21 Oct

A hobby with wings

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US continue gold rush in Pan-Am pool

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FR EE

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Turkish troops, planes attack Kurds in Iraq

Max 36º Min 22º

NO: 15246- Friday, October 21, 2011

www.kuwaittimes.net

GADDAFI KILLED

SEE PAGE 11

Libyans celebrate Muammar Gaddafi’s death in Tripoli yesterday. (Inset) A grab from a video taken from the mobile phone of a National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter shows the arrest of Gaddafi in Sirte yesterday. — AP/AFP

Terror threat shuts UK embassy in Kuwait

SEE PAGE 9

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Local Spotlight

Traffic war

Satire Wire

Where is the tech when you need it?

By Muna Al-Fuzai

By Sawsan Kazak

muna@kuwaittimes.net

I

believe that we are all witnessing an international traffic war. This is not about Kuwait and how tiring it is to travel from one place to another, especially if at a time of day such as the afternoon or the evening, when people are being picked up. This is not about the rate of traffic accidents, even though that rate is high. I am confident that there is a war here on our planet earth, called the traffic war.

Now, some claim that Kuwait is different to other countries due to the large number of careless drivers and the number of those who are killed or who die on the roads. Well, if you move to any country, east or west, you will wintness the same situation, and guess what? People elsewhere lose their temper, get into accidents and fight over whose fault was it.

I think that the only distinctive feature of Kuwait is the number of tickets drivers receive due to traffic violations. I believe this is the case and the reason for this is not the lack of cameras, which indeed fill the roads, but the lack of awareness by many drivers. Many drivers may also have significant ‘wasta’, which allows them to walk away freely from traffic violations.

So, yes we have a global problem that concerns the roads, not the number of cars or drivers. The issue concerns how roads are being designed and built to ensure people’s safety and security, regardless of the number of cars, the rates of accidents and

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

the time of day.

The theory here is roads were made for both cars and people. So roads must be wide, safe and maintained regularly so as to have the three aforementioned basic elements. Roads are like castles and forts and should be designed to accommodate the largest number of people no matter what time of day it is.

Roads are to be set in a manner that should offer sufficient illumination and emergency equipment like phone boxes linked to the police and fire departments and cameras to mitigate theft.

Safety of the roads is not a luxury or something to be considered when the budget is available. This is a risky matter and people’s lives could be at stake at any minute. Today, we typically blame drivers for speeding. But who allowed it and who let it go as a common practice? It is us.

How many NGOs are there with year-round campaigns to call for awareness? How much education do we offer to school kids about road safety? How many accidents and deaths have there been because one person involved had ‘wasta’ and the victims didn’t?

How many? No one knows for sure because, as a whole, we ourselves don’t care and yet we complain about a subject that we ourselves are not addressing.

We desire achievements and accomplishments, but without exerting the requisite efforts.

S

o it’s official, media outlets around the world announced that Gaddafi was captured and killed yesterday. TV stations rushed to show proof of the news that the dictator was finally dead but the only picture that emerged was a blurry, low-resolution and half-obstructed image, with the allegedly-Gaddafi’s face covered in blood and some sort of cloth.

Shortly after that, a 20second video emerged of what appeared to be Gaddafi’s body on the ground, half naked and surrounded by people. The person taking the video must have been jumping up and down with joy or performing some kind of jerking arm dance because there wasn’t one still shot on the short

film. If you watched the clip three times in a row you could become seasick. Like most momentous occasions in recent history, there hasn’t been proper visual documentation.

Didn’t anyone around have an iPhone handy?

Where is all the technology when you need it? And why is it that the single person that has a device able to take a picture or record a video always has the first camera phone ever made?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it didn’t happen or that it wasn’t him in the pictures, but couldn’t we have better-quality reference in the future?

This problem can easily be solved. I believe we should included a few extra training classes to military training. Combat soldiers should be taught the art of taking a picture; color correction, quality of resolution and capturing the moment.

More advanced army personnel should receive training on the workings of a video camera, the importance of lighting and of course visual special effects.

And, finally, they should be given ‘emergency drawing 101’ because if ever caught without technology, the soldiers should be able to draw a believable sketch of the situation. Also, along with the intensive training in the visual arts, soldiers should be provided camera phones; the kinds that can provide the world with clear and concise images.

As a side note, the ending to the Gaddafi saga was a little disappointing. It ended suddenly and without a bang. I expected more drama, more action, more wow.

Local FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Conspiracy Theories

Reproductive violation

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

I

just read an interesting story that I want to share with you. It is about a Chinese man who sued his wife. Guess for what? Don’t get carried away. The woman did not cheat on him and did not steal from him. She did not flirt with the neighbor or her boss. She simply chose her career and a promotion at work over expanding the family. In short, she aborted a baby.

So, the husband filed a court case against her.

By the way, I loved the terminology he and his lawyer chose. He claimed that she “violated his reproductive rights”. The poor man lost his reproductive rights. This reminds me of a comparison to be made between different cultures and different nations.

In the Middle East, and especially in the Arab world, it is vice versa. The woman may well have filed a court case claiming that the man stole her reproductive rights by being less interested in expanding the family. I swear, there are some families where even with three kids, the woman wants more and more. Regardless of the financial status of the family she will keep on demanding her husband to allow her more kids. You know why, guys? This is her career jump. Unlike the Chinese lady, in the Middle East, even if the woman is working, she will still insist on having a large family. Why, somebody might ask? It is security for the Arab lady. By having many kids, she thinks she can tie her husband to her and convince him to not remarry.

I am not joking, guys. This is serious. Many women I know insist and have fights with their husbands over wanting more kids. When I ask them how they manage, they tell me that if they stop having babies now, their husbands will definitely remarry. So the woman decides to put more financial burdens on him. She does not mind that the husband has a girlfriend and might stray. But remarrying is a problem for them.

Imagine, guys, if the Chinese woman had the Middle Eastern mentality. With the population of 1.3 billion people of whom, we can guess, half are women, if each produces an average of five kids, they would take over the world. As it is, they have invaded us commercially. A to Z is now made in China. Wherever you go in the world, everything has a ‘Made in China’ label.

Good luck to them. No envy intended. They are a clever and hardworking nation.

KUWAIT: A colourful sunset is captured over Kuwait’s skyline by the lens of a Kuwait Times’ photographer days before the end of summer. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

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Local

Years

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Sameer Al-Hamr at his workshop in Shuwaikh— Photos by Joseph Shagra

A hobby with I

n 1970 there were only 10 people registered at the Kuwait Science Club (KSC) Airplane Department who were fans of remote controlled airplanes. Building a remote controlled plane and flying it was not very popular and was an interesting hobby that filled free time in an age with no Internet and social media.

Sameer Al-Hamr was and still is a fan of this hobby and has been enjoying it with his friends and fellow KSC members since the 1970s. “We enjoyed this hobby. We used to compete in building our own airplanes that took us days and sometimes weeks, while today companies have simplified the procedure with ready parts. Today it won’t take you more than two hours to build your own airplane,” he told Kuwait Times.

“We used to build our planes from balsa wood, which is a light kind of wood used to ensure the airplane won’t be heavy. Then we used to buy the motor and complete the plane. There is great difference between the old planes and today’s planes. For instance, the remote control is now programmed and has greater maneuverability, while in the past the plane could only move to the right and to

wings

the left,” Al-Hamr added.

Al-Hamr has a store and workshop for remote controlled airplanes in Shuwaikh since 1980. “Here I sell all kinds of airplanes, and the prices range from KD 40 up to KD 10,000 - the most expensive plane currently in my store costs KD 2,000. If the plane has a jet motor, its speed may reach 500 km per hour. I also provide after sales service, provide advice and instructions for fans, especially newcomers, as they don’t know how to build a plane.

Newcomers usually learn from longtime fans,” he pointed out.

There is no age limit for this hobby. “It’s desirable that fans of the hobby are over 14 years old so they won’t hurt themselves or others if they lose control of the plane. The fan should know how to land the plane so he won’t damage it, as it’s expensive. Today, beginners can also learn using remote controls connected to on-screen flight simulators.

This means you can also practice flying the plane when the weather is hot or rainy and people can’t practice outdoors,” Al-Hamr explained.

What’s more, the hobby is growing in popularity nowadays. “In Europe, Japan or the

United States, this hobby is much more popular than in the Middle East. The Internet was also influential in spreading this hobby and making it more popular, as people read and learn on the Web. The drop in price has also made this hobby affordable and consequently more people can partake in it,” he noted.

In the past, there were various places to engage in the hobby. “The most popular place for fans of remote controlled planes was the Mishref desert, which has now disappeared after houses and other public buildings where built there. The second place we went to fly planes was the old Ahmadi Airport, which was built during the Second World War and had a runway. The airport wasn’t in use at that time,” he added.

Al-Hamr and some other fans also participate in international competitions and cham-

pionships. “I participate in more than one international competition outside Kuwait every year. So for instance, next month I will participate in a championship that will be held at Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates,” stated Al-Hamr.

Al-Hamr’s store also offers remote controlled cars and boats. “Besides airplanes, I also have flying helicopters. They all work on a similar principle. Furthermore, I sell remote controlled boats and cars. The most in demand are cars, as they are easier to use and drive, while the airplanes need practice and training in the beginning,” he said.

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Local

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

A whole new student US educator aims at ‘both sides of the brain’ teaching

By Sunil Cherian

D

r Barry Oreck was busy teaching a crash course for teachers on leadership and special needs education at Bayan Bilingual School, Hawally when I met him last Friday. A traveling teacher-educator, Barry is an adjunct professor of international graduate programs for educators at Buffalo State University, New York. On his classroom desk at Bayan, there was a copy of Daniel Pink’s bestseller ‘A Whole New Mind’, a book that says right brainers will rule the world.

Barry with his student-teachers had a compromise on Pink’s premise: No, we don’t want the right brainers. We are looking for the holistic person - teaching both sides of the brain.

A student-oriented education is a challenge anywhere whether in the US or in the Middle East, Barry agrees. Teachers tend to hesitate on changes that may result in a chaos. To make students independent, autonomous learners, a projectbased, research-open and unrestrictive curriculum is what we may need, says Barry. Teachers are facilitators who would keep great balance on what to let the learners learn, how to make the lesson dynamic while keeping it controlled and where to draw the line between authority and freedom.

Dr Barry Oreck

Barry’s tips Surprise your students: Set the students’ tables in a different way.

When the students come to the class, ask them to find out something that is hidden. The treasure could be a painting, a map, a protractor or even a hamster! Another day, turn off the lights in the classroom! Bring passion into your teaching: If the teachers are passionate about a topic, it spreads to the students. If the teacher is doing a topic just to cover the subject, the students will quickly

get it. As the teacher, so the students.

History is boring? Do a debate: Many teachers complain that their students do not like writing. Ask them to describe their last visit to their favorite mall. You could trigger a good lesson on descriptive writing. If the lesson on election is too over the head, do a mock parliament. And you, the teacher, you be the Speaker!

Act out your lesson: Teachers do not have to be theater personalities, nor musicians, dancers. The learners are all these! The teacher is the director amidst the sparkling talents.

Doing a role play is exciting both for the participants as well as the spectators.

Channel kids’ interests to support learning: Most kids like football. Let them research on the biographies of footballers.

Give them writing assignments on cars, cooking or cabiri. (But not cocaine, caress or cabala. You should respect the culture of the place where you are teaching).

Barry said a lot of strategies that teachers apply to a special needs class are also applicable to an otherwise normal class.

Making a lesson active, moving and visual is anywhere and always appreciated. Today’s education field is vibrant, he agrees, with learners having a wide range of scope and scale and education is moving from a teacher-centered, test-oriented style to learner-centered, value-oriented process where both sides of the brain are alive and active. Here, the teachers’ job is to help prepare tomorrow’s people for tomorrow’s jobs.

Daniel Pink would agree there.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

White lies

Desire for fair skin leading consumers to unsafe products

By Lisa Conrad

“I

was obsessed with being whiter, I used to wear light foundation and use colored contacts to look more European. Now I use olive-toned foundation to try and mask the marks left by whitening creams,” said 45-yearold Layla. Layla, like many women in the Middle East, associated light skin with beauty. She had a golden, olive complexion that many spend hours tanning trying to achieve, yet what she craved

was porcelain, ivory skin. In her attempts, she has lost the glow she once possessed, and instead has rather unsightly patches of abnormally light skin across her olive complexion.

According to Dr Hisham Lotfy, Consultant and Head of Department Dermatology and Venereology at New Mowasat Hospital, such cases aren’t uncommon and are a result of extremely strong whitening creams, “There were some very strong bleaching creams on the market in Kuwait. Their various risks

became clear so they have been largely stopped. For example, in attempting to whiten the complexion, they would strip the pigment from the skin. This disorder is known as vitiligo, which is when all of the pigmentation is removed from the skin, and is a difficult problem to treat.”

In Layla’s case, the skin damage she suffered stopped short of removing the pigmentation completely, but has left her with obvious marks nonetheless. “I used to be so confident. All I think about now is whether or not my skin looks uneven and if it’s time to reapply my makeup. Worrying about how white it is seems so idiotic now.” Such cases aren’t uncommon, and Dr Lotfy has seen victims of such skin damage, “People sometimes come looking for treatment to fix the damage done by strong whitening products. They feel that a fairer complexion will make them more beautiful, but actually they’re damaging their skin as well as their bodies by using products that they know nothing about.”

Obsession The obsession with ‘whiteness’ is not new to the Middle East, but imports, tactful marketing methods and irresponsible vendors are making ‘white’ seem more achievable than before.

“Whitening products are becoming very popular in the market now, as people are trying to become lighter in complexion. It’s a very culturally-rooted issue, as society here sees a fair complexion as a feature of beauty, which is why the market for whitening products is so huge,” said Dr Lotfy.

Ivory skin receives many compliments and is often highly revered. “I get compliments on my skin all the time. It’s strange, to be honest. It’s like an achievement. The annoying thing however is that if you do have the naturally light hair, skin and eyes, you’re assumed to be a foreigner and treated accordingly,” said Aya, a 22-year old student of Syrian descent with blonde hair, ivory skin and blue eyes. She added, “People crave qualities that they see as ‘rare’, but what they don’t realize is that these qualities sometimes make you feel so different. Every time I speak Arabic people are shocked because they assume I’m European, and the unwanted attention is a nightmare.” She further commented, “The obsession with standards of beauty is ridiculous, and the ironic thing is that if you do match the correct color ‘palette’ here, then it’s all people see you for.”

The old clichE that the grass is always greener on the other side is certainly true when it comes to complexion in the Middle East. The extent of demand for

‘white’ has opened up a Pandora’s box of untested, unregulated pills and potions all promising ‘whiteness’ for those brave enough to try them. Dr Lotfy warned, “Some doctors rely heavily on well-marketed products and get drawn into the propaganda of such items. However, prescriptions or recommendations of products should be based on evidence of the product actually working as well as proof that they are safe.”

Dangerous Despite horror stories surfacing of whitening attempts gone wrong, the skin-whitening market is expanding and diversifying regardless. Dr Lotfy explained, “There are even some systemic treatments like injections and tablets. All medications used should be approved, for example by the FDA, and many of these methods are not. There are no solid studies proving their efficiency or safety, so they really should not be relied on.” He further added, “The injections and the tablets people take for whitening are also potentially dangerous, and the contents are often largely unknown. They can affect the kidneys, liver and wreak havoc on the person’s metabolism. These are drugs after all, and too often people forget that.”

Access, Dr Lotfy noted, was a major aspect with regard to potentially harmful drugs, as they are oftentimes available over the counter regardless of whether or not they’re registered with the Ministry of Health. He added that the Ministry of Health has made efforts to combat the issue, but because the products are in such high demand, trying to counter the influx of products has been difficult.

Skin whitening is not always a matter of vanity, however. As Dr Lotfy noted, it is often used to remedy discoloration in the skin, such as with melasma, where dark patches form on the skin. Skin whitening for cosmetic reasons is of course a choice, but it is one that should be taken responsibly and cautiously. Dr Lotfy concluded by saying that, “There are many products out there that simply don’t work, and provide customers with nothing but side effects. They must always be checked and researched properly.” According to Layla, it’s important to research any products yourself before daring to apply them, “I asked my pharmacist many times about whether the cream was safe and effective. He said yes to both, reassuring me that countless women use it. Never place your trust in someone who isn’t bearing the consequences, you’ll have only yourself to blame at the end of the day.”

Drive Now. Talk Later.

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Local

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Better Books taking part in the community

By Sawsan Kazak

H

idden away on a small side street in Salmiya is the secondhand book store Better Books and Cafe. Walking down into the basement store, the first thing you become aware of is a smell of books reminiscent of the days spent in school libraries, the kind of smell only a true booklover would appreciate. A few steps down you find rows upon rows of books ranging from self-help to business to cooking. A section of the store is dedicated to children’s book, complete with a reading area, beanbags and furry carpets. There are even cozy private reading rooms for the kids, complete with comfortable chairs, lamps and curtains for privacy.

“We buy and trade books,” explains Maxine Meilleur, owner of Better Books.

“What makes this bookstore so special is that if you return the book you buy you get 50 per cent off on your next purchase. Also, when we buy books we give store credit instead of money,” Meilleur adds.

In Kuwait since 1993, Meilleur, a Harvard University graduate, was inspired to open a used book store about ten years ago, but everything finally came together just this year. With paperwork a slow process in Kuwait, she was finally able to open up officially in February.

Community The bookstore strives to be part of the community. “I have two big meeting halls which I rent out or sometimes give out for free. Organizations and clubs can meet here it is like a central meeting point,” says Meilleur.

The relatively small bookstore is bustling with activities during the week.

“We have four Toastmasters groups, three Gavel clubs [Toastmasters for teenagers], art of living classes, yoga and special speakers who come and

give seminars. Better Books recently hosted a spoon bending seminar. The activities I pick are either niche activities or have a broad base,” says Meilleur.

“Expat Moms is an organization with members from all nationalities who meet here with their children for story

time. There is a designated reader and the kids gather around to hear the story about two to three times a month,” explains Meilleur.

The bookstore is home to 15,000 books, and growing. But the owner has

found herself donating many books to some charities in the community. “I have been giving a lot away to the prison, also to a university in Somalia. I also have a few boxes waiting for children in hospitals and when a charitable organization has an event I always have my finer books to donate,” says Meilleur.

Meilleur has big plans for the future of Better Books saying, “Most of my customers are new, I haven’t peeked out yet. As my customer base grows I would like to reach out to a larger part of the community. I would like more contact

with nursery schools and school libraries. I would really like to get the up-and-coming restaurants, not the chains but those boutique restaurant opened by people who offer fine dining. I have a lot of quality cookbooks,” says Meilleur.

She has been seeing some encouragement from the community. “We are

on Facebook and the number of likes have really gone up. People have been supporting me,” says the book enthusiast.

Some people have misunderstood the concept of the book store. “I wanted this place to be part of the community, I wanted it to be a place where you could feel at home but there have been people that have taken advantage of that. Some parents would drop off their kids on a Friday at 10am in the morning and pick them up at 6 pm. They wouldn’t buy books and they instead just mess the place up. Finally I had to tell them they can’t do this anymore. It’s best that children are accompanied by their parents, I’ll just leave it at that,” explains Meilleur.

Some other people mistake the store for a library in that they can pay a membership and get all the books they want. “I try to explain to them that we are not a library but rather a for-profit bookstore and that this system is in fact better,” says Meilleur.

A better bargain “At major bookstores in Kuwait, you can get a brand new book but you’ll pay three of four times of the actual price. That’s fine if you really want the book or need it for school. If you have too much money and you don’t care, fine, go ahead shop there. But I will have the same book here at less than 50 per cent of the Kuwaiti retail price.

Some books came in with the price tag of KD 16 and I’m selling it for KD 2.75.”

Such is the concept of Better Books, explains Meilleur.

She adds, “I realize that not everyone in Kuwait shops at high end department stores every day of the week. So if you want a good deal you can come here. The vast majority of the books are under KD 2.” The bookstore is also a coffee shop, but with a twist. “I have really tried hard to follow Kuwait business law, so I say I’m a cafe, and I’m licensed as that. But I’m a cafe that offers tea and coffee for free. I don’t charge for it,” says Meilleur.

Personal library You would think the owner of a bookstore would have a personal library to match but Meilleur says she doesn’t even have a library at all. “I read a book and then return it; I never keep books at home. I read and the book then goes back on the shelf.” There are some books she is attached to, and she admits she tends to price the books she hasn’t read yet a little higher than the others but believes the price will eventually go down when she has finished them. sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Terror threat shuts UK embassy in Kuwait Mission to reopen on Sunday

By Nawara Fattahova and Agencies

KUWAIT: Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah launches the “Journey of Hope” project late Wednesday. — KUNA

Journey of Hope launches KUWAIT: Under the auspices of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah, and in attendance of HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, a ceremony was held Wednesday night at Regency Hotel to mark the launch of the “Journey of Hope”, which is to express the hopes and aspirations of people with special needs. The ceremony was attended by a host of sheikhs, ministers, governors, senior officials, and Premier Diwan officials.

Journey of Hope Chairman of the Board of Trustees Barjas Al-Barjas made a speech on this occasion, after which the premier praised the noble goals of this initiative. In remarks after the ceremony, Sheikh Nasser stressed the government’s keenness on supporting all humane gestures and initiatives and their activities in Kuwait, particularly those related and catering to those with special needs, out of belief they deserve and are entitled to care that would enable them to realize their potential to help serve their country. He added the government would provide all help needed by the journey staff till they fulfill their mission.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Fire Services Directorate yesterday launched two new jet boats that joined the service at Salmiya rescue center. The new boats will be used in shallow waters and near beaches that are unreachable by larger ones. —KUNA

KUWAIT: The British embassy in Kuwait has temporarily suspended services because of an increased threat toward the mission, a statement on the embassy website said yesterday. “As of 19 October, 2011, because of an increased threat toward the British embassy, we have temporarily suspended British embassy services,” the statement said. In an update to the “terrorism section” of its travel advice, the embassy also advised British organisations and businesses to review their security measures, although it said that the threat was targeted at the mission itself.

“Whilst the threat is targeted against the embassy itself, we cannot rule out threats against other British interests in Kuwait. We therefore advise that British organisations and businesses in Kuwait review the security procedures they have in place,” it said. The embassy was closed yesterday, according to a recorded telephone message.

Acting Director of Security Information at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) Colonel Adel Al-Hashash stressed that the situation at the British Embassy is normal. The ministry reported that it

followed its standard protocol for such developments. “We didn’t find anything and there are no special measures currently being taken. The ministry did not send auxiliary forces or policemen to guard the embassy. Everything is normal,” Al-Hashash told Kuwait Times.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed the suspension of embassy services but did not provide more details.

“We are aware of an increased threat toward the British embassy in Kuwait.

We have therefore taken the precaution of temporarily suspending embassy services,” she said. A source at Kuwait’s foreign ministry source said he did not know the precise nature of the security threat against Britain, but did not expect the measures to last for long. “They (the embassy) will resume operations on Sunday,” the source told Reuters.

The security alert comes less than two weeks before British heir to the throne Prince Charles is due to visit Kuwait. He is also to visit Qatar. The visit to the two countries is due to take place on Oct 31 and Nov 1. “We are keeping security under constant review as we would with any royal visit, and we are taking advice from the Foreign Office,” a spokeswoman for the prince’s Clarence

House office told AFP. A spokesperson for the British embassy in Kuwait said the embassy is scheduled to reopen on Sunday after a “revision of the security situation over the weekend”. She declined to elaborate on the nature of the threat to the embassy.

Security around the seaside embassy complex in Kuwait City was raised following the threat, with many police cars deployed in the area. The statement issued by the embassy said: “There is a general threat from terrorism in Kuwait.

Terrorists continue to issue statements threatening to carry out attacks in the Gulf region. These include references to attacks on Western, including European, interests... residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests,” it added.

It also advised British nationals to exercise caution before sailing in Kuwaiti waters following what it called maritime restrictions issued by Kuwait last month. There were no further details. About 20,000 British nationals live and work in Kuwait. The state has not seen violence since Jan 2005, when security forces fought gunbattles with a group of Islamists believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda.

UN marks 66 yrs since its founding KUWAIT: The UN celebrated its 66th birthday in a ceremony held at the immaculately-designed UN House yesterday, with the attendance of senior Kuwaiti officials, world diplomats and UN personnel. “On this day, we are reminded of the role the United Nations plays in attaining peace, stability and development in the world,” Kuwait’s State Minister for Planning and Development Affairs, Abdelwahab AlHaroun said in his opening speech of the event, marking the October 24 celebration of the anniversary of the UN Charter.

“We also value the role of the UN Development Program, in providing continuing technical assistance in order to achieve the required levels of development, particularly sustainable development. “We have outlined a plan; the development plan, and a long-term strategic goal to achieve HH the Amir’s vision in transforming Kuwait into a financial and trade centre by 2035,” he added.

On behalf of the UN agencies employed in Kuwait, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative to Kuwait, Dr. Adam Abdelmoula said that since Kuwait joined the international organization in 1963, the UN has taken it upon itself to “assisting Kuwait build a better and brighter future and a thriving environment for the Kuwaiti people.” “Together all UN agencies in Kuwait are working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. This year alone, we have touched upon all the relevant MDGs for Kuwait and took essential steps in their realization,” he said.

On the role of these agencies, he

KUWAIT: Officials cut the ceremonial cake to mark the UN’s 66th anniversary. — KUNA said: “The UNDP upholds the ideals of human development through its work on gender rights, youth, good governance, a sustainable environment, and economic and social development. “The ILO (International Labour Organization) office continues to support its Social Partners to promote opportunities for decent work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

“The UNHCR has worked closely with the Kuwaiti government to address the needs of persons of concern. And UNHABITAT continues to promote a better urban future in Kuwait.” For his part, the Kuwait Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah, said: “Kuwait, on the occasion of the 66th UN Day, remembers what this organization stands for in its representation of social security. We have only but to express our pride of this relationship with the

UN and we would also like to note our keenness in ushering forward this relationship towards further cooperation.”

Al-Jarallah spoke of Kuwait’s initiative for the UN, that saw the Gulf country build an architectural marvel of a base two years ago, housing all of the UNs agencies under one roof.

“This (cooperation) is what senior officials in Kuwait are making sure of, having long declared their keenness in hosting a UN headquarters. This has been achieved on Kuwaiti soil in the form of the UN House, which Kuwait granted to this international organization as a symbolic gesture.” The official also underlined the UNs major historic role in liberating Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion in 1991. Kuwait joined the United Nations on May 14, 1963, becoming the 111th member of the global body.— KUNA

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Rapists caught KUWAIT: Two Kuwaiti men have been arrested for abducting and raping a young female expatriate. The young woman said that the incident began as she was about to get into her own car after leaving a cafe in Salmiya, when the two men grabbed her and forced her into their vehicle. They then took the terrified woman to an apartment in Jabriya where they raped her repeatedly before throwing her out into the street. The men are being held in custody pending trial. The traumatized victim immediately went to the local police station and the attackers were arrested shortly afterwards.

Thuggish son A Kuwaiti man in his thirties brutally assaulted his elderly mother, leaving her heavily bruised all over her body before fleeing the scene. The woman immediately called police to report the incident and a hunt is underway for the thuggish son.

Terrible teacher A Kuwaiti father contacted police to inform them that his ten-year-old son had been beaten by a gym teacher at his school, providing a medical report detailing the child’s injuries. A case has been filed and the accused teacher has been summoned for investigation.

Clueless cop Police are hunting for a colleague with limited social skills whose clumsy attempts to woo a young Kuwaiti woman eventually resulted in her calling the police to lodge harassment charges against him. The love-struck traffic cop was apparently smitten on spotting the young woman as she drove down a street in Salmiya, forcing her to pull over before issuing her with his phone number, which he insisted she take before he would allow her to drive away. Feeling that this was perhaps not enough to make his feelings clear, he then followed the young woman and her friend to a nearby mall, parking his patrol vehicle beside their car and pursuing them into the mall where they were sitting in a branch of a well-known cafe. He proceeded to pull up a chair and sit down beside them, despite the icy glares from the unimpressed object of his affection, and to tell a series of jokes which met with a similar frosty reception. Believing that stalking and harassment were obviously great ways to win the young woman’ affections, the evidently thickskinned officer then asked her, “So then, is it a yes or a no? Come on, tell me!” She responded by pulling out her phone and calling the police, at which point the penny finally dropped and the clueless cop quickly fled the scene.

Cool conman A smooth-talking conman managed to steal a diamond-studded watch worth thousands of dinars from a high-end local jewelry store, coolly walking out the door with the item after convincing the salesman there that he had to withdraw money from the bank to pay for it.

The salesman told police that the well-dressed man, who claimed to be a member of a well-known and extremely wealthy local family, had looked at a few watches in the store before settling for the extremely valuable diamond-studded one. The fraudster told the salesman that he had to go to a local bank to withdraw money to pay for the item, but would leave behind his ID card as a guarantee of his honorable intentions, as well as giving a phone number which he claimed was that of his mobile.

When the conman had been gone for some time, the salesman attempted to call the phone number in question, receiving no answer. Realizing he had been conned, the salesman called police, who were quickly at the scene. The officers rapidly ascertained that the ID card was also a fake. Detectives investigating the case are examining CCTV footage in their efforts to apprehend the swindler.

Fight club A Bangladeshi man was rushed to hospital after being seriously injured in a fight with an Egyptian man in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. After punching the Bangladeshi man in the face extremely hard repeatedly, the other man fled the scene. A hunt is underway for him.

Court rules premier’s quiz unconstitutional MP Mulla slams ‘dangerous ruling’

By B Izzak KUWAIT: Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday received morale-boosting support when the constitutional court ruled that a grilling filed by two opposition MPs is unconstitutional and must be filed against Cabinet ministers instead. The surprising decision comes just a day after the prime minister was the target of the a furious attack at the biggest anti-government rally so far where opposition MPs hurled strong accusations against Sheikh Nasser including corruption, issuing two cheques to MPs and making hundreds of “suspicious overseas money transfers”.

The grilling was filed on May 10 by MPs Ahmad Al-Saadoun and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari which accused the prime minister of being responsible

for squandering public funds and a host of administrative and financial irregularities in a number of ministries. The government referred the grilling to the constitutional court saying that the prime minister should not be questioned for violations he is not responsible for. The National Assembly also agreed to delay the grilling for one year or until the court has issued its verdict. The constitutional court, whose rulings are final, supported the government’s view and said that the grilling should be directed at the ministers who are responsible for the violations in their ministries.

Sheikh Nasser, 71, has been under pressure by the opposition since he was appointed to the post in Feb 2006. Since then, he was forced to resign six times and has formed seven cabinets. But even if the Assembly does not debate this grilling, another grilling is waiting

and is expected to be submitted early next week over allegations of corruption and suspicious money transfers.

Pro-government MPs Khaled AlAdwah and Saadoun Hammad said that the court’s ruling confirms that they voted for the right decision when they supported a request to delay debating the grilling. But liberal opposition MP Saleh Al-Mulla described the grilling as very dangerous as it could be used to give the prime minister legal immunity against grillings. He said that based on the ruling, it will not be possible to grill the prime minister for issues other than “public policies” which is a highly elastic term that even the court failed to provide a specific definition. Mulla said that the ruling will encourage the government to refer all future grillings to the constitutional court and thus delay its debate.

PM heads meeting on development strategy KUWAIT: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah chaired yesterday the eighth meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with following up on implementation of the state development plan.

Minister of State for Planning and Development Abdul Wahab Al-Haroun said participants in the meeting discussed measures that had been taken to tackle obstacles hindering execution of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Bridge and necessary steps that should be taken to accelerate the work.

Al-Haroun said during the meeting that the commission had hosted the head of the Central Tender Committee, the head of Fatwa and Legislation Authority and the Director-General of the Public Environment Authority to tackle some time-consuming bureaucratic problems. The government follow-up apparatus was charged with proposing solutions to such problems, in coordination with the relevant authorities, pending submission to the cabinet.

Moreover, the commission was briefed by the assistant undersecretary of public works for construction projects and the secretary general of the National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters about plans for establishing cultural centers in the country’s governorates. HH the Prime Minister called for allocating needed land plots to press ahead with these significant ventures.

Al-Haroun added that the committee followed up on discussions regarding the project of the Opera House, due to be built at the Flag Square. A special panel, headed by the information undersecretary, with members from the relevant ministries and authorities, was formed to start taking the necessary practical measures for execution of the venture.

KUWAIT: Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser weekly meeting. – KUNA For his part, the attending Chairman of the Industrialists Union addressed the meeting about problems in the industrial sector, namely those suffered by the entrepreneurs.

Also in this context, Minister of Commerce and Industry Amani Buresli affirmed her keenness on overcoming any obstacles facing these projects within her jurisdictions. The conferees, as part of rapid measures to resolve industrial development problems, charged the Public Authority for Industry to pres-

Al-Sabah presides over the Cabinet’s ent practical plans to establish the integrated services center, with employment of electronic devices, to facilitate work of the investors in this sector, noting necessity of supporting the private sector, encouraging the national industries and creating jobs for the mounting numbers of graduates. Furthermore, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was instructed to allocate large plots of lands, in coordination with the municipality, to be used for building warehouses for Kuwaiti entrepreneurs. — KUNA

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

No ‘Hope’ or ‘Change’ but Obama campaign HQ buzzes

Turkey uses large offensive against Kurdish rebels

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Clinton steps up pressure on Pakistan, Taleban

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SIRTE: Revolutionary fighters celebrate the capture of Sirte yesterday. Gaddafi was captured and killed yesterday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown. —AP

Gaddafi killed as hometown falls Joy and celebratory gunfire across Libya SIRTE: Toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed yesterday in a final assault by new regime forces on the last pocket of resistance in his hometown Sirte, sparking wild joy and celebratory gunfire across Libya. “We announce to the world that Gaddafi has died in the custody of the revolution,” National Transitional Council spokesman Abdel Hafez Ghoga said in the eastern city of Benghazi.

“It is an historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate,” he added.

He said that the fugitive despot’s death been “confirmed by our commanders on the ground in Sirte, those who captured him after he had been wounded in the battle for Sirte.” As Libyans on the streets of Tripoli and Sirte fired automatic weapons into the air and danced for joy, world leaders welcomed Gaddafi’s demise as the end of despotism, tyranny, dictatorship and ultimately war in the north African country.

NTC fighters who had fought in the bloody seven-month conflict that toppled

the veteran despot at a cost of more than 25,000 lives, erupted in jubilation at the news, which followed earlier reports that Gaddafi had been captured alive. A photograph taken on a mobile phone appeared to show the 69-year-old Kadhafi, toppled by NTC fighters in August, heavily bloodied. In the blurry image, Gaddafi is seen with bloodsoaked clothing and blood daubed across his face. A video circulating among NTC fighters in Sirte showed mobile phone footage of what appeared to be Gaddafi’s bloodied corpse. In the grainy images, a large number of NTC fighters are seen yelling in chaotic scenes around a khaki-clad body which has blood oozing from the face and neck. The body is then dragged off by the fighters and loaded in the back of a pick-up truck. Another NTC commander, said one of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, was also killed in Sirte. “We found him dead. We put his body and that of (former defence minister) Abu Bakr Yunis Jabar in an ambulance to take them to Misrata,” said Mohamed Leith. News

of Gaddafi’s death came as new regime troops overran the last redoubt of his loyalists in Sirte, bringing to an end a two-month siege. Fighters moving in from east and west overcame the last resistance in the city’s Number Two residential neighbourhood where his diehard supporters had been holed up.

“Sirte has been liberated, and with the confirmation that Gaddafi is dead,” Libya has been completely liberated, a top NTC military official, Khalifa Haftar, told AFP in Tripoli.

“Those who were fighting with Gaddafi have either been killed or captured,” he added.

Pick-up trucks blaring out patriotic music criss-crossed the streets of Sirte yesterday afternoon, as fighters flashed V for victory signs and chanted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest). “We did it! We did it!” chanted the fighters overcome with emotion, exchanging well-wishes, hugs and handshakes against a backdrop of intense celebratory gunfire.

“We finished Gaddafi and his people,” said

fighter Ali Urfulli. “We have taken revenge.

Let him go to hell.” Gaddafi was wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity but Libyan leaders had said they wanted him captured alive so he could be put on trial in his home country. In Brussels, a NATO spokesman said two alliance aircraft yesterday morning struck two pro-Gaddafi military vehicles near Sirte.

“At approximately 0830 local time (GMT+2) today, NATO aircraft struck two pro-Gaddafi forces military vehicles which were part of a larger group manoeuvring in the vicinity of Sirte,” NATO spokesman Colonel Roland Lavoie said in a statement. A NATO diplomat said checks were under way to verify reports by the NTC that the convoy in which Gaddafi was travelling was stopped by NATO strikes.

World leaders began to weigh in on the death of the man who had ruled the oil-rich north African nation for more than 40 years.

In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said after the death of his onetime ally: “Now the war is over.”—AFP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

In the

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Gaddafi death ‘historic transition’ for Libya: UN chief UNITED NATIONS: UN leader Ban Ki-moon said the reported death of Muammar Gaddafi marked an “historic transition” for Libya. “The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges.

Now is the time for all Libyans to come together,” Ban said at the UN headquarters. “Combatants on all sides must lay down their arms and come together in peace.

This is a time for rebuilding and healing.”

TC to announce liberation of Libya TRIPOLI: Libya’s interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil is to declare by today that the country has been liberated and give details on Muammar Gaddafi’s killing, interim premier Mahmud Jibril told reporters. “Abdel Jalil will come out today or at the latest tomorrow to declare the liberation of the country and to give details about the killing of Gaddafi,” said the number two in the National Transitional Council. “With the confirmation that all the evil people, including Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country ... it is time for Libyans to start a new country, a united Libya, one people with one future.”

