24 Oct

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

Kuwait Airways employees to strike until demands met

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THULQADA 26, 1432 AH

Simoncelli dies in horror MotoGP smash

Bahrain medics appeal jail terms

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New Zealand pip France to win World Cup

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Opposition delays graft quiz, new FM appointed Assembly opener unchanged as row grows over grilling

Max 35º Min 19º Low Tide 10:55 & 23:16 High Tide 03:22 & 18:42

By B Izzak

British embassy resumes services KUWAIT: The British embassy in Kuwait reopened its doors to the public yesterday following a temporary suspension of services in the wake of a heightened security threat, a mission spokeswoman said. “The embassy has resumed all its public services,” the spokeswoman told AFP. “(But) we still have increased security for precautionary measures.” The embassy suspended public services late Wednesday due to increased security concerns but did not elaborate on the nature of any potential threat. In an update to the “terrorism section” of its travel advisory, the embassy also told British organisations and businesses to review their security measures, though the threat was aimed only at the mission.

The embassy also advised British nationals to exercise caution before sailing in Kuwaiti waters following maritime restrictions issued by Kuwait last month. No further details were provided. The security alert came 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. About 20,000 British nationals live and work in Kuwait. The last major violent incident in the state was in Jan 2005, when security forces clashed with a group of Islamists believed to have links to Al-Qaeda. — AFP

King Abdullah prepares key appointments DUBAI: Saudi Arabia mourned yesterday the death of Crown Prince Sultan, as King Abdullah prepared to nominate his new heir and choose a new occupant of the key defence minister’s job. With much of the rest of the Middle East in turmoil, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed confidence in Riyadh’s ability to stage an effective transition in the area of defence after the death of the crown prince. Prince Sultan, who had been heir to the Saudi king since 2006 and defence and aviation minister since 1962, died of colon cancer in New York on Saturday.

While most analysts expect the veteran Interior Minister Prince Nayef to become crown prince, there is less certainty about the defence role, a key post in a country that uses multi-billion dollar arms deals to cement relations with top allies. In making the appointments, King Abdullah must maintain a delicate balance of power in a royal family that has thousands of members, dozens of branches and dominates Saudi Arabia’s government, armed forces and business. “Balance is always the concern of kings,” said Khaled Al-Dakhil, a political science professor in Riyadh. “It’s to keep the balance within the family at all levels.”

The changes to top Saudi personnel might prompt King Abdullah to undertake the first major government reshuffle of his reign, an event that has long prompted speculation. However, analysts said he might prefer to wait to avoid any perception that changes were being made under pressure. State-owned news channel Ekhbariya devoted most of its coverage yesterday to the death, carrying a photograph of Sultan praying as it broadcast interviews with commentators and blackand-white footage of him inspecting Saudi troops in the 1960s.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah (right) poses with HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (second right), HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (second left) and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah (left) after he was appointed as the new foreign minister yesterday. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The government yesterday appointed Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah as the new foreign minister to replace Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah who resigned last week apparently over the handling of the graft crisis. Sheikh Sabah was sworn in by HH the Amir. Sheikh Sabah has served as minister in previous cabinets, mainly as minister of social affairs and labour and minister of information. He was not included in the May 2009 Cabinet formed after the election.

Meanwhile, the opposition has decided to indefinitely postpone filing a new grilling of the prime minister over an alleged graft scandal and accusations of suspicious overseas money transfers, MP Faisal Al-Mislem said without giving any reason. It is however believed that the opposition wants to have more time to prepare the new grilling on the basis of the new constitutional court ruling issued on Thursday.

The court said that the prime minister cannot be grilled on issues that come under the jurisdiction of his Cabinet ministers and can only be quizzed over general policy matters in addition to issues that come under him directly. The ruling or what constitutional experts call as interpretation of articles of the constitution has been understood in entirely two opposing fashions by the opposition and the government. The court, whose rulings are final, was asked by the government to interpret three articles in the constitution pertaining to the duties of the prime minister after MPs Ahmad AlSaadoun and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari filed to grill him in May over allegations of corruption and squandering public funds.

After the court ruling, government supporters believe that the grilling must be withdrawn because it wants to grill the prime minister over alleged violations not under his jurisdiction. The opposition meanwhile believes that the court decision are not obligatory and represent only interpretations of the constitution’s Continued on Page 13

1,000 feared dead in Turkey quake ERCIS, Turkey: An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude rocked eastern Turkey yesterday, with a seismological institute saying up to 1,000 people could lie dead under the rubble of dozens of collapsed buildings. Turkey’s strongest earthquake in years struck Van, a large eastern city populated mainly by Kurds.

“Five hundred to 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the quake,” Mustafa Erdik, director of the Kandilli seismological institute in Istanbul, told reporters. Earlier reports had not mentioned casualties, but many were feared trapped in collapsed buildings and officials warned they were struggling to assess the extent of the damage.

“There is serious human and material loss,” said a brief statement from the national disaster body, which is based in the prime minister’s office. Officials said around 50 buildings had collapsed, including a dormitory. At least 50 people were taken to hospital in Van and nearly a thousand people in Ercis, a district of around 100,000 people in the same region, where the most serious damage occurred, according to media

reports. “Many buildings alongside a major street in Ercis were collapsed,” said an AFP photographer at the quake scene. “There is electricity cut throughout district. People are using lanterns,”

VAN, Turkey: People rescue two women trapped under debris after a powerful earthquake struck eastern Turkey yesterday. — AP

Libya declares ‘liberation’

MISRATA, Libya: Libyans wave their new national flag as they celebrate following the official declaration of liberation of the entire country yesterday. — AFP

he said. Television footage showed panicked residents using shovels and other digging tools trying to rescue people trapped under a collapsed eight-storey building in the city centre. Search and

BENGHAZI: Libya’s new rulers declared the country freed from Muammar Gaddafi’s 42 years of one-man rule yesterday, saying the “pharaoh of the times” was now in history’s garbage bin and a democratic future beckoned. Tens of thousands who until this year’s revolt had known only Gaddafi’s all-powerful police state packed a square in the second city Benghazi to hear the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) announce Libya had liberated itself fully.

NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil kneeled in prayer after taking the podium and promised to uphold Islamic law.

“All the martyrs, the civilians and the army had waited for this moment. But now they are in the best of places ... eternal heaven,” he said, shaking hands with supporters. Some fear Abdel Jalil, a mild-mannered former justice minister, will find it difficult to impose his will on his fractious revolutionary alliance, pointing to the insistence of the city of Misrata on displaying the body of the former strongman three days after his death, in apparent breach of Islamic practice. And there is international disquiet about increasingly graphic and disturbing images on the Internet of abuse of a body that appears to be Gaddafi’s following his capture and the Continued on Page 13

rescue teams were using electrical generator lights to help the search for trapped victims as the night fell. “An eight-storey apartment collapsed,” a local from Ercis told AFP. “There are efforts to rescue people but the loss is big. I myself saw three to four dead,” he added.

Most people are expected to spend the night outdoors, with the temperature expected to dip to three degrees Celsius (37 Fahrenheit). “People are panicked. The telecommunication services have collapsed. We cannot reach anybody,” Van Mayor Bekir Kaya told NTV television. The government was due to send satellite phones to the region, according to media reports. Six helicopters, including four ambulance helicopters, as well as C-130 military cargo planes were sent to the area carrying tents, food and medicine.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.3 magnitude and said an aftershock of 5.6 magnitude had also been registered. It placed the epicentre of the aftershock, which happened Continued on Page 13

Proud Tunisia votes in Arab Spring polls TUNIS: Tunisians formed snaking queues in the sun to vote in their first free election yesterday, basking in their status as democratic trail-blazers nine months after ousting a dictator and giving birth to the Arab Spring. The Islamist Ennahda party was predicted to win the most votes but fall short of a majority in a new 217-member assembly that will rewrite the constitution and appoint a president to form a caretaker government. Long lines of happy people formed at polling stations before dawn, growing into winding queues of voters keen to take part in the country’s first electoral contest without a pre-determined result, after decades of autocratic rule.

Turnout neared 70 percent some two hours before polls were due to close, elections chief Kamel Jendoubi Continued on Page 13

LA MARSA, Tunisia: A woman casts her vote near Tunis yesterday. — AP

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

LOCAL

Company to handle process of domestic workers recruitment Kuwait govt to own 50 percent stakes KUWAIT: Kuwait began preparing a feasibility study in mid-2008 to organize the process by which domestic workers are recruited to the country, resulting in the decision to establish a shareholding company to handle the process.

This development was mentioned in a report prepared by the Ministry of Interior in response to queries posed by MP Ali Al-Deqbasi to Deputy Premier Sheikh Ahmad Al-Homoud AlSabah. The state will own 50 percent stakes in the company that recruits, adding that the project is part of the ministry ’s current work plan.

The report also addresses the rising costs of hiring housemaids

and the subsequent discussion held on the topic with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries last year. It was revealed that this problem is common to the region, with costs being many folds higher in some GCC countries. “We obtained information from the Foreign Ministry on information about fees collected by employment agencies and the costs paid by local agencies who hire these workers,” the report states.

It also includes results of a survey that covers owners of recruitment agencies in Kuwait. A comparative analysis of high costs between agencies all over the world were also done.

Sheikh Ahmad also asserts in the report on Law Number 40/1992, which lays down the relationship between domestic workers, sponsors and recruitment offices, outlining the rights and duties of each party. He also explained that Kuwait doesn’t possess a list of countries that have been certified to supply manpower.

The report also quotes Sheikh Ahmad blaming some agencies, local and foreign, that help them find other jobs, contributing to the high costs by making exaggerated claims, reported Al-Rai. This opinion was also shared

by Maj Gen Kamel Al-Awadhi, Director of the Ministry of

Interior ’s Migration General Department. He told Al-Shahed daily that costs increased after potential workers were forced by authorities in their home countries to pay for procedures like medical tests as well issuing police clearance records.

He also revealed plans to present a three-part arrangement in coordination with the Foreign Ministry and embassies of countries to adding a stipulation mandating workers to pass training courses before arriving in Kuwait.

Currently, there are more than half a million workers in Kuwait who have been issued Article 20 residence permits allocated for domestic workers. —Al-Shahed.

Kuwaiti press praises traits of deceased Saudi prince KUWAIT: Kuwait’s daily press, in its yesterday editions, devoted entire pages to the late Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz, praising the Saudi leader for what they referred to as his generosity and faithfulness.

“He was not an ordinary man [...] he was exceptional by all standards, a leader who honored his obligations,” wrote Al-Rai on its front page. It added that “The more he ascended to higher posts of the ruling hierarchy the more he became involved in the detail and daily chorus of the citizens.”

Al-Seyassah wrote that “with the demise of Prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz, we have lost a falcon whose eyes were never shut in his support for justice.” It also noted his role in support of Kuwait against Saddam’s aggression against Kuwait in 1990.

Al-Qabas expressed deep sadness at the death of the Crown Prince who, the paper reported, devoted his life for accomplishing wide-scale progress in various fields in the kingdom.

Al-Watan also remembered his numerous services for his nation and his keenness on safeguarding the territorial sancti-

ty of the kingdom. It also noted the statement he had made when Kuwait was attacked, stressing the high value of Kuwait in the eyes of the Saudis.

Another daily, Al-Anbaa, expressed sadness at the loss of Crown Prince Sultan noting his remarks that the special relationship between the Kingdom and Kuwait is based on Islam and common objectives.

Alam Al-Yom published an obituary of the deceased Crown Prince and his assumption of a long list of senior posts during his busy life.

An-Nahar repor ted that Arab and Muslim nations lost a patriotic and faithful leader who devoted his life to service of his nation.

Al-Sabah eulogized the Crown Prince as a philanthropist, noting establishment of the non-profit Sultan Bin Abdel A ziz Charity. Al-Jaridah repor ted that the deceased had supported aid programs for those with special needs in addition to research centers for treating cardiac diseases and illnesses linked to old age.

Al-Wasat also recalled and described

Prince Sultan as a generous man.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali AlSabah announced on Sunday that the Kuwaiti leadership and people are deeply saddened over the passing of the Saudi Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz AlSaud.

Ambassador Sheikh Hamad said that the Kuwaiti leadership, headed by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber AlSabah, Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, all members of the Al-Sabah family as well as the Kuwaiti people express their deep condolences over the death of Prince Sultan.

The ambassador also expressed his sincere condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz Al-Saud and the Saudi royal family for their loss. He also highlighted the Crown Prince’s humanitarian, scientific and charitable achievements and services for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Islam and Muslims the world over. —KUNA

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company announced yesterday that it has received its fourth and final oil tanker from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. A KOTC statement explained that Al-Rigga, the last of four tankers ordered from the South Korean firm carries 320,000 tons, equating to roughly 2.1 million barrels of oil, and comes amid KOTC’s second phase of plans to renew its fleet according to an agreement signed with South Korea in Aug 2008.

Oil sector reshuffle potentially imminent KUWAIT: The oil sector is expected to announce within the next two weeks the deputy managing directors of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) subsidiary companies.

The decisions will likely be made during upcoming meetings between committees that will evaluate leading figures. The committees have decided to urge transparency, stating that all candidates will be considered equally.

Nevertheless, the appointment of more than 60 individuals to managing director positions will not be an easy task and the inevitable reshuffle will involve gauging individuals’ loyalty to the petroleum organization and ability to improve the oil sector.

An oil sector source meanwhile indicates that the committee due to elect future managers will meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of mandatory retirement for current oil sector employees, as some have exceeded the legal public sector working age.

Suggesting that next weeks’ meeting will be a decisive one, the source indicated that the managing directors’ names may be announced then.

The same source explained that the oil sector reshuffle aims facilitate a smooth transfer of professional experience between oil sector companies and, in doing so, to promote advances so as to match international rivals. — Al-Anbaa

Courts receive 64,000 cases KUWAIT: More than 64,000 cases were heard by Kuwaiti courts during the first half of the current year, according to statistics mentioned in the Ministry of Justice’s bi-annual report, revealing that crime rates are on the rise.

“At least 64,231 cases were filed during the first six months of 2011,” said a news report quoting statistics. This number indicates that crime rates have soared by 10 percent compared to 59,432 cases filed during the first half of 2010.

While indicating that the High Court

received the most number of cases totaling to 45,200, the report also shows that personal cases including divorce, alimony, and other family-related have come to occupy first place. The number of cases referred to court are 40,479 in number, reported Al-Qabas.

A separate news report quoting sources states that Kuwaiti courts looked into an average of 500,000 cases every year, reported Al-Jarida. They noted that these cases are handled by only 500 judges in the country at an average rate of 600 cases a year.

KUWAIT: Public cleanliness campaign in progress in Hawally.

Minister lauds cleaning campaign

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The Minister of Public Works and Municipality Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar lauded the campaign carried out by Public Cleanliness and Road Department at Hawally Municipality Branch.

Citations were issued to six car dealers, while 67 stickers were affixed on abandoned cars. At

least 32 stickers were affixed on boats and other items displayed for sale, and one tent was removed.

Five loads of garbage and leftovers were cleaned, apart from removing equipment like air compressors, electric generator, oil siphoning machine and a water pump. He said in a press statement: “Our goal is to protect state

property from violations committed by individuals without regard for laws or the damage it may cause apar t from obstruc ting pedestrians.

He said that efforts will continue, through campaigns, to eradicate various violations. Safar said that the phenomenon of displaying cars for sale causes public inconvenience.”

Nine injured in road accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A 23-year-old Kuwaiti sustained a fracture in his spine while a 15-year-old suffered a back injur y in a car accident on Fahaheel Expressway, across from Hadi Hospital. Both were taken to Mubarak Hospital.

In a separate incident, a 26year-old Jordanian was cut in the face, a 20-year-old Kuwaiti bruised

in his leg and a Filipino was dazed during a car crash near the Sultan Center on Arabian Gulf Street. All vic tims were taken to Amiri Hospital.

Also taken to Amiri Hospital were a 21-year-old Kuwaiti who complained of pains in the abdomen and right ank le and another 21-year-old who sustained several bodily bruises during a car accident on the Second Ring Road.

A 21-year-old, Indian, suffered pelvic pain while a 22-year-old Kuwaiti received lacerations to the face and knee along with various bruises during a car accident on the Fourth Ring Road. Both victims were taken to Jahra Hospital.

Elsewhere, an 18-year- old Kuwaiti suffered a fractured right thigh bone during a car accident on Fahaheel Road near Sabahiya and was taken to Adan Hospital.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

local

KAC employees to strike until demands are met Legal strikes to restart

By Nawara Fattahova

SHEFFIELD: Dr Khalid Al-Mathkour and other officials at the ceremony.

Al-Mathkour: Kuwait will remain a patron of charity SHEFFIELD: The Kuwaiti government and people will always remain a patron of charitable works in both Islamic and nonIslamic countries, a prominent Kuwaiti official said yesterday.

Head of the Supreme Advisor y Committee for Completing the Application of Islamic Sharia Law Dr Khalid AlMathkour said during a ceremony to set the founding stone of the Iman Center in Sheffield that “the State of Kuwait has always been willing to exert all efforts to serve the interest of Islamic activities in all fields.”

The establishment of the center came at the request of Sheffield’s Yemeni community, the largest Muslim population in

the city, who sent a delegation to visit Kuwait in August.

First Secretary at the Kuwait Embassy in the UK Talal Al-Shatti expressed hope that the establishment of the center would promote understanding, open dialogue and good relations within local Muslim communities. Deputy Mayor of Sheffield Councilor John Campbell noted that construction of the center, the biggest in the city, would lead to peaceful and civilized coexistence among the Sheffield’s Muslims and Christians. The ceremony was also attended by project manager Dr Adulhamied Al-Assali, head of the local Yemeni community Saleh Al-Naw and a number of city officials. — KUNA

Visa ban re-imposed KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior has reimposed its decision to ban issuing visit visas or work permits to citizens from six countries.

The rule was changed within 24 hours after it was revoked following an eight-month long enforcement. According to a report quoting a security source, directors of immigration departments in each of the state’s six governorates received verbal instructions on Wednesday to allow transactions submitted by citizens of Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speaking on condi-

tion of anonymity, the official noted that clear instructions were received on allowing the issuance of work permits to take up certain professions in Kuwait, in addition to issuing visit visas to first degree family members and dependant visas to children younger than 15 years. On Thursday morning, the directors were informed that the ban was placed again.

On that regard, the official hinted at the sudden change that was made following the recent ‘terrorist scare’ at the British embassy building.

Oppositionist walkout expected in Parliament KUWAIT: A source has revealed that MPs of the oppositionist blocs intending to grill HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah over the cash deposits scandal intend to walk out of the opening Parliament session.

The source adds that further MPs may walk out in support of the protesting MPs, with 20 given as an estimate of the number of walk outs. The source indicated that the grilling of HH the premier shall be filed in the opening Parliament session

unless it is postponed due to the death of the Saudi Crown Prince and Kuwait’s subsequent current state of mourning.

The source further suggested that the Popular Action Bloc intends to add a supplementary text to the grilling motion concerning money transferred outside of Kuwait.

The additional information is thought to come under the current ‘Failure of the government to tackle corruption’ section of the motion. — Al-Shahed

Primary teaching staffs to be Kuwaitized KUWAIT: The Ministry of Education (MoE) announced on Saturday its commencement of a ‘Kuwaitization’ project within various educational authorities in a number of districts. It was added that a time frame has been set during which Kuwaitis instead of non-Kuwaitis will be hired as teachers for primary grades.

To this end, MoE Undersecretary Mona Alloghani has instructed authorities to begin the Kuwaitization process and asked for a plan that guarantees no shortages at schools in remote areas. She also called for keeping some teachers in remote schools so as to meet teaching requirements. She added that the plan is to gradually move

non-Kuwaiti teachers from the elementary stages to intermediate stages and to hire Kuwaiti teachers to replace them.

Alloghani explained that at such an early stage, Kuwaiti teachers will be able to communicate more effectively with pupils, since they know their background and culture, thus allowing for better understanding and results. She added that parents will also feel at ease, since they do not wish their children to be exposed to nonKuwaiti dialects of Arabic. However, she said that the main challenge facing this project is the scarcity of female Kuwaiti teachers in addition to their reluctance to teach boys. — An-Nahar

KUWAIT: Members of the Kuwait Air ways Corporation (KAC) Employees Union will stage a strike today. “The strike will begin at 8am and go on until 1pm,” stressed Abdullah Al-Hajri, Chairman of the Union on Saturday at the Union’s premises in Shaab. “We did not want to strike. The government has forced us to choose this path to obtain rights. The government and the management of KAC are responsible for flight delays and pilgrims’ flights. They delayed granting KAC employees’ rights,” added Abdullah Al-Hajri.

Ahmad Al-Anezi, Chairman of the Customs Employees Union said, “Strikes are being held randomly. It is their right according to international conventions and laws. The government has forced unions to stage strikes and protests, ignoring employees’ rights,” he noted.

The Secretary General of the KAC Union Hussein Habib announced that the demands put for ward by KAC and its sister companies’ employees are reasonable.

“The Union was keen on including all the employees without exceptions in demands made in terms of allowances, increases, and titles. The boards of KAC have received all of our demands through the Union. They didn’t implement any of it as promised until now. Every day they come up with a new excuse. We insist on our rights as promised by members of General Assembly, “ he pointed out. Finally, members of the general assembly voted to down tools on Oct 24.

Meanwhile, next Wednesday, Oct 27, is set to witness further strikes by legal staff at all government ministries and public institutions.

Speaking at a press conference held at the National Union for Kuwait Workers and Employees, Legal Staff Union president Hamad Al-Warddan announced that “A period was given to the Cabinet, which promised to approve the legal staff’s rights deprived by the Civil Service Commission. The government is not respecting the promises it made to us. It discriminates between the staff, especially by increasing the salaries of Fatwa Department staff, investigators,

and municipality staff.”

According to Al-Warddan the government is currently instigating problems by not honoring its word. “The government is responsible for the inconvenience that people face and it is also responsible for any losses caused by the strike.

The strike will go on and the union will not attend negotiations unless a decree that cancels all discrimination and rules all legal staff to be equal is issued,” he added.

The union is thought to be considering sub-

KUWAIT: Legal Staff Union officials addressing the press conference.

—Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh mitting an official complaint to the Human Rights Organization and the International Labor Organization, reporting the officials they claim oppress them. “ The government is totally responsible, as its responsibility is based on the acts of its officials,” Al-Warddan pointed out.

Meanwhile Secretary-General of the Legal Staff Union Dr Faisal Al-Fadli highlighted the

AUB holds weekly draw KUWAIT: The Ahli United Bank (AUB) has announced the results of the weekly draws of its Al-Hassad Islamic savings scheme. The lucky customers winning the Grand Weekly prize worth KD 25,000 each at the draws held on Oct 12, 2011, are: Hussain Adnan Hussain Ali, Tanzeem Fatima Muzaffar Jamil Haider, A Rahman Ahmed Hussain Al-Kamili.

The following Al-Hassad Islamic customers won cash prizes of KD 1,000 each: Shehab Rasheed Al-Athab, Lameea Merza Taher Husain Al-Teho, Riyadh Fatehi Turki Hussein, Adel Mohammed Ameeri, Nayereh Habib Allah Yadollahi, Nasser Thani Al Maadeed, Issa A Samad Taqi Al Safar, Talal Taleb Hamad AlMsbah, Labbaba Mohamed Naser Ali, Mohammed A Nabi Hasan A Nabi, Mohammed Saleh, Musarat Kausar, Ahmed Ghazi Ahmed Melhem, Jomon George, Ajyal Ahmed Jaffar Matrook, Abdulla Ibrahim Abdulla Al-Hamad, Abduljalil Isa, Nuha Abdullah Mohammed Al-Matrouk, Hassan Jawad A Aziz Abdullatif, Donald Dalicano Guades, Suwaiyer Ayedh Al-Otaibi, Nazha Hilal Rashid Isa, Kawther Isa Abdulla Mubarak, Abbas Ali Eid Ali Kadhem, Hessa Rashed Abdulla Al-Hefaiti.

With the new Al-Hassad Islamic 2011 scheme, customers have a lot more to look forward to. With 28 Weekly Prizes totaling KD 100,000 each week and ‘Salary for Life’ Prizes every month, the chances to win bigger prizes more often couldn’t get any better.

The most attractive feature of the new scheme is the chance to win bigger prizes more frequently, with three grand prizes of KD 25,000 each, week on week, plus 25 other weekly prizes of KD 1,000.

Chances to win big prizes on a weekly basis offer instant rewards to both existing as well as new investors in

importance of the legal staff’s work. “They are responsible for applying the law, protecting public funds, observing violations and further responsibilities. Any institution can’t work without a legal department that protects it,” he said.

“The previous strike was interrupted as the strikers were promised their demands would be met. The government didn’t implement its promise of changing their titles. It was promised that changes would come into effect within one month, which is now over. And now our strike

Investment Saving Account (Al-Hassad Islamic). With the introduction of a ‘Salary for Life’ Prize of KD 250,000 every month, the grand prize is also now more frequent and customers do not need to wait for a quarter or more to qualify for the grand prize. The ‘Salary for Life’ has been a core feature for the Al-Hassad Islamic scheme, with prizes paid out to date exceeding KD 10 million. The monthly ‘Salary for Life’ prize has enabled winners to afford better homes, ensure better education for their children and enjoy an improved quality of life, with the assurance that the rewards will continue to come month after month for 250 months. Al-Hassad Islamic is the only scheme to offer high value weekly and monthly prizes that are significantly higher than the total outlay of other prize schemes in Kuwait. In addition to the attractive prize pool, customers with high balances can opt for other unique features such as investment savings plan, a cheque facility linked to their investment savings account and state of the art e-banking and 24/7 Contact Center support.

The new Al-Hassad Islamic 2011 is geared to meeting the needs of salaried individuals. Customers can benefit from not only the biggest and most attractive prize pool but can also enjoy state of the art banking benefits and access to AUB’s unique products range for Islamic Finances, credit cards and investment products. All Al-Hassad draws are conducted under the scrutiny of officials from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and independent auditing firm, Ernst & Young. For more information on the Al-Hassad Islamic investment savings account, its prize structure and eligibility criteria, customers may visit any AUB Kuwait.

will be continuing until the titles are changed,” he further said.

Al-Fadli also believes that the statement of official government spokesman Ali Al-Rashid regarding the government’s intention to replace legal staff with policemen and soldiers spoiled the reputation of Kuwait internationally in the field of labor and human rights.

News

in brief

Shortest academic year KUWAIT: A report released by the Supreme Planning Council in collaboration with the Education Ministry states that educational costs incurred per student in Kuwait was the highest figure reported worldwide.

According to the report, the cost of educating a kindergarten pupil stands at KD 2,100 annually and a primary student’s cost stands at KD 1,360. At the intermediate stage, a student costs KD 1,641 and the cost of educating a high school student stands at KD 1,740. An official from the Council stated that compared with other countries that invest equally in the world, the outcome of the educational process in Kuwait is low, reported Aljarida. The official added that class hours and the academic year in Kuwait was the shortest worldwide. Only 576 hours are spent in primary schools, 565 in intermediate schools and 525 hours are spent studying in high schools.

14,000 jobs for citizens KUWAIT: The government has recently urged the Civil Services Commission (CSC), the Supreme Planning Council and the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program(MGRP) to increase the local workforce employed in the private sector starting next year.

It has asked that at least 14,000 citizens be recruited to the private sector annually, reported aljarida. The government stated that more citizens should be employed in the private sector by offering them more incentives.

MSAL restructure expected KUWAIT: A source at Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) has indicated that a new organizational structure will be instituted within the next month. The labor sector is apparently due to be changed into a Labor Authority and the source reported that the new structure will cre ate new sectors at the MSAL and simultaneously merge other sectors together. The source further explained that the new structure is ready and waiting the return of Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad AlAfasi to approve it and send it to Civil Service Commission (CSC) for final approval. It is expected that new assistant undersecretaries will be nominated to accompany the new structure.

Grilling ‘a constitutional right of an MP’ KUWAIT: Filing a grilling motion is a constitutional right of an MP, as is a minister’s right to respond to it, says Minister of Public Works and State Minister of Municipality Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar.

In a recently-published interview Dr Safar also voiced his support for Parliament’s full monitoring of minister’s work, pointing out at the same time that MPs have many tools to address a problem they find in this process.

Regarding his own ministry, Dr Safar explained that getting the Mishref sewage treatment plant fully operational and construction of the Eighth Ring Road — with changes so as to avoid Burgan Oil Field zone — are two of the Ministry of Public

Works’ priorities.

As to his feud with some Municipal Council members, which culminated in a walkout during last week’s session, Dr Safar reiterated during his interview with Al-Rai his call for coordination, adding that disagreements were also present during tenures of former ministers.

Insisting on “constant efforts” to fight corruption, Dr Safar assured that Kuwait Municipality personnel are committed to identifying those guilty of trading spoiled food. He expressed his hope simultaneously that Parliament finalizes the draft law for establishing the food and nutrition authority “to help put an end to the trade of spoiled food.” — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti and Saudi officials pictured during a field visit to the land project site yesterday.

Kuwaiti-Saudi border demarcation panel meets KUWAIT: The joint Kuwaiti-Saudi technical committee for border demarcation convened its 19th meeting yesterday.

A statement issued by the Kuwait Ministry of Interior (MoI) stated that the Kuwaiti delegation was headed by MoI Assistant

Undersecretary for Operational Affairs Major General Abdullah Youssef Al-Muhanna, General Administration for Land Border Security Director-General Major General Jamal Al-Dawas and Plenipotentiary Minister Ghanem Saqer Al-Ghanim.

Meanwhile, the Saudi delegation was headed by Lieutenant General Zamim Bin Jouier AlSawwat and Plenipotentiar y Minister Mansour Saleh Bin Shalhoub, the statement added.

The visiting Saudi delegation paid a field visit to the land project site

and then surveyed the second point on land and the third point at sea, according to the statement. The delegation also visited the Al-Nuwaiseeb coastal center where they held a second meeting to discuss various matters relating to the renewal of border demarcation. —KUNA

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kuwait digest

Satire Wire

Each country has its own corruption!

Where there’s will

By Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar

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lthough corruption is definitely a universal phenomenon affecting every nation worldwide without exception since the mere existence of people begets corruption which in turn begets more of the same, different countries have different level and forms of corruption.

When Transparency International, a global civil society organization that campaigns against corruption, was established, it established certain international measures to be taken in the process of combating corruption assuming that such measures were fit to combat corruption anywhere at any time, which in itself is an assumption that needs to be reconsidered.

However, with more intensive anti-corruption efforts and work, those working in this line of business discovered that there was a major problem in applying some of those measures and that we needed constant development of anti-corruption tools in order to end it once and for all. The biggest problem they faced was the diversity of forms and types of corruption, which called for adapting anti-corruption tools, or at least some of them, in order to have a more effective anti-corruption establishment capable of achieving its goals.

One of the most flawed aspects of the current arsenal of anti-corruption tools is the fixed nature of the measures given the massive diversity in the economic systems involved in corruption, whether these are genuinely productive states or revenuebased ones as is the case in Kuwait. The underlying values which nurture corruption differ from one country to another and might, in some cases, become strong barriers impeding anti-corruption efforts. In most cases, such efforts often turn into a personal pursuit of a certain individual, aiming at deposing this or that official without actually seriously tackling the whole corrupt system, or even containing and limiting it to prevent it from growing.

With this in mind, one can see why the government has been so evasive, lenient and slow in fighting corruption, even insisting on annexing the anticorruption authority to its own apparatuses, a step that defeats the aim of founding such an authority in the first place. Can an anti-corruption authority be managed by the government in a country where pretty much everything, including the corruption, is government-controlled. — Al-Jarida

kuwait digest

Kuwait’s own WikiLeaks

By Thar Al-Rashidi

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hat happened in Irada Square outside the National Assembly last Wednesday was similar to WikiLeaks, Kuwait style. The multi-million dinar transfers, as revealed by MP Musallam Al-Barrak, went through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoF) for the most part. Revealing this information in this manner will put us, as a state, in a difficult situation given the effects that the details will have.

The government will subsequently experience a large or small reshuffle.

Instead of dissolving and then reforming an eighth government, it will likely continue until to the end of the current legislative term.

MP Musallam Al-Barrak played the role of Julian Assange. He revealed reports from Kuwait’s MoF as Assange revealed reports from the US State Department. Al-Barrak, as a Parliament member, had a duty to monitor the government, and regardless of whether the reports are correct or not, the public has a right to know the full truth behind the transfers. There are two points to note here. Firstly, once the transfers have been revealed, the government has a right to explain them. Secondly, MPs who supported the revelation of this information should file a grilling motion against the concerned minister, who is Sheikh Dr Mohammed Al-Sabah. He has since tendered his resignation, meaning that constitutionally, the potential grilling motion has failed before it even started.

If the grilling motion is filed against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, then the government can simply direct the motion to the Constitutional Court to determine its constitutionality.

This is assuming that the government does not ask for a postponement and decides to go ahead with the grilling motion. The session will be confidential, given that it concerns the premier, and we will be back at square one.

The other potential outcome of this is that this ‘WikiLeaks’ movement will be dealt with quietly. The government will subsequently experience a large or small reshuffle. Instead of dissolving and then reforming an eighth government, it will likely continue until to the end of the current legislative term. I believe this is the basis for the government’s plan for this year. He who predicts the collapse of the government is not reading the full political reality. He is instead merely hoping, and hope alone is not enough to bring down the government. The Ministry of Information last Wednesday banned TV channels from covering these events, which is not a wise decision. For this action alone the Minister of Information should be grilled, as the ban constitutes censorship of an event yet to happen. I am not aware of media laws in Kuwait permitting censorship. I can understand that such caution is applied to plays or TV shows, but not to a political gathering such as that at Irada Square in front of the National Assembly. This is something new and unprecedentedly unwise. — Al-Anbaa

By Sawsan Kazak

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

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op-ed

The latest ministerial casualty

By Iqbal Al-Ahmad

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hat is going on in Kuwait?’ - this question can be heard almost ever y time one steps into a diwaniya in the country. Citizens find themselves looking into what used to be a political struggle, that has escalated into something similar to a ‘battle of elimination’ in which all kinds of weapons are used to exchange fire.

It is safe to say that the resignation of Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah from the Cabinet caught Kuwaitis off guard, leading them to wonder about what is in store? This is because Sheikh Mohammad wasn’t an ordinary minister. Since entering the Cabinet at the end of the past century, the prominent ruling family figure has been steering the ship of Kuwait’s diplomacy through turbulent regional and international events. He entered the Cabinet clean-handed, and went out warning about a ‘dangerous situation’ that Kuwait has entered.

The Cabinet took the decision to end his ministerial career within 24 hours. Many were expecting and some of them hoping -It would’ve taken some time to ponder over Sheikh Mohammad’s resignation, similar to previous incidents in which certain cases took months to be resolved.

Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah was true to himself in his assessment of the political situation in Kuwait, showing concern over developments in the political and economic scene. In September 12, 2011, he was asked to comment on cases filed over the cash deposits scandal, to which he replied that “the Kuwaiti people have entrusted the Al-Sabah fami-

ly with their money and belongings for decades. We will not accept Kuwait being turned into a haven for corruption.” He went on to assure citizens that “every person involved in corruption will be held accountable, regardless of their position.”

This statement was the first warning from a senior official. He followed it with another on October 11, 2011, when he used the word ‘dangerous’ in response to questions posed by reporters at the conclusion of the Asian dialogue forum. They asked him about the labor strikes in Kuwait.

He made his concern even more clear by calling for resolving root causes of the problem.

Seven days later, Sheikh Dr Mohammad Al-Sabah quietly submitted his resignation, while people close to him reiterated his belief that an official must step down the moment he feels incapable of committing to his duties fully as per constitutional responsibility. His departure, however, did not answer many questions that people have such as ‘how is the government going to handle the graft scandal?’ ‘Are people eventually indicted in the case be held accountable?’ This includes the fate of the state in light of the current dangerous situation that Sheikh Mohammad warned us about.

There are people who perceived Sheikh Dr Mohammad AlSabah as a threat due to his influence in the decision making process. Instead of heeding the warnings he made, they claimed that he resigned to avoid facing a ‘grilling motion.’ But these people don’t realize that Kuwaitis are not

as ignorant. Looking back at events that preceded Sheikh Mohammad’s resignation, it’s evident that he paved the way for this decision on numerous occasions. First, he called for holding accountable those involved in corruption, then he warned that the situation in the countr y has became dangerous, before stepping aside after he felt incapable of committing to his duties. This was suggested by people close to him. If these reasons aren’t enough to explain the reason for his resignation, the Foreign Ministr y announced that it is capable of answering questions posed by MP Musallam Al-Barrak which sparked the grilling threats.

Kuwait is facing a crucial crisis.

Ex- minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Al-Sabah’ s exit is an indication that infighting raging behind the scenes. He paid the price for refusing to enter the lobbying game.

Following his long-term tenure on the helm of the Foreign Ministry, Sheikh Dr Mohammad AlSabah leaves behind a legacy that includes achievements in addressing Kuwait’s issues with its neighbors, as well as boosting the relationship shared between the Gulf region and each of Asia and Europe.

During one of his interviews with Al-Qabas, Sheikh Al-Sabah looked outside the window of his office that overlooks the Arabian Gulf and said “it’s our fate to be placed in the middle of a turbulent region, but we will not give up and will continue working.” It appears as if there’s something else that led minister Dr Al-Sabah to cede ground, though temporarily. — Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

If communism had come to Kuwait!

By Yaseen Al-Hasawi

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hen Karl Marx first propounded his theory of communism, founded on supporting the proletariat against employers and capitalists, he believed that the first to follow his Communist ideology and turn against the feudal system of capitalist monopoly would be the British proletariat, the subjects of the ‘Empire on which the sun never sets.’ Had his expectation proved true, communism would have prevailed worldwide across all continents since Britain ruled most of them at the peak of its power, including Kuwait!

However, with the Bolshevik Revolution against the reign of the Russian Tsar in 1917, Marxism prevailed under Lenin and soon communism spread across all the states of the Soviet Union. This system depended primarily, at least theoretically, on confiscating and nationalizing the property and wealth of the rich and the bourgeoisie, in order to distribute these equally amongst individuals without discriminating between the deserving and undeserving.

Those who rejected or even questioned the new system were usually killed, imprisoned or, once Stalin came to power, exiled to Siberia. The system resulted in a merciless totalitarian dictatorship administered with an iron fist, which never admitted or approved of political rivalry. To prevent scientists and other members of the intelligentsia from escaping to other countries, the people of Russia were constrained and forbidden, on pain of punishments up to and including death, from learning of the latest scientific and cultural advancements from the ‘corrupt’ capitalist West.

Thanks to the ability of their leaders to ‘pick fights’ or create disputes with the capitalists, wage wars against neighboring countries, support social revolutions against capitalism and enslave people to the system through demanding unquestioning loyalty

that kept the people distracted and diverted from their leaders’ failure to develop their countries and improve their peoples’ living standards, the Soviet Union continued resisting capitalist pressure for over 70 years.

Imagine what might have happened to Kuwait had Marx’s vision for the British proletariat become reality, with the subsequent spread of that ideology worldwide.

Just imagine and envision what our lives would have been like by now. Thanks be to Allah Marx’s dream failed although one can easily trace some communist influence in our daily life, particularly in the political approach adapted by both the government and the opposition. They both use fake empty slogans and abuse human beings’ dignity. Some do not even fear Allah and continue to regularly incite tension, provoking the young to rally to their side in various streets and squares and forgetting that we do not live under a communist regime but a democracy. It’s the same old story; those who exploit the young are doing so in an attempt to cover up their own failures to fulfill the people’s aspirations.

Simultaneously, the same people are fishing in murky waters for the sake of making personal political gains for both sides regardless of the poor people. Kuwait’s political authorities have been extremely tough with rivals and extremely lenient with allies; the opposition, meanwhile, has insulted its opponents, accusing them of treason as if the opposition itself were the only one performing its ‘patriotic duties.’

Either side could be right on some points, but this is not the way to handle political life. The people are torn between both extreme powers and thus, have higher aspirations to achieve greater prosperity and welfare. — Annahar

recently heard an interview on the radio with Turkish artist Esref Armagan. This artist is different from all the other artists in that he is completely blind. This man has been blind his whole life and yet manages to paint objects and landscapes with accuracy and beauty as most people couldn’t paint. His talent even caught the eye of Harvard University researchers who recently performed tests on his brain to see what was going on in there.

In the interview, he explained that as a young child his father would cut out shapes out of wood and had him touch them. He says from there, he learnt shapes and would associate colors with the items from what people told him. He doesn’t use brushes, but rather his finger to draw his paintings. Having never seen color, he relies on the numbers of the paint tubes. Through the years people have told him things like the sky is blue, the grass is green or strawberries are red and from there he has formed a data base in his brain of what color goes where.

Having heard how hard this artist has to work in order to paint, Armagan is a true inspiration. Imagine how much information he needs to store in his brain in order to be able to paint. He has to keep dimensions, shapes and colors in his imagination while he completes his painting. There are many stories of people that are told they are limited and will never be able to perform certain tasks and yet some, against all odds, do and succeed. When hearing about people like this, I wonder if we are limiting ourselves and denying our own talents. We complain things are hard but those who have to try exponentially harder end up being more motivated than those that are sometimes physically and mentally more able. The blind painter, the amputee that takes up running or the hearingimpaired musician are all examples of not allowing ‘limitations’ stand in our way. The next sentence is about to reek of American optimism but I must say it: ‘Where there’s will, there’s a way.’

kuwait digest

Will we be winners?

By Abdullateef Al-Omairi

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ensions and a lack of political stability’- such phrases have characterized the reality of our lives for some time now. Many are confused as to how we reached such a state. In order to answer such a question, we must address our questions to wise individuals and ask them to think back to what transpired so as to ascertain the reasons for our current problems.

If we think back to political developments during the current National Assembly (NA) we will find that such developments began with MP Faisal Al-Mislim initiating a grilling motion against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah on the subject of cheques paid to MPs. If we consider who is responsible for this, we find that it is the government and that the state minister challenged Al-Mislim to provide the cheques in question. Following this, MP Al-Mislim’s parliamentary immunity was lifted so as to punish him politically.

The government then obstructed NA sessions and the crisis that followed led MPs to take to the streets. So, had the government not placed obstacles in the way of the NA and had instead, accepted the majority opinion — as it claims it always does — this problem would not have grown.

The seminars that followed these developments ended with what transpired in Al-Harbash Deewaniya. The government created further problems following the grilling of HH the premier. Had the government allowed the seminar to proceed without incident, would the same problems have arisen?

Following the Al-Harbash Deewaniya problem, the government found itself amid the latest catastrophe, which was the torture and killing of Mohammed AlMaimouni. While the government official in question denied any wrongdoing initially, he was forced to resign after MPs submitted documents proving his complicity. Had the minister admitted his guilt from the start, would the issue have grown as it did? Who was the cause of the problem? Was it not the government?

When matters began to quiet down the government created further trouble. A prominent pro-government MP then ‘grilled’ the foreign minister and what followed were government resignations and the suspension of NA session for a month. Who was the cause of this problem? Was it not the government?

Following the formation of the government further arguments erupted, ending with the sacrifice of a minister, Ahmed Al-Fahad, in order to placate one group in Parliament. Who was involved in the grilling of the premier who was also behind the resignation of Al-Fahad? Was it not the government?

Recently, the stories have been of strikes and protests and demands for salary increases. Isn’t it the government, who, by giving up on this issue, convinced people that the only way to have their demands met is through demonstrations and the same as far as ending the multi-million dinar scandal?

Isn’t it the government and the Central Bank in addition to suspects within government?

By examining these past crises one can see a common theme, which is government management. It is the government that has created these problems and it is the government that is today trying to peg the blame on oppositionist MPs. But we can tell the government that we are bidding on the wise individuals.

Will we be winners? — Al-Anbaa

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Motivate local people to start businesses KUWAIT: While capitalizing on the potential talent of the youth generation is no small task, it may prove an essential move for countries in MENA if they are to retain said talent for the benefit of the economy. According to the World Economic Forum, 75 million jobs must be created by 2020 - but how can the region, in just nine years, create 40 per cent more jobs than are currently?

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has one of the world’s youngest workforces, with more than half of its population under 25. This situation poses both enormous opportunities and challenges; a large, motivated generation of young working people can propel grown and prosperity for entire countries, as was seen in the West post-World War II and is currently happening in China.

The challenge comes in providing enough jobs and opportunities to keep the youth engaged and, most importantly, to prevent loss of talent due to emigration.

Experts from The World Economic Forum, Young Global Leaders, and Booz & Company say that one way to tackle this seemingly mammoth task is by nurturing start-ups. These experts have outlined concrete recommendations to accelerate entrepreneurship within the region: 10 imperatives that all stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can follow.

“We believe that the key to accelerating job creation will be fostering a business environment in which entrepreneurs can easily start new companies, spread innovation and spur economic activity in general,” said Joe Saddi, Chairman of the Board of Booz & Company. “To do so, policymakers and business leaders must first identify what motivates people to start businesses; they must understand the elements of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem, and which of those elements are lacking or immature in the MENA region.”

Saddi continues to say that those elements which could be lacking include entrepreneurial culture, regulatory framework, infrastructure, equity investors, financing for small and medium-sized enterprises and formal education about entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur, within this article, is a person or company who starts or owns a new business.

“There are myriad benefits to fostering a start-up friendly environment,” said Habib Haddad, CEO Wamda. “Not only do start-ups employ their owners, but the spillover benefits for the larger economy can be significant. As start-ups mature into small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), they become significant contributors to employment and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

An initial glance at entrepreneurial activity in MENA suggests that it is robust; Arab countries average out at 13 per cent of the region’s working population engaged in entrepreneurial activity, which is considerably higher than (more than doubly so in some cases) the USA (8 per cent), UK (6 per cent) or Japan (3 per cent).

However, the statistics are deceptive; such high percentages are driven by necessity as low-end merchants seek to satisfy their basic needs. This type of entrepreneur deserves government support, but governments must focus their efforts on those high-value entrepreneurs who are truly innovative, or who are able to recognise and seize an opportunity in the market. This type of startup activity has positive spillover on job growth and economy development, and is worth encouraging; indeed, some governments have established targeted initiatives (Qatar’s Science and Technology Park, Oman’s SANAD program and Tunisia’s Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants d’Enterprise) to do just that.

“Governments in the region must start thinking creatively and active decisively about

spurring job creation,” said Soraya Salti, Senior VicePresident, Middle East and North Africa, INJAZ. “Encouraging entrepreneurship is one way to go - start-ups attract bright, innovative young people, whose determination for success drives economic activity, creates jobs and opens up new opportunities for others.” There are 10 imperatives that all stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including but not limited to governments, NGOs, companies and entrepreneurs themselves,

One of MENA’s top priorities in the coming years is job creation for a youthful population whose size and energy could either catapult economic activity at home, or be lost to better opportunities abroad should follow to influence and improve the overall atmosphere and create an entrepreneurial culture.

These include: 1. Offer a Helping Hand.

Established entrepreneurs should give time, advice and seed funding to aspiring entrepreneurs. A successful predecessor is often the biggest source of inspiration to the next generation of business owners.

Established entrepreneurs can become involved in a number of ways, including counseling and collaborating with NGOs to create conferences and programs that aspiring entrepreneurs can benefit from. To encourage start-ups, Linda Rottenberg and Peter Kellner established Endeavour, a nonprofit organization, in 1997, which is active in more than 10 emerging countries with further plans to expand in the coming years.

2. Change Behaviours and Evolve the Culture. Discuss entrepreneurship every day, and generate hype around a handful of success stories.

Public figures have the power to promote and even glamorize

Kuwait Embassy in Mexico hosts symposium on cancer treatment MEXICO CITY: The Kuwait Embassy in Mexico City this weekend hosted a symposium on the latest scientific findings in the control of cancer, which was attended by Arab, Mexican and international cancer and healthcare specialists. Present at the symposium were representatives from ABC Medical Centers in Mexico City, director of the Cancer Research

Program at St Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, Professor Dr Philip Salem, the Assembly of the Lebanese Mexican Club and a delegation of Mexico-based cancer control specialists headed by Mexican Health Minister Armando Awad.

The symposium, hosted by Kuwaiti Ambassador to Mexico Sameeh Johar Hayat, addressed the

MEXICO CITY: Symposium on the latest scientific findings in the control of cancer in progress at the Kuwait Embassy in Mexico City.

latest studies and research papers on cancer control and early detection methods. The gathering also explored means of cooperation between research centers around the world in the fight against the disease.

Ambassador Hayat noted that existing coordination between Kuwait and Mexico seeks to strengthen bilateral ties in medicine. Also sought, according to Hayat, are the signing of agreements to boost cooperation and the exchange of expertise and researchers between the ministries of health and research centers in the two countries. Hayat emphasized that cancer is one of the most lethal diseases in existence today and called on all global bodies and institutions to double their efforts in finding an effective cure and means of control. Following the symposium the ambassador and his wife held a dinner in honor of the participants at which a number of Mexican officials, businessmen and international diplomats were in attendance. — KUNA

Economic committee report could be ready within one week KUWAIT: Two subcommittees formed by the High Consultative Economic Committee are not expected to submit their reports prior to next week, already a week after the original date on which they were expected to provide the committee with their studies’ results. “The

entrepreneurship, and can use their status to alter popular opinion about the value of launching a start-up. This is especially important in the Middle East, where it is more acceptable to maintain a steady government job than to venture into entrepreneurism.

Those who might be reluctant to explore this path can be persuaded if they are made aware of the benefits to both individual and country that come with being an entrepreneur. The private sector should also play a part by becoming more public

Economic Reform and the Work Environment Development Subcommittees met Thursday to merge their reports into a final report, to be handed to the main committee,” explained a source familiar with the meeting.

The same source explained that the meeting had been planned so as to eliminate similarities and finalize the report that will eventually be presented to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Formed by HH the Amir in August, the committee includes prominent individuals including current and former ministers and businessmen well-versed in local and international economic developments.

A further source, quoted by Al-Jarida, indicates that committee will likely make similar recommendations to those made in separate reports by former British PM Tony Blair and the International Monetary Fund. Speaking anonymously, the source indicated that the committee’s recommendations will likely include quicker implementation of the privatization law, creation of a supreme council for privatization, elimination of much bureaucratic processes, enforcing regulations-among them anti-corruption and wealth disclosure laws-and amending existing laws in light of international economic developments.

The committee’s final report is expected to include a diagnosis of Kuwait’s economic problems and state structural errors as well as analyses of the problems’ origins and solutions. Meanwhile, the Cabinet has reportedly reassigned responsibility over implementation of privatization procedures from Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali to Development and Planning Minister Abdulwahab AlHaroun. This news came to light during a statement made to Al-Rai by Al-Haroun, who explained that he had already began seeking assistance from the World Bank in support of the task. —Al-Qabas, Al-Jarida and Al-Rai

in its activities; NGOs should invite the media to conferences and forums, and individuals should grant more interviews to further broadcast their successes. 3. Bring Entrepreneurship to the Classroom. Everyone in high school and university should learn entrepreneurial principles.

Ministries of education across MENA should collaborate with the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO) in a regional joint effort to promote curricula that include entrepreneurship.

Educating teachers is the first step, so that they are able to pass on their knowledge to their students and encourage the idea of entrepreneurship at an early stage. Universities can then create more specific goals to provide students with the desire, skills and knowledge to start a company. For example, they can establish degrees and courses in entrepreneurship that cover the subjects core to creating a successful business (such as business planning and risk management), with coursework consisting of specialized seminars in which students cre-

ate business plans to be presented to angel investors or venture capitalists. Beyond the classroom, universities can offer support to entrepreneur clubs.

4. Bring Entrepreneurship to the Office. Companies should encourage employees to unleash their own talent.

Corporate entrepreneurship must ultimately rely on the individual employees for entrepreneurial inspiration, but corporations can help unlock that potential. Companies can tap into this by creating an internal process to assess and fund entrepreneurial ideas generated by employees, as well as offering time to work on them either during the day or as paid leave, with the offer of further support once the start-up is created. Saudi Aramco, for example, has set up an entrepreneurship centre to provide networking, regulatory facilitation, funding, mentoring and education to Saudi start-ups.

5. Don’t Imitate Silicon Valley.

Identify and leverage your country’s own unique resources. While the norm is to emulate the success that Silicon Valley has become, governments, NGOs and private groups should realize that the inspiration-spawning hub evolved from a series of intertwining factors - and a healthy dose of luck - that cannot be recreated. Instead, members of the entrepreneurship ecosystem should focus on the MENAspecific advantages, which may not lie in IT but in natural resources (oil and gas, fruits, vegetables, water or fish), strategic position (such as a hub between trade regions, point of access from one region to another, or proximity to a religious or tourist attraction), climate (which could support the cultivation of specific plants, such as coffee or mangos, or be good for tourist activities, such as surfing, snorkelling and diving) or human resources (such as date farming expertise in Saudi Arabia and hospitality training in Egypt).

