26th Aug

CR IP TI ON BS SU

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Blast at Venezuela refinery kills 26

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Van Persie fires United, but Rooney injured

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Kuwaiti kidnapped at gunpoint in Lebanon

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Greek PM gets support but no concessions from Paris, Berlin

Myanmar communal bloodshed leaves scars

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www.kuwaittimes.net

SHAWWAL 8, 1433 AH

Tripoli death toll hits 15 • Syria army launches fresh assaults

BAALBEK, Lebanon: Armed men kidnapped a Kuwaiti in eastern Lebanon yesterday, a security official said, adding that the abduction did not appear to have a political motive. Issam Al-Houti, who lives in Lebanon, was seized from his car in the town of Howsh AlGhanam in the Bekaa valley, the official told AFP. “There are no signs that the kidnapping was politically motivated.” The official said there had been a number of kidnappings for ransom which are unrelated to political tensions or the conflict gripping neighbouring Syria.

Kuwait’s foreign ministry has begun contacting highest Lebanese authorities to secure the release of Houti, 52, an official source at the ministry said yesterday. The source told KUNA that the ministry was giving Houti’s case top priority and contacting all official sides in order to free him as soon as possible. It affirmed Lebanese authorities’ cooperation with the Kuwaiti foreign ministry and Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut, which was constantly following the latest updates on Houti’s case until he is released.

Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel underscored yesterday that security agencies are doing all in their power to guarantee the safe release of the abducted man. Charbel told KUNA said that the interior ministry has alerted all security agencies to participate in the efforts to quickly seek the release of the Kuwaiti.

Kuwaiti people have a special place in the hearts of the Lebanese people, he underlined.

Security sources in Beirut revealed that Houti was seized at gunpoint after his car was intercepted by an unknown armed group in the Bekaa valley.

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Visit-to-work rules relaxed Wefaq duo let in

By A Saleh KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has excluded workers in some technical professions from the condition of having a university degree when transferring from commercial visit visas to work visas. Ministry Undersecretary Mohammad AlKandari said the ministry wanted to make the process easier for employees. He said several government companies benefit from transferring visit visas into work permits, although that law easily allows them to obtain work visas. But the companies find it easier and quicker to make such a transfer.

Separately, Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Sabah allowed the entry of two members of the Bahraini opposition group Al-Wefaq Ramlah Abdelhameed and Nazi Kareemi - into Kuwait after they signed an undertaking to leave the country in three days. Sources said the two are banned from entering Kuwait for security reasons, adding that certain parties mediated with the minister to allow them to enter, arguing the ban was “illogical” and they have not done anything to harm Kuwait.

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HOWSH AL-GHANAM, Lebanon: Lebanese security men check the car used by a Kuwaiti man Issam Al-Houti (inset) living in Lebanon when he was seized in this town in the Bekaa valley yesterday. — AFP

First man on moon Neil Armstrong dies WASHINGTON: US astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, has died, US media repor ted yesterday. He was 82.

Armstrong underwent cardiac bypass surgery, earlier this month after doctors found blockages in his coronary arteries. He and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, before the eyes of hundreds of millions of awed television viewers worldwide. His first words upon stepping on the lunar surface have since been etched in history: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

An estimated 450 million people watched the grainy black and white broadcast that showed Armstrong, clad in a white space suit, climb down the lunar module’s ladder onto the Moon’s desolate surface. As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, it was also Armstrong who had notified mission control that the module had made a successful landing. “Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on Aug 5, 1930, Armstrong had an early fascination with aircraft and worked at a nearby airport when he was a teenager. He took flying lessons at the age of 15 and received his pilot’s license on his 16th birthday. A US Navy aviator, he flew 78 missions in the Korean War. He studied Aeronautical Engineering at Purdue University in Indiana, and later earned a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Southern California.

Neil Armstrong In 1955, he became a test pilot at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he flew about 50 different types of aircraft.

Seven years later, Armstrong was selected by the National Air and Space Administration to train as an astronaut in Houston, Texas. After retiring from NASA in 1971, Armstrong taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati for nearly a decade and served on the boards of several companies, including Lear Jet, United Airlines and Marathon Oil. Despite his worldwide fame, the lunar pioneer shied away from the limelight. After learning his autographs were being sold at exorbitant prices, he stopped signing memorabilia. — AFP

US genetic sleuths stop deadly bug WASHINGTON: Over six frightening months, a deadly germ untreatable by most antibiotics spread in the US’ leading research hospital. Pretty soon, a patient a week was catching the bug.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health locked down patients, cleaned with bleach, even ripped out plumbing - and still the germ persisted.

By the end, 18 people harbored the dangerous germ, and six died of bloodstream infections from it. Another five made it through the outbreak only to die from the diseases that brought them to NIH’s world-famous campus in the first place.

It took gene detectives teasing apart the bacteria’s DNA to solve the germ’s wily spread, a CSI-like saga with lessons for hospitals everywhere as they struggle to contain the growing threat of superbugs. It all stemmed from a single patient carrying a fairly new superbug known as KPC - Klebsiella pneumoniae that resists treatment by one of the last lines of defense, antibiotics called carbapenems. “We never want this to happen again,” said Dr Tara Palmore, deputy hospital epidemiologist at the NIH Clinical Center.

Infections at healthcare facilities are one of the nation’s leading causes of preventable death, claiming an estimated 99,000 lives a year. They’re something of a silent killer, as hospitals fearful of lawsuits don’t like to publicly reveal when they outfox infection control - yet no hospital is immune. Wednesday, government researchers published an unusually candid account of last year’s outbreak, with some advice: Fast sequencing of a germ’s genome, its full DNA, may be essential. It can reveal how drug-resistant bacteria are spreading so that doctors can protect other patients.

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Max 45º Min 29º High Tide 05:31 & 19:38 Low Tide 12:42 & 23:47

Apple scores huge win over Samsung Verdict shakes smartphone industry SAN JOSE, California: Apple won more than $1 billion in a massive US court victory over Samsung on Friday, in one of the biggest patent cases in decades - a verdict that could have huge market repercussions. A jury in San Jose, California awarded $1.049 billion to the US tech giant, according to court documents. But analysts said the damages could be tripled because jurors found Samsung “willfully” infringed on patents. The jury rejected the South Korean electronics firm’s counterclaims against Apple, which had claimed its iconic iPhone and iPad had been illegal-

ly copied.

From Seoul, Samsung reacted by saying it will contest the US verdict. “We will move immediately to file post-verdict motions to overturn this decision in this court and if we are not successful, we will appeal this decision to the Court of Appeals,” the company said in a statement. The decision appeared to be an overwhelming victory for Apple, but it was not immediately clear whether it would halt sales of Samsung devices or affect newer models released since the case was filed.

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SEOUL: A South Korean shop manager shows Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S mobile phone (right) and Apple’s iPhone 3G at a shop in this July 27, 2010 file photo. — AFP (See Page 27)

in the

news

Jordanian kills Syrian for harassing sister

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Capital detectives have arrested a Jordanian expat for killing a 24-year-old Syrian during a fight in an entertainment park. A security source said the suspect was arrested while he was receiving treatment for injuries he received.

The suspect claimed that the victim was harassing his sister. A verbal then physical exchange took place followed by a knife fight. The suspected killer’s aunt was also arrested for hiding the knife used in the stabbing.

Four Guards dead in Iran helicopter crash

Tiger escapes, kills keeper in German zoo

Bride drowns while getting pictures taken

TEHRAN: An Iranian helicopter of the Revolutionary Guards crashed in western Iran near the Iraqi border killing four Guards yesterday, the force’s website Sepahnews reported. It did not specify the type of aircraft, saying only that the helicopter suffered “technical failure” while on a mission in Sardasht border area, which is populated by Iran’s Kurdish minority. The official IRNA news agency said one Revolutionary Guard member and three crew members were killed. In mid2011, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards carried out major offensives against rebels of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). PJAK rebels have clashed repeatedly with Iranian forces, drawing retaliatory bombing of their rear bases in mountainous districts of Iraqi Kurdistan across the border.

BERLIN: A tiger escaped its enclosure at Cologne Zoo in western Germany yesterday and killed a female keeper before being shot dead by the zoo’s director, police said.

The tiger slipped through a passage between the enclosure and an adjacent storage building, where it fatally attacked the 43-year-old keeper, said police spokesman Stefan Kirchner. “It appears the gate wasn’t properly shut,” Kirchner said. The zoo was evacuated and a SWAT team was called in. But before it arrived the zoo’s director managed to kill the tiger by climbing onto the storage building and shooting it through a skylight using a highcaliber rifle. “This is the darkest day of my life,” the zoo’s director, Theo Pagel, was quoted as saying by Cologne newspaper Express. The paper said on its website that the Siberian tiger was a 4-year-old male called Altai that came to Cologne Zoo from an animal park in England.

RAWDON, Quebec: A woman drowned after being pulled under the water by a strong current while she was having photos taken in her wedding dress near waterfalls, Quebec police said Friday. Sgt Ronald McInnis of the Quebec provincial police said her body was recovered about four hours after she disappeared under the water. The woman was married on June 9 and was having photos taken in her dress with the picturesque Dorwin Falls as a backdrop in Rawdon, north of Montreal. While she was being photographed with her feet in the water the dress became saturated with water, leaving her unable to stay above water. The photographer and a bystander tried to rescue her but were unable to because of the weight of the dress. She slipped under the water and her body was later recovered in a basin about 30 m away by a diver.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

local

Cabinet struggling to enforce budget KUWAIT: The government is facing a dilemma on meeting budget requirements given the lack of parliament sessions, while an ordinance to approve a new budget cannot be passed before the 2009 parliament is dissolved. In the meantime, the government’s spending is based on the previous general budget that touched KD 19 billion. It estimates the new budget at KD 24 billion.

One solution discussed is budget cuts, but this scenario is wrought with problems when the government is required to pay public sector salaries with added pay raises and allowances enforced during the past year.

This comes while the opposition bloc resumed preparations for tomorrow’s (Monday) mass protest, including naming members who will represent them at the Iradah Square. “The bloc’s coordination committee initially agreed with Mubarak Al-Walan, Abdurrahman AlAnjari, Mohammad Al-Dallal and Faisal Al-Yahya to represent the bloc at the Iradah Square next Monday,” said member of the annulled 2012 parliament Adel Al-Dahoum. His meeting came following a meeting held with the coordination committee; a coalition of oppositionists who dominated majority seats in the annulled 2012 parliament.

The meeting held on Thursday, the first since the committee was assigned late last week to prepare for the bloc’s future steps, focused on organizing the work of the bloc’s media team “which focuses on sending the message of public protest and deflecting accusations,” according to sources.

The committee was also scheduled to hold a meeting last night to continue discussing ideas “including the possibility of

broadcasting a TV channel from outside Kuwait to cover public protests,” said sources who spoke to Al-Qabas.

Meanwhile, Al-Dahoum told Al-Qabas that the committee discussed “the framework for establishing the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution,” noting that names of members will be discussed in more detail during the bloc’s next meeting.

Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Speaker of the 2012 Parliament released a statement in which he warned the government against “challenging the people’s willpower” by prolonging the dissolution of the 2009 parliament, that was reinstated following a Constitutional Court verdict in June that annulled its dissolution decree. Al-Saadoun also reiterated the necessity to “avoid ignoring the multimillion-dinar deposits, foreign transfers, diesel fuel smuggling and Shell Oil deal.”

These issues were used by the opposition bloc to claim government corruption, which fueled public pressure that ultimately led to the Cabinet’s resignation and the Parliament’s dissolution late last year.

Hard-line oppositionist lawmaker Musallam Al-Barrak told Al-Jarida daily that “[the opposition] will go as far as it can” in staging public protests if the Constitutional Court renders the current electoral system unconstitutional. “The referral step is clearly the first step of a conspiracy the Cabinet seeks to achieve their goal,” Al-Barrak said, further reiterating claims that the Cabinet plans to use a verdict ruling the current system unconstitutional “in order to issue an emergency decree for new constituencies distribution by which they will be able to control the legislative authority.”

KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary Ministry of Interior Lt General Sheikh Mohammad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah led a cleaning campaign which lasted for five hours at Kubbar Island to remove leftovers of scrap metal and about 350 piles of garbage. Patrols of hover crafts participated in the campaign so did two ships WARBA and Al-SAFAR, and 62 laborers of whom 40 were from the coastguard. Accompanying the undersecretary was Colonel Talal AlMoanas and Captain Taraq Awezaq and Major Thamer Al-Saif and Rashed Al-Jasser, Operation Manager from Kuwait Municipality.

Cost of living increasing day by day in Kuwait ‘One of the most expensive GCC countries’

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: The Police Officers Club celebrated Eid Al-Fitr with a festival hosted at its headquarters on Abu Al-Hassaniya beach on the second day of Eid. The event featured various activities and competitions enjoyed by club members and families.

KUWAIT: In a study published yesterday in the local press it was reported that a five member family living in Kuwait whose total income is less than KD 1000 is living under the poverty line, according to the United Nations criteria based on the average per capita income of an individual living in Kuwait. The UN criteria for calculating poverty considers those families whose income is 60 percent below the average national income to be living under the poverty line.

The statistics of authorities in charge calculated the average family income as KD 1850, and 60 percent of this amount is KD 1000, which is the poverty line for a five member family in Kuwait.

Wisam is a Lebanese salesman who is surviving on a KD 650 income. “I was receiving 650 at my first job when I was single, then I got married and left that job. Now I’m being paid 400 and my wife only receives KD 250, and I have one child. I pay KD200 for rent, KD 75 for installments on my car, and I have to live with the remaining 350 for the rest of our family expenses. It’s hard, but I believe that whatever your salary, you can still survive,” he told the Kuwait Times.

Syrian expat Ibtisam, 35, is living by herself

and finds Kuwait expensive. “It is one of the most expensive GCC countries, compared to Saudi Arabia, for instance. I know that some Kuwaitis go to Bahrain or KSA to buy items, since the local market is expensive. Today everything is expensive. Now for KD10 you don’t get much from the supermarket. Even the housing rents are expensive, and when they hear about an increase in salary, the prices hike, so what’s the sense of the increment then? I’m one person living alone, I receive KD 650 and I have to send to my family back home, thus I don’t consider that I am poor,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile Jessie, an expat from the Philippines, finds living in Kuwait getting harder and is even thinking of returning home. “I’m a father of two kids, and I, along with my wife, make less than KD 1000 per month. I think this salary is not enough, and I agree that this amount is at the poverty line, though it’s still much better than in other countries. My wife is working to help me with the expenses, and if she didn’t help me I couldn’t do it alone. Today I can’t save any money and I think they should increase the salaries for expats, as prices are going up,” he explained.

Even Kuwaitis complain of the high cost of living. “I’m hardly managing to live at a nor-

mal level. My salary, along with my wife’s salary, brings in less than KD 1500 and we have a newborn baby. I don’t feel comfortable with our income, especially since my wife is an expat, so the salary is low. Besides that, there is little security in her job so I can’t depend on it much. I don’t pay rent, as I live with my family, which is a relief for me. I also don’t have side incomes, and now we are only three, but if I have more kids I will have to work in my hobby to get some money from it. I will have to draw and sell pictures to my friends, he noted, smiling.

Abu Abdullah is also complaining about living expenses. He is a Kuwaiti teacher and has two children and a maid. He mostly complains about the low allowance given by the government for children. “I receive KD 50 for each of my two kids, while I spend more than KD 200 for their necessary items. Recently I received an increase of KD 180 in my salary, thus I felt it was actually less than KD 50, as the prices of everything jumped. My rent has increased, and even the salary of the maid increased. Also, goods and ser vices all increased and I feel the salary increase we received was for traders only. I feel pity for expats who didn’t receive an increase in their salary, and I wonder how they live.” stressed Abu Abdullah.

KTS opposes ministry decision KUWAIT: The Kuwait Teachers Society expressed their objections about the ministry of education’s decision to not allow children of employees working in public schools (inspectors, teachers and administrators) to attend the same school with their parents, saying the decision was hasty and sudden and came without prior study or consultation with those working in the field.

They also said the decision came at a critical time and will have negative effects by creating a state of confusion for the school management, budgets and teaching plans, in addition to its social effects on the teaching staff and inspectors.

Further, the Society said in a press release

that in spite of the decision, it continues to appreciate the positive steps taken by minister of education Dr. Nayef Al-Hijrab, acting undersecretary Mariam Al-Waleed and Assistant Undersecretary Mohammad AlKandari, along with the ministry leaders, in preparing for the new academic year.

However, that will not prevent them from pointing out that the late decision to ban children and parents came without considering all sides and its importance, as well as the feasibility of making such a decision, especially in that it was taken without consultation with the Society, which represent the opinion of teachers and is seen as lacking justice and creating doubts about the honesty of teachers.

Divers remove 60 ton ship KUWAIT: The Kuwait Dive Team lifted a sunken wooden ship, located east of Bedaa shore that weighs 60 tons, 25 meters long and 8 meters wide. The operation was completed following four years of hard work. The ship was lifted from 12 meters underwater where it settled after sinking nearly a month ago while carrying food

supplies. The operation was delayed after Ramadan “due to difficulties facing divers during fasting hours combined with hazards of working at night,” said team leader Waleed AlFadhel.

The operation was carried out successfully through a joint plan with the Customs General

Depar tment and the Kuwait Fire Ser vices Directorate. After being lifted using a 100 ton leverage, the ship was taken to the Sabah AlAhmad base in Al-Fintas, Al-Fadhel added. “The team aimed through the operation to secure the fairway and tackle marine pollution caused by the ship,” he said.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

LOCAL Kuwait to host GCC economic forum

KUWAIT: Windmills and solar energy panels at Mohammad Ali Al-Naki’s house in Salwa area.

Kuwait’s future ‘through green energy’ ‘What you plant now, you harvest later’ KUWAIT: Amid a never-ending struggle of a government that cries for decreasing mind-boggling consumption of electricity through awareness campaigns and consumers who cannot let go of their daily dependency on electricity, one man might have found common grounds to address this problem by utilizing what nature has to offer.

The use of renewable energy resources derived from sunlight and wind might have been a familiar sight in Europe and other parts of the world; However, to see windmills and solar energy panels of various shapes and sizes in Kuwait is like watching a scene from a science-fiction movie; that is what one notices when passing by Mohammad Ali Al-Naki’s house in Salwa area. Al-Naki, an environment enthusiast and a renewable energy advocate, has been pioneering the usage of alternative energy since the mid-1980s. Al-Naki, Chairman of Kuwait Industries Company, believed that there was an ongoing quest to make the most of renewable and clean energy resources.

He is also a member of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), and has set up wind turbines and solar panels to provide power to his home, hence, offering an idiosyncratic experience into the world of alternative energy in the country.

“What you plant now, you harvest later,” Al-Naki said.

“It is important to lead by example to educate society on the usage of alternative energy so that future generations would reap the benefits.” He highlighted the importance of smart use of electricity and ones responsibility towards power consumption.

His endeavors in utilizing clean ener-

pointed out Al-Naki who indicated that his panels and turbines were not connected to the main power-grid of the area and they were solely used within the parameters of his residence.

Al-Naki revealed that his windmills generated around 100-7,000 megawatts of electricity; all depending on the

KUWAIT: Mohammad Ali Al-Naki explaining details of renewable energy resources. gy resources dated back to 1985 when he used solar panels to heat water at his home. Al-Naki described this project as an individual effort and “a personal interest” to dabble with green energy resources. “One does not simply capitalize on solar energy without coordinating with the authorities and embarking on such steps alone will result in grave consequences such as a blackout in the area,”

height of the windmill and type of installed blades.

The argument of wind power versus solar energy, when discussed within the context of Kuwait, differed tremendously due to the fact that windmills were more suitable for locations with more wind activity, while solar panels could be placed anywhere provided there was space to encompass the wide panels.

Despite being a hobby, Al-Naki hoped that one day the use of eco-friendly energy resources would spread across the country. He noted that he was a part of a major solar energy system project connected with the Fanar complex in Salmiya, as well as other personal venture to use wind in powering a small shed at his residence.

He stressed that the feasibility of using clean energy requires the right environmental conditions, funding and general social acceptance. He could easily see wind turbines of 100 MW generating power for street lamps on highways and parks. In addition, solar panels could be the perfect solution for desert-goers to replace their noisy and oily power generators at camp sites.

“Knowing the fact that material of solar panels and windmills could be produced locally, should be a great incentive to use green energy,” Al-Naki encouraged. The production of devices that were compatible with Kuwait’s weather conditions and local regulations, would not only lead to decreasing dependency on orthodox energy resources such as oil and natural gas, but would also alleviate power consumption that reach its highest levels during the summer, he noted.

Al-Naki concluded his intriguing conversation by urging the government to take into consideration the deployment of renewable energy resources, that would result in significant energy security and economic benefits. —KUNA

KUWAIT: The Leaders Group for Consulting and Development announced that it will be hosting the Second GCC Women’s Economic Forum on Sept 24 and 25 under the patronage of Sheikha Aiyda Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah.

This year’s event will be titled ‘GCC Women and Investment Opportunities in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries,’ and seeks to become “the largest women-oriented economic event in Kuwait featuring businesswomen from the six GCC member states,” said Leaders Group CEO Nabila Al-Anjari.

The Leaders Group launched the ‘GCC Women’s Economic Forum’ initiative in 2010 in which the first forum was held under the title ‘ Saudi and Kuwaiti Women: Exchanged Experiences and Leading Examples.’

“The forum provides an opportunity to hold a periodic meeting between businesswomen and leading women in GCC states as well as people interested in women’s economic role”, Al-Anjari said, noting that the door is opened for people interested in the topics that the forum discusses to participate in workshops and other activities held as part of it. She further indicated that the forum gives an opportunity for participants to “exchange their experience, assess the local economic situations and boost economic partnerships.”

“Female citizens represent an average of 35 percent of national labor forces in GCC states, which make them a main component for these countries’ human resources,” Al-Anjari said, pointing out “some reports which indicate an annual increase in fortunes of GCC businesswomen from $246 billion in 2007 to $346 billion in 2008 and to $385 billion most recently.”

Al-Anjari also acknowledged the participation of Sheik ha Aiyda Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, the Chair woman of the Board of Trustees for the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Award, saying that her patronage “adds to the elements of the forum’s success.”

Minister inspects new mourners’ hall KUWAIT: Serving the people is top priority, and improving services at the Sulaibikhat cemetery is part of government’s efforts to ease the sorrow of many families, Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim Minister of Electricity and Water, and Municipal Affairs said yesterday.

Speaking during a visit to Sulaibikhat cemetery to inspect the new mourners’ hall, Al-Ibrahim said that the new 4,000 square-meter facility was constructed with the help of a generous donation.

Al-Ibrahim inspected the new hall which is very spacious and offered condolences to families of the deceased. The minister also checked the new parking lot of the facility where at least 400 vehicles were parked. —KUNA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

LOCAL

kuwait digest

kuwait digest

Stop pouring fuel on fire

‘We want it five...’

By Hassan Al-Essa

By Dr Mohamad Abdul Mohsen

W

I

hy do some members of parliament, including Khalid Sultan Al-Essa and Waleed Al-Tabatabae, hate Kuwait

was and am still excited about the idea of five constituencies, which I still demand until this minute. I don’t know who took my picture while I was in the front line in the campaign “We want it five” which we conducted at the Determination Yards in 2006. But, regardless of his intention, he deserves to be thanked, because my presence expressed that I am convinced that the 25 constituencies are corrupt and none are constitutional, which I have written several times, and was discussed in a closed seminar at a law magazine in 2000.

Shiites?

Why do they look at Shiites with dark black glasses that keep them from seeing the truth about Kuwait’s identity and the history of its Shiites as an instilled foundation in it? What did Kuwait Shiites do to those religiously tensed MPs who cover themselves with arrogant and racist slogans that say: we are the only saved ones and the rest will go to hell, and, of course, Shiites will be its fuel before the rest of the secu-

I am repeating that I am with the five constituencies and not the one constituency, unless its system becomes just. And the “Five” with the suggestion I made achieves justice and equality and equal opportunities and national unity.

I have supported the change to five, not 10 constituencies, and always pushed forward to achieve that and to put an end to the reasons which contradict the constitution and justice.

But there were those who benefited from the campaign of “We want it five” in government or from the MPs. He tried using his knife to divide the five constituencies, contrary to the constitutional principles. He drew it in a way which violates justice, equality and citizenship. Maybe he has his special reasons, which made me say, after the five constituencies law was issued on Oct 4, 2008, that before any elections took place according to its systems, that it is not constitutional as published on this date in Al Anba daily.

The division of the “five” was disappointing, in spite of our being excited about reducing the number to five. But not in the same way which contradicted the constitution.

Here I am, repeating that I am with the five constituencies and not the one constituency, unless its system becomes just. And the “Five” with the suggestion I made achieves justice and equality and equal opportunities and national unity. The division was at random and transparent, which creates trust and prevents pre-control of the election outcome by government or MPs and those who are influential.

The following are logical questions for those who are looking for facts and demands a just system free from constitutional defects. l Is it not in the interest of the nation to stop the sectarian division, which has become common? lDon’t we need an MP who speaks for all Kuwait and represents the entire nation? l Is not a transparent system based upon random formation, equal or semi-equal, which make us trust the outcome of elections? l Don’t you agree with me about the necessity of setting a minimum number of votes to win a seat in parliament? l Don’t you agree with me about the importance of getting rid of transferring votes, and buying votes, and curbing political money to buy MPs and services for MPs? If you answered positively, then you should know that this is the five constituencies system suggested by me, and that is why I am so excited about it. This is the “just one” and “not the current one.” — Al-Qabas

We do not want anything from the majority of Sunnis other than realizing that Kuwait is not the injured Syria and not the hot Lebanon, and we do not want this small country to become an incubator that produces sectarian hatred. kuwait digest

Political and economic reform

By Riyadh Al-Adasani

T

ransparency, as well as political and economic reform, is achieved by not allowing decision makers to practice trades, be members of the ruling family or be state officials, especially ministers and MPs. Further, to achieve reform the enforcement of laws must seek to establish transparency among those in authority, including financial disclosures and seeking to avoid conflicts of interest.

These draft laws were included in the 2012 parliament’s agenda, and are scheduled to be enacted as per article 121 of the constitution which separates trade from politics, believing that trade corrupts when mixed with politics, much like what is happening today. We have lawmakers and ministers who practice trade, and might cause a negative impact on traders who are not involved in politics when “political influence” hurts opportunities for honest traders and ambitious young citizens.

These projects are supposed to be supported through the private sector and in a free economy, while resulting in commercial competition without monopoly and opening local markets in all fields. The main goal for this is to provide young people with the opportunity to contribute, through the private sector and free trade, in an environment where survival is for the fittest on the basis of offering the best quality, service and price.

Combined with controls to support national companies in order to protect them from foreign companies and prevent the collapse of the Kuwaiti economy, these measures can create commercial competition that eliminates monopolies and especially benefits Kuwaiti young people.

While I’m proud by the fact that Islam is recognized by Kuwait’s constitution as the religion of the state, I believe that efforts are required to stop abusing religion to achieve political and commercial gains.

Meanwhile, I also believe that enabling the judiciary to achieve full financial and administrative independence is best for the country. Moreover, article 50

of the constitution, which separates the duties of the judicial, legislative and executive authorities, must be fully applied. Further, the parliament must monitor executive authority, while the Cabinet should also enact their self-monitoring duties to hold accountable any minister who fails to fulfill projects on time that are included in the development plan. The gov-

These projects are supposed to be supported through the private sector and in a free economy, while resulting in commercial competition without monopoly and opening local markets in all fields. The main goal for this is to provide young people with the opportunity to contribute, through the private sector and free trade, in an environment where survival is for the fittest on the basis of offering the best quality, service and price. ernment must also take care of human development, through which national development can be achieved.

Lastly, Kuwait’s financial wealth is not being used to build the state due to the lack of timelines for projects, in addition to the fact that the government doesn’t value time. —Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

Pathetic state of our roads

By Hamad Alsrae

I

have earlier written about the roads in Kuwait, and pointed out that the roads are worn out and in need of being rebuilt in the country’s internal areas. The roads needs to be strongly shaken in order to become real, new and usable, as is the case with the bridge at the crossing of Airport Road and Jahra Road, which has been totally removed and rebuilt, as per the declarations of officials at the Ministry of Public Works.

When you drive your car on Jahra Road coming from Shuwaikh to the Sheraton Roundabout, you will find that many drivers are taking the wrong lane for two reasons. The first is the lack of road signs on the road. The second, which is more strange, is that the lanes are mixed up and merging together, which leads them to the Sheraton Roundabout.

After all the money paid, what we get are roads and bridges big enough for only one car on those roads. So what is the wisdom of building roads with one lane? Is it to prevent people from reaching commercial markets in the capital or to end up causing people to sit in traffic jams that have no end?

Hasn’t the minister of public works seen the drawings of the Sheraton Roundabout, since we know that bidding for the work was made more than once due to the games of some who are influential in the tender, and not to perform the bidding as required? What is the reason behind approving that tender, which is harmful to the Kuwaiti people and all road users?

Is Kuwaiti money so cheap, to the extent that tenders of high value achieve results they do not deserve, as is happening with Jaber Stadium, and we do not know when our football team will play on its grounds with the Kuwaiti public cheering the team? — Al-Anbaa

lars, leftists, liberals, Christians, Jews.... !

Why do those leaders of the Sunni political movements measure Shiites with one ruler, and it is a crooked one with decaying ends, and they do not differentiate between Sadiq Khalkhali and Dr. Hassan Jouhar, for example. They look equally at the most extreme people, such as an unknown Imam in an isolated Hussainiya in an unknown street in Tehran, and Imam Al-Sistani who suppressed the tendency of madness and revenge among Iraqi Shiites when the Al-Qaeda outcasts blew up the tombs and Shiites processions, and this righteous Imam saved the blood of many Iraqi Sunnis?

And why do not those leaders of the Kuwaiti sectarian ideology differentiate between a reckless Shiite who looks for the spotlight and curses companions of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh ) and recalled political events that took place more than 1,000 years ago, and a progressive Shiite who rejected sectarian identity and held on to his humanitarian identity?

Where is Kuwait’s interest and the unity of its people when the psychiatric hang up of those MPs remains only Shiites, Shiites and Shiites and no one before or after them? Where is the alleged national unity when their addresses revolve around doubting our Shiites’ and Kuwaiti people’s loyalty and calling them a “fifth column” on behalf of Iran, and traitors at the request of the Iranian republic?

We do not want anything from the majority of Sunnis other than realizing that Kuwait is not the injured Syria and not the hot Lebanon, and we do not want this small country to become an incubator that produces sectarian hatred. The shaikhs of Kuwaiti Salafis must realize that the Maarafi Hussainiya has been in existence for more than one hundred years, and the ceiling of the Khazaali Hussainiya provides us with a deep feeling of Kuwaiti identity and our historical identity that was forgiving before that Hussainiya was removed to make way for the bourse building, as construction for the fake modernity, because inside it financial trading takes place and behind it political sectarian exchanges take place. Be wise, you the knights of sects, and stop pouring fuel on the fire of hating others. — Al-Jarida

kuwait digest kuwait digest

Single constituency, single vote

Eid this year was different

By Khalid Toma

T

hese days, many people argue that a single constituency system is constitutionally correct and can be adopted as a way out of the current ordeal. However, I don’t think that this system is technically in line with the Kuwaiti Constitution.