British PM says ‘day to remember Gaddafi’s victims’ LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday the death of Muammar Gaddafi was an occasion to remember his victims, while hailing it as a chance for a “democratic future” for Libya. In a short, sombre statement outside his 10 Downing Street office, Cameron said Libyan interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil had confirmed to him that Gaddafi had been killed in his hometown of Sirte yesterday. “I think today is a day to remember all of Colonel Gaddafi’s victims, from those who died in connection with the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, to Yvonne Fletcher in a London street, and obviously all the victims of IRA terrorism who died through their use of Libyan Semtex,” he said. The bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 killed 270 people, mostly Americans. Fletcher was a British policewoman who was killed by a shot fired from the Libyan embassy in London while policing a demonstration in 1984. “We should also remember the many many Libyans who died at the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime,” Cameron said.

IMF to send mission to Libya WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund will send a mission to Libya soon to assess the country’s economy, an IMF spokesman said yesterday after rebel forces killed Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

The IMF is planning to send the mission “in the coming weeks,” following up on an October 6-13 fact-finding mission it undertook in cooperation with the World Bank, spokesman Gerry Rice said at a regular news briefing. Rice declined to comment on the death of Gaddafi, who was killed yesterday in an assault by the new regime’s forces that seized control of the dictator’s hometown of Sirte. National Transition Council forces had fought a bloody seven-month conflict to topple the 42-year-old Gaddafi regime, an uprising that cost more than 25,000 lives. Rice said the joint mission with the World Bank earlier this month looked at Libya’s macroeconomic developments, public financial management issues and public expenditure policies.” “In the coming weeks, follow-up missions are planned to undertake a needs assessment on public financial management issues, as well as continuing work on the preparation of a macroeconomic framework,” Rice said.

“But I don’t have a date attached to that.” IMF managing director Christine Lagarde announced on September 10 the Fund’s recognition of the NTC as Libya’s transitional government, paving the way for the fledgling administration to benefit from the IMF’s financial help.—AFP

TUNIS: Tunisians and Libyans living in Tunisia wave Libya’s National Transitional Council flags and celebrate yesterday in the Mohamed V street of Tunis after the announcement of the death of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. —AFP

With warped vision, Gaddafi maddened Libya, West TRIPOLI: During nearly 42 years in power in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi was one of the world’s most eccentric dictators, so mercurial that he was both condemned and courted by the West, while he brutally warped his country with his idiosyncratic vision of autocratic rule until he was finally toppled by his own people.

The modern Arab world’s longest-ruling figure, Libya’s “Brother Leader” displayed striking contrasts. He was a sponsor of terrorism whose regime was blamed for blowing up two passenger jets, who then helped the US in the war on terror. He was an Arab nationalist who mocked Arab rulers. In the crowning paradox, he preached a “revolutionary” utopia of people power but ran a one-man dictatorship that fueled the revolution against him.

His death yesterday at age 69 - confirmed by Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril came as Libyan fighters defeated Gaddafi’s last holdouts in his hometown of Sirte, the last major site of resistance in the country.

Their final declaration of victory came weeks after Gaddafi was swept from power by rebels who drove triumphantly into the capital of Tripoli on Aug. 21, capping a sixmonth civil war.

“Dance, sing and fight!” Gaddafi had exhorted his followers even as his enemies were on the capital’s doorstep before fleeing into Libya’s hinterlands where his diehard backers had continued to battle the rebels-turned-rulers. Gaddafi leaves behind an oil-rich nation of 6.5 million traumatized by a rule that drained it of institutions while the ship of state was directed by the whims of one man and his family.

Notorious for his extravagant outfits ranging from white suits and sunglasses to military uniforms with frilled epaulets to brilliantly colored robes decorated with the map of Africa - he styled himself as a combination Bedouin chief and philosopher king. He reveled in infuriating leaders, whether in the West or the Middle East. US President Ronald Reagan, after the 1986

bombing that killed US servicemen in Berlin was blamed on Libya, branded him a “mad dog.” Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who fought a border war with Libya in the 1970s, wrote in his diary that Gaddafi was “mentally sick” and “needs treatment.”

Behind the flamboyance and showmanship, associates say Gaddafi was meticulous in managing the levers of power. He intervened in decisions large and small and constantly met personally with tribal leaders and military officers whose support he maintained through lucrative posts. The sole constant was his grip on the country.

Numerous coup and assassination attempts against him over the years mostly ended with public executions of the plotters, hanged in city squares. The ultimate secret of his longevity lay in the vast oil reserves under his North African desert nation and in his capacity for drastic changes of course when necessary.

The most spectacular U-turn came in late 2003. After years of denial, Libya acknowledged responsibility - though in a Gadhafi-esque twist of logic, not guilt - for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people. He agreed to pay up to $10 million to relatives of each victim. He also announced that Libya would dismantle its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs under international supervision.

The rewards came fast. Within months, the US lifted economic sanctions and resumed diplomatic ties. The European Union hosted Gaddafi in Brussels. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2008 became the highest-ranking US official to visit the country in more than 50 years. Tony Blair, as British prime minister, visited him in Tripoli.

International oil companies rushed to invest in Libya’s fields. Documents uncovered after Gaddafi’s fall revealed close cooperation between his intelligence services and the CIA in pursuing terror suspects

after the 9/11 attacks, even before the US lifted its designation of Libya as a sponsor of terror in 2006.

Still, Gaddafi’s renegade ways did not change. After Swiss police had the temerity to briefly arrest his son Hannibal for allegedly beating up two servants in a Geneva luxury hotel in 2008, Gaddafi’s regime arrested two Swiss nationals and raked Switzerland over the coals, extracting an apology and compensation before finally releasing the men nearly two years later. European countries, eagerly building economic ties with Libya, did little to back up Switzerland in the dispute.

But Gaddafi became an instant pariah once more when he began a brutal crackdown on the February uprising in his country that grew out of the “Arab Spring” of popular revolts across the region. The UN authorized a no-fly zone for Libya in March, and NATO launched a campaign of airstrikes against his military forces.

“I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents. ... I will die as a martyr at the end,” he proclaimed in one of his last televised speeches during the uprising, pounding the lectern near a sculpture of a golden fist crushing a US warplane.

Gaddafi was born in 1942 in the central Libyan desert near Sirte, the son of a Bedouin father who was once jailed for opposing Libya’s Italian colonialists. The young Gaddafi seemed to inherit that rebellious nature, being expelled from high school for leading a demonstration, and disciplined while in the army for organizing revolutionary cells.

In 1969, as a mere 27-year-old captain, he emerged as leader of a group of officers who overthrew the monarchy of King Idris.

A handsome, dashing figure in uniform and sunglasses, Gaddafi took undisputed power and became a symbol of antiWestern defiance in a Third World recently liberated from its European colonial rulers.

During the 1970s, Gaddafi proceeded to transform the nation. —AP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Egypt, Israel to pick rest of detainees in swap deal GAZA CITY: Hamas will not be involved in picking the 550 prisoners to be freed by Israel in the second stage of a landmark exchange deal, the movement’s armed wing said yesterday. In a statement on its website, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said Israel and Egypt, which brokered the deal, would pick the names of the remaining Palestinians to be freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. “Hamas will not participate in the selection of the names to be released in the second stage,” the statement said, adding that Egypt would however assist “in accordance with the standards and requirements of the (Hamas) movement.”

Those requirements include a call for priority to be given to prisoners who are elderly, ill, or have served more than 20 years in jail. The movement also called on Israel to avoid including prisoners whose term is nearly complete or those convicted of common law, rather than security offences. Israel on Tuesday freed 477 prisoners — 450 men and 27 women — in the first stage of an exchange deal that saw Shalit released from more than five years of captivity in Gaza.

Saleh al-Arouri, a Syria-based Hamas official, told the movement’s Al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday evening that a further nine women detainees would be freed shortly.

Under the deal, Israel is to free another 550 prisoners within two months, but details of who will be freed in the second group have not been finalised.— AFP

Iraq okays executions of 53, including five foreigners BAGHDAD: Iraq’s presidency approved yesterday the executions of 53 people, including five foreigners, the head of the presidency council office said. “There are 53 people who have been approved for execution-among them are five foreigners,” Nassir al-Ani told AFP. He provided no further details of who the people were who would be executed, or the nationalities of the foreign prisoners. Ani heads the office of the presidency council, comprised of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies Tareq al-Hashemi and Khudayr al-Khuzaie, which must approve all death sentences in Iraq.

Last month, Abdelsattar Birakdar, the spokesman of the Higher Judicial Council, said 338 death sentences had been issued so far this year, and three executions had been carried out. Iraq’s Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim said in December 2010 that Iraq has executed 257 people, including six women, since 2005. Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is an ardent supporter of capital punishment, but President Jalal Talabani is a staunch opponent. Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog, noted in a September 2009 that Iraq was one of only 46 countries that voted against a December 2008 UN resolution in favor of a moratorium on the use of capital punishment. The resolution was approved by 106 states. — AFP

4 die in sect attacks in Nigeria MAIDUGURI: Authorities say suspected sect members have killed four people in three separate attacks in the country’s northeast. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said yesterday that two gunmen shot dead a prison guard in a barber shop alongside the shop’s owner in the city of Maiduguri Wednesday evening. He said a civilian was also killed hours earlier a few miles away and another was shot dead minutes after the barber shop attack Wednesday.

Borno State police chief Simeone Midenda said police suspect the same Boko Haram members carried out the three attacks. Boko Haram is a radical Muslim sect responsible for a string of assassinations and bombings in northern Nigeria in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law in Africa’s most populous nation.— AP

Yemen opposition says Saleh guarantee request a sham Thousands of activists demonstrate SANAA: The Yemeni opposition called on the United Nations yesterday to force President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down unconditionally, rejecting his request for international guarantees. The opposition Common Forum dismissed as a sham Saleh’s announcement on Wednesday that he was ready to sign a Gulf-brokered deal for him to quit office in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution if it was backed up by European and US guarantees. “It is clear he absolutely refuses to resign and hand power to his vice president,” Mohammed Qahtan, the spokesman for the opposition coalition Common Forum told AFP. “Unfortunately, his statements are in effect a declaration of war,” he added.

Thousands of pro-democracy activists who have for months been camped out at their base in the Sanaa’s Change Square also rejected Saleh’s request for guarantees. “No immunity, no guarantees, Saleh and his aides will be judged,” chanted thousands of demonstrators as they marched yesterday in the capital.

Thousands of Saleh supporters also marched in the capital but were intercepted by government troops, who managed to prevent an confrontation between the two groups, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Yesterday’s protests, in contrast to recent days and weeks of violent government crackdowns, ended peacefully. Since calls for an end to Saleh’s 33year rule erupted in January, the president has made repeated pledges to sign the deal brokered by his impoverished nation’s wealthy Gulf neighbours only to backtrack.

Saleh’s latest statement was yet

SANAA: Anti-government protesters march to demand the ouster of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa yesterday, as the Yemeni opposition called on the United Nations to force the embattled president to step down unconditionally, rejecting his request for international guarantees. — AFP another diversion, Qahtan said, noting that the Gulf Cooperation Council plan already included both an immunity clause for Saleh and his family, and a timetable for the transfer of power. In a sign Washington is losing patience with Saleh’s stalling tactics, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday more guarantees were unnecessary, and urged Saleh to sign the GCC initiative “without further delay.” Qahtan said the time had come for decisive UN action. “Ali Saleh is not going to willingly give up power... not now, not in 2013, and not in 2020,” Qahtan told AFP. “We call on the UN to adopt a binding resolution that demands Saleh’s

resignation and clearly supports the revolutionaries and the armies that support them,” he added. In the coming days, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution condemning the escalating violence between the protesters and Saleh’s loyalists. But the resolution will not threaten sanctions or explicitly call on Saleh to step down, according to a text of the draft seen by AFP. At least 23 civilian demonstrators and two dissident soldiers have been killed since Saturday as Saleh’s opponents have repeatedly attempted to march on loyalist-held parts of the capital in a bid to bring the nine-monthold protests to a head.— AFP

UN urges Syria to end Lebanon incursions BEIRUT: The United Nations has called on Damascus to end its incursions into Lebanon, which have left three Syrians dead in recent weeks, warning the raids could ignite tensions in the region. “I strongly deplore the violent incursions and raids into Lebanese towns and villages by Syrian security forces that resulted in death and injury,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a report release late Wednesday.

“I call upon the government of the Syrian Arab Republic immediately to cease all such incursions and to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ban added.

“These incursions and the ongoing crisis in Syria carry the potential of igniting further tensions inside Lebanon and beyond.” Syrian tanks in recent weeks have crossed into disputed border areas and Lebanese territory, shooting dead three Syrian citizens. The incursions have raised fears of the revolt against the regime in Damascus spilling over into Lebanon.

Ban also urged the two countries to finalise the delineation of a Lebanese-Syrian border, parts of which remain disputed, saying the move was “an essential step to allow for proper border control.” Lebanese officials estimate some 5,000 Syrians, including deserting soldiers and oppo-

sition members, have sought refuge in Lebanon since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad erupted in March. Ban’s comments came in a twice-yearly report on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and the restoration of Lebanon’s “territorial integrity, full sovereignty and political independence”.

Syria first sent it troops into Lebanon months after the outbreak of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war, and kept them deployed in it smaller neighbor for 29 years. Assad withdrew forces from Beirut in the aftermath of the 2005 assassination of billionaire former premier Rafiq Hariri, whose killing was initially widely blamed on Syria. The UN report also urged Lebanon’s Syrian-backed Hezbollah to give up its arms, saying the Shiite group’s weapons created an “atmosphere of intimidation” in the country. “The issue of Hezbollah’s weapons has become a central bone of contention in the political debate in Lebanon,” said Ban in the report. “Hezbollah’s arsenal creates an atmosphere of intimidation and poses a key challenge to the safety of Lebanese civilians and to the government’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force,” he added. “I call yet again upon the leaders of Hezbollah to immediately disarm.”— AFP

International FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Kenya advances towards Somali city of Kismayo MOGADISHU: Kenya intends to push its troops to Somalia’s insurgent stronghold of Kismayo and will stay until there are no Islamist insurgents left, a Kenyan military spokesman said yesterday, as the militants were pushed back on two fronts by pro-Somali government forces supported by foreign troops.

“We are going to be there until the (Somali government) has effectively reduced the capacity of al-Shabab to fire a single round ... We want to ensure there is no al-Shabab,” Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir told The Associated Press. “We want to destroy all their weapons.”

He said troops have secured a foothold in Ras Kamboni, a town 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Kenya-Somalia border, and that al-Shabab militants left the town before the Kenyans arrived. Abdinasir Serar, a senior commander with the progovernment militia, confirmed Ras Kamboni had changed hands. The town is where Al-Shabab’s forerunner, the Islamic Courts Union, made its last stand in the face of an Ethiopian advance in 2007.

“This provides a vantage point for us to clear Al-Shabab and pirates from the Somali coast in Kismayo,” Chirchir said.

“Al-Shabab is in disarray.” His words were the clearest statement yet of Kenya’s intentions after it sent troops into Somalia last weekend. Kenya said it was retaliating for a series of raids by Somali gunmen who have attacked and abducted foreigners from Kenyan territory. Two Spanish aid workers, a cancer-stricken quadriplegic Frenchwoman and an Englishwoman have all been seized in the past six weeks; the Englishwoman’s husband was killed in the kidnappers’ assault. On Wednesday, the French government announced that the Frenchwoman had died.

Kenyan officials have also said they will launch an internal crackdown on Kenyan residents suspected to be helping alShabab. “Our security forces have begun operations within and outside of our borders against militants who have sought to destabilize our country,” Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said. Yesterday’s speech at Kenya’s Nyayo stadium was delivered to nearly empty bleachers - police had locked out thousands of waiting Kenyans after the president arrived, fearing alShabab might try to make good on their threats earlier this week to bomb Kenya.

On Wednesday, the country’s internal security minister said that he was planning to “sweep” the country of any underground al-Shabab sympathizers, a statement that sent ripples of fear through Kenya’s Somali-speaking community.

Many Muslim and Kenyan-Somali leaders

have said they fear their communities may be targeted by security services.

Kenyan police are frequently criticized by human rights bodies for corruption and killing or beating civilians. But a lawmaker from a northern constituency sought to reassure Somalis they would not be unfairly detained. “Whatever sweep they are talking about remains an intent. We have advised (the government) to take whatever security precautions they want to take constitutionally, without infringing on people’s rights,” said parliament member Adan Keynan .

“Anything that is targeting one particular community will not be accepted, it will not be tolerated.”

In the Somali capital, al-Shabab was chased out of the capital’s northernmost neighborhood, Deynile, in a dawn offensive, residents said. Somali government

NAIROBI: Kenyan troops march during ‘Heroes-day’ celebrations in Nairobi yesterday. Kenya will use all measures necessary to protect its territory. —AFP

troops and African Union peacekeepers took control of the area, which the Islamist insurgency used as an execution ground and as an area for carrying out amputations. “Somali government soldiers and AMISOM are here today and AlShabab left,” said resident Liban Abdullahi, using a common acronym to refer to the 9,000-strong African Union force of Burundian and Ugandan soldiers.

“We wish quiet days will follow, because we were always in trouble living among two warring sides.” A police official said government troops had encountered little resistance during their dawn attack.

“We have captured the whole district, and the anti-peace elements have fled to the outskirts,” said Col. Aden Kalmoy, a Somali military spokesman. Two years ago, al-Shabab held almost all of southern Somalia, and the government was confined to a few city blocks. But the militia has been weakened by a severe drought and famine in its strongholds, a loss of revenue from markets in the capital of Mogadishu, internal divisions and public disgust over their strict punishments, recruitment of child soldiers and indiscriminate bombing.

They are also severely outgunned by AU forces. At the same time, the weak UN backed Somali government has been strengthened by foreign backers, including military personnel from Burundi, Uganda and Kenya and financial and logistical support from Italy and the US that means that government soldiers have been regularly paid this year for the first time in more than two decades of civil war.

The changes forced Al-Shabab to retreat from Mogadishu in August in what its leaders described as a tactical pullout. In response, the militant group has carried out a campaign of suicide bombings. —AP

Turkey uses large offensive against Kurdish rebels ANKARA: About 10,000 elite Turkish soldiers took part in a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey and across the border in Iraq yesterday, making it the nation’s largest attack on the insurgents in more than three years, the military said.

The offensive began Wednesday after Kurdish rebels carried out raids near the Turkey-Iraq border that killed 24 Turkish soldiers and wounded 18, the insurgents’ deadliest one-day attacks against the military since the mid-1990s. The military said in a statement yesterday that 22 battalions, or about 10,000 soldiers, were taking part in the offensive in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq, but it did not say how many were in each country.

NTV television said most of the troops were believed to be in Iraq. The television said Turkish warplanes flew dozens of bombing sorties out of a military base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir yesterday. It was Turkey’s largest such offensive since February 2008, when thousands of ground forces staged a weeklong offensive into Iraq on snow-covered mountains.

The military said the soldiers in the current operation are commandos, special forces and paramilitary special forces - making it an elite force trained in guerrilla warfare. They are being reinforced by F-16 and F-4 warplanes, Super Cobra helicopter gunships and surveillance drones. NTV said the troops have penetrated as far as 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) into Iraq. It was not clear whether about 1,200 Turkish troops who have long been based in northern Iraq were participating in the offensive in any capacity, NTV

said. Turkey has stationed a tank battalion at a former airport at the Iraqi border town of Bamerni and a few other military outposts scattered in the region since 1996 with permission from local authorities. Ankara rotates the troops there.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to share details of the military’s offensive. The military only said the offensive was concentrated in five separate areas it did not identify. “Our goal is to achieve results with this operation,” Erdogan told a nationally televised news conference. “The military is determinedly carrying out this (operation), both from the air and the ground.” The offensive was the military’s response to Wednesday’s deadly simultaneous attacks by Kurdish rebels on eight separate targets, including military and police outposts. At least three rebels were killed Wednesday, the military said.

The Kurdish rebel group yesterday confirmed seven rebels have been killed since Wednesday, pro-Kurdish Firat news agency reported. The figures by either side could not be independently verified. In its first comments since those attacks and the start of Turkey’s offensive, Iraq’s government yesterday condemned the rebel attacks and promised to stop them from using Iraqi territory for future attacks against Turkey. “The Iraqi government stresses again that Iraq will not be a haven or a shelter to any foreign armed and terrorist group,” the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website, adding that both Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq “are committed to secure the borders” to prevent the repetition of such attacks.

A senior Iraqi Kurdish official, Nechirvan

ANKARA: Yeter Eroglu (R) holds a photograph of her son, Murat Eroglu, 22, a Turkish soldier killed by Kurdish rebels, as she joins thousands of high school students and citizens marching in the streets of the Turkish capital, Ankara, yesterday. —AFP Barzani, was in Ankara and met Erdogan along with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the country’s national intelligence chief. The Kurdish rebel attack outraged many Turks and fueled nationalist sentiment. Thousands of high school students, carrying Turkish flags, marched in the streets of the Turkish capital yesterday.

“Tooth for tooth, blood for blood, vengeance!” students chanted in support of the military as they marched through the affluent Tunali Hilmi district. At one point, the students stopped traffic to sing the national anthem as some shopkeepers joined them and passers-by stood still in respect.

Thousands of protesters also turned out in Istanbul and other cities as funerals of slain soldiers turned into anti-Kurdish rebel demonstrations. The Kurdish provinces of northern Iraq are mostly stable and prosperous. But to Turkey, which has a large Kurdish minority, they also are an inspiration and a support base for the Kurdish rebels. Turkey’s Kurdish rebel conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since the insurgents took up arms for autonomy in the country’s Kurdish-dominated southeast in 1984. Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad, Iraq contributed to this report.— AP

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Immigration debate intensifies in GOP race WASHINGTON: Neither Rick Perry nor Mitt Romney can claim conservative purity on illegal immigration and now both must deal with it. Illegal immigration has emerged as a defining issue with remarkable staying power in a GOP presidential race that was expected to be primarily focused on the nation’s struggling economy. The heated clashes over illegal immigration between the two Republican presidential rivals in this week’s debate, coupled with renewed calls for a fence along the US-Mexico border by their opponents, made clear the issue isn’t going away. It’s a major fault line between Perry and Romney as they court a Republican primary electorate that generally takes a hardline view against people who are in the country illegally.

At every turn, Perry, the Texas governor, has been forced to defend his signing of a law that allowed some illegal immigrants to get in-state college tuition.

And now Romney is having to answer for the fact that

some groundskeepers who had worked on his lawn were in the country illegally. “Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew about it for a year,” Perry told the former Massachusetts governor at Tuesday’s debate in Las Vegas. “And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you’re strong on immigration is, on its face, the height of hypocrisy.”

Romney countered, “Rick, I don’t think that I’ve ever hired an illegal in my life” and challenged his rival to show him the facts. It was a preview of what Republicans can expect to hear in the coming weeks as the Jan. 3 leadoff Iowa caucuses inch closer, with Romney and Perry emerging as the two candidates with the best chances of winning the nomination.

They’re arguably the only Republicans with the money and organization necessary to go the distance. Even so and in hopes of gaining traction, their rivals are playing

to the part of the GOP electorate that values a secure border with Mexico above all else when it comes to immigration policy.

In recent days, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has pledged to build two fences back to back along the 2,000-mile border. And businessman Herman Cain called for an electrified fence that could kill people trying to cross illegally. For months now, immigration concerns have followed presidential contenders to town hall meetings from Nevada to Iowa to New Hampshire. And in some ways, immigration has shaped the increasingly bitter Republican nomination fight more than any other issue, particularly in a crowded field where the conservative candidates have more in common than not. And while conservative voters may be driving immigration chatter on the campaign trail, the candidates are stoking voter passions when given the opportunity. —AP

Ohio farm owner killed self, was bitten: Sheriff Autopsy shows bite wound on head

ST LOUIS: In this Oct 4, 2011, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at a fundraiser in St. Louis.—AP

No ‘Hope’ or ‘Change’ but Obama campaign HQ buzzes CHICAGO: Barack Obama’s approval ratings are down, Republican challengers are beating him in polls and the US economy is in a slump, yet the Democratic president’s re-election campaign headquarters is buzzing. There are no signs with “Hope” or “Change”-Obama’s popular slogans in 2008 — hanging prominently at the office in downtown Chicago. Simple “2012” posters with the president’s website cover the walls instead.

But youthful enthusiasm abounds at the 50,000-square-foot (4,645-sq-m) nerve center, where some 200 staff members and volunteers are racing ahead of the Republican candidates in raising cash and setting up a national campaign network. The space is nearly twice as big as Obama’s 2008 campaign headquarters, which came in around 31,000 square feet (2,880 square metres), and the team of strategists, web designers, money counters and message makers is expanding.

Young people just out of college play ping pong, maps and chalkboard paint cover the walls, and a life-size cardboard cutout of the president peers over a sea of desks. The atmosphere, in the words of one staffer, is like that of a fledgling Internet company, and the dress code is casual: 20- and 30-somethings, many of whom worked in the suit-and-tie atmosphere of Washington, now walk around in jeans, sneakers and untucked shirts, a few of them showing off tattoos. “I did a lot of work for start-ups before. There’s a certain energy to start-ups,” said Harper Reed, 33, the campaign’s chief technology officer, clad in faded jeans, big black glasses, huge earrings, and a T-shirt with “NOIZE” written on the front.

“These are mostly start-up people.

And here they get to build a product that will empower the field organization to just do what they do best,” he said.

Obama, the one-time transformative candidate, has a long way to go to regain the momentum that swept him into power in 2008. Some polls show Mitt Romney could beat him in 2012 if the former Massachusetts governor wins the Republican nomination. Obama is clearly ahead, though, in campaign organizing.

He and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $70 million from July to September, beating all the Republican hopefuls put together.

Obama’s campaign team, boosted by former White House staffers, also dwarfs those of his possible Republican rivals.

The question, however, is which side will have more momentum, as Obama tries to convince young voters and other important demographic groups to stick with him despite the moribund economy he has presided over for nearly three years. “Core constituencies from President Obama’s 2008 coalition continue to move away from him and overall Democrat voter enthusiasm is at new lows,” said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee.

“In fact, with youth being hit harder by the economy than the rest of the country, President Obama has a lot of work to do to excite young voters and expect them to campaign for him as they did in 2008.”

Obama’s campaign is trying to address that by building up offices and volunteers in all 50 US states, and some of the headquarters crew will depart for those local sites next year.— Reuters

OHIO : The owner of a US exotic animal farm who released dozens of tigers, lions and others beasts from their cages in a final act died of a selfinflicted gunshot wound and then was bitten by one of his own animals, a sheriff said yesterday. An autopsy showed Terry Thompson had a bite wound on the head that appeared to have come from a large cat, such as a Bengal tiger, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz told a news conference.

It appeared the bite occurred quickly after Thompson shot himself, Lutz said. Authorities say nervous deputies shot 48 of the more than 50 freed animals - including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions - in an urgent overnight hunt with pistols and then assault rifles after Thompson threw their cages open shortly before sundown Tuesday and killed himself. “What a tragedy,” said veterinarian Barb Wolfe, of The Wilds animal preserve sponsored by the Columbus Zoo. “We knew that ... there were so many dangerous animals at this place that eventually something bad would happen, but I don’t think anybody really knew it would be this bad.”

As the hunt winded down on Wednesday, a photo showing the remains of tigers, bears and lions lined up and scattered in an open field went viral provoking visceral reactions among viewers, some of whom expressed their anger and sadness on social networking sites. Some local townspeople also were saddened by the deaths. At a nearby Moose Lodge, Bill Weiser said: “It’s breaking my heart, them shooting those animals.”

Authorities said the slain animals would be buried on Thompson’s farm.

Will Travers, chief executive of the California-based Born Free USA animal welfare and wildlife conservation organization, said police had no choice but to take the action they did. “It’s a tragedy for these particular animals, for no fault of their own they’ve been shot, and I can see how difficult that decision was for the police,” he said. Jack Hanna, TV personality and former director of

the Columbus Zoo, also defended the sheriff’s decision to kill the animals, calling deaths of the endangered Bengal tigers especially tragic.

The animals destroyed also included six black bears, two grizzlies, a baboon, a wolf and three mountain lions. “It’s like Noah’s Ark wrecking right here in Zanesville, Ohio,” Hanna said.

Six - three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys - were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo. “We are happy to report they all seem to be doing very well,” zoo spokeswoman Patti Peters said in a statement yesterday.

A wolf was later found dead, leaving a monkey as the only animal possibly still unaccounted for in the mostly rural community of farms, widely spaced homes and wooded areas about 55 miles east of Columbus. While the sheriff’s office said early yesterday that the search for the monkey was still active, Sheriff Matt Lutz said the animal may no longer be a concern. “We have had no reported sightings of anything, and it’s a high probability that he could have been eaten by one of the big cats,” Lutz told the CBS “Early Show” yesterday. Officers were ordered to kill the animals instead of trying to bring them down with tranquilizers for fear that those hit with darts would escape in the darkness before they dropped and would later regain consciousness.

“There were so many animals running at large that I made the decision that we were not going to have wild animals running loose on our streets,” Lutz told CBS. “There was no way of telling which animals would lay down, where these animals would end up.”

Veterinarian Wolfe had tried to save a tiger in a heavy bramble by using a tranquilizer dart, but the animal charged her then tried to flee. It had to be shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies.

“I was about 15 feet from him and took a shot, and it didn’t respond too much, and I thought we were OK, but within about 10 seconds he roared and started toward me,” she said.

Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Merry, among the first to respond on Tuesday, said he shot a number of animals, including a gray wolf and a black bear who charged him from 7 feet away. He said he’s an animal lover and only took pride in knowing he was protecting the community. “All these animals have the ability to take a human out in the length of a second,” he said. The Humane Society of the United States criticized Gov. John Kasich for allowing a statewide ban on the buying and selling of exotic pets to expire in April and called for an emergency rule to crack down on exotic animals until the state comes up with a permanent legal solution.—AP

ZENESVILE: Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz speaks during a news conference as Columbus Zoo director emeritus Jack Hanna, right, looks on Wednesday in Zanesville, Ohio. —AP

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Indigenous protest march reaches Bolivia’s capital Trek wins widespread sympathy LA PAZ: More than 1,000 Indians opposing a jungle highway that they say will spoil their lands in Bolivia’s Amazon drew cheers Wednesday when they paraded into the world’s highest capital after a 63-day protest march. Their trek, including a failed attempt by baton-swinging police to break up the march two weeks ago, has won widespread sympathy and fueled charges that leftist President Evo Morales discriminates against Bolivia’s Amazon-based indigenous groups in favor of the highland Indians who dominate his government and the National Assembly.

“He doesn’t care about his brothers from the lowlands,” said Fernando Najera, a 35-year-old Siriono Indian with tattered sandals who met the protesters who walked to La Paz from the Isiboro-Secure nature preserve that would be crossed by the proposed highway. Najera’s sentiments are shared by many lowlands Indians who believe this poor Andean nation’s first indigenous president considers them second-class citizens and favors his own people, the Aymara, and the other highland group, the Quechua.

But after the march ended at a plaza in central La Paz, march leader Fernando Vargas and Indian legislator Pedro Nuni said the intent was not to topple Morales

but to find a solution to their complaints.

Communications Minister Ivan Canelas said indigenous leaders were considering meeting with Morales . Morales has said the highway is needed to help Bolivia’s poorer regions develop and has accused the marchers of being dupes of right-wing groups. Protesters say the 190-mile (300kilometer) highway would despoil the Isiboro-Secure preserve, a park that is home to 15,000 indigenous people.

Frictions among indigenous communities have been a problem in Bolivia. About 62 percent of Bolivians identify themselves as indigenous, and the majority of these are Aymara or Quechua. Quechuas and Aymaras have long migrated from their home grounds in the arid, windswept highland plains in search of opportunity in the eastern lowlands where the earth is fertile and life is easier. “The president doesn’t respect the ‘Plurinational State’ that he himself promoted, and he wants to impose on lowlands Indians the culture and customs of the Aymara and Quechua,” said Pedro Moye, leaders of CIDOB, Bolivia’s main lowlands indigenous federation.

Bolivia’s new constitution, which Morales championed and voters approved, declares its 36 native groups semiau-

tonomous. In practice, his government has struggled to honor that mandate. Some critics accuse Morales of ignoring it altogether, of turning his back on indigenous peoples who, accounting more than three in five Bolivians, gave him their votes as he promised to empower its long-suppressed natives.

“He’s not even favoring the Aymaras and the Quechuas,” said Fernando Vargas, one of the protest leaders. “He’s only favoring coca growers and colonizers.” As the struggle over the Brazilian-funded highway through the nature preserve became heated, Morales accused lowlands Indians of being tools of US provocateurs. “They are trying to divide us so that the colonial state returns,” he said last week. By that time, the failed police crackdown had prompted many highlands Indians and educated Bolivians to rally behind the anti-highway protesters. A nationwide protest drew tens of thousands of supporters.

Morales has apologized to the marchers, and denies he ordered the police crackdown. He also announced the suspension of the highway, saying he will let voters in the affected region decide its fate. A week ago tens of thousands of highlands Indians, coca growers and union members marched in support of Morales in the dispute. — AP

LA PAZ: Protesters arrive after a 63-day trek from their villages to protest a government proposed road through the heart of an indigenous territory in the Amazon in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday.—AP

MEXICO CITY: In this photo taken on Tuesday July 19, 2011, Elizabeth Sucilla combs the hair of her four-year-old granddaughter Anghella Torres before going out for a walk, at their home in Mexico City.—AP

Mexico tackles epidemic of childhood obesity MEXICO CITY: Anghella Torres is just 4 years old, but already she weighs 66 pounds (30 kilos) - twice what she should. Because of her excess girth, her little feet constantly hurt from bearing the extra weight. Anghella knows she is obese and she doesn’t like it. And now, even though she doesn’t know how to read or count calories, she is on a diet. With the help of her grandmother and caretaker, Elizabeth Sucilla, Anghella is following a modest diet and exercise program established for her by a nurse at a local public hospital earlier this year.”I have to stop eating candies,” she said. Her new regimen also requires her to cut down on the deep-fried potato wedges she ate every other day in the streets and spoonfuls of heavy cream she downed like yogurt. Mexico, which claims to have the fattest children in the world, is trying to encourage others to follow Anghella’s lead. Public schools have banned junk food and are requiring more hours of physical education while the federal government has launched a media campaign that invites families to enroll their kids in a public weight-loss program.

Yet three-quarters of Mexico City’s 2,400 public schools don’t have playgrounds or gyms for exercise. And 80 percent of the schools don’t have water fountains. Experts stress the importance of drinking more water and fewer sugary drinks to prevent and reverse weight gain. President Felipe Calderon said earlier this year that Mexico had the highest rate of obesity for children ages 5 to 19 in the world. And although he did not cite any source, University of North Carolina nutrition professor Barry Popkin, who has studied childhood obesity in many countries, agrees that it “is the highest I know of in the world.” While a large number of children in Mexico’s poor, rural villages are still underweight, the country as a whole has seen the second-fastest growth rate for childhood obesity of nine countries examined by Popkin in a 2007 study, including the United States. —AP

Outbursts of violence after huge marches in Chile SANTIAGO: Violence again hit Chile’s capital Wednesday as small groups of hooded youths clashed with police and marred an otherwise peaceful march by as many as 100,000 students demanding changes in public education. Two huge marches, organized with approval from authorities, converged in a demonstration in Santiago calling on President Sebastian Pinera to expand the central government’s role in educating Chileans.

The changes sought by students who have been protesting and boycotting classes nearly six months would fundamentally overhaul a school system that has been steadily privatized since the 1973-90 dictatorship.

Pinera has insisted on more targeted reforms, such as increasing state subsidies so that poor students can afford to attend private institutions.

As Wednesday’s demonstration broke up, small groups confronted police and violence spread quickly. A

gas station was attacked, with vandals taking hoses and spraying flammable gasoline around. Police hosed the area down and kept others away, cutting off electricity to avoid sparking a huge fire. Smaller protest marches Tuesday also had a violent fringe element of hooded rioters who tried to attack a gas station and set fire to a bus whose passengers had fled.

Student leader Camilo Ballesteros has said such violence only strengthens the government’s efforts to paint striking students as out of control. On social networks, student activists are increasingly questioning who is responsible for the violence, with some raising the possibility that pro-government instigators are fostering trouble. Chile’s deputy interior minister, Rodrigo Ubilla, said early Wednesday that two police officers were injured overnight and 263 people were arrested nationwide “in another day of violence and destruction.” No additional

numbers of arrests and injuries were immediately available after Wednesday’s demonstration.

Pinera has rejected the students’ core demand that Chile provide free public education to all its citizens, arguing that this would force poor taxpayers to defray the costs of the rich. Students say the costs of free quality education could be more than covered by making the rich pay more in taxes. Pinera has sent his own proposals to Congress, and appointed a commission of experts to provide him with further ideas in January.

Chile’s political leaders on the right and left both say that the education debate will have to be resolved in Congress. Student leaders are leery, citing what they consider to be a history of betrayals of reform by Chile’s political establishment. But some students have said they may have no alternative since months of protests have produced few concrete achievements.— AP

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Mass grave found in north Afghanistan, officials say

TAKHAR: A mass grave that might be decades old, containing dozens of skulls, was found in north Afghanistan yesterday, Afghan officials said. Villagers discovered the grave in the Rustaq district in the province of Takhar, said Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi, a spokesman for the Takhar governor. Tawhidi and other officials estimated between 20 and 30 bodies had been recovered. Tawhidi said an initial investigation showed it was up to 70 years old, while other locals estimated the bodies dated back only 15 years.

“We are investigating and it is not clear how many more have been buried in this grave,” Tawhidi said.

Abdul Momin, an elder of the Sar Asyab village near where the grave was found, believed the grave dated back between 15 and 20 years to the country’s bloody civil war period when a commander in the area, Peram Qul, was based there. He said many people were labelled “anti-government elements” and killed. Peram Qul, who is also a former Afghan lawmaker, denied any role in the killings and said yesterday the grave dated back further to when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and claimed all the skulls belonged to mujahideen fighters.

The discovery of the grave is yet another indication of the country’s turbulent history. The Rustaq district is not far from where mujahideen commander and resistance hero Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated in 2001. Fighting between the Taleban and other insurgents and Afghan government and U.S. and NATO forces has dragged on since then. —Reuters

Religious groups oppose gay-friendly Goa tag PANAJI: Church and right-wing Hindu groups in Goa say they will fight any attempt to make the Indian state a gayfriendly destination, after the government said it was open to the idea. State tourism director Swapnil Naik said this week that even though it was not actively courting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) market, Goa could not ignore it because it was an emerging industry trend.

But his comments have attracted outrage from religious conservatives and one has now filed a police complaint to prevent the subject being discussed at an upcoming tourism trade fair. Former Indian Army captain Dattaram Sawant said the image of the former Portuguese colony and popular tourist spot had suffered in recent years through sex and drugs, adding: “We don’t want another tag.” Sawant is a member of the hardline Hindu Janajagruti Samiti outfit, which in 2008 objected to the screening of a film by the late Indian painter M.F. Husain because he had depicted female deities in the nude.

Goa attracts 400,000 foreign tourists every year to its white sandy beaches. Its laid-back attitudes are also a draw and contrast with the social conservatism still found throughout most of the rest of India. India decriminalised homosexual acts in 2009, delighting gay advocacy and human rights groups but angering Hindu, Muslim and Christian groups who denounced same-sex relationships as against divine and natural law. Sawant was joined in condemning the government by the Bharat Swabhiman Trust, which is linked to the popular Indian guru Baba Ramdev, who once said that homosexuality could be “cured” through yoga.

Its spokesman, Kamlesh Bandekar, said the state government’s stance was “weird”. “Goa government has already allowed drug trafficking, casinos and prostitution. Now LGBT. What else is remaining to be invited in the state?” he said. Father Francisco Caldeira, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, added: “We can’t stop people from coming here and holidaying. But the campaigns should not be inclined towards inviting them specially.” —AFP

Clinton steps up pressure on Pakistan, Taleban Taleban told to be part of peaceful future KABUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday demanded that Pakistan dismantle Taleban safe havens, stepping up the pressure on Islamabad as American troops pressed a major offensive along the border.

Clinton spoke in unusually strong language following talks in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai a month after his peace broker was assassinated, derailing any immediate prospect of reconciliation with the Taleban. She warned the Taleban to be part of a peaceful future or face a continuing assault, but urged Islamabad to play a “constructive” role in bringing militants to negotiations aimed at ending the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

“And now it’s a question as to how much cooperation Pakistanis will provide in going after those safe havens,” she said. “We intend to push the Pakistanis very hard as to what they are willing and able to do with us... to remove the safe havens and the continuing threats across the border to Afghans,” said Clinton. She warned militants that “we are going to seek you in your safe havens” on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border and confirmed a US operation against the hardline Haqqani network it blames for some of the worst war attacks.

“There was a major military operation inside Afghanistan in recent days that has been rounding up and eliminating Haqqani operatives on this side of the border,” Clinton told reporters in a leafy plaza of Karzai’s palace. She later flew into Pakistan, where she was to be joined by CIA chief David Petraeus and top US military officer Martin Dempsey for her talks.

But policy makers in Islamabad fundamentally disagree with US strategy in Afghanistan, believing military options are limited and that now is the time to press for a comprehensive reconciliation ahead of a NATO withdrawal in 2014. It is Clinton’s first visit to the region since a siege of the US embassy in Kabul and a truck bombing on a NATO outpost that wounded 77 Americans last month.

Washington blamed the attacks on the Haqqanis, who have a haven in Pakistan. Dempsey’s predecessor Admiral Mike Mullen called the

Haqqani network the “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and accused Pakistani spies of being involved in the embassy siege, dramatically worsening ties.

US commanders say the Haqqanis are their most potent enemy in eastern Afghanistan and increasingly capable of launching high-profile attacks in Kabul. It is an Afghan Taleban faction, loyal to Taleban leader Mullah Omar. In what Pakistanis

trol to a “very, very great extent” the Taleban.

Pakistani security officials say privately that contacts are maintained with insurgent groups to facilitate any eventual settlement in Afghanistan-a possibility that would be squandered if it launched any new offensive.

Islamabad argues that it has already made tremendous sacrifices, losing 3,000 soldiers and thousands of civilians in bomb attacks on its soil, and

KABUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R) shakes hands with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during their meeting in Kabul yesterday. —AP are likely to interpret as a contradiction, Clinton said her talks will focus on “how to increase pressure on the safe havens” while urging Pakistan to support efforts at negotiations. “We believe that they can play either a constructive or a destructive role in helping to bring into talks those with whom the Afghans themselves must sit across the table and hammer out a negotiated settlement,” she said.

“We will be looking to the Pakistanis to take the lead because the terrorists operating outside of Pakistan pose a threat to Pakistanis, as well as to Afghans and others,” she said. Karzai spoke of “shifting the focus” of the peace effort to Pakistan, saying that establishments there con-

that it cannot do what the Americans demand when the relationship is so unpopular.

Minutes before Clinton arrived, the paramilitary announced that at least three soldiers and up to 34 militants were killed in a gun battle in the tribal district of Khyber, a key route for NATO supplies into Afghanistan. “When the Americans ask us to do more, why don’t they try to understand our problems and address our reservations and concerns?” one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Pakistan will tell the Americans that the military options are getting limited in Afghanistan and there is a need to promote a genuine Afghan-led peace process,” he added. —AFP

Renowned South Korean climber missing in Nepal

KATMANDU: A renowned South Korean climber and two of his partners have disappeared while trying to summit Mount Annapurna, official and rescuers said yesterday.

Dipendra Poudel of Nepal’s mountaineering department in Katmandu said rescuers have not been able to find any trace of the three South Korean climbers missing since Tuesday.

Park Young-seok has climbed the world’s 14 tallest mountains and reached both the north and south poles. He first climbed Annapurna in 1996. It is the 10th tallest and considered a technically difficult climb.

The department identified the two other missing South

Korean climbers as Kang Ki-seok and Shin Dong-min. A colleague who equipped their expedition said the trio last contacted base camp Tuesday afternoon while heading up the peak. Ang Dorjee is now coordinating rescue efforts from Katmandu. Dorjee said a rescue helicopter did not see any signs of the mountaineers on the slopes.

Park was part of a seven-member team that was trying to carve out a new route to the summit of Annapurna. He had made the attempt in 2008 but was unsuccessful. Dorjee said they would continue the search but was having difficulty communicating with the search party. —AP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Flooding fears loom large for Bangkok residents BANGKOK: The threat has loomed large over this giant metropolis for weeks: Floodwaters could rapidly swamp glitzy downtown Bangkok, ruining treasured ancient palaces and chic boutiques on skyscraper-lined avenues in the heart of the Thai economy. The floods haven’t come, but the sense of imminent doom is growing by the day, seeping in through worried conversations, school closings and emptied store shelves. One measure of the fear: the protective walls of sand-

even up through the drains.” A long season of monsoon rains and storms has wasted a vast swath of Asia this year, killing 745 people - a quarter of them children - in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines, according to the United Nations. Thailand’s government says at least 320 of those deaths occurred here, mostly from drowning as floodwaters crept across this Southeast Asian nation since July, submerging whole towns under water more than six-feet-

PATHUM: Buddhist monks and civilians join hands in fixing flood barriers in Pathum Thani province, Thailand yesterday.—AP bags scattered across the city’s canals, homes and shop-fronts are expanding in number and height daily.

Many Bangkokians are girding for the worst after a week of mixed government messages that have failed to answer their most pressing question: Will the capital succumb to the worst floods to strike Thailand in half a century? “The water is coming, it’s inevitable,” said Oraphin Jungkasemsuk, a 40-year-old employee of Bangkok Bank’s headquarters. Its outer wall is protected by a six-foot-high (twometer-high) wall of sandbags wrapped in thin plastic sheeting.

“They are fighting a massive pool of water. They cannot control it anymore,” Oraphin said. “There are barriers, but it can come into the city from any direction,

high (two-meters-high) and damaging as much as one-tenth of rice fields in the world’s top rice exporter.

About two weeks ago, the capital itself began waking up to the reality of potential catastrophe as floods dramatically overwhelmed neighboring provinces. The drama has fueled panicked exoduses from the hardest-hit areas and, in Bangkok, shopping sprees as residents stocked up on emergency supplies. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Wednesday acknowledged the crisis has overwhelmed her nascent government. On Thursday, she announced authorities were opening floodgates that had been keeping water out of the city. It’s an attempt to let the vast flood pools empty into the sea, but the move risks a potential over-

flow as water runs through already inundated canals. “We must allow the water to flow through. Very little has been driven to the sea,” Yingluck said. She added: the water is “all over the place and has nowhere to go.”

Much is at stake. Economic analysts say the floods have already cut Thailand’s 2011 GDP projections by as much as 2 percent. Damages could run as high as $6 billion - an amount that could double if floods swamp Bangkok. This week, Bangkok’s governor called for 1 million sandbags to reinforce vulnerable spots on top of 1 million more called for earlier this month. The Thai military and volunteers have been bolstering flood walls that ring Bangkok for miles (kilometers), many of them along a complex network of swamped canals.

Record water levels have already sent water spilling over the city’s main Prapa canal, spattering the streets Bangkok, which has so far escaped unharmed. Still, there is plenty to worry about. Authorities have urged residents in seven of the city’s northern districts to prepare for inundation and move belongings to higher ground. Yesterday, vehicles began parking on elevated expressway bridges on the northern outskirts of the city, snarling traffic as trucks piled high with people apparently fleeing flood-hit zones moved through the streets.

But much of downtown looked totally normal, if eerily calm, and a quiet panic was palpable. Oraphin Milintanon, who works at a camera shop in the capital where customers must step across sandbags to get inside, has watched the floods advance with increasing alarm. The water first swept through her hometown in the now-heavily submerged city of Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok. Then it poured through her current home in Nonthaburi province.

Oraphin now lives with a sister in a dry part of Bangkok, but tales of water creeping closer are spooking residents. She said her brother, living elsewhere in Nonthaburi, was recently awaken by the flood water itself - which welled up suddenly into his home as he slept on his bed.

“It can come very fast ... the problem is, nobody knows from where it will come,” Oraphin said. The only thing certain, she added, “We know it is coming soon.” —AP

Ma: Any peace treaty with China may need vote TAIPEI: Taiwan’s president said yesterday that voters on the island may need to weigh in on any future peace treaty with China, a statement that appears to signal a retreat from an earlier declaration on the peace treaty idea. On Monday, President Ma Ying-jeou conditioned any peace treaty with China on the agreement winning a “consensus” on the democratic island of 23 million people, which split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949. Ma placed a treaty among the goals to be achieved over the next decade, suggesting for the first time a timetable for discussion of the sensitive issue with Beijing.

Ma’s declaration was lambasted by the opposition, which saw it as a boon to its chances in January’s presidential elections because it appeared to make Ma vulnerable to charges that he might be willing to compromise Taiwan’s sovereignty. It was also criticized by normally supportive media outlets as an unnecessary embrace of an issue that lacks popularity among Taiwan’s mostly China-wary population. China supports a peace treaty with Taiwan as a way of formally ending the civil war between the sides and paving the way for unification.

Yesterday, Ma appeared to back off his original peace treaty declaration - at least to an extent. He said that “a high level of mutual trust” must precede a treaty and that a referendum may be necessary to

prove it exists on the Taiwanese side. He also said a peace treaty would not compromise Taiwan’s sovereignty but rather “strengthen the current status of no unification, no independence and no war, a status that now has the support of 80 percent of the public.” Ma’s rejigged peace treaty formula reflects the Taiwanese public’s strong opposition to any process that could ultimately lead to the island’s political integration into China - for more than six decades Beijing’s goal for the territory it still regards as its own.

While most Taiwanese have embraced Ma’s policy of linking the two sides’ economies closer together by dismantling long-standing trade and commercial barriers, they are far less accepting of a formal political relationship with the authoritarian mainland, because they fear its consequences for their hard-won democratic freedoms. In his remarks yesterday, Ma addressed the long-standing opposition of his Nationalist Party to the idea of holding referendums in Taiwan, including on a peace treaty, by saying the constitution of the Republic of China - the island’s formal name - affords them legal sanction.

However, China opposes referendums in principle because it sees them as the privilege of a formal state, a status it emphatically rejects for Taiwan. —AP

TIANJIN: Chen Yunlin (R), President of Chinese mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) presents a souvenir to Chiang Pinkung (L), chairman of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) during a signing ceremony in China’s northern city of Tianjin yesterday.—AFP

Philippines will not retaliate after rebels kill 19

MANILA: President Benigno Aquino III said yesterday he would not resort to ordering an army offensive against Muslim guerrillas who killed 19 army soldiers in the southern Philippines despite a clamor for tougher government action. Tuesday’s intense fighting on southern Basilan island between army special forces and members of the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front killed 25 combatants, including six guerrillas. It was some of the deadliest fighting since 2008, when peace talks bogged down and ignited widespread clashes that killed hundreds and displaced 750,000 people.

A cease-fire guarded by a Malaysia-led peacekeeping contingent had held until Tuesday. The rebels have waged a bloody insurgency for self-rule in the southern Mindanao region, the homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

The conflict has killed more than 120,000 people in nearly four decades. The military and the guerrillas accused each other of instigating Tuesday’s clash. Both planned to protest before a government-rebel truce committee. Army officials, angered by their heavy loss, also publicly disagreed with officials handling peace talks with the Moro rebels. Government negotiator Marvic Leonen said the clash was accidental and peace talks would proceed.

“Maybe in his perspective that was a misencounter because he doesn’t treat the rebels anymore as enemies,” army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade told DZRH radio. Parlade said six of the soldiers ran out of ammunition while the gunbattle raged and were taken captive by the guerrillas. They were later found dead with hack wounds, sparking anger in the 120,000-strong military.

“Our soldiers are mourning, they’re not talking but we could feel their anger,” he said. Government officials should temporarily lift the cease-fire in Basilan and allow troops to hunt down the insurgents, Parlade said. The predominantly Muslim island is about 550 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a former defense chief, said the government should suspend talks if the country’s largest Muslim rebel group would not surrender their fighters behind the killing of the troops.

“They better break it up and conduct an operation unless the rebels surrender those people,” Enrile said. “What peace talks are we talking about when they’re engaging us in combat?” Aquino, however, said that breaking a truce with the rebels and resuming outright war would not benefit anyone. “Are we advocating ‘let’s go all out war’ and that redounds to an improvement in the situation?” Aquino asked. “We should learn, nobody benefits in war,” he said.

Aquino condoled with the families of the soldiers and called for a meeting today with his defense chief and top generals to discuss why the army incurred heavy losses in Al-Barka, where 10 marines were beheaded by militants in 2007. British Ambassador Stephen Lillie, whose country supports the talks, said all steps should be taken to prevent more clashes. The Al-Barka fighting displaced more than 3,000 villagers. “Incidents like this underline the urgency of a political solution to the conflict,” Lillie said.

Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the rebels and the government received a major boost in August when Aquino met rebel chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in Tokyo to bolster the talks.

The rebels, however, rejected a government proposal for Muslim autonomy when talks resumed a few weeks later but they vowed to continue with the talks. —AP

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Twitter co-founder would ‘love’ to compete in China

US futures rise as jobless claims dip

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ATHENS: Communist-backed union protesters run away from a fire bomb hurled at them by other demonstrators in Athens yesterday. (Inset) An injured pro-communist union protester is led away. —AFP

Violence erupts in Greek protests Free-for-all at Central Athens as 35,000 gather ATHENS: Violence broke out in central Athens for a second straight day yesterday as thousands of Greeks protested government austerity measures hours before parliament was to vote on a key bill.

Scores of demonstrators wearing motorcycle helmets and wielding batons attacked each other in central Syntagma Square near parliament where police said at least 35,000 people had gathered.

Masked youths lobbed firebombs at hundreds of Communist unionists tasked with maintaining order during the demonstration which capped a 48-hour general strike called by unions against the government’s economic policies. The Communists counter-charged and pushed the attackers back, and the two sides began throwing stones at each other with the police initially keeping back.

It marked the second day of violence in a country trapped in a deepening recession, where the austerity measures demanded by creditors to stave off default have inflamed passions. “I am a pensioner and they are reducing the already reduced pen-

sions,” Georgia Tardeli told AFP. “The worst is the prospects this country has with the youth. The unemployment, the lack of goals. The lack of prospects and hope.”

On Wednesday the streets around parliament resembled a battle zone after clashes erupted between masked protesters and riot police, leaving at least 45 people injured and seeing widespread vandalism on stores, banks and hotels in central Athens. Police arrested five people over the violence which broke out on the sidelines of a giant demonstration of 70,000 people according to the authorities, the largest seen since the start of Greece’s debt crisis.

Unions put the turnout at 200,000.

Overall, at least 125,000 people are estimated by police to have demonstrated in major cities around the country against the government’s economic policies. A leading Greek government official yesterday warned that other countries were likely to face the same unrest unless EU policymakers came to a “conclusive” solution at upcoming high-level talks beginning Friday on the sovereign debt crisis whose epicen-

tre is Greece. “I call on the Europeans to see what happened yesterday because this cannot go on. Public anger will expand everywhere. They must stop fooling around ... conclusive solutions are needed,” the ruling party’s chief whip Christos Protopappas told Flash Radio.

“The crisis has already hit Portugal and Italy, it will spread to France and Belgium next,” Protopappas added. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has also called for a “vigorous” response, not least to protect Spain which was hit with a rating downgrade earlier in the week. Sunday’s summit must deliver “a vigorous response to give guarantees to all countries, notably Spain,” Barroso said. The Greek public sector was expected to be crippled again yesterday, the second day of a general strike. Trains and ferries, taxi owners, municipal workers, lawyers, tax collectors, customs inspectors, state-employed journalists and engineers and many doctors also joining the action.

But most flights will operate normally.

Parliament late on Wednesday adopted in

first reading the new bill which amends collective wage agreements, cuts major tax breaks, introduces a new civil service salary system, and will temporary lay off thousands of public sector staff.

But a number of government deputies have threatened to reject an article on wage amendments in Thursday’s follow-up vote. Chief among them is former labor minister Louka Katseli, who faces dismissal from the ruling party group, a move that would lower the government’s in the 300member chamber to 153 deputies.

The government has repeatedly warned that failure to pass the legislation ahead of the EU crisis summit would prompt Greece’s peers to block the release of loans and cause a payments freeze.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament on Wednesday that Greece faced a “battle of battles” in Brussels and would be unable to finalize its budget without yesterday’s new measures. But for people on the streets, the measures meant they would have even less of a chance to eke out a living. — AFP

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US futures rise as jobless claims dip Europe still haunted by debt crisis

NEW YORK: The New York Times building is shown in New York. The publisher of The New York Times, The Boston Globe and other newspapers said yesterday that it earned $15.7 million, or 10 cents per share, in the July-September period. That’s up from a net loss of $4.3 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. —AP

UAE sets up $2.7bn development bank DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will establish the Emirates Development Bank (EDB) with $10 billion dirhams ($2.7 billion) in capital to fund real estate and industrial projects and diversify the economy, Gulf Arab state’s finance ministry said.

The funds will be used to help citizens build property, establish a business and fund agricultural or craft-related projects, the UAE Finance Ministry said in a statement, The plan to set up the EDB dates back to 2008 when the UAE government said it would merge Islamic lenders Tamweel and Amlak-both hit badly by the collapse of Dubai’s real estate sector-and fold them into a little-known state-run entity called Real Estate Bank. That in turn was to be combined with Emirates Industrial Bank (EIB) to form the EDB. But the plan did not materialize and Tamweel became majority-owned by Dubai Islamic Bank in 2010.

The economy of the world’s No. 4 oil exporter has been recovering in 2011 from a $25 billion debt restructuring at Dubai’s flagship conglomerate Dubai World. —Reuters

BRUSSELS: European Commissioner for Internal Market Michel Barnier speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels yesterday.

The EU may seek the power to prohibit the publication of credit ratings of countries that are currently under a rescue program. —AP

Aldar to use debt to part-fund Yas Mall

ABU DHABI: UAE’s Aldar Properties will use debt to part-fund construction of its mall on the island home of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One race track, the developer’s deputy chief executive said yesterday.

Earlier this month, Aldar awarded the main contract of Yas Mall to Six Construct, a unit of Orascom Construction . The value of the contract was set at 2 billion dirhams ($544.5 million). “It will be 50 percent debt and 50 percent equity...debt from banks for financing the project,” Mohammed Al Mubarak, deputy chief executive of Aldar Properties told reporters at the sideline of an event.

Mubarak said more than 40 percent of Yas mall had already been let to retailers, with construction to begin in two weeks.

“We expect 95 percent to be leased by end of 2012,” Mubarak said. —Reuters

NEW YORK: US stock futures edged higher yesterday after the government said that the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits dipped slightly last week.

The Labor Department said that firsttime applications for unemployment dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 403,000. The number was in line with Wall Street’s estimates, but still above the 375,000 claims a week that economists say signals a healthy jobs market. An hour before the market opened, Dow futures were up 39 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,483. S&P 500 futures rose 6, or 0.5 percent, to 1,212. Nasdaq 100 futures added 6, or 0.3 percent, to 2,324. Stock futures

do not always accurately predict how indexes will trade once the market opens, however.

Stock indexes in Europe were broadly lower. Benchmark indexes in Germany, France and Italy each lost 0.5 percent.

Concerns about Europe’s debt crisis have driven much of the market’s swings lately.

Officials from the 17 countries that share the euro will meet this Sunday to discuss ways to contain the damage should the Greek government default on its bonds, a move that is widely expected.

Investors fear that a messy default will lead to huge losses for European banks that hold Greek bonds and cause a credit crisis similar to the one in 2008 after

Lehman Brothers collapsed.

Several large companies reported earnings before the market opened Thursday. Southwest Airlines rose 0.5 percent in premarket trading after the company earned a penny more per share than Wall Street analysts had predicted. AT&T Inc. lost 2 percent in premarket trading after the company said that the number of new iPhones activated last quarter fell to its lowest level in a year and a half.

Drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. edged up 0.6 percent in premarket trading after the company’s earnings last quarter hit analyst estimates.

Microsoft Corp will report its earnings after the market closes. —AP

Saudi H1 GDP up 26.1%

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product, unadjusted for inflation, jumped 26.1 percent from a year earlier to 1,022.2 billion riyals ($273 billion) in the first half of this year on the back of higher oil output and energy prices, official data showed.

The GDP of the oil sector alone soared 38.9 percent to 573.4 billion riyals, the country’s Central Department of Statistics and Information said on Thursday. It did not release figures for inflation-adjusted GDP growth; Saudi Arabia’s consumer price inflation was 5.3 percent in September.

“Brent oil prices are high compared to the first six months of 2010, when they were running at around $80. In the first six months of 2011, Brent was running at around $115 and $120,” said James Reeve, senior economist at Samba Financial Group in London.

“Most of the increase in nominal GDP will be oil prices and production,” he said, adding that oil output jumped 8.5 percent in the first half compared to the same period in 2010.

Saudi Arabian purchasing manager data for September suggested the economy lost some momentum in the third quarter of this year, with business activity in the non-oil private sector slowing to its lowest level since the data series was launched in August 2009. Liz Martins, senior MENA economist at HSBC in Dubai, said she expected a slowdown in the second half of the year. “But growth for the year as a whole will still be one of the highest rates in the region.”

Analysts polled by Reuters in September predicted the Saudi Arabian economy would expand by an inflation-adjusted 6.2 percent this year and 4.5 percent in 2012 . —Reuters

JIANGSU: A man takes a nap at a quiet brokerage house in Nanjing in east China’s Jiangsu province yesterday. World stock markets fell yesterday over renewed fears that European leaders are struggling to agree on a rescue plan to resolve the continent’s debt crisis. —AP

Qatar Sept inflation at fresh high of 2.2% DUBAI: Annual consumer price inflation in Qatar rose to 2.2 percent in September because of a jump in food costs, reaching its highest level since at least the beginning of 2010, when the Statistics Authority began publishing year-on-year data.

The inflation rate climbed from 2.1 percent in August, continuing this year’s uptrend from 1.6 percent in January. Qatar resumed experiencing inflation last December after a protracted period of deflation. Consumer prices rose 0.1 percent month-onmonth in September after a 0.2 percent increase in August, data from the Statistics Authority showed yesterday.

“On a monthly basis, food was the most important category driving

inflation up,” said Giyas Gokkent, chief economist at National Bank of Abu Dhabi. “Qatar is what we call a small open economy. Global inflation developments matter a lot to price developments in Qatar.”

Food prices, which account for 13.2 percent of the consumer basket, gained 1.5 percent month-on-month in September after a 1.8 percent drop in the previous month. The rents, fuel and energy component, which makes up 32.2 percent of the weighting, dropped 0.8 percent after a 0.5 percent decrease in August.

Analysts polled by Reuters in September predicted Qatar would see average inflation of 2.7 percent in 2011, after deflation of 2.4 percent last year. —Reuters

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AT&T expects Q3 slowdown in iPhone activations NEW YORK: AT&T Inc yesterday reported a decline in the number of iPhones activated in its latest quarter, as buyers waited for the new model. The country’s largest telecommunications company said it activated 2.7 million iPhones in the third quarter, the lowest number in a year and a half.

A new iPhone model the 4S, was launched just after the end of the quarter.

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. surprised investors with global iPhone sales figures that were below lofty expectations. But sales of the 4S were very strong in the first three days in stores, so AT&T may already have made up for a slow third quarter. AT&T’s recruitment of subscribers to its contractbased plans continued to recover in the third quarter after

being slashed earlier this year by the advent of the iPhone at Verizon Wireless. Contract-based plans are the most lucrative. In the quarter, Dallas-based AT&T gained a net 384,000 subscribers on contract plans, excluding the effects of two minor acquisitions. That was roughly in line with analyst expectations and an improvement from the first quarter’s figure of 62,000. However, it was still only half the number it gained in last year’s third quarter. Most phone companies are finding it harder to gain subscribers now that almost everyone has a phone.

AT&T added a total of 2.1 million phones and other devices to its wireless network, for a total of 100.7 million phones and other devices on its wireless network. Half of

the gains were non-phone, low-margin devices like Kindles.

Net income fell to $3.62 billion, or 61 cents per share, for the July to September period. That’s down from $12.3 billion, or $2.07 per share, a year ago, which was boosted by the sale of a subsidiary and a tax settlement. Excluding those items, last year’s earnings were 54 cents per share.

The latest earnings matched the average forecast of analysts polled by FactSet. Its revenue slipped 0.3 percent to $31.5 billion from $31.6 billion a year ago. That was slightly below analysts’ expectations of $31.6 billion. In premarket trading, AT&T shares fell 69 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $28.40.

The stock trades in a tight band, but is closer to its 52-week high low of $27.20 than its 52-week high of $31.94.—AP

Islamic banks have strong growth prospects: HSBC Bank upgrades Qatar National Bank KUWAIT: Recent regulatory changes in Kuwait and Qatar, retail client preferences for Sharia-compliant banking products, and stronger balance sheets and funding positions, offer better growth prospects for Islamic banks compared with conventional peers, HSBC said as it initiated coverage on four Islamic banks.

The brokerage initiated Saudi Arabia’s Alinma Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank with “overweight”. In an October note, the brokerage said it expects Alinma, which has no legacy credit risk in its loan portfolio, to double its market share in the medium

term, helped mainly by corporate lending.

HSBC said it expects Qatar Islamic Bank to gain from recent regulatory changes in the country that do not allow conventional banks to offer Islamic banking services. The brokerage downgraded Abu Dhabi Commerical Bank to “neutral” from “overweight” saying slowing private sector activity, rising foreign exchange refinancing costs and a flattening US yield curve will impact net interest margins in the long term. The brokerage also upgraded Qatar National Bank to “neutral” from “underweight” citing the bank’s excess capital.

The brokerage however, cut its price targets on Saudi Arabian banks including Riyad Bank and Samba as it expects the cash-rich corporate segment and direct intermediation by the government in the private sector to reduce their growth opportunities.

HSBC also cut its price targets on Abu Dhabi banks including UNB and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank on slowing growth outlook. The brokerage cut price targets on Egyptian banks EGB and Credit Agricole Egypt on weaker revenue growth. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: The statue of Civil War General James McPherson is decorated with an occupied sign, flag and costume mask yesterday in the center of McPherson Square, site of the Occupy DC camp in Washington, DC. — AFP

Building the case for pan-African funds J O H A N N E S B U R G : First came the mobile phones, then the banks and discount retailers. Now, property companies are training their sights on frontier Africa, attracted by growing stability and wealth, a huge population and the world’s fastest rates of urbanization.

The poorest continent is still strewn with pitfalls, not least corruption, woeful infrastructure and haphazard laws that can make securing “clean” title deeds on a plot of land an arduous process.

The wide variety of legal codes found in its 50-odd countries also adds to the

headaches of anybody contemplating a regional or pan-Africa property fund.

But stacked on the other side of the equation is the compelling argument of demographics and growth: Africa is home to more than a billion people, and the IMF says its economy should expand 6 percent next year, putting it behind only China and India.

Furthermore, Africans are flooding into cities faster than anywhere else, with the United Nations projecting that by the middle of the century, two-thirds of its projected 2 billion people will live in cities, from 40 percent now.

Such urbanization increases demand for services like modern office space, accommodation and shopping centres, and at the same time makes it easier and cheaper for retailers and banks to reach consumers under one glitzy, airconditioned roof.

“Over the next few years, the face of African property development and ownership will change quite significantly, both in the amount of development and in the way people are able to invest in it as an asset class,” said Mel Urdang, business development director at Liberty Properties in Johannesburg.—Reuters

STOCKHOLM: Ericsson CEO Hans Vesterberg gestures as he speaks during a press conference in Stockholm yesterday. Wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson AB reported a four percent rise in third-quarter profit as strong mobile broadband sales and increased market share offset weaker margins. — AFP

Ericsson Q3 profit rises 4%, margins weaken STOCKHOLM: Wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson AB yesterday reported a 4 percent rise in third-quarter profit as strong mobile broadband sales and increased market share offset weaker margins.

Ericsson said third-quarter net profit rose to 3.8 billion kronor ($574 million) from 3.7 billion kronor in the same period a year ago. Sales for the July-September period were particularly buoyant, increasing 17 percent to 55.5 billion kronor. Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said sales were driven by a continued strong demand for mobile broadband as well as increased services revenues.

“Our performance year-to-date reaffirms our indications of a strengthened global market share,” he said.

However, the increased share of services business, as well as a higher proportion of coverage projects and accelerating network modernization projects in Europe had a negative impact on the company’s gross margin, which decreased to 35 percent from 39 percent a year ago.

Greger Johansson, an analyst with research firm Redeye, said the margin was weaker than expected, which could lead to a slightly negative reaction in the stock market. “The positive thing is that both sales and profits were clearly better than expected,” Johansson said. “The negative is the gross margin and the fact the company indicates it will remain weak going forward.”

He said the low-margin modernization projects in Europe also weighed on the result of Ericsson’s “most important segment,” networks. The company also said the effects on its supply chain from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March had run their course.

Looking ahead, the company said it “cannot exclude somewhat more cautious short-term operator spending,” considering the economic uncertainties in parts of the world. —AP

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Oil up at $109 on EU debt progress Tight supply supports Brent

LONDON: Oil rose a dollar to around $109 a barrel yesterday after European officials unveiled plans to tackle the euro zone debt crisis through bond buying, whilst tight supply continued to underpin. Brent crude futures were up 82 cents to $109.21 a barrel at 1012 GMT. They had hit an intraday high of $109.64 immediately after a document was issued explaining how the European rescue fund will be able to buy bonds on the secondary market.

The euro also rallied and European shares trimmed losses as fears that Germany and France would be unable to agree a solution eased. US crude oil futures, which expires yesterday, was up 39 cents at $86.50 a barrel. “There are a lot of ‘ifs and buts’ in this document but at least they are coming to some sort of consensus,” said a trader. “The euro has jumped up and oil has gone up with it.”

Uncertainty about a viable resolution for the euro zone debt crisis has stalked

the market ahead of a crucial EU summit this weekend. But oil has proved relatively resilient, with Brent underpinned by short supply due to ongoing production problems in the North Sea. “A lot of the strength of the market is being driven by the fact that there are cargoes missing from the program and we expect to see some missing from next month’s as well,” a trader said.

“The North Sea is going through a bit of an adjustment - UK investment has dropped off very substantially in the last few years. That will have an effect.” In addition, backwardation in the curve where the front contract trades at a premium to the next one - is discouraging traders from building inventories.

“Everything is hand to mouth. That will keep prices steady. Fundamentals are supporting the market for the first time,” said the trader.

US crude is being supported by Wednesday’s bullish data from the US

Energy Information Administration. Both crude and oil product stocks in the world’s biggest oil consumer fell sharply last week as crude imports reached a 10month low and refineries cut processing rates. “This is seen as a bullish sign that the supply in the US is tightening, despite the fact that it is to do with weaker imports, weaker refinery production, and stronger exports, rather than demand picking up,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank. In Libya, interim government fighters hoisted the new national flag above the centre of Sirte after completing their capture of Muammar Gaddafi’s home town, the last serious pocket of resistance by loyalists of the ousted leader.

Economists saw little risk of a severe Asia-wide slump, a Reuters poll released yesterday showed, even though China’s economic growth will probably cool next year to the lowest annual rate in a decade. — Reuters

Suzuki sends Volkswagen notice of deal ‘breach’ TOKYO: Japan’s Suzuki yesterday upped the stakes in its row with Volkswagen as it served the German automaker a legal notice demanding it “remedy numerous breaches” of their ill-fated alliance.

Suzuki said it served Volkswagen with a “notice of breach”, claiming it was not given access to technologies promised under their 1.7 billion euro ($2.3 billion) tie-up. It demanded that if the German firm does not offer access to the hybrid technologies, the auto giant must sell back its stake and quit the alliance. “The notice requires that VW remedies numerous breaches of the companies’ Framework Agreement,” the statement said.

Suzuki is seeking action from Volkswagen within a few weeks, according to spokesman Hideki Taguchi, adding that the firm hopes to reach an amicable settlement. The Japanese automaker in September said it wanted to end its two-year venture with Volkswagen following disagreements on how to operate together. They formed a tie-up in 2009 under which Suzuki expected to beef up its development of green technology.

Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki said in a statement: “This capital alliance was intended to facilitate Suzuki’s access to VW’s core technologies. I remain disappointed that we have not received what we were promised.

“If Volkswagen will not allow access it must return Suzuki’s shares,” Suzuki said. Volkswagen currently holds 19.9 percent of Suzuki’s outstanding shares.

“We believe that the Suzuki allegations are unfounded,” a Volkswagen spokesman said when contacted by AFP, adding that it “had always com-

plied with the rules of the contract between the two groups.”

It said it “was considering all options,” implying it may also consider legal action. Ahead of Suzuki’s move last month towards ending the tie-up, relations had become frayed as Volkswagen served notice of an alleged infringement relating to the supply of diesel engines to Suzuki from Italian carmaker Fiat. Volkswagen’s purchase of the 19.9-percent stake in Suzuki in December 2009 had been seen as an opportunity for both carmakers to bene-

fit from their respective strengths in hybrid and small-car technologies.

Suzuki planned to seek support from Volkswagen in hybrid technologies and other eco-friendly areas, while the German firm hoped to jointly develop small cars for emerging markets by taking advantage of Suzuki’s know-how.

But they made little progress and have since halted their joint projects.

Suzuki complained that its autonomy was being jeopardized and that it was being treated like a subsidiary by Volkswagen. — AFP

TIANJIN: A hotel employee does her work at the money exchange desk as a gold ingot made by ancient Chinese coppers is displayed in the hotel lobby in Tianjin yesterday. China said it would maintain a stable exchange rate and warned that foreign trade faced a “severe situation” in the coming months due to the West’s economic woes. — AFP

MADRID: Offices of Spanish Banks BBVA (top), Banco Santander (C), and La Caixa (down) in Madrid. Moody’s cut its debt ratings of five Spanish banks and most of the country’s regions yesterday.— AFP

Spain auctions off $5.4bn in midterm bonds MADRID: Spain easily raised 3.9 billion euros ($5.4 billion) yesterday in an auction of bonds maturing over the next decade, in its first big-scale foray in the markets since the three major ratings agencies downgraded their views on the government’s debt.

The average interest rate on the 2021 bonds was down to 5.4 percent from 5.9 percent the last comparable auction on July 21. It also offered bonds maturing in 2017 and 2019.

The Treasury had hoped to auction off a total of between 3.25 billion euros and 4.25 billion euros yesterday, so the amount raised was near the top-end of exceptions.

The sale came two days after Moody’s downgraded Spain’s sovereign government debt rating to “A1” from “Aa2.” Rivals Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings likewise cut Spain’s rating earlier this month.

After nearly two years of recession, Spanish unemployment is at nearly 21 percent, credit is tight, the banking sector is weak and the private sector carries heavy debt.

The ongoing crisis throughout Europe is further weighing on the nation’s attempts to address its problems.

Prospects for growth are also very weak.

On Wednesday night Moody’s also downgraded the debt ratings of 10 Spanish regional governments, including one - Castilla-La Mancha - to junk-bond status.

The agency also cut the long term senior debt and deposit ratings of five Spanish banks, including the country’s three largest - Santander, BBVA and Caixabank.

Meanwhile, the austerity measures being taken in much of Spain led to another strike in Madrid-area secondary schools, for kids ranging in age from 12-18. It is the sixth school day disrupted since the year began, and this time primary school teachers were to join in.

Around 68 percent of secondary school teachers and 50 percent at the primary school level participated in the strike, according to the UGT union. More stoppages are expected in November.

The immediate trigger for the strike was an order forcing them to teach an extra two hours of class per week so fewer teachers can be hired this year. Education is run at the regional level in Spain and the Madrid regional government is controlled by the center-right Popular Party. —AP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Dexia clears way for full dismantlement Qatari group to take over BIL

BERLIN: German Economic Minister Philipp Roesler and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (from left) attend a news conference in Berlin yesterday. —AP

Crisis to slow German growth in 2012: Govt BERLIN: The euro-zone crisis will hit Germany hard next year with growth expected to be dramatically lower than previously thought, the government said yesterday.

Berlin said it expected growth of 1.0 percent next year in Europe’s biggest economy, almost half the 1.8 percent forecast in April, as economic woes in the euro-zone undercut activity in Germany’s main trading partners.

“The rate of growth has, as expected, slowed somewhat,” said Economy Minister Philipp Roesler.

“The reason for this slightly slower growth path is the risk from the international environment, which has increased significantly. “With the higher uncertainty due to the debt crisis in several countries, global growth rates have cooled markedly,” he added.

While output growth this year is still relatively buoyant, at 2.9 percent, thanks to a very strong first quarter, the economy is poised to slow very sharply towards the end of this year and at the start of 2012.

Germany’s leading economic institutes last week forecast that growth would slow to almost zero in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, with the economy only narrowly escaping a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

However, Roesler dismissed this suggestion, stressing: “There is no discussion of recession ... 1.0 percent growth is still growth. The trend is still upwards.”

And he drew attention to the fact that unemployment was still slated to decline next year, to an average rate of 6.7 percent, compared to 7.0 percent this year. The German economy suffered badly during the 2008 debt crisis, registering its worst recession in six decades, before rebounding strongly with 3.7-percent growth in 2010.

But a spirit of optimism on the German economy has dissipated rapidly as the crisis refuses to go away and leading indicators are pointing to a bumpy road ahead.

Investor sentiment hit a three-year low, according to the ZEW institute this week and business confidence is at its lowest level since June 2010. Industry appears to be slowing and retail sales have also hit the skids, suggesting the economy will not get significant impulses from domestic demand.

For the moment, exports are holding up but analysts warn that this crucial motor for the German economy will also begin to splutter soon as a global slowdown hits demand for goods made in Germany.

Roesler however sought to put a gloss on the figures, saying: “The German economy is doing well ... it remains on a growth path. For Europe, we are still an anchor of stability and a growth motor,” he said.

“We have come out of the crisis much faster than we thought or hoped,” said the minister. Moreover, the future is bright, he said, forecasting average growth rates of 1.7 percent until 2016, above Germany’s estimated potential growth of 1.4 percent. —AFP

BRUSSELS: Bailed-out financial group Dexia cleared the way for its full dismantlement yesterday, with final board clearance for the nationalization of its Belgian banking business and details of the sale of its French public financing arm.

Dexia was rescued by France, Belgium and Luxembourg this month, receiving 90 billion euros ($124 billion) of state guarantees and accepting that Belgium would take over its operations there for 4 billion euros.

Dexia said French state bank Caisse des Depots and La Banque Postale, France’s post office bank, would take stakes of 65 percent and 5 percent respectively in its French public financing arm, Dexia Municipal Agency. Chief Executive Pierre Mariani told French business daily Les Echos the takeover price was 380 million euros.

Caisse des Depots and La Banque Postale would also set up a 65:35 joint venture to provide loans to French local authorities, refinanced through Dexia

Municipal Agency.

The group said it had also started processes to dispose of its 50 percent share in a joint venture with Royal Bank of Canada-RBC Dexia Investor Services-as well as Dexia Asset Management and its fast-growing Turkish operation, DenizBank .

Mariani told Les Echos at least four credible buyers had expressed interest.

Qatar National Bank , the Gulf state’s largest lender, is eyeing DenizBank in a deal potentially worth up to $6 billion.

Another Qatari investment group, belonging to members of the Al-Thani royal family, is set to take over Dexia’s Banque Internationale Luxembourg (BIL), in a deal Luxembourg’s finance minister Luc Frieden said was expected to be finalized this month.

Dirk Peeters, analyst at KBC Securities, said the cherry-picking of Dexia was continuing and that this would eventually lead to its conversion into a fixedincome hedge fund.

Dexia said its bonds portfolio in runoff totaled 75.5 billion euros, some 20 billion lower than at the end of June, and that it now held 12.2 billion euros of sovereign debt from Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, from 20.9 billion before. Its Greek holding had fallen to 2.1 billion euros from 3.8 billion. Mariani said the debt portfolio should shrink to 40-50 billion euros by mid-2013.

Dexia said the disposal of its Belgian arm would reduce the size of its balance sheet by 144 billion euros and that it would use the proceeds to repay loans from Dexia Bank Belgium. The agreement with Caisse de Depots and La Banque Postale would subtract a further 65 billion euros from the balance sheet, which totalled 518 billion euros at the end of June.

As well as its bond portfolio, Dexia would also retain public financing units Crediop of Italy, Sabadell of Spain, a similar business in Germany and some French operations. —Reuters

Nestle cautions on margins as it raises sales goal

NEW DELHI: An Indian vendor sells vegetables on a street in New Delhi. India’s food inflation yesterday returned to double-digits, as prices of vegetables and other staples surged, creating fresh problems for the country’s embattled government. —AFP

India food inflation hits double-digits NEW DELHI: India’s food inflation yesterday returned to double-digits, as prices of vegetables and other staples surged, creating fresh problems for the country’s embattled government.

Food inflation climbed to 10.60 percent for the week ending October 8 from the same period a year earlier, according to commerce ministry figures. The rise was driven higher vegetable costs which soared 17.6 percent year-on-year while fruit prices were up more than 12 percent. In the previous week, annual food inflation stood at 9.32 percent. Overall annual inflation, measured monthly in the world’s second fastest-growing economy after China, stands at 9.72 percent. The ruling Congress-led coalition, which is also reeling under the impact of a slew of corruption scandals, desperately wants to tame prices, fearing a voter backlash in key state elections due next year. Rising prices have had the hardest

impact on India’s teeming poor who are the Congress party’s main support base.

India’s central bank has raised interest rates a dozen times since March 2010, slowing the economy, but they have still not been able to bring down inflation to its long-term desired level of four to five percent. The bank is expected to raise rates again next week despite warnings from business leaders that such a step could exacerbate the economic slowdown amid growing global financial turbulence.

The government projects expansion of “close to eight percent” in the financial year to March 2012, down from an initial nine percent forecast. The economy grew 8.5 percent last year. The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan told reporters he expected good harvests from India’s plentiful monsoon to reduce food inflation in coming months. —AFP

PARIS: The world’s biggest food group Nestle said weakening consumer sentiment in developed markets would make it harder to improve margins as it raised its sales growth outlook for 2011 after beating forecasts for the first nine months.

The Swiss company said price hikes and strong demand in emerging markets allowed it, like other big European food groups, to make up for weakening consumer sentiment in the mature markets of Western Europe and the United States. The maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nespresso coffee capsules softened its optimism about margins, however, saying it was looking for an increase this year following a more confident tone at its half-year results in August “For the year as a whole, in spite of input cost pressures, we expect to slightly over-perform against our long-term organic growth range of 5-6 percent and continue to strive for a margin improvement in constant currencies,” Chief Executive Paul Bulcke said in a statement yesterday.

Underlying sales at the owner of brands such as Perrier, Maggi, Carnation and Nescafe rose 7.3 percent, down from 7.5 percent in the first half, but beating forecasts for a 7.1 percent rise in a Reuters poll.

“Very solid set of figures with a clear beat of consensus at the organic growth and raises its guidance,” Kepler Capital Markets analyst Jon Cox said. He noted Nestle had tweaked its margin outlook comment to say it is “striving” for an increase in constant currencies. “That may raise some eyebrows.”

Asked about this change in wording, Nestle Investor Relations head Roddy Child-Villiers said: “Consumer sentiment has turned down in Europe and the United States. So if we say ‘striving’, we’re just taking into account the tougher environment.”

“We’re still committed to the Nestle model and working to achieve a margin improvement,” he told a conference call. Nestle shares fell 1 percent to 51.05 francs by 0805 GMT, in line with the STOXX 600 Europe food & beverages index .

Nestle achieved volume growth of 4.1 percent and raised prices by 3.2 percent between January and September. It said in a presentation the underlying sales growth contribution was more weighted to pricing as the year progressed. —Reuters

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YouTube expands as music destination Merch Store allows users to buy fan merchandise NEW YORK: YouTube has been very good to bedroom singers, who have found a quick path to fame, and major labels, which have benefited from some of the largest digital audiences for their top music videos. But the middle tier - hundreds of independent labels and their deep rosters of bands - has sometimes been marginalized in YouTube’s endlessly expansive video jukebox.

Now, as YouTube continues to expand as a music destination, it’s making itself more welcoming to independent labels and musicians. On Monday, YouTube unveiled a new feature called the Merch Store that allows users to purchase fan merchandise directly on an artist’s YouTube channel. On Wednesday, YouTube will announce a long-awaited deal with global rights agency Merlin, which represents some 14,000 independent labels.

Those announcements follow deals with indie labels such as the Beggars Group (whose roster includes Vampire Weekend), Merge Records (whose acts include Arcade Fire) and a settlement earlier this year with the National Music Publishers’ Association on royalties for music publishers. In August, YouTube relaunched its music page, adding local

concert listings, curated playlists and a kind of digital Billboard list: the YouTube Top 100.

For the Google Inc-owned YouTube, it’s part of a long-term push to build its music section into a more robust consumer experience while also making more money for labels, big and small - and YouTube, too, of course. “We see YouTube as a comprehensive entertainment destination and music is a core component of that,” says Chris Maxcy, YouTube partner development director for music, games and platforms. “My charter is to make sure we have as comprehensive a catalog as possible of all the professionally produced video out there.”

Until recently, that catalog was mostly driven by major labels. Though the majors (Sony Music, EMI Group, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group) were skittish about YouTube in its early days and rights squabbles were common, they have all come to profit considerably from the video site.

YouTube declined to give specific numbers, but said the music industry as a whole is making “hundreds of millions of dollars annually from having their content on YouTube” and that music ad revenue on YouTube for the major record labels

has more than doubled year after year.

That has made YouTube an important digital realm for independent labels, too, for a percentage of advertising revenue, and now, opportunities for merchandise and ticket sales.

“Those labels and the artists they represent now have a powerful monetization opportunity on what has become pretty clearly a significant music destination on the Web,” says Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin.

The arrival of YouTube was part of the reason Merlin was founded. The agency which considers itself the “fifth major” began in 2008 as a centralized hub, gathering smaller labels to make digital deals with music services like MySpace, Spotify and Rdio. This enabled smaller labels to get a piece of revenue from official music videos and user-generated content, as well as protection from piracy.

It’s not a small part of the business.

Merlin’s combined market share in the US is around 10 percent. Independent music is one of the few growing sectors of the music industry, and statistics from Nielsen have shown that independents are even more powerful in digital music than in physical sales. But the indies have sometimes had to play catch-up. — AP

Stuxnet-like virus points to new round of cyber war SAN FRANCISCO: Internet security specialists have warned of a new round of cyber warfare in the form of a computer virus similar to the malicious Stuxnet worm believed to have targeted Iran’s nuclear program. Analysts at US firms McAfee and Symantec agreed that a sophisticated virus dubbed “Duqu” has been unleashed on an apparent mission to gather intelligence for future attacks on industrial control systems.

“This seems to be the reconnaissance phase of something much larger,” McAfee senior research analyst Adam Wosotowsky told AFP about the virus, named for the “DQ” prefix on files it creates. McAfee and Symantec said that, based on snippets of the virus they were given to study, portions of the encrypted Duqu code matched identically scrambled portions of Stuxnet.

“The threat was written by the same authors (or those that have access to the Stuxnet source code) and appears to have been created since the last Stuxnet file was recovered,” Symantec said on its website. “Duqu’s purpose is to gather intelligence data and assets from entities, such as industrial control system manufacturers, in order to more easily conduct a future attack against another third party.

“The attackers are looking for information such as design documents that could help them mount a future attack on an industrial control facility.” Symantec said the virus had been aimed at “a limited number of organizations for their specific assets,” without providing further information.

McAfee was working to trace a timeline of Duqu’s spread and the areas it has reached.

“It seems to be primarily centered on the Middle East, then India, Africa and Eastern Europe,” Wosotowsky said. “I haven’t seen any reports in North or South America.” Duqu was crafted to steal information by logging computer key strokes or mining machines for valuable data such as passwords or credentials that could be used to slip into networks undetected, according to McAfee.—AFP

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation’s Namma metro train start its inaugural run in Bangalore yesterday. — AFP

HONG KONG: Jack Dorsey (right), Twitter co-founder and chairman, listening to host Walt Mossberg (L) on the second day of the Wall Street Journal’s three-day All Things Digital conference in Hong Kong. — AFP

Twitter co-founder would ‘love’ to compete in China HONG KONG: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said yesterday the micro-blogging website would “love” to have a presence in China, the world’s largest online market, if only it was allowed to compete there. Chinese censors block overseas social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, while allowing homegrown microblogging services like Weibo, run by Sina Corp. “The important fact is that we are just not allowed to compete in this market,” Dorsey, who is also Twitter chairman, told the All Things Digital AsiaD technology conference in Hong Kong. “Look at Weibo, what is happening, certainly the way that people are using it is amazing and we see more and more activities.“They can compete in our markets and we’d love to be in there, but right now that’s just not possible.” He added: “We would love to have a strong Twitter in China but we need to be able to do that.”

China has the world’s largest online population of more than 500 million users. The number of Weibo users in China has more than tripled this year to hit 195 million at the end of June, the latest official data show. Many people still access Facebook and Twitter through virtual proxy networks that circumvent the “Great Firewall of China” that blocks sites or snuffs out Internet content on topics considered politically sensitive. Created in 2006, Twitter’s textbased posts of up to 140 characters attract more than 400 million users every month, with an average of 230 million Tweets fired off daily. It has become a key tool for social activists trying to mobilise public opinion, such as during the recent Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East, and Dorsey said he intended to keep it that way.

“We want to build a service that people can communicate freely on,” he said. “That’s the most important thing for us to uphold and that’s the most important thing for us to defend.” — AFP

Metro belatedly opens in IT hub Bangalore BANGALORE: The first metro in India’s IT hub of Bangalore rolls into service yesterday, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city’s army of commuting software engineers and call centre staff. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with the city’s reputation as a business-friendly, high-tech centre already in peril.

Traffic, as in all Indian cities, has grown exponentially in recent years, making travelling to work a miserable experience for the estimated eight million inhabitants who cram into cars, rickshaws and buses. Software giants Infosys and Wipro are among the major companies based in Bangalore, where load-shedding by power companies leads to regular cuts in electricity and a third of the city is not connected to the water mains.

The metro, begun in 2006 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone, began yesterday on a small ele-

vated section of 6.7 kilometers (four miles) connecting an eastern suburb with the centre. B Sashikala, a 25-year-old working in an IT multinational in a suburb, said it was too early to judge how much difference the metro would make. “It’s nice to know the metro is getting off the mark finally, though the distance covered in Reach-1 (the first phase) is short in a city that lacks efficient public transport,” he told AFP. The 42.3-kilometre network, set for completion by 2014, will comprise two lines of overground and underground sections that criss-cross the city from east-west and north-south. Fares are as low as 10 rupees (20 US cents).

Investment has reached 40 billion rupees, with the total cost now projected at 116 billion rupees, an increase of 41 percent over the originally planned amount, according to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. The first phase of the project, a public-private collaboration partly funded by Japanese development money, is already two years behind

schedule, mirroring delays with other major infrastructure projects in India.Earlier this year, the Associated Chambers of Commerce (ASSOCHAM), an Indian trade body, warned that Bangalore risked losing its appeal as a destination for IT and biotech companies.

The city already faces competition from Gurgaon and Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi, as well as the southeastern city of Hyderabad, chosen by Google for its India headquarters. “The growth explosion in Bangalore has pushed the city towards a serious civic crisis,” the report by ASSOCHAM stated. “Roads choked with vehicles, frequent power outages, erratic water supply and poor sanitation are tough problems on account of which Bangalore is losing its lustre,” it added.

More broadly, India’s severe infrastructure deficit, often contrasted with China’s gleaming new railways and roads, is seen by economists as holding back the country’s development. —AFP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

LONDON: A protester holds a placard outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the city of London on October 16 as part of a global day of protests inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” and “Indignant” movements. A large group of demonstrators gathered near the London Stock Exchange to protest against the banks’ handling of the financial crisis.—AFP

Worries occupy Wall Street Financial industry shed 8,000 jobs, 10,000 more face the axe

A

s anti-Wall Street protests crop up around the nation, many of the bankers and traders at the center of the storm are focused on a more immediate concern: keeping their jobs.

The financial industry shed 8,000 jobs in September, and 10,000 more are expected to be cut by the end of 2012. JPMorgan Chase posted a 13 percent drop in revenue this week, and next week mighty Goldman Sachs Group is widely expected to say it lost money for the first time since the financial crisis.

The woes the industry is facing now are in contrast to the success it experienced after the financial crisis — a success that helped stir up the current protests.

The anxiety rippling through banks and trading floors has generated some unexpected Wall Street sympathy for the protesters. Elliott Roman, a trader who works near the demonstrations, said that on his way home, in his suit and tie, he had a friendly exchange with a protester who asked him to join the movement.

“Without a doubt they are here preaching to the choir, so to speak,” said Roman, a trader at Direct Access Partners. “We’re feeling it.

Volumes are down throughout the industry.

Everyone is feeling it.”

For others in the neighborhood, though, the crowds chanting about Wall Street greed have just been an insult to add to their injured state.

“The business is hard enough as it is; this isn’t

something we additionally want to deal with,” said Keith Bliss, a senior vice president at Cuttone & Co. “The business and economic environment giving fodder to these people — we’re also struggling with on Wall Street.”

The news of Wall Street’s struggles has not drawn much empathy among protesters, many of whom argue that the financial system should shrink. Monica Espinosa, an unemployed administrative assistant from Long Island, responded angrily when a man in a suit and tie approached her in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park and told her that “we’re suffering too.”

“He suffered in numbers — he lost stocks,” said Espinosa, who was carrying a sign that read, “Bankers stop stealing.” “We suffered in reality.”

Statistics put out by the New York state comptroller this week indicate that securities industry employees make, on average, almost six times more than other workers in the state.

But while some of the casualties of the current retrenchment have been pinstripe-wearing bankers who meet the Wall Street stereotype, the majority have been young college graduates and back-office workers who make up the rank and file of the industry. Barring a few days of stubble and some cuff links, they could fit in among the protesters packing into the park.

“Yes, there are a select few who get paid tons, but most people who work on Wall Street, we’re just doing our jobs,” said Eric Scott, an employee at a trading firm who got into an argument with

protesters while passing by during his lunch hour this week. “We can lose our job and be on the street just like these guys in the blink of an eye.”

Back in 2007, the financial industry was one of the first to see layoffs during the financial crisis, but it also bounced back sooner and more fully than the rest of the economy. But this time around, few analysts expect the industry to bounce back in the same way, given the economic climate and new regulations put in place since the crisis.

The situation is not causing problems everywhere in the finance industry. At consumer banks like Wells Fargo & Co and US Bancorp, the improving credit of ordinary Americans is expected to boost results this quarter. But at the trading firms and investment banks that New York relies on, the tough economic times have been felt across the board.

Some of the changes have been superficial, like the limitations on business class flights and after-hours meals for investment bankers at Barclays. But the British bank has also announced that it is doing away with 3,000 jobs — and it is one of many banks where it has been rumored that year-end bonuses for remaining employees could drop to zero.

As they contend with these cuts, the bankers are also being confronted with the ever-expanding reach of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. New York Stock Exchange traders have

had to alter their commutes because Zuccotti Park is located between Lower Manhattan’s transit hubs. And police have set up a growing maze of metal barricades that slow down foot traffic in the financial district. Though the protesters have mostly kept to the park, on Tuesday they took their anger to the homes of bankers on a “Millionaires March” that snaked up Park Avenue to the apartment of JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon.

Students at Columbia University responded to a planned visit Wednesday by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein by organizing protests around a “School the Squid” theme — a reference to the Vampire Squid nickname Goldman was given by a Rolling Stone writer. Blankfein canceled his appearance at the last minute, citing a scheduling conflict.

Further down the financial totem pole, young analysts and traders at big-name firms are keeping a lower profile amid the public anger. “There was a period where you could put on the Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs sweat shirt and wear it to the beach,” said Brad Hintz, a bank analyst who was previously the chief financial officer at Lehman Bros.

Now the corporate pride is disappearing along with the jobs. “There are a lot of people” whose careers will be affected, Hintz said.

“Although Wall Street is very well paid, it is also facing the pains — just not the same pains as the auto worker.” — MCT

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Opinion

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

The rise and rise of western covert ops Risks include unintended consequences

By Peter Apps

F

our months ago, Admiral William McRaven commanded the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Now, as the new head of US special forces, he argues that his shadowy, secretive warriors are increasingly central to how America and its allies fight. When the suntanned, towering SEAL testified to the Congressional House Armed Services Committee in September, just a few weeks after he took over his new role, he used posters detailing the growth of his forces.

In the decade since Sept 11 2001, US Special Operations Command personnel numbers have doubled, its budget tripled and deployments quadrupled.

The bin Laden takedown is simply the tip of an iceberg of fast-growing, largely hidden action by the United States and its allies. Those with knowledge of such operations say this changing state of warfare could spark a range of unintended consequences, from jeopardizing diplomatic relationships to unwanted, wider wars. That’s not entirely new. Secret wars against communism in Southeast Asia in the 1960s helped spawn larger conventional conflicts. In the 1980s, the “IranContra” arms-for-weapons scandal embarrassed the Reagan administration, while support for Islamist guerrillas fighting Russian occupation in Afghanistan helped produce bin Laden and AlQaeda. And it’s not just western powers. Just last week, the United States accused Iran of a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador. The appeal of such tactics is clear. Military operations are far more politically palatable if you keep dead bodies off TV screens. A computer worm planted in Iran’s nuclear program, secret help to rebels in Libya, drone strikes to cripple Al-Qaeda - all can achieve the desired effect without massive publicity.

In an era of budget cuts, they are also cheap particularly compared with the cost of maintaining and deploying a large conventional military force. McRaven said his 58,000 operatives cost a mere 1.6 percent of the Pentagon’s predicted 2012 budget. “Put simply, (they) provide a tremendous return on the nation’s investment,” McRaven told the unclassified portion of the Congressional hearing. “The special operations forces have never been more valuable to our nation and allies around the world than they are today, and that demand will not diminish for the foreseeable future.”

More Wars, Fewer People?

The CIA has long retained its own, much smaller band of paramilitary operatives, sometimes operating with military special forces. Their numbers have also risen sharply in recent years to hundreds or even thousands, security experts say.

Under its new director, General David Petraeus, the agency is expected to further increase such deniable operations as assassination and sabotage. Britain, Israel and others are also believed to have renewed their focus on specialist, hidden techniques, and are ploughing resources into emerging fields such as cyber warfare.

As the Iraqi and Afghan campaigns ramp down, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines and Mexico are all touted by security and intelli-

gence experts as potential theaters for new operations. US special forces are now deployed in some 75 countries, where their missions range from training to assassinations. Yet even some supporters of the new tactics worry about the lack of public discussion. “We may find ourselves fighting more wars with fewer people,” says John Nagl, a former US Army officer who wrote its counterinsurgency manual and now heads the Centre for New American Security, a think tank. “That raises some interesting questions - like whether we have the right to do that. There is much less public debate. Society doesn’t pay the cost and so

doesn’t ask the questions.”

A Modern Way of War Quietly, this approach is already redefining how conflicts are waged. Conventional troop surges might have dominated coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan, but behind the scenes the generals were heavily dependent on secret, special operations. Intelligence operators, remote-controlled drones and troops from the SEALS, Delta Force, Britain’s SAS and other forces fought hidden campaigns against insurgent leaders and bomb makers, working with local communities to turn conflicts against Al-Qaeda, the Taleban and their allies. “There has been a real renewed focus on special operations and clandestine services,” says Fred Burton, a former US counterterrorism agent and now vice president for strategic intelligence firm Stratfor. “They were always there, of

course, but they had become somewhat sidelined. That’s definitely changed now.”

To an extent, the shift is down to technology.

This provides some entirely new weaponry - such as the cybermunition Stuxnet, which caused Iranian nuclear centrifuges to rip themselves apart. It also allows force to be more targeted.

“You change your ability to integrate information, which in many ways is at least as important as collection,” says Anthony Cordesman, a former senior US intelligence official now at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “You have collation of information almost in real time. You can

pull together the information and find the target.”

That is already changing the shape of western militaries. A drone can be flown remotely by just one pilot, but it takes around 20 analysts to interpret and assess the data it collects. This in turn produces a much larger array of potential targets.

In Afghanistan alone last year, McRaven says his forces conducted some 2,000 raids against identified high-value adversaries.

Like Lawrence in Arabia To work with tribal groups and win their loyalty, language skills and cultural awareness are essential. Special forces helped shape both the “Sunni awakening”, which swept Al-Qaeda and its allies from much of Iraq, and the more recent rebel victory in Libya. McRaven said he believed the Afghan “village program”, working with local communities and police, might prove his forces’

most important contribution to that war. The need for such skills is not new, of course. McRaven demands all his officers and NCOs learn a second language. Others in the field read ancient histories or the writings of idiosyncratic English archeologist T E Lawrence, better known as “Lawrence of Arabia”.

Often dressed as a local bedouin, Lawrence worked with Arab rebels against Turkish forces during World War One, selecting the leaders he felt had the best chance of success and supplying them with arms and tactical advice. It was better and more sustainable, he believed, that local forces do the job than for outsiders to do it for them. “What you need is people who can put themselves in harm’s way, understand the different cultures and think fast enough to be able to adapt to events,” says retired Lieutenant-General Graeme Lamb, a former director of Britain’s special forces. “We don’t have a huge number of these people, but... there are enough out there who have read Lawrence, dealt with people like Sunni insurgents and are comfortable in that kind of environment.”

This or The 101st Airborne?

But some argue the most important force driving the new tactics is an almost visceral objection to more conventional warfare in the wake of the Iraq conflict, and Israel’s wars in Lebanon and Gaza. “It’s almost always a matter of political will,” says Nigel Inkster, a former deputy chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). “The new technologies do give you some new options, but broadly these capabilities have always existed.

The question is whether you choose to take the more covert route or send in the 101st Airborne.”

Cash flow is also key. Those with knowledge of western strategy towards Libya say it was driven more by what could not be done than what could.

A wider military intervention was politically impossible and financially unaffordable, yet politicians demanded something be done. Some of the most successful strategies were not conventional.

British officials say the secret “oil cell” that helped starve Muammar Gaddafi of fuel supplies was key to rebel victory, yet involved the use of little or no military force. Besides straining budgets, the global financial crisis has also made great powers more reluctant to risk the economic shock of serious conflict. One reason Stuxnet was such an appealing tool, security experts say, is that it carried less risk of Iranian military retaliation against shipping in the Gulf. That would have sent oil prices soaring. A senior Israeli official has said cyber warfare offers a less politically dangerous option for nations in a media-saturated age. Israel suffered widespread international scrutiny and frequent condemnation for its wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

“War is ugly, awfully ugly,” Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor - who oversees spy services and nuclear affairs - told diplomats and journalists at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs in February. “War is all the time on television... people see this and can’t take it... Because it is difficult, one looks for other ways. One of these ways is the intelligence community ... are trying to do things that don’t look that ugly, don’t kill people.” — Reuters

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Years

www.kuwaittimes.net

Uma Thurman attends the 2011 Golden Heart Awards at the Skylight SOHO on October 19, 2011 in New York City.— AFP

Te c h n o l o g y FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Google has new answer to Facebook

hopes to score points with technical details

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ith Google+, Internet search giant Google has launched a clear competitor to Facebook, which, until now, has been largely unchallenged in the domain of social networking. Users will find plenty of similarities between the two, but also some key differences.

Google’s goal is to make online networking more personal.

That means a video chat function that lets multiple people talk at once. It has taken great efforts to make its social network appear roomy. Everything seems well thought through.

Of course, the question now becomes: if you go to Google+, will your friends be there, or will the circles you create there remain empty? Just like with Facebook, Google+ revolves around a ticker where the newest posts by your contacts can be viewed. On Google+, it’s called Stream, meandering through the middle of the screen as it displays photos, videos, links and commentary.

If you see something you like, you can attach your own commentary by clicking the “+1” button, Google+’s answer to Facebook’s “like” function. Doing so can launch a torrent of gossip or even a serious discussion. With Facebook, those two possibilities often get hopelessly intermingled: Think of all the cases where questionable party photos have been made available to the wrong people, like potential employers. Google hopes to solve this problem by allowing users to selectively decide who sees which commentary.

Other users are not automatically labeled as friends, but have to be placed into circles, with separate groups for

friends, family and acquaintances. And here, friend means an actual friends. People do not have the option to see in which circles you’ve placed them. Thus, every time a person posts something to Google+, they specify which circles can access the news: whether it’s just family, or the members of a tennis club, or all contacts. As a pleasant sideeffect, this makes it easier to sort through news from your various circles.

The development has already had one effect: it’s now available at Facebook as well, in a sign that the competition is forcing some change. Like Twitter, there is no need for both sides to agree before information can be exchanged. You simply follow news from those you find interesting. Google+ does not offer individual mailboxes or photo albums, since it already has freestanding services in Gmail and Picasa. That means, if you already get your email via Google, you save yourself the need to get into yet another new system.

Of course, that shows some calculation on Google’s part. It hopes that users it already has will stop by to check out the social network... and then stay. One thing that stands out: Google has integrated control options into every nook and cranny of its system, allowing people to quickly delete entries, end discussions, block other users or report misuse. The data privacy controls are also easy to find and use. Here you can set which other users can see your profile, a practical check to save yourself embarrassing incidents in the future.

Google is also hoping to score some points with techni-

cal details, like its new Hangouts. This lets multiple users make video telephone calls simultaneously - which is not available on Facebook and costs money on Skype. All you need is a PC with a webcam and a stable internet connection. At the official launch of the service, Google announced that people using Android smartphones can log in and check out the Hangout option. It should soon also be available for the iPhone and iPad. People who really want to share everything can even send video directly onto their feed, making Google+ a kind of web TV. And that’s just for starters. Soon, Hangouts should allow collaborative work. Google is testing the possibility of the Hangouts for sharing pictures or using Google’s office tools to draft a text. Already, people can use it to watch aYouTube clip together. There’s still room to grow as a gaming platform. For now, there are only 16 games available, with no blockbusters like Facebook’s Cityville or Farmville. Nonetheless, Google has worked out a deal with German gamemaker Wooga, which has been behind successes like Monster World and Happy Hospital. Angry Birds is also there to help kill the time. The real deciding factor as to whether Google+ will remain a fun place to go depends on whether your existing friends and colleagues head there, or if they stay on Facebook, Xing or a different networking site. Facebook has a strong head start. No official numbers are out on Google+ yet, but indications are that its primarily been, so far, for early adopters. — dpa

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Relationships

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Relative strangers

More people searching for lost loved ones Getting started Thinking about searching for a long-lost relative? Here are some tips: 1. Gather any documents that you have and do not rely on recollection of other family members. Memory tends to dim over time.

2. Keep a log of actions you have taken to find the person you’re searching for. Don’t spend time and money repeating steps that you already have done.

3. Listen to your instincts.

4. If you do not initially succeed, try again. Persistence is key.

Information is overlooked. Names can be spelled wrong.

5. Place your name on as many online reunion registries as you can. Start with the International Soundex Reunion Registry. They will notify you if they have found a match.

6. Have a support system. Speak to your family and ask them for their help. Let them know that your search is important to you and ask them for their support and love.

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nless you have been adopted, or separated from a long-lost relative under other circumstances, it’s difficult to imagine exactly what was running through Matt Love’s mind last spring during a highly anticipated day of self-discovery. After driving for 10 hours from Morgan Hill, California, to the small seaside town of Bandon, Love arrived at the doorstep of a modest mobile home. There, at last, he came face-to-face with Nancy Leona Brown, the woman who gave birth to him in a farm house in 1953 and then promptly gave him away.

Aside from his teen daughter, Brown was only the second blood relative Love, 57, had ever encountered. “There was this fantastic feeling of connection,” he says, recalling the meeting and the days that followed, during which he was introduced to a vast set of new family members. “It’s a feeling like you belong that you’re not out of place.” Love was inspired to seek out Brown after his wife, Joan, had her own experience with a long-lost relative. In 2005, she was contacted by a half-brother living in Las Vegas. Joan had only recently learned of his existence when her father revealed an extramarital affair that resulted in a pregnancy.

“We set up a meeting in a hotel lobby on the Strip,” she says. “The elevator opened up, and out steps this man who looked just like a younger version of my dad. I was stunned.”

These days, an increasing number of people are reuniting with lost family members, thanks largely to social networking hubs such as Facebook and Myspace that make searching for a relative much easier. Even media mogul

Matt and Joan Love sit with some family photos in Morgan Hill, California. —MCT

Oprah Winfrey recently learned that she has a half-sister whom her mother gave up for adoption and kept a secret for decades.

The trend is reflected in the growing popularity of online genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com, which serves more than 1.4 million subscribers, and television shows like “Who Do You Think You Are” (NBC) and “Searching For ...” (OWN), which follow people as they trace their roots. “People are desperate to understand where they came from,” says Pamela Slaton, a genealogist featured on the “Searching For ...” show. “There’s this powerful need to be validated. You can be a highly successful, happy adult at the top of your game.

But there’s always a child living within who wants to understand why someone didn’t want you in their life.”

Slaton says people are motivated to search for their relatives by a number of factors, including a death or birth in the family, the desire to know more about their lives, or genetic curiosity. And many adults, she adds, want to know their medical background as they get older.

That’s what spurred Fremont, Calif.’s Shelley Hamilton, 44, to seek out the father who abandoned the family during her mother’s pregnancy and never resurfaced. Hamilton’s mom eventually married another man, who lived with her for 35 years until his death.

“I grew up feeling loved and nurtured. I never really felt I was missing anything,” Hamilton says. “But as I hit my 40s, my doctor began asking more and more questions about my health history. It was something I thought I needed to know.” With the help of an Internet search

engine, Hamilton learned two years ago that her biological father was living in Mesa, Ariz.

After some lengthy phone conversations, they agreed to meet in the San Francisco Bay area.

Since then, she has been introduced to three half-siblings - a sister and two brothers.

The experience, she says, has been both “surreal and uplifting.” “I feel like I’m starting friendships based on common threads,” she says.

“And with my father, it hasn’t been about dredging up the past and asking, ‘Why didn’t you look for me?’ It’s more about understanding who I am and where I fit in the world. That’s the beauty of it.” But experts caution that family searches don’t always end so beautifully.

Often, they fail to pan out, or even worse, provoke emotional trauma.

Slaton, an adoptee, knows firsthand about the pitfalls. Twenty years ago, she hired a professional searcher to find her birth mother, but the woman ultimately refused to meet her. “I got my teeth kicked out. I was crushed,” says Slaton, who was moved by the experience to help others with their searches. “It left me with a deep understanding for the anxieties my clients are going through,” she says. “I think it gives me a bit of healing.”

Slaton says it’s crucial that searchers be prepared for any possible outcome. “You have to get yourself to a place where you accept the answers and the sense of closure,” she says. San Lorenzo, California, resident Cindi O’Neal, 62, experienced a search that produced mixed results. After looking in vain for her wayward dad for years, she finally hit pay dirt, only to discover he had died three weeks earlier. Still, her efforts yielded several new relatives who wel-

comed her with open arms. “I guess things happen the way they’re supposed to happen,” she says. “If I had met my dad, I probably would have vented my anger at him. I would have given him a piece of my mind.”

Fremont resident Mary Louise Harrington, 63, also has experienced the ups and downs of a long-awaited reunion. In 2001, the son she gave up for adoption in Phoenix 34 years earlier, tracked her down. She was thrilled. “For years, I told people that he was going to find me. I wanted to be found,” she says. After meeting, the two bonded almost immediately and formed an ongoing relationship when he moved to San Francisco. But in late 2009, he got married without telling her, which led to a falling-out. They haven’t spoken since. “It’s really unfortunate,” Harrington says. “But I hold out hope that we’ll patch things up.”

No tensions have existed between Matt Love and the biological mother he tracked down with the help of Oregon’s liberal adoption record laws. Since that first meeting in Bandon, they’ve gotten together several times, And during the past year, he has learned a great deal about Brown, a self-employed hairdresser, who was briefly married to an Air Force man but never had any other children. “She’s very comfortable to talk to, which kind of surprised me. I’m usually shy and tend to hold back,” says Matt, who was intrigued to find that he and Brown share several mannerisms, some facial features and a love for sports. Joan, meanwhile, enjoys seeing her husband discover pieces of his past. “He is completely enthralled with Nancy,” she says. “This is opening many doors that have been closed for a long, long time.” - MCT

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Fo o d FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

By Sawsan

Kazak

ho al le rg ie s, w w it h d e ad ly y roasted extese o th an th e r th eir salt peanuts? Th e ss th a t doesn’t love re vi e w to th e g o o d n when p d a an t u ry b ri o r is chy, savo uts are crun caramel like flavor. n ea P e. d si s awaits in an almost g you alway oked have outh leavin robust flam perfectly co e th in linger g and The in tastes re. Well with such stron to savory and o n m io r it fo d g ad in the crav reat ts make a g recipes put peanuts in nvors, peanu ca ing o w h llo w l fo al e Th to . s sweet dishes f the dish. My apologie g peanuts with o n driver’s seat ts. Why not try substituti u n ea t. p t ea ea n not u ca tions to: other nuts yo Send sugges es.net almonds or waittim sawsank@ku

O

Peanut rittle

Homemade peanut butter

1 cup white sugar 1 cup roasted, unsalted, shelled peanuts 1-1/2 to 3 tablespoons peanut or safflower oil 1/2 teaspoon salt Sugar to taste, optional

1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup water

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lend in food processor or blender adding just enough oil to make it smooth. You can use salted peanuts and omit the salt, or omit the salt entirely with unsalted peanuts.

Add sugar to taste, if desired. If you want chunky peanut butter, add chopped peanuts after you have made the smooth version.

1 cup peanuts 2 tablespoons butter, softened 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside.

2. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until temperature reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates

into hard and brittle threads.

3. Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter and baking soda; pour at once onto cookie sheet. With 2 forks, lift and pull peanut mixture into rectangle about 14x12 inches; cool. Snap candy into pieces.

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Fo o d FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Peanut flavored muffins 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup milk 3/4 cup chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts

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n a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine eggs, butter and milk; add to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Fold in peanuts. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400º for 15 minutes or until muffins test done. Yield: 1 dozen.

Peanut-crusted chicken fingers 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 1/2 pounds) 1/4 cup coarse salt 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper 4 cups buttermilk 2 cups fresh plain or whole-wheat breadcrumbs 1 cup finely chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts 2 large eggs

4.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces (or you can use bone-in for added flavor), cut into 1 1/2 inch wide chunks or strips 1/2 cup flour 4 Tbsp curry powder 2 teaspoons Kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground peppercorns 1/2 cup olive oil 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 2 Tbsp garlic, minced 2 serrano chili peppers, seeded, de-veined, minced 4 cups chicken broth 1/2 cup peanut butter (if using freshly ground peanuts, add 2 teaspoons of sugar) 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds 8 green onions, chopped, greens included 1/3 cup each finely chopped mint and cilantro 2 limes cut into wedges 1 Rinse chicken and pat dry. In a small sturdy paper bag, combine the flour, curry powder, salt and pepper. Shake well. Add the chicken pieces and shake to coat well.

1.Separate a heavy-duty plastic freezer bag at the seams.

One at a time, place chicken breasts between plastic sheets.

Using a flat meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy skillet, pound each chicken breast until it is 1/4-inch thick and is approximately 6 inches wide and 8 1/2 inches long.

2.In a large plastic or glass container, mix together salt, sugar, mustard, paprika, and white pepper. Add buttermilk and stir until salt is completely dissolved. Add chicken breasts, pushing down to make sure they are completely immersed in the liquid. Let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3.Meanwhile, in a shallow dish, mix together breadcrumbs and peanuts. Place eggs in a second shallow dish and whisk until loose.

Chicken peanut curry

with aluminum foil; top with a wire rack and set aside.

5.Remove chicken from brine and shake off any excess liquid. Cut each breast into 3/4-inch-thick diagonal strips. Dip each chicken strip first in eggs then in breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat and pressing breadcrumb mixture to adhere.

6.Transfer strips to rack on baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake until chicken is golden brown and juices run clear, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

2 Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Cook 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) tossing occasionally to cook chicken evenly. Add the ginger, garlic, chili pepper and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the saucepan. Cook for 3 minutes, scraping the pan with a spatula and stirring to combine everything well.

3 Add the peanut butter, stirring quickly to incorporate it with the chicken. Add the remaining 3 1/2 cups of broth slowly, stirring continuously to maintain an even texture.

Let simmer for 10 minutes. Right before serving, add the coriander and green onions. Salt to taste.

4 Serve with rice. Top each serving with fresh cilantro and mint. Squeeze a little lime juice over it as well.

Cream of peanut soup 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 1 medium onion, finely chopped 2 celery ribs, finely chopped 3 tablespoons flour 8 cups Chicken Stock

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2 cups smooth peanut butter 1 3/4 cups light cream or half-and-half Finely chopped salted peanuts, for garnish

n a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring often, until softened, three-five minutes. Stir in flour and cook two minutes longer. Pour in the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until slightly reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. Pour into a sieve set over a large bowl and strain, pushing hard on the solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Return the liquid to the sauce pan or pot. Whisk the peanut butter and the cream into the liquid. Warm over low heat, whisking often, for about five minutes.

Do not boil. Serve warm, garnished with the chopped peanuts.

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C h i l d re n FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

color me

maze

connect the dots

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C h i l d re n

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

alfa-search

number-search

Can you find the hidden words? Each word ends with the letter C. The words may be horizontal or vertical.

AQUATIC, ATOMIC, ATTIC, BASIC, CLASSIC, CLINIC, COMIC, COSMIC, CRITIC, DISC, EPIC, FABRIC, GARLIC, HEROIC, LOGIC,

LYRIC, MAGIC, MEDIC, MIMIC, MUSIC, MYSTIC, PANIC, PICNIC, RELIC, SONIC, TONIC, TOPIC, TOXIC, TRAGIC, ZINC.

Can you find the hidden numbers? They may be horizontal or vertical.

00484, 08345, 23234, 24544, 24847, 32992, 43920, 44708, 49847, 56567,

62264, 66823, 70363, 89265, 94839, 98447.

word-fit

sudoku

Can you fit all the words correctly into the grid? Two letters have already been entered.

solution

3 letter words EMU GET NET SEE SUN TEA TOE

YOU 4 letter words BAKE FLEW PATH SHIP 5 letter words APPLE

EAGLE FINAL HAPPY LEAVE NIGHT PAGES SHEEP

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Books

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

How to write fiction:

Geoff Dyer on freedom T he great thing about this cat - the writing one - is that there are a thousand different ways to skin it. In fact, you don’t have to skin it at all and it doesn’t even need to be a cat! What I mean, in the first instance, is feel free to dispute or ignore everything in this introduction or in the articles that follow. As Tobias Wolff puts it in his masterly novel Old School: “For a writer there is no such thing as an exemplary life ... Certain writers do good work at the bottom of a bottle. The outlaws generally write as well as the bankers, though more briefly. Some writers flourish like opportunistic weeds by hiding among the citizens, others by toughing it out in one sort of desert or another.”

This freedom is the challenging perk of the nonjob. If you are a tennis player any weakness - an inability, say, to deal with high-bouncing balls to your backhand - will be just that. And so you must devote long hours of practice to making the vulnerable parts of your game less vulnerable. If you are a writer the equivalent weakness can rarely be made good so you are probably better off letting it atrophy and enhancing some other aspect of your performance.

Writers are defined, in large measure, by what they can’t do. The mass of things that lie beyond their abilities force them to concentrate on the things they can. “I can’t do this,” exclaims the distraught Mother-Writer in People Like That Are the Only People Here, Lorrie Moore’s famous story about a young child dying of cancer. “I can do quasi-amusing phone dialogue. I do the careful ironies of daydreams. I do the marshy ideas upon which intimate life is built ...” From the sum total of these apparent trivialities emerges a fiction which succeeds in doing precisely what it claims it can’t.

Or take a more extreme example: Franz Kafka.

Was ever a writer so consumed by the things he couldn’t do? Stitch together all the things Kafka couldn’t do and you have a draft of War and Peace.

The corollary of this is that what he was left with was stuff no one else could do - or had ever done.

Stepping over into music, wasn’t it partly Beethoven’s inability to conjure melodies as effortlessly as Mozart that encouraged the development of his transcendent rhythmic power? How reassur-

ing to know that the same problems that afflict journeymen artists also operate at the level of genius.

A spokesman for the former, I have written novels even though I have absolutely no ability to think of - and no interest in - stories and plots. The best I can come up with are situations which tend, with some slight variation of locale, to be just one situation: boy meets girl. Other things - structure and tone - must, in these severely compromised circumstances, take over some of the load-bearing work normally assumed by plot. The same holds true for certain kinds of non-fiction, those animated by and reliant on more than - the appeal of their ostensible subject matter.

This is another lesson: you don’t have to know what kind of book you are writing until you have written a good deal of it, maybe not until you’ve finished it - maybe not even then. That’s the second sense in which the cat doesn’t have to be a cat. All that matters is that at some point the book generates a form and style uniquely appropriate to its own needs. Why bother offering readers an experience that they can get from someone else? The playwright David Hare once claimed that: “The two most depressing words in the English language are ‘literary fiction’.” Remember this: literary fiction does not set a standard that is to be aspired to; it describes a habit of convention that people - writers and readers alike - collapse into, like a comfy old sofa.

Which, surely, is not such a bad place to be.

Except, for writers, the sofa should always be an extension of the desk. Reading is not just part of your apprenticeship; it continues to inform, stimulate and invigorate your writing life - and it is never passive. In The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion recalls her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, rereading Sophie’s Choice by William Styron, “trying to see how it worked”. To see how Styron got away with it is the more interesting question in my and Martin Amis’s view. (Styron’s novel was, for Amis, “a flapping, gobbling, squawking turkey”.)

There’s a lesson here. One’s reading does not have to be confined to the commanding - and thereby discouraging - heights of the truly great.

Take a look also at what’s happening on the lower slopes, even in the crowded troughs. We tend to think of ambition operating in terms of some ulti-

mate destination - the Nobel Prize or bust! - but it also manifests itself incrementally, at the level of pettiness. To read a well-regarded writer and to find the conviction growing in yourself that he or she is second- or third-rate, that, in Bob Dylan’s words, “you can say it just as good”, is both encouraging and, if acted upon, a niggling form of ambition. (If it is not acted upon it becomes simply corrosive.)

As with ambition so with practicalities. It’s a daunting prospect to sit down with the intention of writing a masterpiece. If it has any chance of being realised that ambition is best broken down into achievable increments, such as I will sit here for two hours, or 500 words or whatever. Keep these targets manageable and you will feel good about your progress, even if that progress is, inevitably, measured negatively.

The satisfactions of writing are indistinguishable from its challenges and difficulties. It is constantly testing all your faculties and skills (of expression, concentration, memory, imagination and empathy) on the smallest scale (sentences, words, commas) and the largest (the overall design, structure and purpose of the book) simultaneously. It brings you absolutely and always up against your limitations.

That’s why people keep at it - and why it’s far easier to give advice about writing than it is to do it.

—Guardian

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Books

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life

Lessons from a lifetime of writing: A novelist looks at his craft David Morrell

Anne Lamott

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istinctions are often made between writers of “literature” and writers of popular fiction. The two seem to come together in David Morrell, author of Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing. Morrell writes thrillers-lots of them-including First Blood, which gave the world Rambo. But Morrell was also a longtime literature professor. He is as likely to quote EM. Forster as he is Lawrence Block; Steve McQueen appears on the same page as Henry James.

Lessons is a lovely examination of writing and the writing life. To read it is to put oneself in the company of a writerly raconteur.

Toward the beginning of the book, he discusses Hemingway’s bizarre upbringing, wartime experiences, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Toward the end, he reveals the secret to bribing the dispatchers and drivers who supply airport bookstores (a hint rarely, if ever before, reported in a writing book). With chapters devoted to plot, character, research, structure, viewpoint, and dialogue, Morrell covers all the basics. But this is less a how-to book than a written rendition of an intimate university writing workshop. “There are no inferior types of fiction,” Morrell implores, “only inferior practitioners of them.”-Jane Steinberg-This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Writing the breakout novel

hink you’ve got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn’t afraid to help you let it out. She’ll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced

by Lamott’s witty take on the reality of a writer’s life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer’s block and going for broke with each paragraph.

Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading.

Story: Substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting Robert Mckee

Donald Maass

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n today’s world, an author who doesn’t produce a breakout novel risks getting lost in the midlist of the publishing world. Maass, the author of 17 novels who now works as a literary agent representing such distinguished writers as Anne Perry and James Patterson, knows firsthand what makes a novel rise above its category in the already saturated book market. Using his own clients as case studies, Maass defines the most crucial elements of a breakout novel a powerful sense of time and place, larger-than-life characters, a high degree of tension, good subplots, and universal themes and shows the reader how to use these elements efficiently to write a novel that will generate interest and have the potential to hit the best sellers lists.

Each section ends with checklists for review.

Recommended for all public libraries serving communities with struggling writers.

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riting for the screen is quirky business. A writer must labor meticulously over his or her prose, yet very little of that prose is ever heard by filmgoers. The few words that do reach the audience, in the form of the characters’ dialogue, are, according to Robert McKee, best left to last in the writing process. (“As Alfred Hitchcock once remarked, ‘When the screenplay has been written and the dialogue has been added, we’re ready to shoot.’ “) In Story, McKee puts into book form what he has been teaching screenwriters for years in his seminar on story structure, which is considered by many to be a prerequisite to the film biz. (The long list of film and television projects that McKee’s students have written, directed, or produced includes Air Force One, The Deer Hunter, ER., A Fish Called Wanda, Forrest Gump, NYPD Blue, and Sleepless in Seattle.) Legions of writers flock to Hollywood in search of easy money, calculating the best way to get rich quick. This book is not for them. McKee is passionate about the art of screenwriting. “No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers,” he writes. “We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent.” Story is a true path to just such a rediscovery. In it, McKee offers so much sound advice, drawing from sources as wide ranging as Aristotle and Casablanca, Stanislavski and Chinatown, that it is impossible not to come away feeling immeasurably better equipped to write a screenplay and infinitely more inspired to write a brilliant one.

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Beauty

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

A style guide to sunglasses

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f you think celebrities wear sunglasses to make a fashion statement, that’s only half of it. The real reason is (according to my refusing to be named inside source) “it’s so exhausting making constant eye contact with the fans and paparazzi intent on getting your attention and taking a picture.” The rest of us love the way sunglasses hide dark circles and puffiness (well at least I do!) while substituting for eye makeup.

There used to be a whole set of rigid rules about frame shape and size and face shape and features that now sound pretty retro themselves. Huge oversize frames make everyone look and feel sexy but the extra coverage also helps protect the very thin, delicate eye area from future wrinkles and crinkles. You want the lenses to provide 100 % UV protection so skip sunglasses that are purely cosmetic without built-in protection.

And be extra cautious about polarized lenses that reduce glare, mirrorcoated lenses, and photochromatic lenses unless they also say full UV protection. Darker lenses block more light so if you can see your eyes in a mirror they may be too light. Yellow and orangey lenses are fun but may make it hard to tell the difference at traffic lights.

sure they don’t extend beyond the sides of your face which looks buggy and ridiculous.

TIPS: lTake the bridge seriously - where its sits and how prominent it is can shorter or lengthen your nose, and if it’s too heavy can be uncomfortable to wear. If you’ve had a nose job, you do not want a heavy piece across your bridge! lGo for a color in frames and lens that work with your hair and skin but don’t match it. lChoose against face shape to sculpt and enhance. A round face shouldn’t choose round frames, a thin long face shouldn’t choose a narrow frame Big frames with dropped temples The arms sit lower on the frame instead of starting higher up at the top of the frame. They flatter anyone with a long nose or long face since they cut the length in profile.

AVIATORS If you have smaller features, aviators are perfect for you. Delicate and lightweight but still providing the size that looks new, size, they sit higher on the bridge of your nose. Just be

Whether you go glossy or matte, red lips are a juicy fall trend

Ruby Red Lips for Fall F

rom the red carpet to the runway, red lipstick has quickly become fall’s biggest makeup trend. The shade of red doesn’t matter this fall; it can be a bright cherry red or a deep wine. Red lips will make you look polished even if you don’t have time for dramatic makeup.

The trick to wearing red lipstick is to wear neutral, basic colors, like Freida Pinto does here. An ensemble in black and white will make the red stand out even more. You’ll also want to wear concealer with red lips to cover up any redness and make those lips stand out.

Think vampire, a la wearing all black like Emma Stone, when going for the

red lip look.

The number one rule when wearing red lips is to apply lip balm before bed.

With such a strong lipstick color, dry, cracked, chapped lips will show right through. You can also exfoliate your lips with a lip scrub to help get rid of dry skin. (www.bettyconfidential.com)

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Years

Beauty

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Grow long hair and keep it healthy G

rowing long, beautiful and healthy hair is not an extremely difficult process. It does not require a multitude of salon hair products, handfuls of expensive vitamins, nor any sort of sacrifice to the long hair gods. What it does take to grow your hair long and keep it in good condition is common sense, dedication, and a lot of patience. Indeed, growing long hair is actually more a question of what you shouldn’t do rather than what you should!

If you make the commitment to closely follow the twenty steps below, not only will you grow long hair but your hair will be in beautiful condition throughout the process.

1. The first step to growing long, beautiful hair is by far the most important. It is absolutely non-negotiable for anyone who wants

healthy hair at any length, but it is also by far the hardest step you will have to follow.

Because there is absolutely no way to repair damaged hair, you must start out with healthy hair to have healthy hair when it’s long, there’s no way around it.

2. Always trim your hair often. Damage to your hair will move up from the ends and the only way to stop it in its tracks is to remove it as soon as it happens. Use good tools to trim your hair, using anything else can actually encourage more splitting down the road! It’s important the scissors or shears you use be very sharp, made specifically for cutting hair, and used for nothing else. The small investment you make in a good pair of hair styling scissors will pay off many times in the long run.

3. If you don’t have someone you trust implicitly to trim your hair for you, find a salon that caters to long hair, has a long hair specialist, or at least be sure to glare at your stylist as menacingly as you can while you clearly explain your hairgrowth goals before letting her come at you with a pair of styling scissors.

4. Avoid using any heated appliances whenever possible. No blow drying, no curling irons, no hot rollers, and especially no flat irons or hair crimpers! If you absolutely must blow dry do so minimally, and contrary to popular belief, it is best to let your hair dry naturally for as long as possible and use the blow dryer just to finish it off at the end. If you must use hot rollers, use flocked or ceramic rollers that are safer for your hair, not spiked plastic rollers.

5. Don’t use any harsh chemicals on your hair. Definitely no perms and no peroxide! If you must color, use non peroxide color or 100% natural henna (henna comes in a full range of colors, not just red). In addition to being an all-natural way to add color to your hair, henna will

“plump up” and add body to fine hair (but it’s best not to use it on very dry hair).

6. Avoid chlorine and saltwater. If you go swimming in either, shampoo your hair as soon as possible after exposure. If you are blonde, you may want to consider using a shampoo specially formulated to remove the green tinge that can come from exposing your hair to chlorine. If you swim very often, invest in a good long hair swim cap.

7. Be extremely careful of what kind of hair jewelry you use and be sure to use only hairsafe accessories. Never use metal barrettes (the “French” style) and absolutely never use rubber bands, they will tear your hair when you try to remove them. Avoid any hair accessories that have sharp or rough edges, such as plastic combs with rough seams or hair claws with metal hinges. Never put anything in your hair that attaches with Velcro or springs.

8. Never put your hair in any kind of style that will put undue stress on the individual hairs: no tiny braids, no extremely tight coils.

If you pull all or some of your hair into a braid or a ponytail to create your hairstyle, make sure it isn’t pulled tight enough to put stress on the roots of your hair 9. Avoid extreme diets. If your body isn’t getting enough nutrition, neither is your hair.

Even if you try to avoid fat, it’s essential that you don’t completely eliminate all fat from your diet. Your hair (and body) will surely suffer for it.

10. Be extremely gentle with your hair when it is wet. Don’t rub your hair vigorously with a towel, gently squeeze the towel down the length of your hair.

11. Be very careful with what you choose to style your hair. When you do use a brush, use only a natural 100% boar bristle brush which will not tear your hair and are useful in distributing sebum (your hair’s natural protective oils) to the ends of your hair and to remove loose hairs. If your hair is so thick that a boar bristle brush won’t penetrate, a highquality, smooth wood pin brush will be kind to your dense tresses (kinder than boar bristle combined with nylon, as nylon bristles tend to be pretty rough on hair).

12. Comb your hair to ensure all knots have been removed before shampooing. After the knots have been removed, use a boar bristle brush to remove loose hairs, which will also cut down on knotting during shampooing.

13. Let your hair get dirty once in awhile.

That’s right, permission to be lazy, what more could you ask for? Don’t shampoo, spend the entire weekend in bed drinking tea, eating chocolate bonbons (go ahead, chocolate con-

tains sulphur which helps build strong hair!).

14. Don’t pile your hair on your head when you wash it, that’s just asking for knots. Apply shampoo only to the roots and wash your scalp, then work the shampoo to the ends.

You may find adding a bit of water to your shampoo or very quickly ducking under the shower spray after initially applying it to your hair will increase lathering significantly, making it easier to work the soap to the ends of your tresses.

15. If you wash your hair often or have very dry hair, you may want to consider using only conditioner to wash it on occasion. If your hair isn’t very dirty the conditioner will easily rinse away surface contaminants while allowing you to avoid daily use of the harsher solvents found in shampoo.

16. Rinse your hair in as cold water as you can stand. Not only will this make the hair cuticle lay flat and less likely to snag and break, but by the same token you’ll get the added benefit of very shiny hair that’s easier to comb wet.

17. If your hair is especially coarse, extremely curly, you didn’t heed my stern advice in Step 1 and your hair is damaged (do not make me come over there) or if it is prone to damage easily, you may want to consider using a leave-in conditioner in addition to a regular rinse-out conditioner 18. Become familiar with the ingredients in your styling products. Once you know what affects your hair positively or detrimentally, you will be able to effectively choose the hair products that contain ingredients that are best for your hair type.

19. Deep condition your hair at least monthly, even if it’s in good shape this will help keep it that way. If your hair is dry or damaged, deep condition weekly. Hot oil treatments using pure jojoba oil are a good alternative for very dry hair or for extra conditioning (but be forewarned, to some extent hot oil treatments will lift any non permanent hair color you’ve added).

20. Lessen the friction on your hair whenever possible. Don’t sleep with your hair loose or if you must, use a satin pillow case. If your hair is very long and prone to getting caught in car windows, seat belts, doors, or even under your butt when you sit down, it’s important to remember that all these things can cause damage to your precious locks. (www.longlocks.com)

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Health

Years

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

What Is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating: Causes and cures

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motional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of to satisfy hunger. We’ve all been there, finishing a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downing cookie after cookie while cramming for a big test. But when done a lot - especially without realizing it - emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.

Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings. But understanding what drives emotional eating can help people take steps to change it.

One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it’s prompted by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they’re stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine’s Day or the celebration of a holiday feast.

Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. More often, though, it’s the countless little daily stresses that cause someone to seek comfort or distraction in food. Emotional eating patterns can be

fort meals, like steaks and casseroles. Girls go for chocolate and ice cream.

This brings up a curious question: Does no one take comfort in carrots and celery sticks? Researchers are looking into that, too. What they’re finding is that high-fat foods, like ice cream, may activate certain chemicals in the body that create a sense of contentment and fulfillment.

This almost addictive quality may actually make you reach for these foods again when feeling upset.

Physical hunger vs. emotional hunger We’re all emotional eaters to some extent (who hasn’t suddenly found room for dessert after a filling dinner?). But for some people, emotional eating can be a real problem, causing serious weight gain or cycles of binging and purging. The trouble with emotional eating (aside from the health issues) is that once the pleasure of eating is gone, the feelings that cause it remain. And you often may feel worse about eating the amount or type of food you did.

That’s why it helps to know the differences between physi-

lAm I already overweight or obese, or has there recently been a big jump in my weight or body mass index (BMI)? lDo other people in my family use food to soothe their feelings too?

If you answered yes to many of these questions, then it’s possible that eating has become a coping mechanism instead of a way to fuel your body.

Breaking the cycle Managing emotional eating means finding other ways to deal with the situations and feelings that make someone turn to food.

For example, do you come home from school each day and automatically head to the kitchen? Stop and ask yourself, “Am I really hungry?” Is your stomach growling? Are you having difficulty concentrating or feeling irritable? If these signs point to hunger, choose something light and healthy to take the edge off until dinner.

Not really hungry? If the post-school food foraging has just become part of your routine, think about why.

Tips to try These three techniques can help: 1. Explore why you’re eating and find a replacement activity.

For example: lIf you’re bored or lonely, call or text a friend or family member. lIf you’re stressed out, try a yoga routine. Or listen to some feel-good tunes and let off some steam by jogging in place, doing jumping jacks, or dancing around your room until the urge to eat passes. lIf you’re tired, rethink your bedtime routine. Tiredness can feel a lot like hunger, and food won’t help if sleepless nights are causing daytime fatigue. lIf you’re eating to procrastinate, open those books and get that homework over with. You’ll feel better afterwards (honestly!).

2. Write down the emotions that trigger your eating.

One of the best ways to keep track is with a mood and food journal. Write down what you ate, how much, and how you felt as you ate (e.g., bored, happy, worried, sad, mad) and whether you were really hungry or just eating for comfort.

Through journaling, you’ll start to see patterns emerging between what you feel and what you eat. You’ll be able to use this information to make better choices (like choosing to clear your head with a walk around the block instead of a bag of Doritos).

3. Pause and “take 5” before you reach for food. Too often, we rush through the day without really checking in with ourselves. We’re so stressed, overscheduled, and plugged-in that we lose out on time to reflect.

Instead of eating when you get in the door, take a few minutes to transition from one part of your day to another.

Go over the things that happened that day. Acknowledge how they made you feel: Happy? Grateful? Excited? Angry?

Worried? Jealous? Left out?

learned: A child who is given candy after a big achievement may grow up using candy as a reward for a job well done. A kid who is given cookies as a way to stop crying may learn to link cookies with comfort. It’s not easy to “unlearn” patterns of emotional eating. But it is possible. And it starts with an awareness of what’s going on.

“Comfort” foods We all have our own comfort foods. Interestingly, they may vary according to moods and gender. One study found that happy people seem to want to eat things like pizza, while sad people prefer ice cream and cookies. Bored people crave salty, crunchy things, like chips. Researchers also found that guys seem to prefer hot, homemade com-

cal hunger and emotional hunger.

Next time you reach for a snack, check in and see which type of hunger is driving it.

Questions to ask yourself You can also ask yourself these questions about your eating: lHave I been eating larger portions than usual? lDo I eat at unusual times? lDo I feel a loss of control around food? lAm I anxious over something, like school, a social situation, or an event where my abilities might be tested? lHas there been a big event in my life that I’m having trouble dealing with?

Getting help Even when we understand what’s going on, many of us still need help breaking the cycle of emotional eating. It’s not easy - especially when emotional eating has already led to weight and self-esteem issues. So don’t go it alone when you don’t have to.

Take advantage of expert help. Counselors and therapists can help you deal with your feelings. Nutritionists can help you identify your eating patterns and get you on track with a better diet. Fitness experts can get your body’s feelgood chemicals firing through exercise instead of food.

If you’re worried about your eating, talk to your doctor.

He or she can make sure you reach your weight-loss goals safely and put you in touch with professionals who can put you on a path to a new, healthier relationship with food. (www.kidshealth.org)

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Health

Years

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

S

tronger, longer, leaner thighs - yup, we can help you get those. Here, our best upper-leg-exercises.

Squat with Ball When it comes to thinner thighs, there’s no exercise better than a squat. I love this one because of its pseudonym, the Backrub That Fights Thigh Flab.

Top 10 thigh exercises

Do it:

lPlace an exercise ball between the wall and the curve

of your lower back. lStand with your feet shoulder-width apart. lBend your knees and lower 5 to 10 inches, keeping your shoulders level and your hips square. Hold this position for 3 seconds and then stand back up. lStart with 5 reps and work up to 12. Rest for 30 seconds and do another set.

The Flamingo Balance Okay, there’s a lot going on here-arms curling, torso tightening, legs kicking back. You may need to watch the video twice to get the hang of it, but the thigh-tightening potential here is high: Go slow, but definitely keep going.

Do it:

lHolding a dumbbell in your right hand, stand with your

left hand on your hip. lLean forward slightly, lifting your left foot behind you to about hip height. At the same, bring your right arm forward. lTurn your palm to face the ceiling and do a biceps curl. lTouch your toes back down briefly, then repeat for 12 reps. Be sure to keep your left leg straight while bending your right knee. lSwitch sides: Stand with your left foot forward. Hold the dumbbell in your left hand, and hinge forward, raising your right leg up behind you to hip height. lSimultaneously, raise your left arm forward, turn your palm to the ceiling, and do a biceps curl. lTouch your toes back down briefly, and repeat for 12 reps.

Plyometric Squat Try a few at 3 p.m. when your brain is feeling melty and your bum is half-asleep.

Do it:

lStand with your feet shoulder-width apart. lSquat down, bending your knees to 90 degrees. lNow jump up and land softly again in the squat posi-

tion. Use the strength in your legs and butt to jump up explosively. lRemember to land as softly as you can with your knees bent; keep your weight back, over your heels. lDo 3 sets of 8 reps.

The Single-Leg Circle A masochistic Pilates instructor once told me that once the single-leg circle got too easy, I should try spelling out the alphabet with each leg. I’ve yet to get past LMNO. Do it:

lLie back on the mat with your arms by your sides and

your palms facing down. lBegin by pointing with your left foot, as if reaching out with your toes toward the ceiling, and rotate your leg slightly outward. lInhale, and trace a circle on the ceiling with your left leg, moving your whole leg, but keeping your hips still.

Don’t lift your left hip off the floor. lTrace the circle on the ceiling 5 times in a clockwise direction. Repeat in a counter-clockwise direction. lSwitch legs and repeat 5 times.

Lunges with Dumbbells Not only does this three-part move make my thigh muscles blaze, but I get a great stretch down my kneecaps and through my shins, as well.

Do it:

lStand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a 5- or 8-

pound dumbbell in each hand. lLunge forward with your left leg, then straighten your

leg. When you lunge, your right knee should come to about an inch above the ground without touching it. lKeep your torso perpendicular to the floor, with your weight evenly distributed between your legs. Align your front knee over your front ankle, keeping the weight in your heels instead of on your toes. lContinue these lunges for 30 seconds before switching sides and doing another 30 seconds on the other leg.

Phase 2 of lunges with dumbbells: lHold the dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing

front. lLunge forward with one leg, then bring your feet back together and lunge forward with the other leg. You should continue lunging on alternate legs for 60 seconds. lAdd a biceps curl in the final progression of this move: After each lunge forward, push through the heel of your forward foot while lifting your back knee in front of you to hip level. lDo a biceps curl, then step back into a lunge. Repeat

the lunge, plus curl, on one leg for 30 seconds, and then switch legs for another 30 seconds Toe Squat with Overhead Reach This exercise is a cousin to yoga’s utkatasana. When you press your knees firmly together, imagine you’re holding something precious between them: A love letter. A favorite photo. A sandwich.

Do it: lCome into a chair pose, abs engaged, inner knees and ankles touching, hips lowered to a half-squat, dumbbell over your head. lNow come up onto the balls of your feet and keep your lower legs controlled as you lower and lift your butt, about 4 inches. lTake your time and keep yourself steady as you lift and lower, between 8 and 12 times. (www.fitnessmagazine.com)

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Years

Art

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Girl in a Green Gown S

ome paintings refuse to stay quietly on the wall. The characters in them slip out of the frame, casting off the picture’s still, fixed moment and enticing us to imagine the story of their lives.

Iris Murdoch’s novel The Sacred and Profane Love Machine follows the competitive careers of two women who allegorically confront each other in a painting by Titian. In Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, one of Vermeer’s models escapes from her captivity in the painting and - irresistibly embodied in the film by Scarlett Johansson - begins to tease the timorous painter. After the girl with that pendulous tear of liquid light dangling from her lobe, it’s now the turn of a girl in a green gown.

The garment - made from such a sumptuary excess of fabric that it collapses on the floor in folds and has to be scooped up by the wearer’s hand - belongs to the wife of the Bruges merchant in Jan van Eyck’s double portrait of the Arnolfinis, painted in 1434 and on view in the National Gallery.

The Arnolfini couple have had an eventful afterlife in fiction, in the speculations of critics and the satirical whimsies of cartoonists. In 1841 George Darley, mistakenly assuming that the bland-visaged girl was hiding a baby bump behind the folds of her gown, joked about a shotgun marriage: Simon Pure, he said, was leading Sarah Prim to the altar, six embarrassing months after consummation. Van Eyck’s painting, laughably obsolete in its view of spousal relations, turns up in the credit titles for Desperate Housewives. With different heads on their shoulders, the Arnolfinis have been used to expose the cynicism of political alliances. In 1996, a drawing by Martin Rowson cast Bill Clinton as the husband and Tony Blair as the simpering wife; Rowson replaced their alert, frisky little dog with a pig bloated by a diet of dollars. A decade later, in a room charred by bomb damage, Dave Brown sketched George W Bush divorcing a wife who was now a skeleton. Blair, demoted, played the role of the obsequious dog, a lickspittle still fawning on its imperial master.

Carola Hicks summarises this slippery iconographic history but does not add to it.

Her purpose is to investigate the painting’s contents, scrutinising the interior that Van Eyck depicted with such exactitude, and to track its provenance during four centuries in which it was bandied about between European royal houses and carried off as the spoils of war before arriving at its safe haven in Trafalgar Square.

Hicks reveals, a little depressingly, that the Arnolfinis might be honorary residents of Essex, brashly showing off the trophies of mercantile success. Her inventories of their wardrobe and the furnishings of their house are scrupulously price-tagged. The husband’s straw hat is a fashionable Italian import, expensively dyed black; his tabard is lined with fur from the pine marten, almost as “prestigious” - Hicks’s word - as sable, which only princes could wear. His wife has to make do with squirrel fur: Hicks estimates that 600 rodents were skinned to adorn her. Oddly, considering that it’s daylight, a candle on the brass chandelier is burning while another has just been snuffed out, leaving a visible puff of smoke.

The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait by Carola Hicks Observer said, alleviated the city’s “dust and rubble and drabness”; art, for once, proved to be literally life-enhancing.

Sadly, Hicks died before completing her manuscript, which, even after being prepared for publication by her husband, seems not quite fully cooked. There’s too much about the painting’s subsequent history, too little about its internal mysteries.

What do the Arnolfinis, whose hands are so perfunctorily clasped, think of each other?

Who are their guests, glimpsed in the mirror on the wall behind them, and why is there a bed in the reception room?

Although details are expertly deciphered, the murky illustrations don’t allow us to confirm Hicks’s insights. But the book has sent me back to the painting itself - a national treasure, even if it has come to rest in the wrong nation - with wider and more inquisitive eyes.

The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami, aka the Arnol fini portrait, by Jan van Eyck, 1434.—Guardian

Again the point seems to be ostentation, since “in the middle ages, lighting was the greatest luxury, originally the preserve of religious buildings”. Even the oranges on the window ledge are consumerist trophies, because they too would have been freighted in from Andaluc?a.

“Art needs money,” Hicks wisely says (and the reverse is equally true). Art also follows power, and Van Eyck’s painting soon became a royal plaything, unesteemed by its grand owners. As part of the Hapsburg patrimony, it fell into the hands of Philip II of Spain, who preferred Bosch to Van Eyck; his descendant Carlos III housed it in a lavatory. It was salvaged - or, to be

precise, looted - by a dragoon in Wellington’s army during the peninsular war, which is how it got to London. The prince regent fancied buying it, but negligently stowed it in an attic at Carlton House and then changed his mind about the purchase. At least Hitler coveted it: the Nazis expropriated Germanic art from the countries they invaded, and “anything by Van Eyck became a prime target for the monumental gallery Hitler planned to found” in his home city of Linz. The Arnolfinis therefore sat out the war deep in a slate quarry in Snowdonia. Their return to London in 1945 was a boost to popular morale. The painting’s “clean bright colour,” as the

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Years

Art

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

British marble masterpiece to go on display for first time in 200 years

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ne of the most important pieces of neoclassical sculpture by a British artist, which has never been seen by the public, will be on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum. John Deare’s name is barely known today because he died at 38 and few of his works survived. Sale of the 18th-century masterpiece by an anonymous owner was restricted to allow only the V&A to acquire it for a fraction of its value. But art market specialists believe it would fetch £5m on the open market.

Discussing the “astonishing technique and narrative mastery”, Paul Williamson, keeper of sculpture at the V&A, told the Observer: “Everyone is astonished by the virtuosity of the carving... This is the first [Deare] marble to go into a British public collection. His reputation has not been what it should be. But he’s right up there.”

Measuring more than 5ft in length, it depicts Caesar invading Britain, a battle scene on a beach. The marble figures of Caesar, Roman soldiers and the Britons fighting them off are incredibly lifelike, full of movement, sensitivity and expression, with every muscle and strand of hair depicted in intricate detail. It is little wonder that it took him more than five years to complete, from 1791.

With this relief, Deare (1759-98) will be recognised as one of the most innovative and gifted British sculptors. Born in Liverpool, he trained at the Royal Academy schools, where he won its gold medal, and a

bursary to study in Rome. He remained there until his death in 1798, apparently from a chill caught by sleeping on a marble block for inspiration.

Until then, he had produced reliefs of historical, mythological and allegorical subjects for English patrons on the Grand Tour. Few survived; most that did are in American collections. Caesar Invading Britain was commissioned by his friend and patron, John Penn, whose grandfather gave his name to Pennsylvania. Although a British patriot, fascinated by British history and antiquity, the artist supported the American Revolution and would have sympathized with revolutionary forces struggling against an imperial power - hence the appeal of Caesar invading Britain.

The rectangular sculpture was installed above a fireplace in Penn’s mansion in Buckinghamshire until the mid-20th century, when it was moved to a neighboring house, whose owner was given permission by the local council to remove it - but only if it went to the V&A. The V&A acquisition was made possible by Stuart Lochhead of Daniel Katz, a leading old masters’ gallery, who said: “The quality of the carving is as good as you’ll ever see. It’s really astounding.” The work will go on display in the V&A’s Hintze Sculpture Galleries from 21 October.—Guardian

Frieze by forgotten sculpture John Deare sold to Victoria & Albert museum for a fraction of its value

Comics

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

C R O S S W O R D

4 7 5

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

ACROSS

1. The virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

4. Accumulate on the surface.

10. (in golf) The standard number of strokes set for each hole on a golf course, or for the entire course.

13. Water frozen in the solid state.

14. A penicillinase-resistant form of penicillin (trade name Nafcil) used (usually in the form of its sodium salt) to treat infections caused by penicillin-resistant strains of staphylococci.

15. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

16. Powdery starch from certain sago palms.

18. An audiotape recording of sound.

19. A narrow headband or strip of ribbon worn as a headband.

20. A crate for packing soap.

23. (slang) A gangster's pistol.

24. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

28. Of or relating to or near the coccyx.

32. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

33. A metal-bearing mineral valuable enough to be mined.

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

36. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

40. Small bitter fruit of the marasca cherry tree from whose juice maraschino liqueur is made.

45. The sound of sheep or goats (or any sound resembling this) v 1.

46. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

47. (informal) `johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War. 48. A rare heavy polyvalent metallic element that resembles manganese chemically and is used in some alloys.

49. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

52. Australian shrubs and small trees with evergreen usually spiny leaves and dense clusters of showy flowers.

55. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).

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

59. Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea.

62. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

64. A spacecraft that carries astronauts from the command module to the surface of the moon and back.

65. A peninsula in southwestern Europe.

67. Being one more than two.

68. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

69. High quality grape brandy distilled in the Cognac district of France.

70. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

DOWN 1. A fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval).

2. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

3. Prolific Spanish playwright (1562-1635).

4. An associate degree in nursing.

5. Panel forming the lower part of an interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest.

6. The second largest city in Tunisia.

7. The month following September and preceding November.

8. A state in New England.

9. Sandwich filled with slices of bacon and tomato with lettuce.

10. A large heavy knife used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation.

11. Relating to or having the characteristics of bees.

12. A long noosed rope used to catch animals.

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

21. The cry made by sheep.

22. An accountant certified by the state.

25. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

26. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

27. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

29. Using speech rather than writing.

30. Wrap us in a cerecloth, as of a corpse.

31. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

35. A small cake leavened with yeast.

37. A sensation (as of a cold breeze or bright light) that precedes the onset of certain disorders such as a migraine attack or epileptic seizure.

38. (informal) Of the highest quality.

39. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

41. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

42. Of or relating to or composed of fat.

43. Congenital absence of the heart (as in the development of some monsters).

44. Any competition.

50. A mound of stones piled up as a memorial or to mark a boundary or path.

51. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

53. On or toward the lee.

54. God of love and erotic desire.

56. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

57. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

60. A dark-skinned member of a race of people living in Australia when Europeans arrived.

61. Call upon in supplication.

63. Being two more than fifty.

66. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

Yesterday’s Solution

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Cast members perform “The Getaway of the Trapp Family” during a rehearsal of “The Sound of Music” musical.

“T

he Sound of Music,” the musical made world famous by the 1965 film starring Julie Andrews, has never been performed in the picture-postcard Austrian city of Salzburg where it is set. But on Sunday this will change as the Salzburg State Theatre premieres a sell-out German-language version of the feel-good Rodgers and Hammerstein story of the singing-and-dancing von Trapp family on the eve of World War II. The theatre’s musical director Carl Philip von Maldeghem told AFP that he first became aware of the musical’s huge popularity outside Austria and his native Germany as an exchange student in the United States.

Wietske van Tongeren portraying Governess Maria Rainer performs with the children during a rehearsal of ‘The Sound of Music’ musical, in Salzburg, Austria, on October 19, 2011. — AFP photos “I was in Iowa, in the Midwest,” he said. “The family watched ‘The Sound of Music’ every Christmas, and we all enjoyed it very much. “I was 17, so now here we are, 25 years later, and I am bringing the musical home.” The Oscarwinning movie, one of the most successful of all time, is already big business for Salzburg, and has been for years, with the city’s tourist board saying it helps attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. Some 300,000 visit the locations where Andrews, Christopher Plummer and their co-stars were filmed, 60 percent from the United States and Britain, 20 percent from India and China, and 10 percent each from Australia and elsewhere in Asia.

“We have now come across the fact that even more tourists visit because of the ‘Sound of Music’ than because of Mozart”-the city’s other main tourist draw, whose birthplace people can see-von Maldeghem said. But in the German-speaking world, ask someone if they have heard of the musical or the movie, or sing a few lines of “Edelweiss” or “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”, and it will most likely draw blank looks. Part of why this is, or at least was in the 1960s and ‘70s when memories of World War II were fresher, lies in the musical’s historical backdrop, with the von Trapp family

famously escaping from the Nazis at the end over the Alps.

But a bigger reason is that the movie, despite being one of the biggest box office hits ever, was never really to German, Austrian or Swiss-German tastes. “They couldn’t really get on with the Hollywood version. If you are not from around here it was all so beautiful and romantic and everything, but for locals it was just kitschy,” Andrea Heitzer from Salzburg’s tourism board told AFP. “People didn’t even realise how big it was abroad. It was always funny being in the United States and saying you were from Salzburg. ‘Ah, the Sound of Music,’ they would say.”

Moreover, there was a 1956 German film including the von Trapps’ escape from the Nazis that predated the US version and which was very popular, Stefan Herzl, who runs the oldest of Salzburg’s several “Sound of Music” tours, told AFP. “Maybe in the 1960s the older generation might have had a problem with it, but not the current one,” said Herzl, whose company Panorama Tours provided the buses and limousines for Andrews, her co-stars and the crew of director Robert Wise.

Von Maldeghem, who said that 300 local children auditioned for parts in his production, agreed. “I think it is a generational thing,” he said. “The younger generation see it as a piece of Salzburg and see it as a living piece of history ... The main story is a family story and a story of ideals.” Tickets for the new musical, aimed at German-speakers but with English subtitles for any visitors, have sold out for this year and are on sale already for 2012, he said. —AFP

Casts members portraying the Trapp Family perform during a rehearsal of ‘The Sound of Music’ musical.

Wietske van Tongeren portraying Governess Maria Rainer performs with the children during a rehearsal of “The Sound of Music” musical.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Hollywood calls for release of Iran filmmakers

File photo shows Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi at his home after he was freed from jail on bail after more than two months in custody, in Tehran, Iran. —AP

H

ollywood has expressed concern about Iran’s crackdown on directors and actors and called on Tehran to release filmmakers detained last month.

“The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is deeply concerned whenever and wherever the rights of filmmakers are threatened,” the group said in a statement Wednesday signed by several movie-making guilds. “The recent arrest of six Iranian filmmakers, the sentence of ‘one year in jail and 90 lashes’ to an actress just for playing a role in an acclaimed film, and the continued house arrest of Jafar Panahi, among others, is a situation that demands our serious attention,” it said.

“We join our colleagues around the world in calling unequivocally for these filmmakers’ safety, release, and return to filmmaking.” Iran has reportedly released two of six Iranian filmmakers arrested last month on accusations of working for the BBC Farsi-language service. In a separate case, a Tehran appeals court recently upheld a six-year jail sentence and 20-year filmmaking and travel ban against international award-winning Iranian director Panahi, his family told AFP on Saturday.

Panahi, 51, was convicted last December over a documentary he tried to make about the unrest that followed the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

More than a dozen directors or actors have been arrested and sometimes received harsh sentences in recent months for “propaganda” against the regime, including several documentary makers accused of giving a “black image” of Iran. Earlier this month, Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr was jailed for a year and sentenced to 90 lashes for her role in the Australian-produced film “My Tehran for Sale,” about the limits imposed on artists in the Islamic republic. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences-which awards the Oscars each year-represents over 6,000 artists in 35 countries. The statement was co-signed by the American Cinema Editors, the American Society of Cinematographers, the Directors Guild of America, the International Documentary Association, the Producers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild, and the West and East Writers Guilds of America.—AFP

The Queen of Soul & Living Legend Aretha Franklin performs to an SRO audience at the Ryman Auditorium on October 19, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee. —AFP

Jackson physician acted like employee not doctor A

medical expert testified on Wednesday that Michael Jackson’s doctor acted more like an employee than a physician by agreeing to give the pop star nightly doses of the potent anesthetic propofol to treat insomnia. Dr Steven Shafer, regarded as one of the leading researchers in the use of propofol, took the stand as the final prosecution witness in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. It is nearly unheard of to give propofol, normally used before surgery in a hospital setting, as a treatment for insomnia, said Shafer. “We are in pharmacological ‘Never Never Land’ here, something that’s only been done to Michael Jackson,” he said.

In impassioned testimony, Shafer also cataloged what he said were Murray’s failures as Jackson’s personal physician, starting with agreeing to the pop star’s request to receive propofol as a sleep aid at his rented Los Angeles mansion. “Conrad Murray said yes, and that is what an employee does. And I do not see a difference between Conrad Murray saying yes to a request that Michael Jackson is making, and an employee who cleans the house agreeing to a request of Michael Jackson,” Shafer said. Shafer gave 17 instances of how Murray’s treatment of Jackson on June 25, 2009 — the day the singer died- constituted “egregious” violations of common medical standards. He blasted Murray for the over 20 minutes that elapsed between the time prosecutors believe he discovered Jackson had stopped breathing, and when an ambulance was called. “It’s just inconceivable to me. A physician would not do that,” Shafer said.

No records Propofol was ruled the main cause of the “Thriller” singer’s death. Murray admitted to

Dr Conrad Murray and his attorney J Michael Flanagan listen to the testimony of anesthesiology expert Dr Steven Shafer during Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial. —AP police he gave Jackson the drug to help him sleep. His attorneys claim Jackson gave himself an extra, fatal dose of the drug when Murray was out of the singer’s bedroom.

Shafer, a professor at Columbia University and who helped set US standards for propofol dosage, criticized Murray for not keeping medical records in the over two months he told police he was giving Jackson nightly doses of the drug. “The family has a right to know what happened, and with no medical record, the family has been denied that right,” Shafer said, raising his voice.

Jackson’s parents, Katherine and Joseph, and two of his siblings showed little reaction as they sat in the courtroom. Murray also

remained unemotional during the testimony.

Jurors were shown a detailed video on the correct use of propofol-a potentially damaging presentation that differed sharply from accounts of how Murray cared for Jackson.

The medical training video showed doctors in scrubs and gloves attending to a patient in a sterile operating room, with electronic monitors and displays. They meticulously checked medical tools and machines that witnesses say were absent in the bedroom where Murray gave Jackson propofol. The defense is expected to begin presenting its case on Friday. Murray, who has pleaded not guilty, faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted. —Reuters

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Bollywood’s B

ollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan was awarded an honorary doctorate for his services to cinema yesterday in a ceremony in Australia featuring congratulations from renowned director Baz Luhrmann. Bachchan initially turned down the award from the Queensland University of Technology two years ago due to a wave of violent attacks on Indian students which strained diplomatic relations between Canberra and New Delhi. But the 69year-old said he felt the situation had now been resolved and the time had come to accept what he described as a great honour. “It’s been a very warm welcome. I’ve only been seeing smiling faces and experiencing great hospitality. That was something that was an aberration and it’s over now,” Bachchan said of the attacks.

He was bestowed the honorary doctorate, awarded for his “outstanding contribution to creative industries over several decades”, in an intimate ceremony in Brisbane which featured a video-link appearance by Luhrmann. Bachchan just finished work on the Australian director’s remake of the Great Gatsby featuring Leonardo DiCaprio in Sydney, and said he was a long-time admirer of his work. The Indian cinema veteran, who has starred in more than 180 Bollywood films, also launched a creative industries scholarship in the name of his late father Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and said he hoped to strengthen ties with Australia. “Education helps us to strengthen and fortify convictions not to be swayed by preoccupation of cast and creed, race and reli-

Bachchan

gion,” he said. “I do believe large numbers of Indian students seek education in Australia and I hope that continues to grow.” Bachchan first became popular in the 1970s and is one of Indian cinema’s most prominent figures, receiving numerous awards and accolades including three National Film Awards and 12 Filmfare Awards. A member of India’s parliament

between 1984 and 1987, Bachchan also worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter, and has received a number of the nation’s highest civilian honors.

“To find myself in a foreign country, and to have this recognition from them is truly amazing,” he said of his Australian doctorate. “I do not have enough words to thank you for having bestowed on me this great honor. I value it a lot.” —AFP

gets Australian doctorate

Photo shows Indian Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan smiling as he receives an honorary doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane as Professor Arun Sharma (Left) and QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake (Right) look on. —AFP

Tintin goes to Hollywood T

rusty sidekick Snowy in tow, Tintin leaves his comic book universe for the brave new world of 3-D animation next week in Steven Spielberg’s big-budget take on the boy reporter’s intrepid adventures. “The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn” brings the hero and his little white dog to the big screen on October 26, following a red-carpet world premiere in Tintin’s native Brussels on Saturday.

Created in 1929 by the Belgian writer Herge, Tintin and his colourful cast of companions have achieved cult status for millions of fans worldwide, who will be watching anxiously to see what Hollywood has made of their icon.

Co-produced by “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, Spielberg’s “Tintin”, in the director’s own words, is billed as a kind of “Indiana Jones for kids”. Shot using state-of-the-art motion capture technology, the movie uses reallife actors-Jamie Bell of “Billy Elliot” fame as the fresh-faced hero, Daniel Craig as the villain Red Rackham-to breathe life into its characters.

Loosely based on three Tintin comics-”The Crab with the Golden Claws”, “The Secret of the Unicorn” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure”-the storyline kicks off with the blonde-quiffed Tintin nosing through an antiques fair in his native Brussels.

When he stumbles upon a model sailboat, “The Unicorn”, Tintin’s find sparks a cascade of mishaps that soon land the young reporter on a ship captained by the shadowy Rackham, bound for Morocco on a perilous treasure hunt.

Lurking in a cabin below deck, Tintin finds a booze-soaked Captain Archibald Haddock, and signs him up for the ride. Whether adrift on a canoe, trapped in a burning plane, or speeding on an under-fire motorbike and side-car: the pair hurl themselves into the jaws of adventure with a mix of pluck, bravery and insolent good

luck. Liberties are taken with the cast’s accentsTintin’s is polished British, while Haddock’s “Blistering Barnacles” and other colorful invectives are delivered with a Scottish lilt. But otherwise the movie sticks faithfully to the look and feel of the original comic book series. The Tintin pantheon of characters are all present, from the bumbling Thomson and Thompson detective twins-albeit with larger noses than the originalsto the larger-than-life opera singer, Bianca Castafiore.

Spielberg couldn’t find the right actor Tintin’s journey to Hollywood began many decades ago, when the boy reporter was barely

20. Herge-whose real name was Georges Remifirst contacted Walt Disney back in 1948, sending him eight albums and offering to adapt them for the screen himself, but to no avail, recalls Philippe Lombard, author of a recent book entitled “Tintin, Herge and the Cinema”.

Several people including the ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau approached Herge in later years with plans to film his works, but none came to fruition.

Two moderately-successful feature films, shot in the 1960s by France’s Jean-Pierre Vienne: “Tintin and the Golden Fleece” and “Tintin and the Blue Oranges”, were until now the only Tintins to have made it onto the screen.

A pedestrian walks past a movie poster for Steven Spielberg’s The adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn displayed on a street in Brussels .—AFP

Spielberg, meanwhile, had a long-held ambition to bring Tintin to the cinema. He first made contact with Herge back in 1983, but the writer died later that year before the pair could meet faceto-face.

Spielberg pressed on, in contact with Herge’s widow, but was unhappy with the first script he was shown-with a quiff-less Tintin and a romantic sideplot between Bianca Castafiore and Haddock-and the project was eventually shelved. “Spielberg just couldn’t find the right actor to play Tintin,” said Lombard. “What changed everything was motion capture.”

Hitting the screens nearly 30 years later, Spielberg’s film made use of the sophisticated technology-pioneered by Jackson for the character of Gollum in the Tolkien trilogy-to combine real acting with a virtual environment.

Bell, Craig and their fellow actors played out their scenes in a grey-and-white studio dubbed the “Volume”, mapped with hundreds of cameras to achieve three-dimensional coverage of their every move. To capture their expressions, the actors were fitted with American-football style helmets with mini-cameras that record the slightest twitch of their facial muscles, eyes or lips. Each character, costume and accessory was covered in reflective points that are picked up by cameras and projected in real-time into a Tintin-themed, computer-generated world. The result, in Jackson’s words is a photorealistic world peopled with “real Herge people”. Herge’s last Tintin album was published in 1978. Since then the boy reporter has fallen in and out of favour, with bouts of controversy about colonial-era stereotypes in several of the works, most notably “Tintin in the Congo”. But sales of the 24 Tintin books have continued at a brisk pace, translated into 77 languages with more than 180 million copies sold worldwide. —AFP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

A model displays a creation by Colombia’s designer Andres Otalora.

Models display creations by Colombia’s designer Jhon Mesias at the Cali Exposhow fashion week in Cali, Colombia. —AP photos

Fashion Around The World

Models display creations of the Macedonian fashion designer Elena Luka, during Skopje Fashion Weekend show in Macedonia’s capital Skopje. —AP

A model displays a creation by Colombia’s designer Johanna Ortiz.

Models display creations by Araisara during the Tokyo Fashion Week 2012 spring/summer collection in Tokyo.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

For a hat similar to Rachel Zoe’s, get the Collection 18 women’s multi-crochet ribbon fedora hat from Amazon.com.

For a cowboy-style baby straw hat, check in at Oldnavy.com.

— MCT photos

For Rodger Berman’s classic look, try the Mahalo hat from Goorin.com.

Bohemian cool in LA L

ooking at Rachel Zoe and her family is like glancing at a modern and more glamorous version of a classic Norman Rockwell painting. It’s an attractive, happylooking family, but at the head of the table — at the head of a fashion empire — sits petite and stylish Zoe. The stylist, fashion designer and television personality recently returned from the front rows of Paris Fashion Week, where she and husband Rodger Berman, who is president of Rachel Zoe Inc, took in all the top designer shows.

Back in Los Angeles last weekend, Zoe, Berman and best-dressed-baby-in-the-world Skyler made an appearance as co-hosts at the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic at Will Rogers State Park. They spent the sunny afternoon taking in the polo matches and rubbing elbows with celebrities such as Selma Blair, Jamie King and Camille Belle.

The whole family was dressed in summer whites, with Zoe in a sleeveless ruffled maxi

dress, long beaded necklace and white hat; Skyler in white overalls and straw hat; and Berman in a white shirt, khaki suit and classic fedora. Zoe’s signature 1970s-inspired boho style is evident in the ruffled maxi and long beads. The plain white looks great on Zoe, but for an event that takes place primarily on grass — like polo — color and pattern might be more practical.

To get the look, try the ruffled maxi dress with white and blue floral print for $79.50 or the strapless ruffled maxi dress with purple print for $75.50, both from Victoriassecret. com. To accessorize like Zoe, try the Candie’s silver-tone long beaded illusion necklace with large beads for $14 or the silver-tone long beaded necklace with smaller silver beads for $11.20, both from Kohls.com.

The Zoe-Berman family kept cool on the sidelines with hats for mom, dad and the baby.

For a hat similar to Zoe’s, get the Collection 18 women’s multi-crochet ribbon fedora hat for

V

$14.31 from Amazon.com. For Berman’s classic look, try the Mahalo hat from Goorin.com for $20, and for a cowboy-style baby straw hat, check in at Oldnavy.com, which carries one for $7.99. With these looks, you’ll be ready for LA’s next polo match — or for any garden party.

—MCT

Plain white is great for summer, but for events that take place primarily on grass, such as polo, then try this ruffled maxi dress with a white and blue floral print from Victoria’s Secret.

ictoria’s Secret Angel Miranda Kerr models this year’s Fantasy Treasure Bra, designed exclusively by London Jewelers for Victoria’s Secret in the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Christmas Dreams and Fantasies Catalogue as well as on the runway at the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show airing November 29th on the CBS Television Network. This is the first time Miranda has been awarded the prestigious honor of wearing a Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra, a high point in any model’s career. Miranda follows in the footsteps of the most legendary supermodels that have had the honor in years past: Tyra Banks, Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller and Claudia Schiffer among others.

Valued at $2.5 million, the Fantasy Treasure Bra is handset with nearly 3,400 precious gems, including white and yellow diamonds, pearls, citrines and aquamarines, all set in 18 karat white and yellow gold. The bra is inspired by an underwater dreamland of luxury, exotic glamour and sexy aquatic Angels. The centerpiece tassel is adorned with two exquisite white diamonds, over 8 carats each, and two

astonishing yellow diamonds, over 14 carats each. Overall, the bra features 142 carats of diamonds. All of the magnificent gems were embroidered onto Victoria’s Secret Gorgeous Pushup Bra frame with custom scalloping.

The intricate design of the bra required an inspection of over 10,000 stones from around the world to find the perfect colored, sized and shaped gems. Every stone was meticulously hand placed by master craftsmen in 500 hours of skilled work. The Fantasy Bra is featured in the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Christmas Dreams and Fantasies Catalogue arriving in mailboxes nationwide on October 21st. It’s the ultimate fantasy gift this season!

Victoria’s Secret Victoria’s Secret is the leading specialty retailer of lingerie and beauty products, dominating its field with modern fashion-inspired collections, prestige fragrances and cosmetics, celebrated supermodels and worldfamous runway shows. A business of Limited Brands, its more than 1000 Victoria’s Secret Lingerie and Beauty stores, the catalogue and VictoriasSecret.com allow customers to

shop the brand anywhere, anytime, from any place.

About London Jewelers Founded in 1926, London Jewelers is celebrating its 85th year as one of the United States’ premier jewelers recognized for its distinctive lifestyle setting offering the ultimate in luxury.

Family owned and operated for four generations, London Jewelers showcases the world’s most recognizable brands of fine jewelry, timepieces and gifts. London Jewelers has five locations in New York- the flagship at Americana Manhasset, Wheatley Plaza, Glen Cove, East Hampton and Southampton. Known for its unique selections and superb customer service, London Jewelers continues to deliver both classic and exotic collectibles to its sophisticated customers.-Victoria’s Secret; London Jewelers/ PRNewswire

Lifestyle FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Hong Kong’s pampered pooches take yoga classes H

ong Kong’s pampered canines may have their own spas complete with jacuzzis and massage, but it can still be difficult for a dog to find inner peace. Help is now at hand in the shape of yoga instructor Suzette Ackermann and her yoga class-for dogs. Each Saturday morning in the city’s Sheung Wan district, owners massage their pets before bringing them into postures such as the cobra pose, in which the hind legs are stretched out to the rear, as soothing music plays.

“You want to try and calm the dog down, so just touch along either side of the spine, then the rib cage, then the belly,” Ackermann-a South African dance and yoga teacher who started the sessions a year ago-tells the class. She leads the class in tandem with her seven-year-old Pekinese, Snowball, who, Ackermann told AFP, has been her inspiration.

The one-eyed, utterly relaxed animal with fluffy white fur has become a local celebrity through dog yoga, and is often recognized in the street from her TV appearances. “Snowball’s like a Zen Buddha,” Ackermann says. “She goes into all the poses... She just doesn’t care, which is perfect in the yoga sense that she has no ego, no attachment, she’s just present.

“When I practice (yoga) at home, she will just come up to the mat with me. She does it naturally. “You can lie her down on her back to do shavasana (corpse pose), and she’ll stay there.”

Ackermann and Snowball have been doing yoga together at home for years, but the idea of teaching classes in dog yoga, or “doga”, was suggested by a Japanese groomer at Pawette, the “deluxe pet boutique, salon and spa” that organizes the classes with Ackermann.

Doga has made inroads in pet-loving Japan, as well as in the United States, where teachers Suzi Teitelman and Amy Stevens have both issued doga DVDs. But Ackermann has developed her own routine to suit her clients and their canine friends. “I think for owners to bring their dogs in, they have to really love them,” Ackermann said.

Photo shows yoga instructor Suzette Ackermann assisting Pauline Kang and ‘Kopi’ during a “doga” class.

Pauline Kang and ‘Kopi’ taking part in a “doga” class. rebellious Kopi, Malaysian chemical company employee Pauline Kang, says he has become more peaceful since starting the classes. “He’s made progress from the very beginning,” she said. “He was just like a kangaroo the first time, bouncing, jumping everywhere,” Ackermann recalled. In addition to its calming properties, doga can benefit dogs with hip and knee problems, Ackermann says, and help those with asthma-one canine participant is regularly brought along with his own inhaler. The classes have attracted poodles, corgis, Yorkshire terriers, Chihuahuas and dachshunds, among others.

“Sausage dogs are good to work with because they have long bodies, so you can really stretch them out,” Ackermann said. She was originally trained in the more vigorous form of ashtanga yoga, but keeps her doga routines gentle. “You

“It’s spending extra money to bond.” The class is sometimes interrupted by dogs getting into a fight, yapping loudly or running off into a corner.

One Yorkshire terrier/Pomeranian cross, Kopiaged one-seems as though he would rather be running around a field than working to align his chakras.

But other dogs are keener to take part, and lie calmly as their paws are moved into different positions by owners who are themselves in seated yoga poses. Both can adopt a twisting pose in unison for shared spine stretches. The downward dog is, of course, also included. In standing stances such as the warrior pose, the owner holds the dog with one arm. “The smaller the dog, the

‘Snowball’ being put through a stretching exercise during a “doga” class.

Jackie Lee and ‘Sambucca’ taking part in a “doga” class.

easier,” says Ackermann, whose class is aimed mainly at the toy dogs popular in overcrowded Hong Kong. For other poses the dog is placed on top of the human: for instance, the “cat-cow flow”, in which the owner is on all fours and arches their back first upwards, then downwards, is performed with the dog on its owner’s back, provided it is prepared to stay there. “Place the belly of the dog on your spine, so it’s a two-in-one belly massage,” instructs Ackermann. “Now, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale,” she tells her students, human and canine. Some of the dogs even yap obediently when Ackermann concludes the class by saying, “Let’s all say ‘Namaste’.” The owner of

cannot do ashtanga with the dogs, because it’s all vinyasa (dynamic), so I just do basic, I just do hatha (slower yoga),” she said. “Otherwise it would be up, down, down, up, dog in the way, everything in the way.”

Ackermann has sought advice from a dog acupuncturist and is taking classes in dog massage, while a friend has been inspired by doga to work towards the launch of a dog physiotherapy program. Meanwhile, on the suggestion of her brother, a writer, Ackermann is putting together a book about Snowball and doga-an illustrated children’s story with basic postures for the family and their dog to try at home. —AFP

Stars

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Aries (March 21-April 19) One of the areas that can be most helpful to you now is your creative expression. Whatever your talents, this is the time to develop them more fully. Improvements in your recently earned finances inspire you to explore different options that can improve your lifestyle. Let your light shine—express yourself. You win, all the way around, especially when you seek ways to help others. Sharing responsibilities may actually improve the productivity of some project today. Also, you may find new friends and gain more secure and permanent relationships at this time. There is also an opportunity to increase your professional status now. Consider volunteering to help at a ranch, farm, forest or zoo—it will answer to your need to stay in touch with nature.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This is a rewarding day where you can grab a little attention.

You are at your most practical when it comes to dealing and working with others. This may not mean a job but could mean working in a collaborative effort within a religious group. If you have been thinking about a new deal, system, project, etc., it is important to speak up about it now. You know just what to do and can act without haste. You develop a knack for organizing things and people, as a sense of ambition and practicality takes hold. Work and achievement mean a lot to you. You could be most persuasive with others and eloquent in speech and communication. The situation is a natural for self-expression and lends itself to your particular creative thinking.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) While it would be easy to get into positions that would encourage long conversations, you will excuse yourself to tend to whatever personal project you have going today. There is a lot of energy and drive available for you in whatever you decide to achieve. You search for ways to expand your financial base and may become more effective at using whatever talents you have available. This is a strong period of self-reflection and you may enjoy getting to know more of your family background, family tree or distant relatives. You may create a family newsletter that is mailed in a round-robin sort of fashion so that everyone can partake and contribute. This is a period of restoration and appreciation when selfconfidence and pride in family are increased.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) There is an open door to success and your willingness to travel just may be the ticket. Connections with people on a grand scale—for example, at a distance—play a bigger part in your life now. Education, advertising and travel could play a part in this. Law and philosophy as well as religion impact your lifestyle. Care for your health by learning ways in which to relieve tension—this is a busy time. There is a greater appreciation for things of value. This could be a period of great material gain; it is certainly a time when material things have a great deal of importance for you. Be wise and stay away from spur-of-the-moment purchases. Look into your investments carefully—wise investments can reap large rewards.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Learn techniques that will relieve stress. Responsibilities and outside pressures are just a part of life that keeps us moving forward. Knowing when to accept change and retaining a positive attitude will aid you in maintaining a sense of well-being. You may be particularly dynamic and assertive just now. There is a lot of energy available for you. The power of organization on a social scale seems to take on energy as you enter into a new cycle this afternoon. This could mean changes in the field of business, politics or religion. It’s as if ambition and authority are answers in themselves, rather than only a means to an ideal objective. Give career changes plenty of thought—you do not have to make your decision right away. Hug or praise a child today.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) A balance is needed in a love relationship now, meaning . . . shared responsibilities. Address issues that involve controlling types of people. Things are happening, and your life path depends on your own drive to achieve and excel—which are strong now. You are able to use good common sense and you will make all the right moves; trust in your decision-making abilities. You will prosper by pursuing your dreams of how life could be. Make contact with siblings or relatives today, perhaps by phone or letter. You are eager to have a support network and there is nothing better than your own family to make that happen. Do not hesitate to lend your own support—turnabout is fair play. Thought: how we behave is many times mirrored in our children.

Libra (September 23-October 22) It may be difficult to keep your mind on your work today.

Perhaps because of some glorious changes in your home life, you would rather be home. Keep a notebook of your thoughts, feelings and ideas for goals or changes you want accomplished. Soon you will find yourself back to the work that needs your magic touch. Those ideas and thoughts of yours are developing quite nicely . . . keep a notebook. Home and family may be in something of a state of change—this may mean moving, adding in a new family member, or something similar. High tech equipment impinges on the domestic environment somehow. Comparison shop and think about whether you really need an item before you take on new debt. There is a temptation to buy frivolously now.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) The power of organization on a social scale (business, politics, etc.) seems to take on an important role in your life at this time. There is charisma, self-transformation and the ability to improve or enhance your personal power. Remember that tiny causes can lead to big effects. There is some profound change on the personal level—psychologically and perhaps physically as well. It is as though you are transforming yourself into an entirely new person. A political stance about mandatory daycare or some other issue is important to you now and you will be successful in finding enough people to help create a new plan. You may decide to create a newsletter. Family matters are fun this evening as everyone gathers to tell of their day.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may find yourself in a heated discussion this morning—or so it seems. Most of the debate is a light-hearted sparring of viewpoints. You agree to disagree and respect the diversity around which you work. Writing and communication play a significant role in your life and connecting with others through new technologies can be exciting and challenging. You may find yourself at a home or at a sports show this afternoon and somehow attract a gathering of people with your questions or input. The insights that you have are helpful; however, know when to walk away. You set an example by making it your first priority to treat others as you would want them to treat you. It almost seems as though there is no problem that you cannot handle.

Relax with music.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Professional advice will bring you some interesting insights today. You are unusually motivated or driven in new and unexpected directions. Your efforts are successful. Your thoughts are pensive at noon as you contemplate the many, many subjects for which you would like to be magically enlightened. Learning the latest in science, fashion, health, technical advancement, social gossip is impossible to absorb in one day; however, if you pick a subject a week you will be more caught up on many discoveries than most. You may even seem a bit paranoid in that you see so many things from which to become updated that you see a hidden aspect. In other words there is so much candy in the candy store you may feel the need to see beyond.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) A little dieting is usually all you need. Enjoy eating more fresh vegetables and fruits. Energies are present today and tomorrow that are working in your favor to begin this diet. Your timing should be perfect for whatever you would like to achieve. The people around you should find you most energetic and responsive. The situation today is a natural for self-expression and lends itself to your particular ideas. You may be called upon to guide an important visitor to your town. Communication is successful and you can exhibit your town as no other can. All of this relating to others may be for the advancement of a professional position, whether it is a particular work field or an entertainment field. Tonight you will be more involved with neighbors.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) This is a noteworthy day. You know just what to do to in order to bring attention to your talents. Higher-ups are watching and are pleased.

This day that is not too lazy or too stressful—you will be accomplishing tasks or setting things up to work in your favor. Innovations—new and possibly unconventional approaches to being productive or making money—are in order. You may discover new values that represent some sort of insight into something that has become a routine. A positive change in your financial status is possible and could lead to new directions. Home, family or real estate is of interest. If you think long-term, you will come out ahead; otherwise, you could find yourself in a tight situation. This evening is a good evening for love.

COUNTRY CODES Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African Republic 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands)0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062 Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686

Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK)0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Poetry through theatrical idioms

By Sajeev K Peter

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endering poetry with the help of theatrical idioms has become a new rage in Kerala. Two exponents of this new style, who are in Kuwait to present this theatre style, claims ‘poetry through theatre’ makes appreciation easy and effective. A compelling theatrical repertoire will heighten the sensibilities of the audience, they say.

Theatre activists M K

during an event ‘Onathanima’ today evening at the Indian Central School, Abbassiya. “This visual presentation of a poem helps an actor establish a better rapport with the audience.

Theatrical expressions and gestures make communication easy and more enjoyable,” says Sankaramangalam. It gives the poetry a new dimension and the communication reaches a new level.

Sankaramangalam, a theatre personality who has been active in

M K Gopalakrishnan

Madhu Sankaramangalam

Gopalakrishnan and Madhu Sankaramangalam arrived in Kuwait recently to present some of the most celebrated Malayalam poems through theatre. Called it ‘Cholkaazhcha’, they will present poems of well-known poets like Dr Ayyappa Panicker, Kadammanitta and Prof Kavalam Narayana Panickker

Malayalam theatre from the 1980s, is an exponent of ‘Cholkaazhcha’ or visual presentation of poetry. His training in theatre under the tutelage of theatre guru Prof G Shankara Pilla and association with masters like Alkazi, B V Karant and S Ramanujam in National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi have helped

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Sankaramangalam develop a passion for theatre. He acted in many dramas that were presented across India and abroad.

“But it was during my association with actors like Narendraprasad, M K Gopalakrishnan and Murali, I found out that poetry can be presented more powerfully if it could adapt a theatrical form,” he says. A theatre group Yuvavedi Mavelikkara pioneered this art form and started presenting poems through theatre.

“Soon, this new style of presenting poetry through theatre became a rage especially among students and youngsters and in university campuses across Kerala.

“I believe poetical imagery can be better interpreted through theatrical idioms. The actor’s body language and gestures will help enhance the communication with the audience,” adds Gopalakrishnan, who is active in Malayalam theatre and films since 1982s.

A versatile theatre actor, Gopalakrishnan has made in-depth studies into the art form. He was an active member of ‘Natyagruha,’ a pre-eminent theatre group in Kerala.

A Sangeeta Nataka Academy award winner for his drama ‘Souparnika,’ he has also acted in Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s illustrious movies ‘Mathilukal’, ‘Videheyan’,

‘Kathapurushan’, ‘Nizhalkuthu’, ‘Naalupennungal’ etc.

“It is hard to record chronologically how and when the new style evolved. But it started with the advent of modernism in Malayalam poetry,” he says.

Writers and poets like Dr K N Panicker, M Govindan, Kadammanitta, Dr Ayyappa Panikker, Kavalam and Satchidanandan created platforms for poetic discourses (kavi-

A rehearsal session of ‘cholkaazhcha’ in progress yarangukal) across Kerala. During poetic renditions, they considered the possibility of presenting them using theatrical techniques and visuals. Great actors also Bharat Gopi,

Chamber Music

he French embassy in Kuwait and the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature presents “Chamber music”, a concert of Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal on Tuesday, October 25, at 7:30 pm at the Shamiya Theater.

Most of the time, when we say chamber music, we think of classical music in a salon in Paris or Vienna.

Ballake Sissoko who plays the traditional Kora, a 18-string flute-harp from Mali,

and Vincent Segal, the French cellist from the famous trip-hop band Bumcello, are giving a new sense and sound for that kind of music.

Their music is a hybrid of African and European idioms where the graceful melodies of the Kora interact with the delicate notes of the cello. Chamber Music is considered as one of the most beautiful recordings of “world music” in recent years. Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal show that the best musi-

cal marriages are born from simplicity... and friendship. Invited by the French Embassy to Kuwait, the Kora master from Mali, Ballake Sissoko and the talented French cellist, Vincent Segal will perform for the 1st time in Kuwait and the Gulf on Shamiya theater stage for a unique concert. Don’t miss it...

Ballake Sissoko (Mali): Kora player Vincent Segal (France): Cellist Free entrance / Limited seats.

Upcoming events Future Eye Theatre to hold seminar Future Eye Theatre, Kuwait will hold an interactive seminar on ‘Theatre and Poetry’ at 6.30 pm on Saturday, October 22 at the Successlines auditorium, Abbassia. Visiting theatre personalities from Kerala Madhu Sankaramangalam and M K Gopalakrishnan (Vidheyan fame) will lead the seminar outlining the emerging trends in Malayalam theatre based on visual representation of poetry. Theatre actors will reinforce their presentations by dramatic performances of poetry. All theater lovers are welcome. For details contact, Tel: 97277151, 97106957 or 90025785.

Tulukoota talent hunt Tulukoota Kuwait will hold a “Talent Hunt 2011” a chance to prove an inborn trait in you that confirms your individuality, uniqueness. For more information and registration form kindly log on to our Website: www.tulukootakuwait.org or visit our facebook page Tulukoota Kuwait Talent Hunt 2011. You could also email your form request to: secretary@tulukootakuwait.org or contact our area coordinators mentioned below. Mangaf, Fahaheel, Abuhalifa : Ronald Dsouza- 60035824, Shalini Alva- 23726164, Suma Bhatt- 97834578 Salmiya & Hawally: Swarna Shetty- 99006934, Kripa Gatty- 66044194 Kuwait

Nedumudi Venu, Prof Aliyar, Narendraprasad, M R Gopakumar and Murali sought to present poems with the support of theatrical idioms and gestures.

“The experiment was an instant hit. The new style called ‘cholkaazcha’ became very popular among theatre as well as poetry lovers in Kerala,” he adds. Poems in lighter veins and folk songs are usually chosen for ‘cholkaazhcha.’ The actor enacts a poem with the support of

City, Jahra, Sharq: Rekha Sachu- 65044521,97862115 Farwaniya, Abbassiya, Shuwaikh & Khaitan: Sathyanarayana- 66585077 Sanath Shetty- 67712409.

BEC T10 Cricket tournament The BEC T10 Tennis Ball Cricket Tournament will be organized & played from 7th October to 11th November, 2011.

The Tournament being organized by RED N BLACK CRICKET CLUB and sponsored by BEC EXCHANGE will be played out in Abu Halifa cricket grounds. For registration and other queries please mail at mail@rednblack.org or call 66820148/ 66130940/ 66841653.

KGA Alemao Memorial Football Tournament The 3rd edition of Eslinda Alemao Memorial Football 7-aside tournament will be held on first day of Eid Al Adha Festival (6th November 2011) to be held at the MOH Grounds, Al-Sabah Hospital Premises, Shuwaikh under the auspices of Kuwait Indian Football Federation (KIFF). All KIFF affiliated teams are requested to contact the organizers, Kuwait Goan Association (KGA). For more info, Email: kgakuwait@gmail.com Tel: (+965) 94963677.

simple musical instruments. He or she will use minimal theatrical properties and costumes so as to suggest the character he/she performs,” Gopalakrishnan explains.

French Business Council holds general assembly

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n October 18, 2011, the French Business Council - Kuwait held its General Assembly at IBIS hotel in Salmiya. Nada Yafi, French Ambassador to Kuwait opened the Assembly: “France has excellent political relationship with Kuwait, based on trust and friendship, and a real partnership, we also have excellent contact with the people at a social, cultural level, we do also attract considerable numbers of tourists, and an important amount of investments but we still do not enjoy the economic and trade relations we should indeed have, given all the good reasons for shaping such a relationship. I am determined to work, together with our business community to bring the economic relations to the level of our strong political bilateral relations.

The French Business Council in Kuwait (FBCK) is in that way important to strengthen the relationship with the Kuwaiti economic authorities, to make the French business presence in Kuwait more visible, but also to contribute to the development of trade and investment between our two countries. I fully support its role and successful actions.”

The President of the FBCK, Alain Lamarlere, presented the main events organized over the past year, including the famous monthly breakfasts, as well as the June conference on the theme of Kuwait Development Plan that attracted over 150 guests. “The success of that event was the result of the close cooperation between German, Italian, Spanish and French business community”, stated Alain Lamarlere. He also mentioned the projects the Board will be working on for next year. Ernst & Young Kuwait submitted the 2010/2011 financial statements that were approved by the FBCK members. Finally, a new Board was elected for the period 2011 / 2013.

The French Business Council - Kuwait was launched in 2006 under the umbrella of the French Embassy, and has since established itself as the partner of choice For French companies in/coming to Kuwait and Kuwaiti companies willing to do business with France.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Kuwait Towers to host week-long Indian food festival

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he Kuwait Towers, one of most important facilities of the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC), will host a week-long Indian food festival from today, Oct 21 till next Friday Oct 28.

The festival will be opened officially on Sunday, Oct 23 under the auspices of TEC Managing Director Khalid Abdallah Al-Ghanim. Indian Ambassador Satish C. Mehta will accompany Al-Ghanim. It is hoped that the festival will heighten cultural awareness within Kuwait and simultaneously showcase the varieties of international cuisine currently served at Kuwait Towers.

TEC sales supervisor at Kuwait

Towers Mohammed Al-Wawash explained that Indian cuisine is considered one of the most famous in the world, offering great diversity in dishes that originate in India’s various regions and which rely on simplicity, variety and the delicate use of herbs and spices. Basic regional ingredients include rice, wheat and Indian spices, such as black pepper and chili, which originated in the Indian Subcontinent and are now consumed the world over.

Al-Tawash also revealed that Kuwait Towers management has invited a group of renowned Indian chefs hailing from Mumbai, Jamu, Kashmir and Kerala as well as chefs from East and South Asia to partake in the event.

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA In order to inform that 23rd of October 2011, will be Argentine national election where all Argentinean citizen residents permanently in Kuwait can vote only if they are registered at the Electoral Register of the Argentine Embassy. The procedure of inscription ended on 25 of April 2011. To register it is necessary that Argentinean citizens should come personally at the Argentinean Embassy (Block 6, street 42, villa 57, Mishref) and present the DNI and four personal photos (size 4x4, face should be front on white background). For further information, contact us on 25379211. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF BRITAIN The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on the same dates above. The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 0930 - 1630 Application forms remain available online from the UKBAs’ website: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk or from the Visa Application Centre’s website: www.vfs-ukkw.com. And also, from the UK Visa Application Centre located at: 4B, First Floor, Al Banwan Building (Burgan Bank Branch Office Building), Al Qibla area, opposite Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City. For any further inquiries, please contact the Visa Application Centre: Website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com E-mail:info@vfs-uk-kw.com Telephone:22971170.

The Consular Section will also be closed on the same dates. For information on the British Embassy services, visit the British Embassy website: www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk nnnnnnn

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Biggest Indian property exhibition to open today

ndus India Property Exhibition 2011, the largest Indian real estate show in Kuwait this year will be inaugurated at 10.45 am today by Satish C Mehta, the Indian Ambassador to Kuwait. The twoday exhibition, which will run on Friday the 21 and Saturday, the 22 of October at the Ramada Hotel Kuwait in Al-Riggae, will be open to the public from 10.45am to 8.30pm.

More than 100 projects from some of the biggest names in the Indian real estate sector will be on offer at the exhibition. Properties on display range in price from Rs30 crore to Rs1.5 lakh and include apartments, independent homes, premium bungalows, luxury villas, farm houses, commercial properties, beach resorts and stand-alone plots. Real estate developments in New Delhi, NCR,

Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Navsari, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Nelloor, Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Trichy, Ooty, Hosur, Jaipur and Gurgaon are being showcased at the exhibition.

Among the prominent builders at the exhibition will be Jaypee Greens, the real estate arm of the Indian business conglomerate Jaypee Group, who will be showcasing their golf-centric premium residences in Greater Noida and their 5000 acres Jaypee Greens Sports City.

Another highlight of the exhibition will be that, for the very time in Kuwait, HDFC will be offering instant loan approval for buyers looking at easy payment options.

The $12 billion Indian real estate market is on a high-growth curve, on the back of a booming economy, increased

participation of global players in the Indian market, new innovations in building materials and construction technologies coming to India, new norms and policies with respect to maintenance of buildings, the general upgrading of infrastructure, entry of some world-class players in the hospitality and entertainment sector and liberalized FDI regime.

The exhibition provides an opportunity for buyers and investors to directly interact with builders and developers in order to find the best options for owning properties or investing in the thriving Indian real estate industry. The property exhibition is organized by Indus Fairs and Events, the pioneer and premier exhibition organizing company in India, in association with Response Events and Exhibitions in Kuwait.

The Linden Boarding School Tour visits Kuwait

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n October 26, 2011, at the Marina Hotel, the Linden Boarding School Tour will return to host art education event to promote summer programs and boarding schools in the United States. Representatives from 13 US boarding schools will be on hand to answer questions from Kuwaiti students and their families. The event is organized by the Department of State s Education USA center, AMIDEAST in Kuwait.

EducationUSA advisors along with

AMIDEAST staff will present at the event to promote education in the United States. A US Embassy Consular Officer will be available to answer questions about the student visa process.

Recruiters from Linden Boarding School Tour will provide information about admission standards, financial aid opportunities, summer programs, and student life at different US boarding schools and academies. They will represent the following American institutions:

Emma Willard School, Wayland Academy, Indian Springs School, THINK Global School, North Country School, Thornton Academy. Perkiomen School, Ross School, Winchendon School, George School, Hawaii Preparatory Academy. Blue Ridge School, Admiral Farragut Academy.

Additional information about studying in the United States can be found at the website http://www.educationussa.state.gov/ and http://www.amideast.org/.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, AlMutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form.

All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed.

To ensure that the most recent version of the Temporary Resident Visa application form is being utilized, applicants should refer to the CIC website. As of January 15, 2011, forms are to be filled in electronically.

The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday.

The forms are available on the internet at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5257E. PDF. A guide explaining the process can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5256E.PDF.

TV Listings FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

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00:25 Keeping Up Appearances 01:25 The Weakest Link 02:10 Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard 03:00 Eastenders 03:30 Doctors 04:00 Keeping Up Appearances 04:30 Balamory 04:50 Gigglebiz 05:05 Me Too 05:25 Charlie And Lola 05:35 Buzz & Tell 05:45 Balamory 06:05 Gigglebiz 06:20 Me Too 06:40 Charlie And Lola 06:55 Buzz & Tell 07:05 Balamory 07:25 Gigglebiz 07:40 Me Too 08:00 Charlie And Lola 08:10 Buzz & Tell 08:20 Balamory 08:40 Gigglebiz 08:55 Me Too 09:15 Charlie And Lola 09:25 Buzz & Tell 09:40 Keeping Up Appearances 10:40 The Weakest Link 11:25 Coast 12:25 Doctors 12:55 Eastenders 13:25 Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard 14:20 Keeping Up Appearances 15:20 Coast 16:20 The Weakest Link 17:10 Doctors 17:40 Eastenders 18:10 Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard 19:00 Coast 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:20 Robin Hood 22:05 Afterlife 23:00 After You’ve Gone 23:30 Him And Her

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00:00 Backstory 00:30 World Sport 01:00 The Situation Room 02:00 World Report 03:00 World Business Today 04:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 05:00 Anderson Cooper 360 06:00 World Sport 06:30 I Report For CNN 07:00 World Report 07:30 Backstory 08:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 The Best Of Backstory 11:00 World Business Today 11:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 12:00 American Morning: Wake-Up Call 12:30 The Best Of Backstory 13:00 World One 14:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 The Brief 18:30 World Sport 19:00 World Report 19:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 20:00 International Desk 20:30 The CNN Freedom Project 21:00 Quest Means Business 21:45 CNN Marketplace Africa 22:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Mutant Planet Queens Of The Savannah Untamed & Uncut I Shouldn’t Be Alive Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife The Really Wild Show Baby Planet Breed All About It Must Love Cats Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Animal Cops Miami Michaela’s Animal Road Trip World Wild Vet Mutant Planet Weird Creatures With Nick Baker Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife The Really Wild Show Penguin Safari Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 My Cat From Hell Weird Creatures With Nick Baker Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Mutant Planet Whale Wars Untamed & Uncut Monster Bug Wars

The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Antiques Roadshow Masterchef Australia Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Antiques Roadshow Daily Cooks Challenge Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets The Hairy Bikers Ride Again Eating In The Sun Come Dine With Me Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt Daily Cooks Challenge Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets The Hairy Bikers Ride Again Eating In The Sun

THE NEXT KARATE KID ON OSN ACTION HD 19:50 20:40 22:25 23:10

Come Dine With Me Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt Masterchef Australia

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BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News America Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday The Bottom Line BBC World News World Business Report BBC World News World Business Report BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News The Bottom Line BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today

14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact 16:30 Our World 17:00 Impact 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World Have Your Say 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 19:30 BBC World News 19:40 Weekend World 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 21:30 World Have Your Say Extra 21:40 Weekend World 22:00 BBC World News 22:30 Middle East Business Report 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 The Bottom Line

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 05:55 06:20 06:45

Robotboy - Elements Squirrel Boy George Of The Jungle Cramp Twins Chop Socky Chooks Best Ed My Gym Partner’s A Monkey Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Generator Rex Adventure Time Flapjack Chowder Powerpuff Girls Ed, Edd n Eddy I Am Weasel Squirrel Boy Cow & Chicken

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

Eliot Kid Cow & Chicken Eliot Kid Angelo Rules Best Ed Flapjack My Gym Partner’s A Monkey The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Courage The Cowardly Dog Cow & Chicken I Am Weasel Adventure Time Ben 10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers The Secret Saturdays Samurai Jack Ben 10: Alien Force Codename Kids Skunk Fu! My Gym Partner’s A Monkey Flapjack Ed, Edd n Eddy Camp Lazlo Chowder The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Cow & Chicken Courage The Cowardly Dog I Am Weasel George Of The Jungle Casper’s Scare School Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Generator Rex Star Wars: The Clone Wars Hero 108 Bakugan: New Vestroia Total Drama Action Adventure Time Billy And Mandy Ben 10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers The Secret Saturdays Samurai Jack Megas XLR

00:15 00:40 01:35 02:05 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:45 09:10 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 11:50 12:20 Junior 13:15 14:10 15:05 15:30 16:00 16:25 16:55 17:20 17:50 18:45 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 Junior 22:25 22:50 23:20

Swamp Brothers Extreme Fishing Stunt Junkies Time Warp Dirty Jobs Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How It’s Made How Stuff’s Made Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Stunt Junkies Time Warp How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings Carfellas South Beach Classics American Chopper: Senior vs Ultimate Survival Extreme Fishing Swamp Brothers Cash Cab Us Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Stunt Junkies Time Warp Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Cash Cab Us American Chopper: Senior vs Carfellas South Beach Classics Desert Car Kings

00:05 The Tech Show 00:30 Mega Builders 01:20 Stunt Junkies 01:45 Invisible Worlds 02:35 Brainiac 03:25 The Gadget Show 03:50 The Gadget Show 04:15 How Stuff’s Made 04:45 Mega Builders 05:40 One Step Beyond 06:10 Ecopolis 07:00 Scrapheap Challenge 07:55 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman 08:50 The Tech Show 09:15 Weird Connections 09:40 The Gadget Show 10:05 The Gadget Show 10:35 Ecopolis 11:30 Sci-Fi Science 11:55 How Stuff’s Made 12:25 Invisible Worlds 13:15 Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman 14:05 One Step Beyond

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

Stunt Junkies Mega Builders Weird Connections Scrapheap Challenge Brainiac Sci-Fi Science The Tech Show Future Weapons Space Pioneer The Future of...

The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Future Weapons Space Pioneer The Gadget Show

00:00 00:25 00:50 01:15 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:15 03:35 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:20 06:45 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:20 14:55 15:20 15:45 16:10

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Stitch Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Stitch Stitch Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Emperor’s New School The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Handy Manny Imagination Movers The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Hannah Montana Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Shake It Up

00:30 01:15 02:05 02:50 03:40 04:25 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:45 08:35 09:20 09:45 10:05 10:50 11:40 12:25 13:15 14:00 14:50 15:15 15:35 16:20 17:10 18:00 18:45 19:10 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:40

The Haunted A Haunting Cuff Me If You Can Forensic Justice Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting The Haunted Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries Undercover Forensic Detectives Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol Fugitive Strike Force FBI Files Undercover True Crime With Aphrodite Jones Extreme Forensics Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Fugitive Strike Force FBI Files Forensic Detectives Undercover Real Emergency Calls Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Jones Extreme Forensics Stalked: Someone’s Watching I Was Murdered Deadly Women: Face To Face Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Dr G: Medical Examiner

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

Meet The Natives David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue: Bali Travel Madness City Chase: Argentina Cruise Ship Diaries Ultimate Traveller

TV Listings FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

06:00 Meet The Natives 07:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 07:30 Bondi Rescue 08:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 08:30 Travel Madness 09:00 City Chase: Argentina 10:00 Cruise Ship Diaries 11:00 Ultimate Traveller 12:00 Meet The Natives 13:00 Wild Rides 14:00 Treks In A Wild World 14:30 Amazing Adventures of A Nobody UK 15:00 Amazing Adventures of A Nobody USA 15:30 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody: Europe 16:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 17:00 A World Apart 18:00 Departures 19:00 Wild Rides 19:30 Wild Rides 20:00 Treks In A Wild World 20:30 Amazing Adventures of A Nobody UK 21:00 Amazing Adventures of A Nobody USA 21:30 Amazing Adventures Of A Nobody: Europe 22:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 23:00 A World Apart

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:15 12:00 14:00 16:15 18:15 20:00 22:00

Bad Guys-18 From Within-PG15 The Grudge 3-18 Evolution-PG15 King Arthur-PG15 Deceit-PG15 The Fast And The Furious-PG15 King Arthur-PG15 The Next Karate Kid-PG The Fast And The Furious-PG15 Mindhunters-18 The Final-18

00:45 03:00 05:15 PG 07:00 09:00 11:15 13:00 15:00 16:45 19:15 21:00 23:00

Synecdoche, New York-18 The Brothers Bloom-PG15 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-

00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Party Down The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Friends Friends Two And A Half Men The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Malcolm In The Middle Coach Weird Science Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Two And A Half Men Friends Malcolm In The Middle Wilfred Outsourced Coach Weird Science The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Two And A Half Men Friends Malcolm In The Middle Coach Wilfred Outsourced The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Weird Science Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Mad Love The Office Community Hot In Cleveland The Tonight Show With Jay Leno The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Family Guy Entourage Party Down The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

00:00 01:30 02:00 03:00

The X Factor (US) Look-A-Like Treme Bones

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

The Invisible Man Good Morning America Law & Order: Criminal Intent Emmerdale Turn Back Your Body Clock The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View The X Factor (US) Look-A-Like Live Good Morning America The Invisible Man The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tower Prep Glee Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights Law & Order: Criminal Intent

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Law & Order Treme No Ordinary Family The X Factor (US) Bones Law & Order Two And A Half Men Two And A Half Men Burn Notice Bones The X Factor (US) Two And A Half Men Burn Notice Law & Order Two And A Half Men Two And A Half Men White Collar Glee Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights No Ordinary Family

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00

Jennifer’s Body-18 Ong Bak 2-PG15 Storm Warning-18 Raising Cain-PG15

09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Ballistica-PG15 Patriot Games-PG15 Altitude-PG15 Ballistica-PG15 Blood And Bone-18 El Orfenato-18 Mirrors 2-18 Survival Of The Dead-PG15

00:00 Molly-PG15 02:00 500 Days Of Summer-PG15 04:00 12 Men Of Christmas-PG15 06:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel-FAM 08:00 Revenge Of The Bridesmaids-PG15 10:00 From Justin To Kelly-PG 12:00 Dr. Dolittle-PG 14:00 My Sassy Girl-PG15 16:00 Molly-PG15 18:00 Stan Helsing-18 20:00 Bulletproof-18 22:00 Unmade Beds-18

01:45 03:30 05:00 07:15 09:15 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 19:30 21:15 23:00

For Keeps-PG15 Tuck Everlasting-PG Of Gods And Men-PG15 The Last Station-PG15 Tuck Everlasting-PG Sweet Liberty-PG15 Where The Wild Things Are-PG Unstrung Heroes-PG15 Not Since You-PG15 Spring 89-U Freakonomics-PG15 New York I Love You-18 Frenzy-PG15

01:15 03:30 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00

Moulin Rouge!-PG15 The Client List-PG15 Sweet Home Alabama-PG15 Leap Year-PG15 School Of Rock-PG15 The Last Song-PG15 Alice In Wonderland-PG

15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

The Informant!-PG15 School Of Rock-PG15 Precious-18 Machete-18 Shrink-18

00:00 Christopher Columbus-PG 02:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 04:00 Turandot-PG 06:00 Christopher Columbus-PG 08:00 Columbus III: The New World-PG 10:00 Winner & The Gold Child (1)-PG15 12:00 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie-PG 14:00 Lego: The Adventures Of Clutch Powers-FAM 16:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 18:00 Winner & The Gold Child (1)-PG15 20:00 Shipwrecked-PG15 22:00 Columbus III: The New World-PG

00:00 02:00 04:00 PG15 06:00 08:00 10:15 12:00 14:00 15:45 18:00 20:00 22:00

Family Gathering-PG15 Predators-18 The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond-

01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 04:30 06:45 09:00 10:00

The Ultimate Fighter WWE NXT RWC Weekly Highlights Total Rugby Rugby World Cup Rugby World Cup RWC Weekly Highlights Live RWC Matchday

Inside Job-PG15 Carnera: The Walking Mountain-PG Family Gathering-PG15 Our Family Wedding-PG15 Coyote County Loser-PG15 Carnera: The Walking Mountain-PG Cop Out-PG15 Machete-18 Pelican Blood-18

Skellig-PG15 The Brothers Bloom-PG15 The Open Road-PG15 Bustin’ Down The Door-PG15 The Devil’s Teardrop-PG15 The Karate Kid-PG The Maiden Heist-PG15 The Social Network-PG15 The Limits Of Control-18

THE BROTHERS BLOOM ON OSN CINEMA

10:30 12:30 13:30 14:00 15:00 19:00 19:30 21:30 22:30 23:00

Live Rugby World Cup 2011 Live RWC Matchday Total Rugby WWE NXT Live European PGA Tour RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup RWC Matchday Total Rugby WWE Bottom Line

01:00 01:30 03:30 06:30 10:00 10:30 12:30 13:30 14:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 21:30 22:30

Futbol Mundial LV Anglo Welsh Cup Masters Football Premier League Snooker Live RWC Matchday Live Rugby World Cup 2011 Live RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup Classics Premier League Snooker RWC Matchday ICC Cricket World Total Rugby RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup RWC Matchday Live LV Anglo Welsh Cup

01:30 02:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:30 15:00 19:00 19:30 20:15 22:15

Asian Tour Golf Show Premier League Snooker The Challenge Series Golf World Hockey Fivb Beach Volley Ball Golfing World European PGA Tour Futbol Mundial ICC Cricket World Golfing World European Tour Weekly Live European PGA Tour RWC Match Day Highlights ICC Cricket World Live Rugby Union Currie Cup European PGA Tour

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 15:30 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:30 23:30

WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter Intercontinental Le Mans Cup WWE NXT UFC 136 WWE NXT WWE Vintage Collection Power Boats F1 Champs Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Speedway FIM World WWE NXT Super Formula Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Power Boats UIM V8 Supercars Extra Aquabike World UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE Tough Enough WWE SmackDown Live Rugby League Aquabike World

00:25 00:55 01:25 03:15 04:10 05:05 06:00 07:50 08:20 09:15 10:15 12:05 13:05 14:05 14:35 15:30 16:25 16:55 17:55 18:55 19:55 20:55 21:25 22:25 23:25 23:55

Kendra Extreme Close-Up E!es 25 Most Stylish Sexiest Extreme Hollywood THS Behind The Scenes E! News The Dance Scene THS E! News Bridalplasty Keeping Up With The Kardashians Giuliana & Bill THS Behind The Scenes Keeping Up With The Kardashians E! News THS Kourtney & Kim Take New York Chelsea Lately Giuliana & Bill E! News Chelsea Lately Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00

Safari Stopovers People of the Sea Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy Planet Sports Globe Trekker Safari Stopovers Four Men and a Lady

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

Travel Channel Guide to Qatar Globe Trekker Intrepid Journeys Essential Specials Planet Food Cruise Today Essential Globe Trekker Opening Soon Hollywood and Vines People of the Sea Planet Sports Globe Trekker Four Men and a Lady Travel Channel Guide to Qatar Opening Soon Hollywood and Vines Globe Trekker Intrepid Journeys Safari Stopovers Food Tripper Globe Trekker

00:20 00:45 01:10 01:35 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:35 05:00 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:15 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:35 12:00 12:15 12:40 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:15 14:40 15:05 15:30 15:55 16:20 16:45 17:10 17:35 18:00 18:25 18:50 19:00 19:25 19:50 20:15 20:45 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:55 23:05 23:30 23:55

Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Johnny Bravo Duck Dodgers King Arthur’s Disasters The Scooby Doo Show Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Yogi’s Treasure Hunt The Garfield Show New Yogi Bear Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald Mcboing Boing Jelly Jamm Pink Panther And Pals Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley The Flintstones Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals Top Cat New Yogi Bear Show Puppy In My Pocket Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Jetsons Duck Dodgers Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Tom & Jerry The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show The Flintstones Pink Panther & Pals Gerald Mcboing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Top Cat Wacky Races Tom & Jerry The Scooby Doo Show Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Johnny Bravo Dexters Laboratory The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Investigating History Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Sea Detectives Investigating History Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Sea Detectives Investigating History Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Sea Detectives Investigating History Ice Road Truckers Mummy Forensics Ancients Behaving Badly Clash of the Gods Battles B.C.

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Information

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines RJA JZR THY ETH UAE ETD DHX FDB GFA QTR THY KAC JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY IRA ETD GFA MEA RBG JZR IYE MSR JZR KAC VOS KAC MSR UAL RJA FDB OMA QTR BBC KAC KAC KAC VOS JZR QTR JZR JZR MLR ETD UAE GFA SVA RBG JZR ABY FDB ALK JZR KAC KAC

Flt 642 267 772 620 853 305 370 67 211 138 770 544 503 555 157 416 206 284 302 53 332 678 352 362 855 132 125 619 301 213 404 3555 165 825 623 561 618 83 672 610 982 640 57 645 140 43 546 552 788 84 257 134 201 535 403 303 857 215 510 3557 239 127 63 227 177 166 502

Arrival Flights on Friday 21/10/2011 Route AMMAN BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI ABU DHABI BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA ISTANBUL CAIRO LUXOR ALEXANDRIA LONDON JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR ISLAMABAD DHAKA MUMBAI DUBAI TRIVANDRUM MUSCAT/DUBAI COCHIN COLOMBO DUBAI DOHA SHARJAH LAR ABU DHABI BAHRAIN BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA DUBAI SANAA SOHAG SOHAG DOHA BAGHDAD DUBAI CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES AMMAN DUBAI MUSCAT DOHA DHAKA ALEXANDRIA DAMASCUS JEDDAH DJIBOUTI BEIRUT DOHA DAMASCUS CAIRO COLOMBO/DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH SOHAG AMMAN SHARJAH DUBAI COLOMBO/DUBAI DUBAI PARIS/ROME BEIRUT

Time 0:05 0:35 1:15 1:45 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:10 3:15 3:20 4:10 4:40 5:15 6:10 6:30 6:35 7:15 7:40 7:50 7:55 7:55 8:00 8:05 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:20 9:30 9:35 10:55 11:05 11:10 12:05 12:10 12:25 12:55 13:15 13:15 13:20 13:30 13:35 13:50 14:00 14:15 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:50 15:00 15:10 15:15 15:45 15:50 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:35 17:35 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:00 18:40 18:45

KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC AIC JAI KAC FDB JZR OMA VOS MEA KAC SVA DHX GFA FCX QTR UAL UAE JZR JZR MSR DLH SAI JZR KLM JZR

542 213 744 614 102 674 774 975 572 562 61 787 647 81 402 786 506 372 217 304 136 981 859 135 185 612 636 441 539 447 481

Airlines KAC AXB DLH PIA THY ETH RLB VOS UAE FDB DHX ETD QTR THY JZR JZR JZR RJA GFA KAC BAW FDB JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR VOS

Flt 677 390 637 206 773 621 1203 94 854 68 371 306 139 771 560 560 164 643 212 545 156 54 534 534 177 671 551 256 787 617 617 856 126 133 84

CAIRO DEIREZZOR/ALEPPO DAMMAM BAHRAIN NEW YORK/LONDON DUBAI RIYADH CHENNAI/GOA MUMBAI AMMAN DUBAI RIYADH MUSCAT BAGHDAD BEIRUT JEDDAH JEDDAH BAHRAIN BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT LAHORE CAIRO AMSTERDAM/BAHRAIN SABIHA Departure Flights on Friday 21/10/2011 Route MUSCAT/DUBAI MANGALORE/KOZHIKODE FRANKFURT LAHORE ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA SHARJAH DUBAI/KANDAHAR DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DOHA ISTANBUL SOHAG SOHAG DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA LONDON DUBAI CAIRO CAIRO FRANKFURT/GENEVA DUBAI DAMASCUS BEIRUT JEDDAH DOHA DUBAI DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA BAGHDAD

18:50 19:05 19:15 19:20 19:25 19:25 19:25 19:30 19:35 19:50 20:00 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:15 20:20 20:35 21:00 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:10 22:35 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:30 23:35 23:50

Time 0:05 0:25 0:40 1:10 2:15 2:45 2:45 3:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 5:00 5:10 5:50 5:50 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:40 8:25 8:40 8:50 8:50 8:55 9:00 9:10 9:10 9:25 9:35 9:35 9:40 9:50 10:00 10:00

KAC ETD GFA IRA JZR RBG MEA KAC JZR JZR KAC KAC IYE MSR JZR VOS MSR RJA FDB UAL KAC OMA KAC KAC BBC JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR ETD MLR QTR UAE GFA RBG ABY JZR SVA FDB ALK JZR KAC KAC JAI FDB JZR KAC KAC OMA MEA SVA DHX GFA KAC QTR KAC KAC FCX JZR JZR UAE UAL KAC MSR SAI

117 302 214 618 200 3558 405 541 212 238 103 501 825 624 176 83 611 641 58 982 561 646 785 673 44 480 773 141 613 743 786 538 304 404 135 858 216 3556 128 184 511 64 228 134 283 361 571 62 528 343 351 648 403 507 373 218 381 137 301 205 102 502 554 860 981 411 613 442

NEW YORK ABU DHABI BAHRAIN LAR DAMASCUS SOHAG BEIRUT CAIRO DEIREZZOR/ALEPPO AMMAN LONDON BEIRUT DOHA/SANAA SOHAG DUBAI DJIBOUTI CAIRO AMMAN DUBAI BAHRAIN AMMAN MUSCAT JEDDAH DUBAI DHAKA SABIHA RIYADH DOHA BAHRAIN DAMMAM RIYADH CAIRO ABU DHABI DUBAI/COLOMBO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA SHARJAH DUBAI RIYADH DUBAI DUBAI/COLOMBO BAHRAIN DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI ASSIUT CHENNAI COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT JEDDAH BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DELHI DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD DUBAI LUXOR ALEXANDRIA DUBAI WASHINGTON DC DULLES BANGKOK/MANILA CAIRO LAHORE

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:00 10:15 10:20 10:20 10:20 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:05 12:10 12:30 13:00 13:05 13:10 13:40 14:00 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45 14:45 15:00 15:05 15:10 15:45 16:00 16:05 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:35 16:40 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:35 18:40 19:10 19:10 20:00 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:50 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:55 22:00 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:10 23:40 23:40 23:50 23:59

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Luxurious fully furnished one bed + bath, sea view in Salmiya, in a 2 bed apartment in Salmiya. Tri-weekly cleaning, OSN, wifi, pool, Gym. Shared kitchen and lounge with 1 person.

Contact: 55359977.

(C 3707) 20-1-2011 Furnished sharing accommodation for couple or single working lady in a 2 bed room C-A/C building.

Contact: 97896765.

(C 3699) 19-10-2011 Accommodation available for family near Kuwait City, Darwaza Abdul Razzak, Rabiya Building. Contact: 97560488 / 22440534.

(C 3682)

FOR SALE Mitsubishi Galant 98, 1 year passing, dark green color, price KD 450/- only. Contact: 65079379 5pm - 7pm.

Suzuki Jeep Grant VITARA, model 2011 full option sun roof, CD, fog lamb, alloy rim, keyless entry + starting, registration till 29-03-2014, 7,970km done only, white (metallic color) cash price KD 4,850/-, installment possible.

Contact: 66507741. (C 3705) 19-10-2011 Nissan Altima model 2008, full option, color white pearl, four cylinder, good condition, price KD 3,400/- only.

Contact: 99419677.

(C 3700) Toyota Corolla model 2006 GLi White color, 1.8 engine full option, sun roof, alloy

No: 15246

rim, CD, fog lamp, wooden interior, 78,000 km done, excellent condition, price KD 2,650/-. Contact: 99105286.

(C 3702) 17-10-2011 Toyota Corolla, model 1999, Xli, white (box), 1.8cc, automatic gear, well maintained, passing till May 2012, price negotiable. Only serious buyer contact: 99223481. (C 3697) Hyundai Galloper 2000 model automatic car in good condition, with metallic green color, new tires and battery, and registration up to August 2012. Serious buyers contact 66782239 / 25616795.

(C 3698) 16-10-2011

SITUATION VACANT Housemaid: Transferable residency, clean, honest, reliable likes cats and dogs, salary depending on residency and experience. Contact: 99042702.

(C 3703) Houseboy: Transferable residency, clean, honest, reliable for all house duties. No timewasters please. Contact: 99042702.

SITUATION WANTED Mechanical Engineering graduate, with immaculate English language skills, looking for a job in Kuwait.

Transferable residency.

Contact: 67078742.

(C 3663) 19-10-2011

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Sports

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Immaculata — the first women’s basketball dynasty PHILADELPHIA: Long before Tennessee and Connecticut, Immaculata College was the original women’s basketball dynasty.

And unlike Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma’s teams, which have dominated the women’s basketball landscape in an age of growing fan interest and TV coverage, coach Cathy Rush and her Mighty Macs built title winners out of grit and determination alone.

The all-girls Catholic school just outside of Philadelphia had virtually no money. It didn’t even have a home court to practice on after the gym burned down before Rush’s first year in 1971. The Mighty Macs were forced to work out at local grade schools and play all their games on the road.

Now, 40 years after its incredible run started, Immaculata’s story has been made into a movie (“The Mighty Macs”) that will open nationally today. But no film can quite capture what an underdog that team was.

Katie Hayek, who stars in the movie portraying a character based on Immaculata star Theresa Shank Grentz, admitted with a sheepish smile that she didn’t know much about the story before taking the role.

“It’s insane what they did, winning three championships and having no money,” said Hayek, who grew up in nearby Lancaster, and was a star basketball player in the area before earning a scholarship to Miami. “They hate being called the pioneers of women’s basketball, so I like to call them catalysts. Without them I probably wouldn’t have had a chance to play.”

Things were so bad for Immaculata that it had precious few basketballs to practice with, so when the team went to other schools for games, the Mighty Macs would “exchange” one of their bad balls for a new one.

“We had a whole collection of basketballs emblazoned with other school’s names,” Grentz recalled, laughing.

Yet despite those and many other hardships, the 23-year-old Rush coached her team to a spot in the first-ever women’s national college tournament in 1972. The Mighty Macs, as a 15th-seed, upset three teams to reach the finals in Illinois.

Even then, the Mighty Macs had hurdles to overcome.

Immaculata couldn’t afford to send everyone - despite fundraising with toothbrush sales and raffles, so three players were left behind. Even at less than full strength, Immaculata won the title, upsetting West Chester - which had beaten the Mighty Macs by 32 points a week earlier.

“It was Camelot, I don’t know that it will ever happen again the way it happened,” said Grentz, who became a successful college coach at Rutgers and Illinois. “So many things have changed, per diems, strength coaches, academic advisers, your own jet for travel. We didn’t have any of that.”

Rush and her Mighty Macs paved the way for the great teams to follow, winning the next two titles and appearing in five of the first six championship games.

And then, in the blink of an eye, they vanished from the national scene - a casualty of Title IX, which required colleges to offer women athletic scholarships. Once money played a major role in women’s sports, the champs of women’s basketball suddenly couldn’t compete.

Rush could have made a move to a bigger program, and her coaching credentials remain unparalleled. She won an eye-popping 91 percent (149-15) of her games over her tenure at Immaculata, including coaching the first undefeated national champion in 1973. Yet after she resigned in 1976 from the 500-student school, the Hall of Famer never coached again.

“I had a lot of offers, but my children were starting school and I

the game and that to me is an incredible legacy for them.”

Rush and Immaculata were trailblazers. The school was part of the first women’s game at Madison Square Garden. Now, the Maggie Dixon Classic is annually held there, drawing over 15,000 fans last season.

The Mighty Macs were also part of the first nationally televised game in 1975, playing Maryland.

Now over 250 games are broadcast

the Mighty Macs were on the verge last season of making the Division III NCAAs. They lost in the finals of the Colonial States Athletic Conference tournament.

“We were so disappointed last year because we were so close,” current Immaculata coach and athletic director Patricia Canterino said. “It would have been huge for us.”

Canterino also played for Immaculata from 1989-92 and

PHILADELPHIA: In this March 19, 1972 photo provided by Immaculata University (shown from left to right in the foreground) are Theresa Shank, Sister Mary of Lourdes, women’s basketball coach Cathy Rush and Janet Ruch after returning from winning the first-ever women’s national college tournament. —AP “Immaculata is the only school adversely affected by Title IX,” Rush said laughing. “I said we needed to give scholarships and they said we don’t want to be a jock school.”

At the time Rush was disappointed by the school administration’s decision to not offer scholarships, but as she says, it was just the arrogance of her youth.

“I was 25 at the time and thought they were so wrong, but they were so right,” she said. “That sized college wasn’t going to continue to be successful against UCLA, Texas or whomever. Those schools were going to attract the better players. I didn’t see that.”

wanted to spend time with them,” Rush said. “My original plan was to take a year off and then I’d go back the following year and go someplace else. It never did happen. I was really happy being a mom.”

She didn’t completely give up basketball, though, beginning a Future Stars camp that she still is involved in. Rush rattled off a Who’s Who of college coaches who have worked at her camp, including Auriemma.

“Immaculata was the founding fathers of what college basketball is today,” Auriemma said. “They were a team that was way ahead of their time. They left and then added to

on the ESPN networks, including the last 16 national championship games.

Rush also was an innovator in marketing the game. After drawing over 4,000 fans for a Monday afternoon game, she thought about charging admission in order to raise money for the program.

“I think of colleges today that don’t draw 3,000-4,000 to their games,” she said. “If we could do it, they can do it.”

Immaculata has changed over the years, going coed in 2005 and seeing the enrollment grow. While they haven’t made the national tournament since the glory years,

makes sure that the current athletes are aware of the team’s storied past. It’s hard for them to miss it with the championship trophies and banners on display around the gym.

The current Mighty Macs also honor Rush every year when they wear pink jerseys with her name on the back in their annual Pink Zone game in February. Rush is a breast cancer survivor.

“We still have such great support of the women’s basketball program from the sisters,” Canterino said.

“They still come to the game and sit in that same section right by the door as you come in.” —AP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Cards top Rangers in World Series ST. LOUIS: The St. Louis Cardinals took another step in their magic postseason ride by edging the Texas Rangers 3-2 in the opening game of the World Series Wednesday. A pinch-hit single in the sixth inning by Allen Craig scored David Freese from third and five relievers yielded just one hit over the final three innings to preserve the Cardinals’ win for starter Chris Carpenter.

Craig’s shot down the rightfield line was off Rangers’ imposing reliever Alexi Ogando, who had just entered the game in relief of starter CJ Wilson. The Texas right-hander was 2-0 with a 0.87 earned run average in the postseason.

“Cold weather game, sitting on the bench, World Series, Ogando, it’s not a very good situation,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said about second-year player Craig.

“But he’s got a history in our system. That’s why we like him so much. He’s got a history of taking great at bats, especially runners in scoring position.” The win gave wild card St. Louis a positive start toward an unlikely 11th World Series crown, given that the Redbirds trailed Atlanta by 10 1/2 games with a month to go before a late surge put them into the postseason on the last day. Texas manager Ron Washington refused to be second-guessed in calling for Ogando to replace Wilson. “He was my best pitcher I felt right there in that situation.” he said. “He can command all his pitches. In the end you have to give Craig credit. He beat him.

“We certainly didn’t lose tonight, we got

beat. They had an opportunity to push a run across. The pinch hitter got it done, and ours didn’t. Got to give them credit, they beat us.”

St. Louis opened the scoring in the fourth when Lance Berkman lined a two-run single to right. Texas tied the score an inning later on a

two-run homer deep into the rightfield stands

by Mike Napoli. “I feel like we have to win the National League-style games if we’re going to win this thing, and tonight was a National League-style game, 3-2,” said Berkman. “Good pitching, good defense, timely hitting. And I

ST LOUIS: Texas Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz can’t come up with a hit by St. Louis Cardinals’ Allen Craig during the sixth inning of Game 1 of baseball’s World Series . — AP

Leafs shoot down Jets TORONTO: Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists to help the Toronto Maple Leafs rally for a 4-3 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.

Kessel extended his NHL lead in goals and points on a night where Toronto appeared headed for its first regulation loss after falling behind 3-1 midway through the second period. He has seven goals and 12 points in five games.

Joffrey Lupul scored twice in regulation for Toronto (4-0-1), which starts its first trip of the season in Boston on Thursday night.

Kessel failed to score in the shootout, but Joffrey Lupul and Matt Frattin made sure it didn’t matter by beating Ondrej Pavelec. Mark Scheifele, with his first NHL goal, and Tobias Enstrom and Alexander Burmistrov scored in regulation for Winnipeg (1-3-1).

The Maple Leafs struggled in the first two periods, managing just 12 shots while getting serenaded with boos during disorganized stretches with the man advantage.

That changed quickly with powerplay goals 27 seconds apart early in the third period. Lupul’s shot deflected off Enstrom’s stick and past Pavelec at 7:28, and Kessel one-timed Dion Phaneuf’s pass to tie it at 3 at 7:55. He leapt into the arms of teammates as the Air Canada Centre came alive.

Toronto has received almost all of its offence from the first line of Kessel, Lupul and Tyler Bozak while earning nine of a possible 10 points to start the season. It began as a promising night for Winnipeg in its first visit to a Canadian city. A number of fans turned up wearing Jets sweaters and the Leafs rolled out the welcome mat with a scoreboard tribute during a stoppage in play early

in the first period. Shortly after, Enstrom opened the scoring with Winnipeg’s first power-play goal of the season. He fired a shot through all kinds of traffic that eluded James Reimer at 9:49.

Lupul tied it up less than 2 minutes later with a one-timer that shattered the lens of the in-goal camera. Kessel made a nice play to beat two defenders before

finding Lupul. Winnipeg pulled ahead 31 in the middle period. Burmistrov completed a give-and-go with former Leaf Nik Antropov at 2:27 and Scheifele scored on a power play just over 5 minutes later. Scheifele, from nearby Kitchener, pumped his fists as friends and family in the arena cheered loudly from the stands. — AP

NHL standings

Pittsburgh Philadelphia NY Islanders New Jersey NY Rangers Toronto Buffalo Boston Montreal Ottawa Washington Carolina Florida Tampa Bay Winnipeg

Detroit Chicago Nashville St. Louis Columbus Colorado Minnesota Edmonton Vancouver Calgary Dallas Anaheim Los Angeles Phoenix San Jose PHILADELPHIA: Toronto Maple Leafs’ Matt Frattin watches his shot for an empty-net goal in this file photo. — AP

don’t think that we want to get into a gorilla-ball type series with these guys.” After two league championship series dominated by sluggers, pitching ruled Game One of the Fall Classic on a blustery night at Busch Stadium where temperatures dipped into the 40s.

Cardinals ace Carpenter got the win after yielding two runs on five hits over six innings.

After they took the lead, the relievers slammed the door on Texas, who are keen to make amends for losing last year’s World Series to San Francisco. Reliever Jason Motte sealed the victory with a flawless ninth, the hard-throwing righthander enticing Nelson Cruz to fly to left for the final out.

The Rangers had several opportunities to break the game open but failed to come through with runners in scoring position.

“Whenever you have an opportunity to win a game-at home especially-it’s important that you go ahead and do that,” said Berkman.

“We put ourselves in a position to win, and if somehow you let them come back and win that game, psychologically it’s tough.” Game Two is late yesterday in St. Louis before the best-of-seven series shifts to suburban Dallas for Game Three Saturday. “Playing a team like Texas, you love to get off to a start like that,” said Berkman.

“But we view it as just a victory. “You know, there’s three more that we’ve got to grab, and this is obviously important because it puts us in a position to head that way.”— Reuters

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF 4 2 2 23 4 0 1 19 3 1 0 11 3 1 0 9 1 1 2 9 Northeast Division 4 0 1 17 4 1 0 17 2 4 0 11 1 3 1 12 1 5 0 16 Southeast Division 5 0 0 18 3 2 1 17 3 2 0 14 1 3 2 18 1 3 1 10 Western Conference Central Division 4 0 0 13 3 1 1 17 2 2 1 12 2 4 0 15 0 5 1 12 Northwest Division 5 1 0 20 2 2 2 14 2 2 1 10 2 3 1 14 2 3 0 13 Pacific Division 5 1 0 16 4 1 0 11 3 1 1 14 2 2 1 15 1 3 0 10

GA 20 10 6 8 9

PTS 10 9 6 6 4

13 10 13 16 30

9 8 4 3 2

11 19 13 26 18

10 7 6 4 3

5 12 15 20 20

8 7 5 4 1

13 16 10 20 15

10 6 5 5 4

13 9 10 16 11

10 8 7 5 2

Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Lanka face uphill task for survival after Umar’s 236

Marion Bartoli of France returns a shot to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during their quarterfinal match at the Japan Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo,Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011. —AP

Bartoli advances at Kremlin Cup MOSCOW: Marion Bartoli of France kept her chances of qualifying for the WTA Championships alive yesterday after she beat Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-1, 6-1 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup. In the men’s second round, Jeremy Chardy of France upset third-seeded Aleksandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (6).

The third-seeded Bartoli, fresh off her seventh career triumph at the Japan Open, needs to take the title in Moscow to secure the last spot for the season-ending event in Istanbul next week.

“I really do not think of it,” Bartoli said. “I’m just trying to fight for every point when I’m on the court and I try to play the best I can. And then we’ll see where it takes me.”

Agnieszka Radwanska, who leads Bartoli by 330 points, lost to Lucie Safarova on Wednesday to leave Bartoli in control of clinching her place.

After dropping her first serve, the eighth-ranked Bartoli won 11 consecutive games for a set and 5-0 lead. Pervak then saved five match points on serve before Bartoli closed out the match with an ace.

“For the first 15-20 minutes, there were very tight games,” Bartoli said. “And though I was leading, every game was really close. But then I began serving better.”

Pervak said she could not find her rhythm and didn’t expected Bartoli to play “so strong and be so motivated” in her first match here.

In today’s quarterfinals, Bartoli will play Elena Vesnina, who earlier beat her fellow Russian Ekaterina Ivanova, a qualifier, 63, 6-4.

In other women’s second round matches, eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 6-2.—AP

ABU DHABI: Sri Lanka were fighting to save the first Test under a heavy 300-plus deficit after Pakistani opener Taufiq Umar hit his maiden double hundred on the third day here yesterday.

Shot out for a low score of 197, Sri Lanka closed on 47-1 after Umar hit a sedate 236 to lift Pakistan to 511-6 declared in their first innings at Abu Dhabi stadium.

Sri Lanka, who conceded a 314-run lead, still need another 267 runs to avoid an innings defeat with the pitch showing sings of turn which Pakistan’s off-spinners Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez will likely to exploit.

Paceman Umar Gul struck with the first ball of the second innings, trapping Tharanga Paranavitana before Lahiru Thirimanne (20) and Kumar Sangakkara (27) survived some anxious moments to see off the day.

It was Umar’s typical Test match knock which held the Pakistani innings together, adding invaluable runs with Azhar Ali (70), Younis Khan (33), Misbah-ul Haq (46) and Asad Shafiq (26 not out).

Umar’s is the first double hundred by a Pakistani opener since Aamir Sohail’s 205 against England at Old Trafford in 1992, highlighting the lack of quality openers and their regular chopping in the country’s team. The 31-year-old left-hander hit 17 boundaries and a six during his marathon 700-minute stay at the crease, showing immense concentration and application, before he ran out of stamina and was run out. He batted solidly, consumed 496 deliveries to notch the second highest Test score by a Pakistani opener behind Hanif Mohammad’s 337, made against the West Indies at Bridgetown in 1958. He added 160 for the second wicket with Ali, 82 with Younis for third, 76 with Misbah for the fourth and 75 with Shafiq for the fifth.

Pakistan resumed at 259-1 with overnight pair of Umar and Ali extending their second wicket stand as they again remained unflappable on a pitch that gave little response to pace and spin.

Ali, who has 10 half centuries in 14 Tests now, yet again failed to register his maiden hundred as he came late on a swinging delivery which uprooted his off-stump. Ali struck six boundaries. —AFP

ABU DHABI: Pakistan’s Tauseef Umer on his way to 190 as Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardena looks on during the third day of a Test. — AP

SCOREBOARD CENTURION, South Africa: Scoreboard in the first one-day international between South Africa and Australia at SuperSport Park yesterday: Australia F. du Plessis c Hussey b Johnson 27 D. Warner b Steyn 20 D. Miller c Clarke b Doherty 11 R. Ponting c Botha b Steyn 63 M. Boucher lbw b Doherty 1 M. Clarke run out (Botha) 44 J. Botha hit wicket b Cummins 25 M. Hussey not out 30 D. Steyn c Bollinger b Johnson 5 B. Haddin c Duminy b Kallis 9 M. Morkel not out 1 M. Marsh not out 8 L. Tsotsobe c Marsh b Johnson 4 Extras (lb1, nb1, w7) 9 Extras (lb1, w7) 8 Total (4 wkts, 29 overs) 183 Total (22 overs) 129 Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Warner), 2-123 Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Smith), 2-40 (Kallis), (Clarke), 3-159 (Ponting), 4-174 3-44 (Duminy), 4-55 (Amla), 5-74 (Haddin) (Miller), 6-80 (Boucher), 7-93 (Du Bowling: Steyn 6-0-48-2 (nb1), Tsotsobe Plessis), 8-118 (Steyn), 9-119 (Botha), 6-0-32-0, Kallis 6-1-35-1, Morkel 6-0-32- 10-129 (Tsotsobe) 0 (w2), Botha 5-0-35-0 (w1) Bowling: Bollinger 4-0-28-1, Johnson 5Did not bat: S. Smith, M. Johnson, X. 0-20-3 (w2), Cummins 3-0-28-3, Doherty, P. Cummins, D. Bollinger Doherty 6-0-33-2, Marsh 4-0-19-1 Result: Australia won by 93 runs South Africa (Duckworth/Lewis method; revised tarG. Smith lbw b Bollinger 4 get 223 in 29 overs) H. Amla c Haddin b Marsh 24 Man of the match: Ricky Ponting (AUS) J. Kallis b Cummins 15 Series: Australia lead the three-match J. Duminy c Clarke b Cummins 4 series 1-0

Australia powers to 93-run win over SA SCOREBOARD CENTURION, South Africa: Scoreboard in the first one-day international between South Africa and Australia at SuperSport Park yesterday: Australia D. Warner b Steyn 20 R. Ponting c Botha b Steyn 63 M. Clarke run out (Botha) 44 M. Hussey not out 30 B. Haddin c Duminy b Kallis 9 M. Marsh not out 8 Extras (lb1, nb1, w7) 9 Total (4 wkts, 29 overs) 183 Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Warner), 2-123 (Clarke), 3159 (Ponting), 4-174 (Haddin) Bowling: Steyn 6-0-48-2 (nb1), Tsotsobe 6-0-320, Kallis 6-1-35-1, Morkel 6-0-32-0 (w2), Botha 50-35-0 (w1) Did not bat: S. Smith, M. Johnson, X. Doherty, P. Cummins, D. Bollinger South Africa G. Smith lbw b Bollinger 4 H. Amla c Haddin b Marsh 24 J. Kallis b Cummins 15 J. Duminy c Clarke b Cummins 4 F. du Plessis c Hussey b Johnson 27

D. Miller c Clarke b Doherty 11 M. Boucher lbw b Doherty 1 J. Botha hit wicket b Cummins 25 D. Steyn c Bollinger b Johnson 5 M. Morkel not out 1 L. Tsotsobe c Marsh b Johnson 4 Extras (lb1, w7) 8 Total (22 overs) 129 Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Smith), 2-40 (Kallis), 3-44 (Duminy), 4-55 (Amla), 5-74 (Miller), 6-80 (Boucher), 7-93 (Du Plessis), 8-118 (Steyn), 9119 (Botha), 10-129 (Tsotsobe) Bowling: Bollinger 4-0-28-1, Johnson 5-0-20-3 (w2), Cummins 3-0-28-3, Doherty 6-0-33-2, Marsh 4-0-19-1 Result: Australia won by 93 runs (Duckworth/Lewis method; revised target 223 in 29 overs) Man of the match: Ricky Ponting (AUS) Series: Australia lead the three-match series 1-0

CENTURION: Australia impressed in every department to power to a 93-run win over South Africa on Wednesday in the rain-affected first one-day international at SuperSport Park.

South Africa was 129 all out chasing a revised Duckworth/Lewis target of 223 in 29 overs after Australia made 183-4. However, even with a tough calculation for the host, Australia dominated throughout a curtailed match to take an early lead in the three-match series.

Former skipper Ricky Ponting made 63 in an unfamiliar role opening the batting and shared a 102-run partnership with current captain Michael Clarke (44) as the tourists shrugged off a four-and-a-half hour rain delay in the middle of their innings.

Highly rated teenager Pat Cummins then shone on his ODI debut with crucial wickets in his 3-28 as South Africa collapsed in 22 overs in its first ODI since the World Cup - and first 50-over game under new coach Gary Kirsten. Mitchell Johnson took 3-20 and Mitchell Marsh, another teenager on debut, had 1-19 as Australia’s new breed of youngsters blended powerfully with the experienced campaigners to serve up a strong performance in the series-opener. “Great

start by the boys, a great team performance,” said Ponting, who won the man-of-the-match award.

Ponting’s 82nd one-day half-century in a rare outing as opener laid the foundation for Australia’s imposing start and Michael Hussey also hit valuable late boundaries in his 30 from 21 balls after the long rain delay to set the challenging target. South Africa never came close after Cummins removed Jacques Kallis (15) and JP Duminy (4) in the same over. Allrounder Marsh grabbed the wicket of Proteas stand-in skipper Hashim Amla (24) off his fifth ball in one-day internationals two overs later. “There’s room for improvement but very happy with the start,” Clarke said. “It’s nice to spend some time in the middle and I’m not surprised with Ricky. It’s just the start of things to come. “He’s faced a lot of pressure in his career and that’s when he plays his best. He’s been creaming them in the nets and he looked great today.”

Ponting took advantage of some wayward bowling by South African strike bowler Dale Steyn at the start of Australia’s innings to cruise to 40 off 55 balls when the rain came. Clarke supported well and Australia was 96-1 in 19 overs - and going strongly when players were forced off by the weather. —AP

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

US rule the pool

ATLANTA: Keegan Bradley hits his tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club. —AP

Bradley wins Grand Slam

SOUTHAMPTON: Keegan Bradley held off a determined finalround charge from Charl Schwartzel to win the PGA Grand Slam on Wednesday.

Bradley shot an even 71 to move to 4 under for the 36-hole tournament, a shot ahead of Schwartzel, who tied the course record with a 65 after he came into the finale at 3 over.

Rory McIlroy, the joint overnight leader at 4 under, made par on each of the first six holes before a wild second shot on No. 7 forced him to take an unplayable. He closed the front nine with three bogeys to drop to 1 under.

Darren Clarke’s opening 77 was too big a deficit for him to overcome, and despite reaching the turn at 1 under, four bogeys on the back left him at 9 over for the two rounds.

Schwartzel played the kind of golf that helped him win the Masters in dramatic fashion in April, with a run of five birdies on the front nine that put him in a tie at 2 under with Bradley, who dropped shots at Nos. 1, 5, and 6 before a birdie at the 7th halted the slide.

A 20-foot putt for birdie on the 5th hole kick-started Schwartzel’s round and he took the momentum into the turn when he chipped in from the greenside bunker on No. 9 after his approach was long.

“What he (Schwartzel) did in the middle part of that round was pretty amazing,” said Bradley. “It felt like he was going to birdie every hole.” Bradley made birdie on Nos. 10 and 17, keeping him a shot ahead of Schwartzel.

The South African had another long putt for birdie, and with Bradley facing a nervy 5-footer for par, the event went down to the wire. There was to be no dramatic finish for Schwartzel this time, however, and his attempt trickled agonizingly past the right edge of the hole.

“It was a lot more intense that I thought it was going to be,” said Bradley. “I was nervous, this felt like a tournament on the PGA Tour. I was very nervous. I had been thinking it was going to a playoff considering how my year has been going.”

While Schwartzel and Bradley were embroiled in their own private battle, McIlroy flirted with making a comeback before another wild tee shot at the 15th left him needing to chip in from off the green for par. Still 1 under at that stage following another run of pars, a bogey at No. 16 - when he missed the green - ended his chances.

“I obviously still had a chance going into the back nine,” said the US Open champion. “I just didn’t do enough when I needed to.” — AP

GUADALAJARA: The United States was again on the golden end of the swimming rivalry against Brazil on Wednesday at the Pan American Games.

The Americans won three events to Brazil’s one, increasing their lead in gold medals in the swimming medals table to 157.

But Kristel Kobrich of Chile broke the American women’s hold on the top of the podium, winning the 800-meter freestyle. The women from the United States have won the other 11 races at this year’s games.

“We have had a really good team energy in Team USA in the past week,” said Kimberly Vandenberg, who won the 200 butterfly. “We have a lot of experience and also a lot of rookies. We’ve come together as a team and we all learned from each other.”

Kobrich’s win was also only the second gold medal in the pool won by a country other than the United States or Brazil.

Overall at the games, the Americans increased their lead in the medals standings with eight golds on Day 5. The United States has won 32 gold and 82 overall, while Brazil has 12 gold and 36 overall.

Amanda Kendall started the night by winning the 100 freestyle, with American teammate Erika Erndl in second. “I put my head down and hoped to touch the wall first,” Kendall said. “When I saw that Erica was beside me I was beyond excited. It was awesome.”

Vandenberg soon added another win in the 200 fly, and the 4x200 relay completed the action with the third title of the evening‚” ahead of second-place Brazil.

“Obviously great to win gold here against a great team like Brazil,” said Scot Robison, a member of the relay winning team. “We’ve had great races so far. A lot of mutual respect between both sides. “We came out on top tonight and on Friday we will be battling again.”

Although the Brazilians have been falling behind the last two days, Thiago Pereira still was able to win his fourth gold of the competition in the 200 individual medley. He then won silver with his teammates in the relay.

At the games four years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Pereira won six gold medals to break the great Mark Spitz’s record for most golds in one Pan Am Games.

Before Kobrich’s gold, Brett Fraser of the Cayman Islands was the only other swimmer to break up the BrazilianAmerican domination. He won the 200 freestyle on Tuesday.

Outside the pool, the Americans won two more rowing golds, another in shooting, a second in dressage and the men’s doubles in badminton.

Cuba also won two gold medals in rowing, taking the titles in the men’s single sculls and the men’s lightweight coxless fours, while Argentina won the women’s quadruple sculls.

Brazil and Argentina drew 1-1 in men’s football. Henrique

MEXICO: Colombia’s Juan Arango pedals to win the gold in the men’s omnium 1km time trial cycling race at the Pan American Games. — AP Nascentes scored in the 63rd minute, but Sergio Araujo equalized in the 74th.

In cycling, Colombia and Venezuela continued their rivalry, with the Colombians winning the men’s omnium and the Venezuelans taking the men’s sprint.

“I’m proud my country has another medal,” men’s sprint winner Hersony Canelon said. “We were all tired at the end, but my strategy worked perfectly and allowed me to win the medal.” — AP

Donald and Simpson set for dual Disney face-off FLORIDA: This week’s season-ending Disney Classic offers alluring incentives to every player in the field but the most intriguing apply only to British world number one Luke Donald and American Webb Simpson.

Donald and Simpson was set to tee off in late yesterday’s opening round at Lake Buena Vista in Florida in a head-tohead battle for the PGA Tour’s money list title with player of the year honours perhaps also on the line.

Simpson leads Donald by $363,029 going into the season finale and organisers have added extra spice to their hotly anticipated duel by pairing the two players together for the first two rounds.

“That was only the natural pairing, so I’m look forward to playing against him,” Donald told reporters on Wednesday.

“It will be nice to keep an eye on what he’s doing. I’m here obviously to win the money title, and I’m probably going to need to win (the tournament) to do that.”

Donald, the most consistent player in the game over the last 12 months, only committed to this week’s event when he knew his bid for the PGA Tour money title was under threat. “Everyone knows why I’m here, looking forward to try and win possibly both money lists,” said the 33-year-old

Englishman. “I wanted to make a concerted effort to do that.” Donald, who has recorded 13 top-10s in 18 appearances on the PGA Tour this season, leads Rory McIlroy by just over 1.3 million euros in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.

Also uppermost in his mind this week is the prospect of being voted PGA Tour player of the year by his peers for the first time.

However, that race is a keenly contested one with Donald, Simpson and Americans Keegan Bradley, Steve Stricker, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson and Mark Wilson all in contention.

Of those seven, Donald is the only one without two victories on the US circuit this season, though he has triumphed three times worldwide during 2011.

“It’s a tricky one, player of the year,” he said. “It’s obviously subjective on what the players think. The players will consider a few things outside of the money (list) ... not just wins but the Vardon Trophy and the stroke average.

“I guess I’m trying to toot my own horn a little bit, but the domination in the world rankings and how many points I’ve earned this year. —Reuters

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Lyon wait on Lisandro for Lille clash PARIS: Olympique Lyon are sweating on striker Lisandro Lopez’s fitness as the injury-hit seven-times French champions travel to Lille for a Ligue 1 clash on Sunday hoping to quickly bounce back from a Champions League drubbing.

Lyon, who have been without the Argentine for eight weeks because of an ankle injury, as well as midfielders Clement Grenier and Maxime Gonalons, were crushed 4-0 at Real Madrid on Tuesday.

“We must not dwell on it and get ready for Sunday’s game at Lille,” said France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, who is just back from a lengthy injury layoff.

Without Lisandro, however, Lyon do not seem to have their usual efficiency up front. “When we do not have a full squad, we suffer a lot more. If we had Lisandro, Clement Grenier and Maxime Gonalons, and if the players who were back from long-term injuries had played more before the game, it could be a different story,” coach Remi Garde

told reporters.

Lisandro has resumed training and could be included in the squad for the trip to Lille, who were also defeated in the Champions League on Tuesday when they lost 1-0 at home to Inter Milan. Lyon are third in the standings with 20 points from 10 games, one point above fourth-placed Lille.

Tomorrow, Montpellier could move to the top of the table, at least provisionally, if they beat Caen away as leaders Paris St Germain only play on

Sunday at home against promoted Dijon, who have the second worst defence in the league.

Olympique Marseille, 15th in the standings after having won only one game so far, will try and put Wednesday’s Champions League 1-0 defeat to Arsenal behind them when they host promoted AC Ajaccio.

“We will have to forget about it. We have our back against the wall. We must win on Saturday,” coach Didier Deschamps told reporters.—Reuters

New money meets old on the Costa del Sol MADRID: Nouveau riche Malaga matched Real Madrid’s spending power during the closed season and can measure how far they have come on the field of play when the world’s wealthiest soccer club by income visits the Rosaleda in La Liga tomorrow.

Malaga is better known as the heart of the Costa del Sol rather than as a footballing power - the club have never won a major trophy but they have been transformed since Qatari Sheikh Abdullah al Thani bought them last year.

Veteran Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was an important arrival for the new campaign, and he joins high-calibre internationals Julio Baptista of Brazil, Spain’s Santi Cazorla, France’s Jeremy Toulalan and Argentina’s Martin Demichelis. Van Nistelrooy is one of a number of Malaga personnel with links to Real, having helped them to win consecutive La Liga titles in 2007 and 2008, along with Baptista, sporting director Fernando Hierro, and coach Manuel Pellegrini. “(Real) are on a good run of form and for us it is a big challenge to see where we are at present,” the 35-year-old Van Nistelrooy told reporters. “It comes at a good time for us because after what happened in Levante (3-0 defeat last weekend) we have our feet on the ground. We are a new team...we have character, we know where we want to go, and we are on the right path.” Pellegrini has guided them to sixth place after seven games, three points behind their third-placed visitors despite the surprise reverse at early pace-setters Levante, and they defend a 100 percent home record. There is no love lost between Pellegrini and the person who replaced him at the Bernabeu, Jose Mourinho, after they exchanged barbed comments before last season’s clash, and the pre-match handshake will make interesting viewing. Real have won their last five games, scoring 21 goals along the way, and are one point behind leaders Barcelona, who host fourth-placed Sevilla tomorrow. —Reuters

MADRID: Real Madrid’s head coach Jose Mourinho from Portugal (left) and Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal seen in this file photo. —AP

LONDON: Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck (right) celebrates with teammate Ji-Sung Park after scoring against Norwich City in this file photo. —AP

High stakes showdown in Manchester derby MANCHESTER: Alex Ferguson is gearing up for what he has called the biggest Manchester derby in his near 25-year spell as United manager, Sunday’s home game against Premier League leaders City.

City’s two-point lead over their neighbors and confident mood on the back of three successive wins in all competitions has made the encounter less about local rivalry and more about title credentials. Dismissed by Ferguson in recent seasons as a “small club with a small mentality” and “noisy neighbours”, City will have been the first to notice the change in the way the Scot is viewing the fixture. Asked if it was the biggest Manchester derby since he took over, United’s manager told local media: “Yes, I think so. “The last couple of years they (the derbies) have become more intense and there is more importance attached to them,” added Ferguson who nevertheless views his club’s fixtures with arch rivals Liverpool as the biggest games of the season.

“On Sunday it’s top of the league against second top and it really builds up into a fantastic prospect for every-

one. I am looking forward to that.”

Were it not for the fact the game is at Old Trafford, where United have not lost for 18 months, City could have claimed to be favorites due to their better recent form. Where United have looked shaky in defence and too ready to give away possession, drawing three and winning two of their last five games in all competitions, City have been more comfortable. Roberto Mancini’s side have averaged over three goals a game to go top of the table with 22 points from eight matches. Both sides are unbeaten in the league and go into the match buoyed by their first Champions League victories of the season in midweek, City’s coming after a stoppage-time winner from Sergio Aguero and United’s thanks to two Wayne Rooney penalties.

“It will be a different game and different situation,” said Mancini. “It is important to go there and do well because it will be very hard.”

The pair have already met this season in August’s Community Shield curtainraiser, United coming back from two goals down to win 3-2.

There was tension between the clubs

last month when City midfielder Owen Hargreaves questioned the medical treatment he had received during his injury-ravaged years at United. He is now fit and has a chance to feature against his former club with much to prove. Aguero, who came off the bench to score in the 2-1 triumph over Villarreal on Tuesday, could return to the starting lineup while Mario Balotelli may be preferred to Edin Dzeko up front after the Bosnian wasted several chances against the Spaniards.

United should have captain Nemanja Vidic back for his first league game since August following a calf injury. The Serb was sent off in the midweek 2-0 win at Romanians Otelul Galati.

Away from Manchester, third-placed Chelsea make the short trip to Queens Park Rangers on Sunday looking to gain ground on the pacesetters.

Arsenal look to build on last week’s win over Sunderland that lifted them into the top half of the table when they host Stoke City on Sunday.

Newcastle United, in fourth, seek to maintain their unbeaten start at home to Wigan Athletic on Saturday.—Reuters

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

Pearce wants British players in 2012 soccer Olympic team LONDON: Stuart Pearce is hopeful his squad for the 2012 Olympics will include footballers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after he was confirmed as manager of the Great Britain team here yesterday. The England Under-21 coach was formally unveiled as the man to lead Britain’s Olympic campaign at a press conference at Wembley in an appointment that had long been predicted across English football.

But Pearce faces a challenge in pulling together a squad for the tournament, with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish football associations all opposing a British team at the Olympics on the grounds it may threaten their independent status in the international game. Although it remains unclear whether the football associations con-

cerned can block their players from playing, Pearce is optimistic that footballers from all four nations will make up the British squad.

“I am certainly not going into this job looking to only select English players,” Pearce told reporters. “I think there should be if at all possible players from all the home nations involved, and all the home nations should come forward and put their players up for selection.”

Pearce believes players will make themselves available as excitement about the possiblity of participating in a major tournament on home soil builds.

“A lot of it will depend on the players mentality-if the players want to be part of it that will be fantastic and I think they will,” Pearce said. “They’ll be excited to be part of this showcase of football. I

think dialogue will come into it from myself, and the federations and the managers concerned. I think support will come and be galvanised as the kick-off approaches.” The Olympic football tournament is for Under-23 teams with each 18-man squad allowed three over-age players. The English FA has already said no players involved in Euro 2012 will be available for the Olympics, although Premier League stars such as Tottenham’s Welsh midfielder Gareth Bale and Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey could feature. Pearce declined to speculate on which players he was hoping to attract to his Olympic squad, and would not be drawn on the possibility of former England captain David Beckham gaining inclusion as one of the over-age players.

“At this stage it’s a situation where I look

at all the home nations. They’ll get in on form and fitness. As at any football team in the country.

“I won’t shut the door to anybody. If anyone suggests to me that they want to be part of this and their form is good and their fitness is good it would be silly of me not to select players I deem good enough,” Pearce said.

Asked about Beckham, who will be 37 when the tournament kicks off, Pearce replied: “It’s like everything-everyone will be up for selection, form and fitness will dictate whoever I decide to pick.

“I’ve not seen him (Beckham) play recently. He’s a bit too old for the Under21s so he’s not been on my radar.”

Meanwhile former England international Hope Powell was named as coach of the women’s team at the Olympics.—AFP

Struggling Inter look for victory

GERMANY: Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski of Poland (from left) Dortmund’s Lucas Barrios of Paraguay and Dortmund’s Ivan Perisic of Croatia celebrate after scoring during the German first division Bundesliga in this file photo. —AP

Dortmund needs to bounce back FRANKFURT: Defending champion Borussia Dortmund faces Cologne tomorrow knowing it must quickly bounce back from its poor European start or risk seeing its domestic season unravel. Dortmund has won three straight Bundesliga games to move into third but Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at Olympiakos has left it in a tough spot for reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League. Dortmund can ill-afford any domestic setbacks as it sits six points behind leader Bayern Munich, which plays at seventh-place Hannover on Sunday. Dortmund’s defensive lapses were exposed in Greece with centerbacks Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic looking out of form as the team made a number of mistakes.

“We lack concentration is decisive moments,” coach Juergen Klopp said. “If we don’t correct our mistakes, we won’t be getting any points.” Cologne has been anything but consistent, but it has notched two wins on the road including a 4-1 drubbing of Leverkusen. Lukas Podolski, who was stripped of the captaincy by new coach Stake Solbakken at the start of the season, has patched up his differences with the Norwegian and has scored six goals to go with four assists. “The captain issue is long behind me,” Podolski said.

“It was always a much bigger issue with the public than with me.”—AP

ROME: Struggling Inter Milan will be looking to build off its Champions League victory over Lille when it hosts Chievo Verona in Serie A this weekend.

A 2-1 loss to Catania last weekend left Inter hovering just above the relegation zone, with only one win from its opening six league matches.

Rival AC Milan, meanwhile, looks like it’s starting to rediscover its form after following up a 3-0 win over Palermo with a 2-0 victory over BATE Borisov in the Champions League on Wednesday. Milan trails leader Juventus by just four points heading into its match at Lecce.

Juventus, which announced Tuesday that this will be captain Alessandro Del Piero’s last season with the club, puts its unbeaten record on the line against Genoa.

Juventus is level with Udinese on 12 points but leads on goals scored. Cagliari and Lazio are each one point behind, with southern clubs Napoli and Palermo two points back.

Inter’s worst start in 27 years has been the biggest surprise thus far. The problems began when Samuel Eto’o left for Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala in August, and Claudio Ranieri replaced Gian Piero Gasperini as manager after Inter failed to win its opening five matches in all competitions.

However, a series of injuries have also prevented Ranieri from getting the squad to perform up to expectations.

But the returns of key playmaker Wesley Sneijder and goalkeeper Julio Cesar in the 1-0 win over Lille on Tuesday provided encouragement.

“This was important for a thousand reasons,” said Inter president Massimo Moratti. “It gives us confidence but there’s still a lot of work to do. We’ve got to go game by game and we’ve got to do well in the league now, too, because we’re a little bit behind schedule.”

Sneijder, back from a thigh injury, played a key role in the buildup to Giampaolo Pazzini’s decisive goal against Lille. The Dutch international laid off a pass to Mauro Zarate, whose fine cross was smashed in by Pazzini.

“Sneijder is a player who provides rhythm and dedication and allows all the work done to produce success,” said Moratti.

Sneijder will no doubt be called on to produce something special again against Chievo, which held Juventus to a 0-0 draw last weekend and trails the leaders by just three points.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kevin-Prince Boateng scored for Milan against BATE and the defending champion will be favored to win its third straight at lowly Lecce, which has only one win.

As for Juventus, the announcement from club president Andrea Agnelli about Del Piero’s future came as somewhat of a shock. Agnelli said Del Piero “wanted to stay with us for another year” but that the current one “will be his last year in our colors.” While used mostly as a reserve, the 36-year-old Del Piero still provides a spark for Juventus on occasion. But new coach Antonio Conte prefers Mirko Vucinic leading the attack.

ITALY: In this picture taken Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011, Inter Milan coach Gian Piero Gasperini reacts during a Serie A soccer match. —AP Genoa is led by Argentine forward Rodrigo Palacio, the joint lead scorer in Serie A with Parma’s Sebastian Giovinco.

Lazio beat Roma 2-1 with an injury time winner from Miroslav Klose and now visits Bologna. Klose was left off the squad to rest for Thursday’s Europa League match at Zurich.

“Lazio is very strong and can aim for the title,” said Klose, who has six goals in eight matches since joining Lazio from Bayern Munich. Roma captain Francesco Totti is still out with a right thigh injury and will miss a match against Palermo.

Napoli drew 1-1 with Bayern in the Champions League on Tuesday and now visits Cagliari, while Udinese will attempt to gain the edge on Juventus when it hosts newly promoted Novara after its Europa League match against Atletico Madrid.

Also this weekend, it’s: Fiorentina vs. Catania; Parma vs.

Atalanta; and Siena vs. Cesena.—AP

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Bradley wins Grand Slam Page 61

www.kuwaittimes.net

US rule the pool Page 61

MEXICO: Brazil’s team competes in the technical routine preliminary synchronized swimming event at the Pan American Games. —AP

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THEY ARE THE 99!

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

THE STORY SO FAR : HAFIZ, MUKIT, and SAMDA prepare to dive into the Gulf to deal with an impending ecological disaster: a sunken ship whose radioactive cargo is leaking out into the water. But at the last minute, Samda panics…

The 99 ® and all related characters ® and © 2011, Teshkeel Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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