6. Welcome New Ideas.

Engage domestic and foreign workers to encourage a free flow of expertise and enterprise.

Immigration and naturalization laws hinder the free flow of talent and expertise into the region, which puts local entrepreneurs at a disadvantage and discourages foreign entrepreneurs from setting up shop.

Streamlined immigration rules should give start-ups access to the expertise that they need.

Governments should also review rules that restrict real estate, business and stock ownership by foreigners since these also discourage foreign participation in local ventures.

7. Break the Stereotype.

Great entrepreneurial ideas can come from anyone in any industry. Good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, any time not just from the entrepreneurial stereotype of a young, brilliant kid with a hot IT idea, which is enforced by the success of the founders of Google and Facebook, as well as Yamli and Woopra. Likewise, not all start-ups need to be IT-related to be a success.

Governments and NGOs should encourage entrepreneurial initiatives that leverage a country’s best resources, without fixating on the IT industry; they would be wise to create non-technology incubators that provide mentoring, financial assistance and support to entrepreneurs in various fields.

Likewise, venture capital firms should establish funds aimed at non-technology industries, such as consumer goods, retail and education.

8. Embrace the Diaspora. Tap successful entrepreneurs living abroad for their advice and connections. The Middle East has been losing talent for years as regional talent seeks opportunities abroad, where stable governments and more developed legal and economic systems exist. However, these individuals tend to retain strong familial and emotional ties to their homeland.

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local Kuwait Consulate active in Haj preparations MAKKAH: The Kuwaiti Consul General in Jeddah Saleh Ali Al-Saqubi paid a visit to the Kuwaiti Haj Mission in Al-Naseem on Saturday to review preparations for the approaching pilgrimage season.

Al-Saqubi reported that the consulate has set up an office at the Kuwaiti Haj Mission Headquarters in Makkah, as is customary, in order to monitor preparations for the pilgrimage season and to provide needed services to Kuwaiti pilgrims. The consulate will be open around the clock, he added.

Head of the Supervision and Inspection Committee at the Kuwaiti Haj Mission Mohammed Nasser Al-Olaim explained that preparations for the upcoming season begin directly after the conclusion of the previous pilgrimage season and that the teams begin providing services in Makkah well in advance of the arrival of pilgrims.

Al-Olaim elaborated, reporting that several meetings had already been held between the relevant authorities to coordinate the affairs of the Kuwaiti Haj Mission.

For the first time, the mission will also be accessible with two phone lines 24 hours a day.

Individuals can phone or call their designated line (8007555777) while the second number will be distributed to Haj organizers. — KUNA

Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Prize launched KUWAIT: The 11th Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Informatics Prize opened its doors to competition entries and also volunteers yesterday.

Committee member Saleh Al-Asousi told reporters that informatics as a field has received great interest and attention by both HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber AlSabah and by prize sponsor and National Guard Chief Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah. He added that the prize and the sector are witnessing continual development due to this support.

Technical advances to internet content are the main goal of the competition that permits entrees from both public and private sectors in Kuwait and around the Arab world. Winners will be awarded prizes at an event held under the sponsorship and in the presence of HH the Amir.

Breaking with tradition, this year will offer two ceremonies: one to honor active volunteers over the past decade and another to honor media figures who have worked with the prize over the same period.

In addition to accepting entries under various categories, the prize announces a number of projects annually that seek to promote sustainable social development.

The first 2011 project focuses on content for smartphones and additional modern media, given the wide reach that such technology has across the Arab world. The second project is a digital index aiming to gather and provide access to information on different social sectors, following on the heels of a corporate index launched in 2008 and a specialists index in 2009.

A third project is an annual informatics forum that will focus on up-to-the-minute issues, while the fourth project deals with informatics awareness and will involve seminars and lectures. A fifth project is an informatics gateway that aims to detect informatics activity, development and trends on a national, regional and international level.

Those wishing to volunteer at the event may register via the prize’s website. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi receiving members of the legislative and executive authorities.

New Legislative term to commence on time Al-Khorafi hosts dinner banquet KUWAIT: Parliament Speaker Jassem AlKhorafi confirmed on Saturday that the next legislative term will start on Oct 25 and that he is unaware of any changes to the schedule.

“According to the information [I have], the opening of the new legislative term of the National Assembly will be on time on Tuesday at nine o’clock in the morning. I was not informed of anything else,” Al-Khorafi told reporters after hosting a dinner banquet for members of the legislative and executive authorities.

Al-Khorafi was asked whether the government has the right to ask for the removal of a grilling motion filed by MPs Ahmed AlSaadoun and Abdulrahm Al-Anjary against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammed Al-Sabah in light of the

Constitutional Court’s recent ruling on constitutional articles. Al-Khorafi insisted that the government does, explaining “I will consult the constitutional experts and will examine the court’s previous rulings and will see how we can address the issue.”

“The decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the interpellation is an interpretation, and the interpretation is a ruling, but what are the procedures? Will it be enough to inform the house to remove it from the agenda of the opening session?” asked Al-Khorafi.

He added “I will see to these measures tomorrow [Monday].” Al-Khorafi further insisted that separation between legislative, executive and judicial authorities “was the job of the Constitutional Court, so in any standoff between the three authorities, [the court] will

be the primary reference.” “If its decisions were contested then who do we seek?” he asked.

Regarding the continuous attempts to seek the opinion of the Constitutional Court he said that “my personal opinion is, why do we object to seeking the opinion of the Constitutional Court, when it is the only authority whose opinion should be sought?”

He then pointed out that “The court concluded that the items in the interpellation fall under the jurisdictions of ministers,” and not the prime minister. Meanwhile, Al-Khorafi also expressed his condolences for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia for the passing of Sultan Bin Abdelaziz Abdullah, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General. — KUNA

Fatal drunken fight in Jleeb Suicide attempt KUWAIT: A Syrian woman attempted suicide at her Subhiya home upon reportedly falling depressed after seeing footage of the corpse of ousted Libya leader Moammer Gaddafi. The 31-year-old fell unconscious after overdosing on prescription medication and was rushed to Ahmadi Hospital after her family made an emergency call. She was admitted with an accelerated heart rate and her condition has since stabilized. A family member told police that the victim had become very depressed following Gaddafi’s death.

KUWAIT: (Left) Imagine Cup 2011 participating students with Ehab Mostafa, Country Manager of Microsoft Kuwait, and faculty members. (Right) Mohamed Al Tura - Business Development Manager of Microsoft Kuwait, Dr Abdullah Al-Shehab, Dr Amir Zeid, Computer Science Faculty Member at the American University of Kuwait, Ehab Mostafa, Country Manager of Microsoft Kuwait and Wassim Hamad.

Microsoft hosts forum with leading Kuwaiti universities KUWAIT: Microsoft hosted faculty members from several leading Kuwaiti universities yesterday in an informal forum aimed at disc u s s i n g h ow M i cro so f t co ul d transform curriculum development and give necessary industry exposure to students through its Faculty Connection program.

Ehab M ostafa, Countr y Manager, Microsoft Kuwait said, “ We we re p le a s ed w it h t he enthusiastic response from faculty members and we got great feedback on how Microsoft could work with them across a variety of initiatives we have taken. Our objective through the Faculty Connection program is to enable teachers to get the training and skills they need to use informat i o n te c h n ology to imp rove teaching and learning.

We also want to help students gain access to dynamic, engag-

ing, and personalized digital curricula and give them opportunities to harness their innovation potential. Ultimately, we are passionately committed to helping students and educators across Kuwait realize their full potential.”

The universities who participated in the forum were Kuwait University, American University of Ku wait, Australian College in Kuwait, Gulf Universit y for Science and Technology, College for Women in Technology, Box Hill College and PAAET. According to Dr Amir Zeid, Computer Science faculty member at the American University of Kuwait, “I am excited about the possibility of collaborating with Microsoft to improve our core c u r r i c u l u m i n I nfor m a t i o n Technology and provide avenues for our students to leverage their passion and innovation through

initiatives such as Imagine Cup. I look forward to engaging with Microsoft even more in the future to raise the bar in terms of our academic standards.”

At the event, Microsoft officials spoke to the invited guests about free resources, sof t ware an d training programs aimed at placing relevant and applicable tools and information at the fingertips of technology educators.

Through this initiative, Microsoft will provide fac ult y with resources to learn more about topics such as Cloud Computing, Embedded Systems and Devices, N et Cen tr ic Computin g, Operating Systems and Windows Phone 7 development.

At the event, Microsoft also honored the Imagine Cup 2011 Kuwait Finalists from American University of Kuwait and awarded cer tificates for their achieve -

ments.

M i c ros of t a l s o we l com e d a new set of student partners to represent Microsoft on campus at the forum. These designated students will drive Imagine Cup, IE9 workshops and Windows Phone 7 workshops on campus. In terms of academic initiatives, Microsoft hosts a variety of significant initiatives like Imagine Cup. As the world’s premier student te c hnol ogy com p e t i t i on, t he I m a gi ne Cup i s M i c ros of t ’s attempt to encourage young people to apply their imagination and creativit y to technology innovations that can make a difference and address real-world issues. To foster innovation, Microsoft also has the BizSpark initiative which is designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups by providing resources.

Sex offered for freedom A police officer has pressed charges against a woman for allegedly offering ‘sexual services’ in exchange for her freedom following her arrest. In his statement at Maidan Hawally Police Station, the patrol officer explained that upon verifying the arrested Filipina woman’s identity he found that she had been reported missing. The officer maintains that en route to the police station the woman offered her sexual services in exchange for her freedom. The suspect’s sponsor was phoned and he discounted the possibility of her returning to work following the incident.

Luxury car torched Investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of a fire that destroyed a luxury car in Kabad. Firefighters arrived on the scene to extinguish the fire that engulfed the KD-11,000 car and were told by the owner that he had noticed the smoke from inside his relative’s jakhour (livestock farm), where he was having dinner.

Knifepoint mugger A search is underway for a suspect accused of a mugging at knifepoint in Salmiya. In their statement at the local police station, the two teenage victims explained that they were walking behind a mall when a knife-wielding man in a dishdasha (traditional white robe) stopped them and made off with their two cell phones and KD 80.

Investigations are ongoing.

Domestic assault A Kuwaiti woman has pressed charges against her husband, accusing him of physical assault following a domestic dispute. The victim arrived at a police station late at night after stopping by a hospital to obtain a medical report that detailed the bruising she had sustained, allegedly from her husband. The husband, when questioned, denied the charges. Investigations are ongoing.

Intoxicated bard Police were recently called to a Nugra pharmacy where a man had caused panic by yelling at customers and taking occasional respites to recite old Arabic poetry. The Syrian suspect was found upon his arrest to be heavily intoxicated and is now facing charges.

—Al-Qabas, Al-Watan, Al-Anba

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

US lauds China’s measured response to Taiwan arms

Families fear America will deport parents Page 10

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MANAMA: Dr Ali Al-Ekri, left, his wife, Dr Fareeda AlDalal, second left, and Dr Nada Dhaif stand with an unidentified man outside a Manama, courtroom during a break in their trial session yesterday, on charges stemming from events during the spring anti-government uprising in the country.

— AP

Bahrain medics appeal jail terms Retrial moves to civilian court DUBAI: Twenty Bahraini medics handed long jail terms for their role during anti-regime protests launched an appeal yesterday, a defendant and the opposition said.

The doctors, nurses, and paramedics were initially tried and convicted in the military-run National Safety Court on September 28 on a raft of charges, including incitement to overthrow the regime.

They were handed sentences ranging from five to 15 years each.

The government por trayed Sunday’s hearing as a new trial, following widespread condemnation of Bahrain’s Sunni-led regime in the wake of last month’s sentencing.

But defendants and rights activists said it was an appeal in civil court. “Strictly speaking, this is an appeals trial. This is not a new trial,” Human Right Watch’s deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said,

adding such politicised cases would have “the same fair trial problems as military courts.”

Opposition ex-MP Matar Matar said the hearing was an attempt to “contain the international outrage” and accused the government of trying to mislead public opinion by saying the medics were being retried in civil court. But in a dramatic reversal, the prosecutor told the court it was dropping confessions from the defendants, after medics had protested that the statements were extracted under duress. “Although they did not drop the main charges, it is important that the public prosecution has decided to dismiss the confessions and consider them false,” Matar told AFP. But in a telephone interview with AFP after the hearing, defendant Nada Dhaif said only two

minor charges were dropped: one alleging they incited hatred and another of having spread false information. “But they kept the most serious charges against us,” she said.

Dhaif, an oral and dental surgeon who treated the wounded in the month-long demonstrations led by the Gulf state’s Shiite majority, was sentenced to 15 years in jail by the special court set up after the uprising.

The next hearing is set for November 28, where the government, according to Dhaif, would present new evidence and witnesses in the case of all 20 medics. Most of the medics worked or volunteered at Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama that was stormed by security forces in midMarch after they drove protesters out of nearby Pearl Square. — AFP

Yemen clashes continue, large protests planned SANAA: Dawn gunfire in the Yemeni capital Sanaa killed one person and wounded six others, medics said, as demonstrators demanding the depar ture of President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused government snipers of targeting their protest camp.

The day after 10 people were killed in street fighting between troops loyal to Saleh and soldiers and tribesmen who defected to the opposition, another large protest was planned for central Sanaa. “ There are one dead and six injured due to firing in the south of Change S quare at dawn,” said Dr Mohammed al-Qubati, the head of a field hospital set up in the protest camp. A nine-month

confrontation between Saleh and a fractured opposition of student protesters, tribal leaders and dissident army fac tions escalated in recent weeks after a three -month lull. Saleh has backed away three times from a transition plan brokered by Gulf countries, and says he will only hand over power to “safe hands.”

On Friday international efforts to end the violence by arranging a steady transition of power from Saleh moved to the UN Security Council, which approved a resolution condemning the crackdown on protesters and urging the veteran leader to step down in return for immunit y from prosecution.

Tens of thousands of demon-

strators set off on a protest march on Sunday from Change Square, the street intersection next to Sanaa University on the capital’s ring-road where the opposition has set up camp. In Saturday’s clashes, five soldiers loyal to the opposition and five civilians were killed, witnesses and Sanaa residents said.

State news channels said five soldiers and three civilians had been k illed, blaming the violence on non-government “militias”. Rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons were used in the al-Hasaba, Soufan and al-Nahda districts of northern Sanaa, where soldiers loyal to the opposition are based. — Reuters

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Freed Palestinian prisoners hope to rebuild lives GAZA CITY: Palestinian prisoners sent to the Gaza Strip in a swap for a captive Israeli soldier last week are contemplating the rest of their lives after years behind bars. Some say they want to put their violent pasts behind them and move on, now that the celebrations marking their release have faded. In the swap, Israel released hundreds of prisoners in exchange for tank crewman Sgt. Gilad Schalit, held

by Hamas militants for more than five years. To meet Israeli security con-

cerns, 130 prisoners originally from the West Bank were transferred to the fenced-in Gaza Strip, making it much harder for them to carry out attacks on Israel. Most of the prisoners were serving lengthy terms for involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis.

The exiled prisoners were greeted warmly in Gaza. They are staying in two upscale hotels, courtesy of the Hamas government, until permanent housing is arranged. While no one expressed remorse for their attacks,

many indicated their days of violent activities are behind them.

“Life in prison was very difficult.

Now I want to build a house and have a family like I should have a long time ago,” said Rajeah El-Karaki, 34, who was serving a life sentence for his role in a school bus shooting that killed an Israeli teacher and student. He said he hopes to continue his studies in Middle Eastern histor y, which he began in prison.Eyad Abu Hisaran, 40, was jailed in 1991 for killing an Israeli

settler and attempting to kill two soldiers. After 20 years behind bars, he said he has mixed feelings about his new life. “In general I like freedom. I want to work and get married. But I don’t just want to work, I want to live,” he said. “I like to be free and I hope ever yone would be - all religions should be free,” he said.

Palestinians in Gaza are not quite free, however. The territory is subject to sanctions by Israel and Egypt, which were imposed after Schalit’s

capture and tightened after Hamas seized control of the territory and ratcheted up rocket fire into Israel.

Most of Gaza’s 1.6 million residents cannot leave.Zidan Mohammed Zidan, 29, was jailed in 2002 for attempting to blow up a bag of explosives in Israel. He dreams of one day making it back to his family in the West Bank. “I would like to go back home. Israelis are in my country and I have to fight, but not right now,” he said. — AP

Clinton warns Iran not to ‘miscalculate’ over Iraq Don’t misread departure from Iraq

BEIRUT: Kurdish protesters opposed to President Bashar Assad, shout slogans as they demonstrate against the Syrian regime, during a sit-in in front of the Syrian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday. The banner at left in Arabic reads: “Down with the present gang. We want a civil state.” — AP

Jordan palace must keep out of govt AMMAN: Opposition Islamists yesterday told Jordan’s prime minister-designate that intelligence services and the palace should not interfere in government affairs. A day after refusing to join the reform-mandated government of Awn Khasawneh, an International Court of Justice judge named by the king, the power ful Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm Islamic Action Front (IAF) listed 17 demands for reform. “Interferences by the intelligence department and the royal court should stop in order to ensure the government has full executive powers in line with the constitution,” Muslim Brotherhood leader Hammam Said and IAF chief Hamzeh Mansur told Khasawneh in a letter.

“Security departments should stop interfering in civil and political life, particularly in mosques, universities, charities, and in appointing and promoting people.”

Demanding more constitutional reforms, the Islamists demanded the government “bridge the gap between citizens and state

institutions that has recently widened due to repression and corruption.”

Calling for a “rational and wise” economic plan, the movement urged the government to “open dialogue with local political powers, enhance freedoms and protect pro-reform protesters from intimidation and attack.” On Saturday, the Muslim Brotherhood and the IAF said they would not join the government because the “circumstances are not ripe.”

“Pessimism replaced our original satisfaction because, according to leaks, it seems the new government will resemble its predecessors,” they said. King Abdullah II last week dismissed the government of prime minister Maaruf Bakhit and replaced him with Khasawneh, 61, instructing him to focus on political reform in Jordan.

Khasawneh is expected to announce his government today, according to officials.

Since January, Jordan has faced protests demanding political and economic reforms and an end to corruption. —AFP

UAE court verdict on activists next month ABU DHABI: An Emirati court said yesterday that it will next month issue its verdict in the trial of five activists accused of insulting top officials as the defendants continue to boycott the hearings. The verdict will be announced on November 27, “while the defendants will remain in custody,” the judge announced after the lawyers lodged their defence.

Blogger Ahmed Mansoor and Nasser bin Gaith, who lectures at the Abu Dhabi branch of the Sorbonne University, were detained in April along with activists Fahid Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq.

The men are accused of using the Internet to insult UAE leaders, call for a boycott of last month’s Federal National Council elections and for anti-government demonstrations. Lawyer Abdulhamid alKumaiti told AFP after the hearing that he was expecting the defendants to be declared not guilty.

“I am expecting a not-guilty verdict based on all the defence we have presented, which has exceeded 2,000 pages,” he said. “We are confident ... and we are determined to ensure and defend the independence of the judiciary and the neutrality of the judge,” he added.

The defence denied all charges filed against their clients and rejected the testimony of the main witness-a security offi-

cer-as “false and contradictory.” Mansoor is accused of having created a US-hosted discussion forum www.uaehewar.net on which the four other activists, using pen names, criticised the government.

No concrete proof has been presented against the five men, lawyer Mohammed al-Roken, told the court. The forum was blocked in the United Arab Emirates in February while the posts that the five activists were detained over posting from the country are dated to October, said Roken. He also charged that the defendants’ confessions “are void because they have been extracted under torture.” Wedad al-Muhairi, wife of bin Gaith, sounded upbeat after hearing the defence.

“If there is justice, I expect a not-guilty verdict,” she told AFP. “I am happy today as I heard the lawyers affirming Nasser’s innocence.”

The defendants, alleging mistreatment, have refused to attend the hearings, saying the outcome has been pre-decided. “We the five defendants ... announce our full boycott of this court and our total rejection of whatever measures and verdicts it will reach,” they said in in a statement received

by AFP yesterday.

The activists appealed to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan to “intervene to end these unfair acts that have accompanied our arrest.” — AFP

Mosque burning suspect arrested JERUSALEM: Israeli police have arrested a third suspect in an arson attack on a mosque in northern Israel earlier this month, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP yesterday. “We arrested a third suspect in this incident on Friday and a court in Rishon Letzion ordered him detained for an additional five days for investigation,” he said. “The suspect is also being interrogated over his role in a fire at another mosque in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). He is from Gush Etizon,” he added, referring to a settlement bloc in the West Bank. Police have been investigating a string of attacks on mosques in the West

Bank in addition to the October 3 attack on a mosque in the Bedouin town of Tuba Zangaria, in northern Israel.

That attack caused significant fire damage and ruined many Muslim religious texts. The perpetrators scrawled the words “tag” and “revenge” on the mosque walls, in what police described as “a very severe price tag incident”-the term for acts of vengeance by extremist Jews against Palestinians or Arabs. Two male settlers from the West Bank were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the incident but have since been released without charge, police said. — AFP

BAGHDAD: With the US moving to withdraw its remaining 39,000 troops from Iraq, the influence of its nemesis Iran in the corridors of power in Baghdad and beyond remains strong and could still rise, analysts say. Friday ’s announcement that all US troops would leave Iraq by year-end was followed yesterday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning Tehran not to “miscalculate” Washington’s continued commitment to Baghdad.

“No one, most particularly Iran, should miscalculate about our continuing commitment to and with the Iraqis going forward,” she said in an interview with CNN, pointing to the US military presence in the region and alliance with Turkey.

US officials regularly accuse Iran of meddling in the politics of Baghdad’s Shiite-led government, and training and backing militant groups that target US troops in the south of Iraq. But Iraq and Iran, foes before the 2003 invasion who fought a devastating war from 1980-88, also enjoy close ties on a number of counts, from bilateral trade to tourism, primarily religious.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he expects “a change will occur” in TehranBaghdad ties, noting that the two countries have “special relations.”

“I think this is a good thing and should have been carried out a long time ago. If it were done seven or eight years ago, there would have been fewer Iraqi and American forces killed,” Ahmadinejad said.

“Iran’s influence is broad, generally, and is deep in areas, particularly in the south,” said Ali alSaffar, an Iraq analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. “It has generally moved, since 2003, to make sure it has eggs in more than one basket, and it’s reaping the rewards of that policy now.” “With the withdrawal, American influence will wane and I think both Iran, through its allies, and Iraq’s Arab neighbours, through candidates agreeable to them, will look to step in to shore up their preferred

SIRNAK: Turkish soldiers patrol on a road near the village of Uludere in the southeastern province of Sirnak, 15 km away from the Turkish-Iraqi border, yesterday. Turkish military strikes have killed 49 Kurdish rebels in two days during a major offensive in the country’s mainly Kurdish south, the army announced yesterday. —AFP political parties.”

The 39,000 American troops currently in Iraq on 16 bases, down from a peak of nearly 170,000 soldiers and 505 bases, are due to leave by the end of 2011. Filling the void will be the massive US embassy in Baghdad, the biggest in the world, and American consulates in the southern port city of Basra and in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Fewer than 200 troops will remain as part of the US embassy’s Office of Security Cooperation, which is responsible for foreign military sales and limited training. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said Washington will negotiate with Iraq after 2011 over a military training mission.

The reduced presence led US President Barack Obama’s conservative critics to blast his announcement of the year-end withdrawal, citing worries that Iran would fill the vacuum. After a months-long stalemate following inconclusive elections in March 2010, Prime Minister Nuri alMaliki’s coalition government

finally came together late last year after the bloc loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, seen as close to Iran, joined it.

Maliki, who had initially attempted to form a multi-confessional bloc in the run-up to the election, took the helm of a panShiite grouping that formed after his own slate’s second-place result in the election. American military officers have also said for years the Islamic Republic trains and backs militant groups that target US troops in the south of the country, culminating in June marking the deadliest month for Washington’s forces in Iraq in two years. Iran denies those allegations.

“The main plank of Iranian policy in Iraq is to have a governing coalition dominated by Shiite Islamists,” said Reidar Visser, an analyst and editor of the Iraqfocused blog gulfanalysis.wordpress.com. “Above all, Iran has succeeded in defining the parameters for Iraqi politics through a prime minister that relies on a sectarian Shiite alliance ... As long as Iraqi politics remains defined in

sectarian terms, Iran will have the upper hand.”

Instability in Iran’s ally Syria, where a violent crackdown on protests since mid-March has left more than 3,000 people dead, could also mean that Tehran ups its focus on Iraq still further.

Iran has been concerned about the possible collapse of Syria, its principal Middle East ally in Damascus, and had previously avoided speaking out against the regime’s response to demonstrations.

But on Saturday Ahmadinejad condemned the “killings and massacre” in Syria.

“After the (US) withdrawal, Iranian influence will be greater because Iran will focus more on Iraq, especially because they are losing Syria,” said Ihsan alShammari, an Iraq-based analyst.

Visser echoed those sentiments, saying: “If the aim until now was to check US influence, the next aim will be to ensure that Iraq’s government does not cease to be reliant on Tehran.” “Iraq will become double important to the Iranians should they lose ground in Syria,” he said. — AFP

Israel needs new rules for prisoner swaps JERUSALEM: Israel must set new rules governing prisoner exchanges such as the one implemented to secure soldier Gilad Shalit’s release, Israel’s defence minister Ehud Barak said yesterday. “I’m happy about the deal on the exchange for Gilad Shalit, but we must set new rules,” he told the free daily newspaper Israel Hayom.

Barak spoke a little less than a week after Shalit, who was held captive in Gaza for over five years, returned to Israel in return for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners to be freed over two months. The deal had broad support inside Israel but was criticised in some quarters as a capitulation that strengthened Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that rules Gaza and was among the groups that captured Shalit in 2006.

Yesterday, Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni said the deal had shifted the balance of power towards Hamas. “The whole world understands that extremist Hamas has been strengthened and Israel must now act to retrieve its deterrence capability,” she told public radio.

Barak said it was important for Israel to draft rules that were in keeping with the policy adopted by other Western nations. “A profound change is need... The new rules must take into account our national interests, and be closer to those adopted by various Western nations like that United States, Britain and Australia,” Barak said.

A committee headed by former Supreme Court justice Meir Shamgar was set up nearly four years ago to examine the criteria and parameters Israel should observe during prisoners exchanges. Its conclusions were not published for fear of negatively affecting negotiations to secure Shalit’s release, but with his return, the results are expected to be made public in around two weeks.

Meanwhile, activists yesterday dismantled a protest tent where the family of newly-freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit campaigned for his release during his years of captivity in Gaza. The

JERUSALEM: Israeli activists dismantle the protest tent of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s family outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem yesterday. Shalit was freed after more than five years of captivity in Gaza in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. — AFP tent, set up near the Jerusalem home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, became home for Shalit’s parents Noam and Aviva, as well as some of their supporters seeking to pressure the premier to win the soldier’s release.

With Shalit’s return home on October 18, under a deal that will see Israel free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, activists said there was no longer any need for the tent. “This is one of the best days of my life,” said Ohad Kaner, who spent 15 months as the key coordinating official for the tent, which was the focal point for years of efforts to push for Shalit’s release.

It was first put up four years ago, as initial hopes of a deal to secure the young soldier’s freedom began to fade. Then in June 2010, Noam and Aviva Shalit decided to up their pres-

sure by moving into the tent. There, they received visitors ranging from high-ranking Israeli officials and foreign dignitaries to school children. On a giant board, they kept track of the number of days since their son’s June 25, 2006 capture.

But with Shalit back with his parents at their family home in northern Israel, activists said they were able to come full circle, pulling down the tent they helped set up. “Dismantling this tent, which we put up with our own hands, has been our dream for a year and a half, it’s a moment of great happiness,” said Adi Phillips-Boren, 45, who helped oversee meals for the Shalit family and their supporters.

“I gave all my time to this cause, now I can finally resume a normal life,” she added. —AFP

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Commonwealth leaders mull changing rules on royal heirs LONDON: Prince William and his wife Catherine have barely been married five months, but Commonwealth leaders are already discussing which of their future children may inherit the British throne.

At a meeting next week in Australia, British Prime Minister David Cameron hopes the 15 former colonies who have Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state will agree to scrapping the archaic laws of royal succession.

He wants to change the tradition that gives the first male heir precedence over his elder sisters, calling it “an anomaly that in the rules relating to the highest public office we continue to enshrine male superiority”.

The other two proposed changes would scrap the 1701 law forbidding royal heirs from marrying Catholics and limit the number of royals who need the sovereign’s permission to marry to the first six in line to the throne.

Cameron has the political support to make the changes in Britain but requires the agreement of the 15 other Commonwealth realms, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and smaller nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

There has been a reluctance to press the

issue in the past due to the legal complexities and concern that tinkering with the rules may encourage republican movements. But the debate was intensified by the April wedding of William, the second in line to the throne, while the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years as monarch next year may also be a chance to rally support.

“The hope is to try to get agreement next year using all the goodwill that will flow from the queen’s diamond jubilee,” said Professor Robert Hazell, director of the University College London Constitution Unit. “ Whether they can do it depends on whether there is the political will and the majority in each of those other countries.” Last month, Cameron wrote to the leaders of the other 15 realms setting out his proposals and suggesting they discuss them at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, which takes place from October 28 to 30.

The issue will not be on the formal agenda because it affects only a minority of the 54 Commonwealth states, officials said, but Britain is hopeful that a deal can still be

Pope creates three new saints VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI created three new saints of the Catholic Church yesterday in recognition of their missionary and social work with a canonisation mass in St Peter’s Square. “Christians can show the world God’s love by loving their neighbour. Today, the Church shows its members three new saints who let themselves be transformed by divine charity,” the pope said before throngs of pilgrims filling the sundrenched square.

All three founded religious orders-two Italians, Guido Maria Conforti (1865-1931) and Luigi Guanella (1842-1915), and a Spaniard, Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro (1837-1905). Conforti was a bishop who founded the Society of San Francesco Saverio for Foreign Missions-a congregation of missionaries known as Saveriani.

“With all his strength he dedicated himself to the good of those souls in his care, especially those who had distanced themselves from the path of the Lord,” the pontiff said of Conforti, as Saveriani members looked on. The mass was slightly disrupted when a man climbed onto a roofed area overlooking the square and set fire to a green Bible with a cigarette lighter and waved the burning pages aloft.

Security forces moved the pilgrims sitting below and persuaded the man to climb down after about half an hour. The Vatican said he was of Romanian origin and was being questioned by police.

has subsided in Australia, which held a referendum on breaking with the monarchy in 1999.

The queen is currently receiving a warm welcome on her visit to Australia, where she will open the Commonwealth meeting, while a recent poll found republican support at just 34 percent-a 20-year low. In Canada, William and Kate were feted like film stars during their visit in June and July, although a poll taken around the same time found one third of Canadians support cutting ties with the monarchy.

In the Canadian province of Quebec, a former French colony conquered by the British in 1763, disaffection with the royals increased to 60 percent. Another sticking point might be that the changes do not go far enough, Morris said, because they would maintain the ban on Roman Catholics-or indeed anyone outside the Church of England-taking the throne.

But Anne Twomey, an associate professor and expert in constitutional law at the University of Sydney, told a recent seminar in London that she believed the changes would be agreed. “Although there have been some internal fights on how you might do that, at the end it is easily do-able,” she said. — AFP

Kenya, Somali govt troops close in on key rebel town US warn citizens of ‘imminent threat’

VATICAN: Pope Benedict XVI incenses the altar during a beatification mass of three new Saints, Bonifacia Rodriguez De Castro of Spain, Guido Maria Conforti of Italy and Luigi Guanella of Italy, in St Peter’s square at Vatican yesterday. — AFP During the mass, as each new saint’s history was read out, members of their orders prayed and a choir sang on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica under huge portraits of Conforti, Guanella and Castro draped on the facade. Guanella worked with mentally handicapped people and abandoned children and founded an organisation called the Servants of Charity.

He “brought comfort and relief to the poorest and the weakest,” and shone with “God’s presence and charity, the God who defended the stranger, the widow, the orphan, the

poor man,” Benedict said. Rodriguez Castro, the daughter of a tailor, was also active in social causes and helped create jobs for marginalised women. She founded the Congregation of Servants of Saint Joseph. “From a young age Saint Bonifacia knew how to honour Jesus Christ in her daily work. ... The Servants of Saint Joseph were born out of humility and the simplicity of the Gospel,” the pontiff said.

Benedict has created 34 saints since the beginning of his pontificate in 2005 — a far lower rate than his predecessor John Paul II. — AFP

Bulgarians to elect president, mayors SOFIA: Bulgarians voted yesterday in presidential and municipal elections that test the ruling center-right party’s popularity and the EU nation’s ability to overcome concerns about vote-buying and corruption. Voting started in over 11,000 polling stations country-wide where some 6.9 million of Bulgaria’s 7.4 million citizens can cast their ballots.

Bulgaria’s economic woes have been the key campaign issue, with the opposition accusing incumbents of stalling key reforms. The country will get a new president and heated mayoral battles are expected in many of the 264 municipalities.

International obser vers have already voiced concerns, however, about the fairness of Sunday’s elections, and any fraudulent voting could deal a blow to Bulgaria’s hopes of getting into Europe’s passport-free Schengen travel zone. The EU so far has refused to include Bulgaria due to what it called widespread graft.

“There are fears about large-scale vote buying and manipulations in the counting of the ballots,” the OSCE monitoring team said. Graft watchdog Transparency International predicted that as many as 20 percent of the voters in the EU’s poorest country could be persuaded to sell their ballots.

Most power in Bulgaria rests with the prime minister and Parliament, but the president leads the armed forces and can veto legislation and sign international treaties. Bulgaria’s current socialist president, Georgi Parvanov, has served two five-year terms and was barred from seeking re-election.

He is expected to be replaced by ex-Construction Minister Rosen Plevneliev, who is tipped by all polls as the front-runner with about 30 percent of the vote. The 47-year-old technocrat is supported by the governing GERB party of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov. An entrepreneur before entering politics in 2009, Plevneliev has pledged to reduce the country’s budget deficit and pursue business-friendly policies.

A victor y by Plevneliev could

reached. “This matter will be discussed and, I believe, approved at the CHOGM,” said David Howell, Britain’s minister for Commonwealth affairs.

“I think (it will be) agreed that this is the right way to go forward and that processes should be set in motion-legislative and otherwise -for it to happen.” Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has indicated she would support the changes, as has Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper-although his office warned it should not distract attention from more important national issues.

The support of these two countries and New Zealand is key to securing agreement, Hazell said, adding that they would likely be able to persuade the smaller realms to follow suit. Constitutional expert Bob Morris told AFP that one issue that previously held up the process was the fear that discussing the rules of succession could open up debate over the role of the monarchy itself.

“The concern has been that this kind of initiative might reignite or ignite interests in moving to republic status in some of these countries,” he said. However, the threat of this

SOFIA: Bulgaria’s center-right ruling GERB party’s presidential candidate Rosen Plevneliev casts his vote for Bulgaria’s presidential and local elections, in Sofia, yesterday. — AP increase the chances that Borisov’s minority center-right government pushes ahead with painful economic reforms in a country with an average monthly salary of euro350 ($485) and 11.7 percent unemployment. One labor union estimates that 20 percent of Bulgarian families are impoverished. Plevneliev’s closest rivals -

Ivailo Kalfin, 47, of the opposition Socialist Par ty, and independent Meglena Kuneva, 54, a former European Union commissioner - are expected to finish second and third.

But opinion polls have indicated that none of the 18 presidential candidates is likely to win outright, requiring a runoff on Oct. 30. —AP

TASHKENT: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, speaks to the international media during her visit to a hospital in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, yesterday. Clinton is at the tail end of a weeklong, sevennation overseas trip that has already taken her to Malta, Libya, Oman, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. — AP

MOGADISHU: Kenyan and Somali government troops edged closer yesterday to a town in southern Somalia where al Qaeda-inspired rebels have grouped, hoping to strike a quick blow against them.

The al Shabaab rebels, blamed by Nairobi for several kidnappings of foreigners on Kenyan soil, pose a significant security threat to the Horn of Africa region and Nairobi launched an air-and-ground offensive against them a week ago. The rebels have reinforced their defences in the town of Afmadow, a strategic transit point for goods trafficked illegally through the rebel-controlled Kismayu port, al Shabaab’s nerve centre for operations.

Somalia’s Western-backed troops say the aim of the operation is to rid Kismayu of the militants, which if achieved, would wipe out their base for logistics and recruitment. “We have so far captured Qoqani, just 120 km (75 miles) west of Kismayu, where we are heading to,” said General Yusuf Hussen Dhumal, commander of Somali government troops near

Afmadow. “Our troops in Taabto and Hayo have also moved near Afmadow and are just 7 km away. We wish in the coming two days to reach Afmadow ...

Kenyan convoys are also with us,” he told Reuters. On Saturday, the Kenyan military said it had moved beyond Oddo and had launched an air strike on Munarani, 10 km away from Oddo, hitting an al Shabaab command centre. Residents said convoys of armoured vehicles and trucks carrying weaponry, food supplies and tents were seen leaving four military camps in Isiolo in northern Kenya on Friday and heading towards the border.

Kenya says it has not encountered any resistance from the rebels and that the militants are on the run and getting weaker, but any attempt to take Afmadow, where the rebels have massed and dug trenches, could result in a significant ground battle.

Kenya is the latest of Somalia’s neighbours to intervene militarily in a country that has not had an effective government for the last 20 years. The militants have vowed to bring the

“flames of war” into Kenya if Nairobi refuses to withdraw its troops. The threat of reprisal prompted the US embassy in Kenya to warn its citizens of a possible “imminent threat” in the country, with attacks possibly targeting prominent Kenyan facilities and places where foreigners tend to gather like malls and night clubs.

Kenyan police increased patrols on the country’s northern border with Somalia, to prevent al Shabaab rebels from escaping into the East African country. “More patrol bases have been set up at Kolbio, Hulugho in Garissa and Amuma in Wajir. The deployment of ... regular and administration police have been strengthened, the number of officers has been reinforced,” a police officer from Garissa told Reuters. Kenya, East Africa’s biggest economy, has won wide suppor t from neighbouring countries for its operation which it launched yesterday after four Western women were k idnapped and whisked into S omalia, putting the countr y ’s tourism industry at risk. — Reuters

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Caribbean islands struggling to dismantle gangs BASSETERRE: When Dudley Williams was a police commander in the mid1980s, law enforcement in St. Kitts and Nevis was a leisurely occupation.

Violent crime was rare on the sleepy specks of land in the eastern Caribbean.

“If fellows got into a heated dispute at a rum bar, things were settled with fists, a piece of stick, a knife at the worst,” said Williams, now 79. “You’d get a shooting once every five years.”

Times have changed here and for many islands across the Caribbean, where an escalating arms race among criminal gangs has turned once peaceful neighborhoods into battle zones.

St. Kitts and Nevis, a two-island federation of nearly 50,000 people, has tallied 31 homicides so far in 2011, already making it the bloodiest year on record. Police blame gangs with names like Killer Mafia Soldiers and Tek Life for the escalating violence.

Usually far from the view of sunbathing tourists, tit-for-tat shootings

by trigger-happy gangsters have become common in the Caribbean, according to a new report on global homicides by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Alarmed citizens are putting pressure on politicians throughout the region to attack the problem. In Trinidad and Tobago, which is off Venezuela’s coast along a prime drug shipment route, the government has declared a state of emergency, imposing nightly curfews and giving police and soldiers broad powers to conduct searches and seizures.

Little of the violence so far has affected tourists to the Caribbean, where about 6 million Americans visit each year. Many stick to all-inclusive resorts, and those who don’t rarely stray into the gritty slums where the violence flares up. Still, there are isolated cases: A vacationing US Army sergeant was killed during a robbery in Trinidad last year. A Welsh couple was butchered in an Antigua vacation cottage on the last day of their two-

week honeymoon in 2008. In St. Kitts, bandits held up a small bus of tourists last year, prompting two cruise lines to briefly suspend stops there. Two British women were raped on a remote beach in St. Lucia earlier this year.

Drug traffickers have helped drive up the crime rates by introducing firearms and narcotics with a street value exceeding the size of the Caribbean’s legal economy. Although the islands remain near-perfect conduits for drug shipments, with their numerous unpoliced islets and barely monitored coasts, the UN crime office says Caribbean drug seizures actually diminished 71 percent between 1997 and 2009 as more contraband shifted to Central American routes.

According to the agency, the increase in the Caribbean’s lethal violence can partly be traced to frenzied competition between underworld groups fighting for turf in a diminished drug smuggling market.

Caribbean experts worry a culture of

violence has become entrenched on the islands, where nearly 70 percent of homicides are committed by firearms.

“Until fairly recently, we had an innocence about ourselves in the Caribbean, but that’s been lost. This thing is a Pandora’s Box and I’m not sure you can ever close it again,” said Marcus Day, director of the Caribbean Drug & Alcohol Research Institute in St. Lucia. Comparisons with other par ts of the world can be stark.

Jamaica, an island of roughly 3 million people that has been hit hard by drug and extortion gangs for years, chalked up 1,428 killings in 2010. Chicago, a city of nearly 3 million, reported 435 homicides last year.

Statistics from the UN crime office show homicide rates nearly doubling in a number of Caribbean countries since 1995. In St. Kitts and Nevis, slayings have increased sixfold since 2002, when there were just five killings.

Ivelaw Griffith, an expert on Caribbean security at City University of New York, said outmaneuvered and outgunned

law enforcement agencies on the islands have a limited ability to cope with the problem on their own.

He said the spread of cable television and popular music has raised expectations among youths by depicting the easy life even as the rough global economy is making pockets of poverty grow deeper and wider. It’s “really creating a very unholy and unhealthy recipe for these small societies,” Griffith said. To counter the gang culture, the Bahamas is toughening crime and bail laws, building more courts, trying to round up unlicensed guns and funding programs to steer at-risk youth away from crime.

The archipelago off Florida’s east coast has seen 104 people killed so far this year, easily topping the previous full-year record of 94 set just last year.

Norelle Scott, a 19-year-old college student who lives on the most populous island of New Providence, said she is now fearful of leaving home at any time of day and is pessimistic about the chances for change. — AP

Families fear America will deport parents Leaving kids home alone following deportation

BUENOS AIRES: A woman accompanied by her son walks her vote over to a ballot box in a school used as polling station during general elections in Buenos Aires, Argentina, yesterday. Incumbent President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals as Argentines voted yesterday. If she does win, she’ll be the first woman re-elected as president in Latin America. — AP

Voting starts in Argentina, Fernandez favored to win BUENOS AIRES: Voting started in Argentina yesterday as center-left President Cristina Fernandez appeared ready to win a blowout re-election victory that could lead to more state intervention in the economy.

The combative 58-year-old leader has had a dramatic comeback from low approval ratings that dogged her for much of her first term. She has been helped by an economy growing at about 8 percent annually and a field of feeble opposition candidates.

Polls show Fernandez taking a landslide victory yesterday, with enough votes to avoid a runoff. That would give her a mandate to continue with policies that have riled pro-market farmers and business leaders. She may also regain the control of Congress that she lost in the 2009 mid-term election.

The sharp-tongued former senator has nationalized private pension funds, raised taxes on soy exports and kept quotas on wheat and corn shipments.

Growers say such interventionist measures dampen much-needed investment in agriculture, which is the country’s top source of hard currency.

Fernandez won more than 50 percent of the vote in an August primary that served as a giant opinion poll because all parties had already chosen their candidates. Surveys say she has since widened her lead over rivals such as Hermes Binner, a socialist provincial governor who is a distant second in most polls.

To win re -election yesterday, Fernandez needs at least 45 percent of the vote or just 40 percent with a lead of 10 percentage points over her closest rival. Fernandez vows to dedicate her second term to the memory of her husband, Nestor Kirchner, who preceded her as president and whose sudden death last year sparked a wave of public sympathy. “Strength Cristina!” became her

supporters’ rallying cry after his death.

Kirchner is credited by many for getting Argentina’s economy on its feet after a devastating 2001/02 financial crisis.

Fernandez plans to “deepen” their economic model in her second term.

Fernandez often tears up when speaking about “him,” not needing to say Kirchner’s name for people to understand. “I am sure of the support that Cristina has because she made history along with her beloved Nestor,” 35-yearold office worker Cesar Brunelli said while walking to his polling station in a Buenos Aires suburb. “The opposition has a lot to learn about politics,” Brunelli said. An elegant dresser with a taste for high heels, Fernandez struggled with approval ratings of about 20 percent in 2008, when her feud with farmers exploded in massive protests. Profits driven by high grains prices have since calmed growers, and many rural areas voted for Fernandez in the primary.

Twenty-four Senate seats are up for grabs yesterday and 130 seats in the lower house. Most political analysts expect Fernandez to win back congressional control. Speculation has grown in recent weeks that Fernandez, who has no clear successor, could try to reform the constitution to allow her to run again in 2015.

The constitution can only be changed with a two-thirds majority in Congress.

Other South American leaders-from Colombia to Ecuador to Venezuela-have in recent years changed laws to give them more time in power. Some experts say just keeping the option open would allow Fernandez to avoid becoming a “lame duck” in her second term. “Keeping alive the possibility of a constitutional reform, while controversial, is a sound strategy to preserve power,” said Ignacio Labaqui, a Buenos Aires-based analyst with emerging markets consultancy Medley Global Advisors. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Angella Reid is photographed in Lafayette Park in front of the White House, in Washington. Next month Reid becomes the White House Chief Usher, a quaint title for a demanding position. — AP

BIRMINGHAM: Parents who entered the United States illegally so fear for their future in Alabama that many are drawing up legal custody papers in case they have to leave their children behind following deportation. “They could just run us out of the country when we are out in the street with the kids,” fretted Ruben, who asked that his family name not be used. But “now I have found a job, and I have three kids to support. I can’t just leave out of fear. We have to tough it out,” the Mexican migrant said. His answer: to spell out legally what happens with his kids if the worst happens to him and his wife, Marina.

A federal appeals court last week blocked provisions in the nation’s toughest immigration law that required schools to check whether students were in the United States legally or not, and required immigrants to carry an alien registration card.

But it also backed new police powers for detaining anyone suspected of being illegal immigrants, as well as provisions making it illegal for undocumented immigrants to enter into business transactions. Since Alabama’s state law HB 56 took effect September 28, thousands of families have all but stampeded out of Alabama, social and humanitarian groups here said.

Still others have decided to stay and live in fear. They desperately strain to stay below the radar, for example buying more food less often so that they can leave home less often.

Ruben and Marina are among more than 500 families that sought out legal aid to set up power of attorney paperwork in case they should be whisked out of their children’s lives.

US-born children do not have to leave the country but parents being deported may have to decide if their kids should be left alone abroad. “We like to go shopping together, the five of us. And it is far away. So (fearing that we might be caught and deported), we had a power of attorney drawn up,” Marina said, adding hopefully: “God help us!”

Among the legal issues parents are scrambling to try to plan for: who will care for their children in case of an unwanted family separation, and who will care for homes they may

have bought, the advocacy group Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama said. The group said it had about 20 visits a day before the law was passed, and that the volume surged to 70-100 visits a day since it took effect.

Ruben works eight hours a day seven days a week taking care of a golf course for 7.60 dollars an hour. “We can’t go back to Mexico because we are very poor there, and in most

TEXAS: Audience members listen to President Barack Obama speak about immigration reform at Chamizal National Memorial Park in El Paso, Texas. A year before the 2012 presidential election, Hispanic voters face a choice: continue to support Obama despite being disproportionately hurt by the economic downturn or turn to Republicans at a time when many GOP presidential hopefuls have taken a hard line on immigration. Obama kicks off a three-day West coast trip today in Las Vegas. — AP of the United States things are bad too, so for now, we have to stay here,” explains Marina.

Miguel, a construction worker, said he was trying to arrange legally for his sister in a neighboring state to come collect to Alabama to get his children in case he is picked up and deported. “I am having trouble sleeping, having nightmares about being caught and deported. And the worst thing is imagining

Brazil doctors found guilty of killing patients RIO DE JANEIRO: A jury convicted three Brazilian doctors of killing four patients by removing their organs, which prosecutors said were used for transplants at an expensive private clinic. Sao Paulo state Judge Marco Montemor sentenced doctors Rui Sacramento, Pedro Torrecillas and Mariano Fiore Junior to 17 years and six months each in prison.

Sacramento and Torrecillas were charged with murder after removing both kidneys from the patients and preparing the organs for transport.

Fiore, a neurosurgeon, was charged as an accomplice for incorrectly declaring the patient’s brain dead and authorizing the harvest of their organs.

Another neurosurgeon who had been accused in the case, Antonio de Carvalho Monteiro, died last year.

Sacramento fainted when the sentence was read late Thursday, and family members of the victims who packed the court cried and hugged each other.

The case described by authorities as extremely complex took 25 years for a verdict to be handed down.

Brazil’s criminal justice system is notoriously slow and it isn’t unusual for complicated cases to take years or even decades to work their way through the courts.

The case first emerged on Dec. 16, 1986, when the head of the University of Taubate’s medical school realized an affiliated hospital had conducted a kidney transplant that he hadn’t

what could happen to my kids,” he said.

Vanessa Stevens, a spokewoman at HICA, said HB 56 “is making impossible the everyday life of immigrants ... It is sad to say, but that’s the goal of this law, they want immigrant out of here.”

“Many people fled for fear and that is hurting our local economy and our reputation as a state in the country and in the world,” Stevens

expected, said Sao Paulo state prosecutor Marcio Friggi de Car valho.

Kalume looked up the records and exams connected to the transplant and found irregularities. He then investigated the team of doctors, and turned over the evidence he found to the Federal Counsel of Medicine, the agency that regulates and licenses medical doctors, Carvalho said.

Police took up the matter after the agency’s investigation as the case made its way through Brazil’s court system. “They simply did not have the diagnosis of brain death,” said Carvalho. “They opened people up, took out their kidneys, and sent them on.” Sergio Salgado Badaro, the defense attorney representing the doctors, had told the jury that convicting them would be a serious mistake and an injustice. “If you convict them, you will be the first jury in the country to convict doctors for killing people who were already dead,” he said in court. Badaro also told reporters gathered outside the courtroom that his clients were not giving up: “I respect the jury’s decision, but that doesn’t mean I agree or that I’m not going to appeal.” Two organ recipients testified they paid up to $41,000 for the transplants with private doctors at a private clinic, and hadn’t known the origin of their kidneys, Carvalho said. The case didn’t have a clear-cut connection to organ trafficking, since there was little documentation of the transactions, the prosecutor said. — AP

said. Nationwide, there are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, most of them from Latin America and the largest group from neighboring Mexico.

The Pew Hispanic Center, the top US institute for the study of the Hispanic community, estimates that in Alabama there are 130,000 undocumented immigrants. — AFP

‘Survivor’ favorite to run for Indiana governor INDIANAPOLIS: Rupert Boneham won over TV viewers during 2004’s “Survivor: All-Stars” - earning a nifty $1 million as the overwhelming choice for fan favorite on the reality show. Now the bushy-bearded Boneham is hoping Indiana voters will find him just as charming.

Boneham, 47, announced Saturday that he’s seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for Indiana governor, saying he wants to take on the state’s political establishment because he feels voters deserve better.

At a news conference in Indianapolis, Boneham said he’s the best candidate to replace Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has reached his term limit and can’t run next year, because he’s “not beholden to any special interests.” In prepared statements circulated later by his campaign, Boneham said he wants to run as the Libertarian candidate because he thinks Indiana voters deserve an alternative to “the dysfunctional state of our current government.”

“I have only one interest: Empowering Hoosiers to give back to their communities. If the government puts up roadblocks, then they should be repealed,” Boneham said. “Hoosiers have consistently voted in professional politicians and look at the results. Hoosiers should have a different choice in 2012,” he said in the news release.

Boneham, who’s known for wearing tie-dyed shirts, won $1 million when he was voted fan favorite in 2004’s “Survivor: All-Stars.” He donated a portion of his winnings to his Indianapolis-based charity, Rupert’s Kids, which provides mentoring and job-training to at-risk youths. Boneham formed an exploratory committee in August for a possible gubernatorial bid and said he wanted to gauge public support to see if people are ready to elect him.

Among the candidates who are seeking to replace Daniels, Republican US Rep. Mike Pence and former Democratic Indiana House Speaker John Gregg are the early favorites. Sam Goldstein, the state chair of the Libertarian Party of Indiana, said he’s “very excited” about Boneham’s announcement. — AP

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Pakistan forces Indian helicopter to land Four-member crew allowed to return home with chopper ISLAMABAD: Pakistan forced an Indian military helicopter to land yesterday for violating its airspace near the disputed border with Kashmir and briefly took its four-member crew into custody, Pakistani military officials said.

India said the helicopter veered off course because of bad weather, and Pakistan allowed the aircraft to return soon after the incident.