Article 81 of the constitution clearly states that “electoral constituencies are determined by law”. The plural use means that Kuwaiti legislators are obligated to adopt a system in which Kuwait is divided into multiple constituencies, not a single constituency. This is further proven by law number 35/1963 of Kuwait ’s electoral law, which states under article 22 that “a candidate cannot run in more than one constituency”.

In my opinion, elections cannot be regarded constitutional unless organized through a multiconstituencies system, while a single constituency system can only be adopted after amending article 81 of the constitution.

Some people might argue with this theory, especially the effect of the pluralization in the article.

However, the theory is further supported by article 80 of the

By Mubarak Fahad Al-Duwailah constitution, which states that elections must be held “directly by universal suffrage and secret ballot”, which means that complementar y elections are not

The Constitutional Court can be asked to interpret article 81, but I don’t think their interpretation will differ from the explanation mentioned above.

Therefore, the safest way to adopt the single constituency system is by amending the article, which is something I don’t personally agree with because it would open doors for further instability.

allowed. The Constitutional Court can be asked to interpret article 81, but I don’t think their interpretation will differ from the explanation mentioned above. Therefore, the safest way to adopt the single constituency system is by amending the article, which is something I don’t personally agree with because it would open doors for further instability.

Reforming the electoral constituencies system is necessary to eliminate various flaws affecting the political scene.

As we wait for the Constitutional Court to make its ruling regarding the constitutionality of the current five -constituencies system, we hear multiple opinions made on a daily basis, which creates a case of confusion and, in some instances, can come in the form of being a ‘political showoff’.

In my opinion, amendments should be made on the distribution of constituencies, changing the number of votes in order to entitle each voter with only one vote, instead of four. This would help fight attempts to divide society, which have severely damaged our national unity. —Al-Rai

A

part from what is going on in Syria, Eid in most Arab countries this year was different! Many things changed for the better, and Almighty Allah changed people’s conditions as “statues” fell and others were broken.

The ruled yesterday became ruler today, and the prisoner is free and the free tyrants are now thrown in prison!

Our Eid this year was different, as we see the Islamic faction finally become victorious after a fierce fight with its adversaries, who were the non-religious liberal ideology, or the so called secular!

It was victorious in Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and even in Libya, where our liberals were so happy that the nationalistic faction there was ahead that Islamists were able to control the decision making centers for a simple reason, which is that the Libyan Liberal is more committed to religion than some Islamists due to the people’s conservative nature!

So, our Eid this year was different, and we have the right to be happy, and we hope that some of our Liberal colleagues here do not wish for the new regimes to fail, rather, to pray with us that Allah help those governments to fulfill the wishes and hopes of its people, because the nation suffered a lot from the regimes that employed all their energy for decades to bring the Islamic faction down to size, forgetting that only the correct remains correct! — Al-Qabas

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

LOCAL

Maid in police custody for assaulting employer’s son Two-year-old beaten with shoe KUWAIT: A domestic worker was arrested recently after she was caught on tape attacking her employer’s small son with a shoe.

Adailiya police station officers were approached by a Kuwaiti woman with a video tape that caught the housemaid beating the woman’s two-year-old with a shoe. The footage was taken by a surveillance camera the employer had secretly installed in the house to monitor the maid’s behavior, further explaining to police that she suspected that the maid might be involved in an illegal relationship “after noticing that she started taking extra care of her appearance lately”. After viewing the tape, police placed the maid under arrest and she is currently being held, pending legal procedures.

Attempted murder A Kuwaiti man was arrested after pointing a gun at another man during a recent conflict in Salmiya. Local police launched investigations after being approached by a Kuwaiti man who filed attempted murder charges against the suspect. Investigators were able to locate and arrest the man shortly afterwards, and he remains in custody pending investigations.

Domestic assault A Kuwaiti man is being held by Salmiya police pending investigations into a domestic

violence case filed by his girlfriend.

Investigations were begun after an Egyptian woman went to police to accuse her boyfriend of repeated physical assaults, leaving her wounded and bruised following the most recent assault which was driven by his “extreme jealousy”, and warning that he would become “furious if he felt that another man was looking at her”. The woman was taken to Mubarak Hospital to obtain a medical report after police noticed marks from beatings on her face. In the meantime, police summoned the suspect for an investigation.

Drunken senior citizen A senior citizen was arrested for being intoxicated and also charged with possession of alcoholic drinks. The man, who is in his sixties, was found in an unstable condition sitting inside a car parked near a house in AlMangaf. Police arrived on the scene after the homeowner made an emergency call, and arrested the man after observing that he was drunk. Furthermore, 15 bottles filled with homebrewed liquor were found inside the car.

Search for ingrate son A search is continuing for a drug addict who physically assaulted his father, threatening to murder him when he refused to give his son money. The incident recently took

place in Abu Al-Hasaniya when the young man went into a rage while under the influence of narcotics after his father refused his request for money to prevent him from buying more drugs. When the son threatened his father with an axe he brought from the kitchen, family members called the police.

Reportedly, the son then fled from the home.

A case was filed for investigation.

Kidnapping foiled A man was arrested after kidnapping a 12year-old boy with the intention of sexually assaulting him. Police pursued the suspect after receiving an emergency call from a man who had followed him after friends of the boy stopped him for help following the kidnapping. The man was arrested in Sabahiya where the kidnapping occurred, as police forced the suspect to stop while he was trying to escape. He remains in custody pending legal actions.

Sheep massacre A farm owner in Abdaly pressed charges against the owner of a neighboring farm after dogs made their way onto his farm and killed 13 sheep. The Kuwaiti man reported the incident to Qashaniya police after an employee on his farm reported that dogs from the nearby farm attacked his sheep. Investigations are ongoing. —Al-Rai, Al-Anba, Al-Watan

Kuwait donates $450,000 to UN fund UNITED NATIONS: Kuwait donated around $450,000 to the United Nations’ Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) as a step toward acknowledging the fund’s role in aiding countries hit by natural disasters and crisis.

After a meeting with Assistant SecretaryGeneral for Humanitarian Affairs Catherine Bragg, Kuwait permanent Ambassador to the UN Mansour Al- O taibi said that he handed the UN official two checks worth $200,000 and $250,000, with the lateral check donated to help aid efforts in Turkey after the earthquake which hit the southern part of the country months ago.

Al-Otaibi lauded the efforts taken by CERF, assuring that Kuwait would continue to support the fund’s cause. Since 2008, Kuwait began allocating 10 percent of its relief aid donations to help with CERF’s efforts. The Kuwaiti donations continued to rise from $50,000 till it reached $500,000 as

requested from United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during his recent visit to Kuwait and his meeting with HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheik h Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad AlSabah.

Bragg told KUNA following the meeting “we are very grateful” for this new contribution which “puts Kuwait among the top donors from the region to the CERF. Having the support of Kuwait is incredibly important for us.”

She noted that the Fund appreciates Kuwait, not just in terms of financial contribution, but also “we appreciate our increasing relationship with Kuwait in all the things that we do in our advocacy, in specific operational issues.”

“When we talk about Kuwait,” she added, “we do not just talk in terms of its financial support. Of course, that we are very, very

appreciative of, but it is more our increasing close relationship with Kuwait that we find to be more important.”

“So Kuwait, in supporting this fund, will allow us to continue to be able to provide financing. We are ver y, ver y grateful to Kuwait in terms of the last few years of its in creasin g con tr ibut i on to t he C E R F because it started out very small. Now, it is in the top level of donors from the region, and that is well appreciated,” she asserted.

She disclosed that Valerie Amos Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs will visit Kuwait in late September to attend a Conference on Partnership and I n fo r m a t i o n S h a r i n g, h o s te d by t h e Government of Kuwait.

She explained that the CERF is being used for nearly all of the emergencies in the world at the moment, but in particular it is being used for Syria, which is in urgent need of donor support. —KUNA

Drug shipment busted

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Police from the General Department of Drug Control (GDDC) in coordination with the Customs Department has confiscated 162,988 drug pills. They were tipped off about the arrival of an air freight from an Arab country containing an antique furniture and pills that were hidden.

The recipient, an expat working in a mobile phone shop in Salmiya was arrested. When quizzed about the shipment, he said that a citizen asked him to receive shipment from the customs and deliver it to him.

The citizen was arrested and the drugs were found with him. Both men and drugs were referred to concerned authorities.

More than 150 students join NBK Summer Training Program KUWAIT: NBK has initiated the Summer Training Program for university students as part of its endeavors to provide young Kuwaitis the opportunity to develop their skills, gain valuable corporate experience and learn firsthand about banking.

“NBK is fully committed to providing training and career development programs as part of its corporate social responsibility,” said Emad Al- Ablani, NBK Deputy General Manager, Human Resources Group. “We are keen to utilize all our potential and expertise to support a national workforce.”

Al Ablani added, “we are pleased to see the number of Kuwaiti students will- Emad Al-Ablan ing to gain banking skills and benefit pated in the Summer Internship Program from the opportunities provided annual- for 2012. The five hour daily sessions fealy by NBK during summer season increas- tured a mixture of theoretical and practiing year after year.” NBK Summer Training cal training dedicated to providing the program provides hundreds of training interns with valuable knowledge on a variety of subjects including team work, opportunities for Kuwaiti students.

In addition to the Summer Training creative thinking, means of self expresprogram for university students, NBK sion and modern banking procedures, in regularly organizes Summer Internship addition to providing interns with Program for high school and college stu- greater exposure to daily banking pracdents. More than 400 students partici- tices and norms.

Summer festival at Entertainment City KUWAIT: The Entertainment City has resumed normal summertime operating hours following the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, starting from August 23. It welcomes visitors from 5 pm to 1 am from Sunday to Thursday, and from 5:00 pm to 2:00 am on weekends, with Mondays allocated exclusively for female visitors.

The announcement was made by Yaqoub Al-Duaij Acting Manager of the Operations and Activities Department at the Touristic Enterprises Company, who added that various activities and special programs have been prepared as part of the ‘2012 summer festival,’ featuring competitions for prizes allocated by the Entertainment City’s management. The summer festival ends on Sept 14, 2012.

Ali Al-Qabandi

Mahmoud Al-Qassem

Media team to cover Pearl Diving Trip in Khairan KUWAIT: Media and press representatives will be present today at Al-Khairan to cover activities related to the 24th Annual Pearl Diving Trip at Al-Khairan’s pearl diving spots. The team began assembling at the Kuwait Sea Sports Club (KSSC) headquarters in Salmiya before driving to Al-Khairan where diving ships are docked.

The team will accompany the ships at dawn.

“Media and press representatives have the opportunity to take a close look at the great efforts exerted by divers and captains as they continue to demonstrate great heritage despite tough weather conditions,” said Mahmoud Abu Al-Qassem, the KCCS’s Public Relations and Media Committee President.

The 24th Pearl Diving Trip, which began on August 23 featuring 160 divers on nine diving ships trying to relive pearl diving expeditions during pre-oil Kuwait.

The trip concludes on August 30. The divers arrived in time in Al-Khairan on Thursday night “despite unstable weather conditions,” according to Ali Al-Qabandi, Head of the Cultural Committee and general supervisor of the trip.

Audit Bureau seeks answers on unfinished projects KUWAIT: A lack of coordination between state departments, combined with the failure to hold officials accountable for delayed projects, are two main reasons that some development projects were not completed within their time limits, according to recent reports issued by the State Audit Bureau (SAB). The report, quoted by Al-Rai daily yesterday, further mentioned ìchange orders made without notifying the SABî, which, in turn, places suspicions on certain projects.

The SAB reportedly informed the Ministry of Public Works about notes taken regarding a number of projects that were not finished on time, according to sources with knowledge about the problem. ìThis

step allows the ministry to work to address the errors before the SAB releases its annual report next Octoberî, said the sources, who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the sources further indicate that ìsome officials hesitate to make decisions to begin projects that are ready for executionî, adding that it is likely they ìfear committing errors for which they can be prosecuted in the futureî. The SAB, which is currently waiting for written responses regarding the topics sent to the MPW, regards failure of finalizing projects within their time limit ìa violation that leads to squandering public fundsî, the sources add.

Jarrah Al-Omani

KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait released a statement marking the World Humanitarian Day, detailing the several social activities carried out throughout the year, including regular visits made to the NBK Children’s Hospital and distributing food to highly populated areas. Abdulmuhsin Al-Rasheed, Public Relations Manager also took the opportunity to talk about the NBK’s contributions during past month of Ramadan, in which more than 100,000 Iftar meals were distributed while social visits were carried out to dozens of public and private sector facilities.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Gambia executes 9 convicted criminals

Development, decay in Indian PM’s Pakistan village Page 11

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RAFAH: Palestinian men transport bags of cement through tunnels used for smuggling goods, including food, fuel and building materials, along the Gaza-Egypt border in Rafah. — AFP

Egypt blocks 120 tunnels in Sinai Authorities hunt for 120 wanted militants CAIRO: Egyptian military engineers have blocked 120 tunnels used for smuggling to and from the Gaza Strip since the start of operations in the neighboring Sinai Peninsula, security officials said yesterday.

“Tunnel entrances are being demolished every day and the operation will continue until all underground passageways are shut,” one official said.

No less than 12 tunnels were blocked in the past two days on the Egyptian side, the source said, adding that the most of the tunnels lie in a four-kilometer stretch of the border. Until now, the army has not used explosives or water to plug the tunnels, which are also found in residential areas. Seven homes sitting on top of tunnel exits were leveled and two massive underground passages used to smuggle cars into the Gaza Strip were sealed, security officials said. The military sent in tanks and soldiers into the lawless peninsula which neighbors both Gaza and Israel after gunmen killed 16 soldiers in an attack on an army outpost on August 5.

Egypt is also searching for 120 wanted militants and believes around 1,600 extremists, including foreigners, are hiding out in the Sinai, the official MENA news agency reported Wednesday. Militants wounded three Egyptian policemen in the Sinai last week in an ambush of their vehicle with a rocket propelled grenade, a security official said. The government has long struggled with militancy and smuggling in the region but unrest has worsened since an uprising overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in February last

year, prompting the collapse of his discredited police force.

HAMAS TEAM HEAD TO CAIRO Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation travelled to Cairo for security talks yesterday amid Egyptian anger at a deadly raid on an army post near the Gaza border earlier this month, officials from the Islamist group said. “A security team from Gaza will leave for several meetings with Egyptian security,” Hamas interior ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein said. He said that the object was “to coordinate completely on all security issues, including border security and events which happened in Sinai and the Rafah border crossing (between Gaza and Egypt).”

Egypt closed the crossing - Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that bypasses Israel-after the August 5 attack and has since only partially reopened it. Egyptian officials have charged that some of the 35 gunmen who stormed the army post killing 16 soldiers had crossed from Gaza through the network of smuggling tunnels that run under the Gaza border. But Gaza’s Hamas rulers have said no Palestinians are suspected of involvement in the attack.

Asked if the Hamas delegation would take part in the Egyptian investigation, Ghussein said they would not be “directly involved” but would coordinate with Egyptian colleagues. A Hamas official said that the team would travel to Cairo later on Saturday, but did not say for how long.— Agencies

Romney birth certificate remark rekindles Obama’s controversy COMMERCE: US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took a dig at President Barack Obama on Friday over his birth certificate in comments that reignited a controversy over the Democrat’s eligibility to be president. “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate,” a smiling Romney told a rally of some 7,000 people in his home state of Michigan. “They know that this is the place that we were born and raised,” he said to the laughter of the crowd, speaking alongside his wife, Ann. Romney’s remarks, which he said later were meant as humor, drew a strong rebuke from Obama’s team in the tight presidential contest that has become more ill-tempered in recent weeks. They also further obscured Romney’s attempts to keep his message focused on jobs.

The joke was a reference to the widely discredited belief that Obama, whose father was from Kenya, was not born in the United States and thus is not eligible to be president. Conservative fringes of the Republican Party-including high-profile Romney backer Donald Trump-have argued that Obama was not born in Hawaii as he says. In an effort to end the “birther” controversy, Obama has released multiple

copies of his birth certificate that show he was born in the United States. But some conservatives refuse to let the issue die. “Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist

OHIO: In this photo combination, President Barack Obama (left) reaches out to shake hands after speaking at a campaign event at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio and Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, shakes hands with supporters after finishing his speech during a rally at Guerdon Enterprises in Boise. — AP himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America,” Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said.

Romney’s comments came as

PA blasts Tehran TEHRAN: The Palestinian Authority yesterday criticized Iran for inviting a Hamas leader to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, calling into question whether President Mahmoud Abbas would still attend. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad described the invitation to Ismail Haniyeh as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian national project.” “ The Palestinian Liberation Organization is the sole representative of all the Palestinian people,” Fayyad said in a statement. The invitation from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was conveyed to Haniyeh’s office on Friday, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki warned that if Abbas was not the sole Palestinian representative at the summit then the president may not participate. Iran had invited Abbas to next week’s summit two months ago, according to IRNA. Haniyeh’s deputy, Muhammed Awad, said there should be a Palestinian delegation

Republicans prepared for Monday’s opening of a four-day convention that will formally nominate him for president, and were the latest detour from his central argument

representing both Gaza and the West Bank.

“The Ramallah (government) should look at this as a move to have all the Palestinians present at the summit,” he said. Yousef Rezqeh, a political advisor to Hamas in Gaza said that Haniyeh has not yet decided whether he will attend.

“He is holding consultations with the members of his government, and certainly the decision that will be made will serve the highest interests of the Palestinian people,” Rezqeh said. In June 2007, Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from the premiership after Hamas seized full control of the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh refused to accept Abbas’ decree, and since then Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip, while an Abbas-appointed government controls the West Bank. Some analysts regard the late invitation to Haniyeh as a revision within the Iranian establishment over who should be allowed to represent the Palestinians. Iran is a supporter of Hamas and considers it to be the legitimate government of the Palestinians. — dpa

that Americans need a change from Obama’s economic leadership.

Brushing the comment off as a joke, the former Massachusetts governor said he did not believe the birther

theories. “I’ve said throughout the campaign and before, there’s no question about where he was born.

He was born in the US. This was fun about us, and coming home. And humor, you know-we’ve got to have a little humor in a campaign,” Romney told CBS News.

‘BIG BUSINESS IS FINE’ Less than 24 hours earlier, Romney said in Minnesota that “big business is doing fine in many places,” seemingly contradicting his message that companies are struggling under Obama. The line echoed an Obama comment about the private sector doing well that the Republican has repeatedly criticized on the campaign trail. Romney has had a series of awkward campaigntrail moments- highlighted by his European trip last month when he cast doubt on London’s readiness for the Olympics and discussed cultural differences between Israelis and Palestinians-that raised questions about his political instincts.

“He seems to really struggle when he tries to be spontaneous,” said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. “He comes across as more awkward and tin-eared than malicious.”—Reuters

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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

Aleppo hospital staff brave shells to treat wounded ALEPPO: On the first floor of the Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo, a boom sounds as a rocket fired from a helicopter hits a nearby building, and the staff begin preparing for another influx of patients. They barely flinch at the sound of the attack, which hits a fifthfloor apartment some 150 meters from the facility.

The hospital itself has been shelled four times, forcing the evacuation of all but two of its floors.

“My God, it’s like this every day,” a nurse sighs as she rushes towards the hospital’s front door to meet a car carrying wounded children, even as the helicopter continues to circle overhead, firing cannon rounds. Two children are rushed in, a boy and a girl, blood streaming from their heads. Dust cakes their faces, arms and clothes. Eight-year-old Mahmud struggles to get his words out as he sits on a stretcher, doctors rubbing iodine on his head as his chest heaves beneath his Barcelona football club shirt. “We were sitting on the floor of the kitchen, me and my sister Sana, and a rocket came and hit the house. We didn’t see the ceiling collapsing on top of us,” he says. “My mum and dad are still there,” Sana cries

next to him, her bare feet hanging over the edge of the bed, blood mixed with bits of concrete in her reddish hair. “Where is my mum? Is she okay?” she weeps, as staff try to calm her down. Both children have fairly minor injuries and are soon reunited with their parents. Their father rushes in first, followed by their grandfather, wild with panic, tears marking clean trails through the dust on his face. Soon afterwards, their mother Fayha is pulled from the rubble and brought to the hospital. After the staff stitch up a wound to her head and wrap her in a blanket, she is brought for a family reunion.

In a small room nearby on the first floor, 25-yearold Mohammed, a general practitioner, is stitching up a wound on the arm of a fighter who was wounded by a grenade in the Saif Al-Dawla neighborhood, where fierce battles are raging between rebel forces and government troops. “I’ve been here a month. I work four days at a time, full-time, treating everything that comes in,” Mohammed says, asking an assistant to adjust a lamp so he can better see his stitching work. “It’s hard, of course, but I look at it as

a duty, a humanitarian requirement.”

The facility is barely a hospital now, able to handle only the simplest tasks-stitches, blood transfusions, X-rays. The staff try to stabilize those in need of anything more so they can be transferred across the border to Turkey. Most of the upper floors are unusable, with many rooms trashed by incoming shells, and the risk of repeated attack has prompted staff to confine their work to the two lowest floors and the basement. On the first floor, a group of men run in carrying three children, two small boys and a tiny wide-eyed baby, his pale chest and downy hair covered in a film of white dust. The fighter gets up from the bed he is on, dripping blood from his wounded arm on the floor, to make room for one of the children, four-year-old Mohammed.

The boy cries, gulping and sobbing, as nurses clean up the blood around his neck and shave away part of his hair to get at the wound he sustained when the same helicopter shot a rocket at his home, elsewhere in the neighborhood. “Be brave, you’re a man, you mustn’t cry,” one of the fighters tells him

gently, as strands of his shorn hair tumble onto his lap. One bed over is 11-year-old Walid, who writhes as the hospital staff examine his wound. A shell exploded next to him as he was collecting rubbish, gouging out a deep wound around the bottom of his ribcage. “I want water, I want water,” he screams, as more than one of the men in the room turn away, trying to hide welling tears.

Abu Mohammed, the hospital pharmacist, maintains his cool. After a month working in the facility, he has learned to keep his emotions in check. “Every day we are being shelled, and most of the people we see here are civilians, women and children. The sound of shelling, and the sound of screaming, have become something normal for us.” The 28-year-old started out working in a secret clinic in Anadan, a small town outside Aleppo, but moved into the city to work at the hospital when fighting between government troops and the rebel forces intensified. “I look at it as my way of helping the revolution. I can’t fight, but medicine is my skill and I can use it to help.” — AFP

Gambia executes nine convicted criminals First death sentences in 27 years

ALEPPO: Civilians search for personal belongings in the rubble of their house following shelling from Syrian government forces in the Syrian northern city of Aleppo yesterday. — AFP

In battered Aleppo, rebels dig in for war of attrition ALEPPO: Syrian rebels say they are digging in for a war of attrition in Aleppo, where what was being billed as the “mother of all battles” is now dragging on into a second month of bloody stalemate. Aleppo is bearing the brunt of attacks by government warplanes, tanks and heavy artillery as the army battles to dislodge rebels who claim to control 60 percent of the battered northern metropolis.

“We don’t have enough weapons, they (the Syrian army) don’t have enough men,” said Abu Haidar, a rebel fighter in Saif Al-Dawla, a district in the city’s southwestern belt where much of the fighting is concentrated. At least 200,000 people have fled the city since late July when the increasingly bloody conflict spread to Aleppo, a once thriving manufacturing and commercial hub where war has now left a trail of destruction, with bombed out buildings and shuttered shops.

“It is a long war. Each party wants to settle the score, but it is a war of attrition that will drag on, with bombardments and fighting every day,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a watchdog that has a network of sources on the ground. Some rebel commanders say they are aware that even if the Free Syrian Army a motley collection of armed opposition groups-seizes full control on the ground, they will remained besieged from the air by the military’s far superior firepower. “Bashar AlAssad is like a wounded animal now, so I don’t expect him and his army to follow a logic,” Abu Mohamed, who leads a small katiba (brigade) near the Citadel in old Aleppo, said of the embattled Syrian president..

“I sometimes think he wants us to take the ground and then surround the city and starve us. He can then wait, try to cut us off and hope that we make mistakes, that civilians turn against us,” he said. Abu Mohammed defected from the army three years ago and found political asylum in Belgium before crossing back into Syria via Turkey more than a year ago when the revolution started. A top FSA commander in Aleppo, Abdel Jabba Al-Okaidi said on Tuesday that the rebels now controlled more than 60 percent of the city, but

this was rejected as “completely false” by a security source in Damascus.

And on Thursday, the army said it had recaptured three Christian neighborhoods in the heart of the predominantly Sunni Muslim city, whose fate is seen as crucial to the outcome of the war, in part because of its strategic location near Turkey. The Damascus security source said rebel ranks were swelling in terms of men but that the opposition fighters were lacking in arms as government air strikes had destroyed many weapons caches. “The army is trying to create security zones,” the source said, by carving up neighborhoods using troops and tanks to control the main streets and then “cleansing” each area of rebels. “It’s a long process,” he said.

Amnesty International said this week that civilians were facing “horrific” violence in Aleppo and indiscriminate attacks by regime troops, reporting scores of civilians killed or wounded in their homes or while queuing for bread. Assad’s men now control the Citadel, an ancient fortress in the heart of the Old City, but rebel fighters are surrounding the area and often take pot-shots at the troops. Not far away, in the Qastal Harami alleyways of the Old City, the Katiba Khuttab brigade of fighters were manning a sniper post set up behind a stack of sandbags just outside a bookshop.

The brigade commander, Khuttab, paced over cobblestones that have been covered with stickers featuring Assad’s face, so his fighters can trample on their enemy. “The people in this area have mostly left, they are poor, so they don’t provide us with help as such, in fact we try to give those who are left behind help.

But they all support us,” he said. Some rebels said the reason Assad’s forces do not launch a wider ground assault to reconquer Aleppo and use their greater firepower to break the back of the rebellion could be linked to its military failure in the town of Aazaz, which lies north of Aleppo near the Turkish border. Government forces stormed Aazaz in February but the FSA seized control at the end of July after five months of fierce fighting. —AFP

Libya Islamists destroy Sufi shrines and library ZLITAN: Ultra-conservative Islamists used bombs and a bulldozer to destroy the tomb of a 15th century Sufi scholar in the Libyan city of Zlitan, witnesses said yesterday, the latest attack in the region on sites branded idolatrous by some sects. The attackers reduced the revered last resting place of Abdel Salam Al-Asmar to rubble on Friday and also set fire to a historic library in a nearby mosque, ruining thousands of books, witnesses and a military official added. A Reuters journalist in Zlitan, about 160 km west of the Libyan capital, said the mosque’s dome had collapsed and a minaret was pockmarked with holes. The attackers appeared to have removed the last signs of the shrine with a bulldozer, which was abandoned nearby.

Libyan authorities have struggled to control a myriad of armed factions that have refused to give up their weapons following the revolution that ousted Muammar Gaddafi last year. The latest destruction followed two days of clashes between tribal group in Zlitan which killed two people and injured 18, according to military council counts. “The extremist Salafis took advantage (of the fact) that security officials were busy calming down the clashes and they desecrated the shrine,”

Zlitan military council official Omar Ali told Reuters, referring to conservative Muslims who see many Sufi sites as idolatrous.

Hardliners, emboldened and armed by the Arab Spring revolts, have targeted a number of sites sacred to Islam’s mystical Sufi tradition in Libya, Egypt and Mali over the past year. The assaults recalled the 2001 dynamiting by the Taliban of two 6th-century statues of Buddha carved into a cliff in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan. Sufism is a mystical strain of Islam which includes hymns, chanting and dancing among its devotions. Followers have built shrines to revered holy men and make pilgrimages to them. Even Gaddafi, with his ambivalent attitude to religion, did not try to interfere in a practice deep-rooted in Libyan culture.

Salafis believe Islam should keep to the simple, ascetic form practiced by the Prophet Mohammed and his disciples.

Followers reject any later additions to the faith - including lavish tombs or grave markings. A Facebook page titled “Together for the Removal of the Abdel Salam AlAsmar Shrine” congratulated supporters on the “successful removal of the Asmar shrine, the largest sign of idolatry in Libya.”

It posted photographs and YouTube footage of the destruction.—Reuters

BANJUL: Gambia has executed nine convicted criminals, the Civil Society Associations reported yesterday as Amnesty International warned that dozens more on death-row are under imminent threat as the West African nation carries out its first death sentences in 27 years. President Yaya Jammeh vowed earlier this month to execute all inmates sentenced to death “to ensure that criminals get what they deserve, that is, those who killed are killed and those who deserve to be put away from the society are put away from the society in accordance with the law.”

A government statement issued late Friday night said “All persons on death row have been tried by the Gambian courts of competent jurisdiction and thereof convicted and sentenced to death in accordance with the law. They have exhausted all their legal rights of appeal as provided by the law.” It added “the peace and stability of our beloved nation as regards to protection of the lives, liberty and property of individuals must at all cost be preserved and jealously guarded.” Eight men and one woman were removed from their prison cells Friday night and executed, London-based Amnesty reported, quoting “credible sources.” It said two of those executed are believed to be foreigners from Senegal.

A barrage of protests met the move, with expressions of shock coming from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the French and Nigerian governments and human rights groups. It was not clear how the prisoners were executed, but Gambia’s constitution says executions should be by hanging.

“What is however clear is that inmates were rounded up at 9.30 p.m. Thursday August 23 and that by the morning of August 24, the bodies were actually lying in the Mile Two Prison yard,” the Civil Society Associations of Gambia reported. Amnesty warned “more persons are under threat of imminent executions today and in the coming days.” Amnesty said the executions are the first in Gambia since 1987. Gambia reinstated

BANJUL: Gambian president Yahya Jammeh speaking to journalists in the capital Banjul.

Amnesty International said that Gambia had executed nine death row prisoners, after President Yahya Jammeh vowed to carry out all death sentences by mid-September. — AFP the death penalty in 1995 but had not executed anyone, former minister Omar Jallow has told The Associated Press. Amnesty said there were 47 inmates on death row before Friday’s executions: government figures put the number at 42 men and two women and another three men reportedly also received the death sentence this year. Capital punishment can be imposed in Gambia for murder and treason. Three of those reportedly executed had been sentenced for treason, Amnesty said. It’s not known how many of those on death row have been sentenced for alleged coup-plotting, a treasonable offense that could indicate Jammeh is using the executions to get rid of political opponents.

Jammeh was reelected in November in elections that were “neither free nor fair,” according to the US State Department. Its annual human rights report criticized “the government’s harassment and abuse of its critics, which resulted in a muzzled press and the death, torture, arrest and detention, and sometimes enforced disappearance of citizens.” Amnesty called the executions, if confirmed, “a hugely retrograde step” putting Gambia among a minority of African states that still impose the death penalty. Thirty-eight of the 54 members of the African Union have abolished the death penalty or, if it is still in their law books, do not perform executions, Amnesty International said. — AP

Ex-Navy SEAL behind Bin Laden book faces threats Name, photograph posted on Qaeda website WASHINGTON: The former US Navy SEAL who authored a soon-to-be-published book about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is now facing threats against his life in addition to possible criminal prosecution. An official AlQaeda website yesterday posted a photograph and the name of the former Navy commando responsible for the book, calling him “the dog who murdered the martyr Sheikh Osama bin Laden.”

The head of US Special Operations Command told current and former troops that the military would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause harm to fellow forces.

“We will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution where appropriate,” Admiral Bill McRaven wrote in an open, unclassified letter emailed to the active-duty special operations community, and obtained by Reuters on Friday. “As current or former members of our special operations community, authors have a moral obligation, and a legal duty, to submit their works for pre-publication security review,” the admiral wrote.

Fox News made public on Thursday what it said was the real name of the former SEAL who, with a journalist co-author, wrote “No Easy Day,” using the pseudonym Mark Owen.

The book is due to be released next month on the anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States. By early on Friday, the man’s name, photograph and age had been posted on the “the Al-Fidaa Islamic Network” online forum, one of two websites officially endorsed

by Al-Qaeda, according to Evan Kohlmann, founder of the New York-based security firm Flashpoint Global Partners.

It was followed by comments that called for the man’s death, including one response that said, “O’ Allah, kill every one of them,” and another that said, “O’ Allah, make an example of him for the whole world and give him dark days ahead.” The Navy SEAL was also identified by other US media. Reuters has confirmed his

name but is not publishing it, given concerns about his safety. US military officials have said the former Navy SEAL could face investigation because he failed to clear the book with the Defense Department before publication, even if it does not disclose specific classified details.

WASHINGTON: Navy Adm Bill McRaven, commander of the US Special Operations Command addresses the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in Washington in this file photo. Special operations chief McRaven is warning he will take legal action against anyone under his command if they’re found guilty of exposing sensitive information that could cause fellow forces harm. — AP ‘DISTINCT LINE’ McRaven’s letter said books and films about special operations teams could be useful educational tools, and the military would work with potential authors, but current and former ser vice members would be held accountable if they endangered the safety of US forces. He said there was “a distinct line between recounting a story for the purposes

of education or entertainment and telling a story that exposes sensitive activities just to garner greater readership and personal profit.”

Kohlmann said the former Navy SEAL could now be in physical danger from Al-Qaeda sympathizers seeking revenge for bin Laden’s death, or hoping to gain prestige for themselves. “They have a photo of the individual, they have his name, his age,” Kohlmann said. “I wish that all this was bluster, but there are a lot of would-be jihadists out there, including some in Nor th America. This is the ideal opportunity for those kind of people.” The book’s publisher, Dutton, said the author was “one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist leader’s hideout and was present at his death.”

It is not known whether “No Easy Day” contains details of commando operations that the US government considers secret, but US government officials said the account had not been submitted for a required pre-publication review. “Even if there is nothing classified disclosed, it should have been reviewed, and it was not,” said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, the publisher said the book had been vetted “for tactical, technical, and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified by compilation” by a former “special operations attorney.”

Jeffrey Carr, a cyber security expert, said AlQaeda officials were adept at using the Internet for recruitment, training and other searches, and he fully expected them to target the former Navy SEAL now that his identity had been disclosed.

“He’s going to become the poster child for recruitment and assassination,” Carr said, noting that the case underscored the need for anyone in a high-risk profession to take great precautions with any information available on the Internet. Carr said the man’s relatives and former Navy SEAL colleagues could also be in danger if they could be traced through the Internet.— Reuters

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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

Mormons buoyed by Romney run; Church neutral SALT LAKE CITY: When Rudolf Hegewald left East Germany to join fellow Mormons in the US state of Utah more than five decades ago, he could only dream that a member of his faith would one day run for president. But with Mitt Romney all but certain to receive the Republican nomination next week, Hegewald might even see one of his brethren in the White House. Serving as a volunteer at a church welfare center in Salt Lake City, the 82-year-old retiree follows Romney’s campaign closely.

“The missionary work would be easier if you could say: ‘The President of the United States is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’,” Hegewald said, praising the “high moral principles” he says guide Mormons.

Mormons are rarely as outspoken about their views on Romney as Hegewald.

Church officials insist that their mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians or promote their own community. “We take that neutrality very seriously,” said Michael Otterson, managing director of public affairs for

the LDS Church. “We are not interested in discussing political campaigns or politics.” Facing persistent skepticism about his faith among mainstream Christian Evangelicals, some of whom have called Mormonism a “cult”, Romney has tried to avoid any references to religion beyond a vague image of a churchgoing man.

When the New York Times and the Washington Post recently published stories on Romney’s long-standing involvement as a lay church leader and his commitment to Mormon teachings, his campaign declined to comment. But last Sunday, Romney suddenly opened up to the media, inviting journalists to accompany him to church services for the first time since he started running for president.

According to repor ts, Romney ’s advisers believe it is time for him to embrace his religious background, calculating that voters’ appreciation for his charitable giving and active church role will outweigh doubts about Mormonism. Andrew Watson and his wife Kelsey live in a suburb of Salt Lake

City, the heartland of the faith, raising their four kids on a quiet street with spacious family homes and neatly manicured lawns. “Mormons don’t need a trophy,” said 34-year-old Watson, stressing that Romney’s faith does not determine his choice for President. “We vote for who is more qualified.” But Watson hoped the attention drawn to Mormonism by Romney’s run for the White House could “help clarify some misconceptions” about his faith.

There are six million Mormons in the United States, making up about two percent of the population. ‘More informed about our faith’-The church is known for its smartly-dressed missionaries-who fan out around the world in pairs looking for converts-as well as its former practice of polygamy and strict rules against alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. According to a Bloomberg News poll from March, more than one in three Americans hold an unfavorable view of the Mormon Church. Some of the stigma stems from the faith’s seemingly secret traditions-non-Mormons are

barred from entering temples, for example.

A recent survey of Mormon voters in Utah by the Brigham Young University, a Mormon centre of learning, showed that 79 percent of respondents believed Romney’s candidacy is a good thing for their church. In a Pew Research Center poll among US Mormons published earlier this year, 56 percent believe Americans are ready to elect a Mormon president, compared with 32 percent who do not believe the time is right.

Romney is not the first Mormon to seek the White House. The faith’s founder Joseph Smith ran in 1844, in part to press for greater civil liberties for members of his nascent church.

And Romney’s father George waged an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination in 1968. Jon Huntsman, a former Utah governor, was another Mormon candidate this year, but his campaign failed to gain traction and he dropped out in January. So Mitt Romney is the first member of the LDS church to secure the nomination of a major politi-

cal party, squaring off against President Barack Obama on November 6. “I think even Mormons that will not vote for Mitt Romney, if he were elected would see that as an important symbolic moment in terms of the church’s acceptance among the wider public”, Chris Karpowitz, a BYU political science professor, told AFP. “ There is a sense of shared identity.”

But for most voters, including Mormons, religion will likely play only a minor role, Karpowitz said. “Overall, the economy will be the most important issue for the election.” At BYU, the university 40 minutes south of Salt Lake City where Romney earned a bachelor’s degree in 1971 before continuing his studies at Harvard, students share the idea that religion is not the issue on the ballot. “I think it’s more important to get a President who can turn the economy around,” 24-year-old business major Sean Hollingshead said. “Religion doesn’t really matter. But if we can get people more informed about our faith, that’s a positive side note.”—AFP

Blast rocks Venezuelan largest refinery, kills 24 Refinery problems plague OPEC member nation

OHIO: US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (left) speaks as his running mate Paul Ryan and supporters listen during a campaign rally at the village green park in Powell, Ohio yesterday. —AFP

Stormy convention looms WASHINGTON: This week was a tempestuous one for the Republican Party, but things could get even stormier if a hurricane bears down on the national convention in Tampa, Florida. With Tropical Storm Isaac on a path that could bring it to the city at hurricane strength just as the fourday event begins on Monday, Republican officials were setting up tents, stockpiling umbrellas and nervously eyeing possible changes to the schedule of speakers.

Forecasters said on Friday that Isaac could bring torrential rains, high winds and tornadoes to Tampa even if it remains a tropical storm and stays out in the Gulf of Mexico, far from shore.

The party insists the meeting will go ahead, even if it has to alter the schedule.

“We’re going to have a convention,” said Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. The highlight of the event-Mitt Romney’s speech accepting the nomination for president-is still set for Thursday. The schedule was unchanged by Friday afternoon, but convention officials said they would make changes if necessary. Speakers could be moved to different days or dropped altogether if the weather makes traveling dangerous or difficult. “We have contingency plans in place to ensure the health and safety of convention delegates, guests and visitors, and the Tampa Bay community,” spokesman James Davis said.

The RNC will have ponchos and raincoats for delegates, and organizers said they had a big supply of umbrellas in-of course -Republican red. Workers have erected canvas covers over walkways and set up tents to shield delegates from rain or hot sun, but they might be a problem in wind. At least one tent collapsed and was

mangled in a thunderstorm this week. The convention will bring 50,000 visitors to the Tampa-St Petersburg area, home to well over 4 million people. But local authorities say they can handle the crowds and a storm. Many attendees booked earlier flights to be in place before any bad weather. Hotels said they were ready to shift party schedules or move outdoor events indoors.

FLOODING, STORM SURGE A major concern would be flooding from rain or a storm surge a wall of water driven inland by a hurricane. The ground in the Tampa area is already soaked and rivers and lakes are swollen from recent heavy rainstorms. High winds could also close some of Tampa’s many bridges.

Tropical Storm Debby lingered off the Florida coast in June, dousing the area and spinning off a tornado that tore the roof off of a restaurant. The area is still recovering. Fears about the convention ended a rough week for the Republicans, whose hopes of positive headlines before the gathering were ruined by an uproar over comments on “legitimate rape” by Republican Representative Todd Akin.

The conservative lawmaker defied calls from Romney and many senior party figures to quit the race for a US Senate seat in Missouri. The convention could still dodge the bullet. Rick Danielson, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said Isaac’s threat to Tampa was still difficult to gauge on Friday, when the storm was in the Caribbean heading for Haiti. He said the convention city could be hit by coastal flooding and driving winds or rain. “There is still a full range of possible impacts on Tampa at this point,” he said. — Reuters

Tea party tries to balance ideology and constituents WASHINGTON: Twenty months into a Congress they have tilted rightward, tea party loyalists are finding that ideological purity can be elusive for conservative lawmakers trying to balance their convictions against constituents’ election-year needs. Rep Paul Ryan, who has won tea party praise as Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick, had a General Motors assembly plant that was about to be shuttered in his hometown of Janesville, Wis, when he voted for the $14 billion auto industry bailout in 2008. The seventerm House Republican also voted for the $700 billion financial industry rescue that same year.

He has since criticized both efforts by President George W Bush to combat that year’s near economic collapse. Yet his votes plus his support for Bush’s 2003 debtfinanced expansion of Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage - rankle conservatives to this day and underscore the challenge of adhering to small-government principles when voters’ bread-and-butter interests are at stake. More recently, this campaign season has seen some of the House’s most conservative members split over a sweeping farm bill, disaster aid to drought-battered farmers and legislation to finance transportation projects and keep student loan interest rates from ballooning.

Such divisions have dampened the expectations of tea party leaders, with some now

saying it will take several elections before they win the Washington clout they need.

“No one is going to agree with us 100 percent of the time,” Jenny Beth Martin, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, said of members of Congress. “And we do understand they do have to look at what’s best for their district and their constituents.” Martin said that most of all, tea party supporters want lawmakers to be firm in their convictions.

Out of 240 House Republicans and 47 GOP senators, she said there are fewer than 30 House members and about five senators she can reliably count on for support, with too many others focused on bringing federal largesse back home. “We just don’t have very many visionary people stepping up in our political landscape right now at all,” Martin said.

The struggles conservatives face were illustrated just before Congress recessed for August, when the House approved $383 million in agriculture disaster aid, mostly for livestock producers and tree farmers. Conservatives ended up on both sides of the 223-197 vote. One of the “yes” votes came from Rep Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., who has one of the House’s most conservative voting records and whose district has one of the nation’s heaviest concentrations of farms. Huelskamp said he has repeatedly told constituents that they will be affected by efforts to curb federal deficits, including reductions in farm support. —AP

PAR AGUANA: A large gas explosion shook Venezuela’s biggest refinery, the 645,000barrels-per-day Amuay facility, killing 24 people before dawn yesterday, officials said. Stella Lugo, the governor of Falcon state, said more than 53 other people had been injured, and that a 10-year- old child was among the dead. “ We are deploying our whole fire service team, all our health team, the whole contingency plan on the orders of (President Hugo) Chavez to first of all care for the people affected by this emergency,” Lugo told Venezuelan state TV. Officials said the blast was caused by a gas leak and that it had damaged nearby homes along with the refiner y complex. Based in the west of the South American OPEC nation, Amuay is part of the Paraguana Refining Center, one of the biggest refinery complexes in the world with an overall capacity of 955,000 bpd. “A cloud of gas exploded,” Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told state TV. “It was a significant explosion, there is appreciable damage to infrastructure and to houses opposite the refinery.”

Emergency workers were at the scene, where smoke and flames could be seen over the facility. Both Ramirez and Lugo said the situation was, however,

PARAGUANA: A TV grab shows Venezuelan largest oil refinery Amuay, part of the larger Paraguana Oil Refining Complex, in Paraguana, state of Falcon in northwestern Venezuela after a massive explosion yesterday.— AFP under control several hours after the explosion at about 1 am local time. “There’s no risk of another explosion,” Lugo said.

Amuay is operated by state oil company PDVSA which has

struggled with repeated refinery problems in recent years, affecting its production figures and ability to fulfill ambitious expansion plans. Power faults, accidents and planned stop-

pages for maintenance have hit deliveries from South America’s biggest oil expor ter. I van Freites, a union leader at PDVSA, said foam was being used to control the fire. — Reuters

Mexico police shoot at US diplomatic car MORELOS: Mexican federal police shot at a US diplomatic car as they chased criminals south of Mexico City, in a chaotic incident that left two US embassy employees wounded.

The two staffers were given medical treatment and were in stable condition Friday, the Mexican and US governments said in separate statements. A Mexican navy captain who was with them suffered light injuries. A US embassy statement said the diplomatic car was “ambushed by a group of individuals.”

But it added that the Mexican government also admitted that federal police shot at the vehicle and detained officers who were involved. The Mexican attorney general’s office said 12 federal police agents were questioned. Federal police officers were conducting anti-crime operations in the area when the incident took place, the Mexican navy and public security ministry said in a joint state-

ment. The US embassy car was on a dirt road, heading towards a military installation in El Capulin when it was approached by a vehicle whose unidentified passengers displayed weapons.

“The driver of the diplomatic vehicle used evasive maneuvers and when it returned on the highway, the passengers in the attacking vehicle opened fire on the diplomatic vehicle,” the statement added. “Moments later three other vehicles joined the chase and shot at the US embassy vehicle.” The Mexican government statement did not specify who the four attacking vehicles belonged to, or whether it was police bullets that wounded the three victims. It said, however, that the US diplomatic car “was hit by multiple bullets from personnel of the federal police on the Tres Marias-Huitzilac highway.”

Photos at the scene showed an SUV with

TRES MARIAS: Forensic personnel check a US diplomatic vehicle attacked with gunfire in the Tres Marias-Huitzilac highway in Morelos, Mexico.— AFP

diplomatic plates riddled with bullet holes and its tires blown out. The US embassy said the trio were driving to a training facility when they were ambushed. “ The vehicle attempted to escape, was pursued and sustained heavy damage,” the statement said.

“The government of Mexico has acknowledged that members of the federal police were involved and fired on the US Embassy vehicle. The government of Mexico has begun an investigation and detained members of the federal police who were involved.”

The shooting took place in the state of Morelos, which has suffered a surge in murders in recent weeks amid a turf war between drug cartels. The bodies of four women were found on another highway near Cuernavaca last week. Mexico is in the throes of a violent drug war that has left more than 50,000 people dead since President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers to combat cartels in 2006.

The United States cooperates closely with Mexico under the $1.6 billion Merida Initiative, which provides training for Mexican law enforcement officials as well as equipment to combat drug trafficking.

Mexican Interior Minister Alejandro Poire voiced deep regret over the incident, pledging to “shed light into what happened” and determine who was responsible. The US State Department said in a brief statement that the two embassy employees had received “appropriate medical care and are in stable condition.” “We are working with Mexican authorities to investigate an incident this morning in which two employees of our embassy in Mexico City came under attack by unknown assailants,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

After the shooting, the army and the police closed a 10-kilometer stretch of highway as well as access to a wooded area around the scene of the incident near the town of Tres Marias. The incident came 18 months after two US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were shot while driving in a car between Mexico City and the northern city of Monterrey in February 2011.

One of the agents, Jaime Zapata, died in the attack by members of the feared Los Zetas cartel.—AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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

Mine killings lay bare violent inter-union rivalry JOHANNESBURG: The deadly industrial protests last week at a platinum mine in South Africa have laid bare a fierce and violent battle for domination among trade unions in Africa’s wealthiest and leading democracy.

The killing of 44 people during a wildcat strike at the Marikana mine last week highlighted the depth of internal politics between the main and threedecades old National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the 11-yearold Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).

The NUM has come under fire from workers accusing it of being alienated from day-to-day shop floor issues and having too cosy a relationship with management. Boasting a membership of 300,000, NUM is the largest single affiliate of the 2.2 million-strong umbrella union Cosatu, a crucial ally and support base of the ruling ANC. Hamadziripi Tamukamoyo, a researcher with south Africa’s Institute of Security Studies said “some have argued that Cosatu ...have largely come to represent a ‘working class aristocracy’ and are too involved in ANC elite politics to adequately work in the interest of the poor.”

Some disgruntled NUM activists

broke away to form a splinter independent union, AMCU in a bid to to close the gap. But it is only in recent months that AMCU appeared to have consolidated its position. It quickly gained ground early this year after a six-week violent strike at Impala Platinum mine, the world’s second largest, sitting on the same platinum belt as Lonmin. Some 17,000 workers were sacked during the strike but then reinstated, after which AMCU said it had stripped most of the NUM membership to claim more than 50 percent on the its register and demanded recognition.

For a union to be recognized by law for collective bargaining purposes, it has to attain a membership of more than 50 percent of the workforce.

Violence and intimidation have become a culture to coerce workers to take part in strikes or join unions.

Unions survive on workers’ subscriptions, often calculated as a percentage of their salaries. The two unions denied being behind the deadly protests at Lonimn mine. ISS also said the strike was started by non-unionized labor. But the AMCU leader Joseph Mathunjwa, accompanied by a group of praise singers, stormed into a

memorial service organized for the victims of the Lonmin killins of Thursday and was given a platform to address mourners. Some of the songs sung during the violent protests staged on a kopje in Marikana town,

were anti NUM. “It’s very difficult to build a ver y strong worker solidarity...so you use violence to bring them together. Violence becomes a tool to achieve worker solidarity,” said Crispen Chinguno, an industrial rela-

VENTERSDORP: An effigy of the killer of right wing leader Eugene TerreBlanche is dragged behind a vehicle past protesters outside the court in Ventersdorp, South Africa. A black farmworker has been sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche in a case that has been a source of racial tension in the city of Ventersdorp. — AP

tions researcher at the University of Witwatersrand.

The violence can be linked to the post-apartheid social order, which Chinguno said bred strong trade unions, that are “covertly hostile to competition.” Workers, many of them unskilled, have openly changed allegiance to AMCU. “I stopped being a member of the NUM because ...everyday, when we’re in the strikes like this, they just told us ‘go back to work’ without any reason, without any answer that can satisfy us,” said Joseph Motingwe, who defected to AMCU three years ago.

Belief in black juju has also taken root and was partly blamed for the workers’ defiance during a standoff with police before 34 of them were gunned down. Local media report that a video report shot by the police from a helicopter during the strike, showed naked men lining up to be rubbed with herbs that were believed would make them bullet-proof. “The use of muti has become so institutionalized in everything they (unions) do,” said Chinguno. He said some of the 17,000 workers sacked and later reinstated at Impala believed they regained their jobs thanks to juju. — AFP

New start for universities after Ivory Coast violence Educational sector hit by bloody leadership crisis

SOFIA: Dried sunflowers are seen in a field near the Bulgarian capital Sofia after the harshest winter in decades. — AP

Unprecedented drought a ‘serious blow’ to Balkans BELGRADE: An unprecedented drought in the Balkans has dealt a serious blow to agriculture, causing grave losses estimated at more than a billion euros in one of Europe’s poorest regions. Temperatures over the past week in the southeastern European region have soared to more than 40 degrees Celsius, with no rains in most areas. After being hammered by a particularly rough winter with plummeting temperatures and record snowfall, Bosnia is now sweltering through its hottest summer since records began 120 years ago. Sead Jelec of the National Association of Farmers said the country’s agricultural losses are estimated at between 30 and 40 percent. The “total value of agriculture production in Bosnia is around one billion euros ($1.25 billion).

We can say that the losses would be around 300 million euros,” Jelec said.

The drought had especially hit corn crops, but also fruits and pastures.

Croatia’s national agricultural chamber estimated the losses for that country at more than 134 million euros, chamber chairman Matija Brlosic said. Several regions have declared a state of emergency, including the eastern Slavonia area, Croatia’s main agricultural producing region, where the drought has ravaged fields and left sunflowers browned and withered on their stalks. “Slavonia has literally been devastated. Cultures planted in spring are in a catastrophic state and the losses are estimated at between 60 and 100 percent,” Brlosic said. Of around 1.5 million hectares of farming land in Croatia, only 18,000 are covered with irrigation systems.

In Serbia, initial loss estimates are close to one billion euros, a government source said. Particularly hard hit is the

northern province of Vojvodina, nicknamed “Serbia’s granary,” with production estimated to top out at just 50 percent of normal. More than one million hectares have been hit, mostly of corn, maize and soya, the agriculture ministry said, prompting the government to adopt a package with measures to assist farmers and their fields. Serbia has seen its warmest summer since 1887, with temperatures passing 35 degrees Celsius for more than 50 days, the national weather office has said. — AFP

terror, which led even Gbagbo to describe it as a “mafioso organization.” The union has not been dissolved, as the Ouattara government initially envisaged, but it has been marginalized from power during the closure of the universities. FESCI secretary-general Augustin Mian puts a brave face on the change in fortunes and said that the movement will “adapt to new demands... For the benefit of learning, peace and serenity must return to the university.” The closure of the universities was not universally welcomed. The party that once backed Gbagbo, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), said that it meant the end of higher education in Ivory Coast. “You don’t shut down a university,” protested Dedy Sery, a professor of sociology close to the FPI. “It’s as if you’re decapitating the future of the country,” he added, denouncing a “cultural crime.” Sery charged that Ouattara’s government undertook “a witchhunt” among the academic staff, who were traditional allies of Gbagbo, long a socialist in opposition before he came to pow-

er. Moreover a large increase in inscription fees, from 6,000 CFA francs (nine euros) to 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros) for the first year, caused an outcry until the authorities brought it back down to 30,000 CFA francs (45 euros).

Meanwhile the contract to renovate the campuses has sparked questions. Ouattara has ordered an inquiry into the terms under which the tender was made and accepted and sacked Bacongo’s financial director for “problems of governance.” Many people have objected to the cost of the work, which has more than doubled in two months. For Eric Ahizi, a 22-year-old student of economic sciences, the imminent start of the academic year will end “a real nightmare... I had a year to finish my master’s degree and put myself on the job market, which is swamped today.” Ahizi said he was looking forward to seeing the “fine achievements” of the revamped campus and pointed out that it was now up to students to “look after them”. — AFP

ABIDJAN: A man cycles on a road at the University of Abidjan, during its renovation. Like many other institutions of higher learning, the university was closed for repair after the 2011 post-electoral crisis violence which engulfed the country. — AFP

UK press torn on naked Harry pics PALJURCI: Photo shows a shell on the cracked earth of the Paljurci dam, near Bogdanci in southeastern Macedonia. — AP

Independent Scotland would carve off BBC LONDON: Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said yesterday he would carve off the BBC’s assets in Scotland to create a new public service broadcaster for the country if it voted for independence. The pro-independence Scottish National Party leader plans to hold a referendum in late 2014 on Scotland leaving the United Kingdom. He said splitting off from the British Broadcasting Corporation was part of the SNP’s vision for an independent Scotland.

“We’d establish a national public service broadcaster based on the existing staff and assets of BBC Scotland,” he told the Edinburgh International Television Festival. “Further details on how that broadcaster would operate and its continuing relationship with the BBC will be published next year.” He said the new

ABIDJAN: Closed after a bloody leadership crisis that rocked Ivory Coast in 2010-2011, universities in the commercial capital Abidjan are being refurbished to restore them to temples of learning rather than combat colleges. On the campus at Cocody in the chic north of the city, newly baptized the Felix HouphouetBoigny University after the father of the nation, workers have yet to complete renovation.

But the vast site is already impressive, with its lecture halls, new student housing and large sports fields. The site marks a stark contrast with the state of the campus in April 2011, when buildings had been ravaged by conflict and vandalism during the four months of a political crisis after President Laurent Gbagbo refused to admit defeat in elections to his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Some of the students became engaged in two weeks of outright warfare before Ouattara came to power, at the cost of 3,000 lives.

Almost as soon as he was in office, Ouattara decided to shut down both universities in Abidjan and launch a major overhaul. “This is not just renovation. We have been obliged to build from the bottom up because everything was looted, broken and vandalized,” Higher Education Minister Ibrahima Cisse Bacongo said. The work, which has been under way at all five faculties in the west African countryonce the economic powerhouse of the regionwill cost “100 billion CFA francs (153 million euros / $191 million dollars), the equivalent of three new universities,” Bacongo said.

For more than 80,000 students, the new academic year that is scheduled to begin on September 3 “will mark a new start, a complete break with the past,” he added. Bacongo said that Ivorian “students were manipulated, exploited under the former regime of Laurent Gbagbo, and they developed a culture of violence in university circles.” For the authorities, a main culprit was the Student and School Federation of Ivory Coast (FESCI), the all-powerful trade union movement which was closely allied to Gbagbo’s regime after he took power in 2000.

A ‘mafioso’ trade union-FESCI has been held responsible for much of the violence on Abidjan’s campuses, which spilled over on to the streets, and it ran rackets and a reign of

broadcaster would take the share of the license fee currently paid to the BBC by viewers in Scotland. All British households with a television must pay the fee, which is currently £145.50 ($230, 184 euros) per year. Salmond said any future level of the new license fee would be up for “discussion”. The devolved Scottish government currently has powers over some policy areas such as health and education, but other powers remain in the hands of the British government, such as foreign affairs and defense. Jackson Carlaw, deputy leader of Scotland’s pro-union opposition Conservatives, said of Salmond’s speech: “This is another nonsensical outburst about how everything will be better in a separate Scotland-the only things missing, as usual, are the evidence and the detail.” — AFP

LONDON: Britain’s press thrashed out yesterday whether The Sun newspaper had done the right thing by eventually publishing pictures of a naked Prince Harry cavorting with similarly-clad women in Las Vegas.

Rupert Murdoch’s flagship British tabloid broke ranks with other UK papers Friday in printing the two images, saying it was striking a blow for press freedom.

Britain’s top-selling newspaper said it was ludicrous that they should not be seen on UK news stands when millions had already seen them online and in foreign publications, including just across the border in the Irish Republic. No other British newspapers have run the pictures of the 27-year-old army helicopter pilot, who is third in line to the throne. Some nonetheless defended The Sun’s right to do so, while others insisted there was no justification for printing them.

Industry figures say the wider British media did not run them

due to fears that the phonehacking scandal at Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World will spark tougher regulation of the press. The scandal, which saw Murdoch close the 168-year-old tabloid in July last year, sparked an inquiry led by judge Brian Leveson, who is due to make recommendations on the future of press regulation by the end of the year.

The Guardian said the only reasonable publication test was not entertainment or sales but an agreed concept of the public interest.”The argument that the material is already in the public domain is a strong one-but also dangerous. Taken to its logical extremes, it means Britain abandons any kind of ethical, regulatory or legal framework,” it said.

“The stage is thus set for a balancing of two human rights-freedom of expression versus privacy. On the facts of this particular case it is a fine balance.

“Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids have, by their actions, under-

mined any public trust in allowing editors the complete freedom to do as they deem fit. The Sun surely understands that.”

Newspapers will have to work with Leveson to create a regulator “which can reach fair and swift decisions in cases where there is a tension between freedom of expression and privacy”.

The Times, a Murdoch-owned paper, said newspapers should be allowed to judge what is fit to print. It said Britons were “almost equally divided between those outraged by what they see as a gross invasion of privacy... and those who accept that the boisterous antics of Prince Hal... are as risible as they are inconsequential.

“What value can be be placed on privacy if its enforcement is now impossible? “Self-censorship prompted by fear of what the courts may or may not do can be as insidious as actual censorship,” it added. Whatever Leveson recommends, “why should newspapers, uniquely, be

expected to abide by a code of privacy that neither hundreds of websites nor the press overseas nor indeed many of their readers trawling through alternative sources of information now respect? “We chose not to publish these pictures ourselves. But The Times does support the right of others to choose differently.”

The Daily Mail also said: “we resolutely defend the right of all newspapers to publish responsibly what they believe is in their readers’ interests.”

The Independent’s editor Chris Blackhurst wrote that there was “no justification in showing the pictures”.”

The fact that the snaps were already out, on the Internet, is not a reason for putting them in a newspaper: plenty of material is on the web but papers choose to ignore it. “As for freedom, I did not feel in any way that it was threatened.” After Friday’s splash, The Sun ran only a page nine story entitled “MPs back The Sun over Harry Pic”. — AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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

12 insurgents slain US general: We hacked the enemy in Afghanistan

CHAMAN: Pakistani and Afghan spectators watch traditional wrestling tournament between Afghans and Pakistani wrestlers at Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman on Friday, Aug 24, 2012.— AP

Drone strike may have killed Haqqani’s leader US blames Haqqani for boldest Afghan attacks ISLAMABAD: A CIA drone strike in Pakistan may have killed the operational commander of the Haqqani network, the insurgent group behind some of the most high-profile attacks on Western and Afghan government targets in Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence officials and militant sources said yesterday.

The officials said Badruddin Haqqani, who is also believed to handle the network’s vital business interests and smuggling operations, may have been killed during a drone strike this week in Pakistan’s tribal North Waziristan region.

“Our informers have told us that he has been killed in the drone attack on the 21st but we cannot confirm it,” said one of the Pakistani intelligence officials. If Badruddin’s death is confirmed, it could deal a major blow to the Haqqani network, one of the United States’s most feared enemies in Afghanistan, where it is allied with the Taleban. “We are 90 percent sure that he was in the same house which was attacked with a drone on Tuesday,” said another Pakistani intelligence official.

Sources close to the Haqqqani network also said Badruddin was believed to be in the house, hit by a drone strike as militants were planting explosives in a vehicle meant to be used for an attack on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

“The drone fired two missiles on the house last Tuesday and killed 25 people, most of them members of the Haqqani family,” one of the sources said. Pakistani Taleban and tribal sources said they believed Badruddin was killed in the drone attack. One of Badruddin’s relatives said he was alive and busy with his “jihad activities”. “Such claims are baseless,” he told Reuters.

A series of drone strikes in North Waziristan last week suggest the CIA, which remotely operates the aircraft, was after a high-value militant target in the unruly area. The deaths of militants in such strikes are difficult to confirm because they often occur in remote areas of regions in the northwest like North Waziristan that are hard for authorities to reach. US officials blame the Al-Qaedalinked network for some of the boldest attacks in Afghanistan, including one on embassies and parliament in Kabul in April which lasted 18 hours, killing 11 Afghan security forces and four civilians.

The United States accuses Pakistan’s intelligence agency of supporting the Haqqani network and using it as a proxy in Afghanistan to gain leverage against the growing influence of its arch-rival India in the country. Pakistan denies the allegations. Militant groups from Afghanistan and Pakistan have formed alliances and often cross the porous border for operations. A NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan has killed a commander of the Pakistani Taleban, both NATO and the Taleban said on Saturday.

Both sides identified the dead commander as Mullah Dadullah and said several of his comrades were also killed in the attack on Friday.

A NATO statement did not say who carried out the assault but the alliance is alone in having the air power to conduct such an operation. It said Dadullah’s deputy, Shakir, was also killed. “Dadullah, also known as Jamal, was responsible for the movement of fighters and weapons, as well as attacks against Afghan and coalition forces,” the statement said. It said Afghan and coalition forces backing the Kabul government had “conducted a post-strike assessment” and found that there had been no civilian casualties or damage to civilian property. Pakistani Taleban officials, as well as Pakistani intelligence officials said Dadullah had been killed in a house in eastern Konar province, along with 12 bodygards. They said he was the leader of the Taleban in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency, near the border with Afghanistan.

Dadullah, in his 40s, replaced Maulvi Faqir Mohammad last year after Mohammad told the media that the Taleban were holding peace talks with the government. The Pakistani Taleban, committed to the same Islamist principles as the Taleban ousted from power in Kabul in 2001, replaced Mohammad with Dadullah to undercut the secret negotiations, Taleban commanders say. Some Pakistani Taleban fighters and commanders were forced to flee into Afghanistan after the Pakistani army launched a series of offensives against them in 2008 and 2009. But they still carry out cross-border raids on Pakistani armed forces. In June, the Pakistani Taleban said they beheaded 17 Pakistani soldiers in a cross-border raid.— Reuters

ASADABAD: Two air strikes in eastern Afghanistan killed a dozen insurgents, including a top Taleban commander, NATO and Afghan officials said yesterday. “There were two separate air strikes in Kunar (province) yesterday. A total of 12 insurgents were killed, six in each air strike,” a NATO spokesman said.

The police chief of Kunar’s Shigal district, where the attacks took place, said most of the militants were from neighboring Pakistan and included a Taleban leader.

“Commander Dadullah, the top Taleban commander in Bajaur agency of Pakistan, is also among the dead,” Sayed Rahman said.

Afghan and Pakistani Taleban Islamists both operate along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Last week, around two dozen militants were killed in NATO air strikes in Chapa Dara district of Kunar as they gathered for a public execution. NATO has some 130,000 troops in Afghanistan helping the government of President Hamid Karzai fight the Taleban insurgency.

HACKED THE ENEMY The US military has been launching cyberattacks against its opponents in Afghanistan, a senior officer says, making an unusually explicit acknowledgment of the oft-hidden world of electronic warfare. Marine Lt Gen Richard P Mills’ comments came last week at a conference in Baltimore during which he explained how US commanders considered cyber weapons an important part of their arsenal. “I can tell you that as a commander in Afghanistan in the year 2010, I was able to use my cyber operations against my adversary with great impact,” Mills said.

“I was able to get inside his nets, infect his command-and-control, and in fact defend myself against his almost constant incursions to get inside my wire, to affect my operations.”

Mills, now a deputy commandant with the Marine Corps, was in charge of international forces in southwestern Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011, according to his official biography. He didn’t go into any further detail as to the nature or scope of his forces’ attacks, but experts said that such a public admission that they were being carried out was itself striking.

“This is news,” said James Lewis, a cybersecurity analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said that while it was generally known in defense circles that cyberattacks had been carried out by US forces in Afghanistan, he had never seen a senior officer take credit for them in such a way. “It’s not secret,” Lewis said in a telephone interview, but he added: “I haven’t seen as explicit a statement on this as the one” Mills made. Pentagon spokesman Lt Col Damien Pickart declined to elaborate on Mills’ comments, saying in an email that “for reasons of security, we do not provide specific information regarding our intentions, plans, capabilities or operations.”

The email said that the Pentagon’s cyber operations were properly authorized and that they took place within the bounds of international law and the “confines of existing policy.” US defense planners have spent the past few years debating that policy, asking how and under what circumstances the Pentagon would launch a cyberattack against its enemies, but it’s only recently become apparent

that a sophisticated program of US-backed cyberattacks is already under way. A book by The New York Times reporter David Sanger recently recounted how President Barack Obama ordered a wave of electronic incursions aimed at physically sabotaging Iran’s disputed atomic energy program.

Subsequent reports have linked the program to a virus dubbed Flame, which prompted a temporary Internet blackout across Iran’s oil industry in April, and another virus called Gauss, which appeared to have been aimed at stealing information from customers of Lebanese banks. An earlier report alleged that US forces in Iraq had hacked into a terrorist group’s computer there to lure its members into an ambush. Herbert Lin, a cyber exper t at the National Research Council, agreed that Mills’ comments were unusual in terms of the fact that they were made publicly. But Lin said that the United States was, little by little, opening up about the fact that its militar y was launching attacks across the Internet.

“The US military is starting to talk more and more in terms of what it’s doing and how it’s doing it,” he said. “A couple of years ago it was hard to get them to acknowledge that they were doing offense at all - even as a matter of policy, let alone in specific theaters or specific operations.” Mills’ brief comments about cyberattacks in Afghanistan were delivered to the TechNet Land Forces East conference in Baltimore on Aug 15, but they did not appear to have attracted much attention at the time. Footage of the speech was only recently posted to the Internet by conference organizers.— Agencies

Superstition thriving in modern Singapore SINGAPORE: Whenever Christina Tang is overseas and returns to her hotel room, she always knocks on the door before entering even if she is the only occupant. The 25-year-old Singaporean marketing executive said knocking on the door is meant to seek permission from the “good brothers”-spirits that might have taken over her room while she was away-for her to stay over for the night.

“It’s just like visiting a friend. You would definitely not barge in without the courtesy of a doorbell or a knock on the door, right? To me, it’s just respect.” Singapore might be one of Asia’s wealthiest and most well-educated societies, but quirky superstitions are part of daily life in the predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state.

Superstition comes to the fore during the monthlong Hungry Ghost Festival, which started last week. Chinese superstition holds that the gates of hell are opened for spirits to wander across the mortal realm before they return to the underworld.

During the month, property sales fall because it is considered inauspicious to make major purchases, and people refrain from staying out too late to avoid otherworldly encounters. Noisy streetside shows called “getai” featuring professional singers are staged to entertain the visiting spirits-but don’t sit on the empty front seats because they’re reserved for the invisible guests.

Traffic jams are typically caused not only by crumpled cars obstructing traffic but also by drivers slowing down to take note of the license plate numbers so that they can bet on them in the hugely popular four-digit lottery.

Having bird droppings land on your head is also seen as a good omen for gamblers because it’s so rare for one to be hit in the concrete jungle.

A tree in a western suburb has attracted a following due to the likeness of a monkey on its bark, which believers say resembles that of a deity from Chinese mythology. The “Monkey Tree” drew so much attention at one point that authorities had

to explain to a local newspaper that the visage was a” natural” response by the tree to various “minor accidents over the years.”

The ‘advantage of superstition”-Even national icons are not immune to superstition. Operators of the bayside Singapore Flyer, said to be the world’s largest ferris wheel, reversed its spinning direction in 2008 so that it revolves towards the financial district and not the sea. Masters of feng shui-the ancient practice of balancing energies in any given space to attract good fortune-advised them that the wheel’s revolution should bring fortune into Singapore, not suck the good luck away.

Superstitious practices are often mistakenly associated with religion in Singapore, where many Chinese are followers of Buddhism or Taoism, said Chung Kwang Tong, a high priest with the local Taoist Federation.

“The religion itself does not have such practices,” he said. “A lot of them will just try because to them there is no harm in trying.” Ang Swee Hoon, a sociologist at the National University of Singapore, said even well-educated people resort to superstitious practices because of the highly competitive environment in Singapore. “Hence, to get a leg up, Singaporeans engage in more activities that will give them an advantage.

Superstitious behaviors seemingly offer that,” Ang said. “So, instead of superstitions being irrational, it may be perceived as rational.”

Ang said the opening of two massive casinos in 2010 further boosted superstitious practices in gambling-mad Singapore, which already has horse racing, sweepstakes, numbers games and sports betting operations. Red underwear is seen as sexy in many countries, but to Singaporean gamblers, it’s just another way of attracting good fortune because red is regarded as a lucky color among Chinese. Gamblers and financial traders often wear red undergarments before placing a bet or playing the stock market.

“Gamblers are generally a more superstitious lot,” Ang said.—AFP

Vatican appeals for Pakistani girl VATICAN CITY: French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran yesterday went to the defense of the young Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy, stressing that she “cannot read or write.”

Interviewed on Radio Vatican, Tauran, who is in charge of interfaith dialogue in the Vatican, said “that before asserting a sacred text has been the object of scorn, it is worth checking the facts.”

Rimsha, aged 11 to 16 according to different reports, is accused of burning pages from a children’s religious instruction book inscribed with verses from the Quran, Islam’s holy book. She was arrested and remanded in custody last Thursday. But Tauran said that Rimsha “is a girl who cannot read or write and collects garbage to live on and picked up the fragments of the book which was in the middle of the rubbish.” “The more serious and tense the situation, the more necessary it is to have dialogue,” added the cardinal, who was the late pope John Paul II’s foreign minister.

He also told the daily Il Sussidiario, that he believed it “impossible in the light of the facts that the girl had tried to express her scorn for the sacred book of Islam.” The youngster reportedly has Down’s Syndrome and her arrest has prompted outrage from rights groups and concern from Western governments. Under Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws, insulting the prophet Mohammed is punishable by death and burning a sacred text by life imprisonment. Rights groups say the legislation is often abused to settle personal vendettas. Rishma had been due to appear in court yesterday but police and her lawyer said that the hearing had been put back to August 31.—AFP

Development, decay in Indian PM’s Pakistan village GAH: For years, Ghulam Muhammad Khan thought his brilliant classmate had been killed in the bloodbath that gave birth to India and Pakistan in 1947, the deadliest end to British colonial rule in history. But when the world’s biggest democracy elected the softly-spoken Manmohan Singh as prime minister in 2004 and he told an interviewer he had been born in a remote Pakistani village, Khan was over the moon. “He was our class monitor and we played together. He was a gentle and brilliant child. Our teacher always advised us to get his help if we couldn’t understand something,” Khan recalled, striding through village maize fields.

Even more incredibly, Singh wanted to help the 2,500 villagers in Gah, on a plateau of muddy rock and bushy forest 100 kilometers southeast of Islamabad near the ultra-modern motorway that runs almost to the Indian border. “I never imagined Manmohan would one day bring so many blessings to our village. He did what our own government still refuses to do,” recalled Khan, who is Singh’s last surviving classmate left in the village. But the last eight years is a tale of generosity, squandered opportunity and political short-termism that leaves Pakistan with an embarrassing

GAH: This picture shows a general view of Gah village, where Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was born. (Right) Ghulam Muhammad Khan speaks during an interview in Gah village, For years, Ghulam Muhammad Khan thought his brilliant classmate had been killed in the bloodbath that gave birth to India and Pakistan in 1947, the deadliest end to British colonial rule in history. — AFP predicament now that President Asif Ali Zardari has invited Singh to visit later this year.

The model village that Singh dreamt of lies in tatters. Buildings that cost tens of thousands of dollars stand empty and unfinished.

The only question is what, if anything, will Pakistan do to fix it?

Empty schools, empty hospital-Not long after taking office, Singh wrote to Pakistan’s then ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, asking that Gah

be earmarked for development.

Musharraf, at the time working on peace talks that he hoped would resolve India and Pakistan’s conflict over Kashmir, was happy to oblige.

The provincial government in Punjab built a decent road from the motorway to the village, high schools for boys and girls, a hospital, veterinary clinic and hooked the village up to the water supply.

Singh sent an Indian firm to instal solar-powered street lights,

solar-powered lights to 51 households that did not have electricity and a water heating system at the mosque close to the site of his destroyed home. But the project stalled after elections in 2008 swept former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party to power in Punjab, booting out of office Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Musharraf stepped down.

The high schools and hospital

stand empty. No teacher or doctor has been appointed, because the villagers say, credit for the development would have gone to the previous regime and not the new government. “We contacted the district administration and members of the ruling party time and again. They say there are no funds for the facilities and that they are trying to get it from the government,” said Ashiq Hussein, the mayor of Gah. But a Punjab government spokesman

said it was “absolutely baseless” to suggest it had abandoned the Gah development project for political reasons.

“No scheme has been stopped anywhere in the province on such a basis,” Pervez Rasheed said. “The hospital in the village is still under completion and the boundary wall plus equipment is being provided this year. Staff will be recruited when it’s completed,” he said, referring to plans to open the high schools in September. “He is the son of our soil”-Villagers young and old are united in their hope that the return of their lost boy sometime later this year will be the spur.

“Everybody wants to see him and say thank you. We also want him to come soon because we think the abandoned development will be completed for his visit and we will get staff in our schools and hospitals,” Khan said.

The mayor hopes that if Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, attends village celebrations for Singh’s 80th birthday in September, development work will resume. Hussein, whose late uncle Raja Mohammad Ali met Singh in New Delhi, is pushing full steam ahead with preparations to welcome home the “great son” of Gah.—AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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

Mass grave raises ghosts from the past DO DONTREI: It was four gray skulls resting on a bed of jumbled bones that again triggered Chea Nouen’s memories: breast-feeding her baby with her hands and feet shackled; her husband thrown into a pit to be turned into human fertilizer, her own marches to the killing fields - where she was saved three times by an executioner. The past came hurtling back earlier this month when a new mass grave was discovered in this village in northwestern Cambodia, one of the bloodiest killing grounds in the country. Like most of Cambodia’s some 300 known mass grave clusters, it is not being investigated or exhumed to find out what happened.

More than three decades after the Khmer Rouge ultra-revolutionaries orchestrated the deaths of nearly 2 million people, or one out of every four Cambodians, this country has not laid its ghosts to rest. Cambodia’s regime prefers to literally bury the past, especially since some of its current leaders, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, were once Khmer Rouge. But 63-year-old Chea Nouen and other survivors in this small, farming community cannot forget, hold their tears in check or banish the nightmares when they daily tread over the unexamined bones of 35,000 victims and live among restless souls that still hover, they believe, over homes and rice fields.

Also unfinished is the pursuit of justice: Neither the three top Khmer Rouge leaders nor local executioners have been punished, with the exception of a controversial jail sentence of 19 years for the former prison chief known as Comrade Duch. In April, Chea Nouen was invited to the capital, Phnom Penh, to hear a top Khmer Rouge official, Nuon Chea, offer his defense to a UN-backed tribunal: I didn’t know. I was just carrying out orders. It’s an exaggeration. The UN and the tribunal say they are following the law.

But Chea Nouen calls the trial “an absurdity,” incredulous that it has taken six years, $160 million and mountains of documents to prove a case against three now feeble octogenarians when all seems so starkly clear to the villagers at Do Dontrei. “At my age and health, I cannot confront the Khmer Rouge, “says the 63-year-old woman. “But I would be pleased to tell my story.” Her body is almost skeletal and wracked by persistent illnesses from the Khmer Rouge years, but Chea Nouen’s animated face, striking poses and still supple hands conjure up the past in powerful pantomime.

She contorts her body, demonstrating how her legs and arms were bound to an iron bar. Her face grimaces in remembered pain. A soldier points a pistol to her temple, another searches her body for hidden valuables. In shock, she drops her 2-month-old son to the prison floor. For seven days, almost sleepless and surviving on just water, she cradles her child, twisting her body to allow him to suckle at her breasts. Chea Nouen, back in the present, brushes tears away with a yellow towel. Their family, with two children, had been arrested one morning while riding in an ox-cart.

A day after her release, her husband was taken away to the foot of a hill, close by the recently discovered grave, where the Khmer Rouge vented their hatred of former government soldiers like him with singular fury. Blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs, they were savagely beaten, slashed with machetes and pushed into pits stocked with rice husks that were set ablaze. The ashes and decomposed bodies fused into fertilizer to be scattered over the rice fields. Although still under official arrest, Chea Nouen was released to a Khmer Rouge complex

that included dormitories, a warehouse and communal dining. She grew vegetables, worked grueling hours in the rice paddies and kitchen. One of her sons succumbed to illness, the other died of starvation.

Of the hundreds of workers who passed through the center, all of them women, only seven survived the deprivation and a methodical killing machine not unlike those at Nazi concentration camps. Executions took place once or twice a week, with batches of 60 to 80 prisoners, and often timed to the fertilizer production. “We are all just like fish in the water. One day they will hook us all,” she told a co-worker who sensed her own time had come and asked Chea Nouen to take gold she had secreted to pass on one day to her children. Chea Nouen declined, believing she herself wouldn’t survive. The following day, after the evening meal, her friend disappeared.

Chea Nouen rises, head bent to the ground, her arms clasped behind her as if pinioned by ropes. She is trudging off with a line of others toward the pits.

my daughter. She will soon be alone.” And she was.

They all followed him, even the youngest, her fouryear-old sister, because the Khmer Rouge liked to say: “If you don’t want grass to grow you have to pull out all the roots underneath.” Like Chea Nouen, she regards her cheating of death - twice - as miraculous.

Like many women and despite protest, she was forced into marriage with a man the Khmer Rouge had chosen for her.

And like many young couples, they were assigned to a mobile brigade, tasked with backbreaking work in remote areas after separation from their families. She was away when her family was exterminated. Sometime later, she and others were being herded to an execution site when a Khmer Rouge cadre suddenly barked, “That is enough. We have reached our quota today. Take the others back.”

A cooling evening breeze sweeps through the garden around Khung Leang’s home as she finishes her tale, one with a happy ending. A sprightly little girl,

DO DANTREI: Local villagers use an excavator for digging earth at a newly-found grave site where skulls and bones were unearthed at Phnom Trung Bat in Do Dantrei village, about 60 kilometers northwestern of Siem Reap, Cambodia. (Right) Fruits and drink are offered by local villagers at a make-shift shrine that houses newly-unearthed skulls and bones at a grave site of Phnom Trung Bat in Do Dantrei, Kralanh district Cambodia. — AP

The killers await them, naked torsos sweating. She hears shouts, wailing and cursing from those about to die. Then, the chief of the execution squad, a man she had provided with bath water, halts the file of prisoners. “I don’t know why he was so kind and saved my life. He did it three times. Maybe he felt sympathy for me. Maybe he loved me,” she says.

Nhorn was the only name she knew him by, and after the Khmer Rouge downfall she never saw him again.

“Whenever I think of the Khmer Rouge time I don’t feel hunger or thirst,” she says, sinking into her chair in a ramshackle hut open to the rains and mosquitoes. “I feel nothing except the feeling that I am already dead.” She has a proper house in the village, home to some 600 people, but prefers the forest retreat where she can better raise chickens, ducks and four cows, and where there is a peace and quiet for which she longs. Her face still flushed, Chea Nouen ends her story on a lighter note, relating how a ghost appeared in the dream of the businessman who bought the land with the skulls from a farmer, one day after the remains were found.

The spectral visitor recommended he go for the number 50 in a lottery. He won $1,500 and paid for

Angola extradites Chinese gangsters Chinese businesses troubled by gang culture BEIJING: Chinese police yesterday brought back 37 suspected Chinese gangsters from Angola, where they were arrested for alleged crimes against other Chinese such as kidnapping, armed robbery, extortion, human trafficking and forced prostitution.

Such crimes are a major concern for China, which has become Africa’s main trading partner and a major source of infrastructure investment. As a result, many Chinese work in Africa, and their presence has brought problems such as crime among Chinese, especially in politically volatile countries that provide fertile ground for criminals.

It is a sign that Chinese businesses continue to be troubled by the country’s stubborn gang culture as they expand overseas. The Ministry of Public Security said the Chinese government sent a special police force to Angola in July which worked with local police to break up 12 Chinese gangs, resolve 48 criminal cases and rescue 14 Chinese victims, most of whom had been forced into prostitution.

At home, domestic police arrested 24 other people suspected of being involved in the cases, the ministry said. Following a request from Chinese authorities, the 37 men and women were extradited yesterday to China, where they face trial on charges including kidnapping, armed robbery and extortion. They arrived in Beijing on a chartered plane, the ministry said. Such crimes hurt Chinese businesses overseas and tarnish the country’s image. As a rising world power, China also wants to be seen as being capable of protecting its citizens abroad and punishing those who commit violent crimes overseas.

China Police, an online news site managed by the ministry, ran three articles yesterday on crime fighting in Angola. In one article, Detective Liu Feng said many poorly educated, low-income Chinese became gangsters in the southwestern African country. State media reports said they robbed Chinese businesses and kidnapped Chinese businessmen in broad daylight for ransom.

To protect themselves, Chinese businessmen in Angola hired bodyguards, purchased bullet-proof vehicles, built homes that were difficult to access and disguised themselves when they went out, the article said.

The news site said there were 14 kidnapping cases in 2011 and five people died. Out of fear, many Chinese businesses closed down in the country’s capital of Luanda and elsewhere, it said. In

a ceremony at the newly-found grave. “My husband never comes to see me or give me a winning lottery number, so I’m still poor,” she laughs. “I didn’t even pray for a lottery number at the ceremony. I just thanked the spirits for saving my life.” The remains from the grave were placed in a makeshift shrine under the shade of three palm trees, and the villagers of Do Dontrei brought soup, rice, desserts and a little money to the crude altar as offerings.

They worry that the spirits are troubled. There is a widespread belief in Cambodia that the bones of the deceased - especially those who met violent deaths should be collected, cremated and prayed over lest they remain in the place they died to haunt the living. But rural folk - the “little people,” as they have been called - still have little voice or legal recourse in face of rich power-brokers, and the businessman who purchased the land for $4,700 for construction has close connections in the nearby provincial capital of Siem Reap. So the digging continues.

addition to government projects, private Chinese businesspeople go to Angola - which is recovering from a civil war that ended in 2002 - for opportunities in trade, construction, retail and food service.

Another China Police article described the experience of two Chinese women lured to Angola with the promise of well-paying jobs in a Chinese restaurant there. Once in Angola, they were forced into prostitution, the article said. State-run China Central Television said about 260,000 Chinese are living in Angola — AP

Khung Leang, a handsome 53-year-old woman with a ready smile, says she may never know where her entire family lies. She conducted rites for their souls, but they still return to her in disturbing dreams.

“They stood here. But they refused to come up,” she says, sitting on steps leading to the first story of her stilt-propped house. “My father said, ‘I can’t enter because there is a stick in the house and I will be beaten.’ I didn’t know, but there was actually one there. I threw it away, and a few days later they came again.

And again they refused to come into the house.

My father just stood on these steps, crying.” Khung Leang thinks of the “crimes” that led to the slaughter of her mother, her father and all six of her siblings.

They had been damned as “rich capitalists” because they sold sweets in the market. Later, they were discovered eating chicken soup one night as a family, violating bans on private property and eating outside communal quarters. The last of her father’s three “crimes” was “destroying Khmer Rouge property” by failing to stop cows he was ordered to herd from grazing in a rice field.

Her father was taken away first. She doesn’t know how he died. Later she was told that before his execution, he pleaded with friends: “Please take care of

News

in brief

Powerful typhoon lumbers toward Japan’s Okinawa TOKYO: A powerful typhoon packing winds up to 215 kilometers per hour was lumbering toward Okinawa yesterday and was projected to be the strongest typhoon to hit the southern Japanese island in several years. Typhoon Bolaven, the 15th typhoon of the season, was expected to reach Okinawa today, island weather officials said. It comes on the heels of Typhoon Tembin, which on Friday crossed over southern Taiwan and caused flooding in some areas, but largely spared the island’s heavily populated areas. Floodwaters from Tembin reached 3 meters high in one town, where armored vehicles rescued several dozen people from their flooded homes. It returned to sea by late Friday morning. Typhoon Bolaven was approaching Minami-Daito Island, some 400 kilometers southeast of Okinawa, on Saturday and moving northnorthwest at 15 kph.

Japan finds ‘banned N Korean items’ on ship TOKYO: Japanese customs officials have found goods believed to be from North Korea and whose export is banned aboard a cargo ship in Tokyo, a report said yesterday. The ship entered a container terminal on Wednesday after officials obtained information North Korea might have loaded internationally-banned items onto the vessel, Kyodo news agency reported citing unidentified sources. The customs officials found several containers believed to have been exported from North Korea. They contained items including aluminum rods which could be converted for military use and steel products, the report said. The products in the containers had markings which showed that they were manufactured in the reclusive communist state, Kyodo quoted the sources as saying.

BEIJING: Hooded and hand-cuffed suspects are escorted to get off a plane after arriving in Beijing yesterday. — AP

one of six grandchildren, rushes into her arms. A handsome 23-year-old son returns from teaching school.

Their family makes ends meet, growing rice and vegetables and still selling the traditional sweets from rice and palm sugar that once precipitated the tragedy. Her husband - the same she once adamantly rejected - drives a motorcycle taxi. “He is a very kind-hearted man,” she says. Pools of stagnant, milky green water lay at the bottom of the burial pits. The backhoe gouged out more earth. “If the investigators don’t come and conduct a proper search, all the remains will soon disappear,” said farmer Chhorn Kry, standing at the grave’s edge, near where nine members of his wife’s family were executed.

The survivors of Do Dontrei believe the spirits are still trapped. They say the graves must be opened, with proper rites, so that the spirits can fly, look for their relatives and ascend to heaven. Chea Nouen compares it to water flowing out after a bottle is opened. Khung Leang adds a contemporary, political twist to the ancient belief: “There are many souls still with us here. They are wandering around our village, hovering above us, because they are still waiting for justice.”— AP

Man fights off crocodile KUALA LUMPUR: A construction worker was bitten by a crocodile during a toilet break in a river in Malaysian Borneo, but fought off the huge reptile and escaped with his life. Pai punched the two-meter crocodile in the eye after it bit him just above his right buttock, and despite being in incredible pain and soaked in blood managed to summon help, reports said yesterday. The attack happened early Friday, when the 32-year-old decided to take his chances in the river in Sarawak state despite knowing it was infested with crocodiles. The laborer, an Indonesian who works at a nearby construction site, had just finished relieving himself under a bridge when the animal bit him from behind. “Fortune favored me when the crocodile let go after I punched it in the eye,” he was quoted by Malay tabloid Harian Metro as saying. “After being freed from the jaws of the crocodile, I found extraordinary strength to run and call for help even though my waist was extremely painful.”

SITTWE: A child stands in a street lined with destroyed buildings following days of sectarian violence in Sittwe, capital of Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine. — AFP

Communal bloodshed leaves deep scars in Myanmar West SITTWE: Charred stumps and scattered rubbish are all that remain of a oncebustling community in strife-torn western Myanmar, just one of many razed to the ground in recent communal violence. The clashes which broke out in June between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have left dozens of people dead and torn apart communities, forcing tens of thousands on both sides to seek refuge in dusty camps and shelters.

Nawseema Har Tu Fa said she fled her village after it was torched during the wave of violence that turned longtime neighbors into bitter enemies. “We had no problem with the Buddhist people before. We never quarreled with them before. We lived together, we used to speak. We went to the market every day together,” she recounted in a village near the Rakhine state capital Sittwe where many Rohingya have sought sanctuary.

“The main reason we came here is to protect our children, otherwise they might have died there.”

An estimated 70,000 people - 50,000 Rohingya and 20,000 Buddhists-are in emergency accommodation in the Sittwe area, police told an AFP reporter who visited the remote region near the border with Bangladesh. They languish in camps or cramped monasteries, dependent on food handouts. “There are no houses or shelter in their own villages, they were all burned down, so that’s why they are here,” said Soe Myint, manager of the Kaung Dokar refugee camp, one of six Rohingya camps in Sittwe. Almost 90 people, both Buddhists and Rohingya, were killed dur-

ing the violence in June, according to official figures which rights groups fear grossly underestimate the real toll. The riots broke out after a Buddhist woman was allegedly raped and murdered by a group of Rohingya men.

Access to affected areas is restricted by the authorities, which say that the situation has been relatively calm in recent weeks. But officials reported that renewed clashes left several people dead earlier this month, underscoring the tinderbox atmosphere. Rohingya driven from their homes are not allowed to leave the camps-ostensibly for their own safety. But the restriction has left the Rohingya community out of work and reliant on World Food Programme supplies. “We do not have enough food, as we do not have the possibility to go to Sittwe downtown to buy everything we need,” said displaced Rohingya Abu Shukur.

Faced with heavy criticism from rights groups and outcry from the Muslim world after the unrest, Myanmar’s government has denied accusations of abuse of Rohingya villagers by security forces in Rakhine. New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya during the June outbreak of unrest, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other. Speaking a dialect similar to one in neighboring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants by the Myanmar government and many Burmese, who describe them as “Bengalis” or “kalar”-a derogatory term for Muslims.—AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

NEWS

IAEA sees no point to inspect Iranian base Tehran shrouds suspected nuke site

Israeli soldiers try to disperse Israeli, foreign and Palestinian demonstrators protesting against the occupation of Palestinian land by Jewish settlers from the Karmi Tsor settlement near the village of Beit Omar, north of the West Bank town of Hebron, in the occupied Israeli West Bank yesterday. — AFP

Apple scores huge win over Samsung Continued from Page 1 “This is a huge, crushing win for Apple,” said Brian Love, a professor of patent law at Santa Clara University.

“All of its patents were held valid, and all but one were held to be infringed by most or all accused Samsung products. Even better for the company, five of the seven patents were held to be willfully infringed by Samsung.”

Love said this means that Judge Lucy Koh “now has the discretion to triple Apple’s damages award, which is already a monstrous and unprecedented” sum.

The case, which is almost certain to face appeal, could shake up the sizzling market for mobile devices in which Apple has been losing ground to rivals like Samsung that use the free Android system developed by Google. “Samsung is a proxy for both Google and the other Android vendors and better protected than most,” said analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group. “I think this will force a reset on Android products as they are reengineered to get around Apple’s patents.”

The jury decided the case with over 700 separate claims in less than three days of deliberations. In one minor snag, the judge sent them back Friday after discovering they had made damage awards for two devices not found to have infringed, and the jurors then revised the award, which had been $1.051 billion. The verdict affects patents on a range of Samsung products including some of its popular Galaxy smartphones and its Galaxy 10 tablet - devices alleged

to have been copied from the iPhone and iPad. But some devices are not affected, including the flagship Galaxy III S recently released, although they could be targeted in separate litigation. Technology analyst Jeff Kagan said of the verdict: “This is a great day for Apple. And it will turn into a very expensive day for Samsung.” Kagan said it was not immediately clear whether Samsung would be able to continue to use the technology and pay Apple for the right to do so, or if they must pull their devices and redesign them.

In any case, the verdict in the case one of several pending in global courts - is likely to have massive repercussions in the hottest part of the technology sector, smartphones and tablets. Even a delay in sales could endanger Samsung’s position in the US market, where it is currently the top seller of smartphones. A survey by research firm IDC showed Samsung shipped 50.2 million smartphones globally in the April-June period, while Apple sold 26 million iPhones. IDC said Samsung held 32.6 percent of the market to 16.9 percent for Apple.

Samsung had steadfastly denied the charges by Apple, claiming it developed its devices independently, and countersued in the case, seeking more than $400 million for infringement on its wireless patents. The verdict came the same day a South Korean court ruled Apple and Samsung infringed on each other’s patents on mobile devices, awarding damages to both technology giants

and imposing a partial ban on product sales in South Korea. The court banned sales in South Korea of Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad 2, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy S and Galaxy S II among other products.

Apple’s victory could present immediate issues for companies that sell Android-based smartphones and tablets, including Google’s own Motorola subsidiary, which it acquired last year for $12.5 billion, and HTC of Taiwan. Amazon - which has made major inroads into the tablet market with its cheaper Kindle Fire - uses a modified version of Android for its Kindle products but has not yet been subject to legal challenge by Apple.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said the entire Android universe may now have to consider “doing something different”. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at it and figure it out,” he said.

“Prior to the iPhone, none of the phones were like that. Android, if you look at it, is very similar.”

Some in the industry say Apple’s legal offensive is bad for consumers.

“Thx Apple it’s now mandatory for tech companies to sue each other. Prices go up, competition & innovation suffer,” Mark Cuban, an Internet entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, said in a Twitter message.

But the legal battles are far from over.

In a separate but related case, Apple has won a pre-trial injunction against the Google Nexus tablet. Another lawsuit, against Motorola, was thrown out recently by a federal judge in Chicago, but litigation between the two at the International Trade Commission continues. — Agencies

Kuwaiti kidnapped at gunpoint in Lebanon Continued from Page 1 His Lebanese wife - who was with him in the car informed authorities of her husband’s kidnapping. The sources noted that Houti’s car had a Kuwaiti and not a Qatari license plate as some Lebanese media had reported. Kuwait and several other Gulf states last week ordered their nationals - who often holiday in Lebanon - to leave the country in the face of threats, particularly against Saudis and Qataris, whose governments are staunch opponents of the Damascus regime.

Meanwhile, the number of people killed in fighting between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli this week has risen to 15, a security official said yesterday. A 16-year-old boy died of wounds suffered during clashes on Friday night, the official told AFP, adding that a total of 112 had also been wounded since street battles first erupted in the city on Monday. The fighting has pitted residents of the Sunni-dominated Bab elTebbaneh district and those of adjoining Jabal Mohsen, who mainly adhere to the Alawite offshoot of Shiism - the sect of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

A ceasefire brokered by local officials was supposed to take effect Wednesday, but violence was reignited when a sniper killed a Sunni cleric on Friday. “There is now a cautious calm in the city, with sporadic sniper fire. Army foot patrols are responding to the sources of the shooting,” the security source said. He said shops were shut on Syria Street, which acts both as a dividing line between the rival neighbourhoods and as the frontline when fighting erupts. The latest violence in Tripoli came on the heels of a spate of kidnappings in Lebanon linked to the conflict in Syria.

In Syria itself, army forces launched arrest raids and clashed with rebels in the southwestern belt of Damascus yesterday in what activists say is a renewed bid to crush the insurgency in the capital “once and for all”. Combat helicopters and tanks also fired on rebel-held areas in the battered northern city of Aleppo, activists and an AFP journalist said, as the government pressed on with its campaign against fighters seeking to topple Assad. The fresh violence erupted a day after new international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi admitted he was “scared” of the enormity of the task he faces to try to end the escalating conflict, now in its 18th month.

Brahimi, who takes over formally from former UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan next month, held talks with UN leaders on Friday, saying the Syrian people “will be our first masters”. “We will consider their interests above and before anyone else. We will try to help as much as we can, we will not spare any effort,” added Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat who brokered a 1989 accord that ended Lebanon’s civil war. Annan, a former UN chief, ended his six-month bid to bring peace to Syria, complaining of a lack of international support for his efforts to bring about a ceasefire.

On the ground, troops fired mortar rounds at several areas on the southern outskirts of Damascus following a week of ferocious attacks on rebel positions, intended to deal a crushing blow to insurgents in the capital, activists said. In the town of Daraya, just south of Damascus, 15 people were killed in the attacks including three children and two women,

the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding to at death toll of over 100 people in the past four days. “Security forces have launched a campaign of arrests and residents are anxious and afraid that there will be another civilian massacre” in Daraya, said the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground.

The army claimed to have retaken most of Damascus in late July after some two weeks of intense fighting across the capital’s southern belt. Most rebel Free Syrian Army fighters were forced out into the nearby countryside, but have since then resumed some hit-and-run operations, according to activists. In Aleppo, activists reported that combat helicopters were strafing rebel pockets while an AFP reporter reported shelling from tanks in at least one district, sending civilians scrambling for safety as exploding shells sent up clouds of smoke and dust.

Long bread lines formed in several neighbourhoods, including Qadi Askar where a fight broke out as people queued in the hot afternoon sun, the correspondent said.

Rebels claimed earlier this week to control 60 percent of Aleppo but the regime has dismissed the claims and said Thursday the army had recaptured three Christian neighbourhoods, where residents are largely pro-Assad.

Opposition fighters said they were digging in for a war of attrition in Aleppo, where the regime had warned last month of “the mother of all battles.”

The Observatory said Friday that August was already the deadliest single month of the conflict with more than 4,000 people killed, from an overall death toll of around 24,500. The head of the UN observer team, General Babacar Gaye, left Damascus yesterday after the mission officially ended in the face of the intensifying violence and Security Council divisions. Damascus said this week it was ready to work with Brahimi and voiced hope he could pave the way for “national dialogue” while also suggesting it was ready to discuss Assad’s exit as part of any negotiated solution.

A senior Iranian official was in Damascus for talks with Syrian officials, a day after Tehran -the regime’s staunchest ally - said it would submit a plan for ending the conflict at a Non-Aligned Movement summit next week. Tehran’s initiative comes as its foes in the West seek to ramp up the pressure on Syria, with Washington and London threatening possible action if Damascus uses its chemical weapons and Paris voicing support for a partial no-fly zone.

In Syria, at least 62 people were killed nationwide yesterday, according to the Observatory, which has a network of activists, doctors and other sources on the ground but whose information cannot be independently confirmed. Meanwhile, the body of a veteran Japanese war reporter killed this week while covering the fighting in Aleppo was flown home yesterday. Mika Yamamoto, 45, was the fourth foreign journalist to have been killed in Syria since March 2011 and the first to have died in Aleppo, which has borne the brunt of the conflict since fierce fighting erupted there last month. American freelance journalist Austin Tice has also been missing for more than a week, his current employer the Washington Post said. Meanwhile, activists said yesterday that an anti-regime television actor has been arrested, a day after an independent filmmaker disappeared. — Agencies

VIENNA: Iran has “sanitized” to such an extent a military base where nuclear weapons research allegedly took place that the UN atomic watchdog may say next week there is now little point inspecting it, Western diplomats told AFP. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been pushing Iran to allow access to Parchin, most recently at a failed meeting in Vienna on Friday, where it suspects explosives testing consistent with nuclear bomb research occurred.

Iran, subject to unprecedented Western sanctions and amid heightened speculation of Israeli military action, denies seeking or ever having sought nuclear weapons but has so far blocked the IAEA’s requests to see the site.

Western nations have accused Iran of bulldozing parts of the sprawling base near Tehran and the IAEA said in May that activities spotted there by satellite “could hamper the agency’s ability to undertake effective verification”. On August 1 US think-tank the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) published open-source satellite images showing “what appears to be the final result of considerable sanitization and earth displacement activity”.

New ISIS images Friday on its website showed a building suspected of housing the explosive experiments covered in pink tarpaulin in what Western diplomats said was an attempt to hide activity from satellites. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, has called accusations of a clean-up at Parchin “a childish, ridiculous story made out of nothing”.

One Western diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity on Friday that the IAEA is so frustrated that in its next quarterly report on Iran, expected next week, it may say that going to Parchin now would serve little purpose. “I would expect language in the report saying ‘you are clearly sanitizing, the satellite imagery shows that, and frankly once you let us in, you have done so much it is going to be irrelevant, academic’,” the envoy said. A second Western diplomat told AFP yesterday that the IAEA saying something along those lines “is certainly something that would make sense, although we don’t know definitively how they are going to characterise it in their report”. “We think any value of a visit to Parchin now is greatly diminished,” the envoy said on condition of anonymity.

The first diplomat also said that as a result, and after Friday’s fruitless meeting, Western nations might table a

PARCHIN, Iran: An Aug 15, 2012 satellite image shows ‘the suspected high explosives test building covered with a tent like material most likely supported by scaffolding’ at the Parchin site in Iran. — AFP resolution sharply criticising Tehran at the next IAEA board of governors’ meeting starting Sept 10. “We are getting nowhere swiftly ... We need to make a more formal and public example of the failure of the sides to engage, which is Iran’s fault,” he said, adding however it was unclear whether Russia and China would support such a move. The IAEA report next week is also expected to say that despite the pressure, Tehran is continuing to expand its program by installing several hundred new centrifuges in its Fordo plant, dug into a mountain difficult to bomb. — Agencies

US genetic sleuths stop deadly bug Continued from Page 1 “This is not an easy story to tell,” said Dr Julie Segre, a senior investigator at NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute. She led the genetic sleuthing that found the bug hiding in sink drains and, most chilling, even in a ventilator that had been cleaned with bleach.

Infection-control specialists at other hospitals called this detailed anatomy of an outbreak, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, important to share. “They were able to demonstrate that this sneaky little bug was able to stay alive and get transmitted in ways they hadn’t quite predicted before they had the detailed genetic information,” said Dr Sara Cosgrove, associate hospital epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s very revealing.”

“Absolutely this could happen in any hospital,” said Dr Deverick Anderson, co-director of a Duke University infection control network that advises smaller community hospitals. “This is really exciting stuff, cutting-edge technology, to try and better understand how these infections get spread,” he added. That in turn may lead to new protections, important because “there’s something that’s very, very wrong about going to a hospital and becoming more ill.”

Normally, the Klebsiella bacteria live in human intestines and don’t harm people with healthy immune systems. But the multidrug-resistant strain named KPC has emerged over the past decade to become a fast-growing threat in intensive care units, spreading easily between very ill people and killing half of those it sickens. Worse, people can carry KPC without symptoms unless the germs slip into the urinary tract or bloodstream - theirs or the person’s in the next bed - through a catheter or surgical wound.

The 243-bed NIH Clinical Center, in Washington’s suburbs, is a unique hospital, only treating people enrolled in government research studies. So on June 13, 2011, a research nurse carefully checked the medical records as a New York City hospital transferred a study participant who had become critically ill with a rare lung disease. The nurse found that the patient had KPC as well.

The woman went into strict isolation: Everyone entering her room donned a protective gown and gloves and rigorously washed their hands. Her medical equipment got special decontamination. All other patients in the ICU had their throats and groins tested regularly to see if the bug was spreading. All seemed OK. The woman recovered, and went home on July 15.

Fast forward three weeks. Now a man with cancer has KPC despite never crossing paths with Patient No. 1.

Ten days later, a woman with an immune disease fell ill, too. Both died of the infection.

Did they arrive carrying their own KPC bacteria, or did that first patient’s germ somehow escape into the hospital? Standard tests couldn’t tell. Segre, the geneti-

cist, turned to DNA. As bacteria multiply, mistakes appear and are repaired in their genetic code.

Sequencing that genome allowed Segre to follow differences in single genetic letters like a trail of the germ’s transmission and evolution. Sure enough, the KPC originated from the New York patient despite NIH’s precautions. Testing bacteria from the 17 additional patients who ultimately caught it shows the KPC was transmitted three separate times from Patient No. 1, and then spread more widely.

Even this sophisticated technology couldn’t prove exactly how transmission occurred. But it turns out that Patient 3 had been in the ICU at the same time as the New York woman and really was the next infected, silently carrying the bug longer before becoming sick.

That was enough time for Patient 3’s infection to spread to Patient 2, who just got sick faster.

Meanwhile, NIH was making big changes. All the ICU patients underwent more invasive testing, using rectal swabs, to check for silent germ carriers. A new wall created a separate ICU to house them. Doctors, nurses, even janitors assigned there could work nowhere else, and monitors were paid to make sure everyone followed infection-control rules. Yet a patient a week was either becoming infected or found to be a silent carrier of the same KPC strain. “Honestly, we were very scared at that point,” Segre recalled.

Test after test never found the bug on hospital workers’ hands. Tainted objects like the ventilator couldn’t be ruled out - but NIH adopted more complex and expensive decontamination, using robot-like machines to spray germ-killing hydrogen peroxide into the tiniest of crevices in all affected rooms and equipment.

Still, November brought more bad news: The outbreak strain had escaped the ICU, as two patients who’d never been there now were carrying it. A new isolation room was built, and all 200-plus patients in the hospital started undergoing rectal testing.

The outbreak now is over, the last carrier found in December. But NIH isn’t dropping its guard. The isolation room remains, used every time one of the seven outbreak survivors returns to the hospital for their ongoing research studies - because they still carry the strain. Those rectal tests continue, hospital-wide once a month, to be sure no new KPC strain sneaks in.

Bacterial sequencing is becoming fast and cheap enough for most large hospitals to use during tough outbreaks, said Dr Lance Peterson, microbiology and infectious disease director at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois. But another lesson is how much it takes to guard against these bugs sneaking in in the first place. Peterson said his hospital does weekly rectal testing of every ICU patient as a precaution. “There’s better technology becoming available for your hospital to prevent these bacteria from spreading, and this is what you should expect from your hospital,” he said. — AP

Visit-to-work rules relaxed Continued from Page 1 Meanwhile, a big fight broke out between two members of the majority bloc from the fourth constituency and belonging to the same tribe over demands for a constitutional monarchy and electing a popular government.

Informed sources said one of the MPs urged members of the bloc to declare clear and frank stands in support of a constitutional monarchy so that the majority bloc will have one opinion in this regard. But the second MP objected to this, saying “it is not your right to ask us for something members of the bloc rejected completely”.

“You personally are not convinced with this constitutional monarchy demand and did not talk about it at the Assembly, but now you are adopting it to appease the Islamic Constitutional Movement to get their votes,” he charged.

Legal experts expect the constitutional court to confirm that the five-constituency law is unconstitutional, and recommend that a new legislation be introduced to avoid any court action against the next Assembly. The court decided to start discussions on the law on Sept 5 to discuss the government’s request. The sources said it is

not the court that will issue a new law for the constituencies, which means that the 2009 National Assembly is obliged to do so, or an urgent decree for the same. The sources said an urgent decree cannot be issued until after the Assembly is dissolved, but they expected that there won’t be an urgent decree because the government does not want to lose political allies who reject such a move.

Sources also revealed that weapons Kuwait has ordered from the US will be processed in October when the deal is signed officially. Sources said Kuwait may receive the first consignment of the arms during the second half of next year, adding that a military delegation will visit Washington to discuss the deal. Also, an Iraqi bloc has asked its government to reconsider economic agreements with regional countries that were signed since 2003, particularly with Kuwait. The Free Iraqi Bloc spokesperson Alia Nasif said “most economic and commercial agreements Iraq signed with the region’s countries during the years following the fall of Saddam made Iraq a target to dump their products”. “It is certain that most of those agreements were signed during circumstances that are different from what they are now,” she said.

14

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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Issues

Trying to have it both ways

By David Rohde mid the daily reports of clashes and killings in Syria, a subtler message is emerging: America is increasingly irrelevant. Inside Syria, opposition fighters complain that the United States is doing little to help them, according to intrepid reporting by correspondents for Reuters, the New York Times and Foreign Affairs. Instead, funds and arms from Qatar and Saudi Arabia are turning jihadists into a growing presence. Among international observers, Washington is seen as insignificant. “On the ground, really, this administration has been essentially irrelevant, locked into its own perpetual debate on what to say and what to do,” said Peter Harling, Syria analyst for the International Crisis Group. “I think generally this administration in the Arab Spring has spent a huge amount of time trying to analyze events instead of shaping them.”

Those comments, of course, may thrill many Americans - and White House staffers. In the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans want nothing more than to get out of the Middle East. One of Obama’s primary pitches to voters this year is that he gets America out of foreign entanglements, not into them. There are ways, though, to aid the Syrian opposition without becoming militarily entangled. One of the many tragedies of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan is that they distort our views of how we can have influence in the region. Our options go far beyond whether to bomb or not to bomb.

America’s effort to help the Syrian opposition with nonlethal aid is a reflection of this odd moment in American and Middle Eastern history. Many Syrians think the US remains all-powerful and could easily topple the Assad regime, while many Americans doubt America’s ability to do good beyond its shores and understandably call for domestic focus. To its credit, the administration is providing $82 million in humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees and $25 million in non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition. But fear of even non-lethal American aid getting into the wrong hands has created a byzantine system that dilutes its effectiveness, slows delivery and alienates our best potential allies in Syria - secular members of the opposition.

In a Washington Post story published on Monday and interviews this week, Syrian opposition members scoffed at claims by State Department officials that the United States had provided them with 900 satellite phones. The phones, which cost $1,000 each, can be used for communications between opposition forces and for broadcasting atrocities by government forces to the outside world.

“Everywhere we turn, no one is able to locate these phones,” said a member of the opposition Syrian National Council who spoke on condition of anonymity in a phone interview Thursday. “They’re definitely not getting into our hands.”

American officials said that the 900 phones and other elements of $25 million in assistance have been distributed, but members of the Syrian opposition are not given the details. In past conflicts, US officials found that openly providing American assistance to opposition groups endangered the recipients, undermined their legitimacy among the local population and created rivalries between groups. American officials are aware that as a result, the US does not get credit for the assistance it provides. But they pointed out that many people in the Middle East continue to resent any American role in the region.

Even the publicly known assistance is tightly managed.

In an effort to control the distribution of satellite phones, the State Department and the British government have hired a British non-profit, ARC, to vet and train opposition members before giving them the devices, the Post reported. American officials hope that the US program - known as the Office of Syrian Opposition Support - will also train Syrian activists on how to govern Syria after Assad is gone.

The goal is to have a US-backed group of secular Syrian moderates who can counter the influence of jihadists in a post-Assad Syria.

Syrian opposition members, who have been battling the Assad regime for 18 months, say they need no such training and that the approach has slowed distribution enormously. They also expressed resentment of the American belief that the US could have influence in a postAssad Syria after being unwilling to openly back the rebels.

“If you do not participate in the revolution to take down the Assad regime,” said the Syrian National Council member, “I find it very difficult to have a discussion with you to talk about the post-Assad Syria.” Fighters inside Syria expressed the same sentiment. Michael Weiss, who reported inside Syria for Foreign Affairs in early August, said that fighters praised Turkey, Libya and countries that had sent aid, not the United States. —Reuters

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Washington Watch

How we view Arabs and Muslims

By Dr James J Zogby t is one thing for American voters to be deeply divided on issues like health care, taxes, and the role of government. These are matters of political philosophy that can and should be debated. But when I see the depth of the partisan, generational, and racial divide on attitudes toward Arabs and Muslims, I become frightened, because at stake are the values we claim are central to our definition as a society.

A new analytics poll reveals that Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans, and American Muslims have the highest overall unfavorable ratings and among the lowest favorable ratings of all the ethnic and religious groups covered in the survey. The poll, conducted for the Arab American Institute, found that while more than seven in ten American voters had favorable attitudes toward mainline Protestant denominations, Catholics, and Jews, less than five in ten were positively inclined towards Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans, and American Muslims. In fact, Muslims were the only religion to receive a net unfavorable rating, with a score of 40 percent favorable/41 percent unfavorable.

Underlying these ratings is a deep partisan divide with the attitudes of Obama and Romney voters toward Arabs and Muslims being mirror reflections of each other. For example, while those Americans who say they intend to vote for Barack Obama give Arabs an 51 percent favorable/ 29 percent unfavorable rating and Muslims a 53 percent/29 percent rating, those who say they will vote for Mitt Romney give Arabs and Muslims ratings of 30 percent/50 percent and 25 percent/57 percent respectively.

On closer examination, this partisan divide is grounded in a generational and racial divide. Younger voters (from the ages of 18 to 29), whom my brother John Zogby refers to as “the first globals”, give Arabs and Muslims 50/34 favorable/unfavorable rating and Muslims a 53/34 favorable/unfavorable rating. On the other hand, older

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voters (over 65), whom John calls “the private generation”, give Arabs and Muslims much lower 26/39 and 30/48 favorable/unfavorable ratings, respectively. These ratios are matched by the gap between white and “minority” voters -with, for example, only 38 percent of white voters viewing Arabs favorably, as opposed to 51 percent of African American, Hispanic, and Asian American voters who report having a favorable view of Arabs.

All of this has an impact on the acceptance on Arab Americans and American Muslims as full participants in American society. When asked to describe their attitude toward an Arab American appointed to a government post, 54 percent of Obama voters express confidence that an Arab American could do the job, with only 21 percent expressing the concern that Arab Americans would let “ethnic loyalty influence their decision-making.” Among Romney voters, attitudes are exactly the reverse. And the assessment given to American Muslims is even worse, with almost six in ten Romney supporters fearing that Muslims would let “their religion influence their decisionmaking,” and only two in ten confident that a Muslim could do the job to which they were assigned.

This suspicion of and unfavorable attitude toward Arabs and Muslims has its origins in bigotry and ignorance. Public opinion was clearly impacted by the hostile campaign that has been waged in recent years, including: the 2010 anti-Park 51 hysteria that was utilized by some Republicans as a “wedge issue” in that year ’s Congressional election; the effort in 24 states to pass laws banning Sharia; the call for a special loyalty oath for Muslims seeking government employment that was endorsed by three of the contenders in this year’s GOP presidential primar y contest; and the witch hunt launched by some Republican Members of Congress against American Muslim Hill staff and government employees.

But bigoted campaigns only partly account for this deep divide. As the AAI poll demonstrates, ignorance is

also a factor. Six in ten Americans say that they do not know any Arabs or Muslims. But while one-half of young voters and “minority” voters say they do know members of these groups, three-quarters of older voters and white voters say they do not. And it is important to note that those who do know any Arabs and Muslims have significantly more positive attitudes toward these two communities than those who do not. For example, 56 percent of those who know an Arab or a Muslim have a favorable view of Muslims, while among those who do not know any Arabs or Muslims, only 32 percent had a favorable attitude toward Muslims. It is striking to compare this year’s poll results with those of earlier years. Since most Americans still do not know the difference between Arabs and Muslims, the favorable/ unfavorable ratings given to both communities continue to closely track one another.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that 9/11 is not the cause of these negative attitudes. Attitudes toward both communities were actually better in 2003 and they held steady until 2010 when the organized campaign of incitement against Muslims reached a crescendo with the anti-Park 51 campaign. That year was the turning point in which we recorded the lowest favorable attitudes toward both communities. Ratings have drifted slightly upward since then, but are still below where they were in 2003.

The lesson is as clear as it is dangerous. Left unchecked, those who prey on ignorance and fear to spread hatred, and those who sow the seeds of division and intolerance threaten to tear apart the very fabric of our nation and compromise the values of openness and inclusion that have made America united and strong. The purveyors of intolerance also put at risk the rights and security of entire communities of Americans to operate in our society as full and equal citizens without fear of discrimination.

NOTE: Dr James J Zogby is the President of the Arab American Institute.

‘Obama Unleashed’ on world stage?

By Matt Spetalnick magine it ’s Nov 7, President Barack Obama has won a second term and he now looks abroad, ready to pursue his foreign policy vision essentially free of electoral constraints. Would the specter of “Obama Unleashed” that Republicans have conjured up during the presidential campaign become the new reality on the world stage?

Not very likely. The international arena is where second-term presidents often focus more of their attention, especially when a divided Congress stymies their legislative ambitions - and there is ample reason to believe Obama might be headed in that direction.

But interviews with current and former aides and independent policy analysts suggest Obama will hew to a mostly cautious, pragmatic approach should he win another four years. Even as Republicans prepare to sharpen their critique of Obama at their convention in Tampa next week, his foreign policy advisers are quietly sketching out priorities that could define his legacy in a hypothetical second term. It begins with a familiar list of unfinished business, such as the war in Afghanistan, the nuclear standoff with Iran, the conflict in Syria and Obama’s pledge to reinforce US influence in Asia as a counterweight to China.

But the deliberations, still at a tentative stage inside Obama’s National Security Council, are also gauging prospects for reviving initiatives that have eluded him and could be more politically dicey. These include immigration reform, climate change, Israeli-Palestinian peace and further nuclear arms cuts with Russia, aides say.

In some ways, Obama has only himself to blame for suspicions he would act differently abroad starting in Jan 2013. In March, not realizing a microphone was switched on, he was overheard telling Russia’s then-President Dmitry Medvedev he would have “more flex-

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ibility” to deal with contentious arms-control issues after the November election. The following month, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the president tried to make light of the issue. He responded to “conspiracy-oriented” Republican foes who accuse him of crafting a secret agenda.

“You’re exactly right,” he deadpanned. “In my first term, we ended the war in Iraq. In my second term, I will win the war on Christmas.”

But now, with the election looming, the debate over what another Obama administration might look like is no joking matter even if foreign policy has taken a back seat in a campaign dominated by domestic matters.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ’s camp is warning that Obama would steer foreign policy sharply to the left, with concessions to adversaries and pressure on U.S. ally Israel to agree to a Mideast peace deal. “All of the administration’s liberal impulses would be unbound at that point,” said John Bolton, UN envoy under Obama’s Republican predecessor, George W Bush.

There is little doubt that Obama, if reelected, would have greater freedom to make more of a mark abroad as he looks to his legacy. Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan did so in second terms -Reagan with dramatic disarmament initiatives, Clinton with a highstakes Middle East peace push that ultimately failed. Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said re-election would be a mandate for the president’s approach.

But he dismissed the notion it would be taken as a blank check to “move in some dramatically different direction”.

The first order of business would be winding down in Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting there. But a new twist would be to forge an “architecture of counterterrrorism cooperation” in places like Somalia to cast a wider net against Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Rhodes said another priority for Obama would be to press forward with a

US refocus on the economically dynamic Asia-Pacific region while at the same time setting “red lines” for China on trade practices and regional security. Obama also hopes to pursue further nuclear arms talks with Russia, he said, although Republicans in Congress might block any new arms control treaty.

Obama aides say a second term would mean heavier foreign travel. Asia would be high on the itinerary, but Obama might also devote more time to Africa, which some say he has neglected. Romney, who has only sketched his own foreign policy plans in broad brush strokes, has accused Obama of already making too many concessions to Moscow in his “reset” of post-Cold War ties, and of not taking a hard enough line with Beijing. The presumptive Republican nominee also has predicted that Tehran would develop nuclear weapons if Obama won a second term.

Obama has vowed to keep that from happening. Rhodes acknowledged that Iran would remain a major second-term challenge. The Romney campaign has latched onto Obama’s early overtures to Iran and North Korea and his outreach to the Muslim world to accuse him of weakening America’s place in the world. “Under President Obama, America is going to be more compromised,” said Richard Williamson, a senior Romney adviser who served under Reagan and both Bush administrations.

It is impossible to predict, of course, precisely what Obama would do foreign policywise in a second term, or even what opportunities and challenges would present themselves. But experts question how much latitude Obama would have for bold new measures and to what extent his own Democrats who would still have to worry about re-election - might hold him back. Budget pressures could also limit his options. Obama came into office in 2009 with more room to maneuver, promising a new era of US multilateralism in a sharp break with the perceived go-it-alone approach of the Bush era. His

lofty, change-the-world oratory helped him win a Nobel Peace Prize even before he had any tangible accomplishments.

Since then, Obama’s results on the world stage have been mixed. He has shown himself to be more practical - and even hawkish than many of his friends or foes had expected, embracing covert warfare by employing drone strikes to attack Al-Qaeda militants and cyberwarfare against Iran. Obama initially offered an olive branch to Iran’s leaders, but that approach morphed into an intensifying US-led pressure campaign.

At the heart of the Romney camp’s “Obama Unleashed” plot line is the accusation that the president, in a second term, would squeeze Israel for concessions to the Palestinians for a landmark peace deal that eluded his predecessors at the end of their tenures. Rhodes said the administration hoped to make a renewed push for peace, but said Obama would get personally involved only if the sides were ready for serious negotiations. Obama was criticized by Israel’s US supporters early on for being too tough on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he has a strained relationship. He has yet to visit Israel as president but aides say he wants to go in a second term, though the timing would hinge on prospects for diplomatic gains.

Obama would probably be willing to take some foreign policy risks in a second term if it meant securing his place in history, experts said. But he would be reluctant to invest much capital in big initiatives that were doomed to flop - like tackling resistance to his promise to close Guantanamo Bay prison or ending the five-decade-old US embargo on Cuba. “A president still has to choose wisely because he doesn’t get credit for trying and failing miserably,” said Christopher Preble, a foreign policy specialist at the Cato Institute think tank in Washington. “A quixotic crusade produces nothing but bad news for your legacy.” — Reuters

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

sp orts Gay to race over 200m in Birmingham LONDON: American sprinter Tyson Gay, fourth in the 100 meters at the London Olympics, will race over 200 for the first time in two years at a Diamond League meeting in Birmingham today. The 30-year-old, who has run the second fastest 100 of all time and won silver in the 4x100 relay in London earlier this month, decided to concentrate on the shorter sprint two years ago after suffering numerous injuries. “I feel like my body is ready for the longer sprint again,” Gay said in a news release. “It will be a nice test for me going up against guys like (Churandy) Martina, (Nickel) Ashmeade and (Wallace) Spearmon who are all in good form. “Young Adam Gemili from the UK is an exciting talent too. I’m confident I can put forward a competitive time.” Forty-five London medal winners will compete at the meeting including 17 champions. Mo Farah races over two miles while fellow British gold medalist Greg Rutherford goes up against Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor of the US in the long jump. — Reuters

Brazil 1970 keeper dies

Landis admits defrauding

SAO PAULO: Felix, goalkeeper with Brazil’s lauded 1970 World Cupwinning side, has died aged 74 from a lung complaint, local media reported yesterday.

Felix Mieli Venerando was born in Caratinga in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais and played for his country between 1965 and 1970. He was the last line of defence in the great Brazil team spearheaded by Pele, which saw off Italy 4-1 in the 1970 World Cup final in Mexico City. Carlos Alberto captained the team, scoring a famous goal in the final, and he said that Felix had been plagued by ill health for a while. “He smoked a lot. The other day, I was aware he was not well,” Carlos Alberto told O Globo daily. “I am very sorry. It was thanks to him we won the title in Mexico.”

Felix, who was known as a smoker during his playing days-even taking a crafty drag during matches on occasion-died of pulmonary emphysema complicated by pneumonia.

“He told me that when the ball was up the other end, he would take advantage and light up a cigarette from one of the reporters stationed behind the goal,” niece Juliana Venerando told Folha de Sao Paulo. Felix was on occasion dubbed the weak link in a team better known for its glorious creative attacking talents, and his daughter, Ligia Cardoso, said he took the criticism to heart. — AFP

LOS ANGELES: Former professional cyclist Floyd Landis, who implicated teammate Lance Armstrong in a doping scheme, agreed to a plea deal in federal court in San Diego on Friday, admitting he defrauded supporters out of nearly $500,000 by claiming that he himself had not doped, prosecutors said.

Landis was in court on the same day Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from professional cycling after dropping his challenge to US Anti-Doping Agency charges against him.

Prosecutors said the timing was coincidental and that the case against Landis, who won the Tour de France in 2006 but was disqualified for doping, had been in the works for months.

As part of the plea agreement, Landis, who has acknowledged using per formance -enhancing drugs during his career, agreed to repay $478,354 in funds he raised for the “Floyd Fairness Fund” while battling the USADA. — Reuters

MLB results/standings Chicago Cubs 5, Colorado 3; Baltimore 6, Toronto 4; NY Yankees 3, Cleveland 1; LA Angels 2, Detroit 1; Philadelphia 4, Washington 2; Milwaukee 6, Pittsburgh 5; Boston 4, Kansas City 3; Oakland 5, Tampa Bay 4; Houston 3, NY Mets 1; St. Louis 8, Cincinnati 5; Texas 8, Minnesota 0; Chicago White Sox 9, Seattle 8; San Diego 5, Arizona 0; LA Dodgers 11, Miami 4; San Francisco 5, Atlanta 3.

American League Eastern Division W L PCT NY Yankees 73 52 .584 Tampa Bay 70 56 .556 Baltimore 68 57 .544 Boston 60 66 .476 Toronto 56 69 .448 Central Division White Sox 69 55 .556 67 58 .536 Detroit Kansas City 55 69 .444 Cleveland 54 71 .432 Minnesota 51 74 .408 Western Division Texas 74 51 .592 68 57 .544 Oakland LA Angels 66 60 .524 Seattle 61 65 .484

GB 3.5 5 13.5 17 2.5 14 15.5 18.5 6 8.5 13.5

National League Eastern Division Washington 77 48 .616 71 55 .563 Atlanta Philadelphia 59 67 .468 NY Mets 57 69 .452 Miami 57 70 .449 Central Division Cincinnati 76 51 .598 69 56 .552 St. Louis Pittsburgh 67 58 .536 Milwaukee 58 66 .468 Chicago Cubs 48 76 .387 Houston 40 86 .317 Western Division San Francisco 71 55 .563 .540 LA Dodgers 68 58 Arizona 64 62 .508 San Diego 57 70 .449 Colorado 50 74 .403

6.5 18.5 20.5 21 6 8 16.5 26.5 35.5 3 7 14.5 20

Chicago end losing streak CHICAGO: Joe Mather hit a go-ahead single during a three-run rally in the eighth inning Friday and Chicago ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over Colorado. The Rockies had matched a season best with a five-game winning streak.

Chicago trailed 3-2 going into the eighth before Brett Jackson led off with his second homer of the season. Pinchhitter Luis Valbuena doubled with one out and Mather, batting in the leadoff spot usually occupied by David DeJesus, followed with an RBI single against reliever Matt Belisle (3-5).

Mather scored on reliever Matt Reynolds’ throwing error. James Russell (6-1) got two outs for the win and Carlos Marmol closed for his 16th save. Chris Nelson hit his sixth homer for the Cubs and Carlos Gonzalez hit his 21st and first since July 23. Alfonso Soriano and Welington Castillo hit solo home runs for the Cubs.

Brewers 6, Pirates 5 In Pittsburg, Mike Fiers pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Aramis Ramirez had a go-ahead three-run double in the seventh and Milwaukee held on to win its fourth straight.

Fiers (7-6) tied a career high with 10 strikeouts. The rookie allowed three runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. Ramirez went 2 for 4 and scored two runs. He cleared the bases with a two-out double to right-center in the seventh, breaking a 2-2 tie. Ramirez then scored on Corey Hart’s single.

The Pirates rallied for two runs in the ninth off closer John Axford, but Kameron Loe struck out pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez to with two men on to end the game. Loe’s save was his second in two weeks, the fourth of his career.

Rod Barajas homered for the Pirates, who have lost four straight. The Brewers won on the road for only the second time since the All-Star break. They had lost 14 of their previous 15 road games.

Wandy Rodriguez (8-13) fell to 0-4 as a starter with the Pirates - he earned a win by pitching the 18th and 19th innings Sunday in St. Louis - since being acquired for three prospects in a trade with Houston July 24. Rodriguez allowed

three runs, six hits and four walks in 6 23 innings. He had three strikeouts.

Phillies 4, Nationals 2 In Philadelphia, Kyle Kendrick pitched effectively for 6 2-3 innings and Jimmy Rollins drove in two runs to lead Philadelphia.

Kendrick (7-9), one of seven pitchers used by Philadelphia, allowed four hits and struck out three to help the Phillies win for the fifth time in the last seven games.

Tyler Moore homered for Washington, which lost its second straight. Moore snapped Kendrick’s 21 2-3 innings scoreless streak with a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh.

Edwin Jackson (11-8) gave up three runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in six innings to fall to 0-4 with a 5.32 ERA in four career starts against Philadelphia.

Jonathan Papelbon earned his 28th save in 31 chances with a scoreless ninth. Rollins gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead in the fourth when he lined an oppositefield, two-out single.

Astros 3, Mets 1 In New York, Jordan Lyles won for the first time in two months and Houston snapped a seven-game skid and gave Tony DeFrancesco his first win as a major league manager.

Tyler Greene homered and Lyles knocked in a run with his first career double as the Astros (40-86) improved to 4-0 against the Mets this season.

Houston, with the worst record in the majors, won for only the eighth time in its last 51 games.

David Wright hit his 200th homer for the Mets, who have lost six straight and nine of 11. Despite facing the two worst pitching staffs in the NL over the past five days, they have gone seven games without scoring more than two runs for the first time since September 1982, according to STATS LLC. Jonathon Niese (10-7) went seven innings but the Mets are 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position over their last two games, leaving them 25 for 151 (.166) in those situations this month. — AP

CHICAGO: Colorado Rockies starter Drew Pomeranz delivers a pitch against the Chicago Cubs in the first inning during a baseball game. —AP

Rangers thrash Twins ARLINGTON: Matt Harrison took a no-hit bid into the seventh and went eight innings for his careerhigh 15th victor y and Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle for the Texas Rangers in an 8-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.

Harrison (15-7) didn’t allow a hit until Trevor Plouffe lined a solid single to left with two outs in the seventh. That came right after left fielder David Murphy made a diving catch on Ryan Doumit’s sinking liner to keep the no-hit bid intact, though Murphy had no chance to get to the next ball hit his way.

Beltre’s second career cycle came two nights after he hit three homers in a game against Baltimore. Over the past four games, Beltre is 12 of 18 with five homers, three doubles and a triple.

Athletics 5, Rays 4 At St. Petersburg, Jonny Gomes’ two-run home run in the eighth inning lifted the Athletics to a victory over the Rays. Gomes’ homer off Joel Peralta (1-6) broke a 3-3 tie and sent the Rays to their second loss in eight games.

Ryan Cook (6-2) earned the win in relief for the A’s, who have won seven of nine. Luke Scott’s pinch-hit double got a run back for the Rays in the ninth before Grant Balfour finished for his 13th save.

Gomes, who played for the Rays from 2003-2008, has hit safely in all eight of his games against his former team with three homers in 26 at-bats. It was his 15th home run of the season.

Red Sox 4, Royals 3 In Boston, Pedro Ciriaco put Boston ahead with a two-run double in the seventh inning, Jon Lester had his third straight solid start and the Red Sox snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Royals. The victory capped a day in which the Red Sox and the Dodgers discussed a major trade that would send Adrian Gonzalez, Boston’s best hitter, to Los Angeles.

Minutes before the game, Gonzalez was scratched from the lineup. In Los Angeles, first baseman James Loney was pulled from the lineup against the

Indians starter Corey Kluber, but stayed in the game. Jeter had two hits and scored twice.Swisher broke a 1-1 tie with his 19th homer, off Cody Allen (0-1) in the

and two walks while striking out five over 7 2-3 innings. Rick Porcello (9-9) allowed two runs and seven hits over six innings.

He allowed a walk and struck out six.

Orioles 6, Blue Jays 4 In Baltimore, Chris Davis hit three home runs in four at-bats and had four RBIs to lead the Orioles past the skidding Blue Jays.

Davis hit solo shots off Carlos Villanueva (6-4) in the second and fourth innings, then greeted Steve Delabar in the sixth with an opposite-field, two-run drive to left field to put Baltimore up 5-1.

Facing Brad Lincoln in the eighth inning with a chance to become the 17th player in baseball history to hit four home runs in a game, Davis took three mighty swings but struck out on four pitches.

Zach Britton (3-1) allowed two runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings for the Orioles, who have won seven of 11 to remain in the thick of the AL wild-card race.

ARLINGTON: Texas Rangers starting pitcher Matt Harrison delivers to the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of a baseball game. —AP Miami Marlins. Gonzalez was leading the Red Sox with 86 RBIs, 145 hits and 37 doubles and was first in the majors with a .398 batting average with runners in scoring position.

Yankees 3, Indians 1 In Cleveland, CC Sabathia came off the disabled list and went into the eighth inning and Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer to help the Yankees snap a threegame losing streak by beating the Indians.

Cleveland lost its ninth straight as ex-Indian Sabathia (13-3) worked 7 1-3 strong innings. The left-hander had a perfect game until Asdrubal Cabrera homered with one out in the fourth.

Derek Jeter was beaned by

seventh. Rafael Soriano loaded the bases in the ninth, but got his 32nd save in 34 chances.

Angels 2, Tigers 1 In Detroit, Zack Greinke gave up one run and Howie Kendrick broke a scoreless tie with a tworun double in the sixth, lifting the Angels to a win over the Tigers.

Miguel Cabrera’s two-out solo homer in the eighth chased Greinke. Scott Downs got the Angels out of the inning by getting Prince Fielder to ground out and retired Brennan Boesch to lead off the ninth. Garrett Richards struck out Delmon Young and Jhonny Peralta for the final two outs to earn his first career save.

Greinke (2-2) gave up five hits

White Sox 9, Mariners 8 In Chicago, Paul Konerko’s single with one out in the bottom of the ninth gave the White Sox a dramatic victory over the Mariners.

The Chicago bullpen imploded and allowed six runs in the top of the ninth before the offense rallied for two runs in the bottom half.

Kevin Youkilis singled to drive in the tying run off Tom Wilhelmsen (4-3), and Konerko lined a gapper to the opposite field. Outfielders Michael Saunders and Eric Thames collided as the ball fell to the ground and Dewayne Wise crossed the plate.

Addison Reed (3-1) earned the win despite blowing his fourth save. Adam Dunn hit two home runs for Chicago and Alexei Ramirez homered and drove in three runs. Trayvon Robinson and Jesus Montero homered for Seattle. —AP

Classifying disabilities tricky at Paralympics LONDON: Double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius, probably the biggest star of the upcoming Paralympics, hasn’t been able to skip one of the games’ biggest bureaucratic hurdles: the disability classification system. It exists to make the competition as fair as possible, but with so many disabilities and degrees of severity, classifying Paralympic athletes can often seem like a sport in itself.

According to that system, Pistorius is classed as a double amputee below the knee and eligible only to compete against other Paralympic athletes with a similar impairment.

Yet the South African recently made history as the first disabled athlete ever to compete on the track at the Olympics, running in the 400 meters on carbon-fiber blades. “ We assume that Oscar is worse off than someone who has only lost one limb, but in fact he is a very balanced runner,” said David Howe, a disability sport expert at Britain’s Loughborough University and former Paralympic runner.

“Someone who is running with one human leg and one prosthetic will be more unbalanced.”

The classification, while “reasonably good,” is still partly subjective and influenced by traditional assumptions, Howe said. Paralympic athletes are divided into four main groups: amputees, the blind, those with cerebral palsy and those with spinal injuries or other physical disabilities. Depending on the sport, Paralympians either compete against others with the same disability, or across categories based on an evaluation of their ability to perform their chosen sport. Their classification is determined by a panel that includes experts in medicine and the sport’s biomechanics.

“The goal is to make sure athletes in the same class have the same chance at a gold medal,” said Peter Van de Vliet, science and medical director at the International

Paralympic Committee. He said they previously assessed athletes based on their disabilities but they now focus on their sporting potential, meaning athletes with different impairments can compete directly against each other. “If you put a double leg amputee into a racing wheelchair and do the same for a paraplegic (who has non-functioning legs), they both are in the same position of needing to use their arms to propel the wheelchair,” he said. “In that sense, classification is no different than age or weight categories.”

The London Paralympics will also once again include intellectually disabled athletes.

Those events were suspended in the last two games after a scandal in which the winning basketball team from Spain was comprised mostly of players without any such disability.

Van de Vliet said the classification for intellectually disabled competitors has been completely revamped since then and now includes stricter criteria, like a psychological evaluation.

Experts said the system is constantly evolving as officials get more experience with Paralympic sports. Even the athletes admit the classification system isn’t always straightforward. British wheelchair sprinter Hannah Cockcroft, who is classified as having cerebral palsy and brain damage, has said skeptics sometimes wonder whether that’s the right classification because she is so chatty. But she said it fits since two parts of her brain are damaged and she has trouble doing simple things like tying her shoes.

Cockcroft said she occasionally wonders about the categories of other Paralympic athletes but without knowing their full story, it is impossible to judge. Each of the 20 Paralympic sports has its own rules. For example, track and field divides athletes into categories based on their disability and its severi-

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa ty. Others, like judo and five-a-side football, are only open to blind athletes. Swimming is one of a handful of sports that throws all of the athletes together, allowing amputees, those with cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries and other disabilities to directly compete against each other.

That can make for a very diverse line-up of athletes on the starting blocks, including swimmers with dwarfism, those missing a limb and others with cerebral palsy, who might look able-bodied but have coordination and movement problems. — AP

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

S P ORT S

Watney, Garcia set pace, ailing Woods three back NEW YORK: Nick Watney and Sergio Garcia moved into a tie for the lead in Friday’s second round of the Barclays tournament in Farmingdale, New York as Tiger

stroke back after carding a 67, level with American Bob Estes (66).

The ominous figure of Woods was at five under, the American world number three having recov-

tom of a squat but somewhere in between it was going to catch.

“It would grab just before impact so I’d kind of expect it, I could kind of get through that. I’ve done that

FARMINGDALE: Luke Donald of England hits his drive on the second hole of the third round of The Barclays golf tournament at Bethpage State Park. —AP Woods battled back pain to lurk just three shots off the pace.

American Watney fired a twounder-par 69 and Spaniard Garcia a 68 on the difficult, fast-running Bethpage Black layout to end a blustery afternoon at eight-under 134. Fijian former world number one Vijay Singh, relishing being pain-free after three years of assorted health problems, was a further

ered from a bogey-bogey start to shoot a 69 in pursuit of his fourth PGA Tour victory this year. Woods said he had hurt his back sleeping on a soft hotel bed overnight, and that he had to grit his teeth through pain throughout his round. “It hurt all day,” Woods told reporters after making four birdies in his last 15 holes. “I didn’t feel very good. It didn’t hurt standing up or at the bot-

kind of stuff before so I know what it feels like.” Woods lipped out with a birdie putt from 16 feet on his final hole, the par-four 18th, but was overall happy with his position going into the weekend. “I’m only three back so I’m right there,” said the American, who led the points standings this week coming into the first of the PGA Tour’s four lucrative FedExCup playoff events.

BACK IN CONTENTION Watney was also delighted to be in contention as he seeks his first victory on the US circuit since the AT&T National. “It’s been a little while since I’ve been in this position, and it feels good to be back,” said the American, who briefly led the elite field by two shots before bogeying two of his last three holes. “I’m really excited for the weekend. “I felt pretty good. I hit the ball very nice all day, and it was weird, I made some really nice putts and I had some three-putts. Kind of a liveby-the-sword, die-by-the-sword type of day.”

Garcia, who ended a four-year title drought on the PGA Tour by winning the rain-delayed Wyndham Championship on Monday, was happy to have played well in the tougher conditions of the afternoon. “Definitely a nice round,” said the Spaniard.

“Yesterday was a very nice round but it was playing easier than today. The greens were very, very firm out there, so it was difficult to hit it close to some of the pins, even from the fairway.” Overnight leader Padraig Harrington of Ireland endured a difficult day, bogeying five of his first eight holes on the way to a 75 and a threeunder total. PGA Championship winner Rory McIlroy, the world number one who was grouped with Woods in a glamour pairing for the first two rounds, battled to a 73 to make the cut by just one shot. The cut fell at one-over 143 with US Open champion Webb Simpson, 2003 US Open winner Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley, who won his first major title at last year’s 2011 PGA Championship, among those failing to advance. —Reuters

BRNO: World Cup leader and Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo from Spain wheeling after the third MotoGP free practice at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic. —AP

Federer, Djokovic and the Williams highlight Open NEW YORK: Somehow, it seemed so easy for so many people to write off Roger Federer. He was past his 30th birthday, they would point out. About 21/2 years went by without any additions to his Grand Slam trophy case, the thinking went. First Rafael Nadal, then Novak Djokovic, overtook Federer in the rankings and as the man to beat at major tournament after major tournament. Well, look at the guy now. Wimbledon champion, once again, stretching his record total to 17 Grand Slam championships. Ranked No 1, once again. And - heading into Monday’s start of the US Open - the favorite to reach the final, once again.

“I’m out of the business of predicting Federer anymore,” said Andre Agassi, a two-time US Open champion and runnerup to Federer in 2005. “He’s continually surprised me with his achievements; he no longer surprises me. He has a lot more tennis in him. He looked as comfortable as I’ve ever seen him on the tennis court in England. He maybe needs one or two things to fall for him to knock down a few more (Grand Slam titles) at this stage of his career, but he’s certainly as capable of it as anybody I’ve ever seen.”

Federer’s pursuit of a sixth US Open title at age 31 will certainly be among the main angles to keep track of on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows. Other stories to watch include: Djokovic’s bid for a second consecutive championship in New York and fifth major title in two years; Andy Murray’s attempt to follow up his Olympic gold medal with Britain’s first Grand Slam men’s singles title since 1936; Andy Roddick’s hope for one more deep run in front of the home fans.

Four-time major champion Kim Clijsters’ farewell to tennis in what she says is the last tournament of her career; Venus Williams’ return to the US Open a year after withdrawing from the tournament and revealing she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease; Serena Williams’ try for her 15th major trophy - and, of course, what sort of interaction she might have with on-court officials after a foot-fault tirade in the 2009 semifinals, then a “you’re just unattractive inside” monologue in the 2011 final.

“Something is going to happen, for sure, because something always happens to me at the Open, whether it’s a horrendous line call that’s 2 feet in or whether it’s a grunt and I get a point penalized or a

foot-fault when I actually don’t foot-fault.

I’m prepared for something to happen,” said the younger Williams sister, a threetime champion in New York whose serve was dominant recently en route to her fifth title at Wimbledon and two gold medals at the Olympics. Another key question is what sort of effect there will be from the short turnaround and shift to hard courts after the grass-court London Games.

“There’s no doubt about it: This is not an ideal preparation,” said Federer, routed 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 by Murray in the Olympic final on Aug. 5, less than a month after beating him in four sets on the same court in the Wimbledon final. “It’s not impossible,” Federer added, “but it’s just very hard on the body and mind to travel halfway around the world, go on a different surface. ... In the past, you would take maybe a few weeks off for a top player, then prepare for three brutal weeks on hard courts, then come over here wanting to fire (on) all cylinders. This year, it’s different.”

He once won 40 matches in a row at the U.S. Open, a streak that ended with a fiveset loss to Juan Martin del Potro in the 2009 final.

That was followed by semifinal setbacks against Djokovic each of the past two years, including what Federer calls “that brutal match with Novak” - in 2011, when Federer took the first two sets, then held two match points, but couldn’t close the deal. On the first match point, Djokovic smacked a gutsy forehand return winner that barely landed on a line and drew something of a rebuke from Federer afterward. “I never played that way,” Federer said at the time. “I believe in the hardwork’s-going-to-pay-off kind of thing, because early on, maybe I didn’t always work at my hardest. So for me, this is very hard to understand how (he could) play a shot like that on match point.”

Djokovic went on to victory in the final against Nadal, the 2010 US Open champion and 11-time major winner who is currently out with knee problems and won’t be in New York. That was part of a stretch in which the Serb and the Spaniard split up nine Grand Slam trophies in a row, shutting out Federer and leaving him stuck on No 16 for more than two full seasons. Given how rare it is for a man past 30 to remain in the upper echelon of tennis a not-quite-31 Federer was the oldest Wimbledon champion since Arthur Ashe

in 1975 - and the ascension of a couple of rivals in their mid-20s, there were plenty of whispers that the Swiss superstar might be finished.

A man who reached a record 10 consecutive major finals from 2005-07, then another eight in a row from 2008-10, suddenly was losing the occasional Grand Slam quarterfinal. What, after all, was left to motivate him? What could drive him to keep up? Djokovic and Nadal, to name two, never doubted Federer would reassert himself. “He was always there,” Djokovic said. “Last couple years, he didn’t win a major, but he was in a couple of finals and always semifinals. He’s always playing close matches against whoever.”

Federer beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals, then topped Murray for triumph No 7 at the All England Club, tying Pete Sampras and William Renshaw (who played in the 1880s) for the most in history. That also allowed Federer to return to No 1 and, a week later, break Sampras’ career record for most time atop the ATP rankings. Continuing what he termed “a magical summer for me,” Federer earned his first individual Olympic medal.

Then he showed he can still turn up big on hard courts, winning a record-equaling 21st career Masters title last weekend, holding serve throughout the tournament and beating Djokovic in the final.

Federer, Djokovic and Nadal have combined to win 29 of the past 30 Grand Slam titles (del Potro is the only interloper in that span, which began in 2005). Murray has been on the outside looking in, but there are suspicions that his success at the Olympics could be a harbinger of what’s to come. “Come the US Open, I hope this will have given me the confidence to go there and believe in myself a bit more than I have in the past,” Murray said at the Olympics, “and give myself a shot at winning there.”

It also means he already owns one of this season’s top five prizes; Djokovic won the Australian Open in January, and Nadal won the French Open in June, before Federer re-emerged at Wimbledon. “It is interesting that three different guys have won three different majors this year, plus Andy the gold,” Federer said. “It definitely sets a great tone for the US Open, there’s no doubt about that.” With Nadal sidelined, and Murray still waiting to win a major final, Federer and Djokovic appear set to take center stage at the US Open. —AP

Record pace puts Lorenzo on pole for Czech MotoGP BRNO: Jorge Lorenzo blazed his way to pole position in today’s Czech Grand Prix, twice setting the lap record in Brno yesterday as he looks to extends his championship lead. The Spaniard raced the 5.4 km course in 1:55.799 on his Yamaha, scorching Valentino Rossi’s previous lap record of 1:56.145 from 2009. Earlier in qualifying, he had nipped Rossi’s best by one-thousandth of a second.

Britain’s Cal Crutchlow will start second in today’s race after the Yamaha rider also bettered the 2009 mark with a 1:55.995 lap. Spain’s Dani Pedrosa, second in the overall standings and 18 points behind Lorenzo, will round out the front row on his Honda. The day, though, belonged to Lorenzo, last season’s runner up and the 2010 world champion. He will go for his sixth first-place finish and 11th podium spot of the season. “(The bike had) very

good pace and I think we are ready for tomorrow,” Lorenzo told reporters.

Pedrosa, coming off his second victory of the season in Indianapolis last weekend, had looked a strong favorite for pole after setting the pace in final practice.

Rossi, a nine-times world champion across the classes but enduring another tough season for Ducati, was nearly a second off the pace. He finished sixth quickest behind American Ben Spies and Italian Andrea Dovizioso - his replacement at Ducati next season when the Italian great returns to Yamaha. Honda’s Casey Stoner, the 2011 champion who is third in the this season’s standings, was ruled out this weekend because he needs surgery on his damaged left ankle. Ducati’s Nicky Hayden will also miss today’s race after suffering a hand injury during qualifying last weekend. —Reuters

ANDORRA: British cyclist Christopher Froome (right) of the Sky Procycling team rides during the eighth stage of the Vuelta tour of Spain. —AFP

Valverde wins 8th stage; Rodriguez retains lead COLLADA DE LA GALLINA: Spain’s Alejandro Valverde won the eighth stage of the Tour of Spain as Joaquim Rodriguez retained possession of the leader’s red jersey yesterday. Valverde, riding for the Movistar team, was adding this 174.7km ride from Lleida to Collada de la Gallina in Andorra to his win in the third stage in Alcaniz. The 32-year-old prevailed in a sprint from Rodriguez and Saxo-Bank’s Alberto Contador after the concluding climb up the Col de la Gallina. Team Sky’s Christopher Froome crossed the line in fourth, 15 seconds behind this trio.

In the overall standings Rodriguez continues to hold command from Froome, who lost ground to be placed

33sec behind the leader, and Contador, 40sec adrift, with Valverde 50s off the pace. Contador, winner of the Vuelta in 2008, appeared best placed to win the stage when he opened up a gap of around 100m only for Rodriguez and eventual winner Valverde to dig deep and catch him to set up the final dash for the line. Earlier the day was marked by a six-man breakaway comprising Amael Moinard (BMC) and Michael Buffaz (Cofidis), Australia’s Cameron Meyer (Orica-Greenedge), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Javier Ramirez Abeja (Andalucia) and Matijn Keizer. At the foot of the final climb Meyer made a bid for glory only to be reeled in by the chasing favorites.- —AFP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

sp orts

Six-wicket Ashwin puts India on top in Kiwi Test

NEW HAVEN: Sara Errani of Italy reaches for a shot during her 6-1, 6-3 loss to Petra Kvitova in their semifinal match at the New Haven Open tennis tournament.—AP

Wozniacki hobbles out of semis NEW HAVEN: Caroline Wozniacki retired from her semi-final match Friday against Maria Kirilenko at the New Haven Open, with a knee injury ending her bid for a fifth straight title in the US Open tune-up.

Wozniacki hurt her right knee in a quarter-final victory over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova on Thursday. She had lost the first set to Kirilenko 7-5 when she called for the trainer.

“It’s definitely not the way I would have liked to have finished,” said Wozniacki, who was trying to join Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Chris Evert as the only players to win five straight titles at the same WTA event.

“You know, it’s unfortunate,” the Dane said. “But these things happen. “It was a difficult decision to stop.” Wozniacki said she opted to play after doctors told her she probably wouldn’t make the injury worse. But it troubled her in the first set and she decided to rest her leg for a couple of days in a bid to be ready for the US

Open starting on Monday.

Wozniacki suffered her first match defeat at New Haven, where she was the four-time defending champion.

“Unfortunately my run for a 5th straight title here in New Haven came to an end,” Wozniacki said on Twitter. “Had to retire because of a knee injury.

“Some treatment and ice and I should be all good for the open next week!” In late yesterday’s final, Kirilenko will face secondseeded Czech Petra Kvitova, who defeated fourth-seeded Sara Errani, 6-1, 6-3. Kvitova, who claimed her first title of 2012 with a victory over China’s Li Na at Montreal on August 12, had already secured the top spot in the US Open Series standings thanks to her performance in the series events leading up to the final Grand Slam of the season.

That gives the former Wimbledon champion a chance to claim a $1 million bonus with a victor y at Flushing Meadows.—AFP

Vinci wins Texas WTA title DALLAS: Italy’s Roberta Vinci completed her warm-up for the US Open with a straight-sets victory over former world number one Jelena Jankovic in the final of the WTA’s Texas Open on Friday. Vinci, seeded third, won the last six games of the second set to complete a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Vinci, making the most of second-seeded Jankovic’s five double faults, claimed her seventh career WTA title and her first of 2012.

It was a morale-boosting victory with the US Open-the final Grand Slam of the season-due to start on Monday

at Flushing Meadows. Serbia’s Jankovic, meanwhile, missed an opportunity to lift a trophy for the first time since 2010.

It was her second appearance in a final this season. She lost to American Melanie Oudin on the grass courts of Birmingham in June. Vinci, who had booked her spot in the final with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 semi-final win over Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski on Thursday, found the going tougher against Jankovic, needing just over two hours to triumph.—AFP

Isner to face Berdych in final WINSTON-SALEM: John Isner ousted top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3) Friday to stay on track to retain his Winston-Salem ATP title.

Isner, seeded third in the US Open tuneup event, will face second-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in late yesterday’s final.

Berdych defeated seventh-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals on Friday. “I’m very, very happy to be back in the final,” said Isner, who prefers one more day of tournament action to an early arrival on the practice courts of Flushing Meadows, where the US Open begins on Monday.

“I don’t like getting to Grand Slams early. If I’m playing the week before, I want to do as well as I can. I’m playing the final match, so I’m very satisfied with

WINSTON SALEM: John Isner, of the United States, prepares to serve during his semifinal against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the Winston-Salem Open tennis tournament.—AP

that. I’m looking to defend my title. I did it this year in Newport, so maybe I can pull it off again.”

Isner broke Tsonga once to take the opening set and the Frenchman broke Isner once to win the second frame and level the match.

Serving at 5-6 in the deciding third set Tsonga saved two match points-the first with an ace up the middle-but finally couldn’t withstand the towering American, who belted 24 aces and wrapped up the victory in two hours and 13 minutes.

Berdych, who accepted a late wild card entry into the tournament, broke Querrey five times en route to victory in one hour and 39 minutes.

Querrey delivered 18 aces but also had five double faults. “I don’t think I necessarily needed to break him five times, but on the other hand, I lost my serve a couple of times. I was trying to get my chances,” said Berdych, who is seeking a second title of 2012 after a victory in Montpellier.

In all the match featured eight breaks of serve. Berdych, ranked seventh in the world, had 18 break point chances against the big-serving American.

“It is unusual,” Berdych said. “I can play with someone that is not serving as well as Sam and some of the other guys, and I’m struggling to break them for two, three sets, maybe he has service with more slice, spin. But somehow you play with a player and you have a feeling and you know a little bit how to read his serve and it just makes it all of a sudden much more easier.”

Querrey said his service mistakes were too costly. “I played some decent return games,” Querrey said. “I broke him a few times. But on my service games, I was throwing in double faults, a couple of easy forehands, and just giving him too many easy breaks on my game points.

That makes it tough. I just kind of gave it to him.” Berdych said said the outcome of the final will depend largely on how he handles Isner’s big serve. “It’s definitely going to be the key to the match, the decider for sure,” Berdych said. “He’s playing at home, he wants to win as bad as me, so we’ll see. It should be a close match.”—AFP

HYDERABAD: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took a career-best 6-31 to put India in firm command on a rain-hit third day of the opening Test against New Zealand in Hyderabad yesterday.

The 25-year-old was superbly backed by leftarm spinner Pragyan Ojha (3-44) as New Zealand were dismissed for 159 in their first innings at the stroke of lunch in reply to India’s 438.

The hosts, who enforced the follow-on after taking a 279-run lead, reduced New Zealand to 41-1 in the second innings at stumps on a day when only 37.3 overs were bowled.

Opener Brendon McCullum was unbeaten on 16 and Kane Williamson was three not out when play was called off after tea due to rain. New Zealand trail by 238 runs. India opened the attack in the second innings with Ojha, who trapped opener Martin Guptill (16) leg-before in his eighth over to claim his fourth wicket of the match.

“There is some bounce in the wicket and in the second innings, it has started turning more. We are confident that everything will fall in place for us,” said Ojha. “When it is turning, it’s a bonus for you.

Keep it there and let the batsmen make some mistakes. We have two more days to go and are confident with the way the guys are bowling and how everyone is approaching the game.”

The tourists earlier added 53 runs to their overnight total of 106-5 after the match started an hour late due to a wet outfield, with Ashwin taking three wickets and Ojha and paceman Umesh Yadav one each. It was Ashwin’s third haul of five or more wickets in an innings in seven Tests.

James Franklin, unbeaten on 31 on Friday, was the lone batsman to defy the Indian attack, topscoring with an unbeaten 43 off 122 balls.

“Obviously there was always going to be some balls that were going to spin past me. I was just trying not to worry about them too much,” said Franklin. “Hopefully, we will rectify a few mistakes we made in the first innings and look to stay a lot longer at the crease. It’s a pretty simple formula: just occupy the crease.

“They are obviously good spinners and done well in India. They have a lot of fielders around the bat. We can’t let that worry us too much and we have to just concentrate on our own game.”

India struck in the day’s second over when Yadav trapped Kruger van Wyk leg-before for no score and then Ojha had Doug Bracewell (17) stumped to reduce the tourists to 141-7.

Ashwin got a wicket with his third delivery when he held a low return catch to his left to dismiss Jeetan Patel (10) before removing Trent Boult and Chris Martin off successive balls.—AFP

HYDERABAD: New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum (left) takes a run during the third day of the first cricket Test match against India.—AP

SCOREBOARD HYDERABAD: Scoreboard at stumps on the third day of the opening Test between India and New Zealand in Hyderabad yesterday: India 1st innings 438 (C. Pujara 159, MS Dhoni 73, V. Kohli 58; J. Patel 4-100, T. Boult 3-93) New Zealand 1st innings (overnight 106-5): B. McCullum c Kohli b Ojha 22 M. Guptill c Kohli b Ashwin 2 K. Williamson c Sehwag b Ojha 32 R. Taylor c Kohli b Ashwin 2 D. Flynn lbw b Ashwin 16 J. Franklin not out 43 K. van Wyk lbw b Yadav 0 D. Bracewell st Dhoni b Ojha 17 J. Patel c and b Ashwin 10 T. Boult c Gambhir b Ashwin 4 C. Martin b Ashwin 0 Extras (b4, lb7) 11 Total (for all out, 61.3 overs) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-25 (McCullum), 2-29 (Guptill), 3-35 (Taylor), 4-55 (Flynn), 5-99 (Williamson), 6111 (van Wyk), 7-141 (Bracewell), 8-153 (Patel), 9-159 (Boult), 10-159 (Martin).

Bowling: Zaheer 11-4-33-0, Yadav 8-0-24-1, Ojha 21-6-44-3, Ashwin 16.3-5-31-6, Sehwag 2-04-0, Raina 2-0-6-0, Tendulkar 1-0-6-0.

New Zealand 2nd innings: M. Guptill lbw b Ojha 16 B. McCullum not out 16 K. Williamson not out 3 Extras (lb6) 6 Total (for one wicket; 18 overs) 41 Fall of wicket: 1-26 (Guptill) Bowling: Ojha 9-4-13-1, Zaheer 5-2-4-0, Yadav 3-0-13-0, Ashwin 1-0-5-0.

Warrington bag Challenge Cup LONDON: Brett Hodgson sparked two second-half tries and scored a third to give Warrington their third Challenge Cup title in four years with a 35-18 win over Leeds at Wembley.

The full-back was named the Lance Todd Man of the Match award as Warrington ran away with the second half, despite going in ahead just 12-10 ahead after a rain-soaked first-half.

Alongside Hodgson it was the Monaghan brothers who starred in the opening 40, as former Canberra Raider Joel won first piece of silverware since following Michael to Warrington.

Joel opened the scoring in style in the seventh minute, rising high to take a sublime chip from scrum-half Richie Myler, after the Wolves cut Leeds’ line open with a series of sharp offloads-

Hodgson adding the goal.

With the exception of a Hodgson line-break, the Leeds forward pack, led by former New Zealand Maori prop Kylie Leuluai, began to gain momentum and it took a last-ditch tackle by Joel Monaghan to dislodge the ball from England international Ryan Hall, with the try-line at his mercy, on 15 minutes. Three minutes later no-one could stop Leeds interchange Ian Kirke who crashed over with two defenders hanging off him.

England’s Kevin Sinfield added four points with the boot for Leeds before Michael Monaghan, looking to add to his 2009 and 2010 medals, came off the bench on 26 minutes with instant impact. Raising the tempo from dummy-half he drew a penalty for a high tackle and had a hand

in a smart passing move that saw Trent Waterhouse power over from short range.

With a minute to play Joel Monaghan leapt highest to claim a cross-kick on his own line before sprinting 40m downfield which was brought back by the referee for an obstruction on the jumping Hall.

Sinfield slotted the penalty from 15 metres out to take his side in 12-10 down at the half.

The second-half opened with a bang, delivered straight from Leuluai’s shoulder to Hodgson’s head, as he returned a kick from his own line.

The hit left the full-back flat on his back and the ball loose, but Brett Delaney was brought back by the video referee for a knockon. Hodgson showed no aftereffects when, ten minutes later,

he threw a perfect cut-out pass to hit England international Ryan Atkins who put wing Chris Riley over untouched.

Hodgson missed the touchline kick but got another shot at it on 55 minutes, after a carbon copy of the previous try put Atkins over in the corner. Yet again Hodgson was the provider, and added the conversion to make it 22-10. With Leeds clearly shaken, a Joel Monaghan break down the right-side led to loose-forward Tyrone McCarthy going over to stretch the lead and give Hodgson an easy kick to make it 28-10.

While young Leeds centre Kallum Watkins went over for a consolation double, a Lee Briers drop-goal and, fittingly, a try for Hodgson finished the game off to give Warrington the win.—AFP

NZ retain Bledisloe Cup

AUCKLAND: New Zealand’s Sonny Bill Williams (center) bumps off Australia’s Anthony Fainga’a during the Investec Rugby Championship at Eden Park.—AP

AUCKLAND: Daniel Carter ensured New Zealand converted their territorial domination into points as the All Blacks beat Australia 22-0 in their Rugby Championship clash at Eden Park yesterday. Flyhalf Carter kicked five penalties and converted Israel Dagg’s try to score 17 points for the All Blacks, whose victory ensured they retained the Bledisloe Cup for the 10th successive season and piled the pressure on Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.

New Zealand, who have now held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003, have not lost to Australia at Eden Park since 1986. They have also won 14 of their 17 tests against their closest neighbors since Deans took over as coach in 2008. The All Blacks face Australia in the third match of the series, which is not part of the Rugby Championship, in Brisbane on Oct 20. “ To lock the Bledisloe up for another year, I’m very proud of the way the guys took to their work,” All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said in a pitchside interview. The All Blacks dominated territory for much of the game, and forced the Wallabies to play much of their rugby inside their own half. The world champions did not concede a kickable penalty until the 51st minute, though the Wallabies chose to kick for an attacking lineout in the corner and then lost the ball. “We realized the Wallabies would come back more intensely. They certainly did that but we showed what we were made of when we didn’t have the ball.

“It was about getting the line speed up and knocking them over.

There was a period there where we had to defend on our line and got a turnover so I’m very happy there.” The

Wallabies, who had captain Will Genia sinbinned in the first half for a professional foul, were more combative in contact than they were in last week’s 27-19 loss in Sydney but the backline still lacked punch despite the presence of mercurial playmaker Quade Cooper. “You have to give credit to this All Blacks side, they’re a great team and they have achieved so much,” Genia said. “They’re going to turn up every week and to be honest I think we got taught a lesson tonight.”

The All Blacks, who had a 9-0 lead at halftime courtesy of three Carter penalties, put the game beyond doubt in the first 10 minutes of the second half when Carter slotted his fourth penalty and Dagg smashed over after a superb team buildup.

Carter converted the try then added his fifth penalty to give the All Blacks a 22-0 lead. “We ... thought we were in it (at halftime),” Genia said. “We wanted to make a good start in the second half but they got the first points and they’re a team when they smell blood, they take it.” The All Blacks should have extended their lead throughout the second half but blew several try-scoring opportunities due to poor handling and choosing the wrong option. “We let a few (scoring opportunities) go begging with a lack of patience,” McCaw added. “I think we were creating space and were probably half a pass away from getting there but sometimes holding (on to the ball) for that one extra ruck can mean the difference between scoring and not. “At the end of the day a test match win against the Wallabies you have to be happy, and to do two in a row is great.”— Reuters

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

S P ORT S

Mancini ponders Balotelli recall after Aguero blow LIVERPOOL: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has warned Mario Balotelli it is time to grow up as he considers handing the controversial striker a recall when the champions face Liverpool today. With City striker Sergio Aguero sidelined for at least three weeks after the Argentine suffered a knee injury against

card followed when he led with his arm in an aerial battle with Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel.

When the former Inter Milan striker was sent off again later in the season against Arsenal, Mancini claimed Balotelli might never play for City again. However, Balotelli, 22, impressed at

Mario Balotelli Southampton last week, Balotelli may start at Anfield. Mancini knows it is always a risk to field the volatile Italian, who was sent off after two yellow cards in the space of 18 minutes following his introduction as a second-half substitute at Anfield last season. Balotelli was booked for a tug on Glen Johnson before a second yellow

Euro 2012 as Italy reached the final in Poland and Ukraine, leading some to believe he had matured at last. Mancini has always admired Balotelli’s talent, but he insists he still has a lot to learn if he is to become a main player for City. “I think that Mario has a big responsibility because for us he’s an important player,” Mancini said.

“In two years he won Premier League and FA Cup, I think that he did well. I agree that if Mario plays always like he did at Euros it will be better.

“Mario is the same. I don’t think that he can change in one month. Probably this season can help him to improve. “The European Championship is like the World Cup, one month.

Every player goes 100 per cent. “Mario is an important player also here. I think he can do better but I’m sure that he’ll improve.” Gareth Barry and Micah Richards have joined Aguero on the treatment table ahead of the trip to Liverpool and Mancini admits his focus will turn to adding two or three more players to his squad once the game with the Reds is out of the way.

The Italian knows he needs a big enough squad to attack all four competitions this season, with the Champions League a big focus, and he has until Friday to bring in new recruits before the transfer window shuts until January.

“We have 19 players at the moment and two or three players injured. It’s impossible,” he said.

“The reason I want to improve the squad now is because I want to improve for the Champions League.” After last weekend’s disappointing 3-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion, Reds manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping his side can kickstart their campaign with a win over the reigning champions.

“We know that if we are going to have any sort of success this year, we’ve got to make sure we can win as a many of our home games as we possibly can,” Rodgers said. “Manchester City are the benchmark, they are the champions and it’s going to be a really difficult game. “But my players are really focused and looking forward to the game. Anfield is somewhere we want to make sure is a real fortress and there’s no better game to start working towards that than against the champions.” Andy Carroll may feature against City despite persistent rumors about his future after he missed Liverpool’s Europa League win over Hearts on Thursday with an injury. —AFP

‘Sensational’ Watt lifts Celtic

FRANCE: Evian’s French midfielder Olivier Sorlin vies with Lyon’s French forward Alexandre Lacazette during the French L1 football match. —AFP

Lyon drop first points with Evian stalemate PARIS: Lyon missed the creative spark of injured playmaker Yoann Gourcuff on Friday as they dropped their first points of their new campaign with a 1-1 draw at modest Evian. Lyon had won their two opening games but fluffed their lines as only a Michel Bastos equalizer 16 minutes from time saved their blushes after Cedric Barbosa had given Evian the lead on 57 minutes with a neat volley.

Bastos had only minutes earlier replaced Lisandro when he pounced with a direct freekick which flew through a poorly organized wall. Wins over Rennes and Troyes had taken Lyon to the summit on goal difference after thrashing Troyes 4-1 but Gourcuff sustained a knee ligament injury in that game and he faces three months out of action.

Lyon, champions seven years in a row between 2002 and 2008, finished a disappointing fourth last term and have brought in only one new player- Serbian defender Milan Bisevac, from Paris SaintGermain-in the transfer window.

Following the two dropped points Lyon - who earlier announced the six million euros transfer of defender Aly Cissokho to Valencia - could now be

overhauled at the weekend by Marseille, Bastia and Bordeaux. Marseille, champions in 2010, Sunday face reigning titleholders Montpellier with the latter still yet to win having drawn with Toulouse and then lost at Lorient. The champions have Chilean midfielder Marco Estrada out injured and defensive midfielder Jamel Saihi is suspended but new signing Anthony Mounier could make his first league appearance for the club after missing the opening two matches due to a thigh problem.

Lille, the 2011 champions, and Paris Saint-Germain will hope to get on track with the former struggling to reach the Champions League group stage after losing to FC Copenhagen in their play-off tie on Tuesday. The northerners faced a trip to Nice. Qatari-backed PSG are already four points off the pace in Ligue 1 after behind held by first Lorient and then Ajaccio and will hope for their first win bonus at home to Bordeaux today.

PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti could hand a debut to Brazilian centre-back Thiago Silva, who is yet to feature following his 42-million-euro ($52.3 million) transfer from AC Milan. —AFP

GLASGOW: Tony Watt marked his competitive first start with a double as Celtic comfortably dispatched Inverness Caledonian Thistle 4-2 at the Caledonian Stadium despite a late rally from the home side. With a long injury list and one eye on Wednesday’s crucial Champions League qualifier, Neil Lennon fielded a makeshift Celtic side with teenagers Watt and Filip Twardzik handed their first starts as the Hoops made six changes.

However, the fringe players immediately impressed and took a third-minute lead when Victor Wanyama headed past Ryan Esson. Watt, who scored a double on his debut as a substitute against Motherwell last season, got his first in the 25th minute when he clipped the ball over the keeper. Charlie Mulgrew made it 3-0 in the 48th minute with a neat finish from a well-worked free-kick before Watt got his double with a rifled shot in the 64th minute. Inverness rallied in the final ten minutes of the match with Ross Draper grabbing a double but it was little more than consolation for the hosts. “That is as good as we have played here for a long time and I am delighted with the performance,” Celtic manager Lennon said. “Tony Watt was sensational. We threw the gauntlet down to him before the game and he responded brilliantly.” Terry Butcher was relieved not to have lost by more. “We were delighted to get the two goals at the end when Celtic had taken their foot off the gas but at least we keep going,” the Inverness manager said. “For the rest of the game we were not at the races at al and lost to a much better side.”

The result will boost the confidence of Celtic, who welcome Helsingborgs to Parkhead on Wednesday as they bid to make the group stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2008. In a whirlwind start, Celtic took the lead in the third minute.

Ryan Esson’s stunning save to deny Gary Hooper earned the Hoops a corner and Adam Matthews whipped it in for Wanyama to head past Esson. Celtic nearly doubled their lead in the seventh minute when Captain Charlie Mulgrew sent a ferocious freekick rattling off the crossbar from 25 yards out.

Inverness took their time to settle in the match but nearly drew level when Fraser Forster pulled off a superb save to stop Aaron Dorran’s first-time strike from distance sneaking in.

However, the Hoops were not to de denied for long and Watt made it 2-0 in the 25th minute. The teenager took a pass from Twardzik just inside the Inverness half and turned Simon King before racing in on and lifting the ball over Esson. The second half was barely two minutes old when Mulgrew put Celtic three in front. Matthews played a short free-kick to the defender 14 yards from goal and he arrowed a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

The Inverness defense were struggling to cope with the pace and movement of Watt and he got his second of the match in the 64th minute. Emilio Izaguirre’s cross found Matthews at the back post and he teed up Watt who lashed the ball past the helpless Esson from six yards out. The Hoops were denied a clean sheet when Draper pulled one back for Inverness in the 82nd minute as he raced on to a headed knock down to get in front of Mulgrew and fire low past Forster. Draper got his second just four minutes later when he got on the end of Conor Pepper’s through ball and finished at the second attempt past Forster. —AFP

GERMANY: Hoffenheim’s Eren Derdiyok (top) challenges with Moenchengladbach’s Havard Nordtveit, during the German Bundesliga soccer match. —AP

Bayern sink new boys Fuerth BERLIN: Bayern Munich opened their German league campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win at newly promoted Greuther Fuerth yesterday on the opening weekend of the Bundesliga’s 50th season.

Fuerth were making their Bundesliga debut and held their famous Bavarian neighbors for most of the first half until their defence finally cracked as goals from Thomas Mueller, Mario Mandzukic and Arjen Robben secured the win.

“In the first half, there were no surprises or changes in tempo in our game,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, who also rejected media reports he will quit at the end of the season when his contract expires. “We improved in the second-half where we were dominant, very clever and very smart. The team has shown we want to be successful this season.”

Bayern are still smarting after Borussia Dortmund won last season’s Bundesliga title while Munich lost both the German Cup and Champions League finals in May. Bayern opened the scoring in Fuerth when new signing Dante headed down from a corner and although defender Heinrich Schmidtgal cleared off the line, Germany star Mueller was on hand to stab home. Bayern doubled their lead in the 58th minute when Robben attacked the Fuerth defence on the right and after his shot was parried by Max Gruen, Mandzukic was on hand to head home and make it 2-0. Since signing from Wolfsburg, the Croatia striker has scored four goals in three games for Bayern, including two in Monday’s 4-0 German Cup first-round win at Jahn Regensburg.

Robben claimed the third 12 minutes from time with a spectacular shot from the left side of the goal that curled inside

the near post from a tight angle and clipped the boot of defender Thomas Kleine. Borussia Moenchengladbach responded after their home defeat by Dynamo Kiev in Tuesday’s Champions League play-off first leg with a 2-1 victory at home to Hoffenheim.

Striker Mike Hanke headed home on 33 minutes, only for Hoffenheim’s Roberto Firmino to equalise with a header on 66 minutes, but Gladbach’s Venezuela midfielder Juan Arango unleashed a spectacular free-kick on 79 minutes to claim the points. Hamburg’s season got off to a bad start with a 1-0 defeat at home to Nuremberg, whose new signing Hanno Balitsch, freshly arrived from Leverkusen, grabbed the winner 22 minutes from time.

Nuremberg goalkeeper and captain Raphael Schaefer must take some credit for the three points with a series of fine saves, especially to deny Hamburg captain Heiko Westermann’s header 18 minutes from time.

Striker Dani Schahin had an afternoon to remember with both second-half goals for newly promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf in their 2-0 win at Augburg.

The 23-year-old spent most of last season on the bench at Fuerth, but he got his new club’s Bundesliga campaign off to a flying start with two well-taken goals. In the afternoon’s other game, Freiburg were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Mainz. Late yesterday, Eintracht Frankfurt host Bayer Leverkusen, while Stuttgart are at home to Wolfsburg and Schalke are home to Hanover today.

On Friday, defending champions Borussia Dortmund kicked off the new campaign with a 2-1 home win over Werder Bremen thanks to goals from Germany stars Marco Reus and Mario Goetze. —AFP

Arsenal’s Mertesacker ready for Stoke battle STOKE-ON-TRENT: Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker is bracing himself for his first taste of the ferocious assault that awaits the Gunners whenever they face Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.

Mertesacker missed Arsenal’s trip to Stoke last season but is all too aware of the challenge that will confront his team-mates in their second match of the Premier League season today.

Meetings between the two clubs in recent years have been marked by the clash of playing styles, with Gunners manager Arsene Wenger frequently critical of Stoke’s more direct approach.

Relations hit a low two years ago when Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey suffered a badly broken leg following a challenge by Ryan Shawcross that earned the Stoke

defender a red card. Backed by a passionate home crowd, Tony Pulis’s Stoke will do everything they can to unsettle the visitors.

And German international Mertesacker admits Wenger’s side have been preparing to handle the aerial bombardment and physical challenge they will face. “I didn’t go to Stoke last year because of my injury so this is a completely new experience for me as well,” Mertesacker said. “I hope to adapt quickly to Stoke and the situation and the way they play. “We have to switch on quickly and do the right thing. We have done a lot of things in training concerning set pieces, throw-ins and crosses. “We have to cover each other even more than the other games

because they are very dangerous players, especially up front, and very tall players. “Maybe we have to behave differently but we always want to show our own qualities.”

Mertesacker will face a particular test of his abilities when he confronts Stoke’s towering striker Peter Crouch. “I played against Crouch at Wembley so it is not a new situation,” he added. “When you look at Sunderland and Stephane Sessegnon and then one week later you play against Peter Crouch, it’s weird but you have to deal with this.” There will be plenty of attention on Shawcross after his role in Ramsey’s injury, but Pulis remains supportive of his player and insists he is keen just to concentrate on his football. “I think Ryan’s drawn a line

under it,” said Pulis. “He’s one of those who gets on with his business, he’s a great lad and a fantastic character.

“He’s been captain of the club now for a couple of years and he deserves it.

He’s a smashing lad and he’s got better as time’s gone on. “It won’t worry him whether Aaron’s playing or not playing.

We still contest it, we’re adamant that Ryan never went in to hurt Aaron, I don’t think Ryan’s that sort of player.

“He’s proved since that he’s not a dirty player. He can be clumsy at times, he’s 6ft 4in and a young man playing professional football at the highest level.

“Defenders do make mistakes, but he’s not a dirty player and that’s a fact.” Pulis is looking forward to the chance to ruffle Wenger’s side again, but he main-

tains he has plenty of respect for the north London club.

“I think this game’s special because of the atmosphere of the crowd,” said Pulis. “They really relish great football clubs coming to their ground. They are one of those great clubs without a question of a doubt. “We respect Arsenal greatly, there’s no way in a million years we’d underestimate them. They are one of the great clubs in the world. “On their day, they can beat anybody. We have to stick together and make sure we play for 90 minutes. We can’t switch off.” Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will come back into the Arsenal squad after recovering from an ankle problem but Laurent Koscielny remains sidelined with a calf injury — AFP

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

sports

Everton inflict horror home start on Aston Villa’s Lambert Aston Villa 1

Everton 3

LONDON: Norwich City’s Simeon Jackson (second left) scores his sides first goal of the game against Queens Park Rangers during their English Premier League match.—AP

Zamora rescues QPR Norwich 1

QPR 1 NORWICH: QPR striker Bobby Zamora rescued a 1-1 draw against Norwich as both sides recovered from their nightmare starts to the season at Carrow Road yesterday. QPR crashed to a 5-0 home defeat against Swansea last weekend and boss Mark Hughes might have feared the worst when Simeon Jackson put Norwich ahead early in the first half.

But the Canaries, routed 5-0 at Fulham last weekend, couldn’t hold onto their lead and England forward Zamora equalised soon after when he netted the rebound after Djibril Cisse’s penalty was saved by John Ruddy.

Both managers made changes after their dismal beginning to the season, with Norwich boss Chris Hughton giving debuts to defenders Javier Garrido and Sebastien Bassong, while Zamora and Armand Traore came in for QPR. It was

Norwich who made the faster start and the hosts went ahead in the 11th minute.

Robert Snodgrass freed Anthony Pilkington on the overlap and he clipped the ball back across the six-yard box, where Canada forward Jackson nodded into the net. But QPR were handed a lifeline in the 19th minute when former Tottenham defender Bassong tackled Cisse from behind and referee Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot.

Ruddy pushed Cisse’s lackluster penalty onto the post, but Zamora was first to the rebound, tucking the ball inside the far post. The injustice around Carrow Road was doubled when replays showed the QPR striker had encroached into the area before the penalty was taken. Norwich were soon back on the offensive, with QPR goalkeeper Robert Green, under the spotlight after his debut howler against Swansea, making a fine save to deny Snodgrass. Snodgrass should have put Norwich ahead midway through the second half but he nodded a great chance over from Garrido’s cross.

There was one last chance for the Canaries when Russell Martin’s looping header came back off the crossbar, but QPR managed to hold on.—AFP

BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert suffered a nightmare home debut as his team went down 3-1 against Everton at Villa Park yesterday.

Goals from Steven Pienaar, Marouane Fellaini and Nikica Jelavic made it a 100 percent start to the season for Everton, while Villa, who played most of the second-half with 10 men after Ciaran Clark’s red card, have lost both games under former Norwich boss Lambert.

The Villa fans applauded their new manager as he made his way to the dugout but Everton were in no mood to make Lambert feel at home and stunned the hosts with a superb goal after just three minutes. South Africa midfielder Pienaar received the ball from Fellaini’s pass before cutting inside and firing an unstoppable curling shot past Shay Given into the top corner of the goal.

The visitors came close to doubling their advantage on 16 minutes when Jelavic rose to meet Leighton Baines’ inswinging corner, but his header went over the crossbar. Everton continued to pile on the pressure and Given was relieved in the 21st minute when Darron Gibson’s long-range shot fizzed wide of the target.

The inevitable second goal finally

LONDON: Aston Villa’s Charles N’Zogbia (left) battles for the ball with Everton’s Steven Naismith (right) and Marouane Fellaini (centre) during their English Premier League match.—AP arrived on the half-hour mark thanks to in-form Fellaini.

The Belgian midfielder, who scored against Manchester United on Monday, strode onto a right-wing cross, but Given should have done better with his header.

The match was almost over as a contest before half-time when Jelavic made it 3-0. The former

Rangers striker anticipated another dangerous centre from Baines and finished expertly on the turn past Given.

Any slim hopes Lambert had of inspiring his team to a stirring second-half comeback were extinguished when defender Clark was sent off for hauling down Jelavic as he ran through on goal. Everton defender Sylvain

Distin almost added insult to injury on 63 minutes but his header thumped against the crossbar.

Moroccan midfielder Karim El Ahmadi earned Villa a consolation with a 25-yard strike, and although Andreas Weimann later hit the post, Everton held out to claim their first win at Villa Park for seven years.—AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

EPL results/standings Aston Villa 1 (El Ahmadi 74) Everton 3 (Pienaar 3, Fellaini 31, Jelavic 43); Chelsea 2 (Hazard 22-pen, Torres 45) Newcastle 0; Manchester United 3 (Van Persie 10, Kagawa 35, R Da Silva 41) Fulham 2 (Duff 3, Vidic 64-og); Norwich

English Premier League

1 (Jackson 11) QPR 1 (Zamora 19); Southampton 0, Wigan 2 (Di Santo 51, Kone 89); Swansea 3 (Rangel 20, Michu 29, Graham 64) West Ham 0; Tottenham 1 (Assou-Ekotto 74) West Brom 1 (Morrison 90).

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea Swansea Everton West Brom Fulham Man City Man Utd Wigan Newcastle West Ham

3 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2

3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1

8 8 4 4 7 3 3 2 2 1

2 0 1 1 3 2 3 2 3 3

9 6 6 4 3 3 3 3 3 3

Stoke 1 Arsenal 1 Sunderland 1 Tottenham 2 Reading 2 Norwich 2 QPR 2 Southampton 2 Aston Villa 2 Liverpool 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 1

1 0 0 2 3 1 1 2 1 0

1 0 0 3 5 6 6 5 4 3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0

Swansea 3

West Ham 0 SWANSEA: Swansea continued their dream start to the Premier League season with an impressive 3-0 demolition of West Ham at the Liberty Stadium yesterday. Michael Laudrup’s side thrashed QPR 5-0 at Loftus Road last weekend and they turned on the style again to go top of the English top-flight for the first time in 30 years thanks to goals from Angel Rangel, Michu and Danny Graham. The south Wales club are likely to surrender top spot after yesterday’s later matches.

But Swansea’s perfect opening to the campaign will have their supporters recalling the glorious John Toshack era when the legendary Welsh striker led the club on a magical ride that briefly saw them top the old First Division.

Laudrup looks to have built on the solid foundations left by previous boss Brendan Rodgers before his departure to Liverpool and the Dane was able to draw another fine performance from his team

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Spanish League

Swansea crush Hammers without winger Scott Sinclair, who has left out as his mooted move to Manchester City draws nearer. Swansea were on top from the start and took the lead in the 20th minute thanks to a woeful piece of goalkeeping from Jussi Jaaskelainen. Patient build-up work involving Michu and Nathan Dyer played Rangel in on the right of the area and Jaaskelainen could only help his low cross into the net when he should have saved easily.

Swansea doubled their lead nine minutes later when West Ham defender James Collins sold Jaaskelainen short with a poor backpass and Spanish midfielder Michu pounced to slot low into the left corner. Matt Jarvis cut a frustrated figure for the Hammers on his debut after a £10 million move from Wolves and the winger saw a decent chance well saved by Michel Vorm.

West Ham’s only spell of pressure came when Vorm kept out a James Tomkins header and Leon Britton was in the right place to clear Carlton Cole’s header off the line. Graham put the result beyond doubt with his first goal of the season after 63 minutes, firing home after more good work from Dyer and Wayne Routledge.— AFP

Stoke City v Arsenal Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5

LONDON: Wigan’s Shaun Maloney (left) in action against Southampton’s Guly Do Prado, during the English Premier League match.—AP

Wigan overpower Southampton 2-0 Southampton 0

Wigan 2 SOUTHAMPTON: Wigan Athletic held off promoted Southampton to claim a 20 away win yesterday that took Roberto Martinez’s side into the top half of the Premier League table. It took the Latics until November to claim their first away win last season but they took the three points at St Mary’s Stadium thanks to second-half goals from Franco Di Santo and Ivorian new signing Arouna Kone.

Southampton had led 2-1 at champions Manchester City in their opening game last weekend, before going on to lose 3-2, and they made an enterprising start against Wigan, who fell 2-0 at home to Chelsea in their first outing. Home

captain Adam Lallana produced the first moment of excitement of the afternoon, with a rising 25-yard drive that Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi superbly tipped onto the crossbar. A tame first half drew to a close beneath driving rain on the English south coast but six minutes into the second period, Wigan struck.

Shaun Maloney’s through-ball released Di Santo and the Argentine kept his cool to lift the ball into the roof of the net from 10 yards. A goalscoring substitute in the game at City, Rickie Lambert was handed a start against Wigan and he led the Saints’ efforts to find an equalizer in the second half. He drew a good save from Al Habsi with a well-struck effort in the 63rd minute and then teed up Jos Hooiveld for a header that landed on the top of the crossbar. Kone, a close-season acquisition from Levante, sealed victory in the 89th minute, robbing Jose Fonte of possession on halfway and running clear before beating Kelvin Davies in the Southampton goal.—AFP

Malaga v Mallorca Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

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Osasuna v Barcelona Aljazeera Sport+2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

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Agirretxe brace sinks Vigo

LONDON: Swansea City’s Danny Graham celebrates scoring his side’s third goal, as Spanish player Miguel Michu climbs on him during their English Premier League match against West Ham.—AP

MADRID: A second-half double from Imanol Agirretxe saw Real Sociedad come from behind to beat newly promoted Celta Vigo 2-1 and record their first win of the La Liga season yesterday. Real Sociedad bounced back from their 5-1 mauling by Barcelona with Agirretxe hitting the back of the net on 53 and 60 minutes, after Celta surprisingly took the lead following the break through Quique De Lucas.

It was nothing more than the home side deserved after they wasted a host of first-half chances and hit the woodwork three times. Real Sociedad looked to push forward from the start with an attacking formation that included the return of Carlos Vela and Agirretxe, and the Mexican Vela was causing danger virtually every time he surged down the left wing.

Inside the opening minutes he whipped in a cross that Agirretxe just failed to divert goal

wards. The hosts really should have taken the lead after 16 minutes when Agirretxe met a corner well but his header came back off the post and then Ion Ansotegi, with the goal gaping, saw his shot from close range clip the top of the crossbar. Ahead of the game, the main news for Celta was the debut of Danish forward Michael KrohnDelhi, but he and De Lucas on the other wing saw little of the ball.

Celta caused their first moment of worry for the home side on the half-hour mark when Ansotegi fouled Iago Aspas on the edge of the area, but Lucas’ free-kick hit the wall.

Moments later, Antoine Griezmann missed another opening for the home side with a shot that hit the woodwork and then his follow-up was blocked. La Real were left stunned when De Lucas fired Celta into the lead after 49 minutes but it did not take them long to respond.

Agirretxe slotted home a Griezmann pass and then pounced inside the area as the ball bounced around following a cross from Vela.

Later, Real Betis-who thrashed Athletic Bilbao 5-3 in their opening fixture-turn their attention to Rayo Vallecano who picked up three points by scraping a 1-0 win over Granada.

Espanyol and Real Zaragoza also meet looking for their first points, and Malaga take on Real Mallorca. La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are in action on Sunday, having contested the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday, with the Catalan side leading 3-2 ahead of the second leg at the Bernabeu. Champions Madrid are still searching for their first win of the campaign after they could only draw 1-1 at home to a Valencia side that proved difficult to break down and now coach Jose Mourinho is not underestimating derby rivals Getafe.—AFP

Record pace puts Lorenzo on pole for Czech MotoGP

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Six-wicket Ashwin puts India on top in Kiwi Test

17

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Mancini ponders Balotelli recall after Aguero blow

Page 18

LONDON: Fulham’s Belgian striker Moussa Dembele (left) vies with Manchester United’s Dutch striker Robin van Persie (right) during the English Premier League football match.—AFP

Van Persie heroics marred by Rooney injury Man United 3

Fulham 2 LONDON: Robin van Persie marked his first Manchester United start with a sublime goal, but his side’s 3-2 victory over Fulham was marred by a nasty injury to Wayne Rooney that will sideline the England striker for four weeks.

Van Persie had little chance to contribute during a brief substitute appearance in United’s lacklustre defeat at Everton on Monday, but took just 10 minutes to make his mark at Old Trafford with a brilliant half-volley to cancel out Damien

Duff’s opener. Inspired by the £24 million ($37.9 million) Dutch striker, United went on to secure their first win of the season.

But the result was overshadowed by Rooney’s injury late in the second half, which left the England striker, who was stretchered off, with blood streaming from a deep gash in his thigh after he was caught by Hugo Rodallega.

Rooney was taken to hospital for treatment and United coach Sir Alex Ferguson said: “It was a very bad one. He has gone to hospital. It looks like he will be out for four weeks.”

Fulham had stunned United when Irish winger Duff fired home from just inside the penalty area in the third minute. But that brought a scintillating response from van Persie, who levelled with a blistering strike from Patrice Evra’s cross.

Like van Persie, former Borussia Dortmund star Shinji Kagawa was making his first appearance at Old Trafford and he marked the occasion by tapping in his maiden United goal.

United defender Rafael da Silva added a third goal in the 41st minute before Nemanja Vidic’s 64th-minute own goal gave Fulham a glimmer of hope.

While United are off the mark, it is Chelsea who are setting the early pace as the European champions cemented their position on top of the table with a 2-0 win against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge. Roberto Di Matteo’s side, who have recorded three successive victories, went ahead in the 22nd minute when Eden Hazard drilled home his first Chelsea goal from the penalty spot after a Vurnon Anita foul on Fernando Torres.

Spain striker Torres added the second goal himself, lashing in from Hazard’s back-heel just before half-time. Everton, often hampered by slow starts to the season, also maintained their 100 percent record with a 3-1 win over 10-man Aston Villa. South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar gave David Moyes’ side the perfect start as he struck in the third minute at Villa Park.

Marouane Fellaini increased the lead with a 31st-minute header and Croatia striker Nikica Jelavic swept home a Leighton Baines cross just before halftime. Villa defender Ciaran Clark earned a straight red card for a professional foul on Jelavic in the second half and Karim El Ahmadi’s 74th-minute goal was little consolation for the hosts.

Andre Villas-Boas was denied a first

win as Tottenham Hotspur manager as James Morrison’s late goal secured a 1-1 draw for West Bromwich Albion at White Hart Lane.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto struck for Tottenham in the 74th minute with a deflected shot, but Steve Clarke’s side levelled through Morrison in stoppage time.

“It is very important to get that first win but there are still 36 games ahead of us,” Villas-Boas said. “We have one more point than we did this time last year.”

Norwich City and QPR, both thrashed 5-0 last weekend, shared the spoils in a 11 draw at Carrow Road.

Chris Hughton’s side took the lead through Simeon Jackson’s 11th-minute header, but QPR were level within nine minutes when Bobby Zamora converted the rebound after Djibril Cisse’s penalty

Torres sinks Newcastle Chelsea 2

Newcastle 0 LONDON: Fernando Torres announced his return to form with a superb display in Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Newcastle United yesterday, as Rober to Di Matteo’s side cemented their position on top of the Premier League.

Torres struck his second goal of the season on the stroke of half-time after earlier winning a penalty that Eden Hazard converted as the European champions made it three successive wins.

Hazard also maintained his superb start to the season with his first goal for the club and a clever assist for the Torres strike.

But it was the quality of Torres’s goal, together with his all-round display, that took the spotlight and suggested the Spaniard’s troubled first 18 months in west London could soon be a distant memory as he steps out of Didier Drogba’s shadow following the Ivorian’s move to China.

Chelsea presented new signings Victor Moses and Cesar Azpilicueta to the home crowd to add to the upbeat mood before kick-off at Stamford Bridge.

The pair cost a combined fee of around £16 million ($25.3 million), taking the club’s expenditure to over £80 million since the end of last season-a powerful statement of intent coming on the back of their Champions League triumph last May.

Hazard has so far been the Blues’ standout performer, confirming why the club paid £32 million to Lille with his displays in the opening games of the campaign.

And he was the most eye-catching player on the pitch again in a one-sided first half during which Newcastle never threatened to stage a repeat of their victory over the Blues in May. Chelsea had been unconvincing for long periods in the 4-2 mid-week win over Reading that turned on a controversial Torres strike.

But they looked far more composed against a visiting side who had opened their league campaign with a home victory over Tottenham Hotspur seven days previously.

In between, Newcastle had travelled to Greece, where a team made up largely of fringe players recorded a 1-1 draw against Atromitos in the Europa League.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew made nine changes to the side that started on Thursday, but his team still looked lethargic in comparison to Chelsea.

Hazard darted around impressively and his turn and shot in the 14th minute created the first chance of the game. Torres also looked sharp and his lay- off to Ryan Bertrand four minutes later allowed the midfielder to test visiting goalkeeper Tim Krul once more.

Then, in the 21st minute, Torres burst sharply into the Newcastle area, where his run was halted by a clumsy trip by Vurnon Anita.

The penalty was never in doubt and with Frank Lampard among the substitutes, Hazard took responsibility, drilling the ball inside the left-hand post for the opening

was saved by John Ruddy. Wigan Athletic showed there is life after Victor Moses as the Latics won 2-0 at Southampton. With Nigeria forward Moses having joined Chelsea on Friday, Wigan coach Roberto Martinez needed his other forwards to step up and Franco Di Santo rose to the challenge as the Argentine hammered a powerful shot into the roof of the net in the 51st minute.

Arouna Kone completed Wigan’s victory with a fine solo effort in the 89th minute.

Sunderland’s match against Reading was postponed less than 90 minutes before kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch at the Stadium of Light. Today, Arsenal travel to Stoke City and champions Manchester City take on Liverpool at Anfield.—AFP

West Brom hold wasteful Spurs

LONDON: Chelsea’s Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel (right) vies with Newcastle United’s French midfielder Yohan Cabaye (left) during their English Premier League football match. —AFP goal. Newcastle offered little by way of response, while Chelsea’s precise movement up front created a succession of openings.

Papiss Demba Cisse finally produced an effort on target for the visitors shortly before the break when he turned and shot straight at Petr Cech from just 12 yards. But Torres demonstrated a much more ruthless approach to finishing moments later when he doubled the lead in added time.

A neat exchange of passes with Hazard

took the Spain striker into the Newcastle area, where he produced a first-time effort with the outside of his right foot that curled into the top-right corner. Newcastle started the second period with much more purpose, with Hatem Ben Arfa sending a leftfoot, angled shot narrowly wide.

But they failed to get a foothold in the game and when Cisse fluffed a late chance, it was clear there would be no way back.—AFP

LONDON: Andre VillasBoas was denied a first Tottenham 1 win as Tottenham boss when James Morrison cancelled out Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s goal to West Brom 1 earn a last minute draw for West Brom. Tottenham dominated for large swathes of the match at White Hart Lane as they sought to get off the mark for the fledgling season after last weekend’s opening loss at Newcastle. Villas-Boas handed Jan Vertonghen his first start, the former Ajax captain coming into the side in place of the injured Younes Kaboul. Striker Emmanuel Adebayor started on the bench after joining Spurs on a permanent contract following last season’s loan deal with Manchester City.

The first half was all Spurs, with Wales winger Gareth Bale in superb form, but West Brom keeper Ben Foster was only called into action once. Vertonghen was at the centre of one of the home side’s best moves when he spread the ball wide, and then ran up to latch onto a cross only for the Belgian centre-half to shoot over the bar. After the interval, Bale failed to connect cleanly with a sweeping pass from Rafael van der Vaart, while Assou-Ekotto had a free-kick kept out by Foster. Shortly after Adebayor had been introduced for van der Vaart, Tottenham had the ball in the net only for Jermain Defoe’s close range shot to be ruled offside.

Down at the other end only a fingertip save from Brad Friedel denied Romelu Lukaku from giving West Brom the lead against the run of play. Two minutes later Friedel kept out a shot from Marc-Antoine Fortune. Spurs finally broke the deadlock in the 74th minute when Assou-Ekotto drove a 25-yard shot past Foster with the ball taking a deflection on its way into the back of the net. But they squandered the welcome three points in the final minute of the game when multiple failed attempts to clear a corner cost them dear, with Morrison making the most of the poor defending to shoot into the corner from 10 yards on the whistle.—AFP

Business

Great alternatives to a big salary raise Page 22 June sales up 18 percent led by residential sector

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Laid-off US workers take pay cuts in new jobs

Page 23

Page 23

New Range Rover: World’s most refined and capable luxury SUV Page 25

PARIS: Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (left) and France’s President Francois Hollande, bid farewell after a joint statement at the Elysee Palace yesterday. — AP

Greece must stay in euro-zone: France Hollande says Greece must prove ‘credibility’ PARIS: French President Francois Hollande said Greece’s leaders must show their commitment to reform and Europe must decide on how to help the country as soon as possible after it receives a progress report from Athens’ international lenders in October. Greece must also stay in the euro-zone, he added after a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras yesterday, echoing comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who held similar talks with Samaras on Friday.

But Hollande, who has taken a softer line than Germany on the need for austerity to help the euro-zone rein in its deficits, added that Greece, where unemployment has hit a record 23 percent, must not push its people too far. “It (Greece) must demonstrate again the credibility of its programme and the will of its leaders to go through with it to the end, whilst ensuring it’s bearable for the population,” Hollande told reporters. He said that once the “troika” of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund lenders have handed in their next report on Greece’s fiscal situation, Europe should not hesitate to act.

“Once we have this report, once the commitments... are confirmed, Europe has to do what it has to do,” he said.

“That means after the troika report at the European summit in October.” Samaras, whose conservative-led government took power in June promising to fulfil the austerity pledges Greece made to receive its bailout, wants European leaders to give his country more time to push through the unpopular reforms. He has been hoping for a two-year extension to the budget targets promised under Greece’s second, 130 billion euro ($163 billion) bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, as the country struggles through its fifth year in recession.

Samaras said in a German newspaper interview earlier this week that Greece can stay afloat if it receives its next tranche of aid later than October, but will be broke if the money does not arrive. The Eurogroup of euro-zone finance ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Oct 8 and may discuss the troika’s report on Greece and any plans to loosen its bailout terms. EU heads of state and government will then meet in Brussels on Oct 18-19.

A word from Bernanke turns stocks around NEW YORK: The stock market keeps getting tossed around by the Fed. Stocks opened lower Friday but reversed course after a letter surfaced from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting there was room for the central bank to do more to help the economy. “There is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery,” Bernanke wrote to Congressman Darrell Issa, a Republican, in a letter obtained by The Wall Street Journal. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 30 points at its low but finished 100.51 points higher, at 13,157.97, its first gain all week. It was still the first losing week for the Dow since early July.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 9.05 to 1,411.13 but also snapped a six-week winning streak. The Nasdaq composite index rose 16.39 to 3,069.79, ending five straight weeks of gains. In a typically slow August, without much else to influence trading, investors have grasped for hints about what the Fed might do. On Wednesday afternoon, investors pushed stocks higher after the Fed released meeting minutes that appeared to signal it was ready to take more action to prop up the economy.

On Thursday, stocks declined when a Fed regional bank president cast doubt on the idea, saying in an interview with CNBC that the economic recovery appeared to be gaining strength. Then on Friday, Bernanke shook up the market again. His letter was in response to questions from

Issa, the head of the House oversight committee, who had asked whether it was premature to consider additional steps.

The Fed has several options, including buying bonds, as it has done twice since the 2008 financial crisis, to try to lower interest rates and drive investors into the stock market.

Still, it’s debatable how much future Fed action would help the market or the economy. On Friday, some analysts thought it strange that the market moved so decisively on just an inkling about what the Fed chairman might be thinking.

“What’s new about what came out?” said Ann Miletti, senior portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

“I guess the markets are dependent on having some commentary about the macro economy every single day.”

For the most part, the market has been hard to read this month. Without much news, trading volume has been low, and investors haven’t had much conviction either way about the economy.

Of 18 trading days in August, only once has the Dow moved more than 1 percent. On five days, it has been virtually flat, moving less than one-tenth of a percentage point. The turbulence likely lies ahead. The Fed’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is at the end of the month. German courts are set to decide next month whether the country can keep participating in bailouts for weaker European countries. — AP

Market optimism Financial markets have been optimistic that Europe-and particularly the ECB-will finally come up with decisive action in a busy month of euro diplomacy in September to resolve the shared currency bloc’s sovereign debt crisis. Spain, the latest hot spot in the 2-1/2-year euro-zone debt crisis, is in talks about conditions for aid to bring down its borrowing costs, though it has not made a final decision to request a bailout, sources said this week. The country has said it would wait until the next ECB meeting on Sept. 6 to hear any details on how the ECB plans to intervene before deciding on any move.

ECB President Mario Draghi signalled earlier this month that the central bank may start buying government debt to bring down crippling Spanish and Italian borrowing costs.

With sources saying Spain may be on the brink of a sovereign bailout, Europe and the IMF are keen to stress the importance of the strict conditions for the aid they extend.

Samaras said that Greece would do whatever it took to get out of the crisis, adding that he had assured the French president Greece was determined to remain in the euro-zone,

which would show that Europe was capable of solving its problems. “Some are betting that Greece will not make it. I am here to assure the French president that Greece is determined to make it and it will,” he said. The Greek leader added that economic recovery was crucial to help it meet its targets. Hollande said that he wanted the question of whether Greece stays in the euro-zone or not to stop being an issue.

Merkel on Friday also reassured Samaras that she wanted Greece to stay in the euro-zone, but gave no sign of ceding to his pleas for more time to meet the tough terms of Athens’ international bailout.

She also stuck doggedly to her policy of deferring to the troika report, though she did say that she and Hollande were in no doubt they wanted Greece to stay in the single currency. The French and German leaders had coordinated their stance on Greece over dinner in Berlin on Thursday.

Trying to emulate the “Merkozy” partnership under Hollande’s predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative Merkel and the Socialist French president showed a united front, insisting Greece must meet its targets before any new discussion of terms. — Reuters

Spain denies negotiations on sovereign rescue MADRID: Spain’s government denied Friday it had entered negotiations for a sovereign rescue, which would make it the largest victim so far of the euro-zone crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria repeated to journalists a denial issued earlier in the day in Brussels by a spokesman for European Commissioner for the euro Olli Rehn.

The spokesman, Simon O’Connor, told a news conference there was only one programme being implemented for Spain, referring to a 100-billion-euro ($124 billion) banking rescue loan from the euro-zone. “There are no negotiations under way for any other sort of programme for Spain,” he said. After reading out that statement in a Madrid news conference, the Spanish deputy premier added: “I confirm it.” O’Connor said in Brussels there was only one programme being implemented for Spain, referring to a 100-billion-euro ($124 billion) banking rescue loan from the euro-zone.

But he conceded that political and technical talks over the crisis were going on all the time with Spain, which has the euro-zone’s fourth largest economy. Spain’s economy is more than twice the size of Ireland, Greece and Portugal’s combined. They are the three euro-zone countries to have received bailouts to date.

But investors increasingly believe that Spain will be forced to request a full bailout for its economy as Madrid struggles to borrow money on the international markets at affordable rates. The nation faces a crunch in October with major debt payments due: short-term debt repayments of 9.02 billion euros and long-term repayments of 24.158 billion euros. Speculation is mounting that Spain may ask the euro-zone’s European Financial Stability Facility or incoming European Stability Mechanism to buy its newly issued bonds so as to bring down its spiralling borrowing costs. — AP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

BUSINESS

Most laid-off US workers take pay cuts in new jobs Paychecks fall behind inflation

June sales up 18 percent led by residential sector NBK ECONOMIC BRIEF KUWAIT: Real estate sales in June totalled KD 266 million, almost unchanged from June of last year but up 18 percent month-on-month.

The residential segment rallied while both the investment and commercial segments lagged, netting a small 1.2 percent y/y increase in sales.

Residential sector sales totaled KD 148.0 million in June, an increase of KD 34 million y/y on the back of an increased number of transactions.

Ahmadi governorate saw the highest number of transactions for plots of land (65 percent of total plot sales), with Mubarak Al-Kabeer being a distant second. As for home sales, Hawally governorate saw the most activity (25 percent of home transactions), with Ahmadi governorate being a close second. Sales in the residential sector continue to show robustness, in line with an overall view of a healthy household sector.

The investment sector saw KD 113.1 million in sales during June, down KD 22 million compared to last June. The decrease in sales was a result of fewer transactions conducted during the month, whereas the average transaction size remained within its normal range. Beside some expected seasonal slowdown, the y/y dip

was also due to a “basis effect” -sales in June 2011 were exceptionally high, making this June’s sales look relatively softer in comparison.

The investment real estate sector should generally do well in 2012.

The commercial sector saw just KD 5.3 million in sales, a drop of KD 8.5 million compared to the same month of last year. Two out of three transactions took place in Kuwait City, with the third being in Hawalli governorate.

The low number of transactions and corresponding large variance in their size reflects the volatility of this sector. The Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) approved almost KD 10 million in loans, spread out over 159 loan applications (for an average of about KD 63,000). More than half of the approved loans were for the purchase of existing homes, while a little over a third were for new constructions. The SCB also disbursed another KD 12.9 million in loans.

Expected slowdown due to summer, vacations, and the holy month of Ramadan should become apparent in the coming two months, but the residential and investment segments should support the Kuwaiti real estate sector in having another overall solid year.

WASHINGTON: The US economic recovery hasn’t felt much like one even for people who managed to find new jobs after being laid off.

Most of them have had to settle for less pay.

Only 56 percent of Americans laid off from January 2009 through December 2011 had found jobs by the start of this year, the Labor Department said Friday. More than half of them took jobs with lower pay. One-third took pay cuts of 20 percent or more.

The figures would be even lower if people who could find only part-time jobs were included in the total. The report provides an illustration of the job market’s persistent weakness well after the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009.

It also documents that while the economy has added nearly 3 million jobs since the recovery began, many pay less than those that were lost.

And it points to the challenge for President Barack Obama, who’s seeking re-election with unemployment at 8.3 percent. No president since World War II has faced re-election with unemployment above 8 percent. It was 7.8 percent when Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Laid-off workers always have a harder time finding new jobs than do people who quit. But since the government began tracking such data in 1984, people who lost jobs in a recovery haven’t had it as hard as they did in the one that began three years ago. And the pay cuts in their new jobs usually aren’t so deep. For example, in 2003-2005, a period that included a slow recovery, nearly 70 percent of those who were laid off found jobs. More than half who found full-time work in that time did so at equal or higher pay.

The government compiles data on laid-off workers every two years. The report covers only people who had worked at least three years in the same job before being laid off. In doing so, it focuses on those who had stable careers before they lost work. They are people like Andrew McMenemy, who used to make $80,000 a year as a computer systems administrator at a software firm. He was among the 80 percent of the firm laid off in March 2010.

Now, he makes $9.15 an hour, providing tech support for Apple. The job offers no benefits. He works from home in East Stroudsburg, Pa, where he lives with his father. “I’m going to be 53; I have to live at home with my father,” McMenemy said. “I made more when I worked in high school.” About 6.1 million people with at least three years on the job were laid off in the three years ending in 2011, the government’s report

said. That’s down from 6.9 million in the previous report, which covered the 2007-2009 period. But it’s still the second-highest total since 1984.

Though the proportion of laid-off workers finding jobs has improved since the 2007-2009 period, “by no means are they back to a normal level for a recovery,” said Henry Farber, an economics professor at Princeton University.

Compared with most other recoveries, “this is really bad,” said Dean Baker, an economist and co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, a liberal think tank.

Baker noted that only 15 percent of those laid off in 2009 through 2011 have found new jobs with equal or higher pay. That compares with 25 percent in the three years before the recession.

“You were much more likely to be re-employed in 2007 at the same or higher wage than now,” he said. An Associated Press analysis this month documented that by just about every measure, this economic recovery is the feeblest since the Great Depression. The weakness goes well beyond high unemployment. Economic growth has never been weaker in a postwar recovery.

Consumer spending has never been so slack.

And even for people who have jobs, paychecks have fallen behind inflation.

SOUTHFIELD: In this file photo, job seekers wait in a line at a job fair in Southfield, Mich. — AP

S&P to rise after wild ride to Jackson Hole WALL ST WEEK AHEAD

Drought a serious blow to Balkans agriculture BELGRADE: An unprecedented drought in the Balkans has dealt a serious blow to agriculture, causing grave losses estimated at more than a billion euros in one of Europe’s poorest regions. Temperatures over the past week in the southeastern European region have soared to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), with no rains in most areas. After being hammered by a particularly rough winter with plummeting temperatures and record snowfall, Bosnia is now sweltering through its hottest summer since records began 120 years ago.

Sead Jelec of the National Association of Farmers said the country’s agricultural losses are estimated at between 30 and 40 percent.

The “total value of agriculture production in Bosnia is around one billion euros ($1.25 billion). We can say that the losses would be around 300 million euros,” Jelec said. The drought had especially hit corn crops, but also fruits and pastures.

Croatia’s national agricultural chamber estimated the losses for that country at more than 134 million euros, chamber chairman Matija Brlosic said. Several regions have declared a state of emergency, including the eastern Slavonia area, Croatia’s main agricultural producing region, where the drought has ravaged fields and left sunflowers browned and withered on their stalks. “Slavonia has literally been devastated. Cultures planted in spring are in a catastrophic state and the losses are estimated at between 60 and 100 percent,” Brlosic said.

Of around 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million

acres) of farming land in Croatia, only 18,000 are covered with irrigation systems. In Serbia, initial loss estimates are close to one billion euros, a government source said. Particularly hard hit is the northern province of Vojvodina, nicknamed “Serbia’s granary,” with production estimated to top out at just 50 percent of normal. More than one million hectares have been hit, mostly of corn, maize and soya, the agriculture ministry said, prompting the government to adopt a package with measures to assist farmers and their fields.

Serbia has seen its warmest summer since 1887, with temperatures passing 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than 50 days, the national weather office has said.

As of Friday, more than 250 fires were blazing across the country, notably in the southwestern Zlatibor mountain region, a popular tourist destination. The harvest in Kosovo was expected to be 20 percent smaller than normal, said Safet Gerxhaliu, Kosovo’s Chamber of Commerce chairman and similar losses are expected in Macedonia.

Kosovo imports almost half of its food needs, like neighbouring Montenegro, fears a spike in food prices because of the drought.

Dry skies have also led to a severe disruption in regional water supplies, with Serbia introducing restrictions in several towns, like in southwestern Cacak where customers have only five hours of running water a day. The main rivers such as the Danube, the Sava and the Tisa, though running at low levels, remain open for navigation. — AFP

OSIJEK: A view of dried sunflowers in a field in Slavonia near the town Osijek in eastern Croatia, some 400 km from Zagreb, on August 24, 2012. — AFP

The Labor Department report Friday showed that men were more likely than women to regain jobs after a layoff. Male-dominated fields, such as manufacturing and mining, have experienced some of the strongest job gains. By contrast, hiring has been below average in some occupations with mostly female workers, such as office and administrative support. That would come as no surprise to Kim Pinto, who lost her job in November 2009 as an executive assistant and office manager at a commercial interior design firm. Pinto, 50, who lives in Plymouth, Mass., was unemployed for nearly two years before landing a job as a sales person at a furniture store in July 2011.

Her new job pays roughly half the $52,000 she earned at her former job. The new one offers health insurance. But she can’t afford the premium. Pinto considered the sales job a “life raft” until she could find something better.

She’s still looking, and the competition is fierce.

She applied for an administrative position at a local police station. There were 186 applicants, she was told. “I’ve always worked a full-time job with benefits,” Pinto said. “It’s almost like that’s a thing of the past. It really erodes your selfesteem.” — AP

NEW YORK: The streak is over, but is the trend intact? A six-week string of gains in the S&P 500 ended on Friday amid shifting expectations for central bank stimulus.

This week could bring clarity on that issue, and that could determine whether the recent rally that took the index to four-year highs will persist. “The streak is broken, but the trend isn’t, and I think the next major move on the S&P will push us up towards 1,450 or 1,500,” said Mark Arbeter, chief technical strategist for Standard & Poor’s in New York. “Small- and mid-cap stocks are near their all-time highs, and if they break those highs, I think that will prompt the market to really rip higher.”

Still, the market could be in for a bumpy ride this week ahead of Friday’s meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Investors are looking for clues on whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will announce a third round of quantitative easing. Bets on aggressive action to increase growth have spurred most of the market’s recent gains, meaning any disappointment could stop the rally in its tracks. The CBOE Volatility index or VIX, a measure of investor anxiety, jumped almost 13 percent last week.

While many analysts expect QE3 - and Bernanke wrote a letter to a congressional panel that the Fed has room to deliver it - the odds seemed to decline following comments on Thursday from James Bullard, a non-voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. He said the latest Fed minutes, which indicated the central bank might be ready for more stimulus, were “stale.”

“Rhetoric is going back and forth about what we can expect, and we could see some big gyrations going into the meeting, depending on the latest rumor,” said Michael Matousek, senior trader at US Global Investors Inc in San Antonio.

Is QE3 baked into the cake?

In the recent six-week winning streak, the S&P’s longest since January 2011, the index climbed 4.7 percent. That could indicate QE3 has already been priced into shares. “I think we’re priced so that we won’t see a major move if something is announced,” Matousek said.

“But if the status quo persists, which is what I’m expecting, that could be a big disappointment.”

Daily trading volume, which has been among the lowest of the year recently, is expected to remain muted ahead of the meeting. Low volume could amplify stock swings in both directions, and there is little other news to otherwise drive trading. Following the Jackson Hole meeting, there will be a market holiday on Sept. 3 for Labor Day. Trading is expected to pick up after that, with a major catalyst seen on Sept. 6, when the European Central Bank has its next meeting.

The ECB recently pledged to “do whatever it takes” to address the euro zone’s debt crisis, comments that contributed to recent positive sentiment. Earnings season is winding down, with only five S&P 500 components scheduled to report next week, including Tiffany & Co , Joy Global Inc and H J Heinz. With 98 percent of S&P 500 companies having reported results, 67 percent have topped expectations by an average surprise factor of 4.3 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. The 67 percent beat rate is higher than the long-term average of 62 percent.

However, there have been some notable disappointments lately, including Hewlett-Packard Co. — Reuters

Philippine remittances still going strong KCIC WEEKLY ANALYSIS ON ASIA KUWAIT: Many of the expatriates working in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East come from the Philippines. The money that these workers send home, or “remittances”, makes up a significant portion of the average Filipino household’s income in the Philippines, greatly supporting the country’s domestic consumption.

According to the World Bank, the Philippines is the fourth largest recipient of remittances in the world. In 2011, over $20.1 billion was sent home by overseas Filipinos, equivalent to 8.9 percent of the entire Philippine economy. In June 2012 alone, Filipino workers abroad sent $1.8 billion back home, growing 4.2 percent compared to the same month last year. In the first half of 2012, remittances to the Philippines amounted to $11.3 billion, rising 5.3 percent year on year (YoY). Two factors have contributed to the steady growth in remittances flows: the first is the constantly growing demand for overseas Filipino workers (OFW); in 2011, the number of OFWs grew by 14.8 percent YoY. Demand from Asia and the Middle East has been strong, especially from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Qatar.

Although the remittances growth numbers are robust, these growth figures have decelerated since December of 2011, as displayed in the graph; this is largely due to the economic slowdown in the West, the largest employer of OFW’s in the world. The second factor that has helped keep remittances growth afloat is the expansion of remittances services from banks and other providers, that enables a larger amount of remittances to be captured and flow through to the Philippines.

According to the Philippine government, more than 11 percent of the Philippine population lives abroad. In terms of share to total remittances sent in June, 45 percent of the global flows came from the United States alone and 6.7 per-

cent from Canada. The UK OFWs sent 5 percent, Italy 2.3 percent, and the rest of Europe 9.3 percent. The Middle East is a large employer as well; workers in Saudi sent 7.4 percent of global remittances and 7.8 percent came from the rest of the region. Singapore and Hong Kong are the largest employers of OFWs in Asia, the workers there sent 4.8 percent and 2 percent of total remittances in June, respectively.

Remittances from OFWs are essential for consumption in the Philippine economy.

Remittances of a single worker can support an entire family in the Philippines; that is because of the strength of the currencies abroad combined with higher wages, and the cheaper cost of living in the Philippines. Private consumption accounts for more than 75 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the Philippines, and spending is hinged to the health of remittances flows. Remittances growth has held steady through the post-crisis years despite the rise in unemployment in the West. Workers strived to keep the funds steady because they largely account for basic needs such as housing, food, and schooling. The resilience of the Asian economies and the strength of the Middle East’s economic growth have supported the steady demand for OFW’s, providing a cushion against the slowdown in the West.

Because of thesteady remittances, as well as the Philippines’ expanding export services sector and improving debt situation, global rating agencies and investments firms have given positive outlooks on the state of the economy.Investments in the Philippines are expected to exhibit better returns than in the West given the solid fundamentals of the economy. Standard and Poor’s Rating Services recently gave a positive assessment of the economy, making the country even more notable in the eyes of investors.

business

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Real estate liquidity drops by 3.1 percent ALSHALL WEEKLY ECