there appears to be much more sensitivity towards gender issues now from many quarters,” says Santosh Desai, a columnist and author of “Mother Pious Lady: Making sense of Everyday India”.

JAMMU: A young hearing impaired student shouts slogans during a protest against the Sept 4 rape of a mentally disabled girl staying at a home run by a non-governmental organization in Jammu, India, yesterday. Police arrested two people in connection with the sexual abuse of the girl, according to local reports. — AP

Pakistan’s President Hussain takes office Family of dead Pakistani student pardons killers ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new President Mamnoon Hussain took office yesterday, presiding over a government battling to overcome a Taliban insurgency, resolve an energy crisis and repair the economy.

A respected businessman from the financial capital of Karachi but with no political powerbase of his own, Hussain is Pakistan’s 12th president and a ceremonial head of state. His time in office should cement Pakistan’s transition back to a strong prime minister and parlia-

on July 30 by members of the four provincial assemblies and the federal parliament. A close ally of Sharif, Hussain’s low-key persona and lack of personal power will put him in stark contrast to Zardari.

The widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto presided over the only civilian government in Pakistan to complete a full term in office and hand over to another at the ballot box.

Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

ISLAMABAD: Commuters are pictured near a roadside banner welcoming and congratulating incoming Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain in Islamabad yesterday. Pakistan’s new President Mamnoon Hussain took office yesterday, presiding over a government battling to overcome a Taleban insurgency, resolve an energy crisis and repair the economy. — AFP mentary democracy after his predecessor reversed amendments made by military rulers. Hussain was sworn in by chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in a short ceremony after political leaders gathered together for cross-party talks on how to tackle growing insecurity.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and outgoing president Asif Ali Zardari watched as Hussain took oath, wearing a black hat in the style of Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The 73-year-old Hussain was elected

suffered a humiliating electoral defeat to the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) in May when Sharif was elected for a record third term as premier.

Hussain is a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and was briefly governor of the southern province Sindh until Sharif ’s second administration was deposed by the military. Meanwhile in Karachi, the family of a Pakistani student whose death sparked outrage against the abuse of power by the wealthy has decided to pardon the

men convicted in his killing, their lawyer said yesterday. The family filed an affidavit with the court several days ago pardoning the men accused of killing their son, Shahzeb Khan, lawyer Mehmood Alam Rizvi said. Pakistani law has a maximum punishment of the death penalty, or life in prison for a murder. But, under Islamic laws victim families can strike an out-of-court deal with the murderers. In that case, the victim’s families generally appear in court to testify that they have pardoned the murderer in the name of God. These pardons often include the accused paying the victim’s families money but in this case the lawyer said the victims’ family did not accept any payment.

The court must now decide whether to accept the pardon, but judges generally follow the decision of the family. The two men convicted, Shahrukh Jatoi and Nawab Siraj Talpur, come from two of the wealthiest families in the southern port city of Karachi, a violent metropolis of 18 million people. They were convicted of killing the 20-year-old Khan one late night in December after the university student had an argument with one of Talpur’s servants. The killing led to an unusual social media campaign demanding the country’s rich and powerful be held accountable for their acts.

Powerful Pakistanis and their offspring are now faced with a growing cadre of citizens - often middle class or upper middle class - who are increasingly fighting them with the help of the Internet, an activist Supreme Court and prominent political figures seeking to harness their anger. Activists in Karachi sprang into action over Khan’s death, holding protests, using Twitter and setting up a Facebook page, “In memory of Shahzeb Khan,” to get word out about the case.

Eventually, the Supreme Court demanded that police arrest the suspected killers in 24 hours, seize their property and freeze their bank accounts. Jatoi was nabbed in Dubai, where he had tried to escape. — Agencies

Afghans mark killing of northern rebel leader

KABUL: Afghans yesterday honored a rebel leader who was slain two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and whose fellow fighters helped the US overthrow the Taleban government.

The annual commemoration marks the anniversary of the death of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a legendary ethnic Tajik commander of the Northern Alliance. He remains widely admired in this country for his resistance to Soviet rule as well as to the Taliban, whose harsh interpretation of

“Before it was always a discussion between one small group of people with another small group of people. Now, for the first time, it is coming into the mainstream and the conversation isn’t just dying down after a few days. It is being sustained.”

This has not translated into women feeling any safer in India, say activists, but it has helped in breaking the silence surrounding crimes against women in a deeply patriarchal country.

Islam made life unbearable for numerous Afghans in the late 1990s. Massoud was killed on Sept. 9, 2001, by al-Qaeda suicide bombers posing as journalists, an assassination suspected of being linked to the later attacks on the United States. His once beleaguered forces routed the Taliban with the support of US air power in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Yesterday, Afghans held memorial events honoring Massoud and his picture was plastered on even more buildings than

KABUL: Afghan guards of honor carry wreaths during a ceremony commemorating the 12th anniversary of Ahmad Shah Massoud’s death in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday. Afghans are honoring the ethnic Tajik rebel leader who was slain by al-Qaeda suicide bombers posing as journalists, two days before the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. — AP

normal. Officials also placed wreaths at a monument in Kabul dedicated to him.

Among those who honored Massoud were other well-known Afghan militia leaders. The forces of many Afghan warlords, including those of Massoud, were accused of committing atrocities, including during the Afghan civil war in the early 1990s before the Taleban seized the government.

Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf - a whitebearded commander alleged to have supported Arab fighters who flocked to Afghanistan to resist the Soviets in the 1980s - took the stage in one major ceremony. He blasted the Taleban as “servants of foreigners.”

The Taleban “are committing crimes against humanity, against Islam and against Afghanistan,” said Sayyaf, who also is a rumored presidential candidate. “They are not Afghans.”

The Taleban have stepped up their activity in recent months as US-led foreign troops have reduced their presence in Afghanistan, and the anniversary of Massoud’s death is always a sensitive day for security. According to Javeed Faisal, spokesman for the Kandahar province governor, two suicide bombers wearing police uniforms tried to stage an attack in the southern province’s Panjwai district around 11 am yesterday. Police shot the pair dead, Faisal said. — AP

Police in New Delhi, for example, believe a rise in rape reports is partly due to an increased willingness by victims to come forward. There were 1,036 cases of rape reported in the capital this year to Aug. 15, against 433 cases over the same period last year, according to police data.

Much of the growing awareness can be attributed to the media, which has voraciously covered the December assault and other such crimes in the last nine months. “The media played the role of a social trigger on this whole issue. This case created an overflow of emotions and became the tipping point for Indian society when it came to the subject of violence against women,” said Prabhakar Kumar, of the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies.

Last month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan held true to a pledge following the Delhi gang-rape, placing his leading lady’s name before his in the opening credits of his blockbuster film “Chennai Express” - a statement aimed at promoting the idea of respect for women in a male-dominated film industry.

Social commentators emphasise that while the heightened consciousness around women abuse has not really touched the conservative rural masses that make up 70 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people, it has had an impact in urban areas.

“Since it happened, there have been continual protests over rape cases in Delhi as well as other parts of the country and people have come out in greater numbers than ever before,” says Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association. “This shows that there is a more sustained interest in this subject and people want action on such issues.”

From New Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata and Manipal, India has witnessed a wave of sporadic protests erupting over rape cases, forcing authorities to take action. — Reuters

Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge court hit by new resignation PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s troubled Khmer Rouge war crimes court suffered a new setback yesterday with the resignation of a key prosecutor-the latest in a string of departures from the UN-backed tribunal.

The announcement came as a strike by court staff over unpaid wages entered a second week, threatening to disrupt a high-profile trial of two former top regime leaders from the “Killing Fields” era in the late 1970s.

International co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley said in a statement that he was leaving for “personal reasons”. It follows the resignation of three international lawyers and two judges over the past two years amid allegations of government meddling.

Cayley, however, said his decision was unrelated to the court’s woes. “It’s really personal circumstances. I am not leaving out of frustration with the court at all,” the British lawyer, who was appointed to the role in December 2009, told AFP. At the same time he voiced concern about the cash crunch at the tribunal, whose 250 Cambodian workers, including judges and prosecutors, have not been paid since June.

“Of course, the financial situation of the court is frustrating

to all of us,” Cayley said. Court spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the UN, the Cambodian government, tribunal officials and donors were working to resolve the budget crisis.

“But so far, there is no solution yet,” he said. UN chief Ban Kimoon warned last month that the “very survival of the court is now in question”. The tribunal has been frequently short of cash since it was set up in 2006 to seek justice for the deaths of up to two million people under the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-79.

The UN pays for the international workers while the salaries of the local staff are the responsibility of the Cambodian government, with both sides relying on international donors. Two defendants-”Brother Number Two” Nuon Chea, 87, and former head of state Khieu Samphan, 82, — are on trial for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The court is currently in recess and preparing to hear closing statements in the first part of the trial in mid October. Led

by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia. —AFP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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

Small parties drive Australian Senate to distraction CANBERRA: It’s got guns for everyone and souped-up cars, as well as mechanical dinosaurs and a Titanic replica - welcome to the new dawn of Australian politics. Almost 15 million voters in sportsmad Australia chose conservative fitness fanatic Tony Abbott as their new leader on Saturday, at the same time heralding in a rag-tag group of “micro parties” set to play a role in the upper house Senate.

At the forefront of the new breed is the Palmer United Party, which is likely to secure at least one Senate seat, set up by the colourful coal mining multi-millionaire Clive Palmer.

Palmer’s list of achievements includes plans to build a replica of the Titanic and putting mechanical dinosaurs on a luxury golf resort.

“Who knows where they stand on anything? For most of them, there is no

policy platform. It is going to be really interesting times,” Greens leader Christine Milne told reporters yesterday.

Abbott won a decisive majority in the lower house over the centre-left Labor government on Saturday but Milne said he would likely need support from six of an expected eight unaligned senators in the upper house.

Markets welcomed a return to majority government after six years of Labor rule, with Australian shares rising 0.4 percent on Monday as investors put their faith in Abbott to deliver promised political and policymaking stability.

One of the likely Senate newcomers whose support Abbott might need is Ricky Muir, leader of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party. Muir has featured in a social media video clip taking part in a friendly backyard fight with

friends using kangaroo droppings.

His party’s website proclaims support for motorists, the right to customise cars and to drive in national parks. Other than that, Muir’s party sees no need for other policies.

It was a similar refrain from the previously unknown Sports Party in Western Australia state, which is also likely to win a Senate seat.

“The Australian Sports Party is all about healthy living through sport. We want to make sure everyone has the best opportunity to play sport,” likely new Senator Wayne Dropulich told Australian television.

In New South Wales, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm is also on track to win a seat despite doing little public campaigning. Gun ownership is heavily regulated in Australia but he

wants to free up gun laws so everyone can carry a weapon.

Leyonhjelm’s party, similarly named to Abbott’s Liberal-National Party coalition, was the first name on a beachtowel-length Senate ballot form.

The unusual Senate results are partly due to king maker Glenn Druery, who set up an alliance of micro parties and helped them work out how to capitalise on the voting system for the Senate, where six candidates are elected from each state.

Under the complicated preferential voting system, the candidates with the lowest votes are eliminated and their votes are re-distributed according to preference deals worked out among the parties.

Druery, for example, helped the Sports Party and Motoring Enthusiast

Party understand that they could win a seat if they kept directing preferences away from the major parties, ensuring a slow build-up of votes funnelled to them. He said he helped the micro candidates avoid deals that would favour the major parties. “I show them how to do effective preference deals. If people follow the guidelines, it can’t fail,” Druery told Reuters.

Abbott’s conservatives expect many of the micro parties to be more sympathetic to their centre -right agenda than the current Senate, where Labor and the Greens have a majority. But that is a moot point for now. Senate election results could take two weeks to finalise and Labor and the Greens will retain their majority until the new senators take their seats from July 1, 2014. — Reuters

Abbott faces hurdles after election victory Australia’s PM-elect faces early asylum-seeker test

PYONGYANG: North Korean women hold up flowers during a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square to mark the 65th anniversary of the country’s founding in Pyongyang, North Korea, yesterday. — AP

North Korea leader Kim presides over mass parade SEOUL: North Korea held its second mass parade in little more than a month yesterday, with leader Kim Jong-Un presiding over a display of goose-stepping paramilitary troops, marching bands and flowerwaving civilians.

Leading the parade was the WorkerPeasant Red Guard-a civilian militia with an estimated strength of more than three million active members.

At the start of the ceremony, tens of thousands of guards gathered in tight formation in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung square, with hundreds of thousands more civilians in the background carr ying brightly coloured flowers in the pattern of a giant national flag.

Kim’s arrival on the viewing platform with senior party and military officials was greeted with the usual thunderous applause and cries of “Mansei” (“Long Live”). It was the second big parade in little more than a month, but unlike July 27 — the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War-there was relatively little military hardware on display, with no drive-by of tank units or long-range missiles.

A few rocket launchers were included among the goose-stepping formations of militia men and women, but otherwise the event was dominated by wave after wave of patriotic floats, giant portraits of the leadership and flag- and flower-waving civilians. Speeches from the podium were more celebratory than aggressive, while still stressing the need to retain a “tight war posture, safeguard the leadership and remain loyal to Kim Jong-Un”.

“Our republic will flourish under the great and glorious leadership of comrade Kim Jong-Un,” Prime Minister Pak Pong-Ju said. Kim himself did not speak.

Pyongyang celebrates September 9, 1948 as the founding day of the DPRK, or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The parade came amid an easing of tensions between North and South Korea who were on a virtual war-footing just a few months ago following the North’s third nuclear test in February. On Friday, the North recon-

nected a military hotline to the South that was cut at the height of the tensions earlier this year.

Meanwhille, Kim Jong-Un has a baby daughter named Ju-Ae, according to former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who labelled the supreme ruler of the isolated, authoritarian state a “good dad.”

Rodman, who calls Kim a friend and just returned from his second visit to Pyongyang, told the Guardian newspaper that he had spent a “relaxing time by the sea” with the leader’s family,” during his latest five-day trip.

“I held their baby Ju-Ae and spoke with (Kim’s wife) as well. He’s a good dad and has a beautiful family,” Rodman said. While more of a public personality than his introverted father Kim Jong-Il ever was, little is known about Kim’s personal life. Even his age is a matter of dispute, with reports ranging from 29 to 31.

The fact that he was married was only revealed in July last year when pictures emerged of a young woman accompanying the new leader at official events.

A child watch began after state television images in December showed his wife, Ri Sol-Ju, looking heavily pregnant.

There was no official confirmation of the birth, but Rodman had commented after his first surprise visit to Pyongyang six months ago that Ri had spoken often of her baby daughter.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the couple already had one child. Kim is the third generation leader from the ruling dynasty begun by his grandfather Kim Il-Sung and followed by his late father Kim Jong-Il. In such a conservative, hierarchical society as North Korea, observers say there is almost no chance of the leadership succession being passed to a daughter.

Rodman was scheduled to address a news conference later today in New York.

The flamboyant, former Chicago Bulls’ player told the Guardian that he and Kim had discussed plans to play “a historic friendship basketball game” between North Korea and the United States. — AFP

Pakistan politicians call for peace talks with Taleban ISLAMABAD: Pakistani politicians yesterday agreed to hold peace talks with the Taleban, calling upon their government to initiate a dialogue with the insurgents to end more than a decade of bloodshed.

The consensus to begin talks with homegrown militants the Tehreek-e Taleban Pakistan (TTP) was reached during the All Parties Conference (APC) held in capital Islamabad as initiated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Representatives from the main coalition and opposition political parties agreed to ask the government to “initiate the dialogue” in a bid to control militancy and restore law and order in Pakistan. “ We repose full confidence in (the) efforts of the Prime Minister in this behalf and call upon the federal government to initiate the dialogue with all stakeholders,” said a resolution passed by the parties present. The move came a month after Sharif called for talks with the TTP during his first televised address to the nation since taking office after winning elections in May. Pakistan has initiated peace talks with the militants in the past. But all previous deals have failed and come under sharp criticism both domestically and by

the United States for allowing the extremists space to regroup before launching a new wave of attacks.

“For this purpose, (the APC) authorises it (the federal government) to take all necessary steps as it may deem fit, including development of an appropriate mechanism and identification of interlocutors,” said the resolution passed yesterday.

The parties also expressed their dissatisfaction over continued drone strikes by the US during the conference and asked the government to raise the issue internationally. “The Federal Government should consider the possibility of taking the drone issue to the United Nations as drone attacks are a violation of International Law,” said the resolution.

The Pakistani government considers the strikes by unmanned US aircraft as a violation of its sovereignty, but Washington views them as a vital tool in the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

Pakistan says more than 40,000 people have been killed in the country as a result of bomb and suicide attacks carried out by the Taleban and Al-Qaeda-led militants who oppose Islamabad’s alliance with the US and NATO in the war on terror. — AFP

SYDNEY: Australian premier-elect Tony Abbott began the transition to government yesterday, but despite a convincing election victory faced early hurdles including an unruly upper house that could stall reforms, and the first asylum-seeker boat arrivals under his watch.

The conservative leader, who ended six years of Labor rule on Saturday, promised a steady approach after years of divisive politics which alienated voters and saw outgoing prime minister Kevin Rudd ejected from power.

“My emphasis will be on being purposeful, methodical, calm and conscientious,” he told Fairfax Radio as he held strategy meetings in Canberra.

Abbott, who is likely to be sworn in next week, has begun forming his front bench with veteran Julie Bishop as foreign minister, Joe Hockey as treasurer and Warren Truss, the leader of the National Party which is the junior partner in the coalition, as his deputy.

But while his Liberal/National coalition is forecast to enjoy a 32seat majority in the lower House of Representatives, the makeup of the upper house Senate is not yet clear.

After the lurch to the right, up to seven minor party candidates could secure seats to hold the balance of power thanks to voter dissatisfaction with the main partiescomplicating the new government’s legislative push.

With 39 votes required to get laws through the 76-seat Senate, Abbott will need to lock in six of these marginal votes-which could include the Australian Sports Party and the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party-to pass bills, on

current projections.

Abbott said Labor and the minor parties should respect the new government’s mandate and not stand in its way. “In the end they all need to respect the government of our nation has a mandate and the parliament should work with the

an early test Monday with two vessels carrying 145 passengers intercepted, one of them carrying two foreign journalists reportedly working for the US media.

Abbott has vowed to turn back asylum-seekers boats to Indonesia where most of them originate “from

SYDNEY: Tony Abbott delivering his acceptance address in Sydney after becoming Australian prime minister-elect. Abbott yesterday began the transition to government, promising a methodical approach as he faced potential hurdles in the upper house to drive through his reform agenda. — AFP government of the day to implement its mandate,” he said.

Abbott has vowed to quickly scrap corporate pollution and mining profits taxes imposed under Labor, introduce a costly and controversial paid parental leave scheme and halt asylum-seeker boats heading to Australia.

Stopping the boats was a central plank of his campaign and he faced

day one” when he assumes office.

But he said yesterday he would wait for the dust to settle before forging ahead with his agenda.

“The last thing I want to do is to rush the parliament back for a photo opportunity before the substance of the work is there for it to do,” Abbott said. “It will be back toward the end of October, early November.”

Abbott revealed that Rudd, who is stepping down as Labor leader, made a gracious phone call to concede the election on Saturday.

“He rang me and he spoke with warmth,” he said as the race to replace Rudd narrowed to two likely contenders-former deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese and education minister Bill Shortenwith ex-treasurer Chris Bowen bowing out.

“We need to acknowledge and learn from the message the Australian people gave us on Saturday, that they want a Labor party united, stable, focused on them, not on ourselves,” said Bowen.

After six years of tumultuous Labor rule including party votes which felled two serving leaders, the nation’s newspapers-over which tycoon Rupert Murdoch has a dominant hold-urged Australians to give the new government a fair go.

The Australian newspaper said it was confident “Mr Abbott possesses abundant reserves of grit and sound judgement, the fundamental requirements for the post”.

Fairfax Media’s Sydney Morning Herald said he must be given “the time and trust he needs to deliver on his promise of stable government for all Australians”.

Business leaders, meanwhile, welcomed the coalition’s promise of tax cuts and reforms. “Its commitment to return to proper process in government will go a long way to restoring predictability and confidence, which in turn will foster a growing economy,” said Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd. — AFP

Japan prison uses cuddly mascot in image makeover

BANGKOK: A Thai Airways passenger plane takes off over a damaged Thai Airways Airbus A330-300 at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday. The plane carrying more than 280 people skidded off the runway while landing at the airport Sunday, injuring 14 passengers. —AP

Thai Airways skids off runway, 14 hurt BANGKOK: A Thai Airways Airbus 330-300 skidded off the runway while landing at Bangkok’s main airport after its landing gear malfunctioned, the airline said Monday. Fourteen people were injured while evacuating the plane.

After the accident, workers on a crane blacked out the Thai Airways logo on the tail and body of the aircraft, as part of an effort to protect the airline’s image according to Star Alliance guidelines, an official said. It was the second mishap in less than two weeks for Thailand’s national carrier.

The flight from Guangzhou, China, was carrying 288 passengers and 14 crew members. “After touchdown at Suvarnabhumi Airport, the landing gear malfunctioned and caused the aircraft to skid off the runway,” Thai Air ways President Sorajak Kasemsuvan said in a statement. “Sparks were noticed from the vicinity of the right landing gear near the engine; the matter is under investigation.”

Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon said it was too early to comment on what caused

the accident. He said Airbus has dispatched a team of experts to Bangkok to aid in the investigation.Photos taken after the incident showed deep furrows from skid marks in a grassy area off the runway, and the aircraft resting with its nose down and emergency slides inflated. “The captain took control of the aircraft until it came to a complete stop and passengers were evacuated from the aircraft emergency exits,” the Thai Airways president said. Thai Airways initially said 14 passengers were injured but revised the figure to “13 minor injuries” sustained during the evacation.

Thai Airways official Smud Poom-On said that “blurring the logo” after an accident was a recommendation from Star Alliance known as the “crisis communication rule,” meant to protect the image of both the airline and other members of Star Alliance. The incident occurred less than two weeks after 20 passengers were injured when a Thai Airways Airbus A380 hit severe turbulence as it was descending to Hong Kong’s airport. —AP

TOKYO: A Japanese prison housing a range of convicted criminals has unveiled a cuddly life-size mascot that bosses hope will help change the jail’s forbidding image. Officials say Asahikawa Prison in Japan’s far north is too often thought of only as a dark place with imposing grey walls and not as a place of rehabilitation. They hope “Katakkuri-chan”, a nearly two-metre (6ft 6ins) humanoid with a huge square face and an enormous purple flower for hair, will make people understand the true nature of the institution.

“Prisons have the image of being isolated places that have no contact with the rest of society and are surrounded by imposing grey walls,” said a public relations official at Asahikawa.

“We made the character to change the image into that of a facility open to society and supported by society. “Of course, prisons are for people who have committed crimes and people tend to consider them unwelcome in their neighbourhood. “But society has to play its part in supporting the rehabilitation of people who have served their time.”

Katakkuri-chan, which has a male and a female incarnation and wears the uniform of a prison warden, made its debut at a weekend fair at Asahikawa prison, located some 900 kilometres (560 miles) north of Tokyo.

The annual event drew nearly 1,700 people on Sunday, up from 1,200 last year, partly thanks to the character, which greeted visitors and played with children, prison officials told AFP yesterday.

Visitors were also able to buy handicrafts made by inmates, ranging from barbecue parts to TV stands and aprons. The mascot’s oversized hair is inspired by the dogtooth violet-katakuri which blooms on a mountain near the prison as soon as winter snows melt. The Asahikawa prison is the only Japanese prison with a life-size mascot, the official there said, although at least one other jail has a two-dimensional character.

Cutesy life-size mascots, known as “yurukyara” in Japanese (“laid-back characters”), are everywhere in Japan, and are often used to represent regions or towns and to promote locally famous foods, animals and industries.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police has had its own crimefighting mascot since the 1980s, who is now wellloved across the nation. Human rights campaigners say Japan’s prison system is anything but cuddly, and point to often harsh conditions for inmates, including extended use of solitary confinement and spartan cells. — AFP

NEWS

News

in brief

60 die in Central African Republic BANGUI: At least 60 people have been killed in the last two days in fighting between the new Central African Republic (CAR) president’s forces and those loyal to ousted leader Francois Bozize, the presidency said yesterday. Bozize forces infiltrated villages around Bossangoa, 250 kilometers northwest of the capital Bangui, destroying bridges and other infrastructure and “taking revenge against the Muslim population”, the presidency ’s spokesman GuySimplice Kodegue said. “At least 60 people were killed in these attacks,” he said. Bossangoa is the main town of the Ouham district where General Bozize was born. Former rebels of the Seleka coalition ended Bozize’s 10-year rule on March 24 and their leader, Michel Djotodia, then became head of state. Yesterday morning, “heavy and light arms fire” were heard in the district of Bouca, on the road leading to Bossangoa, a military source in Bangui said on condition of anonymity.

Saudi bans terror ‘info’ on internet RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said yesterday it will outlaw the dissemination of information on the Internet for the benefit of “terrorist” groups, in line with a decision taken by Gulf Arab monarchies. The official SPA news agency said the cabinet approved the “unified legislation against cybercrime,” which the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) adopted in December. The legislation targets those who “create sites and publish information on the Internet or a computer network for the benefit of a terrorist group to enable contacts among its leaders or its members, to promote its views or funding,” said the agency. It also prohibits “the dissemination of ideas that could affect public order or morality,” said SPA, without providing further details. Most members of the sixnation GCC-Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirateshave tightened their laws against cybercrime in recent years.

Syria’s stance may hurt UK ‘Syria vote’ weakens Britain’s position in GCC

DUBAI: Britain’s decision not to join a military strike on Syria may have more than a purely political impact: it could over time make it more difficult for British businessmen to win billions of dollars of contracts in the Gulf. British companies are bidding for several big-ticket deals in the region, including oil concessions and contracts to supply dozens of fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Most of the wealthy Gulf oil exporters, particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are supporting - morally, financially and in some cases militarily - the Syrian rebels in their civil war with the government of President Bashar Al-Assad.

So Britain’s refusal to get involved in military action could weaken its position in the Gulf as it tries to secure contracts which depend heavily on close political ties and shared strategic interests.

Companies from the United States and France, which are considering a strike against the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons, may benefit from any setbacks for British firms. Jonathan Eyal, international director at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said parliament did not seem to have taken this into account in its surprise vote on Aug 29 against action in Syria.

While legislators were clearly aware of the risk to Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States of their vote, the country’s footprint in the Middle East appeared either to have been taken for granted or undervalued, he said. “There was no understanding that what was at stake was Britain’s reputation as a major security actor in the Middle East as a whole. What is the point of buying equipment which, after all, is only marginally better than that which is available from the United States, from a country that is unlikely to realize its security commitments?”

Gulf governments have not commented publicly on the British parliament’s vote, and British officials said they do not expect it to affect commercial ties. “We have no reason to believe that the UK Parliament’s decision on Syria will impact our trade and investment relationship with Saudi Arabia,” the British embassy in Riyadh said in a statement.

“The UK will continue to play a full role in seeking to bring an end to the conflict and hold the Syrian regime to account for its actions...UK exports to Saudi Arabia grew 26 percent in the first five months of this year and we expect that growth to continue.”

Privately, however, some British officials were jittery about a cooling of Britain’s traditionally warm relationship with the Gulf even before the decision on Syria.

Anger among unelected Gulf rulers over the West’s support for the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, and British media

‘Prepare for war but don’t panic’ Continued from Page 1 event of a possible evacuation. In an advisory posted on the Embassy’s website yesterday, the Philippine Embassy told their citizens to fill out registration forms to be circulated by Filipino area coordinators to collect census and to know the exact number of Filipinos in Kuwait.

“Designated area coordinators will conduct a standard census over the coming weeks to know the OFW population. Only names, addresses, next of kin, names of companies, and contact numbers will be asked,” said Consul General Raul Dado. “We appeal for calm. The impending war will not be in Kuwait, but far away in Syria, so we believe that we are going to be safe here. There is no war

or chemical warfare. There is no mass evacuation. I thank the Filipino organization leaders for their support in disseminating our information. They’re doing an excellent job,” he said.

The advisory was a revised version of their first notice that was posted a few days ago where they stressed that the safest place that one can stay (in the event of war) is in the comfort of their home. “If one wishes, he can time his vacation over the coming weeks just to feel better. You can go to the Philippines or a third country for a vacation. But don’t run to the airport. Just travel normally. Treat the following weeks normally. You can prepare but don’t overreact, over-prepare or panic and buy in excess,” the advisory specified.

31 killed as Hindus and Muslims clash Continued from Page 1 wooden sticks when caught between fighting factions.

“The whole village was very tense. I wanted to send my family to a safer place,” said Munavar, 24, who uses only one name, as his wife, 8-month-old daughter and 6-year-old niece lay on hospital beds nearby wearing bloody clothes and gauze bandages over their heads.

The violence began Saturday night after a meeting of thousands of Hindu farmers called for justice in the Aug 27 killing of three young men from Kawal village. Officials said some farmers delivered hate-filled speeches against Muslims.

Clashes with Muslims broke out after the meeting, with many using guns, swords, stones or knives, senior police officer Arun Kumar said.

One 26-year-old farmer, Anuvesh Baliyan, said he and others were attacked in Purvalian village as they were returning home on a tractor from the meeting. He said a mob wielding metal rods and swords surrounded the tractor and began beating them. “We hid in a field for a full night until troops arrived the next day,” he said at Muzaffarnagar’s hospital, where he was being treated for sword wounds to his head and leg. In the village of Mirapur Padav, 50-year-old Salma Liaquat said she was sitting in her open-sided hut yesterday morning when four men came out of the forest, shot her in the leg with a pistol and ran away. She and her neighbors, nervous about the rising tension, had asked police to patrol the area. “We kept calling the police because we were scared,” neighbor

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Shahid Ansari said. “But they didn’t come until after the attack.” Hindu and Muslim patients were being kept in separate rooms at the hospital in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers north of New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief and shock over the deaths, while the central government warned that communal violence was expected to escalate further in the run-up to next year’s national elections.

Already this year, 451 incidents have been reported, compared with 410 for all of 2012, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said.

As local politicians on all sides accused one another of inciting the latest violence in Uttar Pradesh, the state barred people including politicians from visiting riot-affected areas.

The state’s opposition blamed the government for failing to maintain law and order, while the state’s top elected official accused opposition parties of inciting the violence to undermine his administration. “The violence is a political conspiracy to defame and destabilize my government,” Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said.

Shops and schools were closed yesterday in and around Muzaffarnagar. Soldiers were searching homes for weapons.

Some 5,000 paramilitary officers joined the troops and thousands of local police on patrol. Authorities stopped all newspaper deliveries and TV broadcasts in the area, but incendiary rumors spread by mobile phones and social media were still fueling the violence and making it difficult for soldiers to restore calm, state police inspector Ashish Gupta said. The neighboring mountain state of Uttarakhand was also on alert. — AP

reports seen as supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood, were blamed by some analysts for British oil major BP’s temporary exclusion last year from the bidding to run Abu Dhabi’s biggest oilfields over the next few decades. BP was allowed to bid again after British Prime Minister David Cameron flew to Abu Dhabi to promote his country’s energy and weapons companies in November 2012.

But the United States and France have also been flexing their diplomatic muscles to win business in the Gulf; French President Francois Hollande visited Abu Dhabi in January this year. This suggests that for some contracts, the Syria issue could become a factor in decision-making. Britain’s BAE Systems is competing against France’s Dassault

IDLIB: A rebel fighter fires a heavy machine gun mounted on the back of a pick-up truck during a battle with Syrian government forces in the rebelheld northwestern Syrian province of Idlib yesterday. — AFP Aviation to sell around 60 planes to the UAE. Qatar is weighing whether to replace its ageing fleet with BAE Eurofighter Typhoons or Dassault Rafales.

BAE has been locked in talks with Saudi Arabia over the sale of 72 Eurofighters since it signed a preliminary deal in 2007; it also hopes to sell fighters to Bahrain. Other fighters competing for Gulf sales include US-based Lockheed Martin’s F-35 and the Gripen from Sweden’s Saab. A Western aerospace executive in the Gulf noted that many factors were involved in large deals such as the UAE’s fighter purchase, including technology transfers and governments’

desire to diversify their suppliers.

But that did not mean Syria would be ignored, he said.

“The UK’s stand on Syria will play into the minds of the decision-makers in Gulf. You could make an argument that this will impact Eurofighter’s chances,” he said, declining to be named because of the political sensitivity of the issue. BAE declined to comment.

William Patey, a former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and now an international affairs adviser at consultancy Control Risks, said he did not expect any immediate impact on British contracts in the Gulf. “That’s not how it works...I can’t see that the Saudis are suddenly going to say, ‘No we are not going to do this deal on Typhoon because the Brits aren’t attacking Syria,’” he said.

But Patey added that there could be long-term damage if the British parliament’s vote on Syria eventually came to be seen as part of a strategic withdrawal by Britain from action in the region on behalf of its Gulf allies. British ministers have denied that any such withdrawal is on the cards, but the parliamentary vote showed the matter is not entirely in their hands.

Edward Hunt, a consultant at IHS Jane’s Aerospace and Defense in London, said extended Western military intervention in Syria could eventually start to help Britain’s commercial competitors if British forces sat it out. “Historically equipment tends to sell better when it’s been proven in combat situations - manufacturers always like to see their aircraft being used, successfully anyway, because that tends to increase sales overseas,” he said.

“If the equipment isn’t used, then competitor equipment - obviously the French and the Americans sell the same sort of equipment as we do - may be favored in future procurements and competitions.” BP and Royal Dutch Shell, Britain’s two international energy champions, declined to comment on how political relations between London and the Gulf might affect their interests. In April, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) chose Shell ahead of French rival Total to develop the Bab sour gas field in a project that has been valued at around $10 billion.

The 30-year deal showcases Shell’s technology for treating potentially deadly gases from Bab and may therefore put it in a strong position to renew its role in the UAE’s largest onshore oil concession, despite growing competition from Asian buyers of the UAE’s oil. The extent to which the Syria issue could affect this will start to become clear after October, when bids are due from international oil companies seeking to operate the UAE’s onshore fields beyond 2014. — Reuters

Kuwait Airways may delay Airbus deal Continued from Page 1 comment upon and not Airbus. The airline may reissue a separate tender for the leasing of the aircraft, Al-Qabas said, citing unnamed sources. Kuwait Airways may now consider bids for the rental contract from other companies such as Boeing, the paper said, adding that Airbus was expected to still be giv-

en priority. Kuwait Airways said in May it wanted to take out of service 11 jets from its old fleet of 17, in which the planes’ average age is 18 years. The airline signed the initial agreement with Airbus several months after Kuwait was awarded $500 million

by Iraqi Airways for damage caused when former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces seized aircraft and parts, ending a two-decade row over compensation. — Reuters

UN floats plan to destroy Syrian...

Continued from Page 1 action to make sure that these stocks, chemical weapons stocks, will be stored safely and will be destroyed.” “First and foremost, Syria must agree positively to this,” he added.

Ban also urged Syria to join the international anti-chemical weapons convention, a treaty that Damascus has never signed. If Sellstrom confirms the use of chemical weapons in Syria, “there would be a need for accountability, both to bring to justice those who used them ... and to deter anyone else from using these abhorrent methods of warfare,” Ban said.

“There would be a need for greater security regarding any chemical weapons stocks,” he added.

Ban said he welcomed both the Russian plan and US Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks in Europe yesterday that if Syria handed over its chemical stocks it could avoid US air strikes - remarks the State Department later said had been merely rhetorical comments. The secretary-general, who just returned from the Group of 20 developed and developing nations’ summit in Russia, said the Security Council has an obligation to end its deadlock on Syria.

“Two and half years of conflict in Syria have produced only embarrassing paralysis in the Security Council,” he said.

“Should Dr Sellstrom’s report confirm the use of chemical weapons, then this would surely be something around which the Security Council could unite in response, and indeed something that should merit universal condemnation,” he said. Sellstrom’s report will only say whether chemical weapons were used, not who is believed to have used them.

Russia, backed by China, has used its veto power in the Security Council three times to block resolutions condemning Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s government and threatening it with sanctions. Assad’s government, like Russia, blames the rebels for the Aug 21 attack. The United Nations has received at least 14 reports of possible chemical weapons use

in Syria. After months of diplomatic wrangling, the UN experts arrived in Syria on Aug 18 with a 14-day mandate to look for evidence. Sellstrom’s team was initially going to look into three incidents, but its priority became the Aug. 21 attack. The inspectors have also been looking into Syrian allegations that the rebels used chemical weapons three times last month against the Syrian army - allegations that Washington has dismissed. Ban has said Sellstrom’s team would return to Syria to continue its investigation as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, foreign ministers of the Gulf monarchies will meet today in Saudi Arabia to discuss measures against Syria, as Washington drums up support for its plan to strike Damascus, a diplomat said. Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council “support taking international measures to deter the Syrian regime,” the diplomat said yesterday.

The ministers will meet in Saudi’s western port city of Jeddah. The GCC, which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has openly voiced support for the rebellion against President Bashar AlAssad. On Saturday, GCC chief Abdullatif Al-Zayani urged the international community to intervene immediately to “rescue” the Syrian people from their government’s “oppression”.

The call comes as President Barack Obama awaits a vote by the US Congress on his request for support of a strike on Assad’s regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons. Gulf nations back international measures to “deter the Syrian regime from committing its inhumane practices,” Zayani said.

Saudi Arabia-the bloc’s heavyweight-has been pushing for a US-led strike on Syrian forces loyal to Assad.

Yesterday, the kingdom reiterated its call on the international community to “assume its humanitarian responsibility to rescue the Syrian people and end its suffering from criminal acts and genocide”. It also called, following a meeting of the council of ministers, for ending “the Syrian regime’s insistence on killing its people with all sorts of weapons.” — Agencies

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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Focus

Obama growing isolated on Syria as support wanes

By Fred Barbash

W

hite House efforts to convince the US Congress to back military action against Syria are not only failing, they seem to be stiffening the opposition. That was the assessment on Sunday, not of an opponent but of an early and ardent Republican supporter of Obama’s plan for attacking Syria, the influential Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Mike Rogers. Rogers told CBS’s “Face the Nation” the White House had made a “confusing mess” of the Syria issue. Now, he said, “I’m skeptical myself.”

Congress will be in session on Monday for the first time since the August recess. Debate on Syria could begin in the full Senate this week, with voting as early as tomorrow. The House of Representatives could take up the issue later this week or next. Obama is expected to spend the next several days in personal meetings with members. Some Democratic opponents of a military strike, meanwhile, were looking for a way to spare Obama’s administration the effects of a “no” vote.

Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts suggested that the president withdraw his request before it is defeated, saying on CNN’s “State of the Union” that there was insufficient support for it in Congress. There are no signs that Obama is considering that, but speculation about the possibility that the administration might delay a vote surfaced on Sunday when Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in Paris after meeting Arab foreign ministers, did not rule out returning to the United Nations Security Council to secure a Syria resolution.

A US official who asked not to be named later squelched that speculation: “We have always supported working through the UN but have been clear there is not a path forward there.” Obama is scheduled to address the American public on television on Tuesday, but even his political allies fear that his acknowledged power as an orator will be tested, given that polls show a majority of Americans opposed to his plan for military action.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough suggested that the speech will repeat points Obama has already made several times. “What he’ll tell the country is what this is, which is a targeted, limited, consequential” use of military force, McDonough said during a round of appearances on Sunday TV shows. “He’ll also tell the country what this is not. This is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. This is not an extended air campaign like Libya.”

‘FLOOD THE ZONE’ Most opponents of the proposed US military strike do not contest the administration’s view that the Syrian government gassed its own people on Aug 21. Their expressed concerns focus instead on the effectiveness and potential unintended consequences of a US military response. Only about a quarter of the Senate’s 100 members and fewer than 25 members of the 435-seat House have been willing to go on record in support of Obama’s request, according to a tally by the Washington Post.

Seventeen senators and 111 House members are on record against.

Leaders of both parties have characterized Syria as a “conscience vote,” not subject to the usual pressure for party discipline. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, for example, has not made a personal pitch for votes in any of the five “Dear Colleague” letters she has sent her fellow Democrats. The White House plans to step up what it has called a “flood the zone” lobbying effort this week, with briefings on Capitol Hill by Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee will deploy hundreds of activists to lobby Congress in support of Obama’s plan. However, similarly intense lobbying by the White House last week proved unsuccessful. Rogers, among others, faults Obama for not starting months ago to build congressional and public support on Syria. “They don’t have strong relationships in Congress today - that’s a huge problem for them,” said Rogers. “I think it’s very clear he’s lost support in the last week.”

As for the lack of public support, Rogers added: “You have a reluctant commander in chief, first of all, who’s trying to come to the American people and say, ‘I’m going to do something, but I’m not going to do a lot.’ They’re not sure exactly what we’re trying to do.” Another Republican supporter, Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, said on ABC’s “This Week” that he had “reached out to the White House and said, ‘hey we support the strike on Syria, we’re going to help you round up support if you need it.’ I haven’t heard back from the White House yet.”—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.

On Syria, voters have lost faith in the experts

By John Kemp

S

yria has revealed a deep rift between international relations experts and ordinary voters in Britain, France and the United States over intervening in the country following the apparent use of chemical weapons. In 2008, the financial crisis revealed that the “masters of the universe” who ran the banks were not actually all that good at controlling risk - leading to a sharp reduction in their status and influence with politicians and the public.

Now, a decade of policy failures in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and elsewhere has sapped public confidence in the ability of the British, French and American experts who control and advise on foreign policy, and with it their ability to convince the public of the necessity for military intervention. Research by polling firm YouGov shows clear majorities of Americans in favour of military interventions during the 1980s and 1990s including Grenada, Libya, Panama, Kuwait/Iraq, Somalia, Haiti and the Balkans, and even the start of the Afghanistan conflict.

But the public is now opposed to intervention in Syria and remains strongly opposed to intervention in Iraq, even a decade later, and is also against the recent intervention in Libya. The principal difference is that the earlier campaigns are seen, in retrospect, as broadly successful, while more recent interventions in Iraq, Libya and to some extent Afghanistan are seen as failures or at best mixed successes.

The past decade has not seen many unambiguous successes for British and American foreign policy. Ten years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is a barely functioning state, deeply divided between Kurdish, Sunni and Shia communities, with a renewed escalation of bombings, pipeline sabotage and other violence. Libya appears to be on the verge of splitting apart. In both Iran and North Korea, the Western Powers have struggled to bend hostile governments to their will. Recent turmoil in Egypt has

exposed the limits on their ability to predict or influence the course of events.

In foreign policy, as in other areas of policymaking, successful interventions foster support for more, while failures sap confidence and lead to questions about the competence of those in charge. After a decade of failure, voters are not inclined to put much faith in the experts and politicians responsible for making policy on their behalf.

PUBLIC OPPOSITION HARDENING From the start of the conflict in Syria, the foreign policy community in Washington, London and Paris had been divided over whether to intervene in the country’s civil war to help the opposition.

But following the apparent employment of chemical munitions in August, most experts have concluded there is no alternative but to launch at least limited air strikes to maintain the taboo on using chemical weapons and to uphold the credibility of the United States, which had declared the use of chemical weapons a “red line”.

By contrast, a raft of polling data shows ordinary voters strongly oppose military action, even if it is shown the Syrian government was responsible for using chemical munitions, and despite warnings from experts and political leaders about the consequences of doing nothing. “I’ve had more phone calls on this issue than any issue I’ve ever had since I got here in 2001, and my phone calls, emails, faxes are running 96 percent no,” US Congressman John Culberson, a Republican from conservative Texas, told the Washington Post.

In Britain, the strength of public feeling emboldened lawmakers, including some in the ruling Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, to reject a parliamentary motion authorizing a “strong humanitarian response” that “may, if necessary, require military action.” Polling shows public opposition to military intervention hardening, not softening, after the vote, despite warnings that Britain’s decision to stand aside

risked harming the country’s leading role in international affairs and its strategic relationship with the United States.

Opposition to British involvement has risen from 50 percent in late August to 69 percent by Sept 4, according to surveys conducted by polling firm YouGov. In the United States, the most recent opinion poll for the Washington Post put opposition even to limited air strikes at 60 percent, with just 36 percent supporting them. Half of the respondents were still opposed to missile strikes even if US allies participated.

That is now compelling many legislators in the US Congress to defy the administration’s push for authorization to use military force. There was “absolutely no question” that Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad used chemical weapons, Congressman Culberson told the Post.

Even so, “America has absolutely no strategic interest involved and we should stay out of it.” In France, which alone has pledged to support military action, 68 percent of respondents in a poll published on Saturday opposed the country’s involvement, up from 59 percent at the end of August.

LEADERSHIP FAILURE? Some commentators blame US President Barack Obama and Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron of failing to make the case for intervention and offer effective leadership to overcome public skepticism. Cameron has been faulted for poor preparation ahead of the parliamentary vote while Obama is criticized for not marshalling the president’s power to persuade. Even President Franklin Roosevelt, however, was unable to persuade Congress to authorize US entry into World War Two until after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“People are war-weary and less inclined to give the president or Congress the benefit of the doubt,” one Democratic politician told the Washington Post in a recent interview. “A complicating factor is that the president has limited political capital to draw on, and that won’t change

until the economy shows greater momentum.”

Others point to the intelligence failures in the run up to the Iraq war, including the publication of Britain’s “dodgy dossier” and former US secretary of state Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations, alleging that Iraq possessed chemical weapons, nearly all of which subsequently turned out to be based on fabricated evidence from a low-level defector aptly codenamed Curveball.

“The well of public opinion was well and truly poisoned by the Iraq episode and we need to understand the public skepticism,” Cameron told the House of Commons.

EXPERTS FOUND WANTING In reality, public skepticism is not confined to the quality of the intelligence.

Polls show the majority of US and British voters still oppose military intervention even if it can be proved that chemical munitions were used by the Syrian government against its own people. In the US Pew poll, conducted in late August and early September, more than half of respondents already thought there was “clear evidence” the Syrian government used chemical weapons (53 percent).

So skepticism about the intelligence is not at the root of public opposition. By large majorities they thought even limited missile strikes would create a backlash against the US and its allies in the region (74 percent), lead to a long-term US military commitment (61 percent) and would not be effective in discouraging the use of chemical weapons in future (51 percent).

In other words, voters do not believe the experts when they say that military strikes are necessary, can be carefully limited and will be effective in punishing and deterring the employment of weapons of chemical ordnance. The real significance of the Iraq war, as well as campaigns in Libya and Afghanistan, is that voters do not think they were successful, and have become skeptical about the community of foreign policy experts

Catalonian separatism flares again

By Julien Toyer

C

atalan separatists will mark their national day tomorrow with demonstrations and renewed calls for a break from Spain - but leaders of both camps are indicating they would prefer negotiation to confrontation. Hundreds of thousands of Catalans plan to form a 400-km human chain across the northeastern region, from Valencia to the French border. They will join hands in an unbroken line at 1714 local time to remember the defeat of Catalan forces on Sept 11, 1714, by Philip V of Spain after a 13-month siege of Barcelona.

The demonstrators aim to revive their push for secession after huge pro-independence marches last year. That surge in secessionist fervor led to a pledge from Catalan President Artur Mas to hold a referendum in 2014. But this year things may be different for the region of 7.6 million people, traditionally wealthy but now strapped for cash.

Twelve months after a double dispute over the poll and a Catalonian

drive for more tax autonomy, Mas and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have signaled they are willing to talk.

Rajoy said on Friday he hoped “reasonable things” could be done with Catalonia and he was ready to carry on with talks that started secretly in August. Hours earlier, Mas had said he would not call for a referendum unless he had the green light from the central government, and could even delay a vote until 2016. His more conciliatory tone angered his coalition partners - leftist separatists the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) - and he rowed back, saying he still hoped to hold a referendum in 2014.

DIALOGUE Many in Madrid and Barcelona believe Rajoy and Mas, although they often play hard ball, have no choice but to negotiate. Rajoy needs Mas to make sure budget cuts and economic reforms are implemented in Catalonia, which accounts for about one fifth of

Spain’s economic output. The premier, who says Spain is recovering more quickly than expected from a five-year economic slump, also wants to send abroad an image of stability. It is also in Rajoy’s interest to keep the conservative Mas in power as the more radical ERC surges in Catalonian polls. Mas, on the other hand, needs Rajoy to keep providing financial support so he can maintain his wobbly coalition with the ERC and win back voters disillusioned with spending cuts.

Mas has suggested he could call early elections as a plebiscite on independence. But with his Convergence and Union, or CiU, alliance trailing in the polls, he can no longer afford to do so. “I don’t think there is an alternative to dialogue, with Madrid and Catalonia both recognizing that they share a common problem and need to resolve it,” said a Catalan business executive who asked not to be named. “They will have to find a shared solution.”

He said a possible basis for a

deal could be a new financial regime allowing Catalonia to have more say on taxes and limit the amount of financial transfers it makes every year to the rest of Spanish regions. Economists calculate Catalans pay at least 12 billion euros more in taxes per year to Madrid than they receive back for services like schools and hospitals.

“Mas is now ready to listen to a good offer on a tax pact,” the executive said.

RISKS Others, such as the Socialist opposition and smaller groups in Catalonia, promote a constitutional reform to transform Spain into a federal state like Germany, giving regions more control over their own politics and finances. “The independence view dominates right now in the public sphere but I am sure that some of the people backing it would be satisfied with a tax pact and a reformed state,” said Manel Cruz, a philosopher who teaches at Barcelona University.

An opinion poll showed 40 percent of Catalans said they were in favor of independence, while another 25 percent said they backed greater autonomy from the central government. However, whether Rajoy can and wants to make an offer along those lines is another question. By offering a tax pact to Catalonia, even in a watered down version, he would extinguish one fire but risks igniting new ones in other regions such as Valencia or Andalusia, where local governments from his People’s Party and the Socialists have long campaigned for more financial leeway. “If there is any special treatment to Catalonia, there will be a revolution,” says Fernando Fernandez, a professor of economics at IE business school in Madrid. He believes the Catalan stand-off is the main risk hanging over Spain’s tentative economic recovery. “To me, confrontation is unavoidable,” he said. “Now that the genie of independence is out of the bottle, there is no easy way to put it back in.” —Reuters

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

S P ORTS

Corruption suspect granted bail NEW DELHI: Off-spinner Ajit Chandila, one of three cricketers named in an Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal, was granted bail by a Delhi court yesterday.

Former India bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two of his IPL team mates, Ankeet Chavan and Chandila, were arrested on May 16 by Delhi police, who accused the trio of taking money to concede a pre-determined number of runs in IPL matches. The cricketers, who are among 39 charged in the scandal, have denied any wrongdoing. Sreesanth and Chavan are already out on bail. Chandila, a 29-year-old from the north Indian state of Haryana, played both his first class matches in 2010 and represented Rajasthan Royals in this year’s IPL. Spot-fixing involves manipulation of individual incidents within a match which may not affect the outcome of the contest. Legal sports betting in India is confined to horse racing, but illegal gambling syndicates thrive in the absence of a law dealing specifically with corruption in sport. — Reuters

Cardinals rout Pirates ST. LOUIS: Michael Wacha pitched seven shutout innings and drove in two runs as the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-2 Sunday for a three-game sweep.

The Cardinals outscored Pittsburgh 26-10 overall in taking the NL Central lead. The Pirates arrived at Busch Stadium this weekend with a 11/2-game division lead and a chance to cement their first winning season since 1992. They left trailing the Cardinals by 11/2 games and still stuck on 81 victories. Wacha (3-0) allowed two hits and walked two, both of which were erased on double plays. He struck out two and never had more than one runner on at a time.

Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton (7-4) left with discomfort in his left foot in the second inning. He allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in 1 2-3 innings.

PHILLIES 3, BRAVES 2 In Philadelphia, Darin Ruf hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning to back a strong outing by starting pitcher Cole Hamels and lift the Phillies to a victory and three-game sweep over the Braves. Hamels (7-13) gave up just two hits, both homers, and two runs over eight innings. He struck out nine and walked two. He retired the side in order four times.

BJ Rosenberg earned his first career save with a perfect ninth inning. David Carpenter (3-1) took the loss for allowing Ruf’s homer in the eighth. Evan Gattis hit two solo home runs for the Braves. His first, in the second inning, traveled 480 feet to center field. In the seventh, he tied the game with a long ball that went deep into the left-field bleachers. It was his first career multi-homer game.

GIANTS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2 In San Francisco, Angel Pagan singled home the winning run in the 11th inning to lead the Giants past the Diamondbacks. Pagan singled sharply off Joe Thatcher (3-2) after Hector Sanchez singled and Gregor Blanco reached safely on a fielder’s choice. Pinch runner Ehire Adrianza beat the throw home. Javier Lopez (3-2) got the win. Sanchez also drove in a run for the Giants, who split the series with Arizona. Eric Chavez and AJ Pollack each drove in runs for the Diamondbacks, who had won three of their last four. Giants starter Madison Bumgarner threw six shutout innings, allowing four hits. He struck out nine and did not walk a batter.

Bumgarner remains winless over his last seven starts.—AP

Armstrong’s Olympic medal

Milito set for comeback

BUENOS AIRES: Disgraced retired cyclist Lance Armstrong has yet to hand back his Sydney 2000 Olympic medal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) nine months after he was stripped of it, officials said yesterday. The American lost his seven Tour de France titles last year and in January admitted to years of performance-enhancing substance use in the most spectacular drugs case in recent years.

Following his public confession, the IOC ordered the return of the bronze medal he won in the time-trial at the Sydney 2000 Games and declared the race results void. IOC Vice President Thomas Bach, who also heads the IOC’s juridical commission, said the former rider had not challenged the decision to strip him of his medal.

“We still do not have the medal back,” Bach told an IOC session in the Argentine capital. “We will continue to work with the United States Olympic Committee to get this medal back as requested in our decision. “This (the IOC’s January) decision has been communicated to Mr Armstrong and the USOC. This decision has not been appealed neither by Mr Armstrong, nor by the USOC and what we are lacking, sadly, is getting back the medal. Legally the case for the IOC is closed.”

The once-revered athlete is battling to hang on to what remains of his reputation and his earnings and is fighting several lawsuits, including one from the U.S. Justice Department.—Reuters

SARAJEVO: A shock 1-0 home defeat by Slovakia has left Bosnia coach Safet Susic fending off criticism from fans and media for his team selection ahead of a pivotal reverse fixture against the same opposition today.

Friday’s reverse ended Bosnia’s unbeaten run in World Cup qualifying Group G and allowed Greece to draw level at the top with 16 points from seven matches, four more than third-placed Slovakia who hauled themselves back into the hunt for a top-two finish after their win in Zenica.

Former Yugoslavia forward Susic, who won widespread praise for the team’s flamboyant style which had produced 23 goals until Friday’s setback, was incensed with being on the receiving end for the first time.

“We have only ourselves to blame for losing the match against Slovakia and all we can do now is deny the droves of fans who seem to think that they are more qualified to coach Bosnia than I am,” the 58year old was quoted as saying by daily Oslobodenje yesterday. —Reuters

White Sox end losing streak BALTIMORE: Pinch-runner Chris Dickerson got lost on the bases and was doubled up for the final out as the Chicago White Sox ended a nine-game losing streak by holding off the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 Sunday. Down 4-1, Baltimore loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Addison Reed.

After Ryan Flaherty grounded into a forceout at second base that scored a run, Dickerson ran for him.

Dickerson tried to steal second on a pitch to Brian Roberts, who hit a foul pop near first base. Dickerson didn’t know where the ball went, and the baserunning blunder made him an easy out at first. Rookie Andre Rienzo (2-1) pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning and Adam Dunn homered.

Reed wound up with his 37th save. Adam Jones hit his 31st home run for the Orioles.

Bud Norris (10-11) took the loss for the wildcard contenders.

The Rays lead Baltimore and Cleveland, who both lost, by two games for the second AL wild-card spot. Trailing 1-0, Tampa Bay scored three times in the eighth. Rodriguez broke a tie with an RBI single and another run came home when center fielder Abraham Almonte bobbled the ball.

Jake McGee (4-3) got two outs and the win. Fernando Rodney closed for his 33rd save in 41 chances. Yoervis Medina (4-5) lost in relief.

ROYALS 5, TIGERS 2 In Kansas City, Bruce Chen picked up Kansas City’s beleaguered starters with seven solid innings as the Royals defeated Detroit. Chen (7-2), who moved into the rotation on July 12 after 19 relief appear-

ances, limited the AL Central-leading Tigers to five hits and two runs over seven innings, earning the first victory for a starter on the Royals’ seven-game homestand. Eric Hosmer hit a three-run homer off Doug Fister (12-8).

July 26. The 40-year-old struck out seven and walked one, ending his five-game winless streak. Lucas Harrell (6-16) pitched when scheduled starter Paul Clemens was scratched about an hour before the game because of a blister on his right hand.

ATHLETICS 7, ASTROS 2 In Oakland, Bartolo Colon won for the first time in more than a month, Seth Smith homered during a seven-run third inning as the Oakland Athletics beat Houston.

Brandon Moss had three hits and drove in two runs while Yoenis Cespedes added two hits and an RBI for the AL West-leading A’s.

Colon (15-6) allowed one run and five hits in six innings for his first victory since

RANGERS 4, ANGELS 3 In Anaheim, Alex Rios homered in the first inning and drove in the go-ahead run with a bloop double in the seventh, and Elvis Andrus also had two RBIs, as the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels.

The Rangers remained 11/2 games behind AL West-leading Oakland. Alexi Ogando (6-4) won with 1 1-3 scoreless innings of one-hit relief. Joe Nathan, the seventh Texas pitcher, got three outs for his 39th save in 41 tries. Michael Kohn (1-2) got the loss.

BLUE JAYS 2, TWINS 0 In Minneapolis, Esmil Rogers pitched well into the eighth inning and Jose Reyes’ late double broke a scoreless tie that led the Toronto Blue Jays past Minnesota for a three-game sweep.

Rogers (5-7) allowed three hits and a walk while striking out four over 7 2-3 innings. Reyes’ key double came against Jared Burton (2-9).

YANKEES 4, RED SOX 3 In New York, Ichiro Suzuki scored on Brandon Workman’s wild pitch with two outs in the ninth inning as the New York Yankees overcame Mariano Rivera’s blown save to avoid a four-game sweep by Boston.

The AL East-leading Red Sox had won five in a row. Rivera (5-2) came in to start the eighth for the first time since 2006. Will Middlebrooks’ leadoff homer in the ninth gave Rivera his seventh blown save in 48 chances.

Suzuki hit a one-out single off Workman (5-3) in the bottom half, stole second and advanced to third on Vernon Wells’ fly to right. Workman then threw a high pitch that deflected off the mitt of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and caromed away off the backstop, allowing Suzuki to score easily.

RAYS 4, MARINERS 1 In Seattle, pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez had a go-ahead single in the eighth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied past Seattle to build their wild-card edge.

BALTIMORE: Shortstop JJ Hardy No. 2 of the Baltimore Orioles tags out Leury Garcia No. 28 of the Chicago White Sox trying to steal second base during the seventh inning. — AFP

METS 2, INDIANS 1 In Cleveland, Eric Young’s two-out double in the ninth inning gave the New York Mets a victory that ended Cleveland’s fourgame winning streak.

Juan Lagares started the ninth with a single off Chris Perez (5-3) and moved to second on a sacrifice. Omar Quintanilla struck out, but Young lined a 2-0 pitch down the right field line. Frank Francisco (1-0), making his first appearance of the season, got Asdrubal Cabrera to ground into a double play with the bases loaded to end the eighth. LaTroy Hawkins pitched the ninth for his eighth save. —AP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

S P ORTS

Vettel’s fourth F1 title is fast approaching MONZA: The Formula One championship has said farewell to Europe for another year with two big questions being posed as the glamour sport sets its sights on races in Asia, the Middle East and Americas. The first - as the mechanics packed up and the trucks left Monza on Sunday night - was when and where, rather than whether, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will wrap up his inevitable fourth successive title.

The second concerns Ferrari’s 2014 lineup, and the chances of Kimi Raikkonen joining Fernando Alonso in a potentially explosive par tnership, and looks likely to be answered within a matter of days.

The paddock chatter after the Italian Grand Prix was that Ferrari’s most recent world champion, currently with Lotus, had agreed a sensational return to the team with which he won the title in 2007.

There was no word from Ferrari, whose president Luca di Montezemolo said on Saturday that the team would decide its drivers immediately after the race weekend and after talking to Brazilian Felipe Massa, whose place is at risk.

Massa, fourth on Sunday, is out of contract and has not won since 2008 while Raikkonen took this year’s season-opener in Australia and had racked up a record 27 successive scoring finishes before Belgium in July.

Montezemolo did not rule out Raikkonen, who left Ferrari in 2009 after being paid off to make way for Alonso, when asked whether he would have him back.

“What happened in the past with Kimi? we won a world championship,” he replied. “First of all, Kimi is a good driver. For us it was a big satisfaction to win with him the first championship with the new team without (seven times champion) Michael (Schumacher),

without Ross (Brawn)”. Lotus want Raikkonen to stay but must wait for Ferrari. “In the end if he wants to go to Ferrari he will go to Ferrari,

dock, and he will decide.”

The Vettel question comes down to simple mathematics, with the German now 53 points

races this season and, ominously for his rivals, the last two in Belgium and Italy were supposed to be his weakest - with team principal

MONZA: Red Bull Racing’s German driver Sebastian Vettel leads after the start at the Autodromo Nazionale circuit in Monza in this file photo. —AFP and that ’s it,” Lotus team principal Eric Boullier told reporters. “Kimi is in a position where he is being chased by most of the pad-

clear of second placed Alonso with seven races, worth a total of 175 points, still to be won. The 26-year-old has won half of the

Christian Horner going so far as to call them Red Bull’s “Achilles heel”.

The next four are Singapore, South Korea,

Japan and India and Vettel won all of them last year. The German’s closest rivals had no illusions about their scant chances.

Lewis Hamilton’s immediate response after finishing ninth in the race for Mercedes was to declare his championship challenge over, although he then had a rethink and vowed to keep fighting even if the odds were stacked against him.

“I basically need to win every race, which is the tallest order ever, but I can do nothing but try,” said the 2008 champion, who is now third overall but a massive 81 points behind the leader.

“I wish it was a closer battle at the front.

It’s a shame it is like it is.” Alonso said it would take a lot of luck for him to overhaul the Red Bull. “I think we need to be realistic about the championship now there’s a very big gap. We don’t have enough races and probably we don’t have the speed right now to win some consecutive races and hope to reduce the gap just by pace,” said the Spaniard.

“We need to be lucky and we need to have some DNFs (retirements) from Sebastian or something to win the championship. With the races left and the points disadvantage, it’s hard.” Asked whether it was all over, Horner refused to tempt fate and repeated a familiar mantra. “The championship is not yours until nobody can score more points than you,” he said. “So we are going to continue the approach that we’ve always taken which is focus one race at a time and try to get the best out of each weekend.

“It’s been a big weekend for us here... for Sebastian to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship and for the team to extend its lead in the constructors’ championship is obviously massively positive for us. But there’s still some way to go.”—Reuters

Tokyo 2020 Games shot in the arm for an aging nation

BUENOS AIRES: Outgoing International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge’s silhouette (left) is seen as he speaks with IOC member and FIFA President Sepp Blatter under the Olympic Rings during the 125th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). —AFP

Rio tells IOC they will be ready for 2016 Olympics

BUENOS AIRES: Organisers of the 2016 Rio Olympics have been told to get a move on because of increasing concerns they are falling further behind schedule as unrest builds in Brazil.

With less than three years to go before the first Olympic Games in South America, most of the facilities in Rio have yet to be completed because of construction delays and soaring costs. Earlier this year, millions of Brazilians took to the streets to protest against the billions of dollars being invested into staging the 2014 soccer World Cup then the Olympics instead of health, education, public transportation, and security.

Carlos Nuzman, the president of the Rio 2016 Olympics Committee, addressed the International Olympic Committee on Sunday to allay fears that things were off track.

He conceded things had fallen behind but said he was confident everything would be ready for 2016 and on budget. “We have made significant progress,” Nuzman said. “I can assure you Rio will be ready. “There is a lot of work ahead but we fully understand the complexity of our task.”

Nuzman’s admission came just a week after an IOC co-ordination commission visited Rio before heading to Argentina for the IOC Congress. The commission was led by Nawal El Moutawakel, who won a gold medal for Morocco in the women’s 400 metres hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

El Moutawakel told the IOC Congress on Sunday that Rio had made “reassuring” progress in the last year but there was still a lot of work to do.

“Over recent months, the social and political environment and operations has signifi-

cantly changed,” she said. “There is a need, more than ever before, that all stakeholders need to work together. “Key decisions need to be made collectively and communicated with one voice.” She urged the Rio organising team to focus on getting the venues and infrastructure right as well as taking the “matrix of responsibility” and would return to Brazil next year to see how things were progressing. “We remain confident Rio and Brazil have the resources and the energy and ambition to deliver a memorable Olympic Games in 2016.”

Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper, who also serves as chairman of the IOC press commission, told Nuzman that Rio needed to get their media operations in order, including better communication with the Brazilian public to reassure them about the Games and end the protests. “I’m still concerned with the delay related to your press operations. It took you three and a half years to appoint a media chief,” Gosper said. “You simply have to keep your public aware about what’s happening. “If the community doesn’t get it, you’ll have a repeat of what you’ve had (protests).”

Nuzman, a lawyer who represented Brazil in volleyball at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, said the Rio organisers were aware of the growing discontent and he vowed they would do a better job getting their messages across.

“We have a free country, we have a democracy in every sense and everybody can express their opinion,” he said. “It’s important to take in consideration any protest concerning the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

“The population loves sport... but we need to be much more transparent and open to communicate to everybody what’s happening.” —Reuters

TOKYO: A half-century after the 1964 Tokyo games heralded Japan’s reemergence from destruction and defeat in World War II, the city’s triumphant bid to host the 2020 games is giving this aging nation a chance to revive both its sagging spirits and its stagnating economy.

“In most competitions, if you don’t win a gold medal, you can also win maybe a bronze one,” Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose told reporters in Buenos Aires after the International Olympic Committee chose his city to host the 2020 summer games. “In this battle, there was only the gold.”

Japan is counting on the games to boost both the economy and morale. Already, Olympics hopes have lifted share prices in construction, real estate and tourism-related companies. The news from over the weekend helped boost Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 share benchmark by 2.2 percent by midmorning Monday. Hundreds of Japanese athletes and officials gathered downtown for the early morning announcement shouted “Banzai!” jumping up and down and hugging in unusually demonstrative reactions to the announcement the International Olympic Committee had opted for Tokyo’s guarantees of safety and stability, despite the festering nuclear crisis in its northeast.

Japan’s capital defeated Istanbul in the final round of voting at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires, after Madrid was eliminated in the first round.

The decision suggests IOC members were convinced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reassurances that radiation leaks from the nuclear plant wrecked in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster pose no threat to Tokyo or the games. The 1964 games were relatively bare bones by today’s standards. “There were no facilities, no food to eat; no barbells; no place to practice. That was what it was like,” said Yoshinobu Miyake, a featherweight weightlifting gold medalist at the 1964 games who recalls walking the streets of Tokyo with a crooked barbell in hand, looking for a place to practice.

“But still, we had to win - so it was a country that managed to go on with just a hungry spirit, a Japanese spirit,” he said.

To prepare for the 1964 games, Japan rushed to build expressways and introduced its first highspeed “Shinkansen” bullet trains. The games won it worldwide recognition for its growing affluence and economic power, and were a turning point for the country’s athletics, as it captured 16 golds, 29 medals in total, trailing only the United States and Soviet Union. This time, many here consider the Olympics a symbol of recovery both from economic stagnation and from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 19,000 people dead or missing on Japan’s northeast coast.

“From here on, things will get better,” said Yoko Kurahashi, 65, whose high school was just across the street from Tokyo’s Metropolitan Gymnasium, the site for the 1964 games gymnastics and water polo competitions.

“This will help invigorate us,” Kurohashi said as she stood outside Tokyo city hall with her 94-yearold mother-in-law watching hundreds of other

TOKYO: This file photo taken on October 10, 1964 shows the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games at Tokyo’ Tokyo residents celebrating with gold streamers through a wide range of reforms. and balloons. Two decades after its economic Whether the Olympics, seven years away, would ascent was cut short by the bursting of its financial bring the sort of boost needed right now remains bubble, its population shrinking and rapidly aging, to be seen. Unless Japanese companies, long wary Japan can use all the help it can get, said Yukio of betting on a shrinking domestic market, step up Takahashi, who was jubilant as he took his morning investments and raise wages, price hikes are more walk with his wife in a suburban park that was a likely to discourage rather than spur more spendmain 1964 Olympic venue. ing in the long run. The ultimate economic impact “ This will help us to not lose confidence,” from holding the games varies from city to city. The Takahashi said. “It gives us a goal, something to 2008 games were a strong plus for Beijing, yielding strive for.” Surveys showed 70 percent of Tokyoites an impressive new airport, subway lines and other favored the bid. Hosting the 2020 games could welcome infrastructure. London’s 2012 games likeyield positive economic effects of over 4 trillion yen wise were a boost for the British economy. ($40.4 billion) and create more than 150,000 jobs, But the Bird’s Nest stadium, the centerpiece of according to some estimates, more than half of it the 2008 games, stands neglected as a $500 million new demand for construction, sales of Olympics- souvenir. In Athens, many of the venues from the related goods and purchases of new televisions 2004 Olympics are desolate and weed-infested, and other appliances. and the Greek economy is in crisis.

Hosting the Olympics offers a strong excuse for Although Japan has a national debt amounting pork-barrel-style construction projects. In reality, to twice the size of its economy, Tokyo itself has a greater Tokyo, home to 35 million people, is facing $4.5 billion “reserve fund” for infrastructure projects a major overhaul of its aging infrastructure anyway, for the games. Japan’s status as the world’s thirdnowhere more so than in crumbling sports venues biggest economy and its strong links to Olympic due to be refurbished for the 2020 Games. sponsors were additional strengths. The huge The government hopes to boost visits by for- Asian market was another draw for the IOC. eign tourists to 30 million a year by then, from the Such assets outweighed concerns over leaks of 8.36 million who came to Japan last year. radioactive water from the tsunami-crippled Improving consumer confidence is vital for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. But they also will success of Abe’s economic recovery strategy, which add to pressures on Tokyo to resolve the crisis. hinges on stimulating inflation by pumping more “We have made promises,” Abe said after the money into the economy, keeping interest rates decision. “Now we have a responsibility to meet near zero and improving Japan’s competitiveness those expectations.”—AP

Ukraine defeat Britain to advance at Euro champs

SLOVENIA: Croatia’s Damir Markota (left) vies with Czech Republic’s Pavel Pumprla (right) during the Eurobasket 2013 championships qualifying basketball match. —AFP

LJUBLJANA: Ukraine and Latvia advanced to the second round of the European basketball championship yesterday.

The Ukrainians beat Britain 87-68, getting 11 points each from Ihor Zaytsev and Kyryl Natyazhko. Latvia, which got 15 points from Kristaps Janicenoks, defeated Macedonia 76-77 and eliminated a team that was in the semifinals two years ago.

On the final day of group play, defending champion Spain won its fourth in five by beating Georgia 83-59 to reach the second round. Ricky Rubio led Spain with 16 points.

Also, Finland beat Greece 86-77 in a match between two already qualified teams. Petteri Koponen scored 29 for Finland, while Nikos Zisis had 19 for Greece.

Italy will finish on top of Group D, with Finland second and Greece third. Ukraine dominated from the start to win its fourth in five games. “They (Britain) had a chance to advance depending on what happened but we also wanted to advance, and it was important to our players to advance by winning,” Ukraine coach Mike Fratello said. “Now we’ll move on and try to keep going.”

Spain trailed by one with just over three minutes left in the second quarter when Rudy Fernandez made a three-point play to put his team ahead by two. Spain then went on a 15-2 run to put the game away. “We were aggressive on defense and found easy shots on offense. I think we did a good job on defense and that gave us consistency in the game,” Rubio said.

“We as a team, and I especially, like to run and whenever we can do it we feel comfortable.”

“We always try to impose our pace, but of course that’s not possible at all times. We know that we have had a good first round, with one lost game against Slovenia, so we know that we have to correct some things and we are ready for whatever is about to come,” the Minnesota Timberwolves point guard said. Latvia outscored Macedonia 27-16 in the first quarter after starting the game with a 12-0 run. “The plan was to be real aggressive, play aggressive defense.

Because of that we got so many fast breaks,” Latvia point guard Dairis Bertans said. “We haven’t been (to the second round) for so many years and we had a really tough group this year.”—AP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

S P ORT S Photo of the day

Oracle edge Emirates in race for America’s Cup

Pancho Pereira performs at Red Bull Powder Escape at El Colorado in Santiago, Chile on August 26, 2013. —www.redbullcontentpool.com

Barguil wins Tour stage HUESCA: Frenchman Warren Barguil clinched his second stage win in four days as race leader Vincenzo Nibali’s advantage was substantially reduced in the Tour of Spain yesterday.

Barguil somehow held on to win a photo finish with Colombian Rigoberto Uran as Poland’s Bartosz Huzarski took third on the 146.8km 16th stage from Graus to Sallent de Gallego.

Italian Nibali, meanwhile, struggled mightily on the climb to the finish as he was dropped by American Chris Horner with around 3km to go, losing 22 seconds on the RadioShack rider and seeing his overall lead trimmed to just 28 seconds with five stages remaining.

Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde remains in third place overall but he also gained time on Nibali and is now just 1min 14secs behind the Giro d’Italia winner.

“I wasn’t at my best, but it wasn’t too big of a scare,” said Nibali afterwards.

“It was a very difficult finish, above all for the headwind and I thought I would be better in the final kilometres but as you saw I lacked the strength. “After three very hard days it is normal to feel a bit tired, but at least we have a rest day tomorrow and I can recuperate.”

After two brutal stages through the Pyrenees over the weekend, the pack was split for the majority of the day with a large leading group of over 20 riders being held in check by the chasing peloton.

The excitement didn’t truly start therefore until around 10km to go when, after a series of failed attempts, Barguil eventually pulled clear at the front and quickly opened up a 30-second gap.

However, unlike his break to victory on Friday, the 21-year-old didn’t have enough in the tank to maintain his lead all the way to the finish and was caught

by Uran about a kilometre from home.

The Sky rider then seemed certain for a first stage victory in the Tour of Spain but Barguil somehow surged past him in the final sprint to the line to take the win.

“It has been a great tour for me. When I attacked I had very good legs but I saw Uran was coming and I thought it best to wait a little and go for the sprint,” said Barguil.

“To beat such a great rider and win gives me great confidence.” Further back Valverde, the 2009 winner, and Joaquim Rodriguez, who in July finished third on the Tour de France, were attempting to break away from Nibali on the final climb, but unlike in the previous two days the 2010 champion wasn’t able to stay with them as the Spanish duo both gained 28 seconds on the leader. And Horner was also able to escape the clutches of Nibali in the final stages to put himself very much in contention to win his first Tour of Spain come Madrid on Sunday.

Nibali will at least have a day to recover, though, with today being a rest day before the 189km ride from Calahorra to Burgos tomorrow. — AFP

SPAIN: Argos-Shimano’s French rider Warren Barguil celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the 16th stage of the 68th edition of ‘La Vuelta’Tour of Spain. —AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Oracle Team USA edged out Emirates Team New Zealand in a blustery fourth race for the America’s Cup on Sunday, reminding the Kiwis, who won the first three races of the event, that the American yacht is formidable.

While government-backed New Zealand won the third heat of the 17-race final series on San Francisco Bay, software billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle team led the first half of that match and controlled the entire fourth race, cruising into the finish about eight seconds in front of the Kiwis. Though Oracle started the finals behind by two races due to a jury-imposed cheating penalty, the series now looks like a contest between two well-matched, high-tech 72-foot catamarans.

“A lesser team probably would have crumbled in the fourth race,” a jubilant Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill said at a news conference. “It feels good to shift the momentum over towards us.”

Oracle had better starts near the fogenshrouded Golden Gate Bridge than New Zealand in both Sunday races. In the first Spithill forced the challengers into a right-of-way infraction that prompted a penalty.

But the Kiwis got around the Americans in an upwind tacking dual on the third leg off Alcatraz Island. Oracle was unable to regain the lead, trailing by 28 seconds at the finish line.

The New Zealand boat looked fast upwind, turning a 17-second Oracle lead at the mark ending the first downwind leg, into a 29-second advantage over Oracle at the windward turning mark near the Golden Gate. Oracle’s AC72 seemed to excel when the wind increased to over 20 knots (23 miles per hour) in the second race of the day. Spithill, an Australian, used aggressive pre-start tactics to claim the advantageous position as the race kicked off. The American team blocked every move Team New Zealand made to stay ahead at each of the five marks and reached a top speed of 46 knots (53 mph). Despite what might have been a costly mistake, splashing his twin hulls back into the water off the hydrofoils too early at the third

mark, he recovered and maintained a slightly higher average speed over New Zealand around the course. Racing continues on Tuesday and Thursday. With two matches on each day, New Zealand could take back the “Auld Mug,” as the Cup in called in the sailing world, on Saturday.

Bookmakers contemplated a Kiwi sweep, but given Sunday’s close races, New Zealand still has an uphill battle. “We want to keep the Cup here in the Bay,” Spithill said. “These guys want to take

parts, the 56-year old took a break for the second race. A reporter asked New Zealand skipper Dean Barker if he could blame the lost race on Dalton’s absence. Barker chuckled and said he remained confident in his team’s ability despite the loss. “We sailed by our standards a pretty average race, and we still sailed a close race,” he said.

If New Zealand wins the Cup, Dalton has said he would use the defender’s right to set rules to

SAN FRANCISCO: Emirates Team New Zealand skippered Dean Barker (left) and Oracle Team USA skippered James Spithill (right) in action during race three of the Americaís Cup finals. — AFP

it to New Zealand.” To hold onto the Cup, Oracle needs two victories more than New Zealand.

The Kiwis must win nine races to take the 162-year-old trophy. Oracle needs to win 11 because of a punishment for making illegal modifications to 45-foot catamarans it used in warm-up regattas. Kiwi managing director Grant Dalton crewed on his yacht in Sunday’s first race.

But after manning one of the pedestal grinders that provide the power to the yacht’s moving

force teams competing in the next America’s Cup to employ only sailors from their home countries. A nationality rule could heavily favor New Zealand, a sailing-crazed nation that produced many of the yachtsmen in this year’s America’s Cup competition.

Only two of Oracle’s sailors are Americans, and another two come from New Zealand. In contrast, all but two of New Zealand’s sailors hail from the tiny island nation. — Reuters

Softball vow to fight on after Olympic rejection BUENOS AIRES: Baseball and softball have vowed to make another pitch to be readmitted to the Olympics after striking out on Sunday.

Riccardo Fraccari, the president of the International Baseball Federation, told Reuters that baseball and softball were not giving up hope of getting back in the Olympics.

The two sports joined forces as the World Baseball Sof tball Confederation ( WBSC ) to bid against wrestling and squash for the one available berth on the Olympic programme for the 2020 and 2024 Games. But they missed out after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members voted overwhelming to reinstate wrestling. Baseball-softball finished second in the three-way ballot.

“Congratulations to wrestling and FILA. It’s an honour to have presented before the IOC, alongside great competitors like squash and wrestling,” Fraccari said.

“The WBSC will continue working hard and will continue listening and learning from the IOC, so that baseball and softball can come under the Olympic umbrella to ser ve and strengthen the Olympic Movement, as our sport expands and globalises fur-

ther.” The odds were stacked against baseball and softball winning the vote. Wrestling was only kicked off the Olympic programme seven months ago, but immediately introduced a raft of reforms to win back its place.

Baseball and softball were on the Olympic programme from 1992 to 2008 but were voted out in a secret ballot in 2005, becoming the first sports to be removed from the Olympics since polo in 1936.

Although they were still allowed to participate at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the sports have failed in their attempts to get back in since.

“While we are obviously disappointed with the decision of the International Olympic Committee to not move forward with baseball and softball for inclusion on the Olympic program in 2020, we continue to believe the combined efforts of baseball and softball provide a great platform for international competition,” USA Baseball executive director Paul Seiler said in a statement.

“USA Baseball will continue to promote baseball and softball both internationally and domestically through our various initiatives, and we look forward

Shock demolish Silver Stars SAN ANTONIO: Riquna Williams set a WNBA record with 51 points to help the Tulsa Shock rout the San Antonio Silver Stars 98-65 on Sunday.

The second-year guard out of Miami surpassed the previous record of 47 points set by Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi against Houston on Aug. 10, 2006 and matched by Seattle’s Lauren Jackson against Washington on July 24, 2007.

Williams was 17 for 28 from the field and hit eight 3-pointers for Tulsa (11-21). She had 20 points in the third quarter after scoring 16 in the first half.

Fans were cheering for her to get the ball in the final minutes of the game. Jia Perkins scored 21 points to lead San Antonio (11-21).

MERCURY 79, DREAM 71 In Atlanta, Diana Taurasi scored 25 points, Candice Dupree added 15 as the Mercury won their third straight game with a victory over the Dream. Angel McCoughtry finished with 25 points and Erika de Souza had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Dream (17-14). The loss ended Atlanta’s three-game winning streak. Phoenix (17-13) never trailed after Taurasi’s layup midway through the first quarter. Tiffany Hayes, who scored 19 points off the bench for Atlanta, cut the lead to 74-67 with a 3-pointer. But in the last 3 minutes, she had a turnover and missed two layups and two 3s.

McCoughtry, the WNBA’s leading scorer, hit a free throw to cut the lead to 74-71, but she missed a 3 and a 20-footer before fouling out with 25.8 seconds to go.

Centers Brittney Griner and de Souza tangled at the 6:46 mark of the third and had to be separated by officials and teammates.

SKY 93, MYSTICS 79 In Washington, Elena Delle Donne scored 22 points as the Sky beat Washington to prevent the Mystics from clinching a playoff spot. Epiphanny Prince added 21 points for the Sky (22-9), who have already clinched the Eastern Conference’s top playoff spot and finished the five-game season series with four victories over the Mystics. Swin Cash had 16 points and Sylva Fowles had 13 points and nine rebounds as Chicago won its seventh game in its last eight.

Ivory Latta scored 18 points on six 3-pointers for Washington, which closed within two points in the third quarter but never led after the first. The Mystics have lost two straight. Crystal Langhorne added 16 points for the Mystics, who can still clinch their first playoff berth in three seasons with a win or a loss by New York. Washington visits Indiana on Tuesday night, while New York hosts Phoenix. — AP

Riquna Williams

to the opportunity to return to the Olympic program in the future.” The IOC have never specified exactly why the sports were dropped, the most commonly cited reasons are baseball’s refusal to comply with all the World Anti-Doping Agency rules and the absence of Major League Baseball players from the Olympics.

However, with MLB recently cracking down on doping, suspending more than a dozen players linked to the Biogenesis scandal, and pledging their support to the Olympic movement, baseball-softball remain optimistic of a recall.

At their presentation to the IOC on Sunday, WBSC co-president Don Porter gave an emotional speech, choking up while tears welled in his eyes.

“I hope today that you will find a place for those little girls in the Olympics and help restore their dreams,” Porter told the members.

Tony Castro, the son of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, also addressed the IOC in his role with the WBSC, as a demonstration of the sport’s global appeal and popularity in some smaller countries. “In my country Cuba, it is the top sport and the cement of a social tradition” he said. — Reuters

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

S P ORTS

Italy’s Buffon to match Cannavaro’s record ROME: When it comes to defining the record-breaking career of Gianluigi Buffon, Bulgaria coach Luboslav Penev may have put it best.

“Italy has a monument in goal,” Penev said after watching the 35-year-old Buffon deny his squad with three highlight-reel saves in the Azzurri’s 1-0 win Friday. The most impressive of the three saves came three minutes into the second half, when Buffon left his feet anticipating a shot to his right. Still airborne, with his 1.92-meter (6-foot-4) frame laid out across the goal line horizontally, Buffon somehow managed to swipe away a close-range effort from Ivelin Popov with his glove just as the ball was going to cross the line.

“To be honest,” Buffon said afterward.

“I really thought it was in already.” The commentator on Italy’s RAI state T V likened the save to some of the best efforts of Buffon’s career. That’s saying a lot. Because today, Buffon is scheduled to match Fabio Cannavaro for Italy’s all-time appearance record with his 136th appearance.

And this isn’t just some friendly set up for a record-breaking night. If Italy beats

the Czech Republic at the Juventus Stadium in Turin, where Buffon plays his club football, the Azzurri will have qualified for next year’s World Cup with two matches to spare. It would be the fifth World Cup of Buffon’s career and his fourth as a starter.

“It’s a nice goal to achieve, although somewhat expected considering that I started playing with the national team at such a young age,” said Buffon, who made his Italy debut at 19 on a snowy field in Moscow when he replaced the injured Gianluca Pagliuca midway through the first leg of a crucial qualifying playoff with Russia to reach the 1998 World Cup. “It’s been 16 beautiful years,” Buffon said. “There have been some injuries but I think I did well to get myself back in shape each time.”

Buffon was one of the keys to Italy’s 2006 World Cup victory, allowing no goals from opposition players during the normal course of play over seven matches. The only goals he did allow in Germany were an own-goal from Cristian Zaccardo against the United States and a penalty from Zinedine Zidane in the final

against France. A back injury limited his play at the 2010 World Cup and Italy was promptly eliminated after the first round.

But Buffon battled back and regained his form to help lead the Azzurri to the final of the 2012 European Championship, saving a decisive penalty from Ashley Cole in the shootout win over England in the quarterfinals.

With Juventus, Buffon weathered the Calciopoli scandal and helped the Turin club win Serie B in 2006-07. While all of the other pre-scandal Juve players moved on, Buffon stayed around to witness the return to prowess of the Turin squad, which won Serie A the past two seasons.

One of the only major trophies missing from Buffon’s cabinet is the Champions League, and Juve is mounting a determined bid to win the European title this season. Still, the appearance record comes amid periodical questions over Buffon’s form.

During a Serie A match in January against Sampdoria, Buffon was blamed for two goals. Then in the Champions League quarterfinals against eventual champion Bayern Munich, Buffon looked

unprepared as David Alaba scored only 25 seconds into the first leg from far beyond the area.

After Alaba’s goal, former Bayern great Franz Beckenbauer said Buffon looked like a retiree, and Buffon didn’t do much in the second leg either, allowing Claudio Pizarro to score through his legs to conclude a 4-0 win on aggregate.

Buffon came in for criticism again when he failed to adequately protect his post - essentially a rookie’s error - on a free kick goal from Brazil standout Neymar, as Italy conceded eight goals over its three group matches at this year’s Confederations Cup. Buffon bounced back with a superb performance in the shootout loss to Spain in the semifinals, then stopped three penalties in a shootout win over Uruguay in the third-place match.

“Last season I played 60 matches and erred in three: against Sampdoria, Bayern and Brazil,” Buffon said last week, decrying the criticism goalkeepers face for mistakes. “Can you allow me that? If so, then let’s move forward, otherwise it all becomes much more difficult.”

What is also difficult is imagining

Italy’s goal without Buffon, as there is no obvious replacement looming. Federico Marchetti of Lazio has been mentioned as a possible successor and when Lazio faced Juventus in the Italian Super Cup last month the game was billed as a matchup between current and future Italy keepers. But Juventus and Buffon won 4-0. Another option is Salvatore Sirigu, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain.

At 26, Sirigu is four years younger than Marchetti and thus has more time for improvement.

Morgan De Sanctis of Roma might be Italy’s best ‘keeper after Buffon at the moment. But he’s a year older than Buffon and so doesn’t have much of a chance of taking over.

“Sometimes I feel bad or I’m even embarrassed because so many other great goalkeepers haven’t gotten much of a chance over these 16 years,” Buffon said. “I’m sorry about that.”

Fortunately for Italy, Buffon isn’t ready to bid goodbye just yet. “When the time comes that I’m no longer called up, that’s when I’ll say goodbye,” he said. “But not responding to a call-up would be an act of desertion.”—AP

First place at stake as England meet Ukraine

FAROE ISLANDS: Germany’s defender Per Mertesacker attends a practice session ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Faroe Islands in Torshavn. —AFP

Germany ready for Faeroe Islands visit TORSHAVN: Germany aims to make qualification for its 16th successive World Cup appearance a mere formality with a victory over the Faeroe Islands today.

The Germans lead Group C by five points and can qualify with two games to spare with a victory at Torsvolli Stadium if second-place Sweden fails to win at Kazakhstan. Joachim Loew is confident his side will fulfill its obligations, though suggested Monday that the game will not be the walkover many are predicting.

“For a small country, they really can defend very well, and they’re very well organized,” Loew said, referring to his side’s 3-0 win from the home game in Hannover.

“We’ll go into this game in all seriousness and with full concentration. Other teams have struggled here, like Sweden (who fought from a goal down to win 2-1) and Ireland, who took a long time to score.

Italy only won 1-0 here (in 2011),” Loew said. “What interests me is that we take the three points, and that’s what we’ll do.”

Austria and Ireland are three points behind Sweden and both need to win their game in Vienna to maintain hope of finishing second and reaching the playoffs.

The Faeroese have lost all their games and anything other than defeat would be a huge surprise for the semi-professional team. The islanders lost 2-1 in Kazakhstan on Friday in what was a battle between the group’s bottom teams and the Kazakh’s first win. Faeroe Islands coach Lars Olsen said he is “optimistic as always.” However, he acknowledged it is unrealistic for his side to win against “one of the top three teams in the world.” Olsen said the biggest problem facing his side is that many of his players work eight hours a day before team training at night.

“Should we improve the team, one solution could be to switch over to have some kind of professional football on the Faeroes,” said Olsen, a former Denmark captain. Defender Jonas Tor Naes is suspended for Germany’s visit with two yellow cards.

Germany was made to work for its three wins over the Faeroe Islands in previous meetings. In June 2003, in the only game played in Torshavn, late goals from substitute Miroslav Klose and Fredi Bobic in stormy conditions secured qualification for the 2004 European Championship.

“The balls disappeared in the clouds before resurfacing,” said Klose, the only surviving player from that game still in Germany’s side.

The veteran Lazio striker scored his 68th international goal in Friday’s 3-0 win over Austria to equal Gerd Mueller’s record for Germany. Klose will be hoping to claim the record for himself in his 130th appearance, though has played down comparisons with the now 67-year-old Mueller, who set the record in 62 appearances.

Loew said Klose will “definitely start” while Andre Schuerrle or Julian Draxler will likely fill in on the left for attacking midfielder Marco Reus. Another option, Bayer Leverkusen’s Sidney Sam, “is more of a right-sided player,” the Germany coach said.

Reus was ruled out Monday with a stomach infection, joining Borussia Dortmund teammate Ilkay Gundogan as well as Bayern Munich midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze on the injury list. Loew said he would make at most three changes from the side that beat Austria. Light rain and gusts of wind are forecast for today.

Germany rarely looked threatened by Austria, and appeared to have answered questions over its shaky defense after conceding nine goals in its previous three friendly games.

“For me as a goalkeeper the most important result was that we could still keep a clean sheet,” Manuel Neuer said.

Germany has lost only two of its 81 World Cup qualifiers since 1934, and is on a 29game unbeaten run in World Cup or European Championship qualifying since a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic in October 2007.—AP

Sao Paulo lose again, Cruzeiro stay on top BRAZIL: Sao Paulo remained rooted in the Brazilian championship relegation zone after losing 2-0 at Coritiba while bottom club Nautico held Corinthians to a 0-0 draw as their sixth coach of the year made his debut. Former Fenerbahce playmaker Alex, 35, scored both goals in Coritiba’s win on Sunday as Sao Paulo, who won the championship three times in a row between 2006 and 2008, reached the halfway point in 18th place with 18 points.

Alex snapped up a rebound in the 32nd minute after goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni parried Vitor Junior’s shot, then curled in a free kick in first-half stoppage time.

Levi Gomes, previously assistant coach, took over at Nautico to replace Jorginho,

who quit after five matches on Thursday, and watched his team grab an unexpected point at Corinthians.

Alexandre Gallo, Vagner Mancini, Silas, Ze Teodoro and Jorginho have previously occupied the hot seat this year at Nautico, who remained bottom of the 20-team table with nine points.

Cruzeiro reached the halfway point with 40 points and a four-point lead over Botafogo at the top after Ricardo Goulart’s second half goal gave them a 1-0 win over Flamengo.

Flamengo, under former Brazil coach Mano Menezes, are a modest 15th with 22 points, only three clear of the relegation zone.—Reuters

KIEV: England will look to overcome a striker shortage and shrug off bleak pronouncements about the state of its national game by beating Ukraine on Tuesday to take a giant stride toward the 2014 World Cup. Automatic qualification for finishing first in Group H is up for grabs, with England leading on goal difference over Montenegro and one point clear of third-place Ukraine with three matches left.

The English would be OK with a draw in Kiev, which would keep the destiny of the group in their hands ahead of home matches against Montenegro and Poland in October. A victory, however, would make a huge statement after recent comments by the new chairman of the Football Association, Greg Dyke, that English football is a “tanker that needs turning” and that nobody “realistically” thinks England will win next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

“I think if we can fly back with three points then we’re in a very strong position to go through,” said England midfielder Frank Lampard, who will start the match for his 100th appearance for his country.

Being without its three leading strikers - Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge (both injured) and Danny Welbeck (suspended) - isn’t the only reason why England will find it tough in the Ukrainian capital, though. Ukraine has rediscovered its best form in recent months, following up a 4-0 win at then-group leader Montenegro in June with a national-record 9-0 trouncing of San Marino on Friday. The hosts are also still hurting from an unlucky 10 loss to England in Donetsk in last year’s European Championship, when they were denied a legitimate goal after the ball crossed the line before being cleared by John Terry. “Our team doesn’t have the big names that England has, but we (still) have good players,” Ukraine captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk said.

“The thing is, such stars as Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole have achieved success in their clubs but for some reason or other can’t attain the same level of success

KIEV: England’s players warm up during a training session in Kiev, the day before the World Cup 2014 qualifying football match against Ukraine. —AFP with their national team.

“England has players known to the entire European continent, but Ukraine is better.” One player who isn’t so well known on the global stage is Rickie Lambert, who will nevertheless lead the forward line for England again today.

The Southampton striker has risen from obscurity to play a starring role for Roy Hodgson’s side, scoring the winner on debut with his first touch as a substitute in a 32 victory over Scotland last month and then adding another goal plus two assists - in the 4-0 win over Moldova on Friday.

At 31, Lambert is a late developer but he is making up for lost time.

This will be the first competitive match outside England in his journeyman career.

“You are talking about a very mature person who has seen all that football has to offer,” Hodgson said. “He has also seen the fact that if you are not in football, what life

has to offer is maybe not as good comparably.” Hodgson is renowned for being a cautious manager so the temptation may be to set his team out not to lose the match.

Who he chooses to replace Welbeck on the left wing will be telling - will it be the more defensive -minded James Milner or a more out-and-out winger in Ashley Young or even uncapped Andros Townsend?

Other wise, England will be unchanged from the team that started against Moldova, with Lampard becoming the country’s eighth player to reach 100 caps.

There will be two other centurions in the team - captain Steven Gerrard and left back Ashley Cole, who will both be making their 105th caps.

“I lost on my 100th cap so hopefully it can be different for Frank and he can go away with fond memories,” Gerrard said Monday.

“This is going to be our last crack at

doing well at a World Cup and hopefully that’s infectious for the group and the young lads can see how much we want it and feed off that.” Ukraine coach Mykhailo Fomenko, a wily strategist who has won four straight games since taking over from Oleh Blokhin in December, has no fresh injur y problems and has to choose between in-form pair Marco Devic and Roman Zozulya for the lonestriker berth.

“England is very strong, it’s a well-known European team,” Fomenko said Monday. “It’s not only the match of my life, but others as well.”

Elsewhere in the group, Poland visits San Marino seeking a win to keep its qualification hopes alive.

The fourth-place Poles are five points behind the leaders and must still play England and Ukraine away.

Montenegro has a night off after playing a game more than its rivals.—AP

Mexico in turmoil heading into WCup qualifier in US WASHINGTON: Mexico arrive in Ohio for today’s crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier against the United States in turmoil, with Luis Fernando Tena tasked with getting them back on the road to the finals in Brazil.

Tena inherited the manager’s job after Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre was ruthlessly sacked, hours after an embarrassing 2-1 defeat

by Honduras on Friday at Azteca Stadium, where Mexico once dominated all comers.

With the defeat, Mexico dropped to fourth in the CONCACAF six-nation final qualifying group with only the top three teams earning automatic berths at next year’s showpiece event.

The fourth-placed team will play New Zealand for a spot, and Panama are just one point behind Mexico in fifth with three matches remaining.

Tena, an experienced assistant to de la Torre, acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, and voiced faith in his players.

Mexico are the reigning Olympic champions and 13-time World Cup participants, and haven’t missed the finals since 1990.

Stars like Gio dos Santos and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez will have to dig deep in what is sure to be a hostile environment in Columbus. “It’s a great responsibility to take on,” said Tena, who has officially been given the helm only through Tuesday, with federation officials declining to say if he will be in charge for the decisive October contests against Panama and

Costa Rica.

“Obviously it’s not the best circumstances in which to take over the team.” Jurgen Klinsmann’s USA are coming off a setback of their own, a 3-1 defeat in Costa Rica on Friday that ended their 12-match winning streak.

Gio dos Santos The victory pushed Costa Rica to the top of the table on 14 points, one more than the United States, whose qualification was at least postponed.

They’ll try to bounce back without the scoring firepower from Jozy Altidore, Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron and Michael Bradley.

Altidore, Besler and Cameron received second yellow cards in San Jose on Friday and will serve one match suspensions, while key midfielder Bradley has been ruled out after spraining his left ankle in pre-match warm-ups in Costa Rica.

On Saturday, Klinsmann added four players to his squad: Club Tijuana midfielder Joe Corona, Houston Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis, San Jose Earthquakes defender Clarence Goodson and Tigres midfielder Jose Torres.

But the German said the defeat in Costa Rica didn’t change his approach to the match against arch-rivals Mexico. “We knew if we lost this game that Costa Rica would be in first place,” Klinsmann said. “We know that it’s going to go down to the wire and the last games. We need to have our four points at least to qualify. We will get those four points.”

Costa Rica will try to consolidate their position when they visit Jamaica, who have yet to win a match and have three points from three draws.

Honduras-who jumped to third on 10 points, three behind the United States and two ahead of Mexico-with their triumph in Mexico City, host Panama.

The Panamanians, in fifth on seven points, missed a golden opportunity on Friday when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Jamaica despite playing against ten men for the final 30 minutes. —AFP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

S P ORTS

Unglamorous Uzbeks eye World Cup chance

Mario Balotelli

Azzurri makes changes, but set sights on Brazil TURIN: Italy will look for another solid qualifying performance today as they look to seal their ticket for the 2014 World Cup against the Czech Republic today.

A win for Cesare Prandelli’s side would seal Italy’ trip to Brazil with two games remaining in Group B, which the Azzurri currently lead with a seven-point advantage on Bulgaria.

Italy are missing several players who featured in the 1-0 win over Bulgaria on Friday and the Czechs will be determined to produce a solid performance following a shock 2-1 defeat to Armenia which has compromised their hopes.

However Prandelli welcomes back several players who were missing in Palermo that should allow him to switch to a formation that has worked in past encounters.

AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli, missing Friday due to suspension, returns to the fray alongside club-mate, midfielder Riccardo Montolivo and Southampton striker Pablo (Pablo) Osvaldo.

Their return means Prandelli is likely to switch from the 4-3-2-1 used against Bulgaria with goalscorer Alberto Gilardino the lone striker, to a possible 3-5-2.

Although Italy ultimately dominated

and emerged victorious in Sicily last week, the performance-especially in the second half-was at times disorganised and ragged.

A switch to a formation that should allow Italy to dominate the midfield and provide ball to the likely strike partnership of Balotelli and Osvaldo will allw the Azzurri to approach Tuesday in a more relaxed manner. In defence, Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci could be shifted to the right-back position, making way for Daniele De Rossi, while Juve club-mate Giorgio Chiellini occupies the left-back role.

Prandelli has yet to name his starting XI but Bonucci sees no problem in the switch.

“It’s not a problem for me. Daniele has better feet than me, he’s perfect for this kind of situation,” Bonucci told Gazzetta dello Sport yesterday.

The changes in defence come after Prandelli lost Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonelli to injury, both of whom limped off late in the win over Bulgaria.

Today’s match at the Olympic Stadium could be cause for another celebration as Gianluigi is expected to make his 136th appearance for Italy and thus equal the alltime national record held by retired Fabio Cannavaro. —AFP

SINGAPORE: Uzbekistan can take a huge step towards becoming the first Central Asian team to reach the World Cup when they host Jordan in the second leg of their Asian play-off today.

The Uzbeks brought home a precious away goal from last week’s 1-1 draw, giving them the edge as they seek to reach an intercontinental showdown against a team from South America.

Uzbekistan have been this far before, only to see their hopes dashed by some bizarre officiating in the 2005 play-offs against Bahrain.

But Friday’s draw in Amman, where Jordan beat Asian giants Japan and Australia earlier in qualifying, has raised hopes of better luck this time for the White Wolves.

“We achieved the minimum goal and now I believe we will do our job in Tashkent and qualify for the next round,” said Uzbek coach Mirdjalal Kasimov.

“It will be decided in Tashkent, but with our supporters we will play for them and I believe we will qualify,” he added, according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) website. Kasimov was among the players in 2005 when Uzbekistan, 1-0 up against Bahrain in the first leg in Tashkent, had a successful penalty kick chalked off for encroachment.

Instead of a re-take, referee Toshimitsu Yoshida mistakenly gave an indirect free-kick, and when Uzbekistan protested after the game FIFA surprisingly annulled the Uzbeks’ 1-0 win.

Bahrain drew the replay 1-1 and went on to win the tie on away

AMMAN: A Jordanian boy waves his national flag and cheers as he watches his national team play their 2014 World Cup qualifier football match against Uzbekistan at the King Abdullah international stadium in Amman on September 6, 2012. —AFP goals, losing out to Trinidad and Tobago for a berth at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Now Kasimov has the chance to right that wrong with a team including captain Server Djeparov, Uzbekistan’s scorer in Amman and a two-time Asian player of the year, as well as Anzhi Makhachkala midfielder Odil Ahmedov.

Progression at Pakhtakor Stadium

would be a proud moment for the unglamorous, landlocked nation, sandwiched between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in a row of former Soviet states.

Uzbekistan have long been one of Asia’s better sides and they reached the 2011 Asian Cup semifinals before being walloped 6-0 by Australia.

But Jordan’s coach Hossam

Hassan, who saw action at the 1990 World Cup as a striker with Egypt, is hoping the desert kingdom can still poach victory in the tough away tie.

“It is still half-time and we will play the second game in Tashkent today,” he said. The winner will face the fifth-placed team from South American qualifying, a position currently occupied by Uruguay who have three games left to play. —AFP

France targets playoff spot GOMEL: After a disappointing draw last week, France is now focused on second place in its World Cup qualifying group.

The 1998 world champions visit Belarus on Tuesday, and a win in Group I will edge them closer to clinching at least a playoff spot for next year’s tournament in Brazil.

With two matches left, France trails world champion Spain by three points but is five points ahead of Finland. Belarus is last and can no longer qualify.

“We’re targeting a second-place finish to reach the playoffs,” France midfielder Mathieu Valbuena said. “We were not the favorites in this group but at one stage we dreamt of the top spot. Now we must get back to reality, which is the playoffs in November. We must think positive and find the net again.” The top teams automatically qualify for the World Cup while eight of the nine second-place teams go into the playoffs.

France winger Franck Ribery is doubtful for the match because of injury and his absence would be a blow to France. The pacy winger was recently named best player in Europe after leading Bayern Munich to success in the Champions League, the Bundesliga and the German Cup last season.

“I can’t say that I’m 100 percent fit but I hope to play,” Ribery told French daily L’Equipe. Also, Karim Benzema’s starting spot is under threat.

The Real Madrid striker has not scored in his last 15 games for France. Benzema is the most prolific player in the current France squad with 15 goals from 60 matches. France coach Didier Deschamps has backed him despite a nagging lack of efficiency at the international level.

Benzema last scored for France in a friendly, a 4-0 win over Estonia in June 2012.

Deschamps paired Benzema with Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud in the 0-0 draw in Tbilisi

against Georgia. Benzema was replaced in the 62nd minute by Marseille striker Pierre-Andre Gignac.

Giroud could be given the chance on Tuesday to play up front as a lone striker the way he does at Arsenal. France has not found the net in its last five games, the worst drought in its history.

“We can’t win a match if we don’t manage to open the scoring,” Deschamps said. “We can do and we must do more.”

France beat Belarus 3-1 last year in World Cup qualifying. But Belarus has created problems for France in the past, winning 1-0 three years ago and drawing 1-1 in June 2011 in a European Championship qualifier. Midfielders Blaise Matuidi and Paul Pogba were suspended for the Georgia match but will be available in Belarus.

Spain has the week off but will host Belarus and Georgia in October while France will take on Finland. —AP

Argentina, Colombia close in on World Cup berths

RIYADH: UAE’s national football team player Omar Abdulrahman (front) dribbles past New Zealand’s player Jacob Spoonley during their international friendly football match at the King Fahad stadium in the Saudi capital. —AFP

Argentina thrash Boca Juniors BUENOS AIRES; Argentina’s gain in recovering playmaker Fernando Gago was Boca Juniors’ loss as they went down to a 3-0 defeat at promoted Olimpo in the “Inicial” championship.

Gago was with Argentina preparing to try to secure their World Cup qualification away to Paraguay on Tuesday while Boca travelled south to Bahia Blanca to meet Olimpo on Sunday.

Two goals from Matias Perez Guedes and another by Agustin Vuletich gave modest Olimpo their victory over Boca, who were also missing goalkeeper Agustin Orion, also with Argentina, and the injured Juan Roman Riquelme.

“I’m worried about our irregular performances...In two identical dead-ball situations they settled the match,” Boca coach Carlos Bianchi told reporters.

Gago had been at the heart of Boca’s best performance of the season a week earlier when they beat Velez Sarsfield 2-1 at La Bombonera in the former Real Madrid, Valencia and AS Roma midfielder’s return

for the club where he began his career.

Boca are in mid-table with nine points from six matches, two points ahead of archrivals River Plate, who ended a three-match run without a victory by beating Tigre 3-0 at the Monumental.

Giovanni Simeone, 18-year-old son of former Argentina captain and current Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, scored a fine debut goal between a brace by midfielder Manuel Lanzini.

Argentinos Juniors, who escaped relegation on the final day of last season, are top with 13 points after their 1-0 win over All Boys at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on Saturday.

San Lorenzo are joint second with Arsenal a point behind after Sunday’s 2-0 away win over Rosario Central. The bad news for San Lorenzo was Monday’s confirmation that their Uruguayan striker Martin Cauteruccio, the championship’s top scorer with five goals, had damaged a knee ligament and would be out for seven months. —Reuters

BUENOS AIRES: Goalkeeper Sergio Romero returns to the scene of his international debut looking to equal a record run of 26 matches unbeaten as Argentina visit Paraguay determined to book their World Cup ticket today.

Colombia, equal on 26 points with Argentina at the top of the South American group, can also book their passage to next year’s finals in Brazil with a draw against Uruguay at the Centenario in Montevideo (2200 GMT).

Along with third-placed Chile, who have a bye, the top three are guaranteed of at least reaching the fifth-place playoff against an Asian qualifier.

Romero, who made his debut in a 1-0 defeat in the equivalent fixture in Asuncion under then coach Diego Maradona on the way to the 2010 finals in South Africa, is eyeing Sergio Goycochea’s 26-match Argentina record.

Penalty specialist “Goyco” had his unbeaten run between Argentina’s defeat in the 1990 World Cup final in Rome and a 2-1 loss in a qualifier in Colombia in August 1993.

Romero returns to the side along with captain Lionel Messi and striker Sergio Aguero after the trio missed the 2-1 friendly win over Italy in Rome last month.

A victory will secure Argentina’s passage to the finals but they may go into their match at the Defensores del Chaco (0140 GMT Wednesday) having already done so without yet playing.

Argentina’s match is the last of four South American qualifiers on Tuesday and results in earlier clashes could ensure they finish in the top four places in the group and qualify.

The fifth-placed team, at present Uruguay, will go into a two-legged playoff against the winners of an Asian decider between Uzbekistan and Jordan.

Coach Alejandro Sabella will have another chance to test his team-building, fielding a side lack-

Sergio Romero ing four first choice players through suspension and left back Marcos Rojo due to injury.

Striker Gonzalo Higuain is serving the second of a two-match ban and midfielder Javier Mascherano the first while centre backs Ezequiel Garay and Federico Fernandez have accumulated two bookings each.

“Against Bolivia (in March), there were also many changes and we did well. The way the team functions is always the same,” Romero told reporters. However, Sabella welcomes back Fernando Gago, whose midfield playmaking affords Messi the freedom to play just behind the strikers across the face of attack where he makes the most damage.

Rival coach Victor Genes is rejuvenating a Paraguay side who have lost any realistic chance of going to the finals for the fifth time in a row.

He has promoted several promising players from the under-20s he managed before landing the top job in July and the team have responded by crushing Bolivia 4-0 in his first qualifier in charge on Friday.

Uruguay have bounced back from their 2012 slump and are on course to at least reach the finals via the playoff, but against Colombia they will be without suspended central defenders Diego Lugano and Diego Godin and injured left back Martin Caceres and forward

Diego Forlan.

Colombia’s 1-0 win over Ecuador in a downpour in Barranquilla on Friday ensured they would at least reach the playoffs and remain on course to reach the finals for the first time since France 98.

Fourth-placed Ecuador, who play their home games at 2,800 metres in Quito, must impose their comfort with the thin Andean air at high altitude against eliminated Bolivia, who entertain all visitors at 3,600 in La Paz (2000). Venezuela, who have never been to the finals, and Peru, last there at Spain 82, clash in Puerto La Cruz (2355) with both needing to win to stay in the hunt. —Reuters

Unglamorous Uzbeks eye World Cup chance

First place at stake as England meet Ukraine

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Softball vow to fight on after Olympic rejection

Page 17

NEW YORK: US tennis player Serena Williams (right) holds her winning trophy while posing with Belarus Victoria Azarenka (left) during the 2013 US Open women’s final. —AFP

Serena wins 17th grand slam crown NEW YORK: Serena Williams repeated as US Open women’s champion by holding off a battling Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1 in a windblown final at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.

Williams bounded in a series of joyous jumping jack leaps after Azarenka’s backhand sailed long on the second match point of a thrilling, two-hour 45minute final that earned her a fifth US Open singles title that took her total to 17 grand slams.

The big-hitting American, who turns 32 later this month, became the oldest U.S. Open women’s winner since tennis turned professional 45 years ago, eclipsing Australian Margaret Court, who was 31 years and 55 days when she won the title in 1973.

The triumph moved Williams to within one grand slam singles crown of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for a tie for fourth place on the all-time list behind Court (24), Steffi Graf (22) and Helen Wills Moody (19).

It had looked like it was going to be plain sailing for Williams after she won a difficult first set, boosted by a late break in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead and then served out a love game before racing to a

4-1 second-set lead.

Williams, who earlier looked confounded by the gusty wind that affected service tosses and the direction of bounces off groundstrokes and was muttering to herself between points, finally settled into a rhythm in the second set.

“The wind was unbelievable,” said the champion.

“And it just got worse and worse and it never let up.

But at this point you have to play under any circumstance.”

She claimed the 4-1 lead after Azarenka doublefaulted three times in the fifth and her U.S. Open repeat looked a certainty as she begun to find her range on her imposing service game that saw her serve broken only twice in six previous matches.

But Azarenka was not ready to capitulate. “I think it was raising from the first point, the tension, the battle, the determination,” the second seed said about the quality of the match. “It was really kind of like boiling the water. It felt from every point, it was rising the level.”

The Belarusian showed her fight and took advantage of a string of Williams errors to break

right back for 4-2 and rode that momentum.

Twice Williams served for the match, at 5-4 and again at 6-5, but Azarenka rose up to break the American’s serve and force a tiebreaker.

Williams took a 3-1 lead but Azarenka won five of the next six points to seize a 6-4 advantage and sent the match to a third set when Williams belted a backhand long to lose it 8-6.

“I think I got a little uptight,” Williams said about squandering her chances. “I wasn’t playing smart tennis. (But) you have to keep fighting for everything.”

The third set stayed on serve until the fourth game when another double fault, her seventh of the match, sank Azarenka and handed Williams a 31 lead.

With the stadium crowd roaring their support for the home favorite, the American broke Azarenka two games later for good measure to make it 5-1 before she claimed victory when the Belarusian sent a backhand long on the second match point.

Williams blasted 36 winners in the match against 17 for Azarenka, and blasted nine aces against just

two for the Belarusian, who won an impressive 10 of 15 points at the net when she stepped up the pressure on Williams.

“Victoria, you played unbelievable,” said Williams at the trophy ceremony. “What a great match and what a great person. Vika is such a great opponent, she’s such a great fighter. It was never over until match point,” added Williams.

The top seed collected the $2.6 million top prize and pocketed an addition $1 million bonus for having won the US Open run-up series of tournaments.

Azarenka said she had been beaten by the better player. “It is a tough loss. But the best player deserves the win today. I gave it all again this year,” said Azarenka, who lost 7-5 in the third set to Williams in last year’s final. “We gave it everything we got.”

In the men’s doubles final, Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were convincing winners over Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares.The India-Czech pairing of Paes and Stepanek dominated the title match to record a 6-1 6-3 victory over their Austria-Brazil rivals.

Paes, 40, won his third US Open doubles title and eighth major doubles title of his career. It was Stepanek’s second major doubles win after claiming the 2012 Australian Open with Paes.

Stepanek, 34, said the win enabled them to qualify for an important goal. “There is one thing we would like to achieve, and that’s winning the world championships at the end of the year, because that’s the trophy which is missing in Leander’s showcase,” the Czech said.

Croatia made a clean sweep of the junior singles titles when Borna Coric and Ana Konjuh posted victories at Flushing Meadows.

The fourth-seeded Coric beat Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis 3-6 6-3 6-1 in the boys’ final before second-seeded Konjuh beat US wildcard Tornado Black 3-6 6-4 7-6(6). Coric, 16, said the US Open would be his last junior tournament.

“I’ve won the slam” he said about his Sunday victory. “That was the goal at the beginning of the year.” Coric has been named to Croatia’s Davis Cup team for the tie next week against Britain at Umag. —Reuters

49ers, Lions, Saints, and Rams triumph NEW YORK: The NFL came back in a big way on opening day, with long plays highlighting games from coast to coast. No one was more dynamic Sunday than Anquan Boldin, who made that transcontinental trip this year, after his trade from Super Bowl winner Baltimore to NFC champion San Francisco. Boldin was unstoppable in his debut as a 49ers receiver, making 13 catches for 208 yards and scoring once in a 34-28 victory over Green Bay. Lions 34, Vikings 24 At Detroit, Bush did exactly what the Lions signed him for: to break open a game. Bush turned a short pass into a 77-yard touchdown in the third quarter and finished with 191 yards of offense.

“We love his talent, but he’s here because of the way he complements Calvin and the way Calvin complements him,” Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said, referring to All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson.

Joique Bell rushed for two TDs for Detroit.

Adrian Peterson ran for a 78-yard TD on his first carry and scored on a 4-yard run to give Minnesota a 14-6 lead in the second. He ended up with 93 yards rushing. “Offensively, we really weren’t sound with everything, pretty much the entire game,” the 2012 MVP said.

Saints 23, Falcons 17 Sean Payton’s coaching return after a one-year league suspension for the Saints’ bounties was a tight affair, but a successful one for host New Orleans.

FORT WORTH: Cam White No. 88 of the TCU Horned Frogs Drew Brees passed for 357 yards and two is tackled by Marice Sutton No. 7 of the Southeastern scores, and Roman Harper secured the win when he intercepted a tipped fourth-down pass in the Louisiana Lions at Amon G. Carter Stadium. —AFP

end zone with under a minute left.

“It was just important to get the first win,” Payton said. “You try to compartmentalize each week, each game, and we played a good team. ...

We fought hard, especially late.”

Brees connected with Marques Colston for a 25-yard touchdown pass during which the receiver also set a franchise mark for catches with 533.

Brees also hit tight end Jimmy Graham for a 7-yard score in the third quarter.

Matt Ryan passed for 304 yards and scoring passes to Tony Gonzalez and Julio Jones. He also drove Atlanta to the Saints 3 in the final minute before falling just short.

Rams 27, Cardinals 24 At St. Louis, Zuerlein kicked his fourth field goal, a 48-yarder with 40 seconds left. “Basically, I stay calm, swing like I know how and the rest takes care of itself,” Zuerlein said. “There’s no better feeling.

“I don’t even know the distances when I go out there to be honest, I just go out there and try to do my job.” And Quinn was a force. “It’s a great way to start the season, of course,” he said.

Jared Cook had two touchdown catches in his Rams debut. The tight end fumbled a potential third TD, a 55-yarder that would have opened the scoring, when rookie Tyrann Mathieu punched the ball free at the 8 and the play resulted in a touchback. But St. Louis rallied from an 11-point hole to win.

Larry Fitzgerald caught two touchdown passes from new quarterback Carson Palmer and Arizona’s defense had a TD. Cowboys 36, Giants 31 Brandon Carr returned an interception 49

DENVER: Running back Tony Jones No. 26 of the Colorado Buffaloes is knocked out of bounds by defensive back Bernard Blake No. 23 of the Colorado State Rams during the 2013 Rocky Mountain Showdown at Sports Authority Field. —AFP yards for a clinching touchdown, and the Cowboys beat Eli Manning and the Giants for the first time at their fancy $1.2 billion stadium with six takeaways.

Manning threw three touchdown passes to Victor Cruz and had New York in position for a comeback victory despite the flurry of mistakes.

Manning was picked off three times and running back David Wilson lost two fumbles, one of which was run back 27 yards for a TD by Barry Church.

Tony Romo shook off a hit to the ribs that knocked him out for the final Dallas play of the first half and threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jason Witten.

Patriots 23, Bills 21 Stephen Gostkowski’s 35-yard field goal with 5

seconds left gave visiting New England its 10th straight opening win. The Patriots needed to rally, and Tom Brady turned in his 36th career victory in which the Patriots were tied or trailed in the fourth quarter. Brady finished 29 of 52 for 288 yards and two touchdowns. Bill Belichick won his 206th career game to move one ahead of Marty Schottenheimer for sixth place on the coaching list. The Bills have won one of their past 20 meetings and are 3-24 against New England since Belichick took over as Patriots coach in 2000.

Bears 24, Bengals 21 At Chicago, Jay Cutler passed to Brandon Marshall for a 19-yard touchdown to make Marc Trestman’s coaching debut with the Bears a success. —AP

The mega rupee slide

Business

Page 22 Uzbekistan, China sign deals worth $15bn Page 23

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

BMW eclipses car show rivals

Tawasul Telecom sponsors ‘Capacity Eurasia 2013’

Page 25

Page 26

FRANKFURT: Mark Adams, Vice President of General Motors Europe, presents the new Opel Monza Concept at the IAA auto show in Frankfurt am Main yesterday.—AFP (See Page 25)

Growth picking up in rich countries: OECD Emerging nations stall • Philippines only bright spot PARIS: Growth is picking up pace in most major rich nations but momentum is slowing or stable in emerging economies, the OECD said yesterday. Economic growth is accelerating in the United States, Britain and the euro-zone, while it is above trend in Japan, according to the OECD’s index of composite leading indicators.

The index is considered to be a reliable guide to future economic activity. The index suggested Italy and France are switching to growth. But the OECD, grouping 34 advanced countries, said growth was below trend in Brazil and India.

Meanwhile it was returning to trend in

China and was around trend level in Russia.

In a separate report, the OECD said the Philippines was the only emerging Asian nation with strong business cycle momentum, although China and Singapore have stabilized. The OECD said “the key imminent downside risk facing Southeast Asia, China and India is the turmoil in the financial market, triggered by the prospects of tapering of quantitative easing (QE) policy in the US.” The US stimulus program led to a flood of funds into emerging markets seeking higher returns, but the impending shift in monetary policy has seen a sharp withdrawal, causing currencies and equities in

some emerging markets to slump The Philippines is the only emerging Asian nation with strong business cycle momentum, although China and Singapore have stabilized, the OECD Development Centre said yesterday.

Chinese growth was now returning to trend, meriting a “Stay the same” reading for the business cycle, after a slowdown that had weakened momentum across ASEAN nations. India had a “weak” business cycle reading with growth below trend in latest Asian Business Cycle Indicators report.

Singapore and Malaysia were now rated

as stable. Indonesia and Thailand had weak ratings.

The OECD said “the key imminent downside risk facing Southeast Asia, China and India is the turmoil in the financial market, triggered by the prospects of tapering of quantitative easing (QE) policy in the US. It noted emerging Asian economies with large current account deficits that are more vulnerable to rapid capital outflows such as India and Indonesia bore the brunt of the financial turmoil. The OECD warned volatile global oil prices due to tension in the Middle East could also pose a problem if the situation persists. — AFP

Al-Khatem, Zain’s JSC in Iraq, holds first AGM Bader Al-Kharafi appointed MD BAGHDAD: Zain Group announces that its newly-established Joint Stock Company (JSC) in Iraq, ‘Al-Khatem Company for Telecommunications’, held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) with over 99 percent of shareholders attending.

The AGM resulted in the voting in of seven board members and seven alternate board members. A subsequent meeting of Al- Khatem’s Board took place and saw the election of Mohammed Charchafchi as Chairman of the Board, Asaad Al-Banwan as Deputy Chairman. Bader Al-Kharafi was appointed Managing Director.

Commenting on this historic milestone, Al-Kharafi, Managing Director of Al-Khatem who is also a Member of the Board of Directors of Zain Group said, “Since entering the Iraqi market a decade ago in 2003, Zain Group has invested over $4.5 billion to the development of the country’s telecommunications industry, offering Iraqis reliable mobile telephony services.”

Furthermore, “Zain Iraq aims to fulfill its requirement to become a listed company on the ISX in the first half of 2014, providing investors the opportunity to invest in the telecommunications sector and benefit from the future growth potential of Zain Iraq.” He added, “Zain Group will continue to support the local management team whose solid track record is marked by continuing revenue growth and improving profitability over the years, maintaining Zain’s undisputed market leadership in Iraq,” concluded AlKharafi.

On his part, Wael Ghanayem, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of Zain Iraq said, “The accomplishment of converting the Zain Iraq entity, previously domiciled outside the country, to an Iraqi Joint Stock Company called ‘Al-Khatem’, and the holding of this AGM, are preparatory steps in order to list ‘Al-Khatem’ on the Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX), in accordance with the company’s license conditions.”

Ghanayem further added, “The future is very promising for Zain Iraq, as the country’s GDP growth rate of 9 percent is one of the highest in the region, and considering that the population is very young coupled with a relatively low penetration rate below the region’s average and the expected roll-out of 3G high speed data services in the near future, bodes well for the company and its stakeholders”.

To support its ongoing efforts in raising awareness for the upcoming IPO, Zain Group and Zain Iraq senior management teams will be holding an investor conference on September 12, 2013 in Dubai that will be attended by an estimated 100 Iraqi, regional and global investors and financial investment professionals. The objective of the event is to give an in-depth view into Zain Iraq’s business and strategy, as well as an update on the IPO process.

Zain Iraq is part of the Zain Group, a leading telecommunications operator across the

Bader Al-Kharafi Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 44.4 million active customers as of 30 June, 2013.

Break Doha deadlock, new WTO chief tells nations GENEVA: Negotiators must inject new life into stalled global trade talks within weeks or risk seeing the world slide down the road to protectionism, the new leader of the W TO warned yesterday. Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, in his debut address to the World Trade Organization’s 159 member economies, urged them to break the deadlock ahead of a crunch summit in Bali in December. “It is clear the system is in trouble,” Azevedo said at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters. Trading nations have been at odds for years over how to cut barriers to commerce, leaving WTO-brokered talks

moribund.

“The perception of the world is that we have forgotten how to negotiate. The perception is paralysis. It is essential that we breathe new life into the negotiating process. That’s why success at the Bali ministerial conference is vital,” Azevedo said.

“While the benefits of success would be great, the consequences of failure would be even greater. The future of the multilateral trading system is at stake.”

Azevedo told reporters that the globe could reap huge benefits from a wide-ranging trade deal, potentially adding several

hundred billion dollars, or even over a trillion dollars, to the annual sum of global commerce. That would represent a crucial boost in tough times.

The WTO estimates that world trade will grow by 2.5 percent this year, rather than the previously-forecast 3.3 percent, and by 4.5 percent in 2014 rather than 5.0 percent, due largely to a sluggish European Union recovery. Trade growth was 2.0 percent in 2012, down from 5.2 percent in 2011.

Members of the WTO, which sets the rules of global commerce, launched their “Doha Round” talks at a summit in Qatar in 2001.

The goal was to craft a W TO-wide accord on opening markets and removing trade hurdles such as subsidies, excessive taxes and red tape, and harness global commerce to develop poorer economies.

But after early high hopes, the talks stalled amid clashes over the necessary give and take, notably between China, the EU, India and the United States. “The world will not wait for the WTO indefinitely. It will move on and will move on with choices that will not be as efficient or as inclusive,” warned Azevedo. “The intermission is over,” he said. —AFP

Gulf markets resume slide MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS DUBAI: Most Gulf bourses resumed declines yesterday as US Congress prepared to debate on whether or not to approve a military strike on Syria, while Egypt rose after a full acquisition offer for Orascom Construction.

Dubai’s benchmark dropped 2 percent to 2,325 points, giving back Sunday’s gains to slump to a two-month low. “This volatility shows the market didn’t bottom out and the technical outlook is still negative,” said Firas AlZghaibi, financial markets strategist at brokerage MENA Corp.

“Most likely, the index will break below 2,300. A typical target is 2,220 but because of news-flow, volatility may rise so we might see lower levels.” Abu Dhabi’s index fell 1.4 percent, down for a fifth session and to slump to its lowest close since May 27. US President Barack Obama is seeking support from Congress for punitive military action against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack in a civil war that the United Nations says has killed at least 100,000 people.

Congress will be in session on Monday for the first time since August. Debate on Syria could begin in the full Senate this week, with voting as early as Wednesday; the House of Representatives could take up the issue later this week or next. In Qatar, the share measure retreated 1.2 percent, taking its losses to 9.5 percent since August 22. “Heavy speculative trading is taking place - investors are trying quick hit and run transactions and cashing out before the end of the day rather than holding on to shares as the attack on Syria could come at any time,” said Yassir Mckee, wealth manager at Al Rayan Financial Brokerage.

“Qatar (market) losses will continue at relevant and parallel speed to American talks about military intervention in Syria.” Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s measure climbed 0.1 percent, up for a second session since Thursday’s two-month low but gains were capped as geopolitical risk weighed on sentiment.

In Egypt, the bourse bucked a regional downtrend as Orascom Construction’s Dutch-listed affiliate announced a full acquisition offer, lifting investor interest. Shares in OCI climbed 1.7 percent to 255 Egyptian pounds, matching the offer, at 255 pounds per share in cash or one share of Amsterdam-listed OCI NV. Tender periods will run from Oct. 22-28 and Jan 19-23. In a previous offer, OCI NV bought over 97 percent of the Cairolisted firm. A successful buyout would mark the delisting of what was once the Cairo market’s biggest blue chip, but OCI has already been taken out of the benchmark 30-stock index. Some investors are willing to bid OCI’s market price above the tender price because they want to get their hands on OCI NV shares, which are now above 30.0 euros compared to around 20 in early July. OCI accounted for about a quarter of Cairo’s trading. “Generally, market liquidity is very low but the OCI tender offer is helping the market,” said Islam Batrawy, deputy director of sales and trading at Egypt’s Naeem Brokerage. Cairo’s 30-stock benchmark climbed 1.1 percent to 5,245 points, but faces major technical resistance around 5,300 points, which was the support in late July and mid-August. The 100-stock index rose 1.3 percent.— Reuters

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

BUSINESS

Vodafone urges Kabel shareholders to accept $10bn bid

The mega rupee slide MARKAZ ECONOMIC REPORT

By Mandagolathur Raghu The Indian rupee (INR) is one of the worst performing currencies in the world during 2013. At Rs65.5/USD it slid by a whopping 19.8 percent in 2013 (so far) after sliding down by 4 percent during 2012. The month of August was especially devastating. Since 2000, the current rupee level is the highest ever seen (look at the graph).

From a low of Rs 39/dollar in Feb 2008, the rupee is close to Rs 65.5/dollar. Repeated efforts

by RBI to stem the rot went in vain so far. The trigger for such a dramatic fall has been attributed to US decision to roll back the Quantitative Easing (QE) as US economy has started showing signs of a pickup.

The following questions emerge out of this: 1. Why did the rupee depreciate so fast?

2. How does it affect various people?

3. What is the further downside and where can it settle?

4. What is the long-term prospect of rupee?

5. What should be the strategy?

Let me try and answer them one by one: 1. Why did the rupee depreciate so fast?

Technically rupee depreciates against the dollar when people sell rupee and buy dollars.

And when people sell rupees and buy dollars, it results in negative capital flows and leads to downward pressure on the currency (and viceversa). The following reasons can be explored: a.

US monetary policy b.

Slowing Indian economy c.

Ineffective RBI d.

Corporate debt and hedge e.

Weak domestic equity market

Also, during the past few years, Indian government has attained notoriety for governance lapses (2G scam, etc) and policy missteps.

Revising the IT Act retrospectively from 1962 in order to bring Vodafone to book was a huge blow to the confidence in our legal structure to foreign investors. Also, there were several governance failures that keeps India in the wrong side of the news globally (a good indication is the number of negative articles that appear in The Economist).

Result: Foreign investors exit by selling rupees and buying dollars Ineffective RBI Reserve Bank of India is tasked with ensuring the financial stability of the economy and hence is the sole inventor of the monetary policy. In the past, when currency encountered volatility or undue fluctuations, RBI used its foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the market (through purchase or sale of dollars) and thereby reduce the volatility of the currency.

However, this time around, they raised their hand and declared openly their intention not to interfere in preventing the rupee slide. This may be due to limited foreign exchange reserves currently at $277 billion enough to cover only 7 months of imports. For China, it amounted to $3,500 billion and represented 21 months of import cover, a far comfortable situation to be in.

Instead, during the July and early August meetings, the RBI intervened by tightening the monetary policy. It increased the short term

•

Economic image of the country (not able to arrest the fall) • Existing foreign investors (their investments are worth less now) & • Residents (in the form of say high oil price) On the other hand, it benefits the following: • Exporters (as they get more rupees for the same dollar) • Non-resident Indians (NRI’s) (as they get more rupees for the same dollar) 3. What is the further downside and where will it settle?

While domestic weakness in terms of low growth, high deficit, high inflation has contributed to the falling rupee, we should also blame the global financial crisis accentuating the problem for us especially Europe. This has caused many currencies in the world to fall apart from India. RBI is playing a sensible role of not exhausting our foreign exchange reserves and is allowing the market to determine the level of rupee. If required, it could call on SBI to raise external financing from NRI’s like how it did in 1998 and 2000 (remember the millennium bonds!). However, the days of Rs50-55 are gone. Political weakness is expected to continue with weak policy responses on all issues especially with the elections around the corner.

There is no quick solution to deficit problems and inflation. In terms of where they will settle, rupee is a moving target and hence it cannot settle anywhere. In terms of calls, investment banks place at from a pessimistic Rs 70 to an optimistic Rs 60 in the next 6-12 months. Rupee predictions by various Financial Institutions Deutsche Bank - Rs 70 (one month) CRISIL - Rs 60 (by Mar 2014) Barclays - Rs 61 (next 6-7 months) UBS - Rs 70 Credit Suisse - Rs 65 4. What is the long-term outlook for the rupee?

The current Rupee bash has raised some structural questions about the long-term potential of the Indian rupee. Any call on the Indian rupee is a function of the long-term performance of the Indian economy and the impact of global crisis in as much as it has an impact on India. India, along with China, is among the fastest growing economies in the world even after taking the current dip in growth. Given the right leadership, and reforms, the economic potential of India is certainly good. India is among a very select few countries in the world which does not have any sovereign borrowings in foreign currency. All its debt are domestic though Indian companies have foreign debt. Hence, the current abyss can not only be stopped but can be reversed with some wise leadership and policy reforms. With respect to global crisis, it cannot be predicted as to when and where it can arise. There are several pressure points in the world and anything can erupt anytime to cause tremors in emerging markets like India. Only sound monetary and fiscal policy can save the day for India.

5.

What should NRIs dp?

The rupee currently trades at Rs230/KD after touching a high of Rs240 on August 28. From the level of Rs190/KD seen during May 2013, this represents a fall of nearly 25 percent within a span of 4 months, something that has never happened before. Therefore, for non-resident Indians, this probably is the best time to remit money to India. If you have dollar investments, it will be wise to exit the position and remit the money back to India. If you have rupee denominated debt, this probably is the best time to partly or fully wind it down using remittance from abroad. However, borrowing in local markets to remit money to India may be a dangerous strategy as this involves taking calls on both currency and interest rates, the two most difficult things to predict in life! — Mandagolathur Raghu is the head of research at Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz), a leading asset management company based in Kuwait.

as well as financial stability).

Following were the key measures that he alluded to for rupee stabilization on the first day of his office: • More settlement of import trades in rupee which will help in lesser usage of dollars.

• Special swap window for Foreign Currency Non Resident Deposit B (FCNR B) to reduce cost of funds of banks by at least 250 basis points.

• Raising of Banks’ unimpaired Tier I capital to 100 percent from the current 50 percent.

Result: RBI has no arsenal to arrest the slide immediately but is using other indirect means.

Hope for appreciation of the rupee from the reforms taken by the new Governor.

Corporate hedge & debt Many Finance Managers, while managing their foreign exchange exposure, turned quite easy and relaxed due to continued rupee strength during the last few years especially during 2010 when rupee was averaging say 45 (you don’t need to hedge when rupee is strengthening if you are an importer and viceversa). They expected this to continue forever and hence did not bother to hedge their currency risk exposures. Also, many of them resorted to foreign currency borrowing mostly in short-term maturities from European banks disregarding the rupee depreciation danger.

However, when rupee started falling (much against their expectations) they were caught off guard and ran for cover to hedge their exposure which led to intense buying of dollars leading

US monetary policy The US Fed initiated a series of monetary easing programs more commonly known as quantitative easing (QE) which created copious amounts of liquidity in the global market. The simple idea behind QE is to purchase government bonds in order to keep the yields low, as low interest rate will then help economy recover. Now that the US economy is showing signs of recovery, the Fed has announced its intention to taper the QE ie, stop buying the bonds. In response to this news, the bond yields started moving up and capital has started moving back to US in search of safety. In other words, capital left markets like India, Brazil, etc and is going back to US. Result: Investors flee other currencies and take shelter in US Treasuries (the so called safe haven) causing USD to strengthen and other currencies to weaken Slowing Indian economy The Indian economy, which was once heralded as the next big thing by economists around the world, has lost its sheen and grew by a decade low of around 5 percent in 20122013.

Indian economy’s deficit is spiraling out of control. Both the fiscal deficit (expenditure more than income) and current account deficit (imports more than exports at a simple level) are headed for further deterioration during 2013 and next. While the fiscal deficit is at 4.9 percent of GDP, the current account deficit is at 4.8 percent in the year 2012-13. The current account deficit is triggered primarily by trade deficit (export-Import). Not only our imports exceed exports, but even within the imports the dominance is by oil and gold imports, something very difficult to control. Lack of progress in deficit reduction is causing poor foreign investor confidence which contributes to negative capital flows (meaning foreigners taking their money out of the country). The deficit is a long-term problem especially the fiscal deficit.

No matter which government is in place, populist policies will continue as a tool to gain votes and this will ensure that the deficit does not come down. However, if they do not go up, then that itself will be good news.

rates by hiking the marginal standing facility by 200 basis points. This further exacerbated the situation with the current economic conditions.

During its latest meeting, it signaled a reversal of this tightening policy. Hence, we can clearly understand the predicament of RBI to intervene. While RBI has not interfered directly, it has taken several steps to contain the situation: • It now requires exporters to repatriate 50 percent of export earnings placed in special accounts • Restrictions on investments done abroad

by Indian companies and citizens.

• Limits on intraday net open positions of foreign exchange dealers • Restricting currency derivatives (to check speculation) • Hiking the interest rate on NRI foreign currency deposits as well as rupee deposits The major news that has hit the street and has buoyed sentiments of investors, corporates and economists alike is the appointment of Raghuram Rajan as the new Governor of RBI. The former chief economist of IMF is known for his famous prediction of the 2008 global financial crisis and is widely tipped to steer the Indian economy back to growth. In his first address as the RBI Governor, he hinted at the RBI taking actions to save the rupee (although his primary focus is on inclusive growth and development,

to its appreciation. Now many short-term corporate debt is coming up for repayment which will also witness more dollar buying adding to the rupee pressure. Also, the ability to rollover the debt will be limited by European banks due to the European crisis.

Result: Companies will have to find dollars to repay their debt and incur loss due to unhedged positions Weak domestic capital market The Indian equity market has not been able to attract investments from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) due to the weak economy and the poor performance by Indian corporates.

Although the equity market has seen FII inflow of around $12 billion till August 2013, it has witnessed net FII outflow of $3.1 billion from June till August 2013 which has exacerbated the fall in the rupee. If you look at Table 2 the outflow seem to be more on debt than on equity. If this trend continues, it will result in the further depreciation of the rupee.

Result: FIIs will continue to shun Indian equity unless the economic conditions become more favorable.

2.

How does it affect various people?

A rupee weakness affects the following: • Importers (as they have to pay more rupees for the same dollar)

FRANKFURT/LONDON: Vodafone urged Kabel Deutschland shareholders to accept its 7.7 billion euro ($10.1 billion) offer, warning the bid would lapse if less than three quarters of them agree to sell Germany’s largest cable operator by tomorrow.

Earlier yesterday the Financial Times said the British mobile network operator may fail to reach the 75 percent acceptance threshold, citing anonymous shareholders.

Vodafone, which last week agreed the sale of its share in US operator Verizon Wireless for $130 billion, wants to buy Kabel Deutschland to offer more television and fixed-line services in Germany, its largest European mobile market. If the deal collapses, Vodafone would be left relying on an agreement to rent fixed lines from Deutsche Telekom, rather than owning its network. It also faces the risk of Kabel Deutschland becoming an aggressive competitor in mobile phones, analysts said.

“There will not be any additional acceptance period should the 75 percent acceptance condition not be met by Wednesday, 11 September,” Vodafone said yesterday.

Vodafone said that by Friday evening it had secured the support of holders of 11.86 percent of Kabel Deutschland, which operates Germany’s biggest cable network. That includes 4.27 percent of Kabel Deutschland shares Vodafone and a person that acts jointly with the group already owned.

In acquisitions, however, shareholders generally wait until the deadline to tender their shares in case a last-minute rival bid emerges. Kabel Deutschland shares were down 0.9 percent at 84.97 euros by 1104 GMT, just above Vodafone’s offer. Trading volumes in the shares were more than double those in the FTSE 300 and the German blue chip index.

Vodafone agreed a 84.5 euro a share offer for Kabel Deutschland in June, a near 40 percent premium to Kabel’s share price before the British company’s interest first emerged.

One of Kabel Deutschland’s 30 largest shareholders said yesterday he expected the deal to go through. “Shareholders are unlikely to get a better deal for their shares in the next three to four years.

Vodafone and Kabel D. can unlock high synergies from the joint utilisation of networks and a counter-bid is unlikely.” He said Kabel’s biggest rival in Germany, Liberty Global , was unlikely to make a counter offer after antitrust-clearance for its 2012 acquisition of Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg was overturned by a regional court last month.

Espirito Santo analyst Andrew Hogley said there was a risk that the Kabel Deutschland deal would fail, although on balance he expected it would go through, even if Vodafone had to reduce the acceptance threshold slightly.

“Kabel Deutschland on a standalone basis on our numbers is worth about 84 (euros), so it’s a fair price that Vodafone is offering but given the synergies they are claiming from the deal, it is not compelling,” he said. Vodafone said yesterday that Germany’s Federal Cartel Office had confirmed it would not request a referral from Europe on the deal.

It also said the European Commission was expected to complete an initial review of the offer

by Sept 20. Activist shareholder Paul E Singer, founder of Elliott Management, last month raised his stake in Kabel Deutschland to 5.1 percent, making him the company’s largest shareholder.

Singer, who declined to comment, runs hedge fund, Elliott Management, which is known for its battle for control over US oil firm Hess Corporation earlier this year. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal Irani Riyal

2.866 4.383 2.721 2.141 2.738 224.590 36.806 3.664 6.417 8.817 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

76.150 78.463 741.720 758.470 77.769 ARAB COUNTRIES

Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

41.650 40.920 1.332 173.050 403.260 1.916 3.102 34.392

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 285.450 Euro 378.220 Sterling Pound 448.440 Canadian dollar 273.290 Turkish lira 137.970 Swiss Franc 305.780 Australian Dollar 262.610 US Dollar Buying 284.250 GOLD 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

273.000 133.000 69.000

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL DRAFT 265.33 276.98 306.57 377.70 285.35 448.23 2.92 3.681 4.316 2.141 2.741 2.725 77.62 758.15 41.24 405.40 740.79 78.66 76.09

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 Thai Bhat Syrian Pound

Selling Rate 285.200 277.680 447.200 376.095 304.195 755.075 77.625 78.285 76.915 402.035 41.250 2.140 4.374 2.722 3.667 6.416 699.610 3.860 9.200 4.075

Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

3.900 86.770 9.200 4.075 3.900 86.770

Bahrain Exchange Company CURRENCY

BUY Europe 0.4389185 0.0067539 0.0463092 0.3708415 0.0429110 0.4335150 0.0390136 0.2992201

0.4479185 0.0187539 0.0513092 0.3783415 0.0481110 0.4410150 0.0440136 0.3082201

Australasia 0.2526819 0.2200848 0.0001130

0.2646819 0.2300848 0.0001130

Canadian Dollar Colombian Peso US Dollars

America 0.2673256 0.0001451 0.2831000

0.2763256 0.0001631 0.2852500

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

Asia 0.0036224 0.0031645 0.0457186 0.0164833 0.0000443 0.0342301 0.0043255 0.0000199 0.0028500 0.0027847 0.0031972 0.0820795 0.0025819 0.0026944

British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Scottish Pound Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Uganda Shilling

SELL

0.0036774 0.0033945 0.0507186 0.0195833 0.0000503 0.0373301 0.0043905 0.0000250 0.0038500 0.0029647 0.0034272 0.0890795 0.0027818 0.0027344

Philippine Peso Sierra Leone Singapore Dollar Sri Lankan Rupee Thai Baht

0.0059705 0.0000729 0.2199842 0.0021018 0.0084569

0.0064405 0.0000759 0.2256842 0.0021438 0.0090569

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 0.7502049 0.0392412 0.0126635 0.1450356 0.0000793 0.0001844 0.3967581 1.0000000 0.0001750 0.0221484 0.0012127 0.7298987 0.0776958 0.0755333 0.0463803 0.0019439 0.1711590 0.0762357 0.0012869

0.7587049 0.0412562 0.0191635 0.1468256 0.0000798 0.0002444 0.4042581 1.0000000 0.0001950 0.0461484 0.0018477 0.7408987 0.0784788 0.0761733 0.0489303 0.0021639 0.1771590 0.0778857 0.0013869

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

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 284.800 376.900 447.000 274.050 4.370 41.240 2.140 3.658 6.410 2.720 758.600 77.600 76.050*Rates are subject to change

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

BUSINESS

Osborne hails growing economy, slams Labor LONDON: Britain’s finance minister, George Osborne, said yesterday the UK economy had turned a corner and that its recovery was a vindication of his focus on fixing public finances. He accused his

political opponents of promising a “disastrous” change of course from the austerity he has imposed.

Osborne, his eye on elections due in May 2015, declared the government as

the winner of the long-running argument over the pace of spending cuts. In a direct rebuttal to the opposition Labor party, he said anyone who wanted to borrow more in order to spend now was “not fit for government”. “The economic collapse was even worse than we thought. Repairing it will take even longer than we hoped. But we held our nerve when many told us to abandon our plan,” Osborne said in a speech to economists and the media.

“And as a result, thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of the British people, Britain is turning a corner,” he said at a London building site where construction had recently restarted. Until now Osborne has been cautious about making political capital from the signs of life in Britain’s economy. But, calling on a growing body of economic evidence from recent months, he sounded his most upbeat note on the recovery yet.

“The evidence suggests tentative signs of a balanced, broad based and sustainable recovery, but we cannot take this for granted,” he said. The opposition Labor

party dismissed Osborne’s comments as an attempt to “rewrite history” and said his policies had stifled growth for three years.

Both Labor and the Conservatives are looking to set the agenda for their election campaigns at party conferences this month. Osborne used yesterday’s speech to counter opposition claims that he had done little to tackle a decline in living standards. The minister promised action to cut energy and water bills, transport costs and to reduce the cost of financial services.

“These are a burden on families - and we are doing everything we can do to reduce their cost - with more to come this autumn,” he said Labor has a modest lead over Cameron’s Conservatives in most polls.

However, Labour leader Ed Miliband and his would-be finance minister Ed Balls trail Cameron and Osborne when voters are asked who they trust to handle the economy.

Centre-left Labor, which held power

from 1997 to 2010, saw its economic credibility undermined by the financial crisis. Osborne also said a recent rise in government borrowing costs would have been even sharper if the Bank of England under its new governor, Mark Carney, had not given a long-term commitment to keeping interest rates low.

“Market movements since the August Inflation Report vindicate the need for forward guidance - the counterfactual would have been even bigger increases in yields in response to positive economic data,” he said. Financial markets have brought forward their expectations of a first rise in Bank of England interest rates since the forward guidance policy was announced in early August, but the general public now expect rates to stay on hold for longer.

Carney’s championing of forward guidance policies when he previously headed Canada’s central bank was a major reason why Osborne head-hunted him to succeed Mervyn King as BoE governor. —Reuters

Uzbekistan, China sign deals worth $15billion Oil & gas sector to remain focus

TASHKENT: Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov and Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday signed agreements worth $15 billion in key sectors, including the exploitation of oil, gas, and uranium fields in the Central Asian state. In the latest stop on Xi’s tour of Central Asia, President Karimov praised his energy-rich country’s growing ties with China which he described as the locomotive of the world economy.

“For all the years of our independent development, China has never linked the provision and expansion of multifaceted bilateral cooperation with any political or other conditions,” Karimov told reporters.

This appeared a veiled reference to Tashkent’s

sometimes awkward relations with the West over human rights concerns. Xi is on a closelywatched four nation tour of Central Asia that has already seen him sign major energy deals in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. He is later due to travel to Kyrgyzstan.

China over the last years has been ramping up its influence in a region that was once Moscow’s playground, seeking new sources of energy for its fast-growing economy.

The two sides also inked a document to make changes to an Uzbekistan-China gas pipeline agreement signed a few years ago. The changes were due to the planned construction of a fourth branch of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline

that runs through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Since 2002 China has invested more than $6 billion in the Uzbek economy, and the volume of bilateral trade reached $3.4 billion last year, according to the Uzbek president.

“One of our priorities is to increase the trade turnover between our countries to $5 billion by 2017,” Xi said. The Chinese president will also visit the ancient Silk Road town of Samarkand, where a Confucius Institute-China’s equivalent to British Councils or Goethe Institutes-is expected to open. “I have long dreamt of visiting ancient Samarkand... and it is a great honor for me that president Karimov is accompanying me to his hometown,” Xi said. —AFP

Romania PM: Disputed gold mine bill will be rejected

JOHANNESBURG: SA striking petrol station attendant holds a placard reading “6000 rands minimum wages in the industry” during a protest in Johannesburg yesterday. A strike by South African petrol station attendants got off to a slow start yesterday despite their union calling for them to join a wave of stoppages over wages sweeping the country. —AFP

S Africa’s fuel attendants strike off to slow start JOHANNESBURG: A strike by South African petrol station attendants got off to a slow start yesterday despite their union calling for them to join a wave of stoppages over wages sweeping the country. Most fuel stations in the economic hub of Johannesburg were open and workers, without their uniforms, filled up car tanks.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), which represents around a third of the sector’s employees, had called on fuel station attendants and mechanics to walk off the job after wage talks collapsed. Fuel attendants earn around 700 rands ($70, 53 euros) a week, according to Numsa, which is calling for a “double-digit” increase.

The labour group said yesterday attendants had been intimidated to work. “Those workers at work today are being threatened by their employers,” spokesman Castro

Ngobese told AFP. “We are doing everything to make sure workers come out in their numbers,” he added.

They were due to march to the offices of the fuel and motor industry retailers in Johannesburg and Cape Town to hand over a memorandum. Non-striking petrol attendants wore plain clothes to avoid intimidation from strikers, which can often be brutal and even deadly.

The new strikes come as tens of thousands of workers in the auto manufacturing and mining industries ended their work stoppages. Car makers returned to work yesterday after a 21-day stoppage, while gold mining workers called off their industrial action within days of refusing to go underground.

Harmony Gold, the last mine with stoppages, announced yesterday “that operations at all of its mines were normalized” after workers accepted an 8.0-percent increase. —AFP

BUCHAREST: Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said yesterday a controversial draft law clearing the way for a Canadian gold mine project in Transylvania will be voted down by parliament.

The acknowledgement came a day after more than 15,000 people took to the streets Sunday for the eighth straight day to protest against the project that will use thousands of tons of cyanide to extract the precious metal. “A majority of lawmakers are opposed to the draft law so it will be rejected,” Ponta told reporters. Canadian company Gabriel Resources, through its 80-percent owned subsidiary Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, plans to open Europe’s largest open-cast gold mine in the Transylvanian village of Rosia Montana. Last month Romania’s centre-left government submitted a bill that would it easier for the company to expropriate people’s property and granting “exceptional national interest status” to the mine, which aims to extract 300 tons of gold and 1,600 tons of silver.

Ponta’s surprise announcement followed a statement by Senate speaker Crin Antonescu who said the bill should be spiked. Antonescu and Ponta are co-presidents of Romania’s ruling centreleft coalition USL, but have sometimes taken opposite stands on major issues. “Since there is a clear majority against this draft law there is no point in protracting things,” Ponta stressed, adding that the two houses of parliament will rapidly debate and reject the bill.” That will be the end of it,” he said.

However that does not necessary mean the end of the mine project, which is mostly dependent upon the environment ministry issuing a permit.

Activists worry that the use of cyanide will poison groundwater and open-cast mining will destroy four mountain tops around Rosia Montana and unique Roman mining galleries at the site. —AFP

Reality forces Poland to dilute pro-market ideals WARSAW: For years, Poland has been a liberal economist’s dream: a country where government made decisions based on market logic rather than the political imperatives that have often intruded elsewhere. That changed this week. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced he was transferring a large chunk of assets from private pension funds to the state, freeing the government’s hand to boost public spending in the run-up to a national election in 2015.

The reform does not change Poland’s sound economic fundamentals: debt is still coming down, the cost of doing business is low, the government is fiscally prudent compared to its neighbors and rating agencies take a relaxed view. But it will profoundly affect a more subtle measure of Poland’s economic health: how foreign investors perceive it. After the reform, say some in the market, Poland’s crown as the most business-friendly big economy in Europe is slipping.

Asked how he felt when he heard Tusk announce the pension changes on Wednesday, one investment banker who works in Warsaw for a foreign bank told Reuters: “I went weak at the knees.” The Warsaw stockmarket tumbled in response to the changes, before recouping some of its losses on Friday. Poland’s government has argued that market jitters will be short-

lived, and that far from undermining Polish economic stability, the reforms will strengthen it.

Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski has said that bringing some of the private funds’ assets onto the state’s balance sheet will cut public debt by around 8 percent of economic output.

Rostowski rejected comparisons with Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban has come under fire for pursuing policies that hurt investors, including a nationalization of pensions. “Our reform is balanced and very rational, much more moderate than what has happened in Hungary,” he told a news conference on Friday. Investors still view Poland much more favorably than Hungary, but any parallels are awkward for Polish officials. In private conversations, they are often condescending about what they see as Orban’s populism.

Poland’s reform has now left it exposed to accusations of political opportunism not before seen under Tusk’s government. His party is under pressure, with its opinion poll rating having slipped behind the main opposition party. “(Tusk) used to have a reputation for prizing stability above all else,” said Nicholas Spiro, of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, a consultancy. “This is no longer the case.”

The psychological impact of Poland’s reform was

already being felt this week. Middle-class Poles who embraced the free market after the fall of Communism questioned their assumptions about the sanctity of private property in the new Poland.

Some compared the change to the nationalizations when Communists took power in Poland after World War Two. “This is my money,” one angry businessman with savings in the private funds told colleagues after a gathering of the country’s business elite in the spa resort of Krynica this week.

There is likely be a more tangible impact too.

Several industry insiders said they expected a dip in market debuts on the Warsaw bourse now that the private funds - previously active and deep-pocketed buyers of equity holdings - are to be marginalized. The Warsaw-based investment banker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was worried.

“How can I sell shares to OFE (the private pension funds) or to foreign investors in this situation? I’m afraid there will be a problem with placing share offers from Poland.” Market appetite for Polish equities will be tested when the government tries to sell its stakes in rail freight carrier PKP Cargo, and Energa, a power utility. The initial public offerings (IPOs) are scheduled for this year. —Reuters

SHANGHAI: The Bund, a well known waterfront and regarded as the symbol of town, at a construction site in Shanghai yesterday. China’s economy appears to be gradually rebounding from its deepest slump since the 2008 crisis, but analysts say improvement will depend on the strength of global demand for Chinese exports. —AP

Euro-zone member Estonia slips into recession in Q2

Polish unemployment rate falls to 13% TALLINN: Euro-zone member Estonia has slipped into recession after posting a 0.2 percent contraction in the second quarter on the heels of 1.0-percent decline in the previous quarter, Statistics Estonia said yesterday. “ This downturn is yet again an imported one. Our main export partners are feeling the chill and so are we. Finland is in recession, Sweden struggles and Russia is stagnating. It is as simple as that,” added Peeter Koppel, investment strategist at SEB Bank in Estonia. The small Baltic nation of 1.3 million people, which in 2011 became the first ex-Soviet state to adopt the euro, is largely dependent on exports.

On an annual comparison, its economy grew by 1.0 percent in the second quarter, down slightly from the 1.1 percent rate recorded in the first quarter of 2013, Statistics Estonia said.

Last year it clocked a 3.2 percent expansion in its gross domestic product (GDP), on the heels of record 8.3 percent growth in 2011. Estonia’s finance ministry recently halved its original 2013 GDP forecast down to 1.5 percent due to a worse than expect-

ed slump in domestic demand and investment. But the ministry remained optimistic about 2014, with its forecast unchanged at 3.6 percent.

Poland’s unemployment rate inched down to 13 percent in August, official data showed yesterday, even though country’s economy appears to be cooling. Thanks to seasonal factors the unemployment rate fell from 13.1 percent in July, with 2.09 million job seekers registered in the EU nation of 38 million people at end of August, the labor ministry said. “Unemployment always rises in autumn, but the hike will be smaller this time than in previous years,” Labor Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters. “ The unemployment rate will not exceed 14 percent at the end of the year.”

In August 2012, joblessness was at 12.4 percent. Poland is seeing its growth slow due to the persistent problems in the eurozone, its biggest trading partner. Last week, the government cut its growth forecast for this year to 1.5 percent from 2.2 percent.

Growth last year was 1.9 percent. —AFP

MADRID: Traders walk while waiting for the markets to close at the Stock Exchange in Madrid yesterday. Tokyo’s selection over the weekend to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, prompted a rally on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the benchmark Nikkei 22 index gained 2.5 percent yesterday. —AP

Economists keep rosy view for 3% US growth in 2014 WASHIONGTON: Business forecasters maintained their rosy view of the US economy in 2014, predicting 3 percent growth by the second quarter of next year, low inflation and improving employment. The top economists surveyed by the National Association of Business Economics between Aug 8 and Aug 20 also said there’s an 80 percent likelihood that the pickup in growth will prompt the Federal Reserve to trim its monthly $85 billion purchases of mortgage bonds and Treasury bills next year. The NABE’s 43 respondents said in a report released Monday that there’s a 45 percent chance the Fed will begin its so-called “tapering” as early as this year.

But economists trimmed their expectations

for the second half of 2013 since the last survey, in May. The economists predicted that real gross domestic product would grow at a 2.3 percent annualized rate in the third quarter through September, down from 2.5 percent seen earlier; and 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 2.8 percent seen earlier. They were less optimistic about consumer spending, industrial production and private investment in nonresidential structures, equipment and software. The economists’ slightly more pessimistic views were likely affected by the government initially reporting in July that second-quarter GDP grew 1.7 percent. On Aug. 29, the Commerce Department revised the figure sharply higher for the April-June quarter, to 2.5 percent. —AP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

BUSINESS

Gold eases as Fed tapering talk resumes LONDON: Gold prices eased yesterday, surrendering some of the gains made in the previous session after disappointing US jobs data, on expectations the Federal Reserve will press on with some tapering of monetary stimulus in the near future. Speculation that the US central bank is set to trim its $85 billion monthly bond-buying program, a key driver of higher bullion prices, has helped knock gold 17 percent lower this year after more than a decade of gains.

Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,386.91 an ounce at 0943 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were up 80 cents an ounce at $1,387.30. Prices rose 1.7 percent on Friday after a report showing US nonfarm payrolls grew less than expected last month cast doubt on the strength of the US recovery. The unemployment rate, the

Fed’s favored measure of job market health, eased 0.1 point, however.

Comments by two Fed officials that suggested stimulus unwinding remained on track helped the dollar recover to around levels seen before Friday’s US jobs numbers.

“The Federal Reserve meeting remains an event risk for gold, and I think there’s growing consensus that tapering is going to come eventually,” Credit Suisse’s head of commodities research Tobias Merath said. “The main question is, are potential gold investors incentivized enough to step up purchases more meaningfully again? The answer, from our side, is no,” he added. “With the move up in 10-year yields to close to 3 percent, this is a new world, and that disincentivises investors to buy gold.” A rise in Chinese

exports lifted world equity markets on Monday, though worries about a possible military strike on Syria and uncertainty over the Fed’s plans for its stimulus program saw investors hedge their bets. Indian jewellers expect a surge in gold shipments this week after the customs department issued new import guidelines on Wednesday. Previously imported stocks had become stuck at Mumbai airport due to a lack of clarity on rules.

Gold traders are closely watching Indian appetite for gold in the usually peak-demand fourth quarter, after officials in the world’s largest gold consumer moved to curb imports in an effort to cut its record current account deficit. “We should keep an eye on demand from Asia during the festival season,” Peter Fertig, a consultant at

Quantitative Commodity Research, said. “Given the measures the central bank has already taken and appeals to sell gold, there is a risk that the physical demand for India may disappoint.” On the supply side of the market, workers in South Africa’s motor and gold industries will return to work this week after strikes that have crippled operations at some of the country’s biggest producers were resolved on Sunday. South Africa’s Harmony Gold said operations were back to normal at all its mines after striking miners resumed work during Sunday’s night shift. Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.5 percent at $23.71 an ounce, while spot platinum was up 0.2 percent at $1,492 an ounce and spot palladium was down 0.4 percent at $694.97 an ounce. — Reuters

Shell to negotiate with Nigerians over oil spill LAGOS: Shell officials yesterday will begin talks in Nigeria’s southern city of Port Harcourt with representatives for the Bodo community on compensation and cleanup five years after one of the worst oil spills in Nigeria’s history. Some experts say the two spills that started in 2008 caused the largest loss of a mangrove habitat ever caused by an oil spill, affecting about 30,000 inhabitants in the Niger Delta area since then, according to London-based law firm Leigh Day. “These people, since 2008 they are living on a creek of oil. You step out of the front door you see oil, breathe in oil and toxic fumes,” said lawyer Daniel Leader of Leigh Day, an international and human rights firm that is representing about 15,000 people from the community that filed a lawsuit in 2011.

Although Royal Dutch Shell has admitted responsibility for the two spills, the impact has been disputed and will be the main focus of negotiations in Port Harcourt.

Royal Dutch Shell said a joint investigation team estimated 4,100 barrels were lost in the two spills. That estimate is based on the initial investigations by representatives from the company and the local community, spokesman Jonathan French said.

“Having said all that, it doesn’t matter how much was spilled because the compensation will be based on the financial loss that people have suffered because of the spill in the lagoon,” he said. “And that is a matter of dispute between us and the claimant.”

Leigh Day said that 15,000 fishermen and 31,000 inhabitants of 35 villages were affected in and around the Bodo lagoon and its associated waterways. The law firm says independent experts estimate

between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels were spilled, which devastated the environment that sits in the midst of 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of mangroves, swamps and channels. “The majority of its inhabitants are subsistence fishermen and farmers. Until the two 2008 spills Bodo was a relatively prosperous town based on fishing,” the firm said in a statement. The spills have destroyed the fishing industry and environment there, it said.

“Those communities are still having water shipped into them. But it’s patchy, and we fear many of those communities are drinking from poisoned wells,” Leader, the Leigh Day lawyer, said. But Shell says such estimates are high, given the size of the lagoon. “What we need to establish precisely, or nearly precisely, is how many people were materially affected by the spill,” French said. That number, he said, would be determined in part by the company’s contention that it did not have access to the area to clean it up. Shell also has blamed oil theft and criminal activity for further spill activity in the area. Nigeria, one of the top crude oil suppliers to the United States, requires companies to promptly clean up oil spills but the policy is not enforced.

The villages are part of a region of Nigeria’s Niger Delta known as Ogoniland.

Crude production in Ogoniland stopped in 1993, but pipelines and flow stations operated by a Shell subsidiary and the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. still run through villages and fields.

Leader said that talks with Shell will “highlight the plight of the people and the environmental disaster in the Niger delta, and will add pressure on Shell to clean up.”

The talks are scheduled to wrap up this week. — AP

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi vendor sits on pile of pumpkins as he waits for customers at a wholesale market in Dhaka yesterday. Agriculture, the backbone of Bangladesh with about 60-70% people depending on agriculture, is the main source of the country’s economy and comprises about 15% of the country’s GDP and 60% of the total labor force. — AFP

Oil retreats from Syria-fuelled highs LONDON: Oil prices fell further from 28month highs yesterday as weak US jobs data helped to offset fears of Middle East supply disruptions caused by a possible USled military strike against Syria. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October shed $1.09 to stand at $115.03 a barrel in London early afternoon deals. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October, fell 63 cents at $109.90 a barrel.

“Last Friday’s weaker than expected US labor market data have been weighing (on prices)... as have the Chinese commodity import figures published over the weekend, which show that China imported considerably less crude oil in August than in the previous month,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

The United States is the world’s biggest consumer of oil, while China uses the most energy, including crude. The US economy added 169,000 jobs in August, the Labor

Department reported on Friday, fewer than the 177,000 expected by analysts.

The same day, WTI oil hit a 28-month high in New York trade owing to tensions between the US and Russia over a potential military strike against the Assad regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people. The New York benchmark had shot up to $110.53 a barrel, the highest level since May 2011. Washington deepened its diplomatic offensive at home and abroad at the weekend as President Barack Obama braced for a key week in his push to persuade skeptical Americans to back strikes.

“Geopolitical developments in Syria will be closely followed” by markets, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank said in a note to clients yesterday. The “key political event” investors will be watching is Obama’s “bid to win congressional authorization for a military strike on Syria”, it said. — AFP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

BUSINESS

British Airways invites GCC to visit Britain KUWAIT: With visits from the GCC region to the UK up by 30 percent and spending having doubled over the past 5 years, British Airways is inviting GCC tourists to visit Britain with its special “Visit Britain” reduced fares and shopping discounts. The airline has slashed its fares from the GCC to several destinations in the UK in all its cabins, for bookings made during the month of September.

According to The British Tourism Authority, VisitBritain, £1.2 billion was injected into the UK economy from the GCC countries in 2012, with shopping being a major factor. As tourism from the GCC markets become increasingly more important, British Airways is looking to provide travellers easy, convenient ways to travel, combined with special offers. As part of the Big British Invite campaign, and to make travellers’ stay even more enjoyable, the airline is also providing a range of exclusive discounts with some of the biggest names on Britain’s high street, including Harrods’s, Liberty and Westfield. To take advantage of

these offers, shoppers can simply present their British Airways boarding card to the selected vendors, or shops, when they visit Britain.

Paolo De Renzis, Area Commercial Manager, Middle East and Central Asia, said: “The GCC is a very important region for us and we are constantly looking for ways to further connect with our customers. The UK is a great place to visit all year round for shopping arts and culture, and we are delighted to welcome our GCC guests to Britain with special fares and offers. The journey begins with the flight, and what better way to experience the best of British hospitality than with British Airways.”

While London accounts for the majority of inbound visitor spend, other destinations such Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh outside London are also seeing an increase in visitors. To cater to this demand and as part of its exclusive fares, British Airways has made it possible for customers to travel to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Leeds, and Jersey for

just a little bit more.

Annique Labuschagne, Manager Gulf Markets for VisitBritain added, “The booming growth in travel from GCC regions to the UK is set to continue with these markets expected to grow year on year, reaching a 32 percent increase by 2016. VisitBritain’s strategy to support this is focused on promoting the UK’s key destinations, including and outside of London, plus a range of family activities and leisure attractions to excite the region.”

Travellers can explore the UK with British Airways’ special fares, reduced especially for the Kuwaiti market. The promotion is valid across all four cabin classes for a limited time, with fares starting from just KWD 212* in World Traveller economy class, and other great fares available in in World Traveller Plus, Club World and First. A full timetable of British Airways’ flights to London and beyond is available online at ba.com where customers can book, pay and check-in online for their flights.

China among world’s top three investors in 2012 BEIJING: China became one of the world’s top three investors for the first time last year as its foreign investment soared to a new record, the government said yesterday. The Asian giant’s overseas direct investment rose 17.6 percent last year from 2011 to $87.8 billion, according to a statement jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Globally, overseas direct investment fell 17 percent, with China’s comparative rise making it one of the world’s top three investors, the statement said without specifying which were the other two. Last year’s increase represented an acceleration from 8.5 percent in 2011, when the global economic recovery was weak in the face of continuing financial turmoil in Europe and the United States. Beijing has been encouraging Chinese companies to “go international” as the country’s economy steams ahead, with its appetite expanding for both resources and global market share.

In May 2012 China Three Gorges, operator of the world’s biggest hydro-electric dam, closed a deal to buy a 21.35 percent stake in power generator Energias de Portugal for 2.7 billion euros ($3.56 billion). In November, sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) acquired a 10 percent stake in Britain’s Heathrow Airport for 450 million pounds ($704 million). CIC was set up in 2007 with $200 billion to make better use of China’s colossal foreign exchange reserves that now amount to nearly $3.5 trillion, and its total assets stood at $575.2 billion at the end of 2012. The government aims to increase overseas direct investment at an average annual rate of 17 percent through 2015 to $150 billion.—AFP

Japan’s growth uptick clears way for tax hikes TOKYO: Japan’s economy grew more than initially thought in the June quarter, revised data showed yesterday, supplying more evidence of an economic recovery which is likely to clear the way for a hike in the nation’s sales tax. The growth figures, which come after Tokyo launched an economy-boosting blitz that has pushed down the value of the yen, showed a big jump in firms’ capital spending-a key indicator of business sentiment. New investment by Japan Inc. was up 1.3 percent between April and June, reversing an initial estimate of a 0.1 percent decline. The figures “show that Japan’s economic recovery is on the right track,” said Hisao Matsuura, strategist at Nomura Securities.

The boost to corporate capital spending could run in tandem with a rise in household spending and a strengthening labor market, he added. The Cabinet Office put growth in the April-June quarter at 0.9 percent compared to the previous three months, up from a preliminary reading of a 0.6 percent expansion. The news helped send the benchmark Nikkei 225 index soaring nearly 3.0 percent at the open as investors also cheered Tokyo’s winning bid to host the 2020 Olympics.

The economic impact of the Games is likely to be limited, but Tokyo’s weekend victory added to a wave of optimism over Japan’s prospects after many years in the doldrums.

KUWAIT: Canon’s distributor Nasser Mohamed Al-Sayer Communications (NMAS) hosted the leading retailers and dealers in Kuwait. A group photo. — Photos by Joesph Shagra

Canon Kuwait launches Wi-Fi-enabled cameras Seminar aims to push new line-up of cameras PowerShot SX280 HS - Your travel companion The PowerShot SX280 HS makes it easier than ever to instantly share stunning images with friends and family online, thanks to instant Wi-Fi connectivity. All models in the new PowerShot SX range feature Canon’s new DIGIC 6 image processor, with advanced 20x zoom and a 25mm lens with the ability’ to shoot superb images day or night.

KUWAIT: Canon Middle East, a leader in imaging solutions hosted a launch seminar for its next generation of cameras in Kuwait. The seminar held in conjunction with Canon’s distributor Nasser Mohamed Al-Sayer Communications (NMAS), hosted all the leading retailers and dealers in Kuwait and provided an opportunity for the brand to showcase and create awareness on the rise in consumer demand for Wi-Fi enabled cameras in the country.

The latest collection showcased included EOS 100D, the world’s lightest and smallest DSLR camera and a range o point-and-shoot cameras including IXUS 255, IXUS 135, PowerShot S110, PowerShot SX280, PowerShot N and PowerShot A3500.

“We’ve researched what users want from photography how they use our products, what they’re doing and what they’d like more of and have found one common theme: no matter what level of skill they are at, everyone aspires to be a better photographer. With the introduction of our new lineup, our mission is to help them take that step and become better photographers,” said Hendrik Verbrugghe, Marketing Director, Canon Middle East.

Nabil Iskandrani, General Manager, NMAS, said; “Our alliance with Canon reaffirms our commitment to providing consumers in Kuwait with access to flagship technology and value added experiences. The seminar allowed all our partners in Kuwait to get a first-hand look of Canon latest range of cutting-edge technology in photography.”

“Canon has a very strong product line up in terms of technology, performance and range and is one of the key players in the region’s rapidly growing consumer electronics industry.

The new Wi-Fi functionality on Canon devices enables people to share their experiences wherever and whenever they want to. We are confident the new product line up will surpass consumer expectations and further reinforce Canon’s reputation for imaging excellence in Kuwait,” added Iskandrani.

devices in seconds. It also gives consumers the freedom to upload, print and backup images directly, without having to manually connect using a cable wire.

In addition to transferring images wirelessly, one can also pair their camera with a smartphone to store images and to

DSLR EOS 100D - Your first step into the world of DSLR photography The EOS 100D is the smallest and lightest APS-C DSLR in its class2 making it compact enough to take everywhere so you can capture adventures in stunning quality.

Ixus 255 - Slim, stylish, point-and-shoot simplicity The IXUS 255 HS features Canon’s advanced HS System, with a 12.1MP CMOS sensor and DIGIC 5 processor, which allow this model to excel in low-light situations, capturing sunsets, evening events or nights out with friends easily, with a reduced need for the flash. The model also features a new Hybrid Auto mode, which provides a fresh way to capture high-quality stills and Ill) movies with minimum effort.

Connectivity With the rise of social media, the way consumers relate to images has evolved. It’s all about capturing and sharing content on the spot. With the latest range of products, Canon enables people to share content more quickly and easily with its new Wi-Fi features. One can now share images with the new integrated Wi-Fi Functionality that lets people wirelessly transfer images to social networks, computers and portable

DSC PowerShot N - Creativity with a twist The PowerShot N is a truly revolutionary camera that really challenges the way consumers think about photography. The camera has been designed with spontaneous creativity at its heart, but underpinning this is Canon’s signature image quality that delivers consistently high-quality shots and Full HD Movies without compromise.

IXUS 135 -Stylishly designed, perfectly compact The new IXUS 135 features a stylish and metal body - with a compact and sophisticated design that slips into any pocket or handbag. The camera is equipped with a l6-megapixel censor with a 2.7” inch LCD screen. A new Eco- mode, helps users continue shooting for longer by conserving battery life, capturing up to 30 percent more photos - perfect for family days out, or holiday use.

PowerShot A3500 - Shoot effortlessly, explore creativity Newly-launched PowerShot A3500 is ideal for users looking for point-and-shoot simplicity. The PowerShot A3500 IS boasts eye-catching aluminium front finishes available in a choice of four vibrant colours and features a bright 7.5 cm (3.0”) LCD display along with W-Fi capabilities.

upload them to social networking sites; or simply upload them directly using the camera’s interface. With Canon’s connectivity solutions, it is possible to send up to 50 images with a touch of a button.

PowerShot S110 - Pocketable performance for the connected photographer PowerShot S110 redefines the market for high-performance and makes for a truly pocketable expert camera. The PowerShot S110 is a small but powerful, Wi-Fi enabled camera that lets users instantly share their photographs online or with other wireless devices. To counter any blur or movement when taking photographs, Canon’s highly-effective Intelligent IS technology available on PowcrShot S110, reduces camera shake in both stills and movies

BMW eclipses car show rivals FRANKFURT: BMW has built a 300-metre, threelevel indoor test track at this year’s Frankfurt motor show - all to outshine German arch-rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz as it battles to stay in pole position in the world’s luxury car market.

Incorporated into BMW’s 10,000-square metre exhibition space, the figure of eight-shaped track will give visitors the chance to test drive two dozen vehicles, including BMW’s first all-electric car, the 34,950-euro ($46,000) i3 hatchback.

“We’re keen to live up to our leadership claim in every possible respect,” Steven Althaus, BMW branding chief told Reuters. “That central idea is reflected through our show stand” which took two months to build.

German premium carmakers traditionally compete against one another for the most impressive display during the Frankfurt show, Europe’s biggest, but BMW is particularly hardpressed to turn heads this year as its sales lead over Audi has been melting away.

Competition among the big three has intensified since Mercedes was overtaken by Audi in 2011 as the runner-up in the luxury car market by sales. Both want to replace BMW in the top spot by the end of the decade and are also determined to make a splash in Frankfurt.

Audi has pledged “to turn the show upside down” by having imitations of skyscrapers and city districts sprout from the ceiling of its partly mirrored exhibition pavilion, drawing attention to the challenges of urban mobility, the brand’s event marketing chief, Bernhard Neumann, told Reuters.

Mercedes, meanwhile, has a 250-metre track outside the Festhalle, the century-old venue for the show which was inaugurated by German Emperor Wilhelm II and has space for 13,500 people.

“It’s totally obvious that we’re eyeing each other,” said Andreas von Wallfeld, Mercedes’ event communication chief. “Frankfurt is by far the top show for the German premiums. It’s that mutual competition that spurs us ahead in the global sales race.”

Volkswagen-owned ( VW ) Audi’s steady progress in China and North America shrank the margin to no more than 21,000 at the end of July.

Daimler-owned Mercedes, meantime, has reinforced its global ambitions by pushing design updates and compact models while fixing distribution problems in China.

BMW was the first of the three top German brands to allow visitors to test its cars in action at the 2009 Frankfurt event. The show, which has been held since 1899, is key to Germany’s flagship nameplates, with BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Porsche all headquartered within 400 kilometres of the Frankfurt fair. “The money’s worth it, no matter how expensive their show stands are,” said Frankfurt-based IHS Automotive analyst Christoph Stuermer. “Every minute a customer spends inside a hall means face time for the exhibitors. No dealership on earth works that efficiently.”

Some 928,100 people visited the previous 2011 Frankfurt fair, almost 10 percent more than in 2009.

BMW expects to see cars putting in over 5,600 miles on its test track over the course of the 13 show days from Sept 10-22. The project is based on a multi-million euro budget, two people familiar with BMW’s show preparations said on condition they not be identified because the details are confidential. About 70 models will be on display, such as the i8 plug-in hybrid sports car and the all-new 4-Series coupe.

BMW will also be hoping the i3 will take a big step towards winning over consumers to electric cars, which have come under criticism for their cost and limited driving range. The model, based on an estimated $2.7 billion investment program, could wrongfoot Audi which scaled back electric plans after VW decided to promote plug-in hybrids.

Forecasts suggest BMW is up to the challenge of its rivals. BMW brand sales may surge 44 percent to 2.20 million vehicles by 2020 from last year’s 1.53 million, compared with 27 percent growth at Audi to 1.86 million, according to research firm IHS Automotive.

Mercedes may narrowly eclipse Audi with a 39 percent gain in deliveries to 1.88 million cars, IHS data shows. Audi used to showcase its models at Frankfurt as part of VW’s display, though broke with that tradition in 2011 when it spent over 10 million euros setting up its own pavilion.

Despite attracting huge crowds with its 2011 indoor track, Audi decided against rebuilding the project this year. “What’s important for us is to surprise our customers on every occasion,” Neumann said. — Reuters

FRANKFURT: A cutaway model of the new e-Golf by car manufacturer Volkswagen, VW, is being cleaned by an employee at the Frankfurt Auto Show, IAA, in Frankfurt, Germany, yesterday. The 65th IAA will take place from Sept 12 until Sept. 22, 2013. — AP

FRANKFURT: A man works at the booth of BMW Alpina as preparations are under way for the IAA (Internationale Automobil Ausstellung) international motor show in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, yesterday. — AFP

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

BUSINESS

Special offer from Alghanim Motors on 2013 Honda CR-V for NBK customers KUWAIT: Alghanim Motors, the exclusive distributor of Honda in Kuwait, announced the launch of its special offer with National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) that will enable NBK customers to own the 2013 Honda CR-V. When purchasing a CR-V, NBK customers will receive, in addition to the instant KD 600 cashback offer, a KD 200 discount off the price of the new CRV. This offer is valid until September 30, 2013.

NBK 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 com-

fortable 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. For more information call 2496-4000.

NBK maintains its leading position in both the local and regional markets throughout its best-inclass services and exclusive promotions. For more information on NBK services and latest offers, contact Hala Watani 1801 801 or log onto www.nbk.com.

Tawasul Telecom sponsors ‘Capacity Eurasia 2013’ Event to reinforce ties with Eurasian leading carrier

UAE Exchange Centre Ramadan gold fiesta promotion draw KUWAIT: UAE Exchange Centre WLL, conducted the 3rd monthly & mega draw for the ongoing Ramadan Promotion “RAMADAN GOLD FIESTA” on 2nd September 2013, at Head Office in the presence of Ministry Officials. 11 lucky winners were selected, who had won 100 gram of gold.

Winner Mega draw (50 gram gold): - R Govinda Raju - Coupon no 344924 Winners for the 3rd monthly draw (5 gram gold): - 1 Latheef Ademola - Coupon No 223563, 2 Abbas Ali - Coupon No 265675, 3.

Rashees Abdul Khader - Coupon No 148326, 4. Lonappan C A - Coupon No 282566, 5.

Antony Dadzie - Coupon No 93464, 6. Ansari Mohammed Arafhat - Coupon No 246562, 7.

Muhammad Niyaz - Coupon No. 380467, 8.

Ameer Ali - Coupon No 387677, 9. Domingos B Fernandes - Coupon No. 29058, 10. Shajin Joseph - Coupon No 307455.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL had built a strong network of 24 branches in Kuwait.

Customers can walk into the nearest one to avail a bouquet of services including Online transfer, bank transfers, instant money transfers, currency exchange and more.

Money2anywhere (M2A) is the online money transfer facility where the customers can send money from their home or office through their personal PC/Laptop/tablets & Smart phones in just a few click from an internet environment, anywhere. FLASHremit is the facility for real time account credit, at UAE Exchange Centre WLL, while Xpress Money and Western Union are the instant money transfer options. UAE Exchange Centre WLL offers customized currency exchange services at competitive rates at its counters. All these have made it the favorite of millions of customers in a very short time.

KUWAIT: Driven by its leading position as a pioneer provider of MPLS Networking System in the GCC and Middle East, Tawasul Telecom, announced its sponsorship to “Capacity Eurasia 2013” the premier event for international carrier communities, which will be held at Grand Hyatt Hotel-Istanbul from the 10th to the 11th of September, 2013.

With Turkey’s strategic location as a gateway between Europe and Asia, Tawasul Telecom, sees in the event a golden opportunity to further build on its successes in East Europe and fortify its presence.

Commenting on the event: Salem AlMulaifi - Business Development Director Tawasul Telecom said: “Tawasul Telecom have signed agreements with the major carriers in Europe and Asia. Being present in Capacity Eurasia in Turkey gives us a convenient platform to meet and strengthen relations with our existing partners as well as opens up new horizons for top notch business opportunities”. Almulaifi adds: “Tawasul Telecom as leading developer of the telecommunication infrastructure in the GCC and Middle East is keen on supporting all

leading events which paves the way to build up fruitful business relations”.

Worthy of mention that Tawasul Telecom is maximizing its efforts in sponsoring strategic industry conferences either in Kuwait or abroad where the company has recently sponsored the International Telecoms Week conference (ITW) held in Chicago in May 2013, and gathered more than 4,000 telecommunication industry leaders from across the globe.

Locally, Tawasul Telecom has sponsored the First Arab Internet Governance Forum in October 2012, as well as the Kuwait Telecom Forum held in January 2013. The company was as well a key participant in the Regulatory Summit held by SAMENA Telecommunications council in Kuwait on September 2nd, 2013. On operations level, Tawasul Telecom has recently expanded its MPLS Private Cloud Network coverage to include Singapore. Now, the company’s coverage has increased to reach 10 points of presence; Kuwait, Saudi, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, the UK, Germany and Singapore.

Salem Al-Mulaifi

Burgan Bank announces winner of VISA card spending campaign KUWIAT: 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 Ahmad Akiead Zaal AlDhaferi.

The winners’ announcement comes as part of Burgan Bank’s cards promotion that was launched earlier. Each KD20 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 September 30, 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 or contact the call center on 1804080.

Injazat, Aleron partner to deliver integrated Emiratization strategy SYDNEY: Company share prices are displayed inside the Australian Stock Exchange in Sydney yesterday. Australian stocks opened 0.13 percent higher on September 9 after Tony Abbott was elected the nation’s new prime minister, but analysts said news from Japan and China was having more impact. — AFP

Asian stocks rise after solid Japan, China data HONG KONG: Asian markets rose yesterday as strong Chinese trade data lifted hopes for the global economic outlook while Japanese stocks were boosted by improved growth figures and Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Weaker-thanforecast US jobs figures raised concerns about the world’s number one economy but also fuelled hope that the Federal Reserve will hold off winding down its stimulus program for the time being.

Tokyo rose 2.48 percent, or 344.42 points, to 14,205.23.

Japanese dealers bought into construction and real estate plays after Tokyo’s Olympics success, while there was also cheer for better-than expected gross domestic product data for the AprilJune quarter. Sydney rose 0.71 percent, or 36.5 points, to 5,181.5 in the first session back after the conservative Liberal/National coalition won a weekend general election in Australia as widely expected.

Shanghai soared 3.39 percent, or 72.53 points, to 2,212.52 and Hong Kong added 0.57 percent, or 129.43 points, to 22,750.65. Seoul closed 0.99 percent higher, adding 19.36 points to 1,974.67.

Chinese data on Sunday showed exports jumped 7.2 percent year-on-year to $190.6 billion last month, much better than the 6.0 percent expected by economists. It was also better than the 5.1 percent rise seen in July. The figures are the latest in a string of good results out of Beijing that indicate China’s painful slowdown over much of the first six months of 2013 may have come to an end. Earlier this month the government said manufacturing activity grew at its fastest pace in 16 months in August.

Investors were cheered by the news as Chinese growth is key to helping drive the economies of many other countries in the region. Tokyo dealers were already in buying mood after the Olympics result when data was unveiled showing the Japanese economy grew 0.9 percent over the previous quarter in AprilJune, up from a preliminary reading of 0.6 percent.

On an annualized basis the economy expanded 3.8 percent, the government said, up from the first estimate of 2.6 percent.

Annualized figures show the rate of growth if the data was stretched across an entire year. “The Olympics, better-thanexpected China’s export data, and strong GDP data are all supporting the market today,” Haruhiko Kuramochi, strategist at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The Nikkei was also supported by a weaker yen as confidence in the global economy saw investors move into higherrisk assets looking for better returns. In afternoon forex trade the dollar bought 99.60 yen, against 99.11 yen Friday in New York.

The euro was at $1.3171 and 131.21 yen compared with $1.3180 and 130.62 yen. The greenback suffered a sell-off on Friday after the US Labor Department said the economy added 169,000 jobs in August, below projections of 177,000. The report also lowered the estimates for jobs added in June and July.

However, while the result suggests the US economy is not as strong as hoped, it means the Federal Reserve’s plans to reel in its stimulus program may be put off a little longer.

Scott Wren, a senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, said the report “wasn’t good at all” but added: “It’s a ‘what’s bad is good’ type of thing.” Emerging markets-especially in emerging economies-were hammered last month as foreigners fled back to the West in expectations the Fed will start to cut back on its vast bond purchases by the end of the year.

On Wall Street the Dow fell 0.10 percent, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were flat. While buying sentiment was strong, an ongoing dispute between Russia and the US over Syria had dealers on edge as presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin failed Friday to reach agreement at a G20 summit on how to deal with the crisis.

On oil markets New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in October, was down 46 cents at $110.07 in late afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for October shed 32 cents to $115.80. WTI hit a 28-month high in New York trade Friday owing to the tensions between the US and Russia. Gold cost $1,387.10 an ounce at 0810 GMT compared with $1,368.10 late Friday.

ABDU DHABI: Responding to the declaration of 2013 as the ‘Year of Emiratization’, Injazat Data Systems has announced that it is partnering with Aleron, specialists in Organization Strategy and Talent Management, to develop and deliver a new integrated approach to Emiratization.

A recognised market-leader for IT in the region, Injazat Data Systems is supporting government led efforts to increase opportunities for UAE Nationals.

Currently only 23,000 Emiratis are employed in the private sector, of which 65 per cent work in the banking industry.

Already regarded as a successful Emiratization implementer, Injazat will help more UAE Nationals explore careers in IT by raising the proportion of UAE Nationals in its workforce from its current 15 per cent.

In 2009, Injazat Data Systems, the owner and operator of the Middle East’s first Tier IV design and ISO 27001-certi-

fied Data Center, launched a major Emiratization program conceived and overseen by The Injazat Institute (Ti2), Injazat’s business-orientated Learning & Development initiative. Since then Injazat has been enrolling UAE Nationals onto globally-recognized certification programs, exposing them to intensive coaching and mentoring programs, and supporting their growth through Career Development Plans (CDP) linked to roles and responsibilities. Injazat currently has more than 86 Emiratis occupying strategic managerial, technical and professional positions and accounting for 15 per cent of the corporate workforce.

In order to sustain and meet the challenges faced in 2013 and beyond Injazat is pleased to announce the partnership with Aleron that provides a fully integrated and innovative approach to Emiratization for both Injazat and our

clients. Both Organisations bring experience and expertise in aligning an effective Emiratization Strategy with the needs of the business to provide a solution through a three phased approach: (1) Succession Planning, (2) Assessments and CDPs, and (3) CDP Implementation.

In the first phase, Aleron will use leading Organisation Strategy techniques including Talent Analytics and Succession Design as well as assess efficiency of HR processes required to support Succession Planning. During the next two phases Ti2 will conduct assessment centres aligned to specific competencies and job descriptions to support the design of career focused CDPs that will be implemented through effective learning and development practices.

The resulting integrated ‘Career Solution’, developed by Ti2 and Aleron aims to raise the percentage of UAE Nationals working for Injazat and establish Injazat as a recognized ‘UAE National Employer of Choice’ within the next three years. This integrated Emiratization solution can also be tailored for other Organizations and will be presented to Injazat’s clients to support their Emiratization strategy.

“From day one, Injazat has considered Emiratization an integral part of its growth vision. We focus on providing Career Solutions to our Emirati employees to harness their personal and professional potential and prepare them to take on key roles within the organization. We do recognize, however, that Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision sets ambitious goals that require us to step up our efforts to engage and activate Emirati talent within our organization. Through our partnership with Aleron we believe that we will be able to achieve our target of becoming an employer of choice for UAE Nationals and a leader in Emiratization not only in our industry but within the UAE,” said Ibrahim Mohamed Lari, Chief Executive Officer, Injazat Data Systems.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

technology

EMC’s ViPR software-defined storage platform available DUBAI: EMC Corporation joined by EMC partners and customers, kicked off a 24-hour, around-theworld live launch announcing new technologies that give IT infrastructure teams the speed they need to lead their IT Transformation. At this event EMC announced that the EMC ViPR SoftwareDefined Storage Platform, a critical enabler to speeding this transformation, will be available later this month.

Using ViPR, customers can manage both their existing storage infrastructure (using the ViPR Controller) and the data residing within it (using ViPR Data Services), enabling them to help drive improvements in automation and lay down a modern storage architecture for future application deployments. ViPR-supported storage includes the new EMC VNX unified storage platform as well existing EMC VNX, EMC VMAX,EMC VPLEX, EMC Isilon, EMC Recover Point and third-party arrays including NetApp storage. ViPR provides the foundation for

building Web-scale data centers without the need to hire thousands of technical experts to create a custom environment.

Upon general availability, ViPR will deliver Object Data Services-a capability that sets ViPR apart from other solutions in the market. ViPR Object Data Services offer support for multiple standard APIs including Amazon S3, OpenStack Swift and Atmos in addition to giving customers the ability to view objects as files, providing near-file access performance without the latency inherent in current object storage models. ViPR Object Data Services are engineered to be deployed on any ViPR-supported file storage including the new EMC VNX unified storage platforms well existing EMC VNX, EMC Isilon and third-party arrays including NetApp storage.

Future updates will be designed to add support for additional third-party arrays as well as commodity hardware. EMC also plans to provide a broader set of data services as part of the ViPR platform, includ-

ing an HDFS Data Service which will enable customers to perform in-place Hadoop analytics across their entire heterogeneous storage environment.

This strategy of broad platform support and open extensibility means that customers can benefit from simplified management of their entire storage infrastructure with the freedom to choose the underlying platforms that are most appropriate for their particular workloads.

In addition, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2013, EMC Global Services plans to offer a new Software Defined Storage (SDS) Workshop that is the ideal starting point for EMC customers to implement VIPR for their IT environment. The half-day onsite workshop helps customers to identify their specific storage management, control, and automation needs to best maximize the ViPR platform. The workshop evaluates a customer’s application and storage environment and designs the optimum storage service catalog and service classification. A detailed

roadmap provides a gap analysis between current state and future state using ViPR. Laura DuBois, Program Vice President, Storage at IDC said “ViPR simplifies a very complex problemthe management of heterogeneous storage environments while extending the functionality of existing storage arrays is truly powerful. There’s a macro trend in IT right now toward self-service, and ViPR is a first important step in making this real-and easy.”

Amitabh Srivastava, President, Advanced Software Division at EMC said “Today is a significant milestone in EMC’s vision to deliver customers-both large enterprises and service providers-the foundation on which to build aWeb-scale data center capable of growing to tens and hundreds of petabytes of information. By delivering ViPR ahead of industry expectations, we will provide our customers with a lightweight, software-only approach to storage management that not only solves the problems they face today, but provides a path to the future.”

PlayStation 4 won’t sell in Japan until February PS 4 set to miss critical Christmas sales

SAN FRANCISO: Liz Azevedo poses for a photo in San Francisco. — MCT

Latest digital app looks to dig deeper SAN FRANCISCO: Liz Azevedo, who’s 23 and single, has been using a new flirting/dating application called Twine to electronically connect with men here even though she does not know their names and has no idea what they look like. Twine, which launched July 31, wants its users to form substantive connections based on common interests, instead of relying on appearances like most of the other dating apps on the market. “At first I was a little turned off by it,” Azevedo said. “But after using the app, I like the fact that you’re actually getting to know people.

With Twine you’re having real conversations and forming relationships before you even see them.”In a digital dating world filled with an estimated 200 to 300 dating apps, San Francisco-based Twine stands out by initially hiding members’ identities and appearances, according to Mark Brooks, an Internet-dating industry analyst and consultant who has worked with Plentyoffish, DatingFactory, MeetMe, FriendFinder and Friendster.

Twine has members from San Francisco to Houston to Miami to New York and as far away as Singapore, Mumbai and London. It vows to keep an even ratio of men to women in each city, which solves a criticism of digital dating that women get “inundated by guys and guys are often ignored,” Brooks said. “Twine seems to have hit on two major elements: The privacy issue, which is very important for women concerned about safety, and the ignoring/inundation element.” The dating app industry didn’t even exist before 2009, but today is exploding, according to two recent studies by IBISWorld. While companies such as Twine closely guard the number of their members, some of the more popular apps today

include Badoo, Tinder, OkCupid, Plentyoffish and Grindr, said Marc Lesnick, who organizes the annual iDate conference of digital dating companies in Las Vegas, along with a couple of smaller iDate conferences around the world. In 2011, for the first time, men and women spent more time on dating apps than on dating websites, according to IBISWorld. This year, the combination of growing niche markets - especially for aging baby boomers looking for dates - and increased interest in mobile dating apps is expected to generate “a robust” additional 4.1 percent in revenue for the online dating industry. This year apps are expected to represent up to 12 percent of the online dating industry’s $2 billion in revenue, according to IBISWorld.

IBISWorld projects growth of just under 5 percent each year through 2018 for dating apps. But the online dating industry considers them “a temporary stop-gap,” Lesnick said. “This app world we live in now is not going to be around forever.” Users continue to complain about the limited features available on their smaller smartphone screens, along with advertisers who don’t like the size of their ads, Lesnick said.

Several of the most popular apps are also based on the “freemium” business model of allowing users free, limited use then charging them for “premium” features, such as the ability to send virtual flowers. “The braggarts will tell you that they’re converting 10 percent of their users into paid customers,” Lesnick said. “They’re completely lying.

There’s no way that 10 percent of the consumers on a free dating site actually pay for premium services. Most are seeing between 1 and 3 percent. Some might be seeing between 3 and 5 percent.” —MCT

TOKYO: Sony’s next-generation video game machine PlayStation 4 won’t go on sale in Japan until next year, meaning that it won’t be on time for the key year-end holiday or New Year’s shopping season. Hiroshi Kawano, Sony Corp’s chief of the game business in Japan and Asia, said yesterday at a Tokyo event that the PlayStation 4 will go on sale Feb 22, 2014, in Japan. The console is going on sale Nov 15 in the US and Canada, and Nov 29 in Europe. Kawano said the late date was to be fully prepared with game software at its launch, and orders will be taken starting next month. But the product will miss the critical Christmas and New Year’s period when Japanese children can count on gifts.

“We plan to have powerful titles at the launch date,” he told a hall packed with guests and reporters. “We are asking for some time before we can offer it but please look forward to it.”

Sony will instead sell in Japan, before other nations, the 9,480 yen ($90) PSVita TV, a small device that attaches to a TV set to enjoy music, TV shows, movies and karaoke. The PS 4 will cost 39,980 yen ($400) in Japan. It will cost $399 in the US. Nintendo Co, which makes the Pokemon and Super Mario games, started selling the Wii U console last November.

But Wii U sales have suffered, selling just 3.61 million of the machines through the end of June.

Nintendo is still targeting sales of 9 million Wii U units over the fiscal year through March 2014.

Microsoft Corp is planning the Xbox One, debuting Nov 22. Hopes have been high in the game industry that the arrival of the three consoles will revitalize the sector, which has lagged from competition from smartphones and other mobile devices, wooing users with their own

TOKYO: Hiroshi Kawano, Sony Corp’s chief of the game business in Japan and Asia, holds a new model of PSVita, a handheld game console, during an event yesterday. — AP games, as well as social networking and other pastimes.

Andrew House, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, the Tokyo-based company’s game division, said demand was strong so far for the PlayStation 4, with a million pre-orders. Sony has not given a PS4 unit sales target for the fiscal

How an owner is reunited with ‘kidnapped’ iPhone

By Nita Lelyveld LOS ANGELES: My iPhone had been kidnapped. It was sending me cries for help. Each time it was powered on, it beamed an SOS, giving me an exact street address. I studied the images on my computer screen, zooming in close. The tidy lawn of a one-story home, the boxy exterior of a duplex. My iPhone was on the move. Modern technology told me where.

But how on Earth was I going to get it back? My iPhone is my atlas and my encyclopedia. As @latimescitybeat on Twitter, I’m on it day and night. I use it to take photos to document my stories and my life. It’s my digital diary, my portable show-and-tell. I’d misplaced it before, at home, and finding it was a breeze. All I had to do was go to my computer, launch the “Find My iPhone” app and wait. A registered device, if turned on, will pop up on a map. It can even announce itself: Ping, ping, ping, like a knife tapped on crystal.

I’ve followed that sound to a tangle of sheets, to the dark cave below my driver’s seat. This time the hunt would be different. After taking a photo of strawberries at the Hollywood Farmers Market one Sunday morning, I had tossed my phone into my bag. A few minutes later, when I reached for it, my hand grabbed at air.

China threatens tough penalty for online rumour spreading BEIJING: China unveiled yesterday tough measures to stop the spread of what the government calls irresponsible rumours, threatening three years in jail if untrue posts online are widely reposted, drawing an angry response from Chinese internet users. China is in the middle of yet another crackdown on what it terms “online rumours”, as the government tries to rein in social media, increasingly used by Chinese people to discuss politics, despite stringent censorship.

According to a judicial interpretation issued

by China’s top court and prosecutor, people will be charged with defamation if online rumours they create are visited by 5,000 internet users or reposted more than 500 times. That could lead to three years in jail, state media reported, citing the judicial document. That is the standard sentence for defamation.

“People have been hurt and reaction in society has been strong, demanding with one voice serious punishment by the law for criminal activities like using the internet to spread rumours and defame people,” said court spokesman Sun Jungong. “No country would consider the slander of other people as ‘freedom of speech’,” Sun said at a news conference, carried live by the People’s Daily website.

The interpretation also set out what is con-

sidered a “serious case” of spreading false information or rumours online, including those which cause mental anguish to the subjects of rumours. Other serious cases involve the spreading of false information that causes protests, ethnic or religious unrest or has a “bad international effect”. Users of China’s popular Twitterlike Sina Weibo microblogging site expressed anger about the new rules. “It’s far too easy for something to be reposted 500 times or get 5,000 views. Who is going to dare say anything now?” wrote one Weibo user.

“This interpretation is against the constitution and is robbing people of their freedom of speech,” wrote another. State media have reported dozens of detentions in recent weeks as the government pushes a crackdown on the spreading of rumours. The campaign comes as President Xi Jinping’s newly installed government steps up its harassment of dissidents, showing no sign of wanting to loosen the party’s grip on power. China says it has a genuine need to stop the spread of irresponsible rumours, pointing to some of what authorities say are patently ridiculous things said online of late, including a story that a soup made from dead babies had gone on sale in Guangdong province. — Reuters

year. The Japan sale date was held off until next year because Japanese game developers have required more time to develop games for the PlayStation 4, he told reporters at headquarters.

“We wanted to make sure that there was a game experience that resonated with the Japanese consumer,” said House. — AP

Los Angeles Times reporter Nita Lelyveld’s iPhone shows the message she sent through the Find iPhone app while the phone was missing. — MCT

I’d been buying Ojai tangerines. I thought the phone might have slipped under some fruit, but it hadn’t. And when friends called it, no one answered. We heard no ring. Minutes later, in my home office, I signed onto Find My iPhone. It found an iMac and iPads in the house. But the app informed me that my phone was offline. ‘This phone has been lost by a Los Angeles Times reporter who needs it urgently. Please call . . . “ “I desperately need my phone. Please call. . . .” “I’m a good person. I need my phone. . . . .” “Please call. . . .” “Please call...” “Please call. . . .”

My phone was locked. It required a password to get past my dog on the home screen. My plan of attack was to bombard it with text messages, which pop up anyway. They’d provide the means for a good person who found it to contact me - and just might give a jumpy thief pause. I texted. I kept refreshing Find My iPhone. At 2:19 that afternoon, my vigilance paid off. My iPhone, according to the app, hadn’t gone far. It was on the site of the now-closed market. I felt my shoulder muscles unkink as I pictured the happy ending.

Someone had given it to the market staff. A farmer had found it while packing up a stall. My home phone was about to ring. I waited for the call. Instead, my iPhone again fell off the grid. I watched and I fretted until 3:53, when it showed up - in Santa Ana, Calif. My phone had been swiped. I had an address where it seemed to be. I called the police. The woman who answered outlined the policy: They would go, but only if I went along.

An officer would accompany me to the door and ask if the phone was there. If the answer was no, that would be that, the officer would leave. I hung up and, for a minute, contemplated the drive. Then I called The Times’ news research library. In no time, I had left a phone message for someone listed at the address.

Half an hour later, I was chatting with a friendly man who seemed genuinely concerned. He kept telling me how lost he’d be if he ever lost his iPhone. But he wasn’t sure how he could help, he said. No one in his family had gone anywhere that day. He called back to say he’d considered each of his neighbors, and saw no plausible suspects.

I thanked him for his efforts - though by then they hardly mattered.

At 4:40 pm, my iPhone had resurfaced in what appeared to be a duplex in Anaheim. By now I’d realized that everything on my phone was backed up. This wasn’t about lost photos - or even, really, the phone. I felt toyed with. I was angry. I was ready to get mean. I decided I would make my phone play its “find me” ping each time it was turned on. I had also discovered that if I put it in something called Lost Mode, I could have it display a big message - filling the screen.

To Anaheim, I sent stern words: “I’m watching you! Return my phone.”

I played the sound, too, several times - until the phone was turned off.

When it came on again at 9:07 that night, I was locked and loaded. Ping, ping, ping. “I’m tracking you. I know where you are.” Monday passed without a trace. So did Tuesday. Maybe I’d gone too far. My boss ordered me a new phone. Still, I gave it one more shot, sending new words to pounce if my old phone was turned on again: “This phone has been disabled. You can’t use it. Please return it.” By Wednesday morning, I had stopped obsessing. So when the alert came, I missed it by a few minutes.

At 9:07 am, my phone had signaled from Indian Wells. Before it was turned off again, I got in one more ping, ping, ping and this message: “Enjoying Indian Wells?” I wrote. “Drop my phone somewhere, please....” I beamed. I bounced up and down. Everyone near me in the newsroom saw it. When a nice woman at a Verizon store in Orange called to tell me that she had my phone, I looked as if I’d just spotted the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol. I was about to run to my car when a second call came in. The number was blocked. The person didn’t give his name.

He told me he’d found my phone at the market, but it was too late to turn it in to security. —MCT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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

Fetal alcohol disorders common in adopted, kids

CHINA: An electric bus drives past a bus terminal in Hong Kong. —AFP photos

Hong Kong launches electric bus in drive against pollution HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s first battery-powered public bus took to the streets yesterday as part of a drive against the city’s choking pollution. Chief executive Leung Chun-ying has pledged to make pollution one of his top priorities during his five-year term, with an official

report saying it was the “greatest daily health risk” to the city’s residents. The new single decker bus revealed yesterday was manufactured by Chinese automaker BYD and is powered by lithium iron phosphate batteries that take three hours to charge and give the vehicle a range of

CHINA: A conventional double decker bus drives past an electric bus.

about 180 kilometers (110 miles).

The same company produced the southern Chinese city’s first electric taxis, which were launched in May. Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-shing said the government was investing HK$180 million ($23 million) in the pilot scheme over the next year, helping to subsidize the purchase of 36 electric buses that will be run by private companies. “The long term goal is towards zero emissions along the roadside,” he told a press conference, without giving a timeframe for the expansion of the pilot scheme.

“We need to do it step by step,” he said.

Kowloon Motor Bus, the largest operator involved in the trial scheme, said it would take time and money if it was going to transform its fleet of 3,800 buses, with each battery-run vehicle costing about HK$5 million ($644,700) “Battery powered bus is still a new technology,” KMB managing director Ho Tat-man said. “We still need to collect a lot of operating data from the frontline for us to do detailed analysis, and to get customer feedback.”

A study by the University of Hong Kong showed pollution-related illnesses killed more than 3,000 residents a year in the financial hub, with environmental groups blaming traffic emissions as the main source of the pollution. New air quality objectives announced last year for seven pollutants including sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide were criticized as too little, too late and in August last year the city choked under the worst smog on record.—AFP

NEW YORK: Children adopted from orphanages or in foster care have a high rate of fetal alcohol syndrome and other physical, mental and behavioral problems related to alcohol exposure before birth, according to a new review of past studies. Among those children, researchers found that rates of alcohol-related problems - which can include deformities, mental retardation and learning disabilities were anywhere from nine to 60 times higher than in the general population.

“It’s increasingly well recognized that this is a very high-risk population and one that we should really be paying attention to,” Phil Fisher, a psychologist who studies foster and adopted children at the University of Oregon in Eugene, said. “We know that one of the main reasons that kids end up in foster care or being made eligible for adoption is because their parents have substance abuse problems,” added Fisher, who wasn’t involved in the new research.

The findings are based on a review of 33 studies of children in the care of child welfare agencies or foster parents, as well as kids before and after their adoption from orphanages. Most of the studies were conducted in Russia or the United States.

Compiling the studies with the most accurate reporting techniques, Dr Svetlana Popova from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and her colleagues found six percent of children in those settings had fetal alcohol syndrome. The condition includes a distinctive set of facial features, including a small head, jaw and eyes, and other physical developmental defects, especially of the heart.

Slow growth and delayed development after birth are also typical of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Close to 17 percent of the children had a more loosely-defined fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which covers any physical, mental or behavioral issues caused by prenatal alcohol exposure.

The highest rates of fetal alcohol syndrome were seen among children in a Russian orphanage for kids with special needs and among those adopted from Eastern Europe by families in Sweden. In those studies, anywhere

from 29 percent to 68 percent of children showed severe alcohol-related damage.

In other cases, such as a study of Chinese children adopted and brought to the United States, there were no reported instances of fetal alcohol syndrome, the study team reported yesterday in Pediatrics. Fisher said it’s important to know that although problems related to alcohol exposure are common among adopted and foster children, not all kids have been exposed - and some with prenatal exposure are “quite resilient” and do fine.

“I don’t think anyone wants to create the impression that every child in the foster care system ... and every child who’s adopted has very severe problems,” he told Reuters Health.

Still, he said there is a need for more recognition of the challenges faced by children who have been exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb. Rather than focusing only on their obvious current symptoms, he said fetal alcohol disorders should be treated as chronic diseases, like diabetes.

“The supports need to be available in an ongoing way,” Fisher said. He also pointed to the importance of identifying children who have some of the effects of drug and alcohol exposure - but not ones as obvious as the distinct facial features seen with fetal alcohol syndrome - and getting them support as soon as they enter the child welfare system or are adopted.

“If we don’t do the early screening and detection ... then I think we’re in a much more challenging position,” he said. “We hope that the results of this study will attract attention to the needs of children in care affected by prenatal alcohol exposure,” Popova told Reuters Health in an email.

She agreed that spotting problems as soon as possible is important. “Early screening may lead to early diagnosis, which can lead to early participation in developmental interventions, which can in turn, improve the quality of life for children with a (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder),” she said. Early intervention, Popova added, may also help prevent future mental health problems and trouble in school. —Reuters

Children’s use of e-cigarettes increasing ATLANTA: Children - like adults - are increasingly trying electronic cigarettes, according to the first large national study to gauge use by middle and high school students. About 2 percent of the students said they’d used an e-cigarette in the previous month, according to a survey done last year. That was up from 1 percent in 2011.

More kids still smoke traditional cigarettes than the new electronic ones, and it’s not clear how dangerous e-cigarettes are. It’s also not clear from the report how many are using them on a daily or weekly basis. But health officials are worried. The new study suggests many kids are now getting a first taste of nicotine through e-cigarettes and then moving on to regular tobacco products, they say.

Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices that provide users with aerosol puffs that typically contain nicotine, and sometimes flavorings like fruit, mint or chocolate. They’ve often been described as a less dangerous alternative to regular cigarettes. Unlike conventional smokes, the federal government does not yet regulate e-cigarettes, although more than 20 states have banned store sales to minors. The devices began to appear in the United States in late 2006, but marketing has exploded in the last couple of years. The new study - released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - is based on a questionnaire filled out by nearly 19,000 students in grades 6

through 12 in 2011 and another 25,000 in 2012.

In 2011, about 3 percent said they’d tried an e-cigarette at least once. That rose to 7 percent last year and translates to nearly 1.8 million students. In contrast, 6 percent of adults have tried e-cigarettes, according to a different CDC survey done in 2011. Children still are more likely to light up regular cigarettes, though teen smoking rates have dropped in the past decade. More teens now smoke marijuana than tobacco, sur-

veys have found.

But health officials worry e-cigarettes could re-ignite teen cigarette use. They point to a finding in the study that 20 percent of middle school e-cigarette users had never tried conventional cigarettes. When the same question was asked of high school students, only 7 percent had never tried regular smokes. That suggests many kids experiment with the electronic devices and move on to cigarettes by high school, said CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden. “In effect, this is condemning many kids to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine,” he said.

Kurt Ribisl, a University of North Carolina tobacco policy expert, was a bit more restrained, saying the results “don’t prove that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking cigarettes”. Another study would be needed to more clearly establish the link, he added. He said the results may fuel the Food and Drug Administration’s plans to eventually regulate e-cigarettes. Some makers of e-cigarettes said Thursday that they supported regulations that keep the devices out of kids’ hands. But some are wary of steps that might affect adult buyers. Future regulations shouldn’t “stifle what may be the most significant harm reduction opportunity that has ever been made available to smokers,” Murray Kessler, chief executive of Lorillard Inc, the nation’s third-biggest tobacco company and owner of Blu Ecigs, said in a statement. —AP

Study: The right bacteria might help fight obesity

WASHINGTON: Call it a hidden ally: The right germs just might be able to help fight fat. Different kinds of bacteria that live inside the gut can help spur obesity or protect against it, say scientists at Washington University in St Louis who transplanted intestinal germs from fat or lean people into mice and watched the rodents change.

And what they ate determined whether the good germs could move in and do their job. Thursday’s report raises the possibility of one day turning gut bacteria into personalized fat-fighting therapies, and it may help explain why some people have a harder time losing weight than others do. “It’s an important player,” said Dr David Relman of Stanford University, who also studies how gut bacteria influence health but wasn’t involved in the new research. “This paper says that diet and microbes are necessary companions in all of this. They literally and figuratively feed each other.”

The research was reported in the journal Science. We all develop with an essentially sterile digestive tract.

Bacteria rapidly move in starting at birth - bugs that we pick up from mom and dad, the environment, first foods.

Ultimately, the intestine teems with hundreds of species, populations that differ in people with varying health.

Overweight people harbor different

types and amounts of gut bacteria than lean people, for example. The gut bacteria we pick up as children can stick with us for decades, although their makeup changes when people lose weight, previous studies have shown. Clearly, what you eat and how much you move are key to how much you weigh. But are those bacterial differences a con-

tributing cause of obesity, rather than simply the result of it? If so, which bugs are to blame, and might it be possible to switch out the bad actors?

To start finding out, Washington University graduate student Vanessa Ridaura took gut bacteria from eight people - four pairs of twins that each

included one obese sibling and one lean sibling. One pair of twins was identical, ruling out an inherited explanation for their different weights. Using twins also guaranteed similar childhood environments and diets. She transplanted the human microbes into the intestines of young mice that had been raised germ-free. The mice who received gut bacteria from the obese people gained more weight - and experienced unhealthy metabolic changes - even though they didn’t eat more than the mice who received germs from the lean twins, said study senior author Dr Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University’s Center of Genome Sciences and Systems Biology.

Then came what Gordon calls the battle of the microbes. Mice that harbored gut bacteria from a lean person were put in the same cages as mice that harbored the obesity-prone germs. The research team took advantage of an icky fact of rodent life: Mice eat feces, so presumably they could easily swap intestinal bugs. What happened was a surprise. Certain bacteria from the lean mice invaded the intestines of the fatter mice, and their weight and metabolism improved. But the trade was one-way - the lean mice

weren’t affected. Moreover, the fatter mice got the bacterial benefit only when they were fed a low-fat, highfiber diet. When Ridaura substituted the higher-fat, lower-fiber diet typical of Americans, the protective bug swap didn’t occur.

Why? Gordon already knew from human studies that obese people harbor less diverse gut bacteria. “It was almost as if there were potential job vacancies” in their intestines that the lean don’t have, he explained. Sure enough, a closer look at the mice that benefited from the bug swap suggests a specific type of bacteria, from a family named Bacteroidetes, moved into previously unoccupied niches in their colons - if the rodents ate right.

How might those findings translate to people? For a particularly hard-totreat diarrheal infection, doctors sometimes transplant stool from a healthy person into the sick person’s intestine.

Some scientists wonder if fecal transplants from the lean to the fat might treat obesity, too. But Gordon foresees a less invasive alternative: Determining the best combinations of intestinal bacteria to match a person’s diet, and then growing those bugs in sterile lab dishes - like this study could - and turning them into pills. He estimates such an attempt would take at least five more years of research.—AP

WASHINGTON: In this Aug 7, 2013, file photo, farmer Ben Burgess carries a type of low-yield rice from a rice field near Coy. —AP

FDA study says amount of arsenic in rice is low WASHINGTON: The Food and Drug Administration says consumers shouldn’t worry too much about levels of arsenic in rice - but should vary their diets just in case. The agency released a study Friday of arsenic in 1,300 samples of rice and rice products, the largest study to date looking at the carcinogen’s presence in that grain. Consumer groups have pressured the FDA to set a standard for the amount of arsenic that can be present in rice products. The study shows varying levels, with the most arsenic in brown rice and the least in instant rice. Infant cereal and infant rice formulas are also at the low end of the spectrum.

The FDA says the amounts are so small that rice is safe to eat and there isn’t any concern of immediate or short-term adverse health effects. But the agency said it is still studying the long-term effects of eating rice. Rice is thought to have arsenic in higher levels than most other foods because it is grown in water on the ground, optimal conditions for the contaminant to be absorbed. Arsenic is naturally present in water, air, food and soil in two forms, organic and inorganic. Organic arsenic passes through the body quickly and is essentially harmless. Inorganic arsenic - the type found in some pesticides and insecticides - can be toxic and may pose a cancer risk if consumed at high levels or over a long period.

The FDA is looking into how much organic and inorganic arsenic rice eaters are consuming and whether those levels are dangerous. The agency will conduct a risk assessment with the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency to further measure those effects. The government, along with the public health community, has long encouraged consumers to vary their diets to minimize risk. Pediatricians, for example, have moved away from only recommending rice cereal as a baby’s first solid food. There is evidence that other grains and even meats and fruits and vegetables can be just as healthful, says Dr Stephen Daniels of Children’s Hospital Colorado, the chairman of the nutrition committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Daniels said the FDA results are “reassuring in many ways” and parents who have been giving their infants rice cereal should not be concerned. Average levels

of arsenic in the study ranged from 2.6 to 7.2 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per serving. Though the long-term effects are still unknown, that amount is tiny - a microgram is one-millionth of a gram. Still, it is almost impossible to say how dangerous these levels are without a benchmark from the federal government. The advocacy group Consumer Reports, which is pushing for FDA to create standards, has used New Jersey’s drinking water standard - a maximum of 5 micrograms in a liter of water - as an example of a benchmark because it is one of the strictest in the country.

But the group acknowledges that it is difficult to compare standards for water and rice because one is a liquid and one is a solid and people drink more water than they eat rice. The FDA study looked at rice from the United States, with some of the highest levels of arsenic found in rice grown in Southern states. It also looked at rice from Asia. The FDA said its study was not large enough to evaluate specific brands. FDA toxicologist Suzanne C Fitzpatrick said that because arsenic is naturally occurring it is going to be in food, and because rice is grown in water it will always have higher levels. “It’s not something that we can just pull off the market,” she said. The rice industry said Friday that it is working with the FDA and is encouraged by the results of the study.

The industry has been conducting several of its own studies to try to figure out how to reduce arsenic levels, including investigating different ways to manage the water in which rice is grown and looking at processing and rinsing methods to see if there are ways to reduce arsenic levels.

Consumer groups said they also are pleased that the FDA is taking a hard look at arsenic in rice. Urvashi Rangan of Consumer Reports said the group hopes the FDA eventually sets specific guidelines for arsenic so growers will implement more steps to rid rice of the carcinogen. Dr Steven Abrams of Texas Children’s Hospital agreed that varying diet is the way to go.

Rice “is a healthy food but it’s not the only healthy food,” he said. Still, parents should not overreact and shy away from rice completely, he said. “We don’t want to overinterpret the concerns so that we don’t give kids the foods that they need,” Abrams said. —AP

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

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Research renaissance offers new ways out of depression Depression affects more than 350 million people

LONDON: As Susan sits chatting to a nurse in a London clinic, a light tapping sound by her head signals that parts of her brain are being zapped by thousands of tiny electro-magnetic pulses from a machine plugged into the wall.

The 50 year-old doctor is among growing ranks of people with so-called treatment-resistant depression, and after 21 years fighting a disorder that destroyed her ability to work and at times made her want to “opt out of life”, this is a last resort.

Until recently, Susan and others like her had effectively reached the end of the road with depression treatments, having tied the best drugs medical science had to offer, engaged in hours of therapy, and tried cocktails of both.

But a renaissance in research into depression prompted by some remarkable results with highly experimental treatments has changed the way neuroscientists see the disorder and is offering hope for patients who had feared there was nowhere left to go.

Their drive to find an answer has taken neuroscientists to uncharted waters - researching everything from psychedelic magic mushrooms, to the veterinary tranquilizer ketamine, to magnetic stimulation through the skull, to using electrical implants - a bit like a pacemaker for the brain - to try and reset this complex organ’s wiring and engender a more positive outlook.

Their sometimes surprising findings have in turn taught them more about depression leading to a view of it not as a single mental illness but a range of disorders each with distinct mechanisms, yet all producing similarly debilitating symptoms. “The thinking about depression has been revitalized,” said Helen Mayberg, a neurologist at Emory University in Atlanta in the United States.

“We have a new model for thinking about psychiatric diseases not just as chemical imbalance - that your brain is a just big vat of soup where you can just add a chemical and stir but where we ask different questions - what’s wrong with brain chemistry and what’s wrong with brain circuits.”

Add a chemical and stir?

There’s little doubt that until this new

breath of hope, depression had been going through a bad patch. Affecting more than 350 million people, depression is ranked by the World Health Organisation as the leading cause of disability worldwide. In extreme cases, depressed people kill themselves. Around a million people commit suicide every year, the majority due to unidentified or untreated depression. Treatment for depression involves either medication or psychotherapy - and often a combination of both. Yet as things stand, as many as half of patients fail to recover on their first medication, and around a third find no lasting benefit from any medication or talking therapy currently available.

High hopes for “wonder” drugs like Prozac, Seroxat and others in their class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the 1980s and 1990s were dimmed by studies in the 2000s that showed they helped a proportion of people, but left at least 30 percent of patients little or no better than before. And as chronically depressed patients move from trying one drug to the next, or one type of therapy to another, their hopes too dim as it becomes clear that failing to get better with each depressive bout in turn also ups their chances of relapse.

For Susan, the battle seemed never ending.

When she was at her lowest, she dreaded each day, says she was “frightened of everything” and overwhelmed even by straightforward tasks like making a meal for her two children. “I was taking double doses of antidepressants two types at once - and because I was also very agitated I was on (the sedative) chloral hydrate to help me sleep,” she told Reuters.

“So I was on this massive amount of medication, but with no effect whatsoever on my depression. Nothing was working.” Desperate to help patients like Susan, and alarmed by news of some pharmaceutical firms such as GlaxoSmithKline abandoning research and development in depression because it was proving too hard to find new drugs that could turn a profit , doctors began looking for new approaches. “We often encounter patients who say ‘I’ve tried a million things and nothing seems to be working’,” said Rafael Euba, a consultant psychiatrist at the London Psychiatry

Centre (LPC)where Susan was treated. “We want to instil a feeling of hope.”

Electro-therapy In Susan’s case, past experience with a controversial electrical intervention - electro convulsion therapy (ECT) - which she says was what eventually clawed her back from her severe depression 17 years ago, lead her to investigate the latest in electrical treatments - so-called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS. Approved by medicines regulators in the United States and in Europe it is a painless treatment that uses electro-magnetic induction to activate an area of the brain that psychiatrists know is involved in the regulation of mood.

Unlike ECT, which gained notoriety in the 1975 American drama film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, rTMS it does not induce “shock”, but is far more targeted, delivering a pulse to neurons in the brain and that makes them fire again.

At the LPC - currently the only place in Britain where patients can get rTMS - a treatment course can be anything from 3 to 6 weeks of half an hour a day, five days a week. It isn’t cheap.

The treatment costs 1,500 pounds ($2,300) per week, with the average course lasting four weeks. And some patients also need weekly or fortnightly “maintenance” sessions beyond that.

Patients put on a white fabric cap and the electro-magnetic coil is positioned over the part of the brain that needs help - normally the left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, which is a few inches above the temple beneath the skull.

“Unlike with other psychiatric treatments, patients tend to find this experience quite pleasant,” said Euba. “All you get is a slight tingling on the scalp - and some people like that because it’s a physical sensation that something is happening.”

Although they are from a controlled trial and show only a snapshot of the couple of dozen patients treated and monitored at one clinic, Euba’s results so far have been striking. Of 24 patients with depression ranging from mild to severe who received rTMS at the LPC, 18 of them - or 75 percent - got completely well and were classed as being in remission. Two more

responded to treatment but did not get completely well, and only four - 17 percent - did not respond.

Deep brain stimulation Mayberg and her colleagues in the United States had also been intrigued by the potential for electrical stimulation to ease severe depression, but they went in deeper. After the success of using deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices made by firms such as Medtronic to treat tremors in patients with Parkinson’s disease, her team conducted a trial using them in a small number of patients who’d had depression for decades and had not been helped by numerous different drugs.

Electrical stimulation devices were implanted into the brains of patients with severe depression and bipolar disorder. “In this treatment the stimulation continues all the time - they implant the “pacemaker” and leave it switched on for years - and only sometimes they have to change the battery,” said Jonathan Roiser, a reader in cognitive neuroscience at University College London.

According to study results published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal last year, the number of patients who had responded to treatment after two years was very high - at 92 percent - and the proportion who were completely well and in remission from their depression was 58 percent. For psychiatrists more used to seeing patients fail again and again to get better on any kind of treatment, these results were unheard-of. “It was a remarkable finding,” says Roiser.

Yet it’s not just the brain’s wiring that is getting more attention. Chemistry, too has thrown up some exciting results. Researchers who looked, for example, at the veterinary tranquilizer ketamine - or “Special K” as it is called as a party drug - found that in some patients with depression it dramatically reduced their symptoms, sometimes within hours - and kept their mood stable for several weeks after treatment. Inspired by these uplifting findings, several drug firms, including Roche, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit, are in the early or mid stages of developing ketamine derivatives into what

they hope will become successful new antidepressants.

Define subtypes and treat accordingly Experts say the success these new and some still experimental treatments for depression emphasizes the re-thinking of it as not one but a cluster of disorders. “We now have this increasingly influential model of what is causing mental health problems like depression - one focused on the brain circuits,” said Roiser. “We’ve learnt a lot about how these circuits operate, what kind of cognitive tasks they are involved in, how they interact and how they are connected to each other.”

More evidence of this came in a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in which researchers found that brain scans of depressed patients could help predict whether they would be more likely to respond to treatment with anti-depressant drugs or with psychotherapy. The study focused on a part of the brain known as the insula, which plays a role in influencing emotions.

It found that in patients whose scans showed their insula consumed an excess of glucose, psychotherapy was more likely to help. In patients whose insula were less active, consuming less glucose, antidepressants were more successful.

“Our gut tells us there are subtypes (of depression), and this shows that if you look the brain, you should define the biology and treat accordingly - just as we do in other branches of medicine (like cancer or diabetes),” said Mayberg.

Far from being defeated by the emergence of depression as a more complex a disorder than first assumed, scientists say the renaissance in research is based in confidence that deeper knowledge will ensure new and better treatments can be found. Roiser confesses to feeling “extremely excited and optimistic” about the future of treating mental illnesses.

“We’re in a movement away from the traditional psychological and biological explanations for depression - which look increasingly outdated and simplistic - and we’re in the middle of specifying these disorders in terms of their underlying brain circuits,” he said. “That’s a much better position than we were in 20 years ago.” —Reuters

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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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

ASSE conducts training seminar

Announcements

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A photowalk in Kuwait on Oct 5th photowalk is more like a social photography event where photographers gather in a spot, take photos for an hour or two then maybe meet up at a restaurant after that. Scott Kelby’s worldwide photowalk never took place in Kuwait until now. Kuwait’s photowalk will be held on October 5th at Souk Al-Mubarakiya at 10am. There are some prizes to be won like a Canon 70D and Adobe Creative Cloud Membership. So far there are 700 registered photowalks with 8700+ photographers. The prizes are for the worldwide event, not just Kuwait. Kuwait Mapping Meet-Up will be held on September 2 at 5:30 pm in Coffee Bean (Mahboula, Coastal Road). The event is for anyone interested in maps, spatial analysis or surveying in Kuwait. For more information, contact Wil at 97225615.

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Japanese festival two-day Japanese Pop Culture Festival will be held on September 12 at 6:00 pm and September 13 at 6:00 pm. The event will be held in the National Library, Mubarakiya Street in Kuwait City.

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Issue of online visa

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

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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.

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.

merican Society of Safety Engineers, Kuwait Chapter conducted a training seminar on “How to Build Effective Contract Specific HSE Plan” on August 30 2013 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at Kohinoor Banquet Hall, Fahaheel. The trainer for the session was B Amarnath, CSP, G- IOSH, SIIRSM. Around 35 members attended and benefited from this program.

CH Rama Krushna Chary, Secretary ASSE Kuwait chapter welcomed the participants. He briefed about the significance of the training seminar and the importance of conducting such seminars for the benefit of ASSE members and introduced the trainer.

B Amarnath holding B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University, India.

Industrial safety diploma from regional labor institute, PG diploma in environmental studies. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of HSE from Oil & Gas, Refinery, and Petrochemical industry.

Specialist in safety inspections/surveys, workplace audits, compliance audits, risk assessment and imple-

mentation of HSE management systems.

The training seminar was well conducted by the trainer, he briefed on overall understanding on the Project Specific HSE Plan requirements, ability to carry out risk assessment/hazard identification, identification of required safety procedures/programs, identifying the training requirements/skill requirements, defining the roles and responsibilities and ability to identify the requirements for implementing the key safe work practices.

CH Rama Krushna Chary, Secretary thanked B Amarnath for this initiative. The program was very much beneficial to all the members particularly to the junior safety officers and engineers. The session concluded with the distribution of participation certificates to the participants.

Delicious lunch Sponsored by ASSE Kuwait Chapter served at the end of the session.

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8th Expo Pakistan to commence in September he 8th Expo Pakistan will be held from September 26 to 29 in Karachi. Held annually, Expo Pakistan is the biggest trade fair in the country showcasing the largest collection of Pakistan’s export merchandise and services. Foreign Exhibitors also use the event to launch their products. Expo Pakistan 2012 was visited by delegates from 52 countries and generated a business of over $ 518 million. A 16 member delegation from Kuwait including reputable companies like Al-Yasra Foods also took part in the last exhibition.

Expo Pakistan 2013 is being held under the auspices of the Trade Development Authority Pakistan.

Details about the event can be viewed www.expopakisan.gov.pk. Further information and details of sponsorship can be obtained from the office of Commercial Secretary, Pakistan Embassy, Jabriya (25356594) during office hours.

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

KSC honors members of summer course The Kuwait Science Club honored members who took part in the 2013 summer courses which concluded recently. The courses were offered for children between the ages of 8 and 14, and included workshops and skill improvement programs in addition to field trips and science competitions.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE For the Argentinean citizens who had not already enlisted in the embassy’s electoral register, and taking in consideration the elections which was held on Sunday 11/08/2013, it is necessary to justify they no vote by presence at our embassy which located in (Mishref - Block 6 - Street 42 - Villa 57) and should present the DNI and/or the Argentinean Passport. The Embassy of the Argentine Republic in the State of Kuwait avails itself of this opportunity to renew the assurances of its highest consideration. nnnnnnn

Ras Al-Ardh Club concludes football competition The Ras Al-Ardh Club concluded a football competition recently which was organized as part of summer activities for club members and their families.

Mohammed Al-Hajri

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. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-imenquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday. nnnnnnn

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. nnnnnnn

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. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF US

The US Embassy in Kuwait has new procedures for obtaining appointments and picking up passports after visa issuance.

Beginning August 9, 2013, we now provide an online visa appointment system, live call center, and in-person pick-up facilities in Kuwait.

Please monitor our website and social media for additional information. This new system offers more flexibility for travelers to the US and to meet the increase in demand for visa appointments.

The general application steps on the new visa appointment system are: 1. Go to www.ustraveldocs.com/kw (if this is the first time on ustraveldocs.com, you will need to create a profile to login).

2. Please complete your DS-160 Online Visa Application which is available at ceac.state.gov/genNIV. 3. Please print and take your deposit slip to any Burgan Bank location to pay your visa application fee.

4. Schedule an appointment for your visa interview online at www.ustraveldocs.com/kw or by phone through the Call Center (at +9652227-1673).

5. If you need to change or cancel your appointment, please do so 24 hours beforehand, as a courtesy to other applicants. For more information, please visit the US Embassy website - kuwait.usembassy.gov - as it is the best source of information regarding these changes. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF VATICAN The Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See, Vatican in Kuwait has moved to a new location in Kuwait City. Please find below the new address: Yarmouk, Block 1, Street 2, Villa No: 1. P.O.Box 29724, Safat 13158, Kuwait. Tel: 965 25337767, Fax: 965 25342066.

Email: nuntiuskuwait@gmail.com.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:30 River Monsters 01:20 Deadliest Catch 02:10 Deadliest Catch 03:00 Mythbusters 03:50 Border Security 04:15 Auction Hunters 04:40 Auction Kings 05:05 How Do They Do It? 05:30 How It’s Made 06:00 Sons Of Guns 07:00 Mythbusters 07:50 Ice Cold Gold 08:40 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 09:30 Border Security 09:55 Auction Hunters 10:20 Auction Kings 10:45 How Do They Do It? 11:10 How It’s Made 11:35 River Monsters 12:25 Deadliest Catch 13:15 Deadliest Catch 14:05 Border Security 14:30 Auction Hunters 14:55 Auction Kings 15:20 Yukon Men 16:10 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 17:00 Ultimate Survival 17:50 Dirty Jobs 18:40 Mythbusters 19:30 Sons Of Guns 20:20 Auction Hunters 20:45 Auction Kings 21:10 How Do They Do It? 21:35 How It’s Made 22:00 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 22:50 Top Hooker 23:40 River Monsters: Untold Stories

00:05 00:30 01:00 01:50 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:20 11:15 12:05 13:00 13:25 13:50 14:20 14:45 15:10 16:00 16:55 17:45 18:35 19:30 20:20 20:45 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:15 23:40

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:15

The Tech Show Food Factory Moon Machines Scrapheap Challenge Prototype This Nyc: Inside Out Mighty Ships The Gadget Show The Tech Show Moon Machines Scrapheap Challenge Junk Men Junk Men The Gadget Show The Tech Show Sci-Trek X-Machines Scrapheap Challenge How The Universe Works Junk Men Junk Men Food Factory The Gadget Show The Tech Show Scrapheap Challenge Ecopolis Mighty Ships Scrapheap Challenge Moon Machines Scrapheap Challenge Junk Men Junk Men The Gadget Show How Tech Works Scrapheap Challenge Junk Men Junk Men The Gadget Show

Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting Deadly Devotion Blood Relatives I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting Nightmare Next Door Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol

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

Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth...

On The Case With Paula Zahn Solved Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth...

Disappeared Solved Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Dr G: Medical Examiner Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Dates From Hell Dates From Hell Deadly Women I Almost Got Away With It

00:00 00:20 00:45 01:05 01:30 01:50 02:15 02:35 03:00 03:20 03:45 04:05 04:30 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:25 06:45 07:10 07:35 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:05 Pirates 09:15 Pirates 09:30 09:55 10:15 10:40 11:05 11:25 11:50 12:15 12:35 13:00 13:25 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:10 17:00 17:20 17:45 18:10 18:30 18:55 19:20 20:05 20:30 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:10 23:35

Hannah Montana Hannah Montana Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School The Replacements The Replacements Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School The Replacements The Replacements Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Austin And Ally Suite Life On Deck Shake It Up A.N.T. Farm Jessie Good Luck Charlie Sofia The First Doc McStuffins Jake And The Neverland Jake And The Neverland A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Shake It Up Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Shake It Up My Babysitter’s A Vampire That’s So Raven Gravity Falls Jessie Violetta A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally Gravity Falls Shake It Up That’s So Raven A.N.T. Farm Violetta Jessie My Babysitter’s A Vampire Austin And Ally Austin And Ally That’s So Raven Jessie A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:10 Iron Man Armored 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 09:05 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 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja 14:55 Lab Rats 15:20 Phineas And Ferb 15:30 Phineas And Ferb 15:45 Kickin It 16:10 Pair Of Kings 16:35 Crash & Bernstein 17:00 Lab Rats 17:30 Kickin It 18:00 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja 18:25 Phineas And Ferb 18:35 Phineas And Ferb 18:50 Phineas And Ferb 19:00 Phineas And Ferb 19:15 Slugterra 19:40 Crash & Bernstein 20:05 Ultimate Spider-Man 20:30 Max Steel 20:55 Pair Of Kings 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

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:15 13:40 14:30 15:20 15:45 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:40

Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting Deadly Devotion Blood Relatives I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting Nightmare Next Door Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth...

On The Case With Paula Zahn Solved Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth...

Disappeared Solved Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Dr G: Medical Examiner Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Dates From Hell Dates From Hell Deadly Women I Almost Got Away With It

00:00 Wilfred 00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 01:30 Family Guy 02:00 South Park 02:30 Weeds 03:00 Two And A Half Men 03:30 Men At Work 04:00 Seinfeld 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 All Of Us 06:00 The War At Home 06:30 Malibu Country 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Seinfeld 08:30 All Of Us 09:00 Men At Work 09:30 Two And A Half Men

10:00 Hot In Cleveland 10:30 Malibu Country 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 The War At Home 12:30 Seinfeld 13:00 All Of Us 13:30 Malibu Country 14:00 Men At Work 14:30 Two And A Half Men 15:00 Hot In Cleveland 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 Family Tools 18:30 Raising Hope 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 Arrested Development 20:05 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The Big C 22:30 South Park 23:00 Weeds 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 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

24 The Newsroom In Plain Sight Smash Parenthood Covert Affairs 24 Switched At Birth Necessary Roughness In Plain Sight Covert Affairs Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Necessary Roughness 24 Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Necessary Roughness Royal Pains Franklin & Bash Top Gear Specials Breaking Bad Smash

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 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

Homeland Good Morning America American Idol American Horror Story Good Morning America Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Awake Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. Miami Homeland Live Good Morning America C.S.I. Miami Awake Homeland C.S.I. Miami Awake Homeland American Horror Story American Idol

00:00 Mad Max 02:00 Paintball 04:00 Bait 06:00 Swamp Shark 08:00 Blackthorn 10:00 Courageous 12:15 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part One 14:00 The Tourist 16:00 Courageous 18:15 Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome 20:00 The Tourist 22:00 Falls The Shadow

00:00 Paintball-18 02:00 Bait-PG15 04:00 Swamp Shark-PG15 06:00 Blackthorn-PG15 08:00 Courageous-PG15 10:15 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part One-PG15 12:00 The Tourist-PG15 14:00 Courageous-PG15 16:15 Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome-PG15 18:00 The Tourist-PG15 20:00 Falls The Shadow-PG15 22:00 Death Race: Inferno-18

00:00 Girl Walks Into A Bar-PG15 02:00 The Animal-PG15 04:00 While You Were SleepingPG15 06:00 Another Stakeout-PG15 08:00 Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol-PG15 10:00 Mr. Destiny-PG 12:00 While You Were SleepingPG15 14:00 My Dog’s Christmas MiraclePG15 16:00 Mr. Destiny-PG 18:00 The Decoy Bride-PG15 20:00 Friends With Benefits-18 22:00 Girl Walks Into A Bar-PG15

THE TOURIST ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

01:00 03:15 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:15 13:15 15:30 17:00 19:00 21:15 23:15

Hugo-PG Love Takes Wing-PG15 The Darkest Hour-PG15 Playdate-PG15 Hugo-PG Sparkle-PG15 Lorenzo’s Oil-PG15 No Surrender-PG15 Henry’s Crime-PG15 We Bought A Zoo-PG 360-18 Peacock-18

BLACK THORN ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 PG15 13:00 15:30 17:15 19:00 21:00 23:00

Ondine-PG15 Krach-18 Toast-PG15 Kathmandu Lullaby-PG15 Trust-PG15 Taken Back: Finding HaleyWar Horse-PG15 Matching Jack-PG15 Tricks Of A Woman-PG15 Neds-PG15 Reign Over Me-PG15 Young Adult-PG15

01:00 Shelter-PG15 03:00 The Vow-PG15 05:00 Arthur Christmas-PG 06:45 Flicka 3-FAM 09:00 Brave-PG 11:00 Dark Shadows-PG15 13:00 American Girl: McKenna Shoots For The Stars-PG 14:45 Underground: The Julian Assange Story-PG15 16:45 Brave-PG 18:30 The Avengers-PG15 21:00 Wrath Of The Titans-PG15 23:00 Chernobyl Diaries-18

01:00 Micropolis 02:45 A Cat In Paris 04:30 The Happy Cricket 2 06:00 Journey To The West 08:00 Crab Island 10:00 Tom & Jerry: Robin Hood And His Merry Mouse 11:30 The Pirates! Band Of Misfits 13:00 A Cat In Paris 14:30 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 16:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked 18:00 Tom & Jerry: Robin Hood And His Merry Mouse 20:00 Jingle All The Way 22:00 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 23:30 Crab Island

00:00 Why Did I Get Married Too?PG15 02:15 People Like Us-PG15 04:15 Paranorman-PG 06:00 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island-PG 08:00 Arrietty-FAM 10:00 The Makeover-PG15 12:00 People Like Us-PG15 14:00 The Three Stooges-PG15 16:00 Arrietty-FAM 18:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days-PG 20:00 Another Earth-PG15 22:00 Here Comes The Boom-PG15

00:00 OSN Cup 02:00 NRL Premiership 04:00 Futbol Mundial 04:30 AFL Premiership 07:00 NRL Premiership 09:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 10:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 11:00 Trans World Sport 12:00 The Rugby Championship

14:00 NRL Premiership 16:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 17:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 18:00 Trans World Sport 19:00 The Rugby Championship 21:00 NRL Full Time 21:30 Futbol Mundial 22:00 Sailing America’s Cup Highlights 23:00 Live Sailing America’s Cup

00:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 01:00 Sailing America’s Cup Highlights 02:00 The Rugby Championship 04:00 ICC Cricket 360 04:30 Rugby Union Currie Cup 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 08:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 09:00 Champions Tour 11:00 OSN Cup 13:00 Futbol Mundial 13:30 ICC Cricket 360 14:00 AFL Premiership Highlights

15:00 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 22:30

Trans World Sport Super League ICC Cricket 360 Futbol Mundial WWE Bottom Line NFL UFC The Ultimate Fighter

00:30 Futbol Mundial 01:00 ITU World Triathlon Series 03:30 Top 14 Highlights 04:00 World Cup of Pool 05:00 World Cup of Pool 06:00 Golfing World 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Futbol Mundial 08:30 World Cup of Pool 09:30 World Cup of Pool 10:30 Super League 13:00 Golfing World 14:00 Pro 12 15:30 Top 14 Highlights 16:00 Sailing America’s Cup Highlights 17:00 ITU World Triathlon Series 19:30 Trans World Sport 20:30 Top 14 Highlights

21:00 Golfing World 22:00 World Cup of Pool 23:00 World Cup of Pool

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:30 15:30 16:30 17:30 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:30 21:00

UFC Unleashed Porsche GT 3 Cup Challenge Porsche GT 3 Cup Challenge Triahlon UK Triahlon UK Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing Porsche GT 3 Cup Challenge Porsche GT 3 Cup Challenge WWE NXT WWE Bottom Line Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing ITU World Triathlon Series European Le Mans Series European Le Mans Series Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing Porsche GT 3 Cup Challenge Porsche GT 3 Cup Challenge UIM Powerboat Champs Mobil 1 The Grid UFC

Jason Bateman: First time-director, Toronto hit

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ctors making their first stab at directing are mainstays at festivals, often never heard from again. That is not the case for Jason Bateman. Over the weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, Bateman premiered his spelling bee comedy “Bad Words,” a foulmouthed R-rated riot. Just hours after it had festival goers roaring with laughter, it was picked up for distribution by Focus Features, with Universal Pictures distributing internationally. “It was exactly what I would have scripted,” says Bateman. “It was pretty surreal to see such a long dream come true.”

Bateman’s career has already undergone several evolutions, from child star to an “Arrested Development”-powered comeback. His next chapter, he hopes, will be as a director. “I want to be able not to act,” Bateman said in an interview. “My ambition is true.” The film, from a script by first-time screenwriter Andrew Dodge, is about a 40-year-old man (Bateman) who enters a national spelling bee with uncertain motives for sabotaging the children’s contest. For Bateman, so often the mild-mannered straight man in the middle of chaotic stories, it’s a cathartic shift into a darker comic personality.

He plays a man on a questionable and mysterious mission, with no patience to explain himself or coddle his younger competitors. He calls one 10-year-old Indian boy (Rohan Chand) “Shawarma” and “Slumdog.” And that’s just what’s printable. In the quaint spelling bee environs, Bateman is a cruel but hilarious villain. “Its humor is similar to mine, I somewhat cautiously reveal to you,” says Bateman. “We’ve all got different parts, and I’m fortunate that I’m friends with a lot of the different parts in me. I know

Jason Bateman, director and star of the film ‘Bad Words,’ poses for a portrait on day 3 of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday in Toronto. — AP each of those parts really well and I can ask them to come to the party whenever I want.” But the part of the 44-year-old “Identity Thief” actor that most comes across is the seriousness of his directing plans. His models, he says, are filmmakers that mix drama and comedy with an edge, like David O. Russell, Spike Jonze and Paul Thomas Anderson. Of becoming an actor-director, he speaks with careerist clarity of taking “a Ben Stiller route or a Clooney route or an Affleck route.” It’s a goal he’s harbored since he first was exposed to Hollywood by his directing and producing father, Kent Bateman.

“I never wanted to be obnoxious about jamming myself into the director chair any more than the community would truly embrace me,” says Bateman.

He and his team, he says, are “reading furiously,” pursuing his next script. He hopes to be in pre -production by February on his next directing effort. His aim is certain: “I want to do this a lot more.” — AP

Classifieds TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Kuwait SHARQIA-1 ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-2 THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) TURBO (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-3 RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-1 RIDDICK (DIG) TOOFAN (DIG) (TELUGU) FRI & SAT RIDDICK (DIG) NO FRI & SAT RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG)

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (05/09/2013 TO 11/09/2013)

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-3 2 GUNS (DIG) 1:45 PM CHENNAI EXPRESS (DIG) (HINDI) 4:00 PM 2 GUNS (DIG) 7:00 PM SHUDDH DESI ROMANCE (DIG) (HINDI) 9:15 PM 2 GUNS (DIG) 12:15 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

FANAR-4 TURBO (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) TURBO (DIG-3D) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

MARINA-1 TURBO (DIG) TURBO (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

MARINA-2 RIDDICK (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM

MUHALAB-2 2 GUNS (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM

MUHALAB-3 TURBO (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC)

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM

FANAR-1 RIDDICK (DIG) PARANOIA (DIG) ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-2 WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

MARINA-3 TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) TOM & JIMMY (DIG)(ARABIC) THE CONJURING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-1 ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG) ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) THE CONJURING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

AVENUES-2 WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

AVENUES-3 YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM

YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

9:15 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

AVENUES-4 2 GUNS (DIG) TOM & JIMMY (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) TOM & JIMMY (DIG) TOM & JIMMY (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

360º- 1 RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM

360º- 2 WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

CHANGE OF NAME

360º- 3 ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG-3D) 1:30 PM ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG) 3:45 PM ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG-3D) 6:00 PM ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (DIG-3D) 8:00 PM THE WOLVERINE (DIG) 10:00 PM THE WOLVERINE (DIG) 12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED 360º- 4 THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG-3D) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) 2 GUNS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AL-KOUT.1 TURBO (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) TURBO (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) RIDDICK (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AL-KOUT.2 WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) THE SMURFS 2 (DIG) WE’RE THE MILLERS (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG) YOU’RE NEXT (DIG)

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

I, Shaik Shanwaz holder of Indian Passport No. E7171807 hereby correct my name to Shaikh Shanawaz. ( C 4504) 9-9-2013 I, Peter Mendonca, Passport No. J0365647, hereby change my name to Albert Peter Mendonca.

(C 4500) I, Thopugunta Sudheer, holder of Indian Passport No. K7916639 converted to Islam do hereby change my name to Shaik Ali Haider. (C 4501) 8-9-2013

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

I, Mohammed Shakeel Abdul Kalam holder of Indian Passport No. E5417852 hereby change my name to Mohammad Shakeel Abdul Kalam Darugar. (C 4498)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM

I, John Vettikal Thomas holder of Indian Passport No. J4433687 hereby

change my name to Mohammed Javad Vettikal.

(C 4499) 7-9-2013 FOR SALE Car for sale, Subaru Forrester, model 2003, 4 wheel driver, good condition. Contact: 66532871.

(C 4503) 08-9-2013

SITUATION VACANT Looking for a part time maid for an American family. 12 - 4 pm. 5 days a week. KD. 100/per month. Call 96942874.

9-9-2013

TUITION Learn holy Quran, in perfect way, private tuition available for elders and children by Hafiz-e -Quran.

Contact: 66725950.

(C 4502) 8-9-2013

Prayer timings Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

04:07 05:28 11:46 15:18 18:04 19:22

112

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

Airlines BBC QTR PIA JZR JZR THY ETH GFA UAE ETD THY RJA UAE FDB MSR OMA QTR THY DHX FDB BAW KAC KAC JZR JZR JZR KAC JZR FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY FDB IRA QTR ETD GFA MEA JZR JZR TMA UAE MSR THY KNE KAC KAC KAC QTR FDB KAC

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 10/9/2013 Flt Route 43 DHAKA 148 DOHA 239 SIALKOT 539 CAIRO 267 BEIRUT 764 SABIHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI-INTL 768 ISTANBUL 642 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 3857 DUBAI 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 69 DUBAI 157 LONDON 412 MANILA/BANGKOK 416 JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR 555 ALEXANDRIA 531 ASYUT 1541 CAIRO 206 ISLAMABAD 503 LUXOR 53 DUBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 55 DUBAI 605 ISFAHAN 132 DOHA 301 ABU DHABI-INTL 213 BAHRAIN 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 561 SOHAG 213 BEIRUT 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 766 ISTANBUL 480 TAIF 672 DUBAI 514 TEHRAN 562 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 140 DOHA 57 DUBAI 546 ALEXANDRIA

Time 00:05 00:05 01:05 00:40 00:20 01:40 01:45 01:55 02:25 02:30 02:50 03:10 03:00 03:10 03:15 03:20 03:30 04:35 05:10 05:50 06:30 06:15 06:35 06:20 06:40 06:25 07:25 07:40 07:45 07:55 07:50 08:05 08:15 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 13:40 13:40 14:40 13:45 13:50 14:15

SVA JZR KNE KAC SYR RJA JZR QTR JZR ETD KAC UAE ABY UAL SVA GFA JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC KAC FDB GFA KAC JZR AXB KAC KAC KAC KAC JAI FDB OMA ABY MEA IRA MSR KLM ALK UAE ETD QTR GFA JAI FDB AIC JZR UAL JZR JZR DLH JAI JZR MSR THY

500 257 472 788 341 640 535 134 325 303 1802 857 127 982 510 215 177 542 144 786 166 104 63 219 618 557 393 674 678 774 742 572 61 647 129 402 619 618 415 229 859 307 136 217 576 59 981 239 981 185 135 636 574 513 614 772

JEDDAH BEIRUT JEDDAH JEDDAH LATAKIA AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA CAIRO DOHA NAJAF ABU DHABI-INTL CAIRO DUBAI SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH PARIS/ROME LONDON DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA ALEXANDRIA KOZHIKODE DUBAI MUSCAT/ABU DHABI-INTL RIYADH DAMMAM MUMBAI DUBAI MUSCAT SHARJAH BEIRUT LAR ALEXANDRIA AMSTERDAM COLOMBO DUBAI ABU DHABI-INTL DOHA BAHRAIN COCHIN/ABU DHABI-INTL DUBAI CHENNAI/HYDERABAD/AHMEDABAD AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN FRANKFURT MUMBAI SHARM EL SHEIKH CAIRO ISTANBUL

14:30 14:30 14:35 15:00 15:15 15:55 16:10 16:15 16:15 16:35 16:40 16:55 17:10 17:15 17:20 17:20 17:30 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:40 18:45 18:55 19:05 19:10 19:10 19:15 19:25 19:35 19:25 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:00 20:05 20:15 20:20 20:30 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:30 21:45 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 BBC JZR THY PIA THY ETH THY UAE FDB MSR OMA ETD QTR RJA UAE QTR JZR FDB GFA THY KAC JZR BAW FDB JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC ABY KAC UAE FDB KAC ETD IRA QTR KAC GFA KAC KAC MEA JZR JZR KAC KAC JZR TMA

Departures Flights on Tuesday 10/9/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 206 LAHORE 490 MANGALORE/COCHIN 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 411 AMSTERDAM 44 DHAKA 502 LUXOR 773 ISTANBUL 240 SIALKOT/ISLAMABAD 765 SABIHA 621 ADDIS ABABA 769 ISTANBUL 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 613 CAIRO 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI-INTL 139 DOHA 643 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 3858 DUBAI 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 70 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 545 ALEXANDRIA 164 DUBAI 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 513 TEHRAN 561 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 671 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 1801 CAIRO 302 ABU DHABI-INTL 604 ISFAHAN 133 DOHA 101 LONDON/NEW YORK 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME/PARIS 405 BEIRUT 556 ALEXANDRIA 324 NAJAF 677 MUSCAT/ABU DHABI-INTL 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 223 DUBAI/BEIRUT

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Time 00:05 00:15 00:15 00:20 00:25 00:30 00:30 00:55 01:30 01:30 02:20 02:20 02:40 02:45 03:40 03:45 03:50 04:15 04:20 04:20 04:25 04:30 04:55 05:15 05:35 06:30 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:25 08:25 08:25 08:50 09:10 09:15 09:25 09:25 09:30 09:35 09:50 09:55 10:05 10:15 10:20 10:25 10:25 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:10 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:20 13:45

MSR THY KNE UAE FDB QTR KAC KNE SVA KAC KAC SYR KAC KAC RJA JZR JZR QTR ETD JZR ABY UAE SVA GFA UAL JZR JZR QTR FDB GFA JZR KAC AXB JAI FDB ABY OMA KAC KAC MEA IRA MSR DHX KLM ETD ALK UAE KAC KAC QTR GFA FDB KAC JAI JZR JZR KAC JZR

611 767 481 872 58 141 673 473 501 617 773 342 741 503 641 238 512 135 304 538 128 858 511 216 982 184 266 145 64 220 134 283 394 571 62 120 648 343 351 403 618 607 171 415 308 230 860 381 301 137 218 60 205 575 554 1540 411 528

CAIRO ISTANBUL TAIF DUBAI DUBAI DOHA DUBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH LATAKIA DAMMAM BEIRUT AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA SHARM EL SHEIKH DOHA ABU DHABI-INTL CAIRO SHARJAH DUBAI RIYADH BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DHAKA KOZHIKODE MUMBAI DUBAI SHARJAH MUSCAT CHENNAI COCHIN BEIRUT LAR LUXOR BAHRAIN DAMMAM/AMSTERDAM ABU DHABI-INTL COLOMBO DUBAI DELHI MUMBAI DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI ISLAMABAD ABU DHABI-INTL/COCHIN ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BANGKOK/MANILA ASYUT

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

34

s ta rs CROSSWORD 306

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) ARIES Your strong sense of responsibility, or the actual duties that come your way, may prevent you from fulfilling your own personal ambitions. Those in authority, or who are older and more experienced, may challenge you and hold you back—so you think. Look at your earning power—it is strong. You will always be able to enjoy a good job if you approve of or endorse the product you are either selling or helping to produce. You teach a young person that resentments are a waste of time and the time spent in resentful emotions would cause one to miss a special joy. You have an interest in teaching and helping others. This may lead to an experience in healing and investing.

There is still time for some great fun activity with loved ones this evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Usually you are very patient with the public. Today, you may have to make an extra effort to move away from too deep a communication and just listen to whatever complaint is present at this time. The answer to the problems you come across today may reveal a special talent. You could be standing in long lines or driving on a crowded highway—patience is important. Close relationships have a big impact on your life and old or disgruntled relationships are transformed or perhaps even ended at this time— new ones however, will come on like gangbusters. Those of you who are not involved with a love partner will have many opportunities opening up to you soon. A partner has a mesmerizing impact on you . . . Very loving.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.

4. An alloy of mercury with another metal (usually silver) used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth.

11. A Loloish language.

15. A member of the Shoshonean people of Utah and Colorado and New Mexico.

16. Any of several more or less arboreal marsupials somewhat resembling martens.

17. Massive plantigrade carnivorous or omnivorous mammals with long shaggy coats and strong claws.

18. (Judaism) A period of seven days of mourning after the death of close relative.

20. Being ten more than one hundred forty.

21. The French-speaking capital of the province of Quebec.

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

24. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

26. Tropical American tree grown in southern United States having a whitish pink-tinged fruit.

27. Of or relating to Iraq or its people or culture.

30. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (1879-1958).

32. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.

36. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

39. Mostly harmless temperate-to-tropical terrestrial or arboreal or aquatic snakes.

42. An Indian tree of the family Combretaceae that is a source of timber and gum.

46. An Indian side dish of yogurt and chopped cucumbers and spices.

47. A port city in western Mexico on the Pacific Ocean.

49. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

51. An adult male person (as opposed to a woman).

52. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

53. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

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

57. Norwegian explorer of the Arctic and director of the League of Nations relief program for refugees of World War I (1861-1930).

61. The crease at the junction of the inner part of the thigh with the trunk together with the adjacent region and often including the external genitals.

63. Immature of its kind.

67. Brown algae with rounded bladders forming dense floating masses in tropical Atlantic waters as in the Sargasso Sea. 70. Reach a destination.

71. Being two more than sixty.

72. An arm off of a larger body of water (often between rocky headlands).

75. In a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock.

76. A feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause).

77. Characterized by divine or godlike nature.

79. A percussion instrument consisting of a metal plate that is struck with a soft-headed drumstick.

80. A raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip).

81. A Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.

82. Any of several related languages of the Celts in Ireland and Scotland.

DOWN 1. True mosses.

2. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

3. Tropical American trees with palmately compound leaves and showy bell-shaped flowers.

4. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf of Antalya.

5. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

6. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.

7. An Anatolian language.

8. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.

9. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

10. One-thousandth of an equivalent.

11. Norwegian mathematician (1802-1829).

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

13. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds.

14. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

19. Rich Middle Eastern cake made of thin layers of flaky pastry filled with nuts and honey.

22. A member of a Turkic people of Chinese Turkestan and neighboring areas (formerly of Mongolia and eastern Turkestan).

25. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

28. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

29. A federation of North American labor unions that merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955.

31. A bachelor's degree in religion.

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

34. Urgently needed.

35. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

37. A republic in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea.

38. The official of a synagogue who conducts the liturgical part of the service and sings or chants the prayers intended to be performed as solos.

40. Port city on southern Honshu on Osaka Bay. 41. A narrow elongated opening or fissure between two symmetrical parts.

43. (Greek mythology) Goddess of wisdom and useful arts and prudent warfare.

44. A flexible container with a single opening.

45. An associate degree in nursing.

48. (1568) Catholic forces supporting Mary Queen of Scots were routed by Protestants under her half-brother Lord James Stuart, Earl of Murray.

50. South African plant widely cultivated for its showy pure white spathe and yellow spadix.

55. The hair growing on the lower part of a man's face.

56. The rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written).

58. Intelligence information gathered from communications intelligence or electronics intelligence or telemetry intelligence.

59. Ancient name for the coastal region of northwestern Asia Minor (including Lesbos).

60. A bluish-white lustrous metallic element.

62. Widely distributed lichens usually having a grayish or yellow pendulous freely branched thallus.

64. A piece of armor plate (with eye slits) fixed or hinged to a medieval helmet to protect the face.

65. Any of various perennials of the genus Geum having usually pinnate basal leaves and variously colored flowers.

66. A projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water.

68. A shaft on which a wheel rotates.

69. The basic unit of money in Iran.

73. A newt in its terrestrial stage of development.

74. Neckwear consisting of a long narrow piece of material worn (mostly by men) under a collar and tied in knot at the front.

78. A hard brittle blue-white multivalent metallic element.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Ambition, work and success mean a lot to you and you do not mind a little extra work to reach your success. You may discover that a co-worker is willing to lend a helping hand. You show your pride by the way you do your work and by demonstrating certain talents, such as organizational abilities, problem-solving techniques and negotiating techniques. Expressing these talents now will add a special touch to your work. A meticulous approach to details wins you admiration. A group discussion this afternoon can be especially fruitful in providing information and ideas. Go slow on the cheese just now, you might find that rash on your face and the pain in your tummy disappearing after a few days without cheese. Consider more organic produce.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) By the twenty-third of this month, you will enjoy a return of some easier workdays. For now, you may have to call on that extra energy of yours to complete some detailed tasks. It is possible that you could get a co-worker to help you share the work.

You bubble with charm and could talk an eskimo into buying a refrigerator. Consider thinning out some of the chores you have after your workday so that you can rest. Your interest in adventures and exercise challenges may bring about some fun discussions on the phone this evening. You and your friends may enjoy planning the next hike through the mountains or the next competitive swimming challenge. You might do some research on the recent supported adventure trips. How about spelunking?

Leo (July 23-August 22) Your timing should be perfect and those around you should find you easygoing. Most find that you can really make clear choices and think things through.

Professionally, you are doing well; you know it and those in control are pleasingly impressed. Discussions about your career may help you to come up with new ideas for the future. You make your way through ideas, concepts and your exceptional ability to express them to others. A strong need for nurturing is a bigger-than-usual factor in your life. You may feel the need to care for others or to have them care for you—perhaps on a public rather than private level. This could involve some performance-oriented hobby or theater group. You make your leisure hours productive.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Today, you may feel that you should hurry, hurry, hurry, but getting in a rush will not help to accomplish what needs to be done. Perhaps you could set some things aside and do only the most pressing duties just now. You could be most persuasive with others and may enjoy the art of debate as well as qualifying for the best salesperson in your company. Agreements are easily reached today. The situation is a natural for self-expression and lends itself to your particular ideas and thoughts. An outgoing and very expressive cycle has begun for you. There is a yearning to broaden your horizons and further your education. With careful planning and some consideration with regard to your talents, you will do well. See if you can find a good mentor.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) Your friends are many. These friends are at work, as well as in your personal life. Today, you will find that several of your co-worker friends are willing to help you with some project, even if it means a little overtime without pay. Ideas and interaction with higher-ups may be in the works as well. Working with—rather than against—the flow should be easy to do. An eccentric relative attracts some notice. The home and family scene is likely to be in a state of change. This may mean moving, an addition to the family or a fall cleanup project—perhaps even painting in or outside your house. High-tech equipment invades the domestic environment somehow. This could mean new cleaning equipment, new painting tools or some family project.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Your professional activities today excel and you may find yourself teaching others the techniques you use to make your work run smoothly. Quick answers, great wit and a surplus of insights and solutions are ready. This is a good time to write and communicate with originality. Inventions and breakthroughs are possible. After work today, you may find yourself working with music, color, fabric and the arts—whatever is beautiful.

You would make a superb decorator of homes and, in general, all kinds of environments.

Your friends may want your advice on these subjects as well. You will enjoy deep conversations with friends today. A young person needs a costume for a party and given only a moment, you create marvelous results.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You will be deeply aware of your own strengths and weaknesses today.

This could just mean that you have to call for help when moving furniture or you need to brush up on your typing skills. With little effort, you can find a teacher or get help with the moving of furniture. Do not stay in the problem any longer than necessary. What goes on in your mind is the all-important motivation in your life. You tend toward mental pursuits and admire intelligence—you could write. A problem can be solved or a new subject mastered. Be certain to follow through with travel opportunities.

You will communicate with charm and clarity. Take note of new ideas that leap into your thoughts just now. This can be valuable for future development.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You can demonstrate great understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others and are in a good position to communicate concerning groups and society in general. You have great organizational skills and could help with plans that are in the works for visiting dignitaries or guests that want to buy land or other products your company produces. Some of the visitors may not be from your city or country. A change in an after-work group activity may bring about an opportunity for you to catch up on chores around your place. This may be the best time to go through closets and get rid of the clothes or items that no longer serve you. Family members mean a lot to you and you enjoy the interactions that occur this evening.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Mental organization and discipline may fall apart or be challenged today.

This is a busy day and the input from others may cause you to change your plans and just follow the flow of activity. You could be most persuasive with a loved one today and find that you enjoy guiding or advising via phone calls throughout the day. Others sense an interest in their welfare when they are near you. You are eloquent in communication skills and it is possible for you to smooth out a difficult situation with your sense of humor.

Chances are that your social skills mean that you are popular with almost everyone and the evening may be full of opportunities to be with neighbors, friends or loved ones in a social gathering of sorts. This could be an outdoor barbecue party.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You are up early this morning, cleaning and preparing for company that you expect to entertain when this workday has ended. A trend begins at work now that encourages you to use more authority and become more visible. Someone may compliment you on your tastes or belongings this afternoon as a few friends, perhaps co-worker friends, gather in your home. There is a greater than usual emphasis on emotional security, which is likely to manifest as putting down roots somehow. Home and family matters can play a big part in this: relatives take on greater importance than ever before. Realestate matters can be improved upon and a friend or family member that is into real estate will help you learn if you ask.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 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

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

German blacksmith Manfred Zbrzezny looks at one of his apprentice working in a workshop on the outskirts of the Liberian capital Monrovia. — AFP photos

Photo shows AK-47s, bazookas and other deadly arms displayed before being hammered, filed and welded by German blacksmith Manfred Zbrzezny and his apprentices.

G

Zbrzezny, who is married to a Liberian woman who is expecting their second child, says most of his customers are expats, with few Liberians buying his wares. Keen to expand his work, Zbrzezny has been trying to convince the United Nations mission in Liberia to donate its weapons scrap.

erman blacksmith Manfred Zbrzezny and his apprentices hammer, file and weld in a steamy, dark workshop on the outskirts of the Liberian capital Monrovia, surrounded by parts for AK-47s, bazookas and other deadly arms.

In another lifetime, these weapons were the cause of untold misery in a nation scarred by ruinous back-to-back civil wars, but now they are being transformed into symbols of hope for Liberians. Since 2007, Zbrzezny and his team at Fyrkuna Metalworks have been gathering parts of weapons decommissioned during the disarmament process after the conflict ended ten years ago to turn them into ornate flowerpots, lamps, furniture and sculptures.

“It was strange from the beginning to work with weapons or instruments of destruction and suffering. The first two years I was working on this it remained very strange to me,” Zbrzezny said. “When I had a piece in my hands I would think about what was happening now to the perpetrators who used these weapons, and what was happening to the victims, and I would put the piece down to go drink a cup of coffee because it was a little bit oppressive.” Today, as he holds each weapon part, Zbrzezny is able to focus on its potential for bringing healing to the people of Liberia.

“I do some thinking on how to transform it into something different, how to transform something that was destructive into something constructive, how to transform something negative into something positive,” he said. Deep psychological and physical wounds remain in Liberia after two civil wars which ran from 1989 to 2003, leaving a quarter of a million people dead. Numerous rebel factions raped, maimed and killed, some making use of drugged-up child soldiers, and deep ethnic rivalries and bitterness remain across the west African nation of four million people.

Zbrzezny, who had worked as a blacksmith in Italy and Germany, came to Liberia in 2005, two years after the end of the rebel siege of Monrovia that brought a fragile peace to the west African nation. He failed initially to make money out of his trade until in 2007 he was approached by the owners of a riverside restaurant who asked if he could put his skills to transforming the parts of old weapons into a marine-themed banister. The project was such a success that he began making other pieces for the restaurant with parts from rocket-propelled grenade launchers and sub-machinegun barrels-then still commonplace in Monrovia.

He began collecting weapons parts from a German charity involved in Liberia’s disarmament process and made a business out of transforming instruments of war into candle stands, bookends, bells and bottle openers. “So it was by chance that I got into this. Now I employ five young Liberians who are learning the trade at the same time,” said Zbrzezny, who calls his work “Arms into Art”.

Leaving the past behind

rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for “blood diamonds” during a civil war that claimed 120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001.

Meanwhile a generation of traumatized children who witnessed untold horrors in Liberia are now struggling to come to terms with their country’s violent past as adults.

Emmanuel Freeman, 28, one of Zbrzezny’s apprentices, was a child during most of the conflict and saw both of his parents

Photos show items made from AK-47s, bazookas and various weaponry.

One of Zbrzezny’s most ambitious projects was a “peace tree” fashioned in 2011 from weapons parts on Providence Island, an iconic part of Monrovia where freed slaves from the United States landed in the 19th century to found the new republic. Momodu Paasawee, the caretaker for the area where the tree is exhibited, said it had become a symbol for reconciliation in post-war Liberia.

“Seeing this tree reminds Liberians that the war has ended and never should we return to war... Tourists and Liberian students come here to see the tree,” he said. “Sometimes people come here believing that this is a real tree but I have to tell them that this is a peace tree made out of the barrels of guns.”

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to probe war crimes and rights abuses between 1979 and 2003, and particularly during the brutal conflicts that raged in 1989-96 and 1999-2003. The commission said a war crimes court should be set up to prosecute eight ex-warlords for alleged crimes against humanity but the government is yet to implement the recommendations.

A decade after the war, no money has been made available and the only Liberian to face trial is Charles Taylor, and that was for his role in neighboring Sierra Leone’s civil conflict, not that in his own country. The former leader is appealing a 50-year prison sentence handed down in May last year for supporting

slain. “They were killed by guns. These are the same guns I am transforming today into something else,” he said. “I am excited, happy and very pleased to do that. But “sometimes when I am holding the scraps it reminds me what I saw during the war”, he added. — AFP

I I

t’s the 13-minute shot heard round the world.

Festival audiences in Venice and Telluride have been floored by the lengthy opening shot to Alfonso Cuaron’s 3-D space odyssey, “Gravity,” which plunges moviegoers into space and leaves them reeling in weightlessness. When the film premieres Sunday at the Toronto International Festival, the lore of Cuaron’s balletic beginning is sure to only grow. “It’s the idea of trying to create a moment of truthfulness in which the camera happens to be there just to witness, and respecting that moment in real time,” Cuaron said in a recent interview.

The Mexican director and his longtime cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, beginning with “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and up to their last film, the gritty science-fiction thriller “Children of Men,” have been renown for their propensity for long, unbroken, beautifully choreographed sequences. A four-minute uncut scene in “Children of Men” captured a playful conversation scene in a car suddenly ambushed in a forest by dozens wielding clubs and guns, and then car-

ried on through the escape and beyond. For it, Cuaron built a track inside the car for the camera to move forward and backward.

The shot at the start of “Gravity” similarly moves from banality to mayhem, ending in uncertainty. Several astronauts (Sandra Bullock, George Clooney) are repairing a space station and bantering breezily with their NASA dispatch in Houston (voiced by an unseen Ed Harris).

When a cascading storm of satellite debris caused by an asteroid rushes past, the space station shatters and the astronauts are stranded in space.

Cuaron and Lubezki capture it all seamlessly with a camera floating around the characters, moving variously into close-up and wide shots.

It’s, as Cuaron calls it, “a continuous moment.” “We feel like sometimes the language of close-ups and intercuts abstracts the characters from the environment,” says Cuaron. “We wanted the environment to be as important in weight as the characters.” Variety hailed the shot as having “completely immersed us in the beauty and

Cast and crew of ‘Gravity,’ from left, director Alfonso Cuaron, actress Sandra Bullock, producer David Heyman and writer Jonas Cuaron pose for a picture during a photo call at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto yesterday. — AP

majesty of a dark, pitiless universe.” The Hollywood Reporter called the film, which Warner Bros will release Oct 4, “the most realistic and beautifully choreographed film ever set in space.”

There are several other minutes-long takes in “Gravity” of startling uninterrupted clarity, but the opening shot is the one cinephiles will drool over. Considered bravura feats of filmmaking prowess, long takes are the stuff of filmmaking legend with famous practitioners including Orson Welles (“Touch of Evil”), Alfred Hitchcock (“Rope”), Martin Scorsese (“Goodfellas”), Robert Altman (“ The Player”) and Michelangelo Antonioni (“The Passenger”).

Cuaron doesn’t like to draw attention to his long takes, which have been roundly inducted into that cinematic tradition. The director, who claimed not to know how long the first shot of “Gravity” is, fears turning into what he calls “Look, mama! No hands!” filmmaking. “That’s something I worry about sometimes,” he says. “If it catches the attention of people, I’m not sure it works.”

Advances in digital technology have opened up new realms for long takes (the 2002 film “Russian Ark” was made in one 96-minute Steadicam shot), but Cuaron had particular challenges operating in simulated zero gravity. He and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber created what they called “The Lightbox”: a large cube surrounded by LED lights inside of which Bullock and Clooney were rigged to mimic weightlessness.

It was complex work, trying to stay faithful to the reality of movement in space. But Cuaron wanted an immersive experience, partly inspired by documentaries of astronauts on the moon like “For All Mankind” - films that didn’t have the luxury of cutting to a close-up. Instead, Cuaron’s camera at times drifts into the perspective of Bullock’s engineer character and then floats away “almost as if you’re another astronaut following the journey,” he says. Though Cuaron revels in such choreography, even he was surprised by the size of the task. He started expecting to make a simple chamber piece with just two characters. It ended up - as his collaborators often reminded him - taking four and a half years. — AP

n “the prettiest dining room in Paris,” hidden behind gilded glass doors at the opulent Le Meurice hotel, Michelinstarred French chef Alain Ducasse is not interested in spectacle. As Ducasse and his head chef, Christophe Saintagne, launch a new menu that eschews over-worked, over-decorated and overly pretentious food, understatement is even the order of the day in the centrepieces - an heirloom tomato set atop a copper mold.

In an interview days before Le Meurice Restaurant’s reopening on Monday, the entrepreneur whose empire includes over 20 international restaurants said he wants the cooking, stripped bare of excess and reduced to its essence, to do the wowing in the light, bright dining room that overlooks the famous Tuileries gardens.

“We’re not going to give you something showy here, we’re going to give you flavors, tastes, products, seasoning, cooking.

Justice,” said Ducasse. “It will be a clear message on the plate so that when you finish the plate it’s clear. There is no confusion in tastes,” he said. “The wow effect is the taste.” The two chefs already collaborate at the Plaza Athenee’s three-star restaurant, but that hotel, also owned by luxury hotel operator Dorchester Group, is currently undergoing a partial renovation.

Opening restaurants and experimenting with new menus are challenges Ducasse said he thrives on, adding he would be “very frustrated” if he had to limit himself to just one restaurant. “I want to tell a different story here, a contemporary French cuisine in a very, very Parisian address, very, very elegant, because I think it’s the prettiest dining room in Paris,” said Ducasse, one of France’s most trusted voices on haute gastronomie.

Decorated in the ornate, feminine style of Louis XVI - beheaded just down the road in the Place de la Concorde - the dining room features light grey marble, tasselled white silk curtains, a pastoral ceiling painting and a gilt frieze, all elements poised to compete with any excessive flourishes on the plate. “On the plate we don’t require anything more than taking care of the products and their cooking, their radicalism, their essence,” Ducasse said. “There’s nothing superfluous.” The focus on the essential is also quickly apparent on the menu. “John Dory, turnips, figs” reads the description of one dish. “Seabass, fennel, lemon” reads another menu item.

Alain Ducasse More focus on vegetables is another hallmark. A puree of green black turnip tops dots the plate of John Dory, their peppery flavor playing against the figs’ sweetness. A sweetbread is studded with delicate pieces of tomato confit. “Everything that pushes up out of the earth I love.

Everything under the earth, root vegetables, I love to cook,” said Ducasse. The simple things, and their flawless execution, are what most attract the celebrated chef who still enjoys cooking at home with produce from his garden. His last home-cooked meal? Ducasse is modest. “It was a fish I bought at the market with vegetables from the garden,” he said. “You need a good gardener and a good fisherman. The cook is not required.” — Reuters

37

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

LIFESTYLE F E A T U R E S

Chinese theatre performers act on stage during a show at a Chinese shrine in Bangkok. — AFP photos

Thai nomad theatres strive to preserve ancient art

hey eat, sleep and raise their children beneath the stage floorboards and when dusk falls Thailand’s travelling theatres come to life with ornate costumes, colorful face paint and high-pitched Chinese opera. It is a generations-old way of life for the nomadic performers who tour venues ranging from spor t stadiums to small Chinese shrines in back alleys. But faced with an uncertain future as the troupes struggle to attract younger audiences, supporters are turning to the Internet to widen their appeal.

“We’ve performed in all corners of the country. We stay three to four days at each place, then we move on,” Annop Promma, 21, told AFP after a recent performance by his 30-person troupe in a temple compound in Bangkok’s bustling Chinatown. “I love travelling, love having fun. Everywhere I go, I meet new friends. It’s like opening myself to the world,” Annop, who joined the troupe when he was 12, told AFP. When the performance has finished, the troupe members retire to

T

A Chinese theatre performer breastfeeds her baby backstage as others apply makeup before a show.

A Chinese theatre performer poses for a photograph after he applied make up backstage before the show.

their makeshift homes under the stage, equipped with hammocks and even small tents, illuminated by light bulbs powered by dangling power wires.

“We are nighttime people,” said Chuchart Ongchai, a 40-year-old performer who has been with the troupe for almost three decades. “After performing, I shower, eat, watch TV or movies until at three or four in the morning, then I go to sleep and wake up in the late afternoon.” Their cramped quarters serve as bedroom, living room and dining room, where they feed their children, rest and watch television. When it is time to move on, they pack up their theatre and belongings and hit the road. With nasal singing about Chinese legends and comedic folktales, period costumes and unique melodies, the crews perform from around dusk until around midnight.

They can earn from 80-1,000 baht ( $2.4 to $31) each per day depending on their roles.

While their nomadic lives are unlikely to

bring fame and fortune, they seem content.

“I don’t know what else I can do as now I’m good at performing. I don’t want to start all over again. Doing this, I am already happy,” said Chuchart, who started to work at the age of 13 painting furniture to earn money.

Now he is the main character of the show.

But these days the travelling troupes find themselves up against more contemporary leisure pursuits such as the lure of shopping malls, raising fears for their future.

About 14 percent of the Thai population is ethnic Chinese. But the number of Thais of Chinese descent who understand the ‘ Teochew’ dialect used by the singers is dwindling. “There are fewer people watching as old generations started to pass away. The new generation is interested in other entertainment,” said audience member Jirapat Saetang, 33. “The parents of the new generations do not speak Chinese with them so they do not know it,” she added.

“When they (younger people) see the

opera with friends, they don’t understand it but they think it’s fun and want to conserve it.” There are around 20 such opera groups left in Thailand-about three-quarters of the number that entertained theatre-goers in the 1980s heyday, according to experts. In an attempt to keep the travelling theatre tradition alive, suppor ters are turning to Facebook and other websites, uploading pictures of the opera in an attempt to reach younger Thais.

“Nowadays, Facebook and computers help Chinese opera to survive,” said Annop.

“People want to see things that are hard to find. Teenagers think it is colorful so they go to see it,” added Annop.

Although other Thais sometimes look down on their wandering lives, the performers feel proud of helping to preserve their culture. “I don’t think this job is only about dance and show. I think of it as conserving a kind of arts. It is also for entertainment.

Thinking like that, I can feel happy,” Annop said. — AFP

Beards, mustaches go on parade in New Orleans hey came sculpted, waxed, sprayed, curled, spiked - or just plain bushy. Beards and mustaches molded to fit categories such as Amish, Dali, Imperial and freestyle were celebrated at the 2013 Just for Men National Beard and Moustache Championships this weekend in New Orleans. The festivities included a parade down Bourbon Street, where a New Orleans brass band led some of the hirsute competitors waving flags representing their native states.

New Orleans resident Pierre Dupleix sported a bright green leprechaun suit to accompany his reddish beard and mustache, which he wore in tight curls. “I mean, I was always the freak whenever I go out, so it’s been great to be among my bearded brethren,” he said with a laugh. Many also sported long, natural, bushy beards. In all, more than 150 contestants from the US, UK and Canada competed in 17 categories during competition Saturday at the House of Blues in the French Quarter. Each category had a gold, silver and bronze winner. This was the 4th annual national competition organized

by Beard Team USA. This was the first year the event was held in New Orleans, which proved to be a challenge for some. The heat and humidity meant it took more time and energy to mold facial hair creations. “A lot of hair spray and a lot of time,” said Chris “Xtopher Grey” Kriskovic of Madison, Wis., who says it took two hours to create his beard of seven long pointy-ended spikes. His mustache was divided into two pointy spikes as well. But the effort was worth it, he said. Kriskovic took the gold medal in the freestyle full beard category.

Devon Holcombe of Jacksonville, Fla, took the gold in the natural mustache category. Natural categories mean contestants are not allowed to use hair-styling products. Holcombe’s mustache, which stretches 24 inches end to end, had to be pinned with small metal barrettes during the parade so that his curls would be nice and tight for the competition. “I’ve gone to a few of these, and this is the first time I’ve won,” he said, smiling as he held his medal.

Sean Mabry of Louisville, Ky., said he didn’t venture far from the way he normally styles his mustache for the competition. He said he favors the “handlebar” look and decided to compete in the Imperial mustache category, which requires some time, and wax, to sculpt the long, symmetrical curls popular in the early 1900s. “You don’t wake up like this,” he said. “You just keep putting wax in and just, little by little, kind of work it up.” Keith Haubrich sculpted his mustache into the two arms of a clock, with the arms stretching to roughly the 10 and 2 positions.

He had painted the clock numbers in a circle around his face and took the top honor in the Dali category, which is named for Salvador Dali, the Spanish painter known for his mustache of long

T

Adam Scott strikes a pose as he competes.

Devon Holcombe of Jacksonville, Fla, greets the crowd before continuing on to win the gold medal.

Keith Haubrich of Seattle, Wash, reacts to the crowd while competing. tips arching upward. Though Jeff Langum of Philadephia took the gold for his full natural beard, he said the competition was secondary. “It’s catching up with old friends from all over the country, all over the world, meeting up at these events, seeing each other and hanging out,” he said. “That’s what it’s really about.” — AP

Nick Ackerman celebrates taking the gold for first place.

Contestants in the Hungarian Moustache division line up on the stage at The House of Blues for judging during the fourth annual Just For Men National Beard and Moustache Championships.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

lifestyle F a s h i o n

KENNETH COLE Cole’s sporty Anorak and track jackets, hoodies and drawstring pants weren’t clothes to just throw on in the morning without care. The mix of snakeskin, calf-hair camo and leather elevated normally casual silhouettes. “The world is consumed with myriad points of view,” Cole said in his notes. “And

through ever-emerging technologies, our points of view can now be made available to everyone, everywhere.” That’s why he sent his models down the runway with their own mobile devices to snap the crowd.

Rita Ora walks the runway at DKNY Women’s Spring 2014 fashion show. — AP/AFP photos

ost people are taught from a young age that they want their outfits to match. Isn’t that why there are suits? And belts should complement shoes. And try to wear the same shades of black, right? The biggest group of offenders to the conventional wisdom, however, is probably fashion designers. In the styles they’ve been previewing at New York Fashion Week, which hit its midpoint Sunday, it’s been “juxtaposition” this and “opposite” that.”It’s all in the mix: feminine with masculine, sexy and slouchy, tailored with sport, chic with street,” according to notes for the DKNY show.

It was OK at Tracy Reese that a raffia lace dance skirt covered with circle patterns was worn with a floral cropped shirt,

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and a checkered backpack was strapped to a floral top.

Designers can do it well, sometimes, with years of experience mixing colors and patterns - and having confidence. And times have changed, too. “There’s more freedom now to express yourself through your clothes than there was 20 years ago, 50 years ago. You can wear that full feminine skirt with the man’s shirt. Go ahead, take your cues from the runway,” Reese said.

VICTORIA BECKHAM The tight ship Victoria Beckham seems to run at fashion week allowed her collection to sail smoothly down the runway. For Beckham, there was no chaos or confusion. That goes for her small, insider-only show as well as the clothes she offers. She sticks to her vision: a chic, no-fuss approach to

fashion. Things were mostly black and white, and there was no adornment or embellishment. It’s become the norm that David Beckham comes out a few moments before the show to shake a few hands, and then their toddler daughter Harper sits on his lap as the models go by.

CHRISTIAN SIRIANO At 27 and fresh from an island vacation, Christian Siriano the designer is working on Christian Siriano the mogul. The former makeup artist and hair stylist has a new yearlong beauty partnership with Sebastian Professional, an as-yet unnamed fragrance and his bespectacled eyes on designing, yes, eyewear. And he hopes to expand his brick-and-mortar presence over the next few years. Now, he has just one namesake shop that opened last year in downtown Manhattan, selling everything from accessories to fancy home goods. “The last year or

two has been really about growing the business,” Siriano said in an interview backstage. “I really wanted to make sure we were selling clothes first and really building with retailers.” So how big is too big for the season four “Project Runway” winner? Does he fret losing himself in a lifestyle brand? “I thought it would be hard,” Siriano said. “But at the end of the day, I’m growing up.”

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

lifestyle F a s h i o n

DKNY Twenty-five years in fashion is worth celebrating, and that’s what Donna Karan did Sunday at her DKNY show. She was all smiles as she did her lap of the runway after her parade of flirty, colorful looks. Karan wasn’t afraid to pay homage to the late 1980s when this brand - geared toward a younger woman with a smaller paycheck than her signature collection - was launched. The soundtrack was courtesy of the Beastie Boys, Run DMC and Aerosmith, and the backdrop was done in graf-

music and bags of dried plantains were left on the chairs for the audience. “This collection was so much fun,” she said in an interview “All the girls and the one guy in the office had the best time doing it.”

TRINA TURK Turk’s show was a road trip and she packed all the necessities: bikini, jean jacket, mesh track pants and - for date night - a black-and-white striped cropped top and matching pencil skirt with a floral hemline. The outfits she presented did have a decidedly West Coast vibe. She’s based in California, after all, but it’s not the first caftan stylists, editors and retailers have seen this season. Turk, considered a contemporary label, which means youthful and more affordable than some, showed a knack for mixing textures - a floral-sequin slip dress with a banded leather vest, for example. “Mixed media and

surface interest are key, in jacquards, mesh, washed lamb leather and textured print basecloths,” she said in her notes.

“Fluid chambray, crepe and georgette add slouchy nonchalance. Combined patterns or matching total-look sets, we believe in both.” — AP

CYNTHIA ROWLEY Cynthia Rowley was true to, well, Cynthia Rowley with fun and funky dresses and two-piece sets featuring thick embroidery. A full, long skirt in rose was paired with the embroidery in yellow, one of the standouts at a presentation she turned into a Mexican fiesta in a cavernous hotel space that was once part of a seminary. A short-sleeve dress in white with thin horizontal stripes had fans of blue embroidery at the chest and floppy, poppy red flower applique at the shoulders. “For me, this season, I just wanted to be true to myself and my brand.

It’s sporty, it’s pretty, it’s a little sexy, a little bit colorful, but also experimenting with a lot of new techniques,” she said.

isn’t afraid of his high-slit dresses and skirts, long fringe on a white leather jacket and skirts, or white wool ponchos as he left behind some of the structure and aggressiveness of collections past. Inspired in part by the patchwork of traditional Japanese Boro clothing farmers and fisherman, he brought utilitarian grace to red and blue silk stripes, cotton jackets and blouses, and drawstring skirts.

fiti, reminiscent of New York’s grittier time. “We celebrated the city of life,” she said. “It happens in New York City. They’re clothes that last forever. They’re clothes that have been inspired from nylons to lifestyle to yoga to bathing suits.”

MARA HOFFMAN Hoffman has some hashtags for us: Fearless. Rainbow. Vibes.

As in good vibes. As in good vibes inspired by color, light and happiness playing out in her bold spring collection. She said the collection is fit for a gang of rainbow warriors. As in warriors with extra-long braids down their backs, some dressed in sheer beaded chiffon adorned with neon orange, yellow and green. Others went into runway battle in bright tribal prints for mid-leg looks, shorts and swimsuits. “I’m being a little bolder this season,” Hoffman said, “as fortune favors the bold.”

DUBAI: Madi International - one of the region’s leading distributors of internationally reputed professional beauty brands, hosted a two-day workshop on two of their iconic products - Essie, the ultimate colour authority and leading nail colour and nail treatment brand, and LCN, the world’s leading nail curing resin brand for decades.

The workshops were attended by invited guests and salon owners, top company officials and members of the media, and directed by Essie and LCN corporate technical trainers. Interspersed with modules about the two brands, experts were on hand to showcase the products and their features.

The showcase on Essie provided insights into the array of 300+ different nail colour shades. The workshop also presented the latest collections and their equally charming names to the attendees. These colors and their names have caught the attention of top fashion magazines, editors, even celebrities over the past three decades.

The workshop on LCN offered a preview into the wide selection of light-curing nail resins which provide the perfect nail sculpting. The showcase included insights into the

TRACY REESE If there are maracas involved, it’s got to be a good time, right? Reese threw herself a little Cuba-themed party at New York Fashion Week on Sunday. She said she was doing a little dance herself backstage - hip shimmies and all - as she watched the dresses, which she called “dulce vida dresses,” slouchy trousers and fedoras hit the runway. There was live

JOSEPH ALTUZARRA Joseph Altuzarra, his mother and grandmother nearby, offered this message for the woman he dresses: Relax this spring. With an emphasis on “woman,” as opposed to girl. “I love the shape of the average woman’s body and that’s why I always say woman and not girl,” the 30-year-old said after rolling out shimmery silvers and golds for evening, layered Oxford shirting for day and a range of silks. Altuzarra’s woman

LCN products as well as more than 200 colour gel variations of the brand. Details were also provided about the 3D design gels, nail art products, special products for problem nails, nail polishes, as well as studio equipment.

The workshops not only focused on the salient features of the brands which has made them world leaders but also shed light on the right ways of doing pedicure and manicure. The modules highlighted the various aspects of nail maintenance, including discovering the nail, consistency from healthy to soft to brittle, nail fungus and ingrown toe nail, and steps on sanitization and upkeep of nails.

Mohamed Madi, President of Madi International, said, “The workshops were conceptualized to give the regional beauty industry an opportunity to experience first-hand look into the quality, design and styles of Essie and LCN. We are thrilled with the response to the endeavour.”

HERVE LEGER The best model for the new spring Herve Leger collection wasn’t on the runway, she was next to it: Nicki Minaj clapped heartily for and took her own photos of each dress that was paraded in front of her at his show. Then she stood up in her own black bandage-style dress and gave designers Max and Lubov Azria a standing ovation. Her presence largely changed the tone of the audience conversation, which had been about rumored financial troubles with the label, but Minaj - even with the camera-and-security frenzy she caused - helped put the focus back on the clothes.

Beards, mustaches go on parade in New Orleans

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

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This photograph taken on September 8, 2013 shows reigning Miss World 2012, Wenxia Yu of China waving with contestants from the Miss World 2013 contest wearing traditional Indonesian costumes on the stage during the beauty pageant contest opening ceremony in Nusa Dua, on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. Miss World began in Indonesia on September 8, 2013 amid tight security after days of Muslim hardline protests that forced authorities to order the whole beauty pageant be held on the Hindu-majority island of Bali. — AFP

Ballet company bids to woo Africa

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t may still have a small following, but one dance company is determined to bring ballet, with its roots in the Italian Renaissance, to urban South Africa.

Onstage pirouettes, jetes and turnouts are

still very much a foreign concept for most Africans, but the South African Mzansi Ballet wants to change that. At the company’s studios in Johannesburg’s gritty but increasingly bohemian downtown, dancers are put through their paces by a diminutive Cuban instructor, shouting instruction in French.

“People are beginning to see the value of ballet... slowly. The future is exciting,” said chief executive Dirk Badenhorst, who believes he sees the first green shoots of change. The Mzansi Ballet is not South

Africa’s first company by a long shot, nor, perhaps, its most illustrious. The Cape Town City Ballet has been running in some form since 1934 and for three decades was home to legendary prima ballerina assoluta Phyllis Spira. The late, great Margot Fonteyn was once a guest artist there.

Apart from training 24 full-time dancers who stage classical performances like “Giselle”, “The Nutcracker” and “Sleeping Beauty ”, the Mzansi Ballet focuses on unearthing untapped talent in underprivileged parts of the city. “We are fertilizing

Photos show dancers practicing at the South African Mzansi Ballet Academy (SAMB) in Johannesburg. — AFP photos

the ground for new talent to blossom,” said Badenhorst. The word “Mzansi” means south in the Zulu language and is commonly used to refer to South Africa.

Youngsters in townships like Soweto, Alexandra and Sophiatown now have a shot at a performance art long seen as the preserve of the privileged. “Hopefully these children will rise through the ranks and become our stars of tomorrow,” said Badenhorst.

But a lot needs to be done, and funding is a constant problem. The Mzansi Ballet was born one year ago out of a merger between two cash-strapped operations, the South African Ballet Theatre and Mzansi Productions. In June the company was thrown an eight million rand ($800,000 / 590,000 euro) lifeline by the city of Johannesburg. “It’s encouraging that the government is now beginning to take notice of our work,” Badenhorst said.

“We don’t need to keep on surviving, we need to thrive.” He believes that a nation’s level of development can be judged by its attitude to the arts. He hopes that South Africa would learn from Russia, its partner in the BRICS grouping of five large fastgrowing economies, about the importance of dance. The company must also overcome notions that ballet is “un-African” or at least an unwanted cultural import.

“I believe that we need to begin to tell our own stories, our own African fairytales.

As Africans we’ve got so much wonderful stories,” Badenhorst said. In 2008, a forerunner of the Mzansi Ballet gave an African twist to “The Nutcracker” classic, replacing the winter theme with the sun, Kalahari sand dunes and baobab trees. “ The response was amazing,” enthused Badenhorst. “We need to tell more of our African stories, and take them to the world.”

Badenhorst recalled an event where the company set up a stage in a football field in a Johannesburg township, drawing a large crowd. “I understand that we have to make the most of the facilities already in place and not wait for magnificent theatres,” said Badenhorst. “The talent is definitely there, but it needs support. We are doing our bit,” he said.— AFP

Hidden for a century, ‘fake’ is actually a Van Gogh

Director of the VanGogh Museum in Amsterdam, Alex Ruger presents a painting by Vincent van Gogh, entitled ‘Sunset at Montmajour’ and painted in 1888, yesterday, in Amsterdam. — AFP

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French landscape painting stored in an attic and kept from public view for a century because it was considered a fake is the work of Dutch master Vincent Van Gogh, a museum said yesterday citing new research. “Sunset at Montmajour”, which shows twisted holly oaks and a distant ruin bathed in the light of the setting sun, was painted in 1888 when Van Gogh was living in Arles, in the south of France. The work, owned by a private collector, will go on show at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam later this month for a year. Museum director Axel Rueger described the discovery of a new work by Van Gogh as “a once in a lifetime experience” as the painting was unveiled at a press conference yesterday.

“What makes this even more exceptional is that this is a transition work in his oeuvre, and moreover, a large painting from a period that is considered by many to be the culmination of his artistic achievement, his period in Arles,” Rueger said. As recently as 1991 the Van Gogh Museum had concluded that the painting was not by the Dutch artist when contacted by the owners of the work for an opinion.

But thanks to new research, including analysis of the pigments in the paint used and their discolouration, as well as letters from Van Gogh himself, the museum has changed its view. In a letter to his brother Theo dated July 5, 1888, Vincent described the scene he had painted the previous day, but expressed his disappointment at the end result, writing: “I brought back a study of it too, but it was well below what I’d wished to do.”

The work was later listed in one of Theo’s catalogues, and then reappeared in 1970 in the estate of a Norwegian industrialist, Christian Nicolai Mustad, who had collected the works of Edvard Munch. The Mustad family believed the painting had been bought by Mustad in 1908 but that he was advised later on that it was a fake or wrongly attributed, and banished it to the attic. —Reuters