Pakistan and India are rival nuclear powers who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. The relationship has improved somewhat in recent

DARJEELING: Indian villagers and policemen search the waters of River Rangeet Khola after a wooden bridge collapsed Saturday night in Bijanbari, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Darjeeling, India, yesterday. —AP

Bridge collapse kills 32 in India KOLKATA: A bridge packed with festival crowds collapsed in northeast India killing at least 32 people, an official said yesterday, as rescue divers searched for more bodies. Scores of people fell into a fast-flowing river about 20 miles (30 k ilometres) from the hill town of Darjeeling when the walkway broke apart on Saturday night at an event organised by the local Gorkha Janmukti Morcha party.

A steel cable of the bridge snapped as crowds clamoured for a view of speeches and a cultural programme during the five-day festival in Bijanbari town in the state of West Bengal. “The toll in the collapse has risen to 32. But figures may go up as we have reports that some people are still missing,” Darjeeling district magistrate Soumitra Mohan said. Some local media reports said the bridge had been weakened by an earthquake last month. l Meanwhile, the bodies of six Indian divers working on an Iranian oil field in the Gulf were recovered yesterday from

a diving chamber that became trapped underwater when its support ship sank, officials said. A search was continuing for up to seven other crew members of the ship who were missing, believed drowned, according to the websites of Iran’s oil ministry and state broadcaster.

Sixty people were rescued from the stricken ship Thursday by Iranian navy and local vessels. As the ship’s diving chamber-used to lay and maintain oil pipes in the Gulf-contained its own limited oxygen supply, Iranian officials had initially held out hopes that the six inside might have survived.

But an official in charge of underwater repairs for Iran’s national oil company, Naser Naserinia, was quoted by the oil ministry’s information website as saying: “The remains of six Indian divers were found.... Hopefully we will recover the bodies of the missing six Iranians and one foreign national.”

The crew of oil services ship included workers of Iranian, Indian and Ukrainian nationalities. —AFP

months, especially regarding trade, but there is still significant distrust on both sides.

The helicopter was intercepted about 12 miles (20 kilometers) inside Pakistani territory, said a Pakistani military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. It was forced to land near Skardu, a town in Gilgit-Baltistan that is close to K2, the second highest mountain in the world, said Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. Skardu is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of UN-drawn Line of Control separating Kashmir into areas con-

trolled by Pakistan and India.

India said the helicopter strayed across the Line of Control because of bad weather and landed in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, according to a statement on the Ministry of External Affairs website. The three pilots and their crew chief were taken into custody but were later allowed to return home with their helicopter, said Abbas.

Two of the three wars between Pakistan and India have been fought over Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan territory. Both countries claim all of Kashmir. —AP

Kabul to back Pakistan if US attacks KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that if the United States and Pakistan ever went to war, his country would back Islamabad - a statement that contrasts with his harsh criticism of his eastern neighbor during US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent visit to Kabul.

Such a scenario is exceedingly unlikely, and Karzai’s remarks appeared to be less a serious statement of policy than an overture to Pakistan, whose cooperation is sorely needed if Afghanistan is to have a chance at stability after years of conflict and civil war.

Nonetheless, Karzai’s comments during an interview with the private GEO television station in Pakistan broadcast on Saturday contrasted sharply with his show of alliance with Washington during Clinton’s visit last week, during which the American ramped up the pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants using its territory for attacks into Afghanistan.

“If fighting starts between Pakistan and the US, we are beside Pakistan,” Karzai said. “If Pakistan is attacked and the people of Pakistan need Afghanistan’s help, Afghanistan will be there with you.”

He said his country was indebted to Pakistan for taking in millions of Afghan refugees over the years and stressed that Kabul would not allow any nation - be it the US, India, Russia, China or anyone else - to dictate its

policies. “Anybody that attacks Pakistan, Afghanistan will stand with Pakistan,” he said. “Afghanistan will never betray its brother.”

Both Washington and Kabul have repeatedly said Pakistan is providing sanctuary to terrorist groups launching attacks in Afghanistan. Clinton, joined by a bevy of top US officials including CIA director David Petraeus, flew to Pakistan after her Kabul visit with the blunt message that if Islamabad is unwilling or unable to take the fight to the al-Qaeda and Taleban-linked Haqqani network operating from its western border with Afghanistan, the US “would show” Pakistan how to eliminate that militant group’s safe havens.

Even so, she said the US has no intention of deploying US forces across the border in Pakistan. She suggested that the favored solution would be reconciliation and peace efforts and that Islamabad needs to cooperate.

US-led coalition and Afghan forces on Saturday concluded two operations aimed at disrupting insurgent operations in Kabul, provinces south of the Afghan capital and along the eastern border with Pakistan - all places where the Haqqani network has launched attacks.

“A number of Haqqani affiliated insurgents plus additional fighters have been either detained or killed,” Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the coalition said Sunday. No further details were immediately avail-

able. The focus on fighting those who refuse to embrace peace efforts while seeking reconciliation is pivotal in NATO’s push to try to stabilize and secure Afghanistan as much as possible by the end of 2014, when foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw or move into support roles.

But the insurgents have remained intransigent and attacks and bombings plague Afghanistan, claiming the lives of civilians as well as those of Afghan and international forces.

Five villagers were killed while trying to remove a roadside mine planted by the Taleban in the Pashtun Zarghun

district of the western province of Herat, the provincial governor’s spokesman, Mohyaddin Noori, said yesterday.

The villagers had found six mines that were planted to target Afghan security forces in the area and, instead of notifying authorities, tried to move them themselves. In the eastern part of the country, NATO said an insurgent attack killed one of service member Saturday. The international coalition did not provide additional details, but the death raises to 472 the number of NATO service members killed so far this year. —AP

HERAT: Afghan security personnel stand guard near four criminal suspects in Herat city yesterday. Three former Afghan policemen from Helmand province were arrested in Herat after they killed a driver and stole his car, Herat police chief Sayed Agha Sagheb said. —AFP

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Top China official visits N Korea amid talk hopes SHANGHAI: The man widely expected to be China’s next premier arrived in North Korea yesterday, amid hopes for progress on restarting six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament, state media said. Li Keqiang, China’s vice premier, visited the capital Pyongyang the day before the United States and North Korea are due to meet in Geneva for their second round of direct discussions aimed at reviving the long-stalled negotiations.

Li said his visit will help promote

resumption of the six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament, according to a statement released by the official Xinhua news agency after his arrival. “China appreciates the positive efforts of (North Korea) in improving North-South relations... and in promoting the resumption of the six party talks,” he said.

China has hosted the forum, which includes the two Koreas, Russia, the United States and Japan, since 2003.

The official visit is scheduled to last

until tomorrow, China’s foreign ministry said. Li was accompanied by officials from China’s foreign and commerce ministries. China is Pyongyang’s closest ally and a major economic partner.

China’s Ambassador to North Korea, Liu Hongcai, said the visit would deepen ties and make “positive contributions” to peace and stability in the region, Xinhua reported. Total trade between the two neighbours surged an annual 87 percent in the first seven

months of this year to $3.1 billion, he said in an interview with the agency.

North Korea depends on China for oil and food. Afterwards Li, likely to take over from current Premier Wen Jiabao in 2013, is due to visit South Korea, North Korea’s arch-rival. South Korea’s foreign ministry has said that discussions during the two-day visit will focus on the Korean peninsula where China is pressing to restart the stalled six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament. South Korea, supported

by the US and Japan, says the North must take steps to show it is serious about scrapping its atomic arsenal before the talks can resume. China is South Korea’s biggest trade partner and relations were upgraded to a “strategic cooperative partnership” in 2008. The US and North Korea will hold two days of talks. They had their first round of direct talks in New York in July, which ended with Washington demanding a firm commitment from Pyongyang to disarm. — AFP

US lauds China’s measured response to Taiwan arms Panetta is on first Asia trip as defense secretary

BANGKOK: Thai people wade along the flooded amulet market which sits beside a swollen river in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday. The threat that floodwaters will inundate Thailand’s capital could ease by the beginning of next month as record-high levels in the river carrying torrents of water downstream from the country’s north begin to decline, authorities said yesterday. — AP

Bangkok bolsters river defences in flood battle BANGKOK: Thai troops yesterday reinforced vulnerable barriers along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river after a sudden rise in the water level set back efforts to contain the worst floods in decades.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has warned it could take six weeks for the deadly flooding to recede, telling residents in the capital to prepare for possible inundation up to one metre (three feet) deep.

Three months of heavy monsoon rains have killed more than 350 people in Thailand and damaged the homes and livelihoods of nine million people. More than 110,000 evacuees have been forced to seek refuge in 1,743 shelters from waters that the government has described as unstoppable.

The authorities are battling the slowly advancing floods on several fronts, with parts of the northern outskirts of Bangkok already under waist-deep water. Now the level of the Chao Phraya river is causing “great concern”, the government said. The river briefly overflowed Saturday, causing flooding in parts of five central Bangkok districtsincluding near the political heartlandprompting a race to fix the leaks before the next high tide yesterday evening.

The Bangkok authorities have urged about 3,000 people living on the banks of the Chao Phraya on the river side of the flood barriers to move to emergency shelters. In the north of the city, meanwhile, the floods were closing in Bangkok’s second-largest airport, Don Mueang, part of which has been turned into a refuge for thousands of evacuees and is defended by walls of sandbags.

More than 150 schools in the capital have also been prepared as emergency shelters. The government is desperately trying to drain billions of cubic metres of water from upcountry out to sea through rivers and canals in and around the city by opening all sluice gates.

“There are several factors that we can’t control. The water is coming in two directions,” Yingluck told reporters.

“Bangkok residents will be affected because water will flow down, particularly through the Saen Saeb canal (which crosses the city centre) and the drainage

system which will help water to be diverted out quickly.”

Another major test is expected between October 28 and 30 when seasonal high tides flow up the Chao Phraya, meeting run-off water from the north.

More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the northern Bangkok districts of Don Mueang and Lak Si because of overflow from canals in the area.

“But the situation seems to be under control as we see less water overflowing and the military is working to stop the leaks,” Don Mueang district chief Phumpat Damrongkiatisak told AFP. Supermarkets in the city have been busy with people stocking up on food and bottled water, while many motorists have moved their cars to the upper levels of multi-storey carparks or left them on bridges and elevated roads.

Most of Thailand’s top tourist destinations and the capital’s main airport have so far been unaffected.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and police have been mobilised to maintain order and the military has airlifted about a dozen critically ill patients from Bangkok to the eastern province of Chonburi as a precaution.

Aid organisations were also gearing up to assist the city’s residents, said Maureen Birmingham, World Health Organization representative to Thailand.

UN agencies “are aware that there may be a big need for survival commodities,” she said. The government’s flood relief centre said that floodwater in Pathum Thani province, just north of Bangkok, had been found to contain toxic chemicals and pollution experts were investigating the cause.

Conditions are desperate for flood victims who stayed behind, some using home made floating devices in waters up to their necks. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Boonchu Thongtha told AFP in Rangsit, Pathum Thani where the water is chest deep.

“I can’t go to the toilet, I can’t do anything. My biggest fear is to not have food to eat. Our stored food is finished. I don’t know what to do. We have nine people in the family,” the 62-year-old said. — AFP

YANGON: Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, third from left, looks at a painting during an art exhibition at her National League for Democracy party headquarters yesterday in Yangon, Myanmar. — AP

BALI: US Defense Secretar y Leon Panetta yesterday lauded China for its measured reaction to the latest US arms sales to Taiwan, which has triggered harsh words from Beijing but, at least so far, apparently nothing else.

Past US arms sales to Taiwan have prompted Beijing to temporarily cut-off ties with the US military, as happened after last year’s $6.4 billion arms package.

China deems the self-ruled island an illegitimate breakaway from Beijing’s rule that must accept eventual reunification.

But last month’s US announcement of a $5.85 billion arms package for Taiwan, including upgrades to F-16 A/B fighter aircraft, has been different, Panetta said. “I’ve heard nothing that indicates that they’re taking any steps in reac tion to that,” Panetta told reporters on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, where he will meet Southeast Asian defense ministers later yesterday. “As a matter of fact, I guess I would commend them for the way they’ve handled the news of that sale to Taiwan ... I think they handled it in a professional and diplomatic way-and we appreciate that.”

Panetta suggested a US informal “heads up” to Beijing before the public announcement of the sale may have played a role. He said he hoped to visit China as soon as possible-but added he had no timeline yet to do so.

Panetta’s comments on China came during his first trip to Asia since taking over the Pentagon’s top job in July, and at a moment of uncertainty in the region over the implications of China’s military buildup and its territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Chinese militar y advances

NUSA DUA: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (R) meets his Indonesian counterpart Purnomo Yusgiantoro (L) during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Nusa Dua on Indonesian’s resort island of Bali yesterday. — AFP come as the US Congress is cut- former CIA director, said. The US important thing we can do is to ting the Pentagon’s budget, and military is facing at least $450 projec t our force into the Panetta, who is due to visit billion in defense spending cuts Pacific,” he said.

Japan today, ack nowledged over the next decade, and some “To have our carriers there, to concerns among US allies in the US lawmakers have seized upon have our fleet there, to be able region that America’s belt-tight- China’s buildup as one of the to make very clear to China that ening could affect its military’s reasons to oppose fur ther we are going to protect internaposture in the Pacific. reductions. tional rights to be able to move “ There’s no question that Speaking to US forces in Italy across the oceans freely.” Panetta those concerns have been earlier this month, Panetta cited leaves for Japan today before expressed. And the purpose of his concerns about China as he continuing to South Korea on my visit is to make very clear to explained plans to keep a strong Wednesday, two countries where this region, and to our allies in US presence in the Asia-Pacific the US military has a combined the Pacific, that ... the Pacific will region. “In the Pacific, we’re con- total of around 80,000 troops remain a key priority,” Panetta, a cerned about China. The most deployed. — Reuters

Jindal wins re-election as Louisiana governor

OKINAWA: Philippine marines watch in foreground as US Marines from the Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa, Japan, storm a beach with Philippine counterpart during the joint military exercise, dubbed PHIBLEX (RP-US Amphibious Landing Exercise), at San Antonio, Zambales province, northwest of Manila, Philippines, yesterday. — AP

US, Filipino marines hold drill near disputed area SAN ANTONIO: More than 200 US and Filipino marines staged an amphibious assault on a beach in a combat drill yesterday near a South China Sea shoal disputed by China and the Philippines. US Marine Brig.

Gen. Craig Timberlake said the exercise at a sprawling Philippine naval reserve in the coastal town of San Antonio in Zambales province would allow the military allies to operate jointly in a range of scenarios, including responding to disasters.

He refused to discuss whether or not the annual drill, which has been staged for 28 years, was now being held partly to address concerns by Asian countries like the Philippines over China’s growing naval power.

China has expressed unhappiness in the past over such drills near disputed South China Sea regions.

The Oct. 17-28 military maneuvers involve about 2,000 Marines and 1,000 Filipino counterparts. Both sides have said the exercises were not aimed at China or any country as an imaginary target. “The long-term objective is to have better inter-operability between the two militaries,” Timberlake told The

Associated Press, adding the marines have also engaged in disaster relief work and humanitarian missions.

“If you can do those things, then you can branch out and do other things that brings us together,” he said. Under a brutal sun, nine amphibious vessels darted ashore and unloaded American and Filipino marines, who laid on the beach’s scorching sand to assess, their assault rifles pointed inland.

They then dashed toward a hill in batches, their movement coordinated through twoway radios and hand signs, then engaged mock enemies in a battle while about 300 Filipino navy students watched from a distance. Marine Col. Andrew MacMannis said it was an opportunity for the Americans to show their Filipino counterparts advanced U.S. equipment and learn combat skills from each other.

A Filipino participant, 1st Lt. Erwin Borja, said amphibious assaults were also taught in the local marines corps. “The difference is in the equipment, we don’t have AAVs,” Borja said, referring to the U.S. amphibious assault vehicles used in the mock assault. —AP

NEW ORLEANS: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, won reelection on Saturday as voters largely ignored his nine poorly funded challengers. “You’ve chosen to give me another four years as your governor,” he told supporters at his Baton Rouge campaign headquarters less than an hour after polls closed. “We’ve got a lot more work to do over these next four years.”

With more than 99 percent of precincts reporting, Jindal carried 66 percent of the vote with his nearest challenger, Democratic school teacher Tara Hollis, taking 18 percent. None of the remaining eight candidates moved out of single digits. Jindal, whose vote count allowed him to bypass a November runoff, has been viewed as a potential vice presidential contender. But he has said he would serve out his term as governor if re-elected.

“I will use every day, every hour of these next four years to make Louisiana the best it can be,” he said. Once seen as a possible presidential contender himself, Jindal has since endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for the Republican nomination.

“Jindal doesn’t aim low,” said Bernie Pinsonat, a Baton Rouge political analyst and pollster. “I don’t think anybody in Louisiana thinks that Bobby Jindal doesn’t have ambitions to be president,” he said.

Pinsonat said the key to what Jindal did next was the 2012 presidential election. “If (Democrat) Barack Obama is re-elected, Jindal will throw himself 100 percent into running for president in 2016,” Pinsonat said. The possibility that Jindal, 40, will not serve out his full second term contributed to a hotly contested race for Louisiana’s lieutenant governor seat.

Secretary of State Jay Dardenne carried 53 percent of the vote against 47 percent for Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser in that race.

Louisiana’s open primary system pits candidates of all parties against one another on one ballot. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the highest contenders meet in a runoff election.

It was Jindal’s third race for governor. He lost in 2003 to Democrat Kathleen Blanco, who won a runoff with 51 percent of the vote. In 2007, he beat 12 other candidates and won 54 percent of the vote without a runoff. —Reuters

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NEWS

MISRATA, Libya: A Libyan woman takes pictures of her daughter in front of a tank as weapons and other items belonging to the former regime are displayed yesterday. — AFP

King Abdullah prepares key appointments

Libya declares ‘liberation’

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

King Abdullah will probably seek approval of his nomination for crown prince from the Allegiance Council, which he set up in 2006 to regulate the kingdom’s opaque system of succession. The council does not legally have to come into force until after Abdullah’s death, but analysts in the kingdom say he is unlikely to bypass the body by simply appointing the new crown prince himself. “Considering the fact that the crown prince died at this time, with the situation in the Middle East and the Arab world in turmoil now, it would be positive to activate the council and give it a chance to choose the new crown prince,” said Dakhil.

Prince Nayef, the most likely choice, has expressed hawkish positions in the past on democracy and women’s rights. He also was quoted after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States doubting that Saudi citizens were involved when they in fact constituted 15 of the 19 hijackers. However, he later oversaw the kingdom’s suppression of an Al-Qaeda bombing campaign inside Saudi Arabia and analysts say that as king he might disprove a reputation for conservatism.

Nayef’s expected elevation would put more focus on the likely candidates to follow him -particularly on Prince Salman, the Riyadh governor who is seen as the next most senior prince with the requisite experience to one day hold top office. Another potential successor among the sons of King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, the founder of the kingdom, is Prince Muqrin, the head of Saudi intelligence.

Saudi Arabia’s defence minister has responsibility for arranging multi-billion dollar defence purchases that Riyadh has historically used to strengthen its relations with top allies including the United States, Britain and France. Speaking in Indonesia, Panetta expressed confidence over the future of Saudi defence policy. “I believe that we can have an effective transition in Saudi Arabia with regards to the defense area,” he said. “We’ve been

able to have these transitions before. I think I feel confident that we can go through this transition as we move to a new defense minister.”

Leadership of the kingdom’s armed forces is also a pivotal position in domestic politics ensuring a seat at the top table of Saudi decision making. Prince Sultan’s son, Prince Khaled bin Sultan, is now the deputy defence minister and has for many years been seen as a strong candidate to replace his father as minister one day. However, analysts said it was not certain he would be appointed to the role by King Abdullah.

King Abdullah’s appointments this week will determine the direction of Saudi Arabia for years, if not decades, as the world’s top oil exporter prepares to tackle long-term problems. “The crown prince will have a lot on his plate,” said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor at large at the English-language Arab News daily in Jeddah. “He will have to face new challenges on the horizon within and without the borders. He will have to find ways to modernise the country.” Unemployment is high, as the Saudi population is growing more quickly than suitable jobs are being created. Rising domestic energy consumption is reducing the amount of oil available for export while liberal and conservative Saudis support starkly different visions of development. Meanwhile, the Arab Spring uprisings have destabilised neighbouring Bahrain and Yemen, feeding Saudi concerns that regional rival Iran might use the unrest to expand its influence across the Gulf. Saudi television late on Saturday night showed footage of King Abdullah leaving a Riyadh hospital a week after having a back operation. After two rounds of back surgery late last year, Abdullah had to spend three months recuperating before he returned to the kingdom in March. A spinal surgeon in London said the operation Abdullah had last week to tighten the ligament around a vertebra could limit the movement of an elderly patient for some time, but pictures from Saturday night showed the king walking out of the door with the aid of a frame. — Reuters

Proud Tunisia votes in Arab Spring polls Continued from Page 1 said, adding that while early results could start coming through today, official results were due tomorrow.

“The turnout of Tunisians exceeded all expectations,” he added. Voter Houcine Khlifi, 62, had tears in his eyes as he spoke of finally casting his ballot after spending a sleepless night in excited anticipation. “Tunisia today offers the world a bouquet of flowers of liberty and dignity,” he told AFP at a central Tunis polling station. “On this day, I vote in memory of my husband who gave his life for our dear country, our liberty,” 63-year-old Rbiaa Dalhoumi said through her tears after voting in the western town of Kasserine which bore the heaviest brunt of the government’s brutal crackdown on the revolution that ousted dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Samel Bouazizi, brother of fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi whose self-immolation sparked the revolution, cast his first democratic vote in the southern town of Sfax at the age of 31. “All night, I thought of my brother Mohamed who was the source of the great event we are experiencing today and thanks to whom Tunisians are voting freely,” the carpenter told AFP. “His sacrifice was not in vain. We have continued his work and I am proud to be Tunisian today.”

Some 7.2 million people out of just over 10 million citizens were eligible to vote for a new constituent assembly in 12 hours of polling that started at 07.00 am (0600 GMT). The assembly will decide what system of government the country will have and how to guarantee basic liberties, including women’s rights which many fear Ennahda would seek to diminish despite its assurances to the contrary. It will also have the authority to write laws and pass budgets. Ennahda claims to model itself on the ruling AKP party in Turkey, another Muslim-majority country which like Tunisia to date has a secular state, but is accused by some of preaching modernism in public and radicalism in the mosques.

Tunisia’s progressive left remains divided before Ennahda, however, with party leaders having failed to form a pre-vote alliance.

In a sign of the tension between Islamists and secularists, Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi was heckled after voting in a Tunis suburb, with queuing voters shouting “degage (leave)!” while calling him a “bastard” and a “terrorist”. “This turnout demonstrates the people’s thirst for democracy,” Ghannouchi, until recently in exile, said with a smile. The electoral system was designed to include as many parties as possible, a scenario that may lead to a divided assembly and complicate its work of constitution drafting, expected to take a year, ahead of fresh national elections.

Ennahda is likely to seek a post-poll coalition with smaller parties to give it a bigger say. Sunday’s vote is the first run by an independent electoral body after decades of ballot stuffing by the interior ministry.

Jendoubi lamented that some political parties broke a blanket campaign ban that entered into force on Saturday, allegedly sending mobile phone messages in a bid to influence voters. Michael Gahler, head of the European Union observer mission, told AFP: “Up to now, it (the election) is very positive. The people are calm, happy, patient.”

The European Union hailed Tunisia’s elections and vowed support for the new authorities, while British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “As the first country in the region to put democracy to the test at the polling booth, Tunisia is once again leading the way.” Ben Ali was ousted in January after 23 years of iron-fisted rule, in a popular uprising that sparked region-wide uprisings which claimed their latest Arab strongman Thursday with the killing of Moamer Kadhafi of Libya.

In polls witnessed by some 40,000 security force members and 13,000 observers, Tunisians could choose from more than 11,000 candidates - half of them women by law -representing 80 parties and thousands of independents. Vote counting will start as soon as polling stations close at 7.00 pm (1800 GMT ), with results updated throughout the night. The current, interim government will remain in power until the assembly appoints a new president, not expected before Nov 9. — AFP

fall of his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. But the immediate reaction to yesterday’s announcement was jubilation. “We are the Libyans. We have shown you who we are Gaddafi, you pharaoh of the times. You have fallen into the garbage bin of history,” said lawyer Abdel Rahman El-Qeesy, who announced the creation of a new government portfolio to deal with victims of the conflict. “We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hilltops, mountains, deserts and skies,” said an official who opened the ceremony in Benghazi, the place where the uprising erupted in February and which has been the headquarters for the NTC. Cheering crowds waved the tri-colour flag.

Gaddafi, who had vowed to fight to the end, was found hiding in a drain after fleeing Sirte, the last bastion of his loyalists. He died in chaotic circumstances after video footage showed him bloodied and struggling at the hands of his captors. With big oil and gas reserves and a six million population, Libya has the potential to become very prosperous, but regional rivalries fostered by Gaddafi could erupt into yet more violence that would undermine the authority of Jalil’s NTC. “There is a yawning security and political vacuum in which brewing political disputes, factionalism and security problems pose a serious risk of derailing or prolonging transition,” said Henry Wilkinson of Janusian security consultants in London.

In Misrata, people queueing for a chance to see Gaddafi’s body saw no reason for a rapid burial, apparently heedless of concern in Tripoli about how the NTC is perceived overseas.

“We brought our children to see him today because this is a chance to see history,” said a man who gave his name as Mohammed. “We want to see this arrogant person as a lifeless body. Let all the people see him.”

The declaration of liberation is intended to set the clock ticking on a process to set up a multiparty democracy, a system Gaddafi railed against for most of his 42 years in power. In 2007 Gaddafi, whose “state of the masses” was seen by many Libyans as despotism, called democracy a sham in which people were “ridden like donkeys” by powerful interests. Some analysts fear that without strong leadership the revolution could now collapse into armed infighting, preventing the country from ever attempting the novelty of the ballot box.

The lack of a clear plan for Gaddafi’s burial suggests to some analysts that there is justification for fears of a descent into leaderless turmoil. An autopsy has been performed, and a medical source told Reuters that Gaddafi’s body had a bullet in the head and a bullet in the abdomen. “There are multiple injuries. There is a bullet in the abdomen and in the brain,” the medical source said.The autopsy was carried out at a morgue

in Misrata, about 200 km east of Tripoli. Local officials said Gaddafi’s body would now be brought back to the cold store at an old market in Misrata where it has been on public display.

The loosely disciplined militias that sprang up in each town to topple the dictator with the help of NATO air power are still armed. The places they represent will want a greater say in the country’s future, particularly the second and third cities Benghazi and Misrata, which were starved of investment by Gaddafi. It was fighters from Misrata who emerged from a lengthy and bloody siege to play a large part in taking Tripoli and later caught Gaddafi. Libya’s new leaders have a “very limited opportunity” to set aside differences, said interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril as he announced he was stepping down on Saturday. Jibril said progress for Libya would need great resolution, both by interim leaders on the National Transitional Council and by six million war-weary people.

But a field commander in Misrata worried that trouble was brewing. “The fear now is what is going to happen next,” he said, speaking to Reuters privately, as ordinary Libyans, some taking pictures for family albums, filed in under armed guard to see for themselves that the man they feared was truly dead.

“There is going to be regional in-fighting. You have Zintan and Misrata on one side and then Benghazi and the east,” the guerrilla said. “There is in-fighting even inside the army.”

There is some unease abroad over what many believe was a summar y execution of Gaddafi. UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has called for an investigation into the killing, but few Libyans share those concerns. Arguments have arisen among Libya’s factions about what to do with the corpse, which has not been accorded the swift burial required

by Islamic law and is beginning to decompose. Those viewing the body on Saturday were obliged to cover their faces with surgical masks.

Gaddafi’s surviving family, in exile, wants his body and that of his son Moatassim to be handed over to tribal kinsmen from Sirte. NTC officials said they were trying to arrange a secret resting place to avoid loyalist supporters making it a shrine.

Misrata does not want his body under its soil. The disputes within the NTC have delayed the announcement of an end to the war several times, but such worries are unlikely to be paramount in the minds of many Libyans as they celebrate the beginning of a new era in their country’s history.

The announcement of “liberation” will set a clock ticking on a plan for a new government and constitutional assembly leading to full democracy in 2013. “We hope we will have an elected democratic government with broad participation,” student Ali Abu Shufa said. Gaddafi promoted tribalism to keep the country divided, he said. “But now Gaddafi is dead, all the tribes will be united.” — Reuters

1,000 feared dead in Turkey quake Continued from Page 1 at 1056 GMT, at 19 km northeast of Van. The depth of the initial quake was 7.2 km, according to the US seismologists. The depth of the aftershock was 20 km, they added. The epicentre of the quake, which struck around 1041 GMT, was at Tabanli in Van province, the Kandilli institute said. The Turkish institute said there were two aftershocks which affected the villages of Ilikaynak and Gedikbulak in particular.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled his official program and was due to visit the quake region yesterday, NTV said. Although the quake damaged Van’s airport it did not disrupt the air traffic, the Anatolia news agency reported, citing civilian aviation authorities. Van, a city of 380,000 mainly Kurdish inhabitants, is more than 1,200 km from the capital Ankara.

The quake was also felt across the border in northwestern Iran, causing some panic in major cities, Iranian media reported, but without any mention of casualties or damage. The tremors were strong enough to cause “scenes of panic among the population of the cities,” according to several Iranian media.

International offers of aid poured in from NATO, China, Japan, the United States, Azerbaijan, European countries and Israel, whose ties with Ankara have soured since Israeli commandoes killed nine Turks during a raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip in 2010. Earthquake-prone Turkey lies atop several fault lines. In 1999, two strong quakes in the heavily populated and industrialised regions of northwest Turkey left some 20,000 dead. And a powerful earthquake in the town of Caldiran in Van province killed 3,840 people in 1976. — Agencies

Opposition delays graft quiz, new FM...

Continued from Page 1 articles. MP Musallam Al-Barrak said that the court decision cannot be placed above the constitution, while MP Khaled Al-Sultan insisted that the court did not rule on the validity of the grilling but simply reconfirmed a similar conclusion made in 2004 by the same court.

Only a decision by the National Assembly will determine the fate of the grilling and whether it can still be debated or not. Also, Al-Mislem said that the Reform and Development Bloc will boycott the opening session but will only attend when voting will be made on two populist bills stipulating pay raises for teachers and Kuwait University students. It was not immediately

known if other opposition MPs will join the four MPs of the Reform and Development Bloc in the boycott.

Separately, Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi said yesterday that the new parliamentary term will open tomorrow as scheduled, denying any change in the date as a controversy over the constitutional court ruling grew wilder. Khorafi told reporters that he has been informed by the Amiri Diwan that the opening ceremony of the new term will take place tomorrow morning as has been announced earlier by an Amiri decree. The speaker said that the issue of the constitutional court ruling along with the controversial grilling against the prime minister will be discussed in the Nov 1 Assembly session.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

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Issues

Iran influence on the rise as US forces leave Iraq

By Prashant Rao s the US moves to withdraw its remaining 39,000 troops from Iraq, the influence of its nemesis Iran in the corridors of power in Baghdad and beyond is likely to rise further, analysts say. Friday’s announcement that all US troops would leave Iraq by year-end was followed shortly after by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton implicitly warning Tehran not to interfere in Baghdad. US officials regularly accuse Iran of meddling in the politics of Baghdad’s Shiite-led government, and training and backing militant groups that target US troops in the south of Iraq.

But Iraq and Iran, foes before the 2003 invasion who fought a devastating war from 1980-88, also enjoy close ties on a number of counts, from bilateral trade to tourism, primarily religious. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he expects “a change will occur” in Tehran-Baghdad ties, noting that the two countries have “special relations”. “I think this is a good thing and should have been carried out a long time ago. If it were done seven or eight years ago, there would have been fewer Iraqi and American forces killed,” Ahmadinejad said.

“Iran’s influence is broad, generally, and is deep in areas, particularly in the south,” said Ali Al-Saffar, an Iraq analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. “It has generally moved, since 2003, to make sure it has eggs in more than one basket, and it’s reaping the rewards of that policy now. With the withdrawal, American influence will wane and I think both Iran, through its allies, and Iraq’s Arab neighbours, through candidates agreeable to them, will look to step in to shore up their preferred political parties.” The 39,000 American troops currently in Iraq on 16 bases, down from a peak of nearly 170,000 soldiers on 505 bases, are due to leave by the end of 2011. Filling the void will be the massive US embassy in Baghdad, the biggest in the world, and American consulates in the southern port city of Basra and in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. Fewer than 200 troops will remain as part of the US embassy’s Office of Security Cooperation, which is responsible for foreign military sales and limited training.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said Washington will negotiate with Iraq after 2011 over a military training mission. The reduced presence led US President Barack Obama’s conservative critics to blast his announcement of the year-end withdrawal, citing worries that Iran would fill the vacuum. After a months-long stalemate following inconclusive elections in March 2010, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s coalition government finally came together late last year after the bloc loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, seen as close to Iran, joined it.

And Maliki, who had initially attempted to form a multi-confessional bloc in the run-up to the election, took the helm of a pan-Shiite grouping that formed after his own slate’s second-place result in the election. American military officers have also said for years the Islamic Republic trains and backs militant groups that target US troops in the south of the country, culminating in June marking the deadliest month for Washington’s forces in Iraq in two years. Iran denies those allegations.

“The main plank of Iranian policy in Iraq is to have a governing coalition dominated by Shiite Islamists,” said Reidar Visser, an analyst and editor of the Iraq-focused blog gulfanalysis.wordpress.com. “Above all, Iran has succeeded in defining the parameters for Iraqi politics through a prime minister that relies on a sectarian Shiite alliance ... As long as Iraqi politics remains defined in sectarian terms, Iran will have the upper hand.”

Instability in Iran’s ally Syria, where a violent crackdown on protests since mid-March has left more than 3,000 people dead, could also mean that Tehran ups its focus on Iraq still further. Iran has been concerned about the possible collapse of Syria, its principal Middle East ally in Damascus, and had previously avoided speaking out against the regime’s response to demonstrations.

But on Saturday Ahmadinejad condemned the “killings and massacre” in Syria. “After the (US) withdrawal, Iranian influence will be greater because Iran will focus more on Iraq, especially because they are losing Syria,” said Ihsan Al-Shammari, an Iraq-based analyst. “Iranian interference will be negative if Iraq does not follow Iran.”

Visser echoed those sentiments, saying: “If the aim until now was to check US influence, the next aim will be to ensure that Iraq’s government does not cease to be reliant on Tehran.” “Iraq will become double important to the Iranians should they lose ground in Syria,” he said.

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Ma’s China peace plan triggers fury

By Amber Wang call by Taiwan’s president for a peace treaty with China, made as he campaigns for re-election, has drawn a stormy response and may fail to either win votes or curry favour with Beijing, analysts say. President Ma Ying-jeou, who is seeking a second term in January polls, created shockwaves when he said a week ago that the island should consider a treaty to formally end a civil war that in reality has been over since 1949. The high-risk strategy, which critics slammed as “surrender and unification” in disguise, already looks to have backfired, illustrating Ma’s dilemma in trying to push a Beijing-friendly agenda without alienating domestic opinion.

“He unnecessarily creates suspicion about what he wants and gives the opposition a chance to accuse him of selling out Taiwan,” said George Tsai, a political scientist at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei. Taiwan, an island just off China that is home to 23 million people, has governed itself for more than 60 years but Beijing claims sovereignty over it and has never ruled out the use of force to bring about unification.

Ma may have believed the idea of

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a peace treat y within the nex t decade would help win over voters pining for a future liberated from the fear of sudden aggression from across the narrow Taiwan Straits.

But concerns in Taiwan that a peace pact could pull the island irredeemably into Beijing’s sphere of influence may force him to attach so many conditions to the agreement that the Chinese authorities will lose interest. The non-par tisan Apple Daily newspaper predicted that the peace treaty will “define” the Jan 14 presidential elections.

“The risk associated with a political agreement is too high and the impact too huge,” it said in a commentary. “Voters should vote for Ma if they think Taiwan should enter political negotiations with China.

They should not vote for him if they t h i n k i t i s to o ra s h o r to o r i s k y, because he will do it in his second term.”

M a has re peatedly sought to assure voters in recent days, first saying a peace pact is not tantamount to a unification treaty and emphasising it would only be signed if it was approved by the people in a referendum. He was elected in 2008 on a platform of boosting the economy, and his first term has been focused on economic exchanges with China,

based on the philosophy that trade and investment are less contentious issues than political talks. But speculation has been ripe that he would enter into more dangerous political territory in a second term as he seeks to establish his legacy, and a peace treaty may be considered the least risky way of doing that.

Even so, some analysts caution that the issue might not do him much good in the tight race against Tsai I ng-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which favours independence from China. Taiwan’s opposition has reacted furiously to the peace treat y, accusing Ma of leading the island down the road to reunification with the mainland.

“He is risking our country’s future for the sake of his campaign and pushing Taiwanese people into political danger,” DPP’s Tsai said.

“We urge Ma to notice that this proposal will hurt Taiwan’s sovereignty and interests.”

While Taiwan’s opposition has been boiling with anger, Beijing has been lukewarm, with Chen Yunlin, China’s top negotiator on Taiwan, saying the two sides should concentrate on economic links. “Peaceful development of ties is the joint hope of people on both sides. We need to

focus on the economy first and the politics later to build on mutual trust,” Chen said in footage aired by Taiwanese news channels.

Obser vers have seen a peace treaty as a remote prospect because it would involve difficult questions such as who should sign the agreement on either side and complex sovereignty issues.

Analysts say the status quo is the p re fe r re d o p t i o n fo r C h i n a’s Communist rulers, who while resisting Taiwanese independence fear early unification with the democratic island would be a severe challenge to their one -par ty control. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan even though the island has ruled itself since the de facto end of the civil war 62 years ago, when Chinese nationalists, beaten by the communists, fled across the Taiwan Straits.

“A peace treaty is a valid issue but I don’t think Ma is ready for it yet as he is backtracking after the criticism from the opposition,” Wu’er Kaixi, a former leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, told AFP. “ There’s only a ver y slim chance that the peace treaty with China will be signed as it might change the status quo and not be in China’s political interests,” said Wu’er, now a political commentator based in Taipei. — AFP

Nayef poised to be next crown prince

By Assaad Abboud audi Arabia, ever keen to preserve its stability, is likely to act quickly and appoint Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, the obvious choice, as the new heir of the thrown, analysts said.

“There is only one candidate who has all the possibilities of becoming crown prince: Prince Nayef,” the interior minister and King Abdullah’s half-brother, Abdul Aziz al-Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Centre, told AFP. “It is the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia that the crown prince disappears and it falls on the king to propose a new one,” said Sager.

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, aged 80, died on Saturday in a New York hospital and will be buried in Riyadh tomorrow. Prince Sultan passed away while the monarch himself, 87, remains in hospital in Riyadh, a week after he had an operation on his back.

Sager said the decision on who will be the next crown prince is likely to come swiftly: “perhaps even before the repatriation of the remains of Prince Sultan”.

“The regional and international environment requires a quick endorsement of the king’s decision,” said the analyst, referring in particular to the unrest in neighbouring Yemen, a major concern for the Saudi leadership.

The situation in Syria and tense ties with Iran, accused of attempting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, are another source of anxi-

S

ety for the ultra- conser vative Gulf monarchy. Traditionally, successions in the oil-rich kingdom have always been held without apparent conflict among

Most power transfers have been smooth, except that of 1964, when King Saud was forced to abdicate in favour of his brother and then crown prince,

A Saudi man reads a newspaper with a front-page story on the death of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz in Riyadh yesterday. — AFP members of the royal family. Since the death in 1953 of King Abdel Aziz, who founded Saudi Arabia in 1932, five of his sons have ascended to the throne.

Faisal. Khaled Dakhil, a political science professor at the King Saud University, also said the “most prominent candidate to inherit the throne is Prince

Nayef ”. “ The appointment of Prince Nayef as second vice-president of the cabinet is a strong indication that he will be made crown prince,” he added.

Prince Nayef, 78, was named second deputy premier in March 2009, filling a potential void in the succession lineup.

“The choice should not take long, if it hasn’t been made already, because the members of prince Sultan’s family knew his health was very bad.” For the first time in the in the kingdom’s history that choice, in principle, must be endorsed by a small Al-Saud board, which was established following a reform of the system of succession in 2006.

Anwar Eshki, director of the Saudibased Middle East Institute for Strategic Studies, said the board will make the decision tak ing into consideration experience, whereas before the sole criteria was age. Prince Nayef, who liked to say he was a soldier at the service of the country, boasts plenty of experience, particularly as the head of the powerful ministry of interior.

Widely viewed as a conservative, he has led the campaign against Islamist militants in the kingdom after it witnessed a wave of deadly attacks by AlQaeda between 2003 and 2006. More recently, Prince Nayef has mobilized his ser vicemen to prevent the “Arab Spring” from spreading to the regional power-house, and publically thanked Saudis for ignoring calls for demonstrations. — AFP

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

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Nowitzki to work out in Germany if lockout drags ARLINGTON: Once the World Series is over, Dirk Nowitzki will start planning a trip back to Germany unless there’s progress toward starting the NBA season.

The NBA finals MVP said Saturday that he wants to resume training with his personal coach if it seems unlikely he will be playing for the Dallas Mavericks any time soon.

“It’s time to really get back in the routine,” Nowitzki said after throwing out the first pitch for Game 3 of the World Series. “Got to keep the options open, maybe see what’s going on overseas.”

Nowitzki has become a baseball fan over his 13 years in the United States. Because the Texas Rangers are his local team, he roots for them, and even has a blue jersey customized with his name and number. He threw out the first pitch at a game this summer after leading the Mavs to their first title and attended Game 6 of the AL championship series. He wasn’t able to make it to a World Series game when the Rangers made it last year, so he was eager to attend - and take part - on Saturday night. — AP

Loeb wins Rally of Catalunya

Huck eyes the Klitschkos BERLIN: WBO cruiser weight belt-holder Marco Huck wants to step up a division to challenge one of the heavyweight champions, the Klitschko brothers, after he knocked-out Argentine challenger Rogelio Rossi.

The 26-year-old Huck defended his cruiserweight title for the eighth time late on Saturday with a sixth-round knock-out of Rossi, but the German now has plans to step up a weight division and fight one of the Klitschkos.

The Ukrainian-born Klitschko brothers have dominated the heavyweight division since younger brother Wladimir, 35, earned a unanimous win over Britain’s David Haye in July to

SALOU: Sebastien Loeb moved closer to an eighth consecutive drivers’ title with a win in the the Rally of Catalunya, the penultimate leg of the season, here yesterday.

Loeb’s 67th career win and the fifth this year assured his team Citroen of the manufacturers’ title ahead of the closing rally in Wales to come. He added this to his wins in 2011 in Mexico, Sardinia, Argentina and Finland.

The French ace beat his title challenger Mikko Hirvonen by over two minutes with the Finn’s compatriot and Ford Fiesta teammate Jari-Matti Latvala in third, 2:32.sec adrift.

Loeb goes into next month’s final rally with an eight point advantage over Hirvonen in the overall drivers’ standings. For Citroen this was the French competitor’s seventh world title and their fourth consecutive title since 2008.

“It was a really good rally for us coming from three bad rallies,” said Loeb. “We did the perfect race I would say with no mistakes. Mikko has taken a lot of points so we stay very close in the championship but the point for the power stage could be very important.” — AFP

add the WBA title to his IBF, WBO and IBO belts. Elder brother Vitali, 40, is the WBC world heavyweight champion. “This may come sooner than many people think,” said Huck about a fight against one of the Klitschkos after his comfortable win over Rossi. “Anyone can see how I am doing. In my class, I am smashing everyone up.”

Measuring 1.87 metres tall and tipping the scales at just over 90kgs, Huck will struggle to physically match either Wladimir, 1.98m and 109 kg, or Vitali, 2.01m and 110 kg, in the ring. The Klitschko camp, which is based in Hamburg, were quick to respond, but were cool on the subject. “Theoretically, anything is possible.” — AFP

Cards romp to 2-1 Series lead

FLORIDA: Justin Leonard hits a shot from a bunker on the 15th hole during the third round of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic golf tournament. —AP

Donald’s hopes fade with wobble at Disney FLORIDA: World number one Luke Donald’s hopes of claiming the PGA Tour money list title faded on Saturday with a back-nine wobble in a third-round 70 at the season-ending Disney Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Locked in a fight with American Webb Simpson for the money crown, the Briton needs to finish no worse than in a two-way tie for second to take top spot and heads into late yesterday’s final round five shots behind co-leaders Kevin Chappell and Justin Leonard in joint 14th place.

“Very difficult,” Donald told reporters when asked about his chances of capturing the money title. “I have to go super low tomorrow and get a little bit of help from everyone else in front of me.

“I certainly believe you can shoot 62 out there. It’s going to take a great round. “ Today ’s round I had a lot of opportunities. “ There is a score out there, but again, everything’s going to have to go my way.”

Cruising along with four birdies on an unblemished scorecard, Donald had clawed his way up the leaderboard into a share of fourth but slipped back with a double-bogey at the par five 14th followed by a bogey five at 16.

The Briton ended his day on a positive note with a birdie at the last but still remained one back of Simpson on nineunder 207.

At the same time as Donald stumbled, his playing partner Simpson was mounting a back-nine charge. After reaching the turn at one over, Simpson shifted into top gear carding four birdies

on an error-free finish for a three-under 69.

“We’re both trying to do the same thing, win the golf tournament,” said Simpson, the money list leader. “It’s been good to play with him.

“It’s always good to play with your best friend in the world and we might be playing together again tomorrow.

“There’s been a little added pressure but I think we’ve both handled it okay.”

Chappell, chasing his first career PGA Tour title, got his round off to an unsteady start with a bogey at the first but the American was error free the rest of the way recording seven birdies, including three consecutively from the 12th for a six-under 66 and share of first place.

Leonard had a more adventurous afternoon.

The former British Open champion reeled off three birdies from the eighth and another at the 12th before stumbling home with bogeys at 13 and 15 for a two-under 70 to join Chappell at 14under 202.

“Today was one of those days where I got something out of this round and certainly didn’t hurt myself,” said Leonard.

“I’m in the position I want to be in, which is a chance to win the tournament.

“I’m going to go work on a couple things on the range and try and come out tomorrow and be a little sharper.”

Lurking one off the pace is South Korean Kim Bi-o (71) with Australian lefthander Nick O’Hern (70) and Swede Henrik Stenson (72) one shot further adrift on 204. —Reuters

ARLINGTON: Albert Pujols began the game hoping to shake his slump and maybe get a hit. He did that, and a whole lot more: He produced the defining game of his monster career, and perhaps the greatest hitting performance in World Series history.

Pujols launched three long homers, drove in six runs and finished with five hits - tying Series records with each accomplishment - as the St. Louis Cardinals romped past the Texas Rangers 16-7 on Saturday night for a 2-1 edge. “Just pretty special,” he said.

The three -time NL MVP matched Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for the most home runs in a game, connecting on fastballs from three different pitchers.

Pujols added two singles and set a Series mark with 14 total bases.

“Hopefully, at the end of my career, I can look back and say, ‘ Wow, what a game it was in Game 3 in 2011,” Pujols said. And to think, his night began with a groundout that left him 0 for 7 against Texas “I mean, with Babe and Reggie, that’s pretty good company right there,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. The outburst by Pujols came a day after he was barbed by the media for not sticking around to talk about a Game 2 error and loss. This time, everyone was talking about him.

“When the opportunity presents itself to put him on the bag, I’m not going to let him swing the bat,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “But tonight, we just couldn’t get the ball out of the middle of the plate and up, and he just didn’t miss. “I saw him on TV but I’ll tell you, tonight was something special.”

The Cardinals mashed their way to the highest-scoring game in their storied postseason history, breaking away after first base umpire Ron Kulpa’s admitted blown call. After two taut games in St. Louis, this suddenly turned into a messy slugfest. Pujols, the most feared slugger in the majors, was right in the middle he became the first player in Series history to get hits in four straight innings. So much for any worries about Pujols making a dent. “I was hitting the ball hard, but I wasn’t getting any hits,” he said. “But all it takes is one good game. I got five hits, what are they going to say about it?”

Texas fans booed after Kulpa’s miss helped the Cardinals score four times in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. The crowd at Rangers

Tseng wins Taiwan Championship YANG MEI: Yani Tseng won the LPGA Taiwan Championship yesterday for her 10th worldwide victory of the year and third in front of her adoring home fans.

The 22-year-old Taiwanese star closed with a 6-under 66 at Sunrise for a five-stroke victory over Spain’s Azahara Munoz and South Korea’s Amy Yang.

“I play really, really good today. I was bogey free,” Tseng said. “I wish this year would go on forever so I could win more. But I can always get better.”

Tseng finished at 16 under and earned $300,000 for her seventh LPGA Tour victory of the season to increase her tour-leading total to $2,873,629. She donated $100,000 to the Taiwan Golf Association to support junior golf.

Tseng won her first four events this year, taking the Taiwanese tour’s Taifong Ladies and sweeping the Australian Women’s Open and Ladies Masters before opening the LPGA Tour season with a victory in the LPGA Thailand.

The LPGA Tour player of the year for the second straight season, the top-ranked Tseng won major titles this summer in the LPGA Championship and Women’s British Open and has 12 victories in four seasons on the tour.

After opening with rounds of 68, 71 and 67 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round, Tseng birdied the par-3 second and reached 14 under with birdies on the par-5 sixth and par-4 seventh and eighth holes.

She parred the next seven holes, birdied the par-3 16th, increased her lead to four strokes with a par on the par-4 17th and birdied the par-5 18th.

“I could feel victory at the 18th hole, especially with so many fans yelling ‘Go! Go!’” Tseng said. Yang finished

with a 67, and Munoz had a 68. American Morgan Pressel shot a 65 - the best round of the week in the inaugural tournament, to tie for fourth with Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (71) at 9 under. —AP

Ballpark went silent when Pujols started swinging for the fences, and beyond. His three-run shot in the sixth rattled the windows of the club level high above left field. Game 4 is late yesterday, with Derek Holland starting for the Rangers against Edwin Jackson. It will be the back half of a St. Louis-Texas style doubleheader - earlier in the day, the Rams play the Dallas Cowboys right across the parking lot.

This game had an NFL score, too. The teams combined for 23 runs and 28 hits - at Busch Stadium, they teamed for eight runs and 23 hits in two games.

homer of the postseason and Michael Young also connected for the Rangers. But after Ian Kinsler popped up with the bases loaded to end the fifth with Texas trailing 8-6, the Cardinals pulled away.

Pujols, however, showed exactly why he is the most prized free agent of all going into this winter. The big slugger connected off Alexi Ogando in the sixth, hit a two-run drive to left-center off Michael Gonzalez in the seventh and tagged Darren Oliver for a solo shot to left-center with two outs in the ninth.

“When Pujols is at the plate, that’s the first time he did dam-

ruled safe by Kulpa at first.

Replays clearly show part-time first baseman Mike Napoli caught second baseman Kinsler’s high toss and slapped a tag on Holliday before he reached the bag.

Kulpa said he thought Holliday beat the tag. The Rangers argued, to no avail. “Well, he missed the play and I knew he missed the play when I went out there,” Washington said. After the game, the umpire issued a mea Kulpa.

“I saw a replay when I walked off the field, and the tag was applied before his foot hit the bag,” he said. The Cardinals quick-

ARLINGTON: St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols hits a home run during the ninth inning of Game 3 of baseball’s World Series against the Texas Rangers. —AP “You leave a ball up in this park it’s going to carry a little more than it does in St. Louis,” Pujols said. Pujols joined Ruth, who hit three homers in games against the Cardinals in 1926 and 1928, and Jackson’s three-homer show against the Dodgers in 1977. “It’s an honor to be named in the same category as those guys,” Pujols said.

Pujols’ six RBIs matched Bobby Richardson in 1960 and Hideki Matsui in 2009. He tied the Series mark for hits in a game set by Paul Molitor in 1982.

Good-luck charm Allen Craig homered for St. Louis and Yadier Molina drove in four runs. The Cardinals broke it open by scoring four times in the fourth, three more in the fifth and four in the sixth. Adrian Beltre kept delivering for Texas, getting four hits.

Nelson Cruz hit his seventh

age. We fought back pretty good, the next thing you know he’s up there batting with guys on base and brings them in,” Oliver said.

“That’s what he does. That’s why he’s the hitter he is.”

By the end, Rangers president Nolan Ryan was rubbing his forehead and it was hard to keep track of all the hits. Balls were rolling into the corners, sailing over the fence and going most everywhere. In the seventh, a fan wearing a Rangers shirt threw a Wiffle ball toward St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday as he was preparing to catch a routine fly.

The Rangers said the young man and his friend were ejected.

Early in the game, it appeared Kulpa’s call would be the focal point. The Cardinals led 1-0 when Pujols led off the fourth with a single. Holliday followed with a perfect double-play ball, but was

ly scored four times, helped when Napoli threw wide to the plate for an error that let two runs cross.

Texas fans booed as replays of the bad call circulated - they won’t be happy to learn, either, that Kulpa was born, raised and lives in the St. Louis area.

“Has nothing to do with it,” Kulpa said. For the Cardinals, perhaps it was a little evening up, albeit many years later. The call came four days before the anniversar y of umpire Don Denkinger’s missed call at first base in the 1985 World Series that severely cost St. Louis.

Starters Kyle Lohse of St. Louis and Matt Harrison were both pulled in the fourth inning. Soon after, it was clear that no pitchers were going to be too effective.

Lance Lynn earned the win with 2 1-3 innings of relief and Harrison took the loss. —AP

Choi grabs CJ Invitational SEOUL: KJ Choi won the CJ Invitational, an event that he hosted, by two shots yesterday after posting a final round 5-under 67 to finish with a 17-under total of 271. The 14th-ranked South Korean started the day in third place and delighted local fans at the Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Club by edging compatriot Noh Seung-yeol who carded a 6-under 66 for a 15-under total of 273. Choi said that hosting the tournament helped him win.

“I had so much things going on. I didn’t really think about the win. I was busy looking after the players and taking care of the sponsors,” Choi said. “Probably

the fact that I wasn’t thinking about the tournament helped me feel at ease. The way it turned out, I’m happy to be the inaugural champion even though I am hosting this event, it gives a special meaning.”

Anthony Kim finished four shots short behind Choi after a 1-over 73 left the Korean-American with a 13under total of 275, the same as overnight leader Lee Ki-sang of South Korea.

“It was a tough day,” said Kim. “I tried everything I could. The ball didn’t want to go into the hole. But KJ played amazing. He made the putts when he needed to.” —AP

Phelps happy with form as London looms

TAIWAN: Yani Tseng of Taiwan hold up her championship trophy on the 18th hole after the final round of the LPGA Taiwan Championship. —AP

BERLIN: US swim star Michael Phelps finished Berlin’s World Cup short-course meet yesterday with four victories in four world best times this year as the 14-time Olympic champion continued his preparations for London 2012.

Having won the 100m and 400m individual medley finals on Saturday, the 26-year-old added victory in the 200m IM and 200m backstroke yesterday.

Phelps comfortably took the individual medley final in a time of 1 minute 51.89 seconds, then timed 1min 50.34secs to win the backstroke final by more than a second.

He declined to race in yesterday’s 100m butterfly final having qualified second fastest from the heats, but Phelps looks a good prospect to add more Olympic titles in London to the eight he won at the 2008 Games and six in 2004.

The US star has repeatedly said he is happy with his form for next July’s Olympic Games with the US trials set for June.

“I am quite happy with the way things are going, I was here to test myself and see how good I am at the moment,” he said, looking relaxed and in the same top condition he showed in Beijing.

“I am in good shape and feel a lot stronger than I was a year ago. Now, it’s a case of keeping the training going and putting the work in.”

Phelps stayed away from the freestyle events, avoiding going head-to-head with Germany’s Paul Biedermann, who dominated both the 200m and 400m freestyle here, also in world best times.

“He is one of the swimmers who makes me want to get into the water to compete against him,” said Phelps of the German, who beat him in the 200m freestyle in Moscow last week. “I have the greatest respect for Paul.” — AFP

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

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Capitals trounce Red Wings

NEW YORK: (Right to left) Omar Narvaez of Argentina connects with a right to Nonito Donaire of the Philippines in the WBC, WBO World Bantamweight titles bout at Madison Square Garden. —AFP

Donaire retains WBC and WBO bantamweight titles NEW YORK: Nonito Donaire retained the WBC and WBO bantamweight titles, unanimously outpointing Omar Narvaez on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Donaire improved to 27-1, extending his nine-year winning streak to 26 fights, with winning scores of 120-108 from the judges. After Donaire knocked out nine of his last 10 opponents, the fight had most of the 4,425 fans booing the lack of action.

“I was bored,” Donaire said. “When I know that the guy wouldn’t open up, I kind of got bored because no matter what I opened my hands, I opened my face and the least you can do is hit me with a jab, hit me with something.”

Narvaez (35-1-2) lost for the first time in his 11-year professional career. “He never hurt me,” Narvaez said. “I didn’t feel any of the punches. I didn’t think he was such a big deal.”

Donaire won the title with an overwhelming second-round knockout of Fernando Montiel eight months ago, but this one was nowhere as easy as that left hook for the 28-year-old making his first New York appearance.

After judges awarded Donaire the first three rounds, he began to get into a groove in the fourth. Late in the round, Donaire began landing more punches and he had Narvaez against the ropes with a strong combination but that did lead to

victory.

Narvaez was able to stay with him by using a defensive strategy most of the fight. He frequently kept his hands clenched near his head to avoid many strong punches and appeared content to let the bout go the distance. Narvaez also showed a reluctance to go on the offensive as he averaged 24 punches thrown per round, 36 fewer than the average.

“I expected him to wear me down, but that wasn’t the case,” Donaire said. “The moment that I hit him hard, he just didn’t want to take his chances.”

Narvaez’s technical approach had some in the crowd booing at times but they cheered wildly when Donaire began landing some uppercuts late in the 10th. The booing returned in the 11th as Donaire rarely landed any punches until the final seconds of the round.

In the 12th round, Donaire landed a strong combination but could not finish.

Narvaez briefly had him against the ropes but Donaire escaped though in the final seconds he flailed against the ropes.

Earlier, Miguel Garcia (27-0, 23 KOs) remained unbeaten and successfully retained his NABF featherweight title with a fourth-round knockout of challenger Juan Carlos Martinez (17-13-1). Garcia won after knocking Martinez out three times before the fight was stopped with 14 seconds remaining in the fourth round. —AP

SEPANG: Honda rider Marco Simoncelli (right) takes a corner at the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix MotoGP race at Sepang. Italy’s Marco Simoncelli died of injuries sustained in a crash that resulted in the cancellation of the Malaysian MotoGP. —AP

Simoncelli dies in horror crash SEPANG: Italian MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli died after a horrific crash at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang yesterday, completing a harrowing week for motorsport after British IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon lost his life last weekend.

Simoncelli, 24, crashed on the second lap and was hit by the bikes of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi as he slid across the track on his Honda.

His helmet was knocked off in the incident and the season’s penultimate race was stopped immediately with a red flag and then cancelled.

Yamaha’s Edwards also came off his bike but escaped serious injury, while Rossi was able to coax his Ducati back to the pits. Simoncelli lay stricken on the track before being taken to the circuit’s medical centre where he was pronounced dead.

“Everybody involved in MotoGP extends its deepest condolences to Marco’s family, friends and team at this tragic loss,” MotoGP said in a statement.

Casey Stoner, who won his second MotoGP title at his home Australian Grand Prix last week, said: “As soon as I saw the footage it just makes you sick inside.

“Whenever the helmet comes off that’s not a good sign.” Medical director Michele Macchiagodena said Simoncelli was already unconscious when medics reached him. “He was hit by other riders, he suffered a very serious trauma to the head, to the neck and the chest,” he said.

“In the ambulance there was a cardiac arrest.”

Macchiagodena added: “(Edwards) had a dislocation of the shoulder and with anaesthesia the shoulder now is in the correct position. He is fine.”

Simoncelli’s death is the first in the sport’s premier class since another Honda rider, Daijiro Kato, was killed at the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix.

Kato’s fellow Japanese Shoya Tomizawa

also died in a similar crash to Simoncelli in Moto2, the class below MotoGP, last year.

Simoncelli, known for his shaggy afro haircut and fun-loving personality, began in the 125cc class in 2002 before moving up to the 250cc class in 2006. He won the 250cc world title in 2008.

MotoGP bosses and riders have been working hard to improve safety following Tomizawa’s death at the San Marino Grand Prix in September 2010.

However, they have acknowledged there is little more they can do given the implicit danger in motorcycling, especially when riders are hit by other bikes.

All Italian sports events on Sunday will observe a minute’s silence in memory of Simoncelli, the Italian Olympic Committee said in a statement.

Simoncelli was a big fan of soccer club AC Milan, who released a statement offering their condolences and wore black armbands in their win over Lecce.

Last season’s MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo suffered a serious injury last weekend which could have cost him a finger, further underlining the danger of the sport.

“On a day like this I don’t know what to say,” said the Spaniard. “Marco, rest in peace.” Nicky Hayden, the 2006 champion who rides for Italian team Ducati, was heartbroken. “It is a really horrible day for all of us,” the American said. “I saw Marco fall. “Leaving the corner he lost the back end and probably he didn’t manage to regain his balance on the bike. I feel really bad. On the track we are all brothers.”

Wheldon died at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday after being involved in a 15-car crash. Drivers questioned the wisdom of running the IndyCar finale on a very fast, high-banked oval which had not staged an event in the series for 11 years. Others criticised the 34strong field sprinkled with part-time drivers. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Mike Green and Matthieu Perreault each scored two goals as the Washington Capitals routed the Detroit Red Wings 7-1 on Saturday night in a matchup of the NHL’s last remaining unbeaten teams.

Marcus Johansson, Joel Ward and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for Washington, which is off to a team-best start of 7-0.

Niklas Kronwall had the lone goal for Detroit, which was trying to open 6-0 for the first time since the 1972-73 season. Nicklas Lidstrom had an assist in his 1,500th career game. He is the 14th NHL player to reach that milestone. Tomas Vokoun made 32 saves for his sixth straight victory.

Sharks 4, Bruins 2 In Boston, Benn Ferriero scored to break a thirdperiod tie and lead San Jose past the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins.

Anti Niemi also stopped 37 shots for the Sharks, who have won consecutive games for the first time this season. Milan Lucic scored for Boston, then assisted on Tyler Seguin’s goal just 29 seconds later as the Bruins rallied to level the score at 2-2 in the third. But Ferriero slammed in a rebound with 11:12 left to put the Sharks in front. The Bruins have scored four goals total in four losses so far this season.

Penguins 4, Devils 1 At Pittsburgh, Jordan Staal scored twice to give him 100 NHL goals as Pittsburgh won its third consecutive game. James Neal also had his leagueleading eighth goal of the season for the Penguins.

Staal scored for the fourth and fifth times this season to give him 100 goals less than six weeks after his 23rd birthday. His second of the game came 70 seconds after Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal early in the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves for the Penguins.

Avalanche 5, Blackhawks 4 In Chicago, Joakim Lindstrom scored the only goal in the shootout as Colorado won its sixth straight road game.

Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves through overtime, then stopped Viktor Stalberg, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in the shootout to help Colorado extend its record streak of road wins from the start of a season.

Avalanche rookie Gabriel Landeskog’s second goal of the game with 1:48 left in the third period leveled the score at 4-4 and forced overtime. Paul Stastny and David Jones also scored in regulation for the Avalanche.

Blues 4, Flyers 2 In Philadelphia, Kent Huskins and T.J Oshie scored early goals to lead St. Louis over Philadelphia. The Blues won their second game in two nights after beating Carolina in overtime at home on Friday.

Carlo Colaiacovo scored his first goal of the season in the second period and Matt D’Agostini pushed the lead to 4-2 in the third for the Blues.

Danny Briere and Matt Carle scored for the Flyers.

Lightning 3, Sabres 0 In Tampa, Florida, Mathieu Garon made 21 saves to earn his 20th NHL shutout as Tampa Bay beat Buffalo. Martin St. Louis, Victor Hedman and Pavel Kubina scored for the Lightning, who have won two in row following a five-game losing streak. It was Garon’s first shutout in 34 games. Sabres left wing Thomas Vanek had his season-opening, sixgame point streak broken.

Panthers 4, Islanders 2 In Sunrise, Florida, Tim Kennedy scored the goahead goal early in the third period to lift Florida past the New York Islanders.

Florida’s victory came hours after the Panthers traded left wing David Booth, center Steve Reinprecht and a third-round pick in the 2013 draft to the Vancouver Canucks for veteran forwards Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm.

Kris Versteeg and Matt Bradley also scored for the Panthers. Shawn Matthias added an empty-net goal with 24 seconds left.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 18 shots to earn his first NHL victory after replacing Jose Theodore during the first minute of the third period when the game was level at 2-2.

Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 4 In Montreal, Mikhail Grabovski scored 1:23 into overtime to give Toronto a win over the Canadiens.

Grabovski took John-Michael Liles’ pass at the side of the Montreal net and turned around to fire a shot past Carey Price.

Nikolai Kulemin drew Toronto even at 13:07 of the third, leveling the score at 4-4 when he put away a loose puck in the Montreal crease. Phil Kessel, David Steckel and Dion Phaneuf also scored for the Maple Leafs. Travis Moen scored twice for the Canadiens, who have lost five in a row.

Canucks 3, Wild 2 At Vancouver, British Columbia, Sami Salo scored on a power play at 4:39 of overtime to lift Vancouver over Minnesota.

With Dany Heatley in the penalty box for slashing Ryan Kesler’s stick in half, Salo overpowered Niklas Backstrom with a hard slap shot over the

TAMPA: Lightning defenseman Matt Gilroy (97) is knocked away from the puck by Buffalo Sabres center Paul Gaustad (28) during the third period of an NHL hockey game. — AP glove. Kyle Brodziak put Minnesota ahead with 1:49 left in the second period, but Jannik Hansen evened the score with a deflection 2:06 into the third.

Cory Schneider finished with 21 saves for the Canucks, who posted consecutive wins for the first time this season.

Jets 5, Hurricanes 3 In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Andrew Ladd scored and Nik Antropov added a pair of assists to lead Winnipeg over Carolina.

The Jets got off to a terrible start, giving up two goals in the first seven minutes. But a pair of power-play goals in the first period and three quick goals in the second sparked the Jets to their second win after moving from Atlanta.

Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec was replaced after the two early goals by Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Skinner.

Senators 4, Blue Jackets 3 In Ottawa, Milan Michalek scored with 4.7 seconds remaining as Ottawa won consecutive games for the first time this season. Filip Kuba, Zack Smith and Jason Spezza also scored for the Senators.

Aaron Johnson, Kris Russell and Rick Nash scored for Columbus, which had more than two goals for the first time this season. The Blue Jackets are off to their worst start in team history and are last in the NHL with just one point.

Predators 2, Flames 0 In Calgary, Alberta, Pekka Rinne made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season and 21st in the NHL as Nashville beat Calgary. Nicolas Bergfors and Sergei Kostitsyn scored for the Predators, who ended a four-game losing streak.

Bergfors opened the scoring 2:34 into the second period and Kostitsyn doubled the lead on a tap-in with 5:24 left in the third.

Kings 1, Stars 0 In Los Angeles, Jonathan Quick became the first Los Angeles goalie to record three consecutive shutouts and defenseman Jack Johnson scored with 4:58 left in a victory over Dallas. Coming off victories against St. Louis and Phoenix, Quick made 28 saves to help extend the Kings’ winning streak to four games and end Dallas’ at five. The closest the Stars came to scoring was when Michael Ryder hit the crossbar with a wrist shot over Quick’s left shoulder with 15:03 remaining.

Oilers 2, Rangers 0 At Edmonton, Alberta, Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 19 shots as Edmonton beat the roadweary New York Rangers. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Corey Potter scored for the Oilers, who ended a two-game skid. The Rangers lost for the first time on their four-game swing to western Canada. New York is playing its first seven games of the season on the road. —AP

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Saturday.

Nashville 2, Calgary 0; Vancouver 3, Minnesota 2 (OT); San Jose 4, Boston 2; Toronto 5, Montreal 4 (OT); Ottawa 4, Columbus 3; St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 2; Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1; Washington 7, Detroit 1; Winnipeg 5, Carolina 3; Tampa Bay 3, Buffalo 0; Florida 4, NY Islanders 2; Colorado 5, Chicago 4 (SO); Edmonton 2, NY Rangers 0; Los Angeles 1, Dallas 0. (OT denotes overtime win, SO is shootout victory) Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF Pittsburgh 6 2 2 30 4 2 1 23 Philadelphia New Jersey 3 2 1 13 NY Islanders 3 3 0 14 NY Rangers 2 2 2 12 Northeast Division Toronto 5 1 1 24 5 2 0 20 Buffalo Boston 3 5 0 19 Ottawa 3 5 0 24 Montreal 1 4 2 17 Southeast Division Washington 7 0 0 30 4 3 0 18 Florida Tampa Bay 3 3 2 25 Carolina 3 3 2 22 Winnipeg 2 4 1 16

GA 22 19 16 14 13

PTS 14 9 7 6 6

23 13 19 34 24

11 10 6 6 4

14 18 27 27 25

14 8 8 8 5

Western Conference Central Division Detroit 5 1 0 19 14 10 4 1 2 24 18 10 Chicago St. Louis 4 4 0 22 24 8 Nashville 3 3 1 15 20 7 Columbus 0 7 1 17 29 1 Northwest Division Colorado 6 2 0 26 20 12 4 3 1 22 23 9 Vancouver Minnesota 3 2 3 18 20 9 Edmonton 3 2 2 13 12 8 Calgary 2 4 1 15 20 5 Pacific Division Dallas 6 2 0 19 15 12 5 1 1 17 10 11 Los Angeles Anaheim 4 2 0 12 12 8 San Jose 3 3 0 18 16 6 Phoenix 2 3 1 15 18 5 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

Brezina wins men’s title at Skate America

ONTARIO: Alissa Czisny of the US performs during the ladies short programme competition at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario during Skate America, the first event of the ISU figure skating Grand Prix series. — AFP

ONTARIO: Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic hung on to win the men’s title at Skate America despite a slew of mistakes in his free program Saturday.

Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White skated an elegant routine to win the ice dancing title, following up the world championship they claimed in April.

Brezina hit his opening triple axel and then things went downhill quickly, but he won the season-opening Grand Prix event in part because of his commanding lead following the short program Friday. He didn’t do his first planned quad toeloop and instead did a triple skating to music from “The Untouchables.” He popped his attempt at a quad salchow, popped a triple loop and then fell on a triple lutz late in the program.

Kevin van der Perren of Belgium was second at 212.48, narrowly edging Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, who totaled 212.09. Van Der Perren and American Richard Dornbush, who finished fourth, were the only two men to land fully rotated quads.

Brezina, who got first-ever Grand Prix win, had vowed to do consecutive quads in his free skate, but after watching several of his competitors fall, his coaches told him no.

“They saw everything and I kind of think they want to play the game in the casino. If you can play safe, play safe,” he said. “I was kind of mad. I’m pretty sure if I would go for a quad it would be OK.” He plans to try it at his next competition.

“I want to prove to my coaches the quad will be

in there, even if they say no,” said Brezina, who missed last season’s Grand Prix circuit while recovering from surgery to repair a varicose vein his stomach.

Van Der Perren, a two-time European bronze medalist who at 29 is contemplating retirement, equaled his best Grand Prix showing. He hit his opening quad in a routine to “The Man in the Iron Mask” and won the free skate after being fourth in the short program.

Kozuka, silver medalist at worlds, fell on both his quad and his triple lutz. Davis and White scored 178.07 points to win the ice dancing event, beating France’s Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat by 21.78. Isabella Tobias and Deividas Stagniunas of Lithuania took the bronze at 132.58.

The Americans received five perfect 10s - one for performance, one for choreography and two for interpretation/timing.

“It’s a good sign we’re heading in the right direction,” White said. “We want the whole thing to flow seamlessly. It’s just a matter of repetition and focus.”

In the women’s short program, American Alissa Czisny hit a triple lutz-double toeloop on her opening combination to finish the night in first with 64.20 points.

Carolina Kostner of Italy made a couple of minor mistakes, but was good enough for second at 60.23. Another American, Caroline Zhang, stumbled out of a double axel in an otherwise clean routine to take third at 55.05. —AP

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India close in on 5-0 sweep over England

AUCKLAND: New Zealand All Blacks captain Richie McCaw celebrates after the 2011 Rugby World Cup final match New Zealand vs France at Eden Park Stadium. —AFP

All Blacks defeat France to win Rugby World Cup AUCKLAND: New Zealand survived the last of an uncanny spate of flyhalf injuries and a searching test of character to close a cavernous gap in its rugby history, beating France 8-7 in a gripping Rugby World Cup final yesterday to become the third two-time champion.

Despite being the perennial favorite, New Zealand hadn’t won the World Cup since hosting and winning the inaugural tournament in 1987. Two of its biggest losses in knockout matches in the intervening 24 years were to France. This time, the All Blacks held on.

“It’s something we’ve dreamed of for a while,” All Blacks coach Graham Henry said. Now, “We can rest in peace.” The French had been written off after an acrimonious and disjointed tournament, but produced one of their finest World Cup performances.

“I feel immensely sad and immensely proud at the same time,” France coach Marc Lievremont said. “People have always said and thought that the All Blacks were the greatest team of all time, but tonight I think it’s the France team that was great, and even immense.

It’s tough to take, we needed a little bit more.”

All Blacks No. 10 Aaron Cruden limped from the field with a knee injury after 33 minutes, joining predecessors Dan Carter and Colin Slade as casualties of the tournament and leaving New Zealand’s four th-choice flyhalf, the often vilified Stephen Donald, to sustain its World Cup hopes.

France also lost its starting flyhalf, the adapted scrumhalf Morgan Parra, after only 22 minutes in a match of grim physical attrition and his replacement, Francois Trinh-Duc played both the hero and villain as a tense final unfolded.

Donald’s international career seemed to have ended when he was held responsible for New Zealand’s narrow loss to Australia in Hong Kong last year and he was about to join English club Bath when the All Blacks’ flyhalf stocks dropped so low he was recalled.

He took over the goalkicking in the second half and landed a penalty that gave New Zealand an 8-0 lead after it had led 5-0 at halftime. It was critical as New Zealand was left with a one-point margin when France hit back with a 47th minute tr y, then placed New Zealand under withering pressure throughout the second half. “ There are people out there who undermined my status as an All Black.

To get the chance to prove that I am an All Black is good,” Donald said. “I think a World Cup final is a pretty good place to start.”

Trinh-Duc had been discarded by Lievremont as France’s first-choice flyhalf in favor of Parra, whose experience in the position was minimal. By a twist, Trinh-Duc came on in the final in the position he seemed predestined to play and became one of its most conspicuous figures as the ball followed him with an almost magnetic attraction.

He twice ghosted through the All Blacks backline, on the second occasion setting in motion the move that led to a try to Dusautoir. He also missed a 64thminute penalty which might have given France its first lead in a hard-fought match.

France, led magnificently by Dusautoir who made 22 tackles, placed the All Blacks under grinding pressure throughout the second half but somehow, through the merits of its defense

rather than its vaunted attack, New Zealand endured.

And so, 24 years, four months and three days after New Zealand’s David Kirk became the first winning captain to receive the Webb Ellis Cup, Richie McCaw displayed the trophy to a crowd of 61,000 at the scene of that first victory, Eden Park.

In McCaw’s 103rd test - his 66th as captain - and in Henry’s 103rd test as coach, New Zealand finally broke one of world sport’s most confounding jinxes, a long history of World Cup favoritism and failure which strained the nerves and the patience of a nation.

“No-one can ever take this away from this group. I think the whole country should be proud of every single one of them,” McCaw said. “I’m just so proud of ever y single one of the guys. We couldn’t have been under any more pressure.”

McCaw led his players heroically, as the first player to reach breakdowns, as a determined tackler and as a frequent ball-carrier. When he dragged himself from the ground to play on in the 76th minute, bruised and bone-weary after helping New Zealand repel 15 phases of French attacks, the crowd saluted him.

The second half reversed the first in which New Zealand had France under steady pressure. That led in the 15th minute to an error in defense by TrinhDuc and to a try from planned move at a lineout to loosehead prop Tony Woodcock. The ball went to the back, then to Woodcock in the center and as the French line parted like a curtain the veteran prop dashed through.

Though scrumhalf Piri Weepu sprayed three early kicks at goal, New Zealand built a measurable ascendancy, reflected only in a 5-0 lead at halftime.

Donald made the lead 8-0 with his 45th-minute penalty but France plunged the stadium into silence two minutes later with Dusautoir ’s tr y.

Weepu kicked the ball into the hands of Trinh-Duc who made a deep incursion into their territory.

Scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili slipped in taking his infield pass but France moved the ball to the left touchline, then back to midfield where Dusautoir slid over near the posts. Trinh-Duc added the conversion which cut New Zealand’s lead to a point. Somehow, with its back to the wall in the second half of the match, New Zealand survived.

After winning the World Cup at its first attempt in 1987, going through that tournament unbeaten as it did again this year, New Zealand was beaten in the final in 1995, the semifinals in 1991, 1999 and 2003 and in the quarterfinals - by France - in 2007.

Henry was coach and McCaw captain in that 2007 defeat - the earliest exit in New Zealand’s World Cup history - and both snatched their chance yesterday to make a complete and public atonement for that failure.

New Zealand held out France, through resolution and through discipline which ensured it didn’t give up a penalty in the match’s dying stages.

“Between the 70th and the 80th I saw things in the ruck ... I knew (referee Craig Joubert) wouldn’t blow up for,” France prop Fabien Barcella said. “He wouldn’t have been able to leave the country otherwise. We knew we needed a dropped goal or a try, we knew full well that he wasn’t going to give us a penalty in the last minutes.”—AP

MUMBAI: World champions India stayed on course for a clean sweep of the one -day series against England with a six-wicket win in the four th match here yesterday.

Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina hit half-centuries as the hosts made light of a bad start to overhaul England’s modest 220 all out in the 41st over of their innings in the day-night match.

Raina scored 80 off 62 balls and Kohli made an unbeaten 86, the pair having put on 131 for the four th wicket af ter India were reduced to 46-3 in the 14th over.

Another win in Tuesday ’s final one -dayer at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata will give Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men a resounding 5-0 series win over Alastair Cook ’s struggling tourists.

The emphatic victory was set up by the bowlers who shot England out for a modest total in India’s first match at the Wankhede stadium since winning the World Cup final against Sri Lanka in April.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shattered the top order with 3-38, before 21-year-old debutant fast bowler Varun Aaron polished off the tail with 3-24 on a slow wicket.

Tim Bresnan top -scored with 45 and Kevin Pietersen made 41, but five England batsmen failed to reach double-figures after Cook won the toss and elected to bat.

England went into the match with with a new-look attack that included 21-yearold Durham leg-spinner Scott Bor thwick and 22-year- old Surrey fast bowler Stuar t Meaker.

The two youngsters, who replaced Graeme Swann and Jade Dernbach, went for a combined tally of 104 runs in 17 overs.

Fast bowler Steven Finn dealt two early blows when he bowled Par thiv Patel and Gautam Gambhir in successive overs to leave India on 21-2 by the eighth over.

It soon became 46-3 when

MUMBAI: India’s batsman Virat Kohli celebrates after India won the 4th one-day international cricket match against England at the Wankhede stadium. —AFP

Meaker had Ajinkya Rahane caught behind, but Kohli and R aina settled in to deny England another quick breakthrough.

Earlier, England’s openers played out two maiden overs before Craig Kieswetter broke the shackles with 14 runs in the four th over bowled by Vinay Kumar and 15 off the sixth by Ashwin.

India hit back by removing both openers in two balls as Ashwin trapped Cook legbefore and Praveen Kumar dismissed Kieswetter in the same manner with the first ball of the next over.

Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen put on 73 for the third wicket before both perished in quick succession to make England 128-4 in the 27th over.

Wickets continued to tumble as lef t-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja claimed Ravi Bopara leg-before for eight and bowled Jonathan Bairstow for nine in successive overs.

Aaron, who hails from Dhoni’s home state of Jhark and, worked up a tidy pace in an impressive debut.—AFP

SCOREBOARD MUMBAI: Full scoreboard of the fourth one-day international between India and England at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on yesterday: England: A. Cook lbw b Ashwin 10 C. Kieswetter lbw b Praveen 29 J. Trott b Vinay 39 K. Pietersen c sub (Tiwary) b Ashwin41 R. Bopara lbw b Jadeja 8 J. Bairstow b Jadeja 9 S. Patel c Kohli b Ashwin 14 T. Bresnan b Aaron 45 S. Borthwick b Aaron 3 S. Meaker b Aaron 1 S. Finn not out 1 Extras: (b4, lb2, w14) 20 Total (all out, 46.1 overs) 220 Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Cook), 2-39 (Kiswetter), 3-112 ( Trott), 4-128 (Pietersen), 5-140 (Bopara), 6-145 (Bairstow), 7-192 (Patel), 8-205 (Borthwick), 9-215 (Meaker), 10-220 (Bresnan) Bowling: Praveen 7-1-41-1 (w11), Vinay

7-1-41-1, Ashwin 10-0-38-3, Jadeja 100-41-2, Aaron 6.1-1-24-3 (w3), Kohli 40-14-0, Raina 2-0-15-0.

India: P. Patel b Finn 8 A. Rahane c Kieswetter b Meaker 20 G. Gambhir b Finn 1 V. Kohli not out 86 S. Raina b Finn 80 M. Dhoni not out 15 Extras: (b1, lb6, w5, nb1) 13 Total (for four wickets, 40.1 overs)223 Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Patel), 2-21 (Gambhir), 3-46 (Rahane), 4-177 (Raina).

Bowling: Bresnan 10-0-40-0 (nb1, w4), Finn 10-0-45-3, Borthwick 8-0-59-0, Meaker 9-1-45-1, S.Patel 1.1-0-9-0, Bopara 2-0-18-0 (w1).

India won by six wickets, leads 4-0 in five-match series.

Rain again washes play CHITTAGONG: The first test between Bangladesh and West Indies at Chittagong was affected by the weather again yesterday as early drizzle and a damp outfield forced the cancellation of the third day.

No play was possible on Saturday due to a damp outfield.

The match referee and umpires made the decision after an inspection at 1015 local (0415 GMT) time.

Play will resume 30 minutes earlier than scheduled today at 0900.

Bangladesh were on 255-4 from the first day after opting to bat, with captain Mushfiqur Rahim unbeaten on 68.—Reuters

ipsarevic, Cibulkova win Kremlin Cup titles

STOCKHOLM: France’s Gael Monfils celebrates with his trophy after winning the ATP Stockholm Open tennis tournament final match against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen. —AFP

Monfils triumphs at Stockholm STOCKHOLM: Gael Monfils won his first title in a year yesterday when he defeated Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to claim the Stockholm Open crown.

Monfils, ranked 20th but provisional 15th in the 2011 points chase for next month’s ATP World Tour Finals in London, kept his qualifying chances alive for the eight-man season wrap-up.

The fighting Finn saved three match points before driving a forehand wide to lose in just under two hours. Nieminen was playing in his third Stockholm final. The 30year-old, world number 73, lost in 2001 to Sjeng Schalken and in 2006 to James Blake, whom he beat in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Monfils had been the only member of the top 15 without a title this year until he came through over Nieminen in a repeat of a win in Bangkok three weeks ago. “I’m very happy, it was a great final for me,” said Monfils, 36-14 on the season. “I’m pleased to win it. “I was strong in my mind and felt very concentrated. Jarkko was playing well.

But I believed in myself. I also didn’t have a drop in form and that was also great. My serve worked well, it helped me a lot.”

The Frenchman, who cut short his Asian tour after losing in the Bangkok semi-finals and returned to Paris for treatment on a knee problem, said that his quick recovery was a surprise.

“I didn’t think it would go like this,” said

the winner of a fourth career title, who claimed his last in Montpellier last October.

“I went to Paris and rehabbed and trained. It went better than expected for me.” After breaks in the first four games of the contest, Monfils finally established a 32 lead. The Frenchman stayed in control from that point and claimed the opener in 38 minutes as Nieminen volleyed wide.

But the tone of the contest shifted slightly in the second set, with Nieminen announcing his renewed intentions as he held with an ace for 1-0.

Monfils, his athletic style taking him to all corners of the court and producing the occasional tumble, dropped to 2-4 as Nieminen fired a stinging down the line winner only to lose serve a game later from an error.

The French seed couldn’t hold on though, with Nieminen fighting through for a break-back to take a 5-3 lead as the partisan crowd cheered the player from the neighbouring Nordic nation.

The Finn finished off the set to square the match on his second set point after a first clipped the tape. Monfils started the third with his eighth ace to lead 1-0, then broke for 3-1 before holding to love for 4-1 as he tightened the screws. He took victory three games later with a break as the Finn fought off three match points, finally going down on a forehand wide. —AFP

MOSCOW: Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic beat defending champion Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-2 in the first ever all-Serb ATP final to win the Kremlin Cup yesterday, while Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia won her first career WTA title, rallying to beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 for the women’s crown.

Tipsarevic, who won his first career title in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, earlier this season, broke Troicki twice in the second set and served for the match at love.

The eighth-seeded Cibulkova is the first women’s player to win a maiden title in Moscow since the tournament started in 1994.

The 20th-ranked Slovak had advanced to the final in three previous tournaments - including last week in Linz, Austria, where she lost to Petra Kvitova.

“This is the first time I’ve won my title, this is kind of my premiere,” Cibulkova said. “I’ve played great tennis through the whole of the week.”

Kanepi broke Cibulkova in the fourth game of the first set to go 4-1 up and was close to breaking her again at 5all in the second to serve for the match, but she smashed a volley wide in front of an empty court. The Slovak then dominated the tiebreaker to stay in the match. She broke decisively in the 11th game of the third set and sealed the win on her first match point when Kanepi returned wide.

“I was just playing too defensive in the first set,” Cibulkova said. “In the second set I said, ‘Hey, come on, you have nothing to lose.’ And I started to go more on forehand and to be more aggressive and that’s why I won.” Cibulkova upset top-seeded local favorite Vera Zvonareva in the second round.

The 43rd-ranked Kanepi was making her debut at the event and beat two seeded players - 2009 champion Francesca Schiavone and two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova - to reach her first final this season.

She won her first title in Palermo, Italy, last season.

“Definitely I’m disappointed but I’m staying positive about my game,” said Kanepi, who drew cheers after using the Russian word for hello - “Zdravstvuyte everyone” - to greet fans.—AP

MOSCOW: Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia poses with the trophy after defeating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 during the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament final match. —AFP

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LSU crush Auburn BATON ROUGE: Rueben Randle caught a 42-yard scoring pass from Jordan Jefferson and a 46-yard TD pass from Jarrett Lee as No. 1 LSU easily defeated 19th-ranked Auburn 45-10 in college football on Saturday.

LSU was without star cornerback Tyrann Mathieu, leading rusher Spencer Ware and defensive back Tharold Simon - all suspended one game for violating the team’s drug policy.

Randle finished with five receptions for 106 yards. Lee was 14 of 20 for 165 yards and two touchdowns, while Jefferson completed two of three passes for 54 yards. LSU gained 174 yards on the ground, led

by Michael Ford with 12 rushes for 82 yards.

Alabama 37, Tennessee 6 In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, AJ McCarron passed for 284 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score to lead Alabama to a secondhalf surge.

The Crimson Tide scored on its first five possessions after halftime to turn a close game into a blowout.

The Tide outgained the Volunteers

With 4 seconds left, Cousins rolled out to his right and threw the ball toward the end zone, where it caromed off Michigan State receiver B.J. Cunningham’s facemask back to Nichol. He fought off two Wisconsin defenders to score.

Russell Wilson had led the Badgers from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to level the game at 31-31 with 1:26 left on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Montee Ball.

Boise State 33, Air Force 26 In Boise, Idaho, Kellen Moore threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns and Doug Mar tin rushed for 125 yards and two scores as Boise State struggled to beat Air Force.

Moore’s victory gave him 45 career wins, putting him in a tie with Colt McCoy for most wins alltime for college quarterbacks.

Boise State got 423 yards total offense, but its defense struggled to stop Air Force’s potent option game. The Falcons pounded out 265 rushing yards, helping them control the clock and keep Boise State’s offense off the field.

Clemson 59, North Carolina 38 In Clemson, South Carolina, Tajh Boyd equaled a school record with five touchdown passes as Clemson improved to 8-0 for the first time in 11 years.

Boyd matched Cullen Harper’s 2007 mark as the Tigers gained 450 total yards. Kourtnei Brown scored on interception and fumble returns, becoming the first Clemson defensive lineman to score a pair of touchdowns in one game in 57 years.

Oregon 45, Colorado 2 At Boulder, Colorado, Oregon trounced Colorado despite playing without injured quarterback Darron Thomas and running back LaMichael James.

With Bryan Bennett under center and Kenjon Barner at tailback, the Ducks used four drives that averaged just 1:36 each to build a 29-0 lead af ter one quar ter.

Barner had touchdown runs of 4 and 84 yards and Bennett found running back De’Anthony Thomas for a 14-yard touchdown and tight end David Paulson from 31 yards out.

Oklahoma Sooners next week in a matchup that should go a long way toward deciding the Big 12 champion.

Nebraska 41, Minnesota 14 In Minneapolis, Rex Burkhead rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown and Taylor Martinez threw for 162 yards and a touchdown for Nebraska.

Martinez added 52 yards rushing for Nebraska, which racked up 346 yards on the ground. Austin Cassidy also returned a fumble for a score.

Virginia Tech 30, Boston College 14 In Blacksburg, Virginia, Logan Thomas threw for a touchdown and ran for another and David Wilson scored on a 42-yard run as Virginia Tech won its third straight.

The Hokies trailed 7-6 at halftime, but Wilson scored on their first possession of the third quarter, and Thomas then led consecutive scoring drives to give Virginia Tech a 27-7 lead with 13:42 to play.

Wilson finished with 134 yards on 17 carries, and Thomas completed 22 of 36 passes for 268 yards.

Texas A&M 33, Iowa State 17 In Ames, Iowa, Ryan Tannehill threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns as Texas A&M held off Iowa State. Christine Michael had 142 yards on 18 carries and Cyrus Gray added 125 yards for the Aggies. Jeff Fuller and Michael Lamothe also had TD receptions.

Miami 24, Georgia Tech 7 In Miami, JoJo Nicholas recovered a fumbled punt for a touchdown and added an interception as Miami’s defense dominated Georgia Tech.

Lamar Miller ran for 93 yards and a score and Mike James also had a touchdown run for Miami. Georgia Tech came into the game averaging 517 yards of offense this season, but got only 211 against Miami.

BATON: LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson (9) is tackled by his face mask by Kentucky linebacker Ronnie Sneed (46) during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game. —AP 280-41 in the second half and didn’t allow a first down. Alabama won its eighth game of the season and next faces No. 1 LSU at home on Nov. 5.

Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma 38 In Norman, Oklahoma, Seth Doege threw for 441 yards and connected with Alex Torres on three of his four touchdown passes as Texas Tech ended Oklahoma’s 39-game home winning streak.

The Sooners are now 75-3 at Owen Field in Bob Stoops’ 13 years as Oklahoma coach. Landry Jones ended up with 412 yards passing and five touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough for Oklahoma to come back from a sluggish start and save its unbeaten season.

Michigan State 37, Wisconsin 31 In East Lansing, Michigan, Keith Nichol caught a 44-yard desperation heave from Kirk Cousins on the game’s final play to lift Michigan State to a stunning win over Wisconsin.

Oklahoma State 45, Missouri 24 In Columbia, Missouri, Joseph Randle scored four touchdowns as Oklahoma State ended Missouri’s 10-game home winning streak.

Randle had 138 yards on 14 carries and scored on runs of 16, 59 and 12 yards. He also caught a 13yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden was 33 for 49 for 338 yards and three touchdowns passes.

Stanford 65, Washington 21 In Stanford, California, Stepfan Taylor, Tyler Gaffney and Anthony Wilkerson powered Stanford to a school-record 446 yards rushing.

Taylor ran for 138 yards, Gaffney 117 yards and Wilkerson 93 yards to break the previous team mark of 439 in a victory over Oregon State in 1981. The Cardinal extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 15 games. Chris Polk ran for scores from 46 and 61 yards in the first half to keep Washington close early.

Arkansas 29, Mississippi 24 In Oxford, Mississippi, Tyler Wilson threw for 232 yards and rushed for two touchdowns as Arkansas rallied from an early 17point deficit.

Dennis Johnson rushed for 160 yards on 15 carries, including a 52yard touchdown, and Joe Adams caught four passes for 124 yards for Arkansas.

Ole Miss took a surprising 17-0 lead with 6:20 remaining in the second quarter after Randall Mackey’s 3-yard touchdown run, but the Razorbacks responded with 29 unanswered points.

Kansas State 59, Kansas 21 In Manhattan, Kansas, Collin Klein threw for a career-high 195 yards and scored five touchdowns to help Kansas State to its best start since 1999.

Tyler Lockett also returned a kickoff for a score and caught a touchdown pass for the Wildcats, who host the third-ranked

Houston 63, Marshall 28 In Houston, Case Keenum threw for 376 yards and matched a career high with six touchdown passes to became the Football Bowl Subdivision’s career leader in total offense.

The Houston quarterback needed 130 yards to eclipse the record (16,910 yards) set by Hawaii’s Tim Chang from 2000-04. Keenum also crept closer to the FBS career records for passing yards and touchdown throws. He needs 802 passing yards to move ahead of Chang’s record (17,072) and five TD passes to beat the mark (134) set by Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell.

Purdue 21, No. 23 Illinois 14 In West Lafayette, Indiana, Caleb TerBush passed for 178 yards and two touchdowns as Purdue upset Illinois.

Raheem Mostert ran for a touchdown and tackled the punter on a play that led to another score for the Boilermakers.

Illinois lost its second straight.

The Fighting Illini scored on a 16yard run by Jason Ford with 8:12 remaining, and a 2-yard run by quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase to cut Purdue’s lead to 21-14 with 54 seconds to play. —AP

Ligety wins World Cup opener SOELDEN: World champion Ted Ligety completed an American double at the season-opening World Cup weekend by winning yesterday’s giant slalom, a day after Lindsey Vonn took the women’s race for her first ever GS title. “It’s a pretty awesome start to the season,” Ligety said. “For us both, to get the top step here is cool. ... I feel sorry for the other girls now Lindsey has started to win giant slaloms as well.”

Bode Miller, who won the opener in 2003 and ‘04, took ninth for only his second top-10 finish in giant slalom since October 2008. Ligety confirmed his status as the leading giant slalom skier by earning his first win on the Rettenbach glacier and his ninth overall, each of them in GS. “Winning in Soelden was a big target,” Ligety said.

“I have been on the podium here so many times. We have trained a lot on the course, that’s definitely an advantage.” Ligety, who is defending his third World Cup GS title this season, maintained his lead from the first run to finish in an aggregate 2 minutes, 22.00 seconds. “You never know what’s going to happen when you’re finally having the first race of the year,” Ligety said. “Especially here, where it’s a difficult hill. It gets sunny in the second run and that’s what makes it hard as it gets bumpier.”

Alexis Pinturault of France took second, 0.29 behind Ligety. It was the second podium finish for the 20-year-old Pinturault, who won the world junior title in GS twice.

Austria’s Philipp Schoerhofer was 0.51 back in third, followed by former overall champion Carlo Janka of Switzerland.

“I had nothing to lose and the course was great so I just went for it,” said Pinturault, who beat Ligety to take second behind Janka in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, last season. “I am so excited that I took my chances so well.” Ligety put himself in contention with a strong start to his opening run.

“I had the top section pretty well figured out and then how to ski the next little pitch,” Ligety said.

“There is not a lot to this hill but that’s definitely a

good spot to make up time.” Overall World Cup champion Ivica Kostelic bounced back from a disappointing opening run to place fifth, while Switzerland’s Didier Cuche, who was the Croat’s main rival last season, failed to score points after missing a gate.

Austria’s Benjamin Raich, who won the overall title in 2006, returned to the circuit after damaging his

before the worlds.

Defago skied off course in his second run, but Hirscher geared up to share sixth with Thomas Fanara of France. Canada’s Robbie Dixon, who suffered a concussion in a crash in Bormio in December, and JeanPhilippe Roy, who sat out the second half of last season, also returned.

AUSTRIA: United States’ Ted Ligety speeds down the course during an Alpine ski, men’s giant slalom. —AP knee in a crash at the team event during February’s world championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

“I didn’t have a bad feeling,” said Raich, who finished 1.76 back in 19th place. “I slowed down on the steep part but that was what I had expected.”

Also returning from injuries were Olympic downhill champion Didier Defago of Switzerland, who missed last season, and Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, who had been out since breaking his left foot a week

Dixon missed out on the second leg after he failed to finish his first run. Switzerland’s Daniel Albrecht was 3.57 off the lead and failed to qualify for the second run in his first race here since winning in 2008, three months before a horrifying crash in the Kitzbuehel downhill forced him out of World Cup skiing for almost two years. The men’s World Cup circuit continues with a slalom in Levi, Finland, on Nov. 13.—AP

MEXICO: Helen Louis Maroulis, from the United States (in red) wrestles with Canada’s Tonya Leen Verbeek to win gold during the women’s wrestling Greco-Roman 55 kg final at the Pan American Games. —AP

Frayler misses gold by a fraction of a second GUADALAJARA: After nearly two hours in the Pacific Ocean, it all came down to a fraction of a second. And for 17-year-old Arthur Frayler, those three-tenths of a second cost him a gold medal Saturday in the 10-kilometer open water swim at the Pan American Games.

“It was a battle for first,” said Frayler, a high school senior from Pennsylvania.

“That’s all it was really.” Canada’s Richard Weinberger edged Frayler to the line in the 6.2-mile race off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, winning the gold medal in 1 hour, 57 minutes, 31 seconds. Frayler was next - only 0.3 seconds behind.

“We got to the boat at the same time.

He touched me out,” said Frayler, who added silver to his swimming gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle Tuesday. “I just missed touching the board, which happens. It’s open water swimming, it happens.”

Although it wasn’t gold, Frayler ’s medal still helped the United States extend its lead at the top of the medals table on Day 8 of the Pan American Games. The US team won seven titles Saturday, bringing its gold total to 48.

Brazil was next with 18.

Archery favorite Brady Ellison won the men’s individual title, while Rocky Carson won the men’s singles title in racquetball.

In shooting, Emil Milev and Vincent Hancock added two more golds, giving the United States 10 gold medals in the sport.

Two more medals came in water skiing, where Andrew Adkison won the men’s wakeboard and Regina Jacquess took the women’s overall title, while Helen Maroulis claimed the last in freestyle wrestling.

Although Frayler missed out on another gold, his Pan American Games ended on a high note, even if it was joined with a somber tune.

Frayler was close friends with Fran Crippen, the defending Pan Am Games champion in the open water swim who died competing last year in the United Arab Emirates.

Frayler, who will attend the University

of Florida next year, was swimming in Guadalajara with Crippen on his mind.

“Fran was like my older brother. He got me into open water swimming,” Frayler said. “He pushed me during practice. He told me I could be better than I was. I swam that race for him today.”

Taking silver, though, was not in any way settling for second best. “I fought as hard as I could. Came out second by 0.3,” said Frayler, who is hoping to qualify for next year’s London Olympics. “I think he (Crippen) would be proud of me, with how I swam at Pan Ams, and I’m going to keep fighting for him.”

Before the Olympics come around, Frayler still has some work - and plenty of homework - to do back home. He is a senior at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Penn.

“Life at home is good for me,” Frayler said. “I have great friends and family that understand my commitment to the sport and school.” Things couldn’t be going much worse for the US women’s basketball team.

The defending champion Americans lost their second straight game Saturday, falling to Puerto Rico 75-70. On Friday, the Americans lost to Argentina 58-55.

The softball team fared better, again.

The defending champions routed Cuba 13-1 to reach the final with an 8-0 record.

They will face either Canada or Cuba for gold.

Ellison, the world’s top-ranked archer, struggled a bit but still managed to win a second gold medal in Guadalajara. The 22-year-old American also won the team gold.

“I was just a little bit off, maybe a just a bit weak in my shot,” Ellison said. “It’s archery, sometimes the body is just different. But I shot good on the arrows that I needed to shoot well to win the match.”

The other kind of shooting produced three more medals for the United States.

Milev won the men’s 25-meter rapid fire pistol while Hancock won the men’s skeet. Earlier, Sarah Beard earned bronze in the women’s 50-meter rifle three-position event. —AP

Canada blank Chile 4-0 GUADALAJARA: Defender Scott Tupper scored a hat-trick from short corners as Canada beat Chile 4-0 to move a step closer to another Pan-American Games men’s hockey final and the chance to qualify for the 2012 Olympics on Saturday.

Title holders Canada and seven times champions Argentina have met in all nine finals since the G ames were held in Mexico City in 1975 with Canada victorious four times including Rio de Janeiro in 2007.

“Four-nothing against a good side is a convincing result, (Chile) are a very good team, they always battle us hard,” midfielder Rob Short, at his fifth Pan-Am Games, told Reuters.

“Last time we played them in the PanAms it was 3-3, we’re really happy. To keep a zero at this level is tough.” The Canadians went ahead after 15 minutes with Tupper’s first corner but were never sure of the result until he blasted another into the top right corner of goalkeeper Mathias Anwandter’s net in the 49th.

Prior to that, Canada goalkeeper David Carter had made at least two brilliant saves from the Chilean attack to prevent an equaliser.

“Those were key moments when we could have pulled one back and equalised or gone 2-1 up and we didn’t put the ball away,” Chile’s coach Daniel Gath told Reuters.

Tupper made it three after 56 minutes and five later Short, who won his 330th cap, rounded off the victory with a field goal. “ We played a good match until 15 minutes into the second half, then we committed serious mistakes. Each error against a team of world standard like Canada you pay for dearly,” Gath added.

Short, who has played at the 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games, said Canada would have a chance to try out some changes in their last pool game against Barbados on Monday.

“We’ve got some things we need to work on. I think we’re first in the pool so

we can focus now on the semi-final, we’ve got one more game where we can try some new things,” the 38-year-old said.

He was also full of praise for Carter’s goalkeeping, saying: “He made the difference when we needed him. We’ve got the two best goalies in the world, that’s what we believe.

“And we count on them every game that we play. They have to bring these per formances and they did. (Antoni) Kindler played the first game, (David) Carter played this game, it doesn’t really matter who plays because they’re both good.”

Canada beat Trinidad & Tobago 7-2 in their first Pool A game on Thursday while Argentine crushed Mexico 8-0 in Pool B. Argentina beat the United States 2-0 on Saturday.

“I haven’t touched (Argentina) yet, you can’t risk looking ahead,” Short said when asked whether he was looking ahead to yet another final against the top South Americans.

“Cuba’s won t wo games so the chances are we’ll play them, we don’t even know what to expect, we haven’t seen them for many years,” he said. Cuba beat the United States 4-2 on Thursday and Mexico 2-1 on Saturday.

“I’ve played (Cuba) many times, way back . They sor t of stepped away for about eight years and we haven’t seen much of them. I think they’re going to be very tough,” Short said.

“Then we hope to meet Argentina in the final, that’s anyone’s game,” he added.

“This is my fifth Pan-Am in a row, Kenny (Pereira) and I have both done that,” he said of himself and Canada’s 37-year-old captain. “Unfortunately, it’s the last one...

Four more years, I’d be 43.”

Short is hopeful of a third Olympic Games in London next year, though, saying: “Only the winner goes through and then the back door way is the qualifier which is very difficult so this is our route through and we really hope we can do it.” —Reuters

A

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

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QPR shock 9-man Chelsea QPR 1

Chelsea 1

LONDON: Arsenal’s Andre Santos (left) clears the ball as Stoke City’s Jonathan Walters (right) grapples with Marouane Chamakh (centre) during their English Premier League soccer match.—AP

Van Persie sinks Stoke Arsenal 3

Stoke 1

LONDON: Robin van Persie underlined his importance to Arsenal by coming off the bench to fire his side to a 3-1 win over Stoke yesterday. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger wanted to rest his top-scorer for the Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium, but he was forced to turn to the Dutch forward after Peter Crouch had cancelled out Gervinho’s opener.

Van Persie was introduced midway through the second half and netted shortly afterwards. His second strike came seven minutes from full-time to make sure of a third win for Wenger’s team within a week and lift Arsenal into seventh place.

Wenger’s side had struggled to create chances without Van Persie leading the attack. Marouane Chamakh stepped in for Van Persie and the closest he came in the early stages was heading wide from Mikel Arteta’s corner.

Arteta also drove wide from 25 yards and Aaron Ramsey was off-target with an effort from a similar distance before the hosts went ahead with their first genuine chance of the match.

The move for the 27th minute opener started on the edge of the penalty area when Ryan Shawcross tackled Theo Walcott, with the ball breaking for Ramsey.

Ramsey lobbed his pass over the Stoke defence and Ivory Coast forward Gervinho,

who had remained onside, had time to control with his chest before planting his finish beyond Asmir Begovic for his second goal since arriving from French club Lille. Stoke, however, showed their battling qualities to get back in the game, although Dean Whitehead’s efforts earned a yellow card when he crashed into Arteta for a second time in the match.

They were level in the 34th minute when Arsenal showed their familiar weakness of failing to deal with set-pieces, althoug they were upset at Laurent Koscielny being penalised for a foul on Crouch.

Glenn Whelan floated the resulting freekick down the right channel, Shawcross headed across goal and, after a goalmouth scramble, Crouch flicked the ball in after Jonathan Walters had nodded towards goal.

It was Crouch’s third goal in five matches and it led to Arsenal fans growing restless.

The hosts thought they should have had a penalty straight after the equaliser when Andy Wilkinson appeared to wrestle with Chamakh, but referee Lee Mason waved play on.

Wilkinson was given a yellow card in the second half when he fouled Walcott but chances were proving difficult to create, with Stoke bringing on Salif Diao for Rory Delap to give a more defensive look to their midfield.

Van Persie was brought on in the 66th minute in an attempt to change the game and he was immediately in the action.

The 28-year-old created a chance but his cross was too high for Laurent Koscielny. He also accused Shawcross of elbowing him in an aerial challenge.

It took him just nine minutes to get on the scoresheet for his eighth of the season, with the move started by Arteta floating the ball out to Gervinho on the right. —AFP

Van der Vaart destroys Rovers Blackburn 1

Tottenham 2 BLACKBURN: Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart scored twice to give Tottenham a 2-1 victory over struggling Blackburn at Ewood Park yesterday.

Van der Vaart took his tally to six goals for the season as Tottenham moved up to fifth in the table, three points behind fourth placed Newcastle with a game in hand.

Blackburn, who have now won just three of their last 23 Premier League matches, had equalised through Mauro Formica but remain in the relegation zone after slipping to a sixth defeat in nine games this season.

But their performance was a significant improvement on the displays of recent weeks, which have led to supporters calling for manager Steve Kean to be sacked.

For all their recent problems, Blackburn got off to a fast start with Junior Hoilett cutting in from the left and hitting a shot just over the bar. But Tottenham were looking comfortable in possession and getting in behind Rovers with ease.

Gareth Bale was picked out on the left and clipped a cross in behind the defence for Emmanuel Adebayor, whose shot was blocked by Gael Givet before Martin Olsson hacked clear.

Van der Vaart had another opportunity when his curling shot just flew past the far post. But Tottenham made the breakthrough in the 15th minute. Right-back Kyle Walker burst past Givet and pulled the ball back for Van der Vaart to produce a simple finish from 15 yards.

Adebayor looked set to get on the end

of another Bale cross moments later but Olsson managed to get his chest to the ball, forcing Paul Robinson to tip over the bar.

Robinson was worked again when Adebayor got to Bale’s cross first but Blackburn scored a surprise equaliser in the 28th minute.

Morten Gamst Pedersen lifted a free kick into the area and Chris Samba beat Younes Kaboul in the air before Formica drove into the top corner from close range.

As Blackburn searched for a second, Simon Vuckcevic’s low effort was pushed past the near post by Brad Friedel, who was also forced to turn away an effort from Hoilett.

Robinson did well to tip away Luka Modric’s low shot before Samba’s glancing header from Pedersen’s free kick just dropped the wrong side of the post.

Shortly after the restart, Modric had another drive turned away by Robinson and when Aaron Lennon crossed the ball back in from the right, Bale swung and missed.

But in the 53rd minute Van der Vaart added his second with real style. Benoit Assou-Ekotto cut in from the left flank and laid the ball off for the Dutchman to sweep in from just outside the area.

Steven Nzonzi lifted a shot over from the edge of the area as Blackburn looked for another reply. They went much closer when Hoilett sent Olsson clear down the left and the Swede’s cross looked set to be turned in by Vukcevic only for Assou-Ekotto to hack clear.

Friedel pulled off a fine save to push Samba’s header over after the Blackburn captain rose highest to meet Pedersen’s long throw. Bale had to be brave to knock Ayegbeni Yakubu’s close-range header over the bar. Yakubu also got in behind the Tottenham centre-backs to reach Olsson’s cross but could not direct his shot on target.—AFP

EPL results/standings Arsenal 3 (Gervinho 27, Van Persie 73, 82) Stoke 1 (Crouch 34); Blackburn 1 (Formica 28) Tottenham 2 (Van der Vaart 15, 53); Fulham 1 (Ruiz 67) Everton 3 (Drenthe 3, Saha 90,

Rodwell 90); Manchester United 1 (Fletcher 81) Manchester City 6 (Balotelli 22, 60, Aguero 69, Dzeko 90, 90, Silva 90); QPR 1 (Helguson 10-pen) Chelsea 0.

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Man City Man Utd Chelsea Newcastle Tottenham Liverpool Arsenal Norwich Stoke QPR

9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9

8 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 3

1 2 1 4 1 3 1 3 3 3

0 1 2 0 2 2 4 3 3 3

33 26 20 12 15 12 15 11 7 7

7 12 10 6 13 10 18 12 11 14

25 20 19 19 16 15 13 12 12 12

Aston Villa West Brom Everton Sunderland Swansea Wolves Fulham Bolton Wigan Blackburn

9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

2 3 3 2 2 2 1 2 1 1

5 2 1 3 3 2 4 0 2 2

2 4 4 4 4 5 4 7 6 6

11 9 10 12 9 8 11 12 6 10

11 11 12 10 14 14 12 24 15 20

11 11 10 9 9 8 7 6 5 5

LONDON: Heidur Helguson’s first half penalty secured QPR’s first home league win of the season against a Chelsea side reduced to nine men by the first half dismissals of Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba yesterday.

Bosingwa was dismissed in the 33rd minute for a foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips while Drogba walked after a 41st minute lunge on Adel Taarabt in an explosive west London derby.

Having already fallen behind to Helguson’s ninth minute spot-kick, Chelsea were unable to force an equaliser and remain third, six points behind leaders Manchester City, after their second league defeat under Andre Villas-Boas.

The Blues fought gamely with nine men but QPR held on to savor a first win over their near neighbours since 1995. As memorable as the victory was for QPR, it was impossible to escape the fact that Chelsea had triggered their own downfall.

Manchester City ’s 6-1 victor y over Manchester United earlier in the day meant Villas-Boas knew his side would move second if they secured victory at Loftus Road.

The first sign that the derby would go QPR’s way came when Helguson chased a long ball into the Chelsea area and David Luiz found himself unable to resist the temptation to push the forward instead of shepherding him to safety.

The force applied was minimal and the QPR striker was quick to go down, but there was enough contact to allow referee Chris Foy to point to the penalty spot and, after claiming the ball from Taarabt, Helguson converted from 12 yards.

Worse was to come when Bosingwa was sent off in the 33rd minute. Taarabt released Shaun Wright-Phillips to run behind the Chelsea backline from near the halfway and, beaten for pace,

LONDON: Queens Park Rangers’ Adel Taarabt (right) competes with Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel during their English Premier League soccer match. —AP Bosingwa attempted to halt the winger’s run by tugging at his shirt. Foy decided it was both a foul and that Bosingwa had denied a goal scoring opportunity, although Chelsea claimed there were covering defenders to no avail. The last thing the visitors then needed was for someone else to lose their head.

Unfortunately for them Drogba was unable to rein in his frustration and after once again conceding possession, the forward attempted to recover his mistake with an ugly two-footed lunge on Taarabt.

Foy’s reaction was immediate and with just 41 minutes gone, Chelsea were down to nine men. Chelsea responded well with Frank Lampard coming close with a header immediately after the restart, serving notice they were

still in the game. Inevitably openings appeared within the Chelsea defence and had QPR showed more composure in front of goal, they could have made the game safe from one of a number of breakaways. Joey Barton fired wide and Taarabt was denied by a John Obi Mikel challenge but the best opportunity was squandered by Helguson who volleyed over from close range with 13 minutes remaining.

A goal then would have spared home nerves during the frantic final few minutes when Chelsea again came close to claiming an equaliser when Nicolas Anelka headed straight at Paddy Kenny from close range. But QPR held on to move into the top half of the table while Chelsea were left to count the cost of losing their heads in the first half.—AFP

Atletico end goal drought MADRID: A Radamel Falcao penalty gave Atletico Madrid their first goal in four games but their disappointing run continued as they could only draw 1-1 with Mallorca yesterday.

Atletico boosted their attack with the high profile signings of Falcao and Diego in the summer as they looked to push for a place in the Champions League.

But the investments are yet to pay off and the team have drawn a blank in five games so far with the team down in ninth place.

They got off to the worst possible start with Silvio conceding a penalty inside the first minute for a handball and Tomer Hemed scored from the spot kick.

Atletico fought back and Falcao, who himself was upended

by Ivan Ramis, levelled with a 43rd-minute penalty but a winner was beyond them.

Osasuna are behind Atletico on goal difference after storming to a 3-0 win over Zaragoza with Raul Garcia, Juan Nino and Javad Nekounam scoring first half goals.

Real Betis’ poor run continued as they crashed 2-0 at home to Rayo Vallecano. Betis won their first four games but have now lost four on the trot as Lass Bangoura and Sergio Koke, from the penalty spot, gave Rayo the three points.

Real Sociedad and Getafe drew 0-0 with the visitors’ Pedro Leon coming closest to breaking the deadlock with a 30-yard drive in injury time which hit the top of the crossbar.

On Saturday, Lionel Messi missed a late penalty as Barcelona could only draw 0-0 with nine-man Sevilla and so surrendered top spot in La Liga to Real Madrid who beat Malaga 4-0 with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a hat-trick.

The Spanish and European champions went into the game looking for a club record sixth clean sheet in all competitions, which they achieved, but they failed at the other end of the pitch.

They were frustrated by a dogged Sevilla defence and some heroic goalkeeping from Javi Varas, who left his best until last when he denied Messi from the penalty spot in injury time. In a stormy finish, both Frederic Kanoute and Fernando Navarro were dismissed for the visitors.

Ronaldo hit a 15-minute hat-trick as Real Madrid swept aside Malaga in a first-half blitz to put them top with 19 points, with Barca a point behind.

It was a battle between the newly rich Malaga, who invested heavily in the summer as they aim for a place in Europe, and the old order, but it turned into a mismatch as Real cruised to victory.—AFP

Bayern shocked in stormy clash BERLIN: German league leaders Bayern Munich had their 13match unbeaten run ended yesterday when they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Hanover in a bad-tempered Bundesliga match. Both sides finished with 10 players in a game where Norway striker Mohammed Abdellaoue and Germany defender Christian Pander scored the Hanover goals which inflicted only the second defeat of the season on Bayern.

After Abdellaoue converted a 23rd-minute penalty for Hanover, the game boiled over when Bayern defender Rafinha fouled Hanover’s Sergio Pinto and players from both teams piled into a melee three minutes later.

When referee Manuel Graefe restored order, Bayern had Germany defender Jerome Boateng sent off while Hanover defender Christian Schulz was shown a yellow.

Pander then rifled in a shot on 50 minutes, but Hanover were also reduced to 10 men when captain and US defender Steven Cherundolo was sent off for a foul on Franck Ribery on 63 minutes.

Austria star David Alaba pulled a goal back for Bayern with seven minutes remaining and Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger hit the post with time almost up, but it was too little to late.

Hanover’s win leaves them fourth in the table. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had his run of clean-sheets in the Bundesliga ended by Abdellaoue’s converted penalty to leave him on 771 minutes without conceding a goal-short of the record of 884 minutes. After defending champions Borussia Dortmund hammered Cologne 5-0 on Saturday to move up to second, the defeat leaves Bayern only three points clear at the top of the table. Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund dismantled Cologne with Poland striker Robert Lewandowski scoring twice in the rout.

Having suffered their second straight Champions League defeat at Olympiakos in mid-week, Dortmund bounced back in style. Borussia won the title last season with Lucas Barrios their top scorer, but with the Paraguay striker injured, Lewandowski is filling the role as Borussia’s lone centre-forward and has racked up seven goals in 10 games.—AFP

Spanish League results/standings Real Betis 0, Rayo Vallecano 2 (Bangoura 79, Koke 89-pen); Real Sociedad 0, Getafe 0; Osasuna 3 (Raul Garcia 18, Nino 27, Nekounam 30) Real Zaragoza 0; Atletico

Madrid 1 (Falcao 43-pen) Real Mallorca 1 (Hemed 2-pen).

Playing later Valencia v Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal v Levante

Spanish League table after yesterday’s early evening matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Real Madrid Barcelona Levante Sevilla Valencia Malaga Real Betis Espanyol Atletico Osasuna

8 8 7 8 7 8 8 8 8 8

6 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 2 2

1 3 2 4 2 1 0 0 4 4

1 0 0 0 1 3 4 4 2 2

28 26 11 8 10 10 10 7 9 9

6 4 3 4 7 11 13 11 7 15

19 18 17 16 14 13 12 12 10 10

Mallorca Vallecano Zaragoza Bilbao Sociedad Villarreal Getafe Grenada Sporting Racing

8 8 8 7 8 7 8 8 8 8

2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0

3 3 3 2 2 4 3 2 1 4

3 3 3 3 4 2 4 5 6 4

7 8 9 10 7 7 6 2 5 4

9 11 16 10 10 11 10 10 12 13

9 9 9 8 8 7 6 5 4 4

Inter edge Chievo 1-0 ROME: Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri spoke of his delight after breaking his team’s home duck with a 1-0 success over Chievo at San Siro yesterday.

Until Thiago Motta scored in the 34th minute, not only had Inter not won at home all season, but they had not even scored.

Their three previous home matches had resulted in a 3-0 loss to Napoli, a 1-0 reverse against Trabzonspor and a goalless stalemate with Roma.

“It was important to unblock the San Siro hoodoo, even though it seems strange to me to say that we had not won and not even scored here,” said a smiling Ranieri.

“We were compact and decisive, we wanted this victory with all our force. “We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game and it went well against a team that plays well together and runs a lot.

“I’m satisfied. After the goal we also expressed ourselves better. “Teams like Chievo always make it difficult for the big teams but we managed to take home the three points. “Now we’ll turn our attentions to Atalanta, who are another difficult team to play.”

Although Inter have had a disastrous start to the season, they are far from out of the title race, not least because no-one else has taken the scudetto by the scruff of the neck. Udinese lead the table and are the only team to have won more than half their

games so far, but they are not expected to last the pace.

More importantly for Inter, who sit fifth from bottom, is that they only trail secondplaced Juventus by six points and seventhplaced AC Milan, the reigning champions, by four points.

But Ranieri is concentrating on simply finding some consistency. “We’ve set ourselves back on the journey against a good Chievo. It was a diligent performance,” he added.

“Of course we can still do better but we’ll take what was good from what we’re building. “It’s time to find some consistency to get ourselves back in the race.

“We’re still not fluid in our build-up play but I think that will come when we get our confidence and self-esteem back, which will come when the results do. “To get our lucidity back we need to put together a run of positive results. Against Lille (a 1-0 win in the Champions League on Tuesday) and here, we achieved two important victories.”

Although Inter are far from back to their best, they have at least won four out of six matches under Ranieri, a vast improvement on the four defeats from five they suffered with Gian Piero Gasperini at the helm.

However, they still have the worst defence in the league and will need to do more than beat the likes of Chievo at home to demonstrate their ability to challenge for honors this season.—AFP

ITALY: Siena’s Angelo Mariano De Almeda, of Brazil (front) challenges for the ball with Cesena’s Maurizio Lauro during an Italian Serie A soccer match. —AP

Ligety wins World Cup opener

India close in on 5-0 sweep over England

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QPR shock nine-man Chelsea in english premier League

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LONDON: Manchester United’s Ashley Young (left) tumbles over Manchester City’s James Milner as Gareth Barry looks on during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford. —AP

Man City hit United for six Man United 1

Man City 6 MANCHESTER: Mario Balotelli lit the fuse on Manchester City’s title charge as the Italian scored twice in a stunning 6-1 victory over 10-man Manchester United yesterday.

Balotelli’s heroics helped Roberto Mancini’s side end United’s 18-month, 37-game unbeaten run at Old Trafford and lifted table-topping City five points clear of the reigning Premier League champions. Sergio Aguero was also on the mark for City as United played for almost the entire second half

with only 10 men after the dimissal of defender Jonny Evans, who had been badly at fault for the first goal.

And there were two late goals for substitute Edin Dzeko, with David Silva also scoring, as United leaked three goals in as many minutes in stoppage time. It was an extraordinary afternoon in the history of both clubs, with City recording their biggest win at Old Trafford since a 6-1 victory here in January 1926 and United suffering their heaviest ever Premier League defeat.

It also marked a remarkable turn of events for Balotelli who had made the headlines after the fire brigade was called to his Cheshire home in the early hours of Saturday to put out a blaze started by igniting fireworks in his bathroom.

Almost inevitably, the opening goal came from Balotelli after City had weathered a strong opening from the hosts. Evans gave the ball away needlessly

Saha late show stuns Fulham LONDON: Louis Saha returned to haunt Fulham as Fulham 1 his late goal inspired Everton’s dramatic 3-1 victory at Craven Cottage yesterday.

Substitute Saha struck in Everton 3 stoppage time before Jack Rodwell scored Everton’s third to ensure David Moyes’ side ended a run of three successive defeats.

Everton had taken a third minute lead when Royston Drenthe struck from long-range, but it looked liked Fulham had earned a share of the spoils thanks to substitute Bryan Ruiz’s exquisite equaliser in the second half.

However, Fulham striker Bobby Zamora missed a sitter and Saha and Rodwell made him pay. Despite having lost their last three matches, Everton were quickly into their stride and incisive passing through the middle saw the ball fall to Drenthe, who smashed home from 30 yards.

Fulham looked shellshocked as the Toffees continued to press forward and only John Arne Riise’s block thwarted Sylvain Distin minutes later.—AFP

in the 21st minute and allowed City to launch a devastating counter-attack.

Silva slipped a pass into the inside-left channel for James Milner, who pulled the ball back for Balotelli with Evans failing to mark his man closely enough. The Italian produced a fine low shot from 18 yards which flew into the bottom right-hand corner of the United goal beyond the dive of David de Gea. Not satisfied with that, Balotelli, without a smile on his face, then lifted his jersey to unveil a tshirt bearing the message “Why Always Me?”.

It seemed a fitting question, given events of the weekend, but the 21-year-old’s footballing abilities remain unquestioned whatever his problems away from the game, even if his t-shirt slogan earned him a yellow card.

Matters did not improve for United after the interval. A minute after the restart, Silva’s neat through ball found Evans the wrong side of

Balotelli and the Northern Ireland defender blatantly pulled back his man.

Referee Mark Clattenburg had no choice but to show Evans a straight red card. Reduced to 10 men, United might have gone further behind when Micah Richards powered towards goal, following an Aguero mishit, and shot wildly over.

Young did better when he robbed Milner in the 57th minute and bore down on goal, Richards’ lastditch block preventing a shot.

But that was a rare glimmer of optimism for United fans and, on the hour, City had wrapped up the points with another beautifully-worked goal.

Milner and Silva exchanged passes, the latter back-heeling to the former who reached the byline before drilling the ball across goal to the far post where Balotelli converted his second of the afternoon. City added a third on 68 minutes through Aguero. Milner’s pass freed Richards down

the right and he pulled back the perfect cross into the six-yard area where Aguero comfortably converted from close range.

Fletcher claimed United’s consolation, nine minutes from time, when he swapped passes with Javier Hernandez and curled a perfect finish into the top-right corner of the City goal from 20 yards.

But United would not be spared complete humiliation and, in the 90th minute, Gareth Barry flicked on a corner to the far post where Joleon Lescott crossed for Dzeko to knee into the net from close-range.

A minute later, Silva was played clear by Dzeko and sprinted half the length of the field before coolly placing the ball past de Gea. And, in injury-time, Dzeko was again on the mark, another counter-attack sprung by a slide-rule Silva pass which allowed the forward to advance and beat the exposed de Gea yet again.—AFP

Noisy neighbors blow roof off Old Trafford MANCHESTER: The Alex Ferguson era isn’t over at Manchester United. Still, this did feel like the beginning of the end. A 6-1 loss.

Make that a 6-1 humiliation. To Manchester City, no less. At Old Trafford. Ouch.

A hammering this heavy and this rare had reporters dusting off their history books. Not since, wait for it, January 1926 had City inflicted such pain on its crosstown rival in the league at its home ground where so many teams go away emptyhanded. “I’m shattered, I can’t believe it,” said Ferguson, who wasn’t even born the last time the Blues pulled this off. “There’s a lot of embarrassment in that dressing room and quite rightly so.”

So what does this mean, what’s the bigger picture? Well, despite the astounding scoreline, it doesn’t mean that English football’s center of gravity has permanently shifted a few miles east to the blue side of Manchester. At least not yet. United still has the bigger global brand, the bigger global following and an Aladdin’s cave full of trophies. City is not even close to taking all of that away.

Still, City look increasingly likely to make the last few years of Ferguson’s reign at United - he turns 70 in December, in his 25th year in charge - very uncomfortable indeed. City says that its aim is to become one of the best teams in Europe. As far as statements of intent go, beating the Premier League champion at home so comprehensively was the football equivalent of planting a flag on Everest.

The hundreds of millions of dollars that an Abu Dhabi billionaire has thrown at City

in the three years since he bought the No.2 club in Manchester have turned a weakling into a muscle-bound force that can now call itself United’s equal on the pitch. Financial doping clearly works.

Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan generally doesn’t attend City’s matches but his deep pockets are working wonders. The Glazer family which owns United was at Sunday’s game but has loaded the club with debt. Is that one of the big differences now separating these sides? Certainly, there was a feeling that not only was United outplayed and outclassed on Sunday, it has been outspent, too.

Yaya Toure, purchased from European champion Barcelona, and David Silva, bought from Valencia, were superb in City’s midfield, making United’s Darren Fletcher and the Brazilian Anderson look as thinly spread as butter on toast.

One of United’s greatest strengths in the Ferguson years has been identifying, nurturing and unleashing young talents like defender Chris Smalling and winger Ashley Young, who both played yesterday.

But United needs a Toure- or Silva-like figure in the middle of the pitch. With each City goal, not signing World Cup finalist Wesley Sneijder from Inter Milan and letting City lure Samir Nasri from Arsenal looked like larger and larger mistakes from United.

That City would win never looked in doubt after United’s Jonny Evans was sent off for yanking on Mario Balotelli’s arm early in the second half.

You should not trust Balotelli with your car or your house, because he’s liable to

wreck them. Someone - seemingly either him or a friend - set off a firework in his house, causing a fire, in the early hours of Saturday, which certainly is a novel way to prepare for such a match.

But, with a ball at his feet, in front of goal, Balotelli is becoming very dependable.

He made the day for headline writers “Mario Fireworks!” “Burning Balotelli!” - by scoring twice. After the first goal, Balotelli

Sir Alex Ferguson lifted up his jersey to reveal a T-shirt underneath emblazoned with the question “Why always me?”

“He’s crazy,” said City manager Roberto Mancini. But as long as he scores like this, Balotelli’s quirkiness will be secondary.

Mancini, as is customary, brought what he said was a “very good” bottle of wine from his native Italy to share with Ferguson after the game. For the Scotsman, it must have tasted as sour as vinegar.

“It was our worst ever day. It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I ever lost 6-1,” Ferguson said.

He added: “You have to recover. The history of Manchester United is “another day” and we will recover. That kind of defeat will make an impact on the players.”

One wouldn’t expect anything less of Ferguson’s players. But the reality is that City now has a 5-point league lead over United.

Even though the season is still young, United could be chasing blue shirts from now until next May. Those like European football boss Michel Platini who argue that the massive deficit spending by clubs like City is a mortal danger to the sport’s status quo and overall good health could point to this result, nod wisely, and feel vindicated. City fans could retort that United was long overdue to be knocked off its pedestal. Singing their hearts out in United’s ground, they didn’t care that this win was bought as much as it was earned.

But being able to purchase some of the world’s best players as easily as a kid in a sweet shop is only part of why City is becoming so strong. A lot of the credit goes to Mancini, who is making his big name and big ego stars play and work together as a team. He could have come to Old Trafford looking for a draw, played it safe. Instead, he fielded an attacking lineup with both Balotelli and Sergio Aguero up front.

Mancini said studying video of United had shown him that Ferguson’s team this season often concedes opportunities to score.

United, vulnerable. Those are not words that have been used often together in recent years. That could be about to change.—AP

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Porsche at the 2011 Dubai International Motor Show Page 23

DEAD SEA: King Abdullah II of Jordan (center) poses for a picture with winners of the King Abdullah Award on the second day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) yesterday. — AFP

UAE realty gains may sink despite Nakheel Concerns on Abu Dhabi Aldar’s funding woes remain DUBAI: A $16 billion debt restructuring of Dubai developer Nakheel will not help prevent a slump in third-quarter earnings of property firms in the United Arab Emirates, as they face a host of challenges amid little inroads being made to fresh property sales. Real estate firms in UAE were hit hard by the global financial crisis in 2008 with property prices dropping by about 60 percent from its peak. Nakheel, the developer at the epicentre of the crisis, concluded its restructuring in August and issued the first tranche of a 4.8 billion dirhams Islamic bond to trade creditors exposed to the company’s debt. The sukuk could add to the woes of listed builders as it trades at a discount ahead of quarterly earnings expected to start this week.

“The Nakheel sukuk is trading at a discount,

which may force some companies to take more provisions in their third-quarter earnings,” said Mohammed Yasin, chief investment officer at CAPM Investments in Abu Dhabi. “It all depends on the provisions already taken by the companies against the Nakheel restructuring.” Dubai’s largest listed builder Arabtec is one among the many trade creditors of Nakheel. Meanwhile, Dubai developers like Emaar Properties and Union Properties are set to face more gloom as sales dr y up and demand falls.

The amount of construction projects cancelled and delayed in the UAE rose to $170 billion in August, Citigroup said in a recent report. “Neither us nor the market is factoring any new sales for property companies in the UAE. However, recurring incomes for Emaar

from its hotels will help its cause,” said Mazed Azzam, real estate analyst at AlembicHC. “Despite some progress in the beginning of the year, our outlook is still cautious as oversupply and global concerns weigh.” The summer and the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan that fell in the third-quarter also saw a dip in sales a drop in hotel occupancy. Most analysts polled by Reuters expect Emaar’s third-quarter profits to drop, in line with its performance in the first two quarters this year.

Egyptian bank EFG-Hermes forecast a net profit of 386.5 million dirhams, a drop of 32 percent from the year-ago period. Bahrain’s Securities & Investment Co (SICO) expects a profit of 328 million dirhams, a drop of 46.4 percent. Emaar’s financial strength comes from its recurring income from hospitality sec-

tor. Moody’s upgraded ratings on Emaar this week citing improved operating and financial performance on the back of increasing contributions from its recurring revenue segments in 2010 and the first half of 2011.

Future unclear for Aldar Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s largest developer by market value, is likely to see modest profits from the sale of some of its residential units. However, concerns have been raised about the company’s ability to repay a massive debt pile and the government’s growing stake in the company. The developer was rescued by a $5.2 billion bailout by the Abu Dhabi government earlier this year. “Dilution of shares is the biggest concern about Aldar for equity investors,” said an Abu Dhabi-based real estate analyst. “After the 2.8 billion dirham convert-

Saudi succession holds long term investor risk

India’s Diwali gold buying to be ‘modest’ MUMBAI: High prices are likely to deter Indians from heavy gold buying this week during the Hindu festival of Diwali, normally an auspicious time to splurge on the metal, experts say. Gold demand is expected to be moderate, they said, as the country’s middle-classstruggling to cope with high inflation and rising fuel and food prices-may not have enough spare cash or savings to buy the yellow metal. Gold jewellery showrooms around Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar, which was hit by a deadly bomb attack in July, have remained half-empty during the festive season. India is the world’s biggest importer and consumer of gold, with the country accounting for over a third of global demand.On top of that the yellow metal is traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation, which in India is approaching double digits.

But with rising costs, Indians have become price sensitive consumers, looking to buy gold on price falls instead of waiting for a religious festival or wedding, analysts said. Some, who like garment trader Dinesh Kapadia prefer buying gold coins and bars as an investment, are not planning to purchase gold at all this Diwali. “Prices are too high. I will wait,” he told AFP, adding that he expected prices to correct further later this year. Gold prices surged this year on frenzied buying by investors, large funds and central banks around the world in the aftermath of a US sovereign debt downgrade and plunging global equity markets.

International gold prices reached a record $1,920 per ounce in early September and while they have since slipped they still remain up 15 percent from the start of 2011. The precious metal, whose key drivers are investment and jewelry, is widely seen as a safe haven in difficult times, but analysts say

a combination of factors is keeping demand weak. Indians bought 540 tons of gold in the first half of 2011, up 21 percent from the same period last year, according to data from industry body World Gold Council (WGC). But buying has been sporadic since then, even though prices have fallen, with some buyers holding off in expectation of further drops. Several gold experts have warned that the rapid gold price surge could be a “bubble” waiting to burst.

“People bought a lot (of gold) earlier in the year,” said Rajesh Mehta, chairman of India’s largest gold jewelry maker and exporter, Rajesh Exports. Mehta expects “moderate” buying this Diwali, despite the recent fall in prices. Since the turn of the century, when gold averaged $255 per ounce, prices have skyrocketed by nearly 550 percent and industry figures predict gold could hit the $2,000 mark next year. Anand James, chief analyst at trading firm Geojit Comtrade, said: “Currently buying is sporadic and indifferent.” He expects demand for the metal during Diwali this year to be lower compared to 2010, when “momentum was stronger”. Ritesh Gupta, marketing head of Totaram Papalal and Sons, described jewellery sales as “very low”. “Demand is down by 50 percent (from last year),” he told AFP by phone from southern city of Hyderabad, where the 110-year-old firm is based. He blamed the rising cost of living and low disposable income-after the central bank hiked interest rates 12 times since March 2010 — for poor sales. Gold buying normally peaks in the Diwali season on “Dhanteras” day, when Hindus buy precious metals or new utensils as a sign of good fortune, which falls today. Buying continues until December, which is India’s wedding season. — AFP

ible bond, state fund Mubadala will hold over 50 percent stake in Aldar. A single government entity holding that much stake is worrying.”

The company’s shares dropped to an all time low on Tuesday, falling below one dirham. Sorouh, Abu Dhabi’s second largest developer, is expected to fair better as they factor in revenues from the handover of some units. “Sorouh may surprise us with good third-quarter earnings,” said Azzam.

Three analysts polled by Reuters forecasted the property firm’s earnings to double to about 130 million dirhams in comparison to 59.3 million dirhams in the same period last year. The developer secured housing projects worth about 5.4 billion dirhams ($1.5 billion) over the last two years from the Abu Dhabi government. —Reuters

MUMBAI: Indian Bollywood actress Raima Sen poses with a gold coin during a promotional event ahead of Diwali yesterday. — AFP

LONDON: The likely promotion of conservative Prince Nayef as heir to the Saudi throne threatens investment sentiment only if he becomes king soon after and the focus will shift to the next line of leaders after an octogenarian elite. The death of Crown Prince Sultan, announced on Saturday, leaves King Abdullah with the task of summoning the Allegiance Council of the ruling AlSaud family to approve his preferred heir. Most analysts believe the new crown prince will be Nayef, who was appointed second deputy prime minister in 2009, a position usually given to the man who is third-in-line to rule.

With the Arab Spring erupting around him, Abdullah moved quickly to buy peace with his citizens with a populist $130 billion package that stabilized stock prices across the Middle East as investors realized the regional heavyweight was safe. His continued rule is seen as key to keeping the lid on any potential trouble in a country that is a key US ally and home to a fifth of global oil reserves. Succession by Nayef-if he becomes crown prince-could raise concerns. Saudi stocks traded flat after the announcement of Sultan’s death.

“Saudi Arabian markets have believed for the past year that Nayef is one heartbeat away from the top job, and that is priced in. However, when the question arises of his actually ruling, that’s a different ball game,” said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief investment officer at CAPM Investment in Abu Dhabi. “He has a very different style of management-his support base within the country is not as strong as King Abdullah’s. This could bring about a change in foreign policy and policy within, and may raise questions of politi-

cal stability.”

Nayef, who has close ties to the country’s powerful Wahhabi clergy, has been interior minister since 1975 and has managed the kingdom’s day-to-day affairs during the absences of both the king and crown prince. Analysts said his strong hand against Al-Qaeda and the Shi’ites raised fears of a rise in the temperature at a time when sensitivities in the region were high, and there are worries he could force Saudi companies to hire locally. There is, of course, the possibility that he might follow a moderate line if he became king, in line with AlSaud tradition of governing by consensus. Saudi is the biggest market in the region and home to the top companies including petrochemicals giant SABIC , largest Gulf banking group Al-Rajhi and Saudi Telecom , the biggest telecoms firms in the Gulf by revenue. The kingdom has been enjoying a period of high crude prices. Brent trades at $109 a barrel, up from around $90 at the beginning of the year, having hit highs of near $130 in April and May. Regional instability has taken its toll on investments, even if the oil price has cushioned the blow. According to data compiled by analysts, the Saudi stock market suffered net outflows via the swap mechanism of 1.4 billion Saudi riyals ($373.3 million) in the JanuarySeptember period. Shares have fallen about 8 percent this year, doing better than many peers. For perspective, Egyptian shares have lost about 40 percent.

The pressure on the ruling elite is clearly on, and investors will be watching carefully, especially as the succession beyond Nayef, if he were to become king, is extremely unclear. — Reuters

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business

UAE’s NBAD Q3 net up 12% on Forex earnings Results beat analysts’ forecasts ABU DHABI: National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the largest lender by market value in the UAE, posted a 12.1 percent jump in third-quarter net profit as foreign exchange gains rose more than three-fold, helping beat analysts’ forecasts.

NBAD, majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi government, made a net profit of 1.03 billion dirhams ($280.4 million)in the third quarter, compared with 919.75 million dirhams year-ago, a statement from the bank said yesterday. Net foreign exchange gains for the quarter amounted to 203.8 million dirhams, against 66.3 million dirhams a year earlier, the statement showed.

Analysts forecast an average profit of 996.71

million dirhams in a Reuters poll earlier this month.

“NBAD has delivered healthy profits on the back of strong and prudent balance sheet growth in a year characterized by multiple economic and political challenges,” Nasser AlSowaidi, chairman’ said in the statement. Net impairment charges were 321 million dirhams for the third quarter including additional collective provision of 87 million dirhams. That compared with 319.5 million dirhams for the yearago period. Non-performing loans increased to 4.53 billion dirhams representing 2.83 percent of the loan book.

NBAD, the first Gulf bank to tap Samurai bonds, expects non-performing loans (NPLs) to spike in 2011 but sees its lending surpassing the market growth rate, its chief executive told Reuters in July.

Loans and advances continued to grow in the third quarter of 2011 by another 1.9 percent to 155.8 billion dirhams, up 13.9 percent from December 31 2010. Net profit for the ninemonth period was 2.98 billion dirhams, up 1.1 percent over the same period last year. NBAD shares were halted for trading on Sunday prior to the announcement of results. They have gained 4 percent year-to-date. — Reuters

Burgan Bank partners with Sheraton Hotel KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday that it is offering its Premier Customers an exclusive 10 percent discount for their purchases across Sheraton Hotel Kuwait’s restaurants as well as lounges. The new offer is part of the bank’s overall approach of providing innovative promotions to its clients.

Burgan Bank’s platinum VISA credit and Premier Debit card holders will now receive instant cash discounts in Al-Hambra Restaurant, Riccardo, Shahrayar, Le Tarbouche, Bukhara, English Tea Lounge as well as Asseef Restaurant. This new offer is valid for one year, and will conclude in October 2012.

Haneen Al-Rumaihi, Burgan Bank’s Head of Marketing said: “This new offer further builds on our extensive added value promotions that aim at providing greater convenience

for our Premier Banking customers.

Burgan Bank is committed to enhancing customers’ banking experience by ensuring the continuous use of their cards, as well as taking advantage of great discounts and offers from various outlets.”

Fahed Abushaar, Area Director and General Manager at the Sheraton Kuwait expressed: “We at the Sheraton Kuwait are keen to offer our guests the best services in line with the hotel’s marketing strategy which aims to build strong and long term relationships with our valued customers by rewarding them with exclusive offers and attractive promotions in partnership with leading banks and companies in Kuwait and the region” He added “We are pleased to partner with Burgan Bank by participating in this promotion which will pro-

vide our customers with a unique experience. Looking forward to a successful partnership that meets our customers’ requirements. In addition, the Sheraton Kuwait has similar partnerships with other leading banks in Kuwait and the Middle East that is in popular demand by customers.”

Burgan Bank’s Premier Banking Service was introduced in 2007 as part of its comprehensive retail banking strategy. It offers a number of personalized services and products that have been delicately tailored to match the unique and prestigious lifestyle of its customers. Customers can enjoy priority banking service through a dedicated personal banking executive, access to exclusive premier lounges in branches, as well as entitlement to the very best in lifestyle related offers, discounts and promotions.

Air Arabia takes off to Russia KUWAIT: Air Arabia, the low-cost pioneer in the Middle East and North Africa, announced yesterday that it has launched direct service to Russia, offering breaking launch deals on return flights to Moscow.

Later this month, Air Arabia will also introduce service to Yekaterinburg, its second destination in Russia and the fourth-largest city in the country.

To facilitate easy online bookings for Russian passengers, customers can access the Air Arabia website (www.airarabia.com) in the Russian language - or in Arabic, English, French, Italian, German or Spanish.

The two new Air Arabia destinations are the carrier’s first in Russia. Moscow and Yekaterinburg become the carrier’s fifth and sixth destination in Commonwealth of Independent States and Russian Federation and its 69th worldwide.

Air Arabia offers service to Moscow on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sunday, departing from Sharjah International Airport at 09:00 am and arriving at Moscow Domodedova Airport at 14:00 pm.

Return flights will depart from Moscow on the same days at 15:00 pm and arrive in Sharjah at 20:00 pm. Beginning October 29, the carrier will offer service to Yekaterinburg on Wednesdays and Saturdays departing from Sharjah International Airport at 10:05 am and arriv-

ing at Yekaterinburg Airport at 16:50 pm.

Return flights will depart from Yekaterinburg on the same days at 17:50 pm and arrive in Sharjah at 20:50 pm.

“We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of service to Moscow and Yekaterinburg, which represents a significant milestone in the history of Air Arabia,” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia. “Indeed, it seems entirely appropriate that we will introduce service to one of the world’s great cities in October, at a time when we are celebrating the eighth anniversary of launch of Air Arabia itself.”

Highlighting, in particular, the strong business ties between Russia and the UAE, Ali added that the carrier anticipated strong demand for service to the country.

“Based on the high level of business and tourism traffic between the two countries, we are confident that our new service to Moscow and Yekaterinburg will further offer our customers a great value for money option to benefit from.”

Moscow, with a population in excess of 10.5 million, is the most populous city in Russia, the largest nation on earth, and is the country’s economic and political centre. The UAE is home to an increasingly significant Russian expatriate community, and is also one of the preferred holiday destinations for residents of the country.

Doha Bank posts QAR 1.01bn in net profit DOHA: Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Doha Bank, announced Doha Bank’s financial results for the third quarter of 2011. Doha Bank has posted a net profit for the 9 months period ending 30 September 2011 of QAR 1.01 billion which represents a significant increase of 13 percent versus the corresponding period last year. For the nine months ended 30 September 2011 net interest income rose by 22.1 percent to QAR 1.3 billion. Net operating income also showed an impressive increase of 13.6 percent rising to QAR 1.75 billion. Net loans and advances increased to QAR 28.4 billion at 30 September 2011 from QAR 26.6 billion last year which represented an increase of 6.5 percent. Deposits of QAR 30.2 billion as of September 30, 2011 showing a growth of 7 percent compared to QAR 28.3 billion last year 30 September 2010.

Sheikh Abdul Rehman Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor AlThani, Managing Director of Doha Bank said “These results not only demonstrate the strength of the Banks underlying operations but also the efficient deployment of shareholder’s funds which have generated a return on average equity of 22.4 percent which continues to be amongst the highest within the GCC. The Bank also managed to achieve a very high return on average assets of 2.77 percent which is a clear demonstration of optimum asset allocation strategies”. Talking on the key achievements in the third quarter of 2011, R Seetharaman, Group Chief Executive officer, highlighted the unique innovations and initiatives from Doha Bank. On the Retail front, R Seetharaman, said,

“Doha bank launched, the marvelous 25 percent cash back offer with multiple opportunities for Free For Life Dream Credit Cards holders to benefit whether they are traveling or not. Similarly, Al-Dana proved to be the greatest engagement programme running with distinction and yielding the highest chances with more winners and larger than life prizes. In addition to these, the innovative loan portfolio, presented the Best Car Loan Offer at ZERO Interest Rate with the lowest interest rate among all rates in Qatar and the new “Education Pack” following the splendid accomplishments of the “Education for a New Era” initiative set by the Qatari Government. All these were offered in line with Doha Bank’s continuing efforts to deliver the highest value added benefits to its current and potential customers”.

Doha Bank relocated the Ministry of Commerce branch to City Center Mall and this initiative will now enable Doha Bank Ministry of Commerce customers to avail full retail banking services from 9-to-9 daily including weekends thus bringing added convenience to our customers. From the Corporate banking perspective, R Seetharaman on behalf of Doha Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the SME Chamber of India at the National Level Flagship event jointly organized by The SME Chamber of India, Indian SME Knowledge Forum and India International Trade Centre at Mumbai.

Doha Bank continued its efforts of conducting knowledge sharing sessions, by hosting the “Enterprise Risk Integration” session for the benefit of its customers at

Doha Bank Head office Tower. This knowledge sharing session was attended by Diplomats representing respective foreign embassies operating in the State of Qatar, customers of Doha Bank, renowned bankers, industrialists, analysts, economists and regulators from the State of Qatar. R Seetharaman addressed the gathering as the keynote speaker setting the tone for the evening and gave his outlook on Global economy and the GCC Economy and highlighted major risks that are faced by the Global Economy. R Seetharaman also participated at the recently concluded Annual IMF meeting held in September at Washington, which deliberated on global and regional economic outlook.

In a moment of pride and excitement, Doha Bank also received “Bank of the Year 2011 in Qatar” by Arabian Business and “Best Commercial Bank in Qatar” award from World Finance, and “World’s Best Trade Finance Provider in Qatar 2011” award from Global Finance. Doha Bank has also been awarded as “Asia’s Best Brand” by the CMO Council. R Seetharaman, while expressing his elation said, “Building brand equity is a key role of today’s CEO and brand strategy is also a critical step in planning. Doha Bank and its team always strive to protect and build its brand”.

On the Corporate Social Responsibility front and as a first-of-its-kind initiative by a local Islamic bank, Doha Islamic’s management, under the supervision of the Shari’a Supervisory Board, collected donations from delayed payment of fines imposed on customers, and donated the same for benevolent ends.

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2720000 .4340000 .3780000 .3080000 .2690000 .2810000 .0040000 .0020000 .0743340 .7242120 .3810000 .0700000 .7099580 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2738000 GB Pound/KD .4367380 Euro .3804720 Swiss francs .3103080 Canadian dollars .2718830 Danish Kroner .0510920 Swedish Kroner .0418330 Australian dlr .2839990 Hong Kong dlr .0351860 Singapore dlr .2151330 Japanese yen .0035890 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0745740 Bahraini dinars .7265490 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0730330 Omani riyals .7114460 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.618 5.565 3.180 2.500 3.515 217.140 35.487 3.630 6.375 8.912 0.271 0.273

.2775000 .4450000 .3870000 .3180000 .2780000 .2910000 .0072500 .0035000 .0750810 .7314910 .4010000 .0760000 .7170930 .0072000 .0530000 .2759000 .4400880 .3833910 .3126880 .2739690 .0514830 .0421540 .2861770 .0354560 .2167830 .0036160 .0055630 .0025150 .0031900 .0036520 .0751460 .7321220 .3902400 .0735930 .7169030 .0064010

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 73.643 75.880 717.290 733.490 75.197

Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 48.000 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.154 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.264 Tunisian Dinar 195.480 Jordanian Dinar 389.980 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.853 Syrian Lier 5.962 Morocco Dirham 34.292 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 276.050 Euro 380.260 Sterling Pound 435.470 Canadian dollar 270.770 Turkish lire 147.870 Swiss Franc 305.740 Australian dollar 279.800 US Dollar Buying 275.800 GOLD 300.000 150.000 78.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

COUNTRY

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal

SELL CASH

288.400 731.520 3.860 276.200 540.300 36.600 51.800 167.800 48.100 386.300 36.060 5.840 0.032 0.237 0.239 3.680 390.370 0.186 89.840 46.100 4.230 224.500 1.782 50.400 714.440

SELL DRAFT

286.900 731.520 3.624 274.700

217.700 46.046 384.800 35.910 5.510 0.031

10 Tola

74.890 275.000

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

274.950 275.950 439.115 384.350 312.030 728.985 74.835 75.470 73.280 387.025 46.049 2.491 5.504 3.175 3.628 6.325 674.425 3.700 9.130 5.790 3.530 91.330

Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

288.28 277.19 314.32 383.81

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

275.000 3.170 5.495 2.510 3.635 6.400 74.975 73.485 731.100 46.010 444.100 3.190 1.550 390.700 5.750 387.800 278.800 3.690

Al Mulla Exchange

UAE Exchange Center WLL Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro

442.02 3.65 3.651 5.502 2.503 3.455 3.182 75.09 733.75 46.16 392.45 716.91 76.07 73.66

439.00 3.62 3.705 5.930 2.606 4.250 3.250 75.50 733.77 48.40 392.00 717.00 76.40 73.70

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 441.200 275.000

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Currency

714.260

313.900 5.400 9.100

Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

Currency

389.760 0.185 89.840 3.510 223.000

3.175 6.330 75.660 73.440 217.050 36.390 2.495 441.200

GOLD 1,690.970

Rate for Transfer

Bahrain Exchange Company

3.210 6.490 76.090 73.440 217.050 36.390 2.598 443.200 42.700 315.400 5.400 9.430 198.263 74.990 275.400 1.200

284.90 275.00 308.10 384.00

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

275.450 385.100 442.300 275.000 3.625 5.525 46.150 2.498 3.627 6.351 3.180 733.675 74.050 73.550

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

business NBK WEEKLY MONEY MARKET REPORT

Europe at crossroads Markets trade on news flow Depending on when you ask, you would get a different answer whether the market believes the G20 meeting would achieve any material progress on Greece this weekend. After a rollercoaster of hopes and disappointments on Thursday, expectation for the EU meeting collapsed in a flood of headlines that suggested the lack of agreement between France and Germany would delay the meeting. Merkel continued by cancelling a legally required address to the German parliament ahead of the EU meeting However, one can never exclude surprising decisions being taken on the highest level once the heads of state come together. Consequently markets welcomed the news of a second meeting scheduled for Wednesday and bought the market heavily on Friday.

After dropping to a low of 1.3653, euro ended the week at the high and closed at 1.3896 against the dollar. The pound followed suit and closed the week at the high of 1.5953. Speculators took the opportunity and tested the credibility of Bank of Japan by pushing the Yen to a high of 75.82 against the dollar. The yen closed the week at 76.29. The Swiss franc had a positive week dropping against the Euro despite the promise of the Swiss National Bank to intervene in unlimited amount to keep the franc low. Rumors that the largest bank in Switzerland might be divesting its investment bank arm took the cross to a low of 1.2208.

Commodities experienced tremendous volatility during the week on the back of the European crisis. Oil reached a high of 89.51 during the week to close at 87.40.

Gold experienced large swings hitting a low of 1604 and closed the week at 1641.

The Empire State manufacturing index increased in October however remained in negative territory for the fifth consecutive month. The index inched higher to -8.5 in October from -8.8 in September. Readings below zero indicate deterioration, with higher numbers of firms reporting that conditions had worsened. Key component of the index such as new orders rose to 0.2 in October from -8.0, while the shipments index rose to 5.3 from -12.9. The employee index rose to 3.4 in October from -5.4 in the prior month.

On the other hand, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s latest Business Outlook Survey, manufacturing

activity showed signs of improvement this month, with executives reporting higher activity in shipments, orders and overall business conditions. The index showed that manufacturing conditions increased from 17.5 in September to 8.7 this month, the first positive reading in 3 months.

CPI increases due to higher gasoline prices Consumer price index rose by 0.3 percent last month, pushing the increase over the past 12 months up to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in August. Gasoline prices rose at a faster pace, while the increase in food prices slowed. The core CPI, which strips out these categories, increased 0.1 percent in September, its smallest rise since March, compared with 0.2 percent in August.

Rents rose moderately, while automobiles did not rise at all. The spike in consumer prices over the past year means Americans who receive Social Security and other federal benefits will get a 3.6 percent increase in 2012, based on how the government calculates payments. It will be the first increase in three years.

US housing starts rise Housing starts climbed 15 percent to 658,000 houses at an annual rate, the most since April 2010. Analysts had predicted an increase by 590,000. Construction starts of multi-family dwellings surged to the highest since October 2008 and demand for apartments surged, as more Americans have become renters amid the housing crisis. Building permits on the other hand declined to a five-month low, suggesting that foreclosures that are adding to the supply of unsold homes and depressing property values may continue to hold back developers. The report showed building permits dropped 5 percent to a 594,000 annual rate in September compared to market expectation of 610,000.

Jobless claims stabilize The number of workers filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign the job market is stabilizing, albeit very slowly.

Jobless claims filed last week dropped to 403,000 from a revised 409,000 in the prior week. A number above the 400,000 shows signs that employers have not stepped up their hiring much. Economists had predicted claims would fall last week to 400,000

from the previous week’s originally reported 404,000. The report on Thursday was the latest sign that the US economy was unlikely to slide back into recession, despite a slow pace of growth this year.

Europe Despite the disagreement between France and Germany on how the EFSF should best be levered and Germany reportedly threatening to cancel Sunday’s EcoFin summit, both countries affirmed their agreement to provide a response to the Euro area crisis at the G20 meeting and stop the contagion across Europe. The European Summit will take place in two stages. While the issues will be examined on Sunday, it won’t be until Wednesday that leaders will attempt to lay out concrete details of a plan involving the Greek bailout, bank recapitalization and lastly the EFSF leverage.

The two main plans for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) leverage currently being discussed are for the fund to be used to provide “first loss” insurance and for it to be converted into a bank, capitalized by the member states and funded by the ECB. Europeans officials also toughened the conditions for bond buying by the EFSF, making it possible to halt the purchases when countries miss economic and financial targets.

A new version of the EFSF guidelines foresees the possible “termination of the secondary market purchases” of the bonds of countries that deviate from targets. An earlier draft did not spell out the “termination” option. Instead, it foresaw a full macroeconomic adjustment program and a monthly review of the continuation of the purchases. Even with Greek parliament passing the austerity package, inching the country a step closer to receiving aid from the Troika, the private sector involvement remains an issue to be resolved as it could delay the disbursement of the next tranche of EUR 8bn aid.

German business confidence tumbled this month to its lowest level in over a year.

The IFO institute said its business climate index had fallen for a fourth consecutive month, from 107.4 in September to 106.4, the lowest since May 2010. German confidence has dropped since the middle of 2011 amid the propagation of the European debt crisis. The German govern-

ment revised up its forecast for economic growth this year from 2.6 to 2.9 percent, however, lowered significantly its expectations for next year. It anticipates the country’s economy to grow by just 1 percent in 2012, down from the 1.8 percent growth it had previously forecasted. German investor sentiment fell more than expected in October. The ZEW institute said its survey index fell to -48.3 points from -43.3 points in September, whereas markets were predicting a drop to only -45.0 Moody’s warn France over credit rating Moody’s Investor Service hinted this week that the outlook for France’s top-tier credit rating could be at risk. The nation still enjoys “very high government financial strength,” said the ratings agency in its annual credit report on France, released on Monday. The agency warned that this strength has been diminished by the global economic and financial crisis to the point where the French government’s “debt metrics” are the lowest of any AAA-rated country, according to Moody’s.

Moody’s pointed to “the possible need to provide additional support to other European sovereigns or to its own banking system” as potential events that could result in “significant” liabilities for the French government. “The deterioration in debt metrics and the potential for further contingent liabilities to emerge are exerting pressure on the stable outlook of the government’s AAA debt rating,” Moody’s said in a statement United Kingdom UK CPI rose by 0.6 percent in September, much stronger than expectations for a +0.4 percent increase, mainly due to firmer increases in gas, fuel and electricity prices. Y/Y rate of inflation rose up to a three-year high at 5.2 percent from 4.5 percent in August. Next month’s letter to the UK Chancellor is likely to reiterate that the move is short-lived and offer further justification for the Bank’s recent decision to inject further stimulus into the economy.

Higher than expected retail sales UK retail sales unexpectedly rose by 0.6 percent in September. The figure was much stronger than analysts had forecasted and

more than reversed a 0.4 percent fall in volumes in August. The report also showed that sales were 0.6 percent higher than September last year. A rise in laptop and computer game sales helped to boost the numbers and sales made over the internet continued to climb. Non-store retailing, including online purchases, rose by 15.5 percent over the year as a whole.

Asia Seeking to put the country on a recovery track after the March 11 earthquake, the Japanese government on Friday approved a full-scale extra budget worth •12.1 trillion ($157.7 billion) for reconstruction and measures to deal with the strong yen. It would be the second-biggest extra budget ever, exceeded only by one compiled in 2009 after the global financial crisis. Of the total, 11.73 trillion is budgeted for reconstruction of disaster-hit infrastructure and damage-prevention measures.

This third extra budget will be submitted to parliament on Oct 28, along with a related tax-increase bill to finance it.

Chinese GDP growth came out weaker than expected at 9.1 percent y/y versus the.

9.3 percent market expectations. Details beneath the headline number looked optimistic as Retail sales expanded 17.0 percent y/y in September, beating forecast of 16.9 percent. Industrial activity held up well too, expanding 14.2 percent y/y in September, better than the 14.1 percent forecast. Fixed asset investment grew 24.9 percent y/y dissipating fears of a sharp slowdown in Chinese growth. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged Europe to stop its debt crisis spreading across the bloc, warning that fundamental reforms were needed to stop the euro zone’s troubles. In a phone call with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Wen repeated past comments that China stood by Europe’s efforts to surmount its economic crisis. “ The most urgent task is to take decisive measures to prevent the debt crisis from spreading further and avoid financial market turbulence, a recession and fluctuations in the euro,” Wen told Van Rompuy, according to a report on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website.

Kuwaiti dinar at 0.27435 The USDKWD opened at 0.27435 yesterday morning.

Burgan Bank announces Yawmi account winners KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the names of the five lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD 5,000. The lucky winners for the five daily draws took home a cash prize of KD 5,000 each, and they are: Sheikh Shamlan Abdul-Aziz Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah; Taher Shater Mubarak Taher; Ahmad Mohammad Abdo Hijazi; Fahad Yousef Othman Alfailakawi; and Mohd Abdullah Hamad Al-Hamad.

The newly re-launched Yawmi Account is better, easier and faster than any day before. With its new and enhanced features, the Yawmi Account has become more convenient, easier, and faster for customers to benefit from. Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48

hours only from opening the account.

Customers are also required to deposit KD 100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon value to enter the draw stands at KD 10.

The newly designed Yawmi account has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone.

Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they.

Opaqueness and unrest burden Egypt’s economy CAIRO: An uncertain transition to civilian rule, labor unrest and sporadic violence that scares off tourists are aggravating Egypt’s economic slump almost nine months after president Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow, experts say. Labor protests-by teachers, bus drivers, dock workers and air traffic controllers-have persisted despite a mixture of threats and appeals by the ruling military, which has warned of their effects on the economy. There is “increased political risk due to the continuation of strikes and labor protests, and no clear government plan to face this social unrest amid increasing budget deficit,” said Mona Mansour, a financial analyst with the Commercial International Bank.

Last week, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Egypt’s rating to BB-, citing weak prospects for public finances and rising risks to macroeconomic stability during the nation’s political transition. “The downgrade reflects our opinion that risks to macroeconomic stability have risen during the transition period for Egyptian political reform, which we expect to evolve over the next two years,” it said. S&P added that it could lower Egypt’s ratings further, later this year or in 2012, “if the political transition falters in a manner that leads to renewed political turmoil”.

The rating agency’s pessimism is “not a surprise,” said Mansour. “Since the beginning of the revolution, there has been a series of downgrades from international rating companies due to

the negative factors affecting stability and the general finances of the country,” she said. The country’s foreign reserves went down from $36 billion in 2010 to $24 billion in September.

The budget deficit is estimated at 9.5 percent for 2010/2011, compared with 8.1 percent a year earlier.

GDP growth rate is officially expected to reach between three and 3.5 percent this year, but some experts say even that drop from rates of five to seven percent a few years ago is optimistic. The key tourism sector lost $3 billion this year, and the benchmark index of the Cairo stock exchange tumbled by 40 percent in nine months. Egypt starts its first parliamentary election since Mubarak’s overthrow on November 28 amid fears of a return of old regime figures in parliament and Islamist gains.

The military, which faces growing criticism of its handling of the transition, has said it would hand over power after a presidential election, but no one knows when that would happen.

The caretaker cabinet it has appointed appears weak and incapable of pushing through reforms. The finance minister, Hazem Beblawi, tried to resign this month after clashes between soldiers and Christian protesters killed 25 people, mostly Christians. The military rejected his resignation. The deadly clash “put more pressure on the economic and political fronts,” said Abdel Fattah al-Gebali, an economic expert for Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. — AFP

Porsche at the 2011 Dubai International Motor Show DUBAI: Porsche is set to generate a huge buzz at the Dubai International Motor Show (November 10-14) with its regional reveal of the car many said could never be bettered - the 911 Carrera.

Along with the completely redesigned icon, the automaker is also giving UAE visitors the first opportunity to see its breathtaking 918 RSR concept car.

Premiered to ultra-enthusiastic response at the Frankfurt Motor Show just a few weeks ago, the new 911 steps into the limelight with its flat, stretched silhouette, exciting contours and precisely designed details. Re-designed after 48 years, Porsche’s icon offers even handling dynamics thanks to 100 millimetres longer wheelbase, the wider track width at the front and lower ground clearance when equipped with PASM. George Wills, the newly appointed Managing Director of Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE, says: “ The Dubai International Motor Show is the perfect platform for us to unveil the new 911 and we are

very excited to receive the first feedback from our customers and Porsche fans.” Purists may be surprised and delighted to hear that the athletic 350 hp 3.4-litre boxer engine consumes a mere 8.2 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres - that’s 1.6 litres per 100 km less than its predecessor.

And with an emission level of 194 g/km CO2, it is the first Porsche sports car to make it below the 200 g/km mark. Porsche places great emphasis on lap times at the famous German N¸rburgring race track to gauge acceleration and braking, stability and agility. The new 911 Carrera completes the N¸rburgring’s Nordschleife in 7 minutes 40 seconds - 14 seconds faster than the previous model.

“With the new 911 Carrera, the apparently contradictory attributes that have typified the Porsche 911; such as performance and efficiency, sportiness and everyday practicality has been even further extended.

That makes the 911 Carrera more of a 911 than ever!” says Wills. The allnew, lightweight body is an intelli-

gent aluminium-steel construction, providing an overall weight reduction of up to 45 kilogrammes, and significantly greater rigidity.

Aerodynamic optimisation measures, including a wider, variably extending rear spoiler, means the lift of the new 911 Carrera is further reduced.

918 RSR concept car As if the chance to see and touch a new icon at the Dubai International Motor Show is not enough, Porsche is bringing another supermodel to the emirate - the 918 RSR concept car - or rather, experimental racing laboratory. The beautiful mid-engine coupe is designed to show clearly what happens when the technology fitted in the 911 GT3 R hybrid and the design of the 918 Spyder are transferred to a modern, innovative super sports car.

Dominated by muscular wheel arches, dynamic air intakes and a ‘pulpit-like’ cockpit the 918 RSR painted in distinctive “liquid metal chrome blue” has a visible fan wheel between the ram air intake tubes

and a rear spoiler with RS Spyder dimensions Motor racing technology is also underlined by the vehicles’ particularly light, torsionally-stiff carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) monocoque. Its V8 engine is a further development of the direct injection engine from the successful RS Spyder race car - offering 563hp at 10,300/rpm.

Electric motors on the two front wheels each contribute 75 kW, i.e. a total of 150 kW, to the peak drive power of exactly 767 hp. This additional power, generated during braking, is stored in an optimised flywheel accumulator. Even the vehicle’s functional equipment underscores its puristic motor racing character, and makes it instantly recognisable as something unusual; the upward-opening doors, the air intake in the roof between the wing doors, the two roof-mounted aerials for pit radio and telemetry as well as the no-profile 19” racing slicks emphasize the racing laboratory functions. This vehicle shouts to be noticed.

Al-Tijari names draw winners KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al-Najma Account draw yesterday.

The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry represented by Abdulaziz Ashkanani. The winners of the Al-Najma Daily Draw who will get KD 7,000 are: Nouf Khaled Ajran Al-Ajran; Sherefa Majed Ahmad Al-Baty Bu Taiban; Isteqlal Sanad Ajeem Al-Husaini; Lubnah Mohammed Saeed Abdulraheem; and Akram Yaqoub Aziz Abdulmalak

The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces the biggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of the new Najma account. Customers of the bank can now enjoy a KD 7,000 daily prize which is the highest in the country and another 4 mega prizes during the year wor th KD 100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha and on the June 19, which is the date of the bank’s establishment.

With a minimum balance of KD 500, cus-

tomers will be eligible for the daily draw provided that the money is in the account one week prior to the daily draw or two months prior to the mega draw. In addition, for each KD 25 a customer can get one chance for winning instead of KD 50. Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all lucky winners and also extends appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their effective supervision of the draws which were conducted in an orderly and organized manner.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

business

Investors wary on slipping Q3 results

Abu Dhabi slumps to new lows MIDEAST STOCKS

GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the day on a mixed note, on the lightest trading day since October 4, 2011. Blue chip stocks slipped sending market capitalization-weighted indices southwards. Investors’ sentiment have become gloomy over forecasts of falling Q3 financial results.

Market indices Global General Index (GGI) ended the day down by 0.03 percent, at 182.76 point. Market capitalization was up for the day, reaching KD 29.92 billion. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 5,909.7 point, adding 13.90 points (0.24 percent) to its previous close.

Market breadth During the session, 102 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 32 equities declined versus 31 that advanced.

Daily trading activity Total volume traded was down by 15.26 percent with 113.12mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD 19.14 million (13.25 percent higher compared to Thursday’s session). Investment sector was the volume leader, accounting for 47.16 percent of total shares exchanges. First Investment Company was the session’s most traded stock with 15.92mn shares exchanged. The banking sector was the value leader, having 24.10 percent of total traded value.

Top gainers and biggest decliners In terms of top gainers, Kuwait National Cinema Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 9.80 percent to its share value and closing at KD 1.120. On the

other hand, Future Communications Co Global shed 8.06 percent and closed at KD 0.285, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors-wise Food stocks spearheaded decliners, clocking 1.03 percent in sector losses. Heavyweight, Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana) was the only decliner in the sector with an 1.32 percent withdrawal, closing at KD 1.500.

Banking scripts followed with a 0.70 percent recoil. The sector produced four decliners. Gulf Bank was the top decliner within the sector, shedding 1.82 percent to close at KD 0.540. Commercial Bank of Kuwait during yesterday’s session wiped the losses occurred

last week after releasing 3Q2011 financial results. The scrip closed up by 3.75 percent at KD 0.830.

On the other hand, real estate stocks spearheaded advancers, clocking 0.95 percent in sector gains. As measured by the Global Real Estate Index, this sector has grown by 5.12 percent on MTD. Arkan Al-Kuwait Real Estate Company was amongst the biggest percentage gainers during the day, claiming an 8.33 percent climb and closing at KD 0.065. Heavyweight, Mabanee Company and Salhia Real Estate Company were also up by 3.45 percent and 0.96 percent, respectively .

Investment companies managed to eke out some gains too.

Global Investment House and

Coast Investment & Development Company were up by 6.25 percent and 3.45 percent, respectively. Global Investment Index grew by 0.16 during the day.

Corporate news Investment Dar Company said it will make the first payment due under the terms of a debt restructuring plan, approved by a special court under the country’s financial stability law, before the end of October 2011.

Oil news The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $107.19pb on Thursday, compared with $108.65 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s shares slumped to a fresh 30-month low, while trading was muted in most Gulf markets as investors waited for cues from European Union leaders’ summit that kicked off late yesterday. Volumes in UAE’s capital fell to their lowest in over two years as investors remain cautious of global uncertainty with thin local fundamentals exacerbating the situation.

“Uncertainty is prevailing over, and hesitance on both sides (buying and selling) is peaking,” said Talal Touqan, head of equity research in Al-Ramz Securities.

“Psychologically, such periods usually precede a sudden burst of high volatility.”

The index slipped 0.09 percent to its lowest close since April 2009. Etisalat was the main drag, slipping 0.1 percent. National Bank of Umm Al-Quwain and Union National Bank fell 2.2 and 0.3 percent respectively.

Dubai’s index ended 0.2 percent lower at 1,364 points, a point away from Wednesday’s seven-month low. “Support levels and acceptable valuations ratios are not protecting the prices. Traders are losing faith,” Touqan added.

In Qatar, the index climbed 0.8 percent, trimming its 2011 losses to 2.9 percent. United Development jumped 10 percent after reporting a 75.4 percent-rise in nine-month net profit of 1.8 billion riyals, according to a bourse statement.

Its earnings per share jumped from 2.8 riyals to 11.3 riyals in the same period.

“The new evaluation of the company’s assets caused the earnings per share to jump, (from 2.8 riyals to 11.3 riyals for the nine-month period),” said Eyad Al-Saqqa, account manager at Dlala Holding in Doha.

Other developers may see a similar reevaluation, especially Barwa Real Estate , which had bought land at cost price from the government, he added. Barwa gained 1.4 percent. Banks also rose, a reflection of strong quarterly earnings, analysts said. Qatar National Bank gained 2.2 percent and Commercial Bank of Qatar climbed 0.6 percent. “(Qatar’s) earnings have been excellent so far which has in turn reflected on the market,” said Houssam Saafan, training department manager at The Group brokerage. “Banks is still the best sector. It has great funda-

mentals and Q3 results were outstanding.

We might be looking at a better Q4 and an overall good year.”

In Kuwait, a late rally lifted the index 0.2 percent. Developer Mabanee Co gained 3.5 percent and First Investment soared 9.3 percent. “Small-cap stocks with good fundamentals are now getting popular for short term and long-term investment,” said Fahad Al-Sheraian, general manager at Union Securities Brokerage Company. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s index rose in a late-day rally as investors pick up domestic-driven stocks.

Al-Ahli Takaful and Saudi Fisheries jumped 7.5 and 9.8 percent each.

“Leading stocks are not getting as much liquidity as before,” said Tarek al-Madi, an independent Riyadh-based financial analyst, with small-cap stocks’ third-quarter earnings attracting traders. The index climbed 0.5 percent, trading in a tightrange since early August with a ceiling of 6,120 points and a floor of 6,044 points.

EU leaders piled pressure on Italy yesterday to speed up economic reforms to avoid a Greece-style meltdown as they began a crucial two-leg summit called to rescue the euro zone from a deepening sovereign debt crisis.

Yesterday’s highlights Abu Dhabi The benchmark eased 0.09 percent to 2,442 points.

Dubai The index slipped 0.2 percent to 1,364 points.

Qatar The index gained 0.8 percent to 8,433 points.

Oman The index climbed 0.2 percent to 5,540 points.

Kuwait The measure climbed 0.2 percent to 5,896 points.

Saudi Arabia The benchmark gained 0.5 percent to 6,136 points.

Egypt The index rose 0.8 percent to 4,300 points.

Bahrain The measure edged up 0.04 percent to 1,145 points. — Reuters

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BUSINESS

Wen says jobs vital for social stability Inflation, housing costs plague China

LAS VEGAS: In this file photo, Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft’s Windows and Windows Live division, talks about System on a Chip technology during a press preview for the Consumer Electronics Show. —AP

Microsoft’s Q1 gains strike analyst target SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft’s Windows franchise regained some of its vigor during the company’s latest quarter, but that might not be enough to overcome the perception that the world’s largest software maker is being outmaneuvered by nimble rivals whose fortunes aren’t tied to the personal computer. The results released Thursday were highlighted by a 7 percent increase in revenue that exceeded analyst estimates. The gains for the July-September period occurred throughout Microsoft’s product lineup, which includes the ubiquitous Windows operating system, widely used programs such as Office, the Xbox 360 video game console and the Bing search engine. The company’s earnings for the fiscal first quarter rose 6 percent from last year to match analyst projections.

Investors weren’t impressed.

Microsoft shares dipped 19 cents to $26.85 in Thursday’s extended trading.

Microsoft’s stock price has been held back by worries that it isn’t adapting quickly enough as more people use smartphones and computer tablets such as Apple’s iPad instead of desktop and laptop computers that run on the Windows operating system. Three consecutive quarters in declining Windows revenue reinforced those concerns.

That slump ended in the latest quarter as revenue in the Windows division crept up nearly 2 percent to $4.87 billion. The modest gain was slightly below the 3.2 percent to 3.6 percent rise in personal computer shipments during the quarter, based on estimates by Gartner Inc. and IDC. Meanwhile, Apple sold more than 11 million iPads during the same period, more than doubling the number from the same time last year.

Most analysts believe sales of iPad and other computer tablets are going to keep accelerating at a rapid rate for the next several years. The trend is expected to decrease demand for PCs in households and businesses. In a Thursday conference call, Microsoft executives acknowledged the growing popularity of tablets will keep the pressure on the Windows division.

Microsoft is tackling the problem with the most radical overhaul of Windows since the mid-1990s. The next version, called Windows 8, will run on touchscreen devices. The redesigned system

generated a positive buzz when it was released to developers, but the software isn’t expected to hit the mass market until the middle of next year, at the earliest. Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, hasn’t specified a timetable. In the most recent quarter, Microsoft Corp. earned $5.7 billion, or 68 cents per share, for its fiscal first quarter.

That compared with net income of $5.4 billion, or 62 cents per share, at the same time last year. The earnings matched the average estimate among analyst surveyed by FactSet. Revenue increased totaled $17.37 billion - about $130 million above analyst forecasts. At the same time last year, Microsoft’s revenue came in at $16.2 billion. By surpassing Wall Street ’s revenue hurdle, Microsoft achieved something that eluded nemesis Apple Inc. during the same period.

Although Apple’s revenue in the most recent quarter surged 39 percent from last year, the increase didn’t measure up to analyst expectations. The shortfall triggered a sharp drop in Apple’s stock price.

Microsoft’s challenges extend beyond Windows. The company has been struggling for years to catch up to Google Inc. in the lucrative search advertising market. It’s been an exercise in frustration so far, saddling Microsoft’s online division with operating losses totaling $6.5 billion in the company’s last three fiscal years. The division’s sustained another loss of $494 million in the latest quarter, down from $558 million at the same time last year. Online revenue rose 19 percent to $625 million. Executives assured analysts in Thursday’s conference call that they’re determined to keep whittling the online division’s losses. To do that, Microsoft will likely have to fine tune its Internet search partnership with Yahoo Inc Since Yahoo began relying on Microsoft’s technology for search results, the alliance has not been making as much money as the companies anticipated. The problems prompted Microsoft to extend a revenue guarantee through March 2013 - a year beyond the original deadline. Microsoft is also counting on its just-completed $8.5 billion acquisition of video chat service Skype to make its online services more compelling in social networking and digital video. —AP

Dual-track IPO still on for Verde assets: Lloyds LONDON: Part-nationalised British bank Lloyds said yesterday that a flotation of some 630 bank branches which it has been ordered to dispose of by regulators remained an option, along with a sale of the branches.

“Lloyds has always said that an IPO (initial public offering) is an option, as part of the dual-track process,” said a company spokeswoman. Lloyds has given the auction the code-name of “Project Verde”. European regulators ordered Lloyds to sell the branches as payback for being bailed out with taxpayers’ money during the credit crisis, which led to the British government ending up with a 40.6 percent stake in Lloyds.

Lloyds’ spokeswoman added that the bank had contacted British listing authorities as it examines the possible flotation of the branches. “They have spoken to the UK listing authorities because that would be part of the natural process,” she said. The Sunday Telegraph reported that a flotation of the Verde assets was now considered by Lloyds as a “near certainty”, but Lloyds said it had no preferred option yet between either a sale or spin-off.

Britain ended up with 83 percent of Royal Bank of Scotland and its Lloyds stake after rescuing both during the credit crisis with taxpayer bailouts, and RBS has also been told to sell off a host of assets. The sale of the Lloyds branches coincides with plans by Britain to sell Northern Rock, the retail bank which was fully

nationalized after nearly collapsing during the financial crisis. However, both sales have encountered a certain amount of difficulty, with the valuation of the assets hit by the financial market turmoil.

Virgin Money has been competing with private equity firm JC Flowers to buy Northern Rock, and The Sunday Times reported that Virgin was close to a Northern Rock deal. New British bank venture NBNK Investments has been competing with Co-Operative Financial Services and Sun Capital for the Lloyds branches, although NBNK has so far been the only one to submit a second-round bid.

NBNK is also weighing up bidding for Nor thern Rock , sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told Reuters, raising the possibility that it could seek to combine Nor thern Rock with the Lloyds branches to create a large new UK bank.

Sources have said that NBNK has bid some 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) for the Lloyds branches, while Sun Capital has expressed concerns on its part over the costs of bidding for those assets.

Both the Lloyds’ Verde branch disposal and the Northern Rock sale have looming deadlines a p p ro a c h i n g. B r i t a i n h a s s a i d i t hopes to find a buyer for Northern Rock by the end of this year, while Lloyds has also aimed to reach a final decision over theVerde assets by this time. —Reuters

BEIJING: China will make job creation a more urgent priority in the face of slower economic growth and weakened exports, Premier Wen Jibao said in comments published yesterday, also warning that efforts to tame housing prices were at a critical point. While visiting the southern region of Guangxi, Wen took on the issues that have raised worries about the direction of the world’s second biggest economy: inflation, housing costs, weakened demand from rich economies, and the pressure to secure jobs for millions of university students and rural migrants.

“Currently, economic growth is slowing and external demand is falling, and we should make employment even more of a priority in economic and social development, doing our utmost to expand employment,” Wen told officials in Guangxi, a poorer region next to export-driven Guangdong province, the official People’s Daily reported. Those efforts would include “ensuring an appropriate rate of economic growth” and supporting laborintensive industries, small businesses and private firms, he said.

Wen’s published comments did not mention the yuan exchange rate, which Beijing policymakers fear could stifle export-dependent jobs if they succumb to US pressure to let the currency appreciate much more quickly.

But the Chinese premier made clear that jobs and social stability are dominant concerns.

People’s livelihoods should assume a more important role in setting macroeconomic policy because such needs affect “social harmony and stability,” said Wen, who visited Guangxi on Friday and Saturday.

Wen’s government faces a tricky test in striking the right balance between maintaining growth and containing inflation. China’s economic expansion slowed to 9.1 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, its weakest pace in more than two years as eurodebt strains and a sluggish US economy took a toll. In September, consumer inflation dipped to 6.1 percent, retreating from threeyear highs, but stubborn food price pressures remain a worry for policymakers.

“To rein in prices, we must first properly deal with food prices,” Wen told officials. His government must also deal with relentless pressure to find jobs. China has 242 million rural residents who work off the farm, and 153 million of them are migrants working outside their home towns. They are joined by millions more migrants every year, hunting for work in factories and on building sites. As well, more than six million college and university graduates entered the workforce this year.

Wen also said another plank of the govern-

ment’s efforts to contain price rises-containing housing costs-was at a crucial stage.

Housing prices in China have climbed to record highs, although annual property inflation eased to a low of 3.5 percent in September as Beijing’s campaign to cool the market made inroads.

“All levels of government must take effective measures to consolidate the fruits of (housing price) controls,” he said. Those efforts should include ensuring the government’s goals to expand affordable, statebacked housing are met, Wen said. As of August, China had built 8.68 million units of homes for rental or sale to poorer families this year, putting it on track to fulfill its full-year goal of 10 million homes. But echoing a widespread complaint among officials, one Guangxi official told Wen of a shortfall in financing for the affordable homes, according to the media accounts.

The premier did not hint at any backing down from affordable home targets, but indicated that commercial developers might get easier access to land for cheaper projects. “On the one hand, we must get a grip on affordable housing construction,” he said.

“On the other hand, we must also increase land provision for ordinar y commercial housing.” —Reuters

China ‘years away from convertible yuan’ BEIJING: China is resisting US demands to speed up yuan reforms and let its currency appreciate at a faster pace, even as it pursues a long-term goal of making the unit more widely used overseas, analysts say.

Beijing has recently taken small steps to relax controls on the currency and increase its use in global trade as it tries to reduce China’s exposure to the dollar and allow the yuan to take on a greater role worldwide. In the latest move this month, authorities announced rules to allow foreign companies to use yuan raised overseas to invest in China, which analysts said was a positive step for increasing cross-border flows in the currency. In August, the government also expanded a program to allow Chinese exporters across the vast country to use the yuan to settle crossborder deals. But the changes have been too slow for critics and analysts agree that China is at least 10 years away from having a freely traded and fully convertible currency whose value is set by the market-not the government.

“If the renminbi is to be anything but a fringe player globally, it will have to be convertible with very few, and ideally, no restrictions,” said Mark Williams, an analyst at London-based research house Capital Economics. “My suspicion is that full convertibility is unlikely in the next 15 years.”

China has repeatedly pledged to relax its currency controls and in June 2010 — under intense international pressure-vowed to let the yuan trade more freely against the dollar, ending an effective peg to the greenback.

Since then the currency has strengthened about seven percent against the dollar-too little for US lawmakers who claim the yuan is undervalued by as much as 30 percent, giving Chinese exporters an unfair trade advantage. The US Senate earlier this

month approved a bill that would punish China for alleged currency manipulation while US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested an international coalition could force Beijing to raise the

which employs millions of workers, and to prevent large capital inflows and outflows which could be damaging to the economy.

Last week, faced with falling demand for Chinese-made prod-

HONG KONG: This photo shows a woman walking past a currency exchange outlet with the rates (815/824) against the Chinese yuan posted in the window. —AFP unit’s value.

But Beijing has defended its currency controls as necessary to protect its manufacturing sector,

ucts, Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to maintain a “stable” exchange rate to protect its exporters. “If you move too fast you risk shock-

ing a lot of different parts of the domestic economy,” said Alistair Thornton, an analyst at IHS Global Insight. “The idea is to gradually bring about a shift in the domestic economy that will allow it to compete once you have a market driven exchange rate.” To spur the use of the yuan overseas China has launched yuan-denominated bond trading in Hong Kong, which have flourished in the former British colony. The value of “dim sum” bonds-a reference to the cuisine popular in Hong Kong-issued had reached 70 billion yuan (about $11 billion) this year, local officials said in August, nearly double the total issuance for 2010. Chinese companies can also use the yuan to fund investments overseas while authorities have signed currency swap agreements with several countries and invited foreign institutions to participate in the interbank bond market. But these were “constrained and artificial” measures and the yuan remained a long way from being freely traded, said Patrick Chovanec, an economics professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

“The renminbi is as controlled as it ever was and the fact that it is being allowed to be used for certain specific purposes under specific artificial arrangements doesn’t change that,” Chovanec said. The central government has declared it aims to build Shanghai, which has long been China’s business heart, into an international financial centre by 2020 — which analysts say would require the yuan to be unshackled. But the eurozone crisis and downturn in the United States had convinced Chinese officials that maintaining strict currency controls was the right thing to do now and the 2020 deadline could be pushed back, they said. “They have always said a stable renminbi is in the world’s interests,” said Chovanec. —AFP

AT&T sees slowing growth in wireless networks in Q3 NEW YORK: Running one of the biggest US wireless networks has been a reliable way for AT&T to boost revenues, quarter after quarter, as people loaded up on phones, and then traded up to smartphones. But the easy money may already have been made, AT&T’s latest results show.

AT&T Inc. said Thursday that its wireless service revenue grew just 4.3 percent in the July to September period versus a year ago. That growth rate had often topped 10 percent in the recent years, but has now been declining for a year. Contributing to the slowdown in growth was the delayed launch of the latest iPhone model, which just missed the end of the quarter. AT&T said it activated 2.7 million iPhones in the third quarter, the lowest number in a year and a half, as people waited for the new model. On Tuesday, Apple Inc. surprised investors with global iPhone sales figures that were below lofty expectations. But AT&T said Thursday that it had already activated 1 million units of the iPhone 4S in the first five days on sale, setting a new record for a phone. “The fourth quarter is going to be unbelievable,” Ralph de la Vega, head of the consumer side of AT&T, told analysts on a conference call. In an interview, de la

Vega said growth in wireless service revenues will speed back up on the fourth quarter, as customers load up on iPhones and the data plans that go with them. But there are longer-term trends behind the sluggish growth in service revenues. Almost everyone

scriber instead, by selling them smartphones that require data plans. AT&T is a leader here, with more than half of its subscribers on smartphones. It is making more money from the data plans, but that barely offsets a decline in the revenue from phone calls.

NEW YORK: A man using a cell phone passes an AT&T store on Friday, Oct 21, 2011. —AP already has a phone, so there’s not much growth to be had from new subscribers. Phone companies hope they’ll make more money per sub-

“The wireless business simply isn’t a growth engine anymore,” said Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett. AT&T is trying to juice the

wireless business by buying No. 4 carrier T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, but the Justice Department is trying to stop the deal, saying it would remove a competitor from the market and raise prices. Observers give it only a small chance of being completed.

Dallas-based AT&T reported its net income fell to $3.62 billion, or 61 cents per share, for the quarter, 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 midday trading, AT&T shares fell 23 cents to $28.86. The stock trades in a tight band, but is closer to its 52week high low of $27.20 than its 52week high of $31.94. AT&T’s recruitment of subscribers to its contractbased wireless 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. —AP

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‘Violent’ end to Australia’s Occupy protests SYDNEY: Riot police broke up week-long anticapitalism protests in Sydney yesterday, with demonstrators claiming they were forcibly evicted from their city campsite in violent dawn raids. Police said 40 people were arrested after resisting orders to pack up their shelters outside the Reserve Bank of Australia, where they have been holding peaceful protests since last Saturday as part of the global “Occupy” movement.

They had been repeatedly told to move on because they were in breach of the city’s camping regulations and the 5:00 am raid was taken to minimize disruption to the public, Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told reporters.

“We tried to work with them every step of the way for the last eight days,” Murdoch said. “They certainly can’t say they weren’t warned.”

Treasurer Wayne Swan said addressing inequality was an “important discussion” and he was disappointed that the protest’s message had been obscured “by instances of violence”.

“People of course are always free to protest as long as they are peaceful, follow the instructions of police and don’t interfere with the rights of others,” Swan said.

However he agreed that sections of society were struggling, despite the nation’s miningrelated wealth. “While our economy is today the envy of the developed world, the prosperity doesn’t stretch to every postcode,’ he said. “The fight against inequality is an ongoing battle. It’s important that governments around the world continue working to create jobs because employment is the surest path out of poverty and towards a better life.”

Murdoch said the Sydney protesters had been given permission to demonstrate during daylight hours, but their overnight camping was not allowed. Group spokesman Tim Frank said police deliberately swooped while they were sleeping and there were violent scenes when they linked arms and refused to go, with television footage of the raid showing bloodied and bruised faces.

“Seeing people who have been peaceful for eight days, crying and screaming in pain after they were woken up out of their sleep-it doesn’t make any sense,” Frank told ABC Radio. But Murdoch said the allegations were “grossly exaggerated” and the conflict was resolved quickly and peacefully with the “utmost professionalism”. “We encountered varying levels of resistance from the protesters. That resistance

was met with a commensurate use of force,” he said. “Some people had their arms bent behind their backs, I make no apologies for that, absolutely none. It was to ensure compliance and their own personal safety and the safety of my police.”

Of those arrested 29 were issued with fines for breaching council regulations and seven will face court on similar charges, with four charged with assaulting police. Similar clashes between “Occupy” activists and police in Melbourne on Friday ended with 20 arrests and the injury of two police officers. The Australian camps were established in solidarity with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in Manhattan, now in its sixth week, protesting against what participants say is excessive corporate influence over politics. — AFP

EU leaders seek crisis plan as pressure mounts on Italy Europe scrambles to shore up its banks

NEW YORK: Occupy Wall Street protestors display their signs at Zuccotti Park, Saturday, Oct 22, 2011. — AP

Occupy Chicago: At least 130 arrests in city park CHICAGO: Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting at least 130 arrests early yesterday, authorities said. Occupy Chicago spokesman Joshua Kaunert vowed after the arrests that protests would continue in the Midwest city.

“We’re not going anywhere. There are still plenty of us,” Kaunert told The Associated Press after the arrests, which took police more than an hour to complete. Elsewhere in the nation, police reported 11 arrests overnight in the Occupy Cincinnati protests. Police said those arrested had stayed in that city’s Fountain Square after yesterday’s 3 am closing time and each was charged with criminal trespass.

In Chicago, police began taking people into custody just before 1 am yesterday. Those arrested were led in groups to vans and two large white buses as others clamored to be arrested. “Take me next!

Take me next!” some shouted as police began the arrests. Others chanted as they were led away: “We’ll be back!”

Officers had begun placing metal barricades around the area of Chicago’s Grant Park known as Congress Plaza about 11:10 p.m. Saturday, minutes after the park had closed. Afterward, police then went through the crowd and warned people to leave or risk arrest for remaining in the closed park in violation of a city ordinance. Several of the protesters who stayed inside the barricades in the park sat on the ground.

Others locked arms as police circled and then began arresting people. “One: We are the people! Two: We are united!

Three: The occupation is not leaving!” demonstrators shouted. Others joined in from just outside the park. Police said they made approximately 100 arrests early yesterday but did not have an exact count. Kaunert said he expected the final figure to be higher after some late arrests but police did not immediate return later calls for details. Kaunert said none of those arrested had resisted.

“Everybody was very peaceful and smiling and there was no violence, though a lot of chanting,” he said. He urged authorities to let the people resume protesting peacefully against the perceived greed and other ills they see on Wall Street and elsewhere in corporate America. He noted it was the second straight weekend that arrests had been made in the park after 175 arrests the previous yesterday after protesters set up tents past public hours. “The police came in and again took away our right to free speech and assembly,” he said.

“Several paddywagons left and they had two very large prison buses and those are gone now.” Paulina Jasczuk, a 24-year-old dental receptionist, watched as her boyfriend, Philip Devon, was led away in the night hours. She threw him a white sweater against the chill of a fall night in Chicago. ”I’m proud of everyone who got arrested tonight,” she told AP, adding she hoped they would inspire more demonstrators to join in the movement in the weeks ahead.

Demonstrators were taken away one by one and handcuffed with white plastic ties and.

Some on the scene shouted: “This is what democracy looks like!” Drums banged and some people clanged on metal. Jonathan Sumner, 25, of Chicago, watched the arrests from outside the park and began shouting at officers: “Why are you doing this?” “It’s a sad day for the CPD” he said, referring to the Chicago Police Department.

Some said earlier that arrests only signal the importance of the Occupy movement. “This movement will not be a serious movement until we take a stand, and getting arrested is just one way of taking a stand,” said Max Farrar, 20, a junior political science major at DePaul University, speaking Saturday to a reporter. About 1,500 people gathered for the protest that began Saturday.

Demonstrators descended on the city park with hopes of making it the movement’s permanent home. The group had started in Chicago’s financial district before marching to the park. —AP

Verizon Q3 earnings double on pension effects NEW YORK: Earnings doubled at Verizon Communications Inc. in the latest quarter due to pension accounting effects, but the bottom-line result masked a weak quarter in the local-phone division, which was hammered by a strike and a hurricane. In wireless, Verizon, the largest carrier, kept adding more high-paying subscribers than rival AT&T Inc. But like AT&T, it was hurt by the delayed launch of the new iPhone model, and missed analyst expectations for the number of new subscribers on contract-based plans. Verizon on Friday said its net income rose to $1.38 billion, or 49 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept 30. That’s up from $659 million, or 23 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding an adjustment in the value of its pension plans, Verizon said it earned 56 cents per share. That is a penny above the average forecast of analysts polled by FactSet. Pension adjustments were larger in last year’s quarter. Without them, the latest earnings were about even with last year.

Revenue rose 5.4 percent to $27.9 bil-

lion from $26.5 billion a year ago and was in line with analysts’ expectations. Verizon Wireless added 882,000 subscribers on contract-based plans. That was a slowdown from iPhone-fueled results earlier in the year - Verizon started selling the coveted smartphone in February.

Analysts had expected about 950,000 additions in the quarter. Analysts were in general caught flat-footed by the effect of the delayed iPhone launch, underestimating how much people were holding back. Apple Inc.’s overall iPhone sales failed to meet their expectations when it reported Tuesday, sending its stock down. Last week, the company launched the new iPhone 4S. Sprint and AT&T have said sales set records, but Verizon executives were mum on the subject Friday.

Verizon subscribers who bought an iPhone earlier this year aren’t eligible yet to upgrade to the iPhone 4S for $200.

Because they haven’t yet “paid off” their phones through service fees, they must pay more, which is probably limiting Verizon’s iPhone sales. —AP

BRUSSELS: European leaders opened crunch talks yesterday, aimed at nailing down a solution to the worst economic crisis in its history, as the spotlight fell on Italy amid contagion fears in the eurozone. In the run-up to the summit, keenly watched around the world as concerns grow that the eurozone debt crisis could spark a global recession, European leaders appeared to be ironing out their differences and inching towards a deal. But the key player, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, tamped down expectations for yesterday’s breakthrough, telling reporters as she arrived: “We should not expect eurogroup decisions today, but rather on Wednesday.”

Eurozone leaders will meet again in three days in a bid to finalize a deal to restructure Greece’s debt, shore up European lenders, build up a war chest against contagion and agree a plan to stop the crisis reoccurring.

Shortly before the talks began, under-fire Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was called in for talks with EU President Herman Van Rompuy, Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as focus switched to Italy’s debt pile. “The idea is to pressure Berlusconi,” a diplomat said amid fears Italy is being sucked into contagion from the crisis, but failing to take tough action. Other leaders ramped up the pressure for a firm European plan ahead of a key summit of the group of 20 leading industrial powers in Cannes on November 3-4.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the crisis was having a “chilling effect” on the eurozone and further afield, while Greece’s leader George Papandreou called for his colleagues to act “decisively and effectively.”

Welcoming leaders as the meeting opened, Van Rompuy praised them for taking “unpopular” decisions to battle the crisis, adding: “I thank you for your political courage, often underestimated.”

“But these steps forward also require plain hard work, so let’s start.” Following marathon talks Saturday, finance ministers thrashed out a plan that would boost bank reserves by around 108 billion euros ($150 billion) after agreeing that lenders should take greater losses on their Greek debt holdings. The breakthrough led Merkel and Sarkozy to hail “progress” in fighting the crisis, but Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders warned that

BRUSSELS: A protestor holds a placard with a Greek flag during a demonstration outside of an EU summit yesterday. — AP the deal still had to be negotiated with the banking sector itself. Polish Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski added that the bank plan would only work as “part of a comprehensive package”, and while some pieces of the complex crisis jigsaw were slotting into place, stubborn differences remained as leaders gathered.

The major stumbling block is how to scale up the EU’s 440-billion-euro war chest that leaders want available in the event that a big economy such as Italy or Spain is dragged into the debt mire. The bailout fund would be rapidly depleted if either of Europe’s third or fourth-largest economies needed help, so leaders are looking at ways to boost its effective lending capacity without actually adding cash-unacceptable to EU paymaster Germany.

France backed away from a proposal to turn the fund into a bank that could borrow almost unlimited amounts from the European Central Bank under pressure from Berlin and the ECB itself, and two options were left under discussion. One sees the fund used to provide insurance to investors that their losses would be covered in the event of a default. In this way, the package could exceed one trillion euros, which leaders hope would restore

market confidence. The other option would be to create a separate fund and entice international investors and institutions to match EU commitments, thereby increasing the amount of cash available for potential future bailouts. Rostowski, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, called for the creation of “a large and credible firewall in terms of preventing contagion spreading from one sovereign to another.” However, agreement on this issue seemed to be far away, with Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees De Jager saying that “big differences” still had to be ironed out.

The main reason for boosting the fund is to protect countries like Italy, amid concerns it could yet suffer a fate like Greece’s. Fellow Europeans want Italy to slash its staggering 1.9-trillion-euro debt, which amounts to 120 percent of gross domestic product. The European Commission has also turned up the heat on Rome, calling on the government to unveil a raft of budgetary cuts “as a matter of urgency.” European officials believe Italy has softened on its pledges to implement cuts and reforms since August, when the ECB moved to support Rome by buying up its debt on markets. — AFP

EBay holiday forecast disappoints investors SAN FRANCISCO: EBay left investors unimpressed with its predictions for the holiday season even as its namesake site and PayPal online payment service showed healthy growth in the latest quarter.

The company’s stock fell more than 4 percent even though eBay said net income grew 14 percent in the third quarter - thanks partly to consumers shopping and transferring funds using the company’s smartphone and tablet apps.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO John Donahoe said the company is looking for an “OK to solid” holiday season. EBay did well during the holidays over the past two years despite the weak economy. Its tempered expectations could signal a generally not-so-jolly holiday season on the horizon for all types of retailers. For the JulySeptember quarter, eBay said earned $491 million, or 37 cents per share. This compares with $432 million, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, the company earned 48 cents per share, which is what analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.

Revenue increased 32 percent to $3 billion, beating analyst expectations for $2.9 billion. In eBay Inc.’s marketplaces business, which includes eBay.com and a slew of other e-commerce sites and businesses, revenue rose 17 percent to $1.65 billion. The company has been working to improve the experiences that buyers and sellers have on the site, doing such things as tweaking its search engine and cutting the upfront fees it charges sellers. EBay had 98.7 million registered users at the end of the quarter, up 6 percent from last year. Marketplaces’ gross merchandise volume - an important metric that measures the value of all items sold on eBay, excluding vehicles - rose 16 percent to $14.7 billion. Revenue from PayPal jumped 32 percent to $1.11 billion as more buyers and sellers used it to complete transactions both on and off eBay.com: The business processed $29.3 billion worth of payments during the quarter, which is up 31 percent from last year.

EBay said PayPal had 103 million active registered users by the end of September - growth of 14 percent compared with a year ago.

For both businesses, eBay said a growth in the number of mobile users helped. Though still a small part of its business, the company’s smartphone and tablet apps have been downloaded more than 50 million times since eBay began rolling them out in 2008. EBay expects the volume of merchandise sold through eBay.com using mobile devices to total nearly $5 billion this year, and the amount of money transferred through PayPal on mobile devices to be larger than $3.5 billion. Looking at the current quarter, which includes the busy holiday shopping season, eBay predicted net income of $1.47

SAN FRANCISCO: In this file photo, John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay, speaks at the Web. 2.0 Conference. — AP to $1.53 per share on $3.20 billion to $3.35 billion in revenue.

Excluding items such as a gain from remaining equity in Internet phone service Skype, which eBay sold in 2009 and was recently acquired by Microsoft Corp., the San Jose, Calif.-based company expects net income of 55 cents to 58 cents per share. The estimates raise eBay’s previous full-year forecast a bit, but they aren’t much different from what analysts already expected: adjusted net income of 58 cents per share on $3.31 billion in revenue. EBay’s stock fell $1.27, or 3.8 percent, to $31.91 in after-hours trading. Before the results came out, the stock finished regular trading down 69 cents, or 2 percent, at $33.18. — AP

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TECHNOLOGY

Apple loses round in expectations game SAN FRANCISCO: Call it the curse of great expectations. Apple did just about everything right in its latest quarter. The company increased its profit by more than 50 percent and boosted revenue by nearly 40 percent over the same quarter last year. It was the second best three-month period ever posted by the revered maker of the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Even more impressively, Apple pulled it off against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and fears of another recession.

But by the sometimes absurd logic of Wall Street, it was a disaster.

Apple Inc.’s shareholders awoke on Wednesday morning to headlines like “Apple Loses Some of Its Shine”, and then proceeded to lose about $22 billion on paper, as their stock dropped

by more than 5 percent -all because Apple failed to manage the analyst expectations that can make or break a stock. Apple’s numbers didn’t surpass the high bar set by roughly 50 securities analysts who follow the company’s stock. It’s another reminder of how difficult it can be for even the most prosperous companies to please Wall Street quarter after quarter.

“It’s a rough game,” said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. “Apple has been so well for so long that it has gotten itself into a position where it has to set a new (earnings) record every quarter. Now, some of the momentum has been broken.” The backlash to Apple’s fiscal fourth-quarter report, released late Tuesday, could very well turn out to be a gross overreaction. If so, this is

a prime buying opportunity for investors willing to go against grain.

Apple suggested as much as by issuing a jolly outlook for the current quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season. The projections call for earnings and revenue above analyst estimates, an anomaly for a company that makes a habit of lowballing its quarterly predictions. Analysts have caught on to Apple’s tactics, so they deliberately set their estimates above the company’s forecast. Gillis’ rule of thumb, for instance, is to expect Apple’s quarterly revenue to be about 20 percent above the company’s publicly-stated target and for earnings to be about 40 percent higher. The Oct. 5 death of Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs throws a new twist into the

equation. Now that Tim Cook is chief executive, analysts must now figure out whether the rules of Apple’s expectations game have changed.

ISI analyst Brian Marshall thinks that’s unlikely because Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial officer for the past seven years, remains in charge of the numbers.

What’s more, Cook has promised not to mess with the “magic” that has increased Apple’s market value by nearly $300 billion during the past decade and established it as technology’s most valuable company. Trying to figure out how much money a company is going to make every three months is a little like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Most major companies provide some guidance to help ana-

lysts because it helps keep their stock prices relatively stable. Big drops, in particular, are unwelcome because they can raise anxiety among customers and business partners. For technology companies that offer employees stock in lieu of lavish salaries, those dips can affect morale.

Some companies, though, refuse to dance to Wall Street’s tune. Internet search leader Google Inc, for instance, has never provided guidance during any of its 29 quarters as a publicly-held company because founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin don’t want business decisions to be influenced by a shortsighted number determined by a group of outsiders. This refusal has been a bit of a double-edged sword for Google. — AP

Will Steve Jobs’ final feud haunt Google?

‘The words of cultural icons have a lot of power after death’

Microsoft engineer envisions computers that adapt to us SEATTLE: For decades, we controlled computers with a mouse and keyboard. The plastic mouse became a prosthetic for our hand, and the keyboard an extension of our fingers.

Microsoft researchers are searching for the next breakthrough that will bring the real and machine worlds even closer together. Blurring the line between those worlds is a mission for Stevie Bathiche, a bioengineer who leads the Applied Sciences group at Microsoft. “A lot of what we do now is making the interface between man and machine seamless,” Bathiche said he wrote in a personal mission statement 10 years ago. More specifically, he wanted to make the machine feel less like a machine. “Be a part of the person’s life instead of the other way around.”

For the past few years, Bathiche has been building 3-D screens and cameras that make people on opposite sides of the globe seem as if they’re in the same room. “I view him as one of the major people on a global basis” in 3-D displays and optics, said Jaron Lanier, a Microsoft researcher who pioneered virtual reality and recently wrote the book “You Are Not a Gadget.”

“He’s the most creative and productive engineer in that particular field working in the world today.”

Bathiche has been working on blending worlds for a while. In college, he built a car driven by a cockroach, his

first experiment connecting the machine to the living world. He came up with the idea while studying to become an electrical engineer. He didn’t know much about bugs, so he knocked on the door of an entomology professor who studied insect nervous systems. The professor, Jeffrey Bloomquist, told him how much work it would take. Bathiche disappeared.

“I was like, ‘Whatever,’ “ Bloomquist said. “That’s often true for undergraduates, because they find out how much work it requires, and they have to stay sober for the weekend.” Six weeks later, knock, knock. — MCT

REDMOND: Stevie Bathiche is developing the next generation of optics and displays for Microsoft. — MCT

SAN FRANCISCO: Google can only hope that Steve Jobs’ final vendetta doesn’t haunt the Internet search leader from his grave. The depths of Jobs’ antipathy toward Google leaps out of Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Apple’s co-founder.

The book goes on sale today, less than three weeks after Jobs’ long battle with pancreatic cancer culminated in his Oct 5 death. The Associated Press obtained a copy Thursday. The biography drips with Jobs’ vitriol as he discusses his belief that Google stole from Apple’s iPhone to build many of the features in Google’s Android software for rival phones. It’s clear that the perceived theft represented an unforgiveable act of betrayal to Jobs, who had been a mentor to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and had welcomed Google’s CEO at the time, Eric Schmidt, to be on Apple’s board.

Jobs retaliated with a profane manifesto during a 2010 conversation with his chosen biographer. Isaacson wrote that he never saw Jobs angrier in any of their conversations, which covered a wide variety of emotional topics during a two-year period. After equating Android to “grand theft” of the iPhone, Jobs lobbed a series of grenades that may blow a hole in Google’s image as an innovative company on a crusade to make the world a better place.

“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs told Isaacson. “I’m going to destroy Android because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.

They are scared to death because they know they are guilty.”

Jobs then used a crude word for defecation to describe Android and other products outside of search. Android now represents one of the chief threats to the iPhone. Although iPhones had a head start and still draw huge lines when new models go on sale, Android devices sold twice as well in the second quarter. According to Gartner, Android’s market share grew 2

1/2 times to 43 percent, compared with 17 percent a year earlier. The iPhone’s grew as well, but by a smaller margin - to 18 percent, from 14 percent.

Both Google and Apple declined comment to The

This magazine cover provided by Wenner Media, shows the new cover of Rolling Stone featuring the late Steve Jobs which was released Friday, Oct 14, 2011. — AP Associated Press when asked about Jobs’ remarks. Jobs’ attack is troubling for Google on several levels.

It suggests that Apple, which has pledged to be true to Jobs’ vision, may try to derail Android in court, even if Google obtains more patent protection through its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of phone maker Motorola Mobility Inc. The derision comes across as a bitter pill for Page and Brin, who have hailed Jobs as one of their idols. It also appears to

Sci-fi-style sabotage a fear in new hacks SAN JOSE: When a computer attack hobbled Iran’s unfinished nuclear power plant last year, it was assumed to be a military-grade strike, the handiwork of elite hacking professionals with nation-state backing. Yet for all its science fiction sophistication, key elements have now been replicated in laboratory settings by security experts with little time, money or specialized skill. It is an alarming development that shows how technical advances are eroding the barrier that has long prevented computer assaults from leaping from the digital to the physical world.

The techniques demonstrated in recent months highlight the danger to operators of power plants, water systems and other critical infrastructure around the world. “Things that sounded extremely unlikely a few years ago are now coming along,” said Scott Borg, director of the US Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit group that helps the US government prepare for future attacks.

While the experiments have been performed in laboratory settings, and the findings presented at security conferences or in technical papers, the danger of another real-world attack such as the one on Iran is profound.

The team behind the so-called

Stuxnet worm that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear facility may still be active. New malicious software with some of Stuxnet’s original code and behavior has surfaced, suggesting ongoing reconnaissance against industrial control systems.

And attacks on critical infrastructure are increasing. The Idaho National Laboratory, home to secretive defense labs intended to protect the nation’s power grids, water systems and other critical infrastructure, has responded to triple the number of computer attacks from clients this year over last, the US Department of Homeland Security has revealed.

For years, ill-intentioned hackers have dreamed of plaguing the world’s infrastructure with a brand of sabotage reserved for Hollywood.

They’ve mused about wreaking havoc in industrial settings by burning out power plants, bursting oil and gas pipelines, or stalling manufacturing plants. But a key roadblock has prevented them from causing widespread destruction: they’ve lacked a way to take remote control of the electronic “controller” boxes that serve as the nerve centers for heavy machinery.

The attack on Iran changed all that. Now, security experts - and presumably, malicious hackers - are rac-

ing to find weaknesses. They ’ve found a slew of vulnerabilities. Think of the new findings as the hacking equivalent of Moore’s Law, the famous rule about computing power that it roughly doubles every couple of years.

Just as better computer chips have accelerated the spread of PCs and consumer electronics over the past 40 years, new hacking techniques are making all kinds of critical infrastructure - even prisons - more vulnerable to attacks. One thing all of the findings have in common is that mitigating the threat requires organizations to bridge a cultural divide that exists in many facilities. Among other things, separate teams responsible for computer and physical security need to start talking to each other and coordinate efforts.

Many of the threats at these facilities involve electronic equipment known as controllers. These devices take computer commands and send instructions to physical machinery, such as regulating how fast a conveyor belt moves. They function as bridges between the computer and physical worlds. Computer hackers can exploit them to take over physical infrastructure. Stuxnet, for example, was designed to damage centrifuges in the nuclear plant being

contradict Schmidt’s repeated assertions that he remained on friendly terms with Jobs even after he resigned from Apple’s board in 2009. Most of all, Google should be worried whether the Android brand is

built in Iran by affecting how fast the controllers instructed the centrifuges to spin. Iran has blamed the US and Israel for trying to sabotage what it says is a peaceful program.

Security researcher Dillon Beresford said it took him just two months and $20,000 in equipment to find more than a dozen vulnerabilities in the same type of electronic controllers used in Iran. The vulnerabilities, which included weak password protections, allowed him to take remote control of the devices and reprogram them. “What all this is saying is you don’t have to be a nation-state to do this stuff. That’s very scary,” said Joe Weiss, an industrial control system expert. “There’s a perception barrier, and I think Dillon crashed that barrier.”

One of the biggest makers of industrial controllers is Siemens AG, which made the controllers in question. The company said it has alerted customers, fixed some of the problems and is working closely with CERT, the cybersecurity arm of the US Department of Homeland Security.

Siemens said the issue largely affects older models of controllers. Even with those, the company said, a hacker would have to bypass passwords and other security measures that operators should have in place. — AP

damaged by the withering criticism of a revered figure whose public esteem seems to have risen as friends, colleagues and customers paid tribute over the past few weeks.

“The words of cultural icons have a lot of power after death,” veteran technology analyst Rob Enderle said. “This almost sounds like a spiritual leader declaring a jihad on Android as his dying wish.” Apple fans tend to be fiercely loyal, making it more feasible to envision an anti-Android

movement taking shape like some kind of political protest, Enderle said. It’s also possible that Jobs’ criticisms of Google may be seen as hypocritical.

That’s because some of Apple’s computing breakthroughs were based on technology developed by others.

The Mac’s easy-to-use interface and its mouse controller, for instance, came out of Xerox Corp.

The bitter divide between two of the most beloved and successful technology companies would have seemed inconceivable a few years ago.

In 2006, Google and Apple were on such friendly terms that Jobs welcomed Schmidt to Apple’s board of directors with these words: “Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead,” Jobs said. But in 2008, a year after the iPhone came out, Google unveiled plans to release Android as a free software system that phone makers can use to make devices that compete with the iPhone. Jobs was so infuriated that he went to Google’s Mountain View headquarters - about nine miles from Apple’s Cupertino office- to try to stop the project, according to the biography. Jobs’ persuasive powers failed to sway Google’s leaders. Now, more than 550,000 devices running on Android are being activated each day. Apple, meanwhile, sold about 3 million fewer iPhones than anticipated in the July-September quarter, contributing to a sharp drop in the company ’s stock. The newest Android challenger to the iPhone, the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung, is scheduled to go on sale next month.

Although there’s no indication in the book that he ever forgave Google, Jobs set aside his disdain for the company long enough to counsel Page nine months ago, according to the biography. After Google’s Jan. 20 announcement that Page would replace Schmidt as CEO in April, Page called Jobs for some pointers. — AP

Kaspersky’s board ranked most powerful voices in IT security Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content and threat management solutions, announces that Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO of the company, has been ranked as the Most Powerful Security Executive in the world by Internet technology publisher SYS-CON Media. Kaspersky was also ranked among the Top 25 Most Powerful Voices in Security in the same source survey SYSCON Media used for the rankings - appearing sixth on the list. As the world’s most powerful security executive, he is listed as having 5,035 times more broadcast power reach than an active Internet user with an average level of impact, influence and use of social tools. Besides, Eugene’s colleague Nikolay Grebennikov, Chief Technology Officer of Kaspersky Lab, also figures on the Top 100 Most Powerful Voices in Security.

Commenting on his ranking, Eugene Kaspersky said: “It is a great honor for me to be named one of the most powerful voices in the IT security industry and the most powerful security executive in the world. I believe it is extremely important to spread

the word about IT threats.

People should be aware of them and be well prepared to face the risks that lie ahead. Faced with today’s growing cyber-crime, we all need to be properly educated and to join forces to keep the world safe.”

The ranking by SYS-CON Media of the Most Power ful Voices (MPV) in Security is based on a survey of more than 140 security company executives, 320 bloggers and people in media, 100 of the top experts in cloud computing, 30 people involved in specialized organizations, over 20 government officials, over 130 leading CISOs, and 75 industry analysts from notable firms such as Gartner, IDC, Forrester, ESG, and others. In total more than 800 influential people were surveyed.

The metrics used in the research, which measured both broadcast power and profundity, were identified through a number of studies performed across several industry categories. The MPV formula is based on “reach” by examining the number of followers and buzz an individual has on sites like Google and Twitter and many others.

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

Falling German satellite enters atmosphere BERLIN: A defunct satellite entered the atmosphere early yestersday and pieces of it were expected to crash into the earth, the German Aerospace Center said. There was no immediate solid evidence to determine above which continent or country the ROSAT scientific research satellite entered the atmosphere, agenc y spokesman Andreas Schuetz said. Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up during re-entry, but up to 30 fragments weighing 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could crash into Earth at speeds up to 280 mph (450 kph).

Scientists were no longer able to communicate with the dead satellite and it must have traveled about 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) in the last 30 minutes before entering the atmosphere, Schuetz said.

Experts were waiting for “observations from around the world,” he added. Scientists said hours before the re-entry into the atmosphere that the satellite was not expected to hit over Europe, Africa or Australia. According to a precalculated path it could have been above Asia, possibly China, at the time of its re -entr y, but Schuetz said he could not confirm whether the satellite actually entered above that area. The 2.69-ton (2.4 metric ton) scientific ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990 and retired in 1999 after being used for research on black holes and neutron stars and performing the first all-sky survey of X-ray sources with an imaging telescope.

The largest single fragment of ROSAT that could hit into the earth is the telescope’s heatresistant mirror. During its mission, the satellite orbited about 370 miles (600 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface, but since its decommissioning it has lost altitude, circling at a distance of only 205 miles (330 kilometers) above ground in June for example, the agency said. Even in the last days, the satellite still circled the planet every 90 minutes, making it hard to predict where on Earth it would eventually come down.

A dead NASA satellite fell into the southern Pacific Ocean last month, causing no damage, despite fears it would hit a populated area and cause damage or kill people.

Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized satellite fell over a 500-mile (800 kilometer) span of uninhabited portion of the world. The NASA climate research satellite entered Earth’s atmosphere generally above American Samoa. But falling debris as it broke apart did not start hitting the water for another 300 miles (480 kilometers) to the northeast, southwest of Christmas Island. Earlier, scientists had said it was possible some pieces could have reached nor thwestern Canada. The German space agency puts the odds of somebody somewhere on Earth being hurt by its satellite at 1-in-2,000 a slightly higher level of risk than was calculated for the NASA satellite. But any one individual’s odds of being struck are 1-in-14 trillion, given there are 7 billion people on the planet.—AP

CHINA: (Left) A bicycle deliveryman takes a load of people home from the Panjiayuan flea market. (Right) KENYA, Dadaab: Somali boys fetch water from a puddle that formed after rain at the IFO-2 complex of the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya.—AFP photos

Crowded Earth: how many is too many?

How do we boost food security without using more water or energy?

PARIS: Already straining to host seven billion souls, Earth is set to teem with billions more, and only a revolution in the use of resources can avert an environmental crunch, experts say. As early as 1798, Thomas Malthus gloomily forecast that our ability to reproduce would quickly outstrip our ability to produce food, leading to mass starvation and a culling of the species. But an industrial revolution and its impact on agriculture proved Malthus and later doomsayers wrong, even as our numbers doubled and redoubled with accelerating frequency. “Despite alarmist predictions, historical increases in population have not been economically catastrophic,” notes David Bloom, a professor in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard.

Today, though, it seems reasonable to ask if Malthus wasn’t simply a couple of centuries ahead of the curve. On October 31, the world’s population is officially scheduled to hit seven billion-a rise of two billion in less than a quarter century. Over six decades, the global fertility rate has roughly halved, and amounts to a statistical 2.5 children per woman today. But this varies greatly from country to country. And whether the planet’s population eventually stabilizes at nine, 10 or 15 billion depends on what happens in developing countries,

mostly in Africa, with the fastest growth.

Diminishing resources As our species has expanded, so has its devouring of the planet’s bounty, from fresh water and soil richness to forests and fisheries. At its current pace, humankind will need, by 2030, a second planet to satisfy its appetites and absorb its waste, the Global Footprint Network (GFN) calculated last month. And through the coal, oil and gas that drive prosperity, we are also emitting greenhouse gases that alter the climate, potentially maiming the ecosystems which feed us. “From soaring food prices to the crippling effects of climate change, our economies are now confronting the reality of years of spending beyond our means,” GFN’s president, Mathis Wackernagel, said.

French diplomat Brice Lalonde, one of two coordinators for next June’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development, dubbed “Rio+20,” said Earth’s population rise poses a fundamental challenge to how we use resources. “In 2030 there will be at least another billion people on the planet,” Lalonde said. “The question is, how do we boost food security and provide essential services to the billion poorest people but without using more water, land or energy?”

This is why, he said, Rio+20 will focus on practical things such as increasing cleaner

sources in the world energy mix, smarter use of fresh water, building cities that are environmentally friendlier and raising farm yields without dousing the soil with chemicals. But such options dwell far more on the impact of population growth than on the problem itself. Braking fertility rates would help the human tally stabilize at eight billion and haul poor countries out of poverty, ease the strain on natural resources and reduce climate vulnerability, say advocates. For some experts, voluntary birth control is the key. Geoff Dabelko, director of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, cites Somalia as a case study of what happens when women have no access to contraception.

Racked by civil war and poverty, its population is projected to grow from about 10 million today to 22.6 million by 2050. It has the eighth-highest birth rate in the world and an average of seven children per family. Even before the country fell into a fullfledged crisis, a third of its children were severely underweight, according to UNICEF. Ninety-nine percent of married Somali women have no access to family planning. Many economists, though, argue that the answer lies more in reducing poverty and boosting education, especially of women. A 2010 study in Colombia found

family planning explained less than 10 percent of the country’s fertility fall. The real driver was improved standards of living.

Don’t mention the ‘P’ word Even so, at summits that seek to shape Earth’s future, tackling population growth head-on is almost taboo. “When I attended the UN environment conference in Stockholm (in 1972), the No 1 item on the agenda was out-of-control population growth,” recalled Paul Watson, head of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a radical green group. “When I attended the 1992 conference (in Rio), it wasn’t even on the agenda. No one talked about it anymore.”

Demography was similarly absent from the UN’s 2002 Johannesburg Summit, when Earth’s population had climbed to six billion. Why does “how many is too much” remain absent from the top tables? One perceived reason is the opposition by religious conservatives to contraception or abortion. Politicians, too, may see no mileage in addressing an issue that will only cause them headaches and yield benefits several decades away. But for some critics, population measures are synonymous with the mistakes of coercive sterilization in India in the 1970s or China’s “one child” policy, which has led to a gender imbalance in favor of boys.—AFP

Man finally coming home after four years in hospital

HACKENSACK: Michael Stanzione, center, poses for a photo at his home in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, with his eight-year-old son, Brian, and his brother Tom, left. —MCT photos

Talk of treaty ban on mercury concerns scientists LONDON: Scientists are warning officials negotiating a global treaty on mercury that banning the deadly chemical completely would be dangerous for public health because of the chemical’s use in vaccines. The ban option is one of several proposals on the table for a meeting later this month in Nairobi, but a final treaty isn’t expected until 2013. According to the World Health Organization, mercury is one of the top 10 chemicals of public health concern and is highly toxic. Most of the worry is centered on mercury emissions from burning coal, gold mining and people eating mercury-tainted fish.

Mercury in small amounts is also found in many products including light bulbs, batteries and thermometers. WHO advises such products to be phased out, suggesting for example, that health systems switch to digital thermometers instead. The problem is that a proposed ban might include thiomersal, also known as thimerosal, a mercury compound used to prevent contamination and extend the shelf life of vaccines, many scientists say.

It is used in about 300 million shots worldwide, against diseases including flu, tetanus, hepatitis B, diptheria and meningitis.

“Not being able to use mercury is not a viable option,” said David Wood, a WHO vaccines expert. Wood said there isn’t a viable alternative to thiomersal at the moment. If banned, pharmaceuticals would likely have to switch to preservative-free vaccines, which would complicate the supply chain and vaccination campaigns in poor countries, since the injections would have a much shorter

shelf life. Costs would also spike since manufacturers would need to reconfigure their factories. In 2009, the United Nations Environment Program, or UNEP, began working on a legally binding global treaty on mercury. At the end of October, the third of five meetings to hammer out a treaty will take place in Nairobi.

“The document is a draft at the moment, so some of these proposals have to be taken with a grain of salt,” said Tim Kasten, head of the chemicals branch at UNEP. Kasten said the amount of mercury in vaccines is so minute it doesn’t threaten the environment. He said there could be provisions to allow mercury for certain uses, such as in dental fillings and vaccines. But according to an annex in the draft document, there is currently no “allowable use exemption” for mercury products in pharmaceutical products, putting vaccines in the same category as banned mercury-containing paints and pesticides. “That would be a terrible idea,” said Paul Offit, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “It would be another tragic example of us not being able to explain to the public where the real risk lies.”

Thiomersal has mostly been removed from childhood vaccines in the US and Canada. In some European countries, including Norway and Sweden, manufacturers have been encouraged to make thiomersal-free vaccines - and no other uses of mercury as a medical preservative are allowed. Fears about thiomersal in vaccines were raised after a flawed medical study in 1998 linked a common childhood injection to autism. —AP

HACKENSACK: After four years in the hospital, Mike Stanzione is going home. A rare disease left him dependent on a ventilator, barely able to walk and in need of constant medical care. He was told over and over again he had no chance of leaving Bergen Regional Medical Center and getting home to his wife and young son. Yet the 53-year-old refused to give up. Armed with his cellphone and laptop, he found a doctor willing to try a groundbreaking surgery. It required a harrowing ride to Florida and back and a painful recovery and rehab. And he’s finally rejoined his family at his Saddle Brook, NJ, home.

“I’m happy I didn’t give up,” Stanzione said. “I just wasn’t going to accept being on a vent and in the hospital for the rest of my life-I heard about the diaphragm pacemaker and went after it.” Stanzione has Pompe disease, an often fatal genetic illness that causes degeneration of muscles, including those that control the diaphragm for breathing. He is the first Pompe patient to get a diaphragm pacemaker, which stimulates the muscles and nerves in his chest so he can breathe periodicallysometimes for hours-without a ventilator.

It was the ventilator that shackled him for years to a hospital room at Bergen Regional in Paramus, NJ. The machine requires a medical profes-

sional be on hand around the clock in the event it malfunctions or the patient needs assistance. Stanzione’s insurance company, Aetna, and Medicaid and Medicare refused to cover home health care costs. It appeared the former computer programmer would have to spend the rest of his life in a long-term-care facility. Birthdays, holidays and seasons came and went. His son, Brian, who was 4 when Stanzione was first hospitalized, is now 8. They used Skype daily and tossed a ball on weekend visits at the hospital but it didn’t come close to watching his son grow and change every day.

“The hardest part has been being away from Brian,” Stanzione said. “I missed so much. I just want to be

home with him-I used to read to him every night, now he can read to me.”

His wife, Debbie, admitted she and Brian had resigned themselves to the idea that her husband would spend the rest of his life in a hospital room.

“I never admitted it to him but after a while we really didn’t think he’d ever be able to come home,” Debbie Stanzione said. “It was hardest on Brian-he’s had his hopes dashed so many times.”

But Mike Stanzione refused to accept that this would be his life. He had once been an active husband who played ball on weekends with his friends. He searched for a way home. He underwent several medical procedures that held the possibility of removal from the ventilator, but

HACKENSACK: Friends, family and neighbors greet Mike Stanzione upon his return home.

they failed. He also formed relationships via his computer with other Pompe patients, who number fewer than 10,000 nationwide. Through those contacts he found Dr Barry Byrne, a pediatric cardiologist who works with patients with neuromuscular disease at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida.

Byrne agreed to test Stanzione to see if he would be a candidate for a diaphragm pacemaker, which prompts the nerves and muscles in a patient’s chest to expand and constrict for breathing. The pacemaker is used frequently on patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal cord injuries, Christopher Reeve being one of the most prominent.

But first, Stanzione had to get to Florida. Byrne nixed flying commercial in case of a medical emergency, so Stanzione found a couple who transport medical patients long distances in their recreational vehicle.

They picked him up in New Jersey and brought him to Shands. The tests went well, and Byrne implanted the device on Aug 15. “This is the first person with Pompe to have the pacemaker-we had to get special permission from the Food and Drug Administration to use it,” Byrne said.

Several Pompe patients and physicians are waiting to see how Mike adapts to the device, Byrne said.

Stanzione said the pacemaker’s signals “feel like a flutter.” —MCT

GPS shoes for Alzheimer’s patients to hit US WASHINGTON: The first shoes with built-in GPS devices — to help track down dementia-suffering seniors who wander off and get lost- are set to hit the US market this month, the manufacturer says. GTX Corp said the first batch of 3,000 pairs of shoes has been shipped to the footwear firm Aetrex Worldwide, two years after plans were announced to develop the product. The shoes will sell at around $300 a pair and buyers will be able to set up a monitoring service to locate “wandering” seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

Andrew Carle, a professor at George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services who was an adviser on the project, said the shoes are likely to save lives and avoid

embarrassing and costly incidents with the elderly. “It’s especially important for people in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s who are at the highest risk,” Carle told AFP. “They might be living in their home but they’re confused. They go for a walk and they can get lost for days.” Carle said studies indicate more than five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, a number expected to quadruple in the coming years. He said 60 percent of sufferers will wander and become lost and up to half of those lost who are not found within 24 hours may die, from dehydration, exposure or injury. Other devices such as bracelets or pendants can provide similar protection but seniors often reject these. “The primary reason is that paranoia is a manifestation of the disease,” Carle

said. “If you put something on someone with Alzeheimer’s that they don’t recognize, they remove it. If it’s a wristwatch and it’s not their wristwatch, they will take it off. So you have to hide it.” The GPS system, which is implanted in the heel of what appears to be a normal walking shoe, allows family members or carers to monitor the wearer and to set up a “geofence” that would trigger an alert if the person strays beyond a certain area.

The shoes are being developed by GTX Corp., which makes miniaturized Global Positioning Satellite tracking and location-transmitting technology, and Aetrex. They received certification from the Federal Communications Commission this year for the system. —AFP

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UHN, de Souza Institute to launch a training program KUWAIT: The University Health Network in collaboration with The de Souza Institute and the support of the Ministry of Health, announced the launch of a training program at the Kuwait Cancer Care Center’s (KCCC) Nursing Education Unit for specialized nursing education. The training center aims to prepare nurses to provide better oncology patient care.

As part of UHN’s ongoing commitment to enhancing cancer care in Kuwait and improving nursing and physician education, a total of 20 nurses will complete the training program by December 2011.

UHN also aims to continuously increase the number of graduates in the upcoming years.

“With the implementation of this training program we ensure that our patients would receive high quality nursing care whether they are at risk of cancer, under active cancer treatment, on palliative care, or if they require supportive intervention.” said Dr. Ahmed Al Awadhi, KCCC Medical Director.

“Our nurses will undergo continuous professional development while being exposed to most up to

date clinical guidelines and standards.”

As part of the UHN’s education strategy, a total of two courses will be applied during the month of October. This will include Palliative

and a specific curriculum towards achieving a de Souza Designation.

This designation symbolizes excellence in oncology nursing and is recognized by nurses, leaders, employers and cancer patients and

Care and Pain and Syndrome Management. Nurses will pursue increased knowledge and practice in oncology, while maintaining continuous skill development through clinical training and mentorship from de the Souza Institute

their families.

Over the next 5 years, nurses will be encouraged and supported to complete the curriculum towards specialization through relevant courses, such as those on pain and symptom management,

chemotherapy delivery, psychosocial care and radiation oncology.

These courses are situated within specific domains of practice and nurses will work through a credit system towards the completion of these requirements to achieve a “specialty” and will receive the “de Souza Nurse” designation.

‘With the support of KCCC, the de Souza Institute will be able to provide a building block in developing a successful oncology nursing model at the KCCC.” stated Sandra Li James, Associate director of de Souza Institute. “We will be working closely with leaders and educators within the KCCC to assess areas of cultural differences and modify courses and exams as required, while maintaining highest levels of clinical evidence and standards.”

Established in 2008 at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Canada, one of the four hospitals within the University Health Network, the de Souza Institute is an innovative center of learning dedicated to improving cancer care by supporting excellence in oncology nursing.

Australia hunts killer shark SYDNEY: Australian authorities yesterday were hunting a killer shark which mauled to death an American diver off the country’s west coast, prompting a crackdown on the giant marine predators. George Thomas Wainwright, 32, from Texas, was brutally savaged by what was believed to be a threemeter (10-foot) great white shark during a dive off Perth’s Rottnest Island on Saturday.

Wainwright had been in Australia on a work visa for about four months, police told AFP. Local media reports said he was a professional diver. Witnesses saw a flurry of bubbles before Wainwright’s body surfaced with horrific injuries. It is the third fatal shark attack off the

west coast in two months. Fisheries officials said a kill order was immediately issued for the shark and six bait lines had been laid in the vicinity of the attack hoping to catch the creature, with all beaches in the area closed.

Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said he would consider a shark cull, as well as greater patrols, aerial surveillance and netting off beaches, and boosting the number of sharks fishermen were allowed to catch.

“There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence about the numbers of sharks increasing,” said Barnett. “Culling could be considered if those sharks are staying around popular beach swimming areas.”

Fisheries Minister Norman Moore said culls would be a last resort, but flagged tough new guidelines allowing for any shark considered a threat to human life to be hunted down and killed.

“If it’s a threat to people or it attacks somebody and we can destroy it, then we will,” Moore said, describing three fatalities as a “very rare event.” “This is a unique set of circumstances and I’m desperately... praying this is not the beginning of a new trend.” But Barnett said sharks were “natural predators” and though he was very concerned at the surge in fatalities there was little that could practically be done. — AP

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

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Announcements Art competition The eleventh Onam celebrations of Pathanamthitta District Association will be held on Friday, October 28.

The association is holding an art competition in poetry and short story writings and the association is inviting poems and short stories from talented individuals among Malayalees in Kuwait. Persons interested in participating may send their writings with photograph to the following address Email: pta@ptadistrict.org, pdakuwait@gmail.com for more information, contact 97863052 or 66501482.

Indian Lawyers’ Forum Onam Indian Lawyers’ Forum will celebrate Onam, the unique, secular, harvest festival of Kerala on 18th November, 2011 Friday 10.30 am at HiDine Restaurant Auditorium, Abbassia.

Celebrations will include traditional variety entertainments, with the grand ‘ONASADHYA’.

All Indian Lawyers & Law graduates working here in Kuwait are invited with their families.

For details contact Panicker 97203939, Pulikkal 97260159. Email: advpanicker@gmail.com 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 City, Jahra, Sharq: Rekha Sachu- 65044521,97862115 Farwaniya, Abbassiya, Shuwaikh & Khaitan: Sathyanarayana- 66585077 Sanath Shetty67712409.

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.

Brain Bang Calling all students aged 11 and above, Support Group for Accelerated learning under the umbrella of FOCC (Friends of CRY Club, Kuwait), BRAIN-BANG invites you to join us in our fortnightly Friday Class from 11.45 am to 13.45 pm in Salmiya starting October 7th for the next 6 months. Successfully running for the seventh consecutive year.

KGA Alemao Memorial Football Tournament The 3rd edition of Eslinda Alemao Memorial Football 7-a-side 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.

UPKAR Diwali Celebration UPKAR is a non-profit organization of North Indians here in Kuwait. UPKAR (Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal Kalatmak Rangmanch) is going to celebrate “The Festival of Lights” Diwali and AGM on 21st October 2011 in Rezayat Villa Ras Salmiya. Diwali marks the triumph of the good over the evil. This event will be from 7 to 10.30 pm followed by dinner.

In order to live up to the spirit of the festival, UPKAR requested all its members to dress up in Indian attire, the best dressed family will be awarded. The event will also comprise of felicitation of UPKAR children for scoring 90% and above in X and XII, attractive games for kids and on the spot prizes for the adults.

The event will be followed by the lucky dip draw and prize distribution.

UPKAR membership is open .Interested Indians can contact UPKAR Executive members at upkarpost@yahoo.com.

Youth Chorus competition Youth Chorus is organizing the sixth Christian Malayalam Group Song Competition on Friday, 18th November 2011 at 6:00 p.m. at the United Indian School Auditorium, Abbasiya.

The team has to present one Christian Malayalam song within seven minutes. The minimum number of members in the team should be 7 and the maximum 20, including the orchestra persons.

The first, second and third prize winners will be awarded with rolling trophies and certificates. The following prestigious trophies will be awarded to the winners.

First Prize - Youth Chorus Ever Rolling Trophy Second Prize- Omana Jose memorial Ever Rolling Trophy Third Prize- Youth Chorus Ever Rolling Trophy All the other participating teams will be awarded a Youth Chorus memento. Please register the name of your team with the conveners on or before 10th November 2011. Tel: 66853100, 6651093 or to our e-mail address youthchorus@gmail.com

Pathanamthitta Association holds press conference

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athanamthitta District Association held a press conference at Hi Dine Conference Hall in connection with the Association’s Onam 2011 celebrations to be held on 28th Oct 2011.

The press conference was attended by the Association President, Oommen George, General Secretary, Benny George, Harish Kumar, Vice President,

General Convener, Samuelkutty and other Executive Committee Members.

At the News conference the President and the General Secretary explained Pathanamthitta District Association’s past and present activities and the various plans and schemes, which the association intends to implement during 2011-2012.

KALA bids farewell to Indian embassy staff

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warm farewell was given to George V George after concluding his 3.5 years of sincere service in the Embassy of India in Kuwait.

The farewell meeting was conducted in the Caesars Auditorium, Abbassiya which was presided over by Kala president Sam Pynummoodu.. Thomas Mathew Kadavil, Vinod John, J Saji, Johnson, Gopakumar and Saji Thomas Mathew spoke on the great contribu-

tion of George in the community services .

During his reply speech, George stated that the social contributions done by “Kala” for Kuwait Indians are highly beneficial as it has also helped the Embassy’s community services also.

Sam Pynummoodu gave the memento to George. R Naganathan gave the welcome speech and Shinoj Mathew proposed the vote of thanks.

Best wishes

Get well soon Here’s wishing Karim Kamer a speedy recovery from his brief illness. May the Almighty bless you with abundant health, happiness and joy all your life. Best wishes from Sherif Ismail, family, friends and relatives.

Former Syro Malabar Cultural Association president and Varappuzha Association president Joe Menachery and his wife Lissy were given a farewell by his friends and relatives at the residence of Davis Kolattukudy in Riggae this past weekend. Joe is leaving after 42 years in Kuwait.

Kala (Art) painting contest registration continues

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Bhakti Priya (Class X) of Gulf Indian School bagged the first position out of 22 participants from 11 Indian Schools in the Interactive Debate Competition. This was organized on October 1st by the Association of Indian Professionals to commemorate the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

ala(Art) Kuwait, a leading progressive art and socio cultural organization among the Indian community in Kuwait has scheduled to conduct Children’s Day by marking the birth day of the First Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, under the auspices of Kala(Art) Kuwait on Friday, Nov 4, 2011 at the Indian Community School, Khaitan Branch, at 2.00 pm.

The program is titled as “Niram 2011 - B Natural “ consists of Painting Competition for the Indian School Students and the registration process is continuing in full swing.

The competition will be in four different age groups. Group ‘A” from LKG to 1st Standard, Group ‘B” from

2nd to 4th Standard, Group ‘C” from 5th to 8th Standard and Group ‘D” from 9th to 12th Standard.

The media for Group ‘A” and ‘B” will be Crayons while Group”C” and ‘D” are water colors. Crayons and water colors shall be brought by the participants. Stamped drawing papers will be supplied by the organizers. clay modeling competition also will be conducted for 7th to 11th standard students. Clay will be provided by the organizers. A marathon open canvas painting for parents, visitors and guests also conducting in a view to display everyone’s views and talents through their vivid creations.

Besides the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes, ten percent of the partici-

pants will be awarded with consolation prizes. The winners are liable to prove their age group with relevant documents in case the Organizers requested so. Parents also have the opportunity to win prizes for open canvas painting.

Students can register their names through websites www.kalakuwait.net or www.indiansinkuwait.com. For further details can contact by e-mail kalakuwait@gmail.com and the following telephone numbers 24891490, 99489078, 97449419, 97959072, 67001038, 97982935, according to Samkutty Thomas, President Kala Kuwait and Jaison Joseph, General Secretary, Kala Kuwait.

Upcoming events Indian Fiesta-2011 The entertainment wing of Creative Indians Association announces their forthcoming event “INDIAN FIESTA-2011” on 28th October, 2011 at the Kuwait Entertainment City Doha from 2 PM till 11 PM. The day will offer tons of free rides, games, discount stalls, mouth watering Indian food stalls, dance performances, music, and a whole lot more of entertainment. The highlight of the carnival will be performances by the gorgeous looking and rocking performer Anushka Manchanda of the Golmaal 3 , Cash - Naughty Naughty , Kites, Mit Jaaye Gham (Dum Maaro Dum) songs Fame and the Handsome versatile singer/ music director Harshit Saxena of the Haal e Dil song from the Film- Murder2 Fame.

The Hot Stepper group invites sponsors to be part of this Grand Indian Fiesta. Call 22455818. For dance performances, email at dance@hot-stepper.com. Visit and register on our website www.hot-stepper.com for timely updates on the event.

FCC beach clean up To All Filipinos in Kuwait... “Tara Na, Mag-Exercise Na Tayo Tuwing Biernes!! The Filipino Cultural Club (FCC), invites you to attend / participate in” FCC’s beach Clean-up and Physical Fitness” program dubbed as “A Dance with the Sun by the Sea...

Season-2” on 28 October, 7 am, McDonald’s Corniche, Gulf Road, other activities include fun games, painting competition for the kids, sponsored by Zain, Western Union, McDonald’s at seaside, Gulf road, starting 28 October 2011 - March 2012. As an added attraction, there will be a “Weight Loss Competition” and participants will be weighed every week. Fitness program will run for four months every Friday 7 am McDonald seaside. Come, join us and tag along your family and friends in this very exciting and stimulating activi-

ty. See you then, for more information: Contact: Bong - 99530665, Maria - 99079341, Cynthia & Danny - 99169310, Mildred & Nelson - 60999203, Claire - 67037497.

Youth India sports The preparations for the Youth India Shifa Al Jazeera Sports 2011 are in full swing, with the declaration of the captains for each zone, said Sports 2011 Convenor Nisar K Rasheed. Online registration is available at http://youthindiakuwait.com for the The Shifa Al Jazeera Pravasi Sports which will be held on the 28th at Kaifan Amateur Athletic Stadium and is open to all Keralites. The last date for registration is 25th October.

Kuwait Mantas Autumn dinner dance featuring the vibe will be held on Friday - October 28th at Movenpick HotelSalmiya from 8 pm. For details contact Alastair Hanny at 65996347 or log on to www.kuwaitmantas.com

KTAA events Oct. 29: The Annual KTAA Bazaar at Al Sadu House Nov. 15: “A Century of Color: Maya Weaving and Textiles from Guatemals.” Linda Fouke, KTAA Vice President, presenter Dec. 13: Mr. Hindi from Samovar Carpets. Location to be announced.

For more info: 23903462 (English)/22432395 (Arabic) Email: wovenpieces@yahoo.com or ktaaworkshop@yahoo.com

PAWS annual Puppy Ball At PAWS (Protecting Animal Welfare Society) we work tirelessly to provide much needed care for ani-

mals throughout Kuwait. Through rescue and rehabilitation, education and advocacy we strive to improve the lives of all animals However, we would be unable to do any of this without the generous support of those who care as much about animals as we do. PAWS relies entirely upon donations and needs your help.

One of our major fundraising events is the annual Puppy Ball which we will be hosting on Friday 4th November 2011 in the British Embassy Gardens.

In order to finance this we are hoping to secure the support of companies here in Kuwait who are interested in becoming key sponsors for this event and are in a position to pledge a minimum of KD500 in sponsorship.

If such sponsorship is not something your organization is currently able to offer us we would also be grateful for any raffle prizes that you may be able to donate.

In return for your sponsorship or raffle donation your company logo will be displayed prominently across the event. It will feature on the literature used on the evening itself as well as on the sponsorship page of our website which is viewed over 3500 times every month. You will be able to showcase your company to a new audience as well as increasing public awareness of your admirable involvement within the community.

Please do contact us at any time to discuss this further. We look forward to hearing from you.

Events@paws-kuwait.org

Konkani drama Kuwait Goan Association (KGA) after presenting popular Konkani tiatrs ‘Ghor Bandlem ghorabo Modlo’ and ‘Tujea Moga Passot’, now all set to present Tragedy King Mario Menezes most popular Konkani drama “Hatachim Panch Bottam” in Kuwait on Friday, 18th November 2011 with full troupe. Await for more details or email: kgakuwait@gmail.com

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Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA The Embassy of the Argentine Republic to Kuwait will hold Argentinean National Elections on October 23. Argentinean citizens already registered in the Embassy electoral register can vote at the Argentina Embassy, located in Mishref, Block 6, St. 42, Villa 57, from 08:00 am until 18:00 pm. Citizens visiting Kuwait or not registered in the embassy Electoral Register can also justify their “No Vote” at the same day and time at the Argentinean Embassy. For further information, contact us on phone no. 25379211, Email: ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar nnnnnnn

The PGA/Everton Saturday Coaching Course sponsored by Porsche Centre Kuwait and Behbehani Motors Company, takes place from 3-5pm at Shaab Park. Over 80 young players from 3 to 16 years of age are enjoying expert tuition and lots of football fun every Saturday afternoon.

Celebrate Eid Al Adha at Radisson Blu Hotel

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he Radisson Blu Hotel Kuwait has special Eid Al Adha offer, valid from 04 Nov to 11 Nov 2011. The Eid Offer includes comfortable stay in a Single / double room, inclusive of breakfast, dining in the exclusive Radisson Blu restaurants that will feature customary Arabic delicacies as well as international flavors with live cooking station, delightful Arabic sweets accompanied by traditional drinks and free access to the Viking Club which spans over 4,750 m - It’s exclusive sport, leisure & relaxation facilities will add extra delight to the stay.

Joins us at our Rangoli and Al Boom restaurants for the Festive Eid Buffet. It is an ideal place to treat your family and friends... So head towards Radisson Blu Hotel this festive season, enjoy the enticing offers in a delightful atmosphere of peace, privacy & comfort and make your family’s Eid holidays a memorable event. To find out the special Eid rates and to make your stay in Kuwait a memorable one please call the Radisson Blu Hotel, Kuwait on 2567 3000. The Management and Staff of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Kuwait extends its warmest Eid Al Adha Greetings!!!

COLVA FEAST

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olva United Centre - Kuwait invites all Colvenkars and well wishers to attend Feast Mass at Holy Family Cathedral Kuwait - on 27th October 2011 at 6.00 p.m.

Comprehensive Indian Emigration Law-Kala Kuwait Seminar

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erala Art Lovers Association (Kala Kuwait) is organizing a seminar on Oct 27, 7.00 pm, at United Indian School Abbassiya. The main objective of the seminar is the requirement of a “Comprehensive Emigration Law” in Indian sector. The recent threat risen from the world economic crises can be caused a black mark in the future of Indians working abroad. In this circumstance “Kala Kuwait” decided to conduct such a seminar. The Indian Lawyers Forum, Kerala Islamic Group, Kuwait Kerala Muslim Association, Representatives from Congress group and other prominent cultural activist will be participating in this seminar. For more details kindly contact: 97817100,66656642,24317875

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Kuwait Ernakulam Residents’ Association (Kera) celebrated Onam at Pravasi Auditorium, Abbassiya, last weekend.

Anushka to perform in Kuwait

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rom modelling to television, video jockeying to playback singing, from the band viva to being a song writer and composer, this 26 year old Delhi based musical bombshell called Anushka Manchanda has done it all.

Having come from a musical family background, singing took a upperhand in her life since early childhood. She gained popularity, when she emerged as a winner of the Indian television talent show, Coke [V] Popstars in 2002, and formed the first Indian pop girl band, named Viva!. After the group spilt because of differences, Anushka got to work as VJ for Channel [V] for a short time.[2] She then stepped into playback singing in the Tamil film industry by singing the song “O Mahire” from the 2004 film Manmadhan under the direction of noted music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. From then on there was no looking back for this hard working and talented singer. Up came the While music remains her priority, her affair with television isn’t over. After playing cameo roles in the films Dulha Mil Gaya and Loins Of Punjab, she was a contestant on the second season of the celebrity version of Fear Factor in India called Khatron Ke Khiladi. She was the only singer amongst models and actresses, and she kicked some serious ass..going on to win the show.

A few months after that, she was asked to host MTV India’s stunt-biking show MTV Stuntmania Reloaded. Having just bought her own motorbike, she didn’t think twice before saying yes.

Always one to experiment with her music, she now fronts an indie electrorock band Shkabang, besides collaborating and performing with other indie acts like The Petri Dish Project and Agni. She is also the voice behind advertisements for brands like Vodafone, Levi’s, Sony, Nokia, Dove, Lakme and Nivea, dubbing for voice

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel 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/IMM 5257E.PDF. A guide explaining the process can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/52 56E.PDF.

and jingles bo popular songs like “Thee Pidikka” (Arinthum Ariyamalum), “Kudakooli” (Kalvanin Kadhali), “Money Money” (Thimiru) and “Oh..Oh..Ennanamo” (Chennai 600028).

In 2006 then, she got her first opportunity to sing for a Hindi film as well, which was the title song of the film Golmaal, composed by Vishal-Shekhar.

This was followed by several other songs under other noted music composers as Anu Malik, Salim-Sulaiman, Pritam and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Her all famous and popular numbers like ‘teepidika theepidika from tamil Arinthum Ariyamalum, ‘mila mila’ telugu, ‘golmal’ from the film golmal, ‘Zindagi rocks’ from the movie zindagi

rocks, ‘naughty naughty’from cash in 2007 which won her the stardust new musical sensation (female) award,’tu saala’ from golmaal returns, ‘chandni chowk to china’ from chandni chowk to china, ‘Alisha’ from pyaar impossible, ‘dil kholke lets rock’ from we are family, ‘Dum maro dum’ from the movie dum maro dum took her to the newest heights of popularity.

Never the one to shy away from a challenge she accepted a role in the ‘Llions of punjab’ in 2007, followed by ‘Fear factor-Khatron ke khiladi’ a reality show in 2008, and a cameo role in bollywood film ‘Dulha Milgaya’ for which she sung three songs as well; which was yet again followed by a reality

dancing show ‘Jhalak dikla Jha’ in 2010-11.

Being well versed with Vocals, piano, guitar, flute, tambourine and maracas combined with her gift of creating explosive music, she now fronts an electro rock band ‘Shkabang’, besides performing with other acts like the ‘Petri dish project’ and the ‘Agni’. She is also the voice behind advertisements brands like vodafone, Levi’s, sony, nokia, dove, lakme and Nivea, dubbing for voice and jingles both.

She is progressed from being a reality TV contestant to reality TV judge, to be hailed as the voice of the new generation, and is now one of the hottest voices in the hindi film industry. She sings, dances, entertains, performs and travels in the country and around the world playing live to all kinds to all kinds of audiences. Armed with her latest releases like What The F from Soundtrack, Piya Kesariyo & Music Bandh Na Karo from Hum Tum Shabana, and Someday Somebody from Tell Me Oh Khuda.

Anushka Manchanda is now all set to perform at the Creative Indians Association’s Hot Stepper event – the Indian Fiesta-2011 to be held on 28th October, 2011 from 2 PM till 11 PM at the Entertainment City, Doha, Kuwait and will be accompanied by singer /music composer Harshit Saxena..

Kuwait’s very own DJ Flames will have you grooving at regular intervals with what’s new and happening at the music scene back home. To all the music lovers residing in Kuwait, don’t miss this opportunity!!!

So get ready and set aside your time to book your date with Anushka Manchanda and watch this space for more information. Visit and register on our website www.hot-stepper.com for timely updates. For more information call 22455818.

EMBASSY OF GERMANY The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application. Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (Al-Babtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on October 26, 2011 (Wednesday) Diwali. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF NEPAL The Embassy of Nepal will remain closed on Wednesday, October 26 on the occasion of Laxmi Puja festival. The Embassy of Nepal requests all concerned to use the telephone numbers and fax no of the Embassy whenever they wish to contact us for any reason during the office hours (09:00 - 1500 Hrs) for any business, as follows: Tel No: Reception and Operator / Consular and visa services: 25243254/57.

Ambassador’s Office: 25243275 Fax: 25243250 Email: Kuwait@mofa.gov.np nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF US The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Leadership for Democracy Fellows Program is now accepting applications - deadline Nov 1, 2011. The MEPI Leaders for Democracy Fellowship (LDF) Program is an exciting, selective 3-month program in the United States for 20-25 young civic leaders from the Middle East and North Africa. The program begins with 6 weeks of academic coursework, where fellows focus on the concepts of leadership, democracy, communication, and conflict resolution among other issues. After completing the academic portion of the program, participants engage in a 6week professional assignment with a political, nongovernmental, or public policy organization in Washington, DC. For more information about the program, please email: kuwaitmepi@state.gov Visit us @ USEmbassyQ8 http://www.facebook.com/USEmbassyQ8 nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE Dear compatriots!

We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” - (+ 965) 972-79-206.

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00:45 01:40 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:40 09:10 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:50 13:45 14:40 Baker 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:25 18:20 19:15 Baker 20:10 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Dogs 101 Beast Lands Wildest Africa Whale Wars Untamed & Uncut Dogs 101 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife The Really Wild Show Penguin Safari Breed All About It My Cat From Hell Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Animal Cops Specials 2009 Pit Bulls And Parolees Animal ER Mutant Planet Weird Creatures With Nick Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife The Really Wild Show Natural Born Hunters Jeff Corwin Unleashed Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Breed All About It Weird Creatures With Nick Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Swarm Chasers Bad Dog Untamed & Uncut Maneaters

00:15 00:45 01:35 02:25 03:10 04:00 04:30 04:50 05:05 05:25 05:35 05:45 06:05 06:20 06:40 06:55 07:05 07:25 07:40 08:00 08:10 08:20 08:40 08:55 09:15 09:25 09:40 10:40 11:30 12:20 12:50 13:20 14:25 15:25 16:15 17:05 17:35 18:05 19:10 20:00 20:45 21:15 21:45 22:40

As Time Goes By The Weakest Link The Fixer The Weakest Link Lark Rise To Candleford Keeping Up Appearances Tweenies Gigglebiz Me Too Charlie And Lola Buzz & Tell Tweenies Gigglebiz Me Too Charlie And Lola Buzz & Tell Tweenies Gigglebiz Me Too Charlie And Lola Buzz & Tell Tweenies Gigglebiz Me Too Charlie And Lola Buzz & Tell Keeping Up Appearances The Weakest Link North And South Doctors As Time Goes By Coast Keeping Up Appearances North And South The Weakest Link Doctors As Time Goes By Coast North And South The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City Five Daughters

00:00 00:10 00:30 01:00 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:10 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30

BBC World News World Features Horizons BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News The Health Show Our World Newsday India Business Report Newsday Asia Business Report

04:45 Sport Today 05:00 Newsday 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 Newsday 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 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 With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:05 Robotboy - Elements 00:30 Squirrel Boy 00:55 George Of The Jungle 01:20 Cramp Twins 01:45 Chop Socky Chooks 02:10 Best Ed 02:35 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 03:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 03:25 Generator Rex 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Flapjack 04:40 Chowder 05:05 Powerpuff Girls 05:30 Ed, Edd n Eddy 05:55 I Am Weasel 06:20 Squirrel Boy 06:45 Cow & Chicken 07:00 Eliot Kid 07:04 Cow & Chicken 07:12 Eliot Kid 07:25 Angelo Rules 07:50 Best Ed 08:15 Flapjack 08:40 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 09:05 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 09:30 Courage The Cowardly Dog 09:55 Cow & Chicken 10:20 I Am Weasel 10:35 Adventure Time 11:00 Ben 10 11:25 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 11:50 The Secret Saturdays 12:15 Samurai Jack 12:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 13:05 Codename Kids 13:30 Skunk Fu! 13:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:15 Flapjack 14:40 Ed, Edd n Eddy 15:05 Camp Lazlo 15:30 Chowder 15:55 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 16:25 Cow & Chicken 16:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog 17:15 I Am Weasel 17:40 George Of The Jungle 18:05 Casper’s Scare School 18:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 18:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 19:20 Generator Rex 19:45 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 20:10 Hero 108 20:35 Bakugan: New Vestroia

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

TV PROGRAMS 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15 23:40

Total Drama Action Adventure Time Billy And Mandy Ben 10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers The Secret Saturdays Samurai Jack Megas XLR

00:20 01:10 02:00 02:45 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:20 Cody 06:45 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 10:05 Cody 10:30 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:55 15:20 15:45 16:10 16:35 Cody 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:15 18:45 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:35 22:00 22:25 Cody 22:50 23:15 23:35

Replacements Fairly Odd Parents A Kind Of Magic Stitch Kim Possible Emperor’s New School Stitch Emperor’s New School The Suite Life Of Zack And Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction The Hive Handy Manny Imagination Movers The Suite Life Of Zack And 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 Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Shake It Up The Suite Life Of Zack And Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Jake & Blake Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up The Suite Life Of Zack And Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Jonas

00:00 It’s a Woman’s World 01:00 Planet Sports 02:00 Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy 03:00 Essential Specials 04:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 People of the Sea 09:00 Planet Sports 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 Four Men and a Lady 11:30 Travel Today 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Opening Soon 13:30 Hollywood and Vines 14:00 Rajasthan - A Colourful Legacy 15:00 Planet Food 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Four Men and a Lady 17:30 Travel Channel Guide to Jordan 18:00 Opening Soon 18:30 Hollywood and Vines 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Flavours of Greece 20:30 Essential 21:00 It’s a Woman’s World 22:00 Tall Ship Explorers

THE SPIRIT ON OSN ACTION HD

00:40 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:45 09:10 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 12:20 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 22:25

Mythbusters Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Stunt Junkies Time Warp How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings Ultimate Survival Deadliest Catch Ultimate Survival Swords: Life On The Line 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 Ultimate Survival Deadliest Catch

00:05 Green Wheels 00:30 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 01:20 Mighty Ships 05:40 Green Wheels 06:10 Extreme Bodies 07:00 Scrapheap Challenge 07:55 Space Pioneer 08:50 The Tech Show 09:15 Weird Connections 09:40 The Gadget Show 10:35 The Future of...

11:30 Sci-Fi Science 11:55 How Stuff’s Made 12:25 Future Weapons 13:15 Space Pioneer 14:05 One Step Beyond 14:30 Stunt Junkies 14:55 Mega Builders 15:45 Weird Connections 16:10 Scrapheap Challenge 17:00 Brainiac 17:50 Sci-Fi Science 18:15 The Tech Show 18:40 Monster Moves 19:30 Bad Universe 20:20 Nextworld 21:10 The Gadget Show 22:00 Monster Moves 22:50 Bad Universe 23:40 The Gadget Show

00:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 00:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:55 Unwrapped 01:45 Lidia’s Italy 02:35 Barefoot Contessa 03:25 World Cafe Middle East 04:15 Chef vs Britain 04:40 Unwrapped 05:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 05:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 05:50 Paula’s Party 06:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:00 Chopped 07:50 Guy’s Big Bite 08:15 Everyday Italian 08:40 Chef vs Britain 09:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:20 Aarti Party 10:45 Lidia’s Italy 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Paula’s Party 12:25 Everyday Italian 12:50 Paula’s Best Dishes 13:15 Chef vs Britain 13:40 World Cafe Asia 14:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 14:30 Lidia’s Italy 14:55 Unwrapped 15:20 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Guy’s Big Bite 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:50 Aarti Party 18:15 World Cafe Asia 18:40 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 19:05 Chef vs Britain 19:30 Food Network Challenge 20:20 Paula’s Party 21:10 Chef vs Britain 21:35 Chef vs Britain 22:00 From Spain With Love

00:05 00:15 00:40 01:10 01:30 02:00 02:25 02:50 03:20 03:40 04:10 04:35 05:00 05:30 05:50 06:15 06:45 07:00 07:15 07:45 08:15 08:30 09:00 09:15 09:25 09:45 09:55 10:15 10:45 11:10 11:30 11:45 12:10 12:35 13:00 13:15 13:25

Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Jungle Junction Higglytown Heroes Handy Manny Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates Handy Manny The Hive Timon And Pumbaa The Hive Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Little Mermaid Handy Manny Imagination Movers Jungle Junction Lazytown Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins

13:50 14:15 15:05 15:30 15:40 15:55 16:20 16:45 17:00 17:20 17:30 17:55 18:25 18:50 19:05 19:25 19:50 20:10 20:20 20:30 20:55 21:20 21:35 21:50 22:15 22:25 22:40 22:55 23:20 23:50

Imagination Movers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny The Hive Jake & The Neverland Pirates Imagination Movers Lazytown Jungle Junction The Hive Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Little Mermaid Special Agent Oso Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 101 Dalmatians Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Timmy Time Imagination Movers Little Einsteins Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Timmy Time Handy Manny Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction

00:25 Style Star 01:25 E!es 02:20 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Reality Hell 05:30 Wildest TV Show Moments 06:00 E!es 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10:15 THS 12:05 Extreme Close-Up 12:35 Fashion Police 13:05 Khloe And Lamar 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 Giuliana & Bill 15:30 E!es 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Bridalplasty 17:55 Ice Loves Coco 18:55 THS 19:55 The Dance Scene 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25Kourtney & Kim Take New York 22:25 Style Star 22:55 Fashion Police 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:15 Wrestling With Reality 01:30 Final Fu 02:20 Glutton For Punishment 04:00 Final Fu 04:50 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 06:30 Ride Guide Snow 2009 08:00 X-Traordinary 08:25 Ticket To Ride 2010/11 10:55 Dr Danger 11:45 Eds Up 12:35 Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Ride 13:25 Born To Run 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Dr Danger 15:55 Eds Up 16:45 X-Traordinary 17:10 Ticket To Ride 2010/11 19:40 Born To Run 20:30 Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Ride 21:20 Mantracker 22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Enfusion 23:50 Pinks: Lose The Race, Lose Your Ride

00:30 Cuff Me If You Can 01:15 Nightmare Next Door 02:05 I Almost Got Away With It 02:50 Couples Who Kill 03:40 Cuff Me If You Can 04:25 On The Case With Paula Zahn 05:15 Disappeared 06:10 Mystery ER 07:00 Murder Shift 07:45 Forensic Detectives 08:35 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 09:20 Real Emergency Calls 09:45 Street Patrol 10:05 The Will: Family Secrets Revealed 10:50 FBI Files 11:40 Murder Shift 12:25 True Crime With Aphrodite Jones 13:15 Disappeared 14:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 14:50 Street Patrol 15:15 Real Emergency Calls 15:35 The Will: Family Secrets Revealed 16:20 FBI Files 17:10 Forensic Detectives 18:00 Murder Shift 18:45 Real Emergency Calls 19:10 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 19:55 Street Patrol 20:20 True Crime With Aphrodite Jones

00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00

Travel Madness Madventures Food School Market Values Market Values Word of Mouth Banged Up Abroad Weird & Wonderful Hotels Travel Madness Madventures Food School Market Values Word of Mouth Banged Up Abroad Weird & Wonderful Hotels Travel Madness Madventures Banged Up Abroad Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Going Bush Finding Genghis Which Way To Endurance Traveller

THE INVENTION OF LYING ON OSN MOVIES HD 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00

Ultimate Traveller Banged Up Abroad Extreme Tourist Afghanistan Going Bush Finding Genghis Which Way To Endurance Traveller

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 15:45 18:00 20:00 22:00

Knife Edge-18 The Clinic-PG15 Deadly Impact-18 Legendary-PG15 No Time To Fear-PG15 Beyond A Reasonable Doubt G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra No Time To Fear-PG15 The Karate Kid I-PG15 G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra The Spirit-PG15 Rocky IV-PG

01:00 Little Ashes-R 03:00 The Tempest-PG15 05:00 5 Dollars A Day-PG15 07:00 A Christmas Carol-PG 09:00 The Tempest-PG15 11:00 Flash Of Genius-PG15 13:00 The A-Team-PG15 15:15 My Son, My Son, What Have You Done?-PG15 17:15 Private-PG15 19:00 Crazy On The Outside-PG15 21:00 Whiteout-18 23:00 Just Wright-PG15

00:00 Curb Your Enthusiasm 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Party Down 02:00 Happy Endings 02:30 Curb Your Enthusiasm 03:00 Friends 03:30 Friends 04:00 According To Jim 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Malcolm In The Middle 06:00 Coach 06:30 Weird Science 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 According To Jim 08:30 Friends 09:00 Malcolm In The Middle 09:30 State Of Georgia 10:00 8 Simple Rules ...

10:30 Coach 11:00 Weird Science 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 According To Jim 13:00 Friends 13:30 Malcolm In The Middle 14:00 Coach 14:30 State Of Georgia 15:00 8 Simple Rules ...

15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Weird Science 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Friends 19:00 8 Simple Rules ...

20:00 Seinfeld 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:00 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 23:00 Party Down 23:30 Seinfeld

01:00 Sugarhouse-18 02:45 Splinter-18 04:15 Snow White: A Tale Of Terror18 06:00 Wyatt Earp-PG15 09:00 The Lost Future-PG15 11:00 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 13:00 What Lies Beneath-PG15 15:15 The Lost Future-PG15 17:00 Dolan’s Cadillac-PG15 19:00 Maximum Risk-18 21:00 Rocky IV-PG 23:00 Rage: Carrie 2-PG15

00:00 The Making Of Plus One-PG15 02:00 The Bounty Hunter-PG15 04:00 Sweet Home Alabama-PG15 06:00 Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid-PG 08:00 The Lizzie McGuire Movie-PG 10:00 Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past-PG15 12:00 What’s The Worst That Could Happen?-PG15 14:00 Born Yesterday-PG15 16:00 The Making Of Plus One-PG15 18:00 Mr. Wrong-PG15 20:00 5 Dollars A Day-PG15

01:00 Garage Days-18 03:00 Not The Messiah: He’s A Very Naughty Boy-PG15 05:00 All About Steve-PG15 07:00 The Invention Of Lying-PG15 09:00 Julie And Julia-PG15 11:15 16 To Life-PG15 13:00 Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea-FAM 15:00 Sleepover-PG15 16:45 Julie And Julia-PG15 19:00 I Love You Beth Cooper-PG15 21:00 Shutter Island-18

00:00 Tooth Fairy-PG 02:00 The Last Airbender-PG 04:15 Dinosaur Island-PG 06:00 The Three Musketeers-FAM 07:45 Ulysses-PG 10:00 Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea-FAM 12:00 Dinosaur Island-PG 14:00 Inspector Gadget’s Last Case: Claw’s...-FAM 16:00 The Big Green-PG 18:00 Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea-FAM 20:00 Furry Vengeance-PG 22:00 The Big Green-PG

00:00 02:00 04:15 06:15 07:00 08:30 10:30 12:00 14:00 15:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:30 22:30

Currie Cup Rugby World Cup Scottish Premier League Total Rugby RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup RWC Matchday Currie Cup Trans World Sport Rugby World Cup Le Mans Series Highlights UFC 137 Countdown RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup RWC Matchday

00:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:30 10:30 12:00 12:30 16:00 17:00 19:00 20:30 22:30

Anglo Welsh Cup Scottish Premier League Trans World Sport ICC Cricket World Futbol Mundial Beach Volley Ball Spirit of Yachting RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup RWC Matchday Futbol Mundial Premier League Snooker Golfing World Scottish Premier League RWC Matchday Rugby World Cup RWC Matchday

01:30 RWC Match Day Highlights 02:00 RWC Weekly Highlights 03:00 Rugby League International 05:00 Rugby Union Currie Cup 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 European PGA Tour 12:30 Scottish Premier League 14:30 RWC Weekly Highlights 15:30 Trans World Sport 16:30 Rugby League International 18:30 Futbol Mundial 19:00 Golfing World 20:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 21:00 SPL Highlights

00:00 01:00 02:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

WWE Tough Enough UFC The Ultimate Fighter V8 Supercars Championship UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE Bottom Line WWE Tough Enough Speedway FIM World V8 Supercars Championship Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Power Boats F1 Champs Power Boats F1 Highlights Super Formula WWE Tough Enough Speedway FIM World Intercontinental Le Mans Cup UFC 137 Countdown V8 Supercars Championship

00:00 Pawn Stars 01:00 American Pickers 02:00 Pawn Stars 03:00 Sahara 05:00 Decoding the Past 06:00 Pawn Stars 07:00 American Pickers 08:00 Pawn Stars 09:00 Sahara 11:00 Decoding the Past 12:00 Pawn Stars 13:00 American Pickers 14:00 Pawn Stars 15:00 Sahara 17:00 Decoding the Past 18:00 Pawn Stars 19:00 Ice Road Truckers 20:00 Engineering Disasters 21:00 Lock N’ Load with R. Lee Ermey 22:00 IRT: Deadliest Roads 23:00 Ax Men

00:00 Top 10 01:00 Videofashion Daily 01:55 Videofashion News 02:25 How Do I Look?

03:20 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

04:15 Married Away 05:10 Homes With Style 05:35 Area 06:05 Clean House 07:00 Videofashion News 08:00 Videofashion Daily 09:00 Open House 09:55 How Do I Look?

10:50 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

11:50 Clean House: Search For The Messiest...

12:50 Clean House 13:45 Videofashion Daily 14:45 How Do I Look?

00:00 01:35 03:15 04:50 06:35 08:15 10:05 12:00 13:35 15:15 17:10 18:50

Keaton’s Cop Dead Of Winter Chains Of Gold A Prayer For The Dying Stay Hungry Hornet’s Nest The Bridge At Remagen .Com For Murder Salt And Pepper Comes A Horseman Gun Moll Tennessee Nights

00:30 02:15 03:45 05:15 07:00 08:25 10:20 12:10 13:40 15:15 16:55 18:45 20:25 22:00 23:35

Heart Of Darkness Fury-PG Son Of A Gunfighter-FAM Tortilla Flat-FAM Invasion Quartet-FAM Captain Blood-FAM Edward, My Son-PG Gun Glory-FAM Gaby-PG For Me And My Gal-FAM American In Paris, An-FAM Hearts Of The West-PG The Little Hut-PG Crazy From The Heart-PG Get Carter-18

Classifieds MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

FOR SALE Chevrolet Captiva, 2007 model, silver color, Price KD 3,400/-. Contact: 66526872 Nissan Pathfinder 2003 model, 3.5 engine immaculate condition, only genuine buyers contact, price KD 2,400/-. Contact: 99705708 / 66228340.

(C 3711) Bus Mitsubishi L300 9 seater 2008 model, NATIVA 2007 model. Contact: 66052331.

(C 3713) 24-10-2011

SITUATION VACANT Wanted female Sri Lankan or Indian cook and one driver for a Kuwaiti family in Surra. Attractive salary will be paid. Contact: 22431872/4 / 99771850.

(C 3710) 24-10-2011

SITUATION WANTED Mechanical Engineering graduate, with immaculate English language skills, looking for a job in Kuwait.

Transferable residency.

Contact: 67078742.

ACCOMMODATION

2BR C-A/C apartment in Abbasiya with complete items as good as new from 1st December.

Ample parking and decent locality KD 1250/-.

Tel: 99556160.

(C 3712) 24-10-2011

kitchen and lounge with 1 person.

Contact: 55359977.

(C 3707) 20-1-2011

No: 15249

Sharing furnished single room available in 2 BR/2 bath flat in Farwaniya for a Muslim working lady.

Contact: 90027245.

(C 3709) 23-10-2011 Luxurious fully furnished one bed + bath, sea view in Salmiya, in a 2 bed apartment in Salmiya. Triweekly cleaning, OSN, wifi, pool, Gym. Shared

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines BBC THY ETH UAE DHX ETD FDB GFA QTR KAC JZR FAH JZR KAC JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY ETD GFA MEA IRC MSR JZR KAC KAC MSR UAL RJA FDB OMA QTR SVA KAC

Flt 45 772 622 853 370 305 67 211 138 544 503 201 555 412 531 157 206 302 53 352 284 362 344 855 132 125 301 213 404 6521 623 201 618 672 610 982 640 57 645 140 500 788

Arrival Flights on Monday 24/10/2011 Route DHAKA/BAHRAIN ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA CAIRO LUXOR DUBAI ALEXANDRIA MANILA/BANGKOK ASSIUT LONDON ISLAMABAD MUMBAI DUBAI COCHIN DHAKA COLOMBO CHENNAI DUBAI DOHA SHARJAH ABU DHABI BAHRAIN BEIRUT LAMERD SOHAG DAMASCUS DOHA DUBAI CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES AMMAN DUBAI MUSCAT DOHA JEDDAH JEDDAH

Time 0:55 1:15 1:45 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:10 3:15 3:20 4:40 5:15 5:30 6:10 6:15 6:20 6:30 7:15 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:20 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:30 9:35 10:55 12:00 12:10 12:45 12:55 13:15 13:20 13:30 13:35 13:50 14:00 14:15 14:30 15:00

JZR QTR KAC KAC KAC MLR ETD UAE GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY RBG FDB ALK KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC AIC JAI FDB OMA JZR VOS MEA KAC DHX KLM UAE GFA QTR UAL JZR TAR JZR MSR DLH JZR PIA

257 134 546 550 118 403 303 857 215 510 777 239 127 3553 63 227 104 542 786 744 614 774 674 975 572 61 647 179 81 402 552 372 445 859 217 136 981 135 327 185 612 636 539 239

BEIRUT DOHA ALEXANDRIA SOHAG NEW YORK COLOMBO/DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH AMMAN SHARJAH ALEXANDRIA DUBAI COLOMBO/DUBAI LONDON CAIRO JEDDAH DAMMAM BAHRAIN RIYADH DUBAI CHENNAI/GOA MUMBAI DUBAI MUSCAT DUBAI BAGHDAD BEIRUT DAMASCUS BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN TUNIS DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT CAIRO SIALKOT

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

Airlines AXB DLH KLM AIC PIA AFG BBC THY ETH UAE FDB DHX ETD QTR GFA JZR BAW KAC FDB KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR ETD GFA KAC MEA KAC JZR JZR KAC IRC MSR KAC MSR RJA FDB UAL

Departure Flights on Monday 24/10/2011 Flt Route 390 MANGALORE/KOZHIKODE 637 FRANKFURT 447 AMSTERDAM 982 AHMEDABAD/CHENNAI 206 PESHAWER/LAHORE 406 KABUL 46 DHAKA 773 ISTANBUL 622 BAHRAIN/ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 139 DOHA 212 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 156 LONDON 545 ALEXANDRIA 54 DUBAI 671 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 787 JEDDAH 549 SOHAG 617 DOHA 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 165 ROME/PARIS 405 BEIRUT 541 CAIRO 776 JEDDAH 238 AMMAN 103 LONDON 6522 LAMERD 624 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 611 CAIRO 641 AMMAN 58 DUBAI 982 BAHRAIN

Time 0:25 0:40 0:55 1:05 1:10 2:00 2:10 2:15 2:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 5:00 7:10 7:15 8:25 8:35 8:40 9:00 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:35 9:40 9:50 10:00 10:15 10:20 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:30 13:00 13:10 13:30 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

OMA KAC KAC SVA JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR VOS ETD MLR QTR UAE GFA ABY JZR JZR RBG SVA FDB ALK JZR KAC JAI FDB JZR KAC KAC OMA MEA KAC DHX KLM UAE GFA FAH QTR KAC KAC TAR JZR JZR UAL KAC MSR

646 673 551 501 178 773 141 613 743 538 82 304 404 135 858 216 128 184 266 3554 511 64 228 134 283 571 62 528 331 351 648 403 543 373 445 860 218 102 137 301 205 327 554 504 981 411 613

MUSCAT DUBAI DAMASCUS JEDDAH DUBAI RIYADH DOHA BAHRAIN DAMMAM CAIRO BAGHDAD ABU DHABI DUBAI/COLOMBO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH DUBAI BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA RIYADH DUBAI DUBAI/COLOMBO BAHRAIN DHAKA MUMBAI DUBAI ASSIUT TRIVANDRUM COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN/AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD DUBAI/TUNIS ALEXANDRIA LUXOR WASHINGTON DC DULLES BANGKOK/MANILA CAIRO

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

34

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

stars CROSSWORD 478

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Good fortune will shine on you—opportunities become available for whatever you are in favor of at this time. Situations are almost specially made for you and it is easy to see which path is the one to take. You make your way through ideas, concepts and your ability to communicate and express them to others. Young people or a love relationship could bring you small problems to solve today. You will have to slow your pace and give yourself time to think through situations. Ask yourself what the real issue is and you will be able to see a positive outcome. Challenges are a great indication that a change is needed. You are a good teacher. Family members work, play and worship together today. There is time this evening for a game or two. Charades anyone?

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Rewarding days make up for all the stress that comes with those challenging days. Friends in need or something you believe in that will suffer from a lack of your support is the issue that comes to your attention at this time. You may be called upon to lend a hand. This could be an acquaintance that has not yet allowed a friendship to occur. You make a good mentor in this respect as others see you jump in and help out. The energies of the universe are working with you and will help you with whatever is needed. You have a strong desire to branch out and help with some favorite organization that has been asking for volunteers. This may be endangered animals, lost children, food for the homeless or elderly, etc. Family members draw close tonight.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A flexible container with a single opening.

4. Any member of Athapaskan tribes that migrated to the southwestern desert (from Arizona to Texas and south into Mexico).

10. The unit of frequency.

13. A dark-skinned member of a race of people living in Australia when Europeans arrived.

14. An East Indian sailor.

15. Temporary military shelter.

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

17. Money extracted as a penalty.

19. Of an instrument of certain death.

21. One of two flaps attached to a cap to keep the ears warm.

23. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

25. Roman Emperor who succeeded Tiberius and whose uncontrolled passions resulted in manifest insanity.

26. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

29. South African term for `boss'.

31. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

36. Any of various coarse shrubby plants of the genus Iva with small greenish flowers.

39. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

41. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

43. Type genus of the Percidae.

44. Viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal often considered inedible by humans.

48. A small cake leavened with yeast.

51. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

52. God of the Underworld.

53. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

58. A tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its cost of production.

59. Tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar.

60. A party of people assembled in the evening (usually at a private house).

61. A type of submachine gun that is designed and manufactured in Israel.

62. The residue that remains when something is burned.

63. (of games) Engaged in.

64. A fractional monetary unit of Japan and Indonesia and Cambodia.

DOWN 1. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

2. A French abbot.

3. Any of numerous agile ruminants related to sheep but having a beard and straight horns.

4. An annual publication including weather forecasts and other miscellaneous information arranged according to the calendar of a given year.

5. United States physicist (born in Austria) who proposed the exclusion principle (thus providing a theoretical basis for the periodic table) (1900-1958).

6. The sign language used in the United States.

7. Being one hundred more than two hundred.

8. The emotion of hate.

9. A trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

10. (Mexican) Ground beef and chili peppers or chili powder often with tomatoes and kidney beans.

11. Shrubby tree widely distributed along tropical shores.

12. A way of access consisting of a set of steps.

18. A river that rises in northeastern Turkey (near the source of the Euphrates) and flows generally eastward through Armenia to the Caspian Sea. 20. A Loloish language.

22. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

24. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

27. Mother goddess.

28. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

30. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

32. The sixth month of the civil year.

33. A New England state.

34. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

35. Minor or subordinate.

37. Decoration consisting of an open pattern of interlacing ribs.

38. (informal) Subject to accident or chance or change.

40. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

42. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

43. Being ten more than one hundred ninety.

45. A contagious fungal infection of the scalp.

46. Affect with wonder.

47. Of or relating to the ancient Latins or the Latin language.

49. Type genus of the Anatidae.

50. A vessel in which something is immersed to maintain it at a constant temperature or to process or lubricate it.

54. Of southern Europe.

55. A colloid that has a continuous liquid phase in which a solid is suspended in a liquid.

56. (meaning literally `born') Used to indicate the maiden or family name of a married woman.

57. A doctor's degree in education.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This is a great time, when plain old luck surrounds you. It is easy for you to make correct decisions, find the right path and move forward where your future is concerned. There could be a new home or apartment in the picture today. Life’s problems seem manageable and easy to solve. Your inner resources and emotions are accented. Expect a sense of support and goodwill from those around you. You may find yourself other-oriented just now, with many thoughts and ideas for partnership, rather than doing things alone. Friends may find you less self-centered than usual. Visiting with friends and just hanging out, so to speak, is just what you have been looking forward to lately. Reach out to those you love and allow them to do the same.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

New beginnings are positive signs today. This may mean a new home, a new little baby, new family member, new pet, etc. Insights and solutions are available during the day that will help make this newbie most comfortable. This is a good time to interact with others and get much accomplished. You have the confidence to tackle anything with the spirit of a winner. You could build a step stool, a better shelf, paint a cabinet, etc. You enjoy creating the neat and beautiful and today you may spend much time doing just that. This afternoon you may do a bit of shopping to prepare for colder weather. There is a greater appreciation for things of value and the idea of value itself. You and a mate or family member may decide to discuss the budget this evening.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Working life and daily habits come into sharp focus now. You may busy yourself to prepare meals ahead of time and lunches for the workweek or for the school week. Some special sweet baking may enter your mind and by the afternoon the house will take on a smell that is really special. Busying yourself with a little fun time on the Internet you may be quite surprised at the new techniques to help with the working process and the learning process as well as a little music or story time to take on a walk with you and the dog. Unconventional hobbies and other forms of self-expression that break from the norm are part of your life now.

When the homework is completed a child may join you with your hobby—take the time to play. Romance is near.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Your ideas may not agree with the direction your future is taking. Of course, this may mean a delay in plans, not necessarily a cancellation of plans. Bide your time—you will get the opportunity for which you have been waiting. Right now, the key to your future goals involves tending to the nagging details—whatever you have neglected or put aside. Concentrate on your tasks or projects one-by-one and you will complete the process of elimination quicker than you thought possible. This afternoon you plan an enjoyable evening for yourself and your loved one. You resolve to spend more time with this special someone in your life.

Dreams, fantasies and the urge to be expressive pay off for you now. A loved one returns your poetic gestures.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This day is one of action and embarking on new projects. You will feel more and more confident and outgoing. You have a sense of confidence that grows stronger with each passing day. Things that may have been suspended will now take on structure and shape. You should plan to continue your projects with new enthusiasm each time because you do neat work and many people are surprised when they learn an item was handmade or hand carved, etc. As with the first week of this month, these last few days could bring the urge to travel. Short trips to nearby tourist sites might be fun. Perhaps there is a pumpkin or vegetable stand on the outskirts of your city that you might visit on your way home—pick out that perfect pumpkin to use for decoration.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) A loan will be easy to obtain tomorrow but you must have a list of items you own so that you will have something to show as collateral. This loan could be to improve the home or to purchase a car. Things are happening and your career or path depends upon your own ambition to do extremely well; be patient and know when to bide your time. You are able to use good common sense to guide you and you can feel the trends and make the right moves. The time is coming soon to take action and get ahead. You may contemplate a career move and next week is a most positive one as you make yourself known. You may feel that the job you are in now, no longer appeals to you. You think about how to make money doing something you really love.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

You may not be able to keep your mind on your job or whatever you are doing just now. However, you make good job-related decisions regardless of what sort of interruptions occur. It will be hard for you to do wrong, for all the cycles are working in your favor. You have the ability to jump in and help in matters you really donít know about but are willing to learn. It is your willingness that attracts others to you when help is needed. You will have to practice saying no so that you do not become too stressed; today the word is GO. You stay in the thick of things this afternoon, helping people and completing tasks that others would not go near. This may mean you are a firefighter or a veterinarian or in some other difficult profession. Relax tonight.

Others value you for your ability to make practical decisions concerning group issues. The next volunteer project is a difficult one but a most praiseworthy one and your friends want to lend a helping hand. Through voting, the group can rotate the people that help lead the whole group, and perhaps the choosing of the charity. This may mean making yourselves available to young people in an orphanage and taking the children shopping or teaching some beneficial life task they can learn and be proud of knowing. Whatever the group votes on that is within the boundary of time and abilities of the group will become perfectly aweinspiring. A rehab group may need aid and be considered. Family holds your interest tonight—there are fun happenings.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) A diet or some other self-improvement endeavor will work now. There is a no-nonsense sort of feeling today. The choices you make just naturally seem to make sense. You are constantly stripping away the debris to reveal the truth or subject matter. You are in a very business-like mind and can be caught in deep concentration quite often today. Perhaps this is a good time to tackle updating the family records and paying bills. You have a lot of energy for improving your skills and are very motivated to improve; sing! You are in a good mood this evening and may even feel you have accomplished more than you had planned to do today. You may be able to enjoy and feel especially kind towards a friend this evening; perhaps you will cook dinner.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Your career may be mostly tied to your appearance and how you come across to others. You may find that this is a good time to go through all the clothes in your closet; set aside those that need cleaning and those that are out of season and perhaps a few things for charity. You are successful and you try to keep current in clothing and fashion. You work to make changes in yourself and also you work for the world at large. New people come into your life all the time and you always take the opportunity to find where they fit into your life and how you can help them as much as how they can help you. This does not necessarily mean financially; usually it means spiritually. Very few people meet another person with this attitude of anticipation and adventure; there is joy.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

i n f o r m at i o n

FIRE BRIGADE

112

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

POLICE STATION Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

AIRLINES

PHARMACIES ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Psychologists /Psychotherapists

22547272

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist 25340300

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581 22641071/2

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Salem soso

22618787

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists

Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291 22666288

Rheumatologists:

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

Dentists

Internists, Chest & Heart

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25655535

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

General Surgeons

22433377 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia

00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

y

A

36

e niv rsar n

Years

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Lynn in hospital with pneumonia

ountry music singer Loretta Lynn has canceled two performances after being diagnosed with pneumonia, a statement on her website said on Saturday.

“Loretta regretfully must cancel her shows ... for this weekend, due to illness,” the statement said of the 76-year-old music icon. The Paramount Arts Center in Ashland, Kentucky, said on its website the singer had been hospitalized and that her performance would be rescheduled. A spokesman for Lynn was not immediately available for comment. “Doctors have diagnosed her as the beginning stages (of ) pneumonia, and (she) will continue to need rest. Loretta is doing well and is disappointed but feels confident she will be ready for upcoming November dates,” the statement on the singer’s website said. Lynn, who grew up poor in Kentucky’s coal-mining country before rising to fame, had been due to perform on Saturday in Ashland followed by a performance yesterday in Durham, North Carolina. She has upcoming performances scheduled next month in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and North Carolina. Lynn, whose hits including “If You’re Not Gone Too Long” and “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’”, has released 70 albums and charted 16 No 1 hits in a career spanning five decades. She has won two Grammys and written several books, including “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which was made into a movie that earned Sissy Spacek an Oscar for her performance as the singer.

C

Merkel gives teddy bear gift for Sarkozy’s daughter erman Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a teddy bear to French President Nicolas Sarkozy as a gift to his newborn daughter, a kind gesture tendered amid a no-holds-barred EU summit in Brussels yesterday.

Merkel and Sarkozy have been in deep disagreement over how to resolve the eurozone’s debt crisis. The French leader even missed the birth of his daughter, Giulia, on October 19 after having to rush to Germany for talks with Merkel. Sarkozy arrived three hours later to see his daughter and supermodel wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. And as Sarkozy held intense negotiations with his EU counterparts in Brussels, Bruni-Sarkozy left the Paris clinic with her daughter yesterday.

G Winfrey meditates with women during Iowa visit prah Winfrey meditated with more than 400 women in the US state of Iowa and also talked to students about her spiritual journey.

Suzanne Stryker says she was among the women participating in the transcendental meditation Wednesday at the Maharishi School in Fairfield. She says no one in the meditation group knew the TV personality was going to be there until Winfrey, who heads the OWN television network, arrived with a film crew. The private Maharishi School specializes in “consciousness-based education” for kindergarten through 12th grade. Director Richard Beall says on the school’s website that Winfrey spoke with students about her spiritual journey. He says the school will host a discussion Monday night about the visit.

O

Michael wants Olympics invite eorge Michael would love to open the London 2012 Olympics. The singer says it would be honor for him to be asked to play at the prestigious opening ceremony next year but admits he’s way down on the organizers’ wish list. He said: “I’d love to be perform at the opening ceremony but unfortunately no one’s asked me! I’d imagine they’d ask Take That, wouldn’t they? It seems to be Take That for everything these days!” George - who is midway through his ‘Symphonica’ tour of Europe - also revealed how grateful he is his fans have stuck by him despite a string of personal problems over the past 12 months. The ‘Careless Whisper’ hitmaker - who served four weeks of an eight-week sentence for driving under the influence of drugs in September 2010 and recently split from long-term partner Kenny Goss said: “I’ve always known I have incredibly loyal and amazing fans, and they’ve never let me down. But I was pretty overwhelmed by the love and support they’ve shown me in the last 12 months. I’ve always felt that there’s something very special about my audience. When I perform, I can feel from their energy that they’re very kind people.”

G

Brook’s boxing lessons elly Brook has boxing lessons with her boyfriend. The 31-year-old model has a number of different ways of to stay in shape, but admits former rugby star Thom Evans wasn’t the best choice of opponent in a fighting class. She said: “I do Pilates, ride my bike and swim in my pool. “I went to a boxing class with my boyfriend, but he kept jabbing me when the tutor wasn’t looking.” Kelly is happy with her body and wouldn’t undergo any cosmetic surgery to alter her shape. She told Now magazine: “I’m curvy so it suits my face to have a far bum.

When I’m skinny my face looks haggard. “No, I wouldn’t have surgery. Some of my friends have had boob jobs and to be honest, I feel lucky because I’ve always had boobs. I love big boobs. I can’t imagine my body any other way. “I have more idea of what I want now. I’m more confident. I think it’s good to grow old gracefully.”

K

Geldof caught shoplifting eaches Geldof has been caught shoplifting make-up from British high-street chain, Boots. The 22year-old star - who is the daughter of musician and Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates - was reportedly spotted by a store detective stuffing around £60 worth of cosmetic products into her handbag as she strolled around a branch in London’s Regent Street on Friday. While Peaches - who has been accused of shoplifting four times in the past - was seized by staff and forced to hand over the goods, she was let go without the police being called. A Scotland Yard source told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “We certainly get reports of smaller value thefts which are prosecuted.

Shoplifters will generally carry on doing it until they are caught and hauled over the coals.” A staff member at the store confirmed: “Yes, Peaches Geldof was caught by an undercover detective with around £60 worth of make-up.

“She stuffed it in her handbag and also a small yellow Selfridges bag she was carrying. She was calm when she was caught and wasn’t arrested as she handed the stash over. We filled in a recovery note and she has been banned from the store. “She wrote down her address and we rang a number to confirm it. I think it was her boyfriend, and we let her go.”

Meanwhile, an onlooker explained Peaches - who lives in North London with her rocker boyfriend Tom Cohen - looked “completely cool” and “totally casual”,

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despite being caught out. The bystander said: “When she left she went right to the back of the store so she didn’t go past the tills. A store detective followed her outside and brought her back in. I heard him say, ‘Do you know why I’ve brought you back?’ “I didn’t hear her response but she was completely cool. You’d think someone would be embarrassed or upset, but she was totally casual as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. He took her into a back office and five minutes later she came out and left the store, calm as you like again.” A Boots spokeswoman said of the claims: “Unfortunately, we are not able to comment on individual customer circumstances.”

Bateman praises wife ason Bateman says his wife helped turn his life around. The ‘Arrested Development’ star used to be a heavy drinker and wild partygoer but admits all that changed when he met Amanda Anka as he knew he could no longer behave like that. He said: “Meeting my wife Amanda was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. She wasn’t going to let me screw around my life anymore, so I stopped drinking and started behaving like a decent human being. Then I got very, very lucky when ‘Arrested Development’ came along. That series saved my career - it gave me back my credibility I used to have when I was much younger and before people gave up on me as a party guy in Hollywood. It was just enough to make me ambitious again.” Jason, 42, and Amanda are currently expecting their second daughter together and the actor credits their happy union with being friends first. He told Britain’s OK! magazine: “We became friends and that grew into something deeper and our marriage has been incredibly solid, loving and caring ever since. What I learned from going out with lots of women was that you need to find a partner in life, someone who is going to care for you more than you maybe care about yourself. Women can often be your true best friends and, once you get past the fixation of sleeping with them, you can enjoy their company so much more. I married the woman who was not only a friend but someone I cared about more than I could ever have imagined. My instincts were right.”

—Bang Showbiz

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Cole ‘surprised’ by Nicola heryl Cole was “surprised” by Nicola Roberts’ solo album. The Girls Aloud star recently released her debut record ‘Cinderella’s Eyes’ and bandmate Cheryl wasn’t expecting to be so emotionally affected by the music. Nicola said: “The other girls love it. I think they’ve been a little bit surprised by the music. Cheryl told me, ‘I laughed, I cried, I was shocked, I was this, I was that, I was every emotion listening to the album.’ That’s what I wanted, for people to be able to relate to it.” Nicola admitted she was surprised by the public reaction as she didn’t know what to expect. She said: “It’s been amazing, just unbelievable, especially after working so long on something so personal. “I didn’t build myself up for anything.

I’ve always loved to write and I really wanted to get into the studio to learn and just get better at it. I suppose I wanted to become a little bit more legit in what I said I did for a living.”

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

LIFESTYLE M u s i c

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Bollywood’s Shah Rukh the one to beat this Diwali hah Rukh Khan’s science fiction superhero film “Ra.One” looks set to be the only blockbuster this Diwali as Bollywood gears up for the annual festive period. Like Christmas in the West, the holiday season around the Hindu festival of lights on October 26 is traditionally a bumper time for the Hindi-language film industry, with a slew of big name, big budget movies vying for top spot.

But while major productions have gone head-to-head in previous years, this year there are few, if any, challengers to Khan’s special effectspacked movie, which has cost more than $20 million to make-one of Bollywood’s most expensive films ever.

Some analysts predicted that the film, which sees Khan play “G.One”, who saves humanity from evil villain Ra.One, would break box office records. “‘Ra.One’ will get a record opening,” said trade analyst Komal Nahta on the entertainment web site koimoi.com. “You will not get tickets.

People will go mad when this film releases.” Bollywood fans could be forgiven for thinking that “Ra.One” was already in cinemas, with Khan rarely out of the media and aggressively promoting the movie with a series of marketing tie-ups and promotions in recent months.

The film made headlines for the wrong reasons on Friday, however, when a court ordered Khan and his production company to deposit $200,000 after a scriptwriter claimed that the movie had breached his copyright. Two judges at the Bombay High Court said there appeared to be a prima facie infringement of intellectual property and told Khan to pay in 10 million rupees to the court or risk

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Photo shows defense expert Dr Paul White, left, sitting next to Dr Conrad Murray during Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles. —AP

seeing the release of “Ra.One” postponed. The buzz around the film has eclipsed a slew of pre-Diwali releases coming on the back of a successful period from August to October, which produced a string of hit films.

Defense to launch fightback at Jackson doc s trial awyers for Michael Jackson’s doctor hope to launch a last-ditch fightback this week, after a month of prosecution testimony mostly implicating medic Conrad Murray over the star’s 2009 death. Murray’s attorney Ed Chernoff is to begin presenting defense witnesses at the Los Angeles Superior Court, where the involuntary manslaughter trial could go to the jury as early as the end of this week. So far witnesses called by prosecutors have given a litany of evidence suggesting Murray was grossly negligent by administering a deadly cocktail of drugs to help the King of Pop sleep, and abandoning him at the vital moment.

The 58-year-old Trinidad-born medic, who has sat grim-faced throughout pro-

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ceedings, faces four years in jail if found guilty at the long-awaited trial.

The court case-attended near daily by Jackson’s mother Katherine and father Joe as well as siblings including LaToya and Janetopened on September 27 with a double shock for the family and fans demonstrating outside. First was a photo of a horribly thin looking Jackson on a hospital gurney after his death from an overdose from “acute propofol intoxication” on June 25, 2009, at his rented Los Angeles mansion.

But perhaps even more shocking was the audio tape of a heavily-drugged Jackson, telling Murray-who was being paid $150,000 a month by the star-weeks before his death of his hopes for a series of come-

back shows in London. “When people leave my show, I want them to say, ‘I’ve never seen nothing like this in my life,’” the unrecognizable voice slurs, adding: “We have to be phenomenal.” At another point he laments: “I didn’t have a childhood.”

Then came the first witnesses, including producer Kenny Ortega, who recalled Jackson as a “lost boy,” clearly unwell a week before his death-but full of life the night before he died, planning a world tour and a “Thriller” film. Security guards and assistants came next, recounting the frenzied efforts to revive Jackson after they were called to the bedroom where Murray had spent the night with the singer, trying in vain to help him sleep. —AFP

Indian Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan takes part in the announcement of the official upcoming cross-platform video game based on his hindi film ‘Ra.One’ in Mumbai. —AFP Two other films are due out on October 27, “Tell Me O Kkhuda” (Tell Me O God), starring 1970s star Hema Malini’s daughter Esha Deol and veteran actor Dharmendra, and “Damadamm” with singer-turnedactor Himesh Reshammiya. But both

are low budget and low profile in comparison. Khan has become an established Diwali favourite with the festival providing him with the biggest hits of his career, notably “Diwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge” (The Braveheart Gets The Bride) in 1995 and “Om Shanti Om” in 2007. His first Diwali release since then, “Ra.One” is easily Khan’s most ambitious film to date, raising the stakes for the 45year-old actor and his Red Chillies Entertainment production company.

Mayank Shekhar, national cultural editor at the Hindustan Times newspaper, said the huge costs could largely be recovered through marketing and promotion deals. Television rights have already been sold for 350 million rupees, he said. But he added that the film would need a long run in cinemas to make substantial returns at the box office, rather than relying on the first weekend receipts that are the usual benchmark for film-makers in India. Shekhar said success was important for Khan himself. “He hasn’t been around for a while. He was last seen in ‘My Name Is Khan’, which was a while ago, which hasn’t been the case for his so-called rivals,” he told AFP. “Salman (Khan) has delivered three back-to-back hits and Aamir (Khan) has also had three commercial successes.” The three Khans are not related. Shekhar added: “Eid is Salman’s weekend, Diwali is usually Shah Rukh’s and Aamir has Christmas. That’s pretty much how they’ve had their releases.

“But Shah Rukh hasn’t had one (a release) for a couple of years, which is why he’s desperate to make up for all the lost time.” —AFP

Justin Townes Earle looks back at year of recovery n the days following Justin Townes Earle’s arrest last September in Indianapolis, he slipped so deeply into a cocaine psychosis it began to change his personality. Gone was the brash, cocksure young singer-songwriter who against the steep odds of addiction and a tough upbringing had transformed himself into a true artist with the critical acclaim to prove it. In its place was a 150-pound (68-kilogram) wraith haunting the East Village in New York City with an overriding paranoia brought on by an eight-ball of cocaine and a half-gallon of vodka every day.

The continuous binges were destroying his talent and making his intense live shows occasionally forgettable. They were destroying his friendships one by one. Nearly six years of sobriety, all gone during an increasingly tight downward spiral over a year’s time.

Earle fixated on an erroneous news report that said he hit a woman while destroying his dressing room in an Indianapolis club. For a man raised by a single mother, the idea he would hit a woman was devastating. It prompted a five-day bender. “I’d just be walking down the streets in Manhattan thinking everybody was looking at me,” Earle said. “I thought everybody knew about what happened and it absolutely was just crushing me.

I remember vaguely calling my publicist at the time - I fired my manager not long before that had happened, and my publicist and my booking agent were the only people still working for me - and just hysterically crying and saying I just didn’t want to do this anymore. I didn’t want to tour any more. I didn’t want to make records.”

Not long after, Earle entered formal treatment for the 13th time. In the 10 months

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much the same. “I remember when you’d look belief that it’s just who I am,” Earle said. “I’m a since he completed rehab, the 29-year-old songwriter. I’m an artist. I am my mother’s son. I out this window and there wasn’t (expletive) son of country rebel Steve Earle has experiam my father’s son. And I’m a drug addict. And anything there,” he said. “It was a rail yard. enced a series of highs and lows he shared in it was a behavior that I displayed very early on Well, hell you can still buy crack on 8th several interviews. He’s slipped back into in my life. When I was a kid, my mom would Avenue.” A few weeks out of rehab, Earle heroin use and rallied, turning to a new treatbuy granola bars and stuff and I would eat the admits his mind is often on drugs. He catches ment that seems to have helped him settle whole box. One after the other until I was sick.” himself falling prey to the classic addict into a healthier routine. He’s been hailed as a behavior of daydreaming about scoring. “I feel His mother, Carol-Ann, had to work and the new voice for his generation and targeted by home was often empty. But there were times cruel attempts at gallows humor. He split with good now, but at least once a day I come up when it was too full as well with the occasional with some kind of hare-brained scheme to his old girlfriend and started a new relationboyfriend. The result was the feeling that he get high and get away with it,” he said with a ship that’s brought him back to his homehad no safe haven. Drugs quickly became town. Today he’s on the “marijuana a diversion from an existence that “hurt all maintenance plan” and enjoying the the time.” benefits of anti-addiction drug “I remember I got high the first time Soboxone. He’s exercising and feels as fit when I was 10 off of reefer and I just loved as he ever has. He’s touring much of the it,” Earle said. “By 11 I was just an avid marfall and is preparing to record his fifth ijuana smoker. I smoked constantly. It record, a significant step that has Earle wasn’t heroin, it was Dilaudid, the pharpointed directly into the future. maceutical pain killer, that was the first “And I’m as content as I’ve ever been,” thing I got my hands on. I just remember Earle said. “Which doesn’t mean I’m congetting hit with it and it just felt like tent, but I’m as content as I’ve ever been. everything was just going to be OK, until I’m still always going to be a little bit of of course it wore off and I was sick as discontent because I’m a little bit crazy and I’ll always want more than I have.

File photo shows singer-songwriter Justin (expletive) until the next morning. But That’s what keeps me going. That’s what Townes Earle performs at the Newport Folk even with the sickness, I wanted to go back and capture that feeling again, you keeps me driven to keep on doing what Festival in Newport, RI. —AP know? I started to shut down at that I’m doing.” Perhaps it’s that drive that’s point.” His teen years flashed by, a montage of laugh. The view out the window seems to jog kept him alive so long. Sometimes, Justin searches for drugs, living with both his mother memories and he spends an hour telling stoTownes Earle is amazed he’s still above and father at times before leaving to live on his ries that would fit nicely in a “Scared Straight” ground. Images flashed through his head as own in his late teens. curriculum ... of a childhood spent mostly he sat backstage at The Mercy Lounge last He went to Chicago at 18 and found really alone after his famous father Steve Earle, November, staring out a window at bejewpure heroin for the first time in his life. He evenextremely gifted but also haunted by drugs, eled luxury high rises. The Nashville he’s looktually had to come back home, penniless, left his mother ... of crimes committed as if ing at doesn’t much resemble the lazy town hopelessly addicted and pretty much washed they were nothing ... of difficult relationships with the seedy side he grew up in during a up already as a performer. He sold what he that still sting ... of horrors no child should nearly feral, often lonely and always confusthought would be his last guitar at 20. He have to endure. ing childhood. awoke one morning and couldn’t believe what “I’ve come to the decision basically or the At the same time, some things look very

he saw in the mirror of his rundown motel room. “My hair was singed from smoking crack,” Earle said. “I had this mustache that was just burnt to pieces. I was missing my front tooth. I weighed about 125, 130 pounds. My arms looked like somebody had been throwing darts at them. I remember just standing there and looking at myself and having no clue who it was I was looking at.”

It took years, but Earle pulled out of it. He tried a number of treatments, including four years of methadone, which left him with a softbrained feeling for years. He had good days and slips and eventually reached a kind of equilibrium that allowed his gifts as a songwriter to emerge. “At 20 years old I just had to start learning to live,” he said. “I just had to learn what it meant to be a man. That’s a thing I’m still completely totally devoid of. I think I’m learning, but I still don’t think that I know what it really is to be a man.”

He released three increasingly wellreceived records and appeared to be carving out a career with six years of sobriety in tow.

Then he started smoking a little weed from time to time. And having a drink occasionally.

By the time he was ready to record his highly acclaimed 2010 breakthrough “Harlem River Blues” a year later, he was a raging addict again.

“I produced that (expletive) record doing an eight-ball of cocaine a day and choking down pain pills, you know, just loaded,” Earle said.

He’d party all night, roll into the studio around noon still tweaked and somehow managed to pull off an album of folk- and rock-tinged country that would cement his status as a rising young star, net him song of the year at the Americana Honors & Awards this week and earn him more cash than he’d ever had. —AP

The Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art exhibition

Women look at artwork displayed during the Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art exhibition at Christie’s in Dubai.

A woman looks at ‘The Second Marriage’ artwork by Syrian artist Khaled Takreti and ‘Reve 47’ by Syrian artist Safwan Dahoul during the Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art exhibition at Christie’s in Dubai yesterday. —AFP Photos

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

lifestyle F A S H I O N

Cashmere, Washington

High-school and middle-school campers with Gateway Fellowship float down the Wenatchee River after launching from Riverside Park in Cashmere.

Old meets new in

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modern ‘Mayberry’

troll along the streets in the Central Washington town of Cashmere, and it won’t be long before you pick up the scent of sugar and fruit coming from the kitchens of Liberty Orchards, a storefront factory known for jellied confections called Aplets and Cotlets. That is, unless you wander instead into the Mission District, and poke around inside an old fruit-packing warehouse. There you might catch a roasted coffee while shopping for vintage salt and pepper shakers.

Tucked away along the Wenatchee River off a busy highway just east of the Bavarianthemed town of Leavenworth, Cashmere combines a bit of Mayberry — “The “Andy Griffith Show’s” neat-as-a-pin slice of smalltown Americana — with a sprinkling of retro cool.

New cafes share the town with familyowned bakeries, a hardware store and a 99year-old pharmacy, the kinds of businesses replaced by big-box stores in other communities. “Everyone spends about a day to a day-and-a-half in Leavenworth, and then they ask themselves, ‘What else is there to

do?,’” said Christy Pease, owner of Junkyard Gypsy’s 2nd Hand Bargain Oasis, a Mission District shop filled with vintage furniture and collectibles. “So Cashmere is starting to grow.”

Visitors arrive by the busload at Liberty Orchards for the 10-minute factory tour and free samples of its candies made from local apples and apricots. Third-generation owners have spiffed up the tasting room and store over the years, but the operation runs much the way it did in the 1920s when two young Armenian orchardists, looking for new ways to use their surplus fruit, began manufacturing “locoum” — the eastern Mediterranean candy known as Turkish delight.

Clouds of powdered sugar fill a tworoom factory visible from the street.

Employees dressed in white work a small assembly line, hand-packing boxes for shipping around the country. Two streets — Aplets Way and Cotlets Avenue — carry the names of its signature products.

“Realistically, Aplets and Cotlets are what put Cashmere on the map,” said Marcia

Nestled in the corner of Doane’s Valley Pharmacy in Cashmere, Washington, is an old-fashioned soda fountain, serving a variety of treats.—MCT

Amy Stubbs fills an order of cookies for a customer at Sure to Rise Bakery.

Green, owner of the Mission Creek Cashmere’s reputation as an authentic slice of Americana comes together on treelined Cottage Avenue. Anchoring one end is a tiny business district with old-fashioned bakeries and a combination pizza parlor/bowling alley with four league-sized lanes. On the other are rows of early 1900sera Craftsman-style bungalows.

Pick up a free walking tour map at the Cashmere Museum. Take some time to explore its display of Native American artifacts and basement display of vintage corn shellers and musical instruments donated by locals. Next door is Pioneer Village, an outdoor collection of 20 original buildings,

Liberty Orchards, the maker of Aplets and Cotlets fruit candies,.

Pedestrians stroll through Pioneer Village .

many built in the 1800s with logs skidded down from the hills. Peek inside the former Great Northern Railroad ticket office at the dusty leather suitcases piled in the corner, and the barbershop with signs advertising haircuts for 15 cents.

A must-stop is the soda fountain at Doane’s Valley Pharmacy, in business at 119 Cottage Ave. since 1912. Noticing a sidewalk sign advertising ice-cream specials, I went in and found Kim Phillips behind the counter, making blackberry sodas with the flare of a sommelier . “It takes time to blend and it needs to breathe,” she said, filling a tall glass with seltzer and syrup. “So if you’re in a hurry, it’s probably not the best thing to order.”

She discourages to-go orders, preferring customers pull up a chair and chat. “I think we’ve been able to maintain a hometown feel,” Phillips says of Cashmere, her home for 30 years. “We’re happy when tourists pass through, but we haven’t become a tourist town. You can walk the streets, and still find whatever you need.”

If you go

Where: Cashmere is at the geographic center of Washington state, between Leavenworth and Wenatchee in Central Washington. Driving time from Seattle is about 2 { hours. Get there either by driving east along Highway 2 over Stevens Pass or via Interstate 90 and Highway 97 (Blewett Pass).

Lodging: Most people stay in Leavenworth or Wenatchee. A good choice in Cashmere are the suites at Mission Creek Cider Mill, 5420 Woodring Canyon Road. Two rooms in a renovated 1910 house facing a pear orchard rent for $125-$145 per night.

866-459-9614 www.washingtonapplecountry.com.

—MCT

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

lifestyle F A S H I O N

Fashion Week

Cali Exposhow

Models present creations by Colombian designer Carlos Arturo Zapata during the Cali Exposhow fashion week, in Cali, Valle del Cauca department. —AFP

Models present creations by Colombian designer Mary Cruz Castro.

Finger painting

When it comes to nails, anything goes N

ails may be less than an inch wide, but women love turning them into tiny canvases of personal expression. Just look at Katy Perry, who has adorned her nails with eye-catchers such as rhinestones and images of husband Russell Brand, or Rihanna, whose digits have been tipped with neon yellow painted with black smiley faces, and it’s clear that nails have become a major statement accessory.

It’s not just celebrities who are paying attention to the ends of their fingers. Sales of hand- and nail-care products in the US totaled $707 million in 2010, an increase of 11.9 percent over 2009, according to Mintel, a consumer product market and research group that tracks the beauty industry. The uptick in sales can be attributed in part to a dismal economy. Women may forgo a pricey haircut or new fall bag and opt instead to treat themselves to something far less expensive. It’s been called “the lipstick effect,” and now it extends to nails.

But unlike other “it” accessories-think of a season’s must-have bag or shoe-the big trend in nails is that there is no big trend. Almost anything goes. “People have different personalities, and nails are an area where you can take a risk,” says Eva Chen, health and beauty director at

A tarnished, metallic olive gold is as mysterious and regal as its namesake.

Sephora Collection — Tomorrow, Detox! (teal with silver glitter) Butter London — Wallis (a green-gold, named for Wallis Simpson) OPI _ Yucatan if You Want (a deep reddish-brown) OPI _ Mauving to Manitoba (a gray-brown) OPI _ Crown Me Already! (a bold, glittery silver) Essie _ Fishnet Stockings (true red) Essie _ No Prenup (an innocent baby pink) Essie _ Trophy Wife (a sparkly teal) Orly _ Two-Hour Lunch (hot pink) Orly _ Take Him to the Cleaners (shimmery brownblack) Deborah Lippmann — Call Me Irresponsible (creamy violet)

Teen Vogue. “It’s not like you’re getting a tattoo.”

Still, she says most women “have tended to have one of two strategies when it comes to nails. One is doing it for the wacky factor. And then there are the tried-andtrue classic girls who won’t wear anything but Ballet Slippers,” a soft, neutral pink shade from Essie. For the woman who indulges in the wacky side of lacquer, there are new magnetic polishes from brands including Layla and LCN. These allow the wearer to customize looks by using a magnet to pull metals in the paint into wavy lines. Then there’s Shatter polish from OPI, which cracks when applied over regular polish to reveal the contrasting hue underneath.

“People will tweak colors and be mad scientists, because it’s not a big deal if you mess up,” Chen says. She says she’s seen all kinds of looks from Teen Vogue readers, including ombre, tie-dye and even a Navajo print.

“They love to concoct their own formula. It shows that everyone’s just having fun, mixing it up. There are really no rules.”

Nail embellishment isn’t limited to color-shape is part of the equation too. A more extreme, pointier oval has been the popular shape for a couple of years among trend-setting pop stars like Fergie, Rihanna and Perry.

Celebrity manicurist Kimmie Kyees-who buffs, shapes and paints the nails of Rihanna, Perry, Eva Longoria and Kim Kardashian-says that she is still seeing quite a bit of the oval shape, but not so “pointy stilletto” as in seasons past.

“A rounder nail is more elegant,” she says. “But then

(Left) A darker, dustier, brownish variation on a rose pink is offered by butter London.

(Right) A soft, elegant greige shade with a splash of lilac glitter is the perfect marriage to combine fashion and fun.

(Below) Beige and gray hues have come back stronger each fall since OPI released the popular grayish-purple -brown.

there are some people who love a super square shape with pointy edges.”

Kardashian, for instance, sticks strictly to short, square nails generally painted in a feminine pale pink hue, Kyees says. The idea of nails as an accessory inspired Essie Weingarten of Essie Cosmetics when she created the line’s fall polish collections. Shades are named for handbags, with monikers including Power Clutch (dark green), Carry On (mulberry), Very Structured (burnt sienna) and Case Study (camel beige).

Rich and dusty hues like the ones in the Essie fall line are bound to be plentiful this season. “Rust is the new black,” Weingarten says.

And Kyees says she’s starting to see a lot of dark, plummy purples that are creamy and velvety in tone.

Beige and grayish-beige colors are still a big deal too,

with the fashion-savvy set continuing to love shades such as Chanel’s Particuliere and OPI’s You Don’t Know Jacques. “Beige used to feel like an old-lady color,” Kyees says. “But it’s so chic and fashionable now.”

Beige and gray hues have come back stronger each fall since OPI released the popular grayish-purple-brown You Don’t Know Jacques in August 2008. The company is continuing with a robust offering of grays in the fall 2011 Touring America collection.

Colors like Suzi Takes the Wheel, A-Taupe the Space Needle and Get in the Expresso Lane all have gray tones to them. Meanwhile, the Miss Universe collection from OPI, which also launched this fall, is full of glittery, pink and metallic hues-proving that there really is something for everyone and every mood. —MCT

Bollywood’s Shah Rukh the one to beat this Diwali

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011

In this photo taken Saturday a Chinese man holds up his pet cat during a cat show in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province. —AP

Dog doesn’t like

Halloween costume? Accessorize!

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et owners love dressing up their dogs for Halloween. Only problem is, dogs don’t always love wearing costumes.

But there are some tricks you can use for those pets that don’t think it’s a treat to wear hats, boots, masks and coats for their owners’ amusement.

If a dog is used to wearing clothes, costumes may not be a problem, said veterinarian Terry Marie Curtis, a clinical behaviorist for the Department of Small Animal Clinical Services at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Dogs accustomed to wearing snug items designed to calm anxiety like Thundershirts, Anxiety Wraps or Storm Defender Capes should be able to adjust to other types of clothing, she said.

But every pet is different. “Many dogs hate things on their feet,” she said. “This is true because it can alter how they perceive where they’re walking.” Some dogs are used to booties, though, either because they live where the ground gets very hot or cold, or they are carried most of the time. “The smaller pocket pups are more likely to have ‘dress up’ in their experience because that’s what mom has done since puppyhood,” Curtis said.

For fussy dogs (and cats), try a starter costume consisting mostly of accessories, advised Reyna Jew, who buys dog and cat apparel, shampoo, travel products and carriers for PetSmart. Try angel, fairy or bat wings, a pirate or witch hat. If that’s still too much, there are bows that clip in the pet’s hair, necklaces and decorative collars or bandannas made of Halloween-themed fabric. Target offers 29 costume styles for dogs, including five rider styles (a stuffed character rides on the back of the pet)

“Lex Luther” dresses up as Superman during PetSmart’s annual Howl-O-Ween costume party.

American Staffordshire puppy Maci joins in the Halloween fun.

designed for larger dogs and 10 partial costumes for the pet that won’t tolerate a full costume, said Kristy Welker of Target Communica- tions in Minneapolis.

Langston, a Pomeranian, gets ready to have his photo. stores, charitable organizations and other groups, including photo contests, pet parades and businesses inviting pets in costume to drop by, Jew said. PetSmart is among those sponsoring a costume contest, and you don’t have to buy the outfit at the store to enter, Jew said.

As the holiday approaches, pet owners should keep a few things in mind. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals warns that costumes should not limit an animal’s “movement, hearing, sight or ability to breathe, bark, eat, drink or eliminate. And watch for choking hazards.”

And, the ASPCA says, remember that chocolate is toxic for dogs, while the aluminum foil and cellophane in candy wrappers can cause serious problems for cats and dogs. —AP

Seamus, a miniature Bull Terrier, joins in the Halloween fun.

Options include items that attach to collars, like flowers and even Saint Bernardstyle rescue barrels, said Welker. These won’t upset animals who don’t like wearing clothes, but they’ll look like costumes to human eyes. Target also carries three styles of T-shirts and three styles of pajamas, including prisoners and skeletons. Costumes that cover a pet’s head or include eyeglasses or masks may be a challenge.

You’ll have to see what your dog will tolerate, but don’t be surprised if a mask or hat is repeatedly shaken or pawed off.

The most popular costume at PetSmart is the bumblebee, followed by the pumpkin and dragon, Jew said.

Bat wings, hot dogs and a sheriff are Target’s best-sellers. Pajamas are popular because they are comfortable, Welker said.

At BuyCostumes.com, a raptor, bee and a dog-riding cowboy top the list. No one sells full costumes just for cats but dog accessories will work. PetSmart also has 12 collars and scarves designed for and modeled by cats online.

A Shih Tzu gets ready to have her photo taken at PetSmart’s annual Howl-OWeen costume party.

Some pet owners want to dress like their pets or want to dress their children and pets alike. It’s easy to mix and match many pet costumes with adult costumes from other stores, Jew said. For example, there are Superman and Batman dog costumes. An owner can easily get a Lois Lane or Robin costume, she said. Target offers hot dog and banana costumes for both adults and pets, Welker said. Pet costumes are made to go on easy, Jew said, and usually fasten with Velcro.

The best-selling size costume is medium, which usually fits a 30- to 40-pound dog. “The toy breeds are second up,” Jew said. One trend that’s driving demand for pet costumes is the surging number of dress-up events for pets being staged by neighborhoods, cities, shelters, rescues, magazines, websites, pet

LaLa, a Maltese, and her pet parent Timecia Mentore, of Brooklyn, NY, join in Halloween fun at PetSmart’s annual Howl-O-Ween costume party.

— AP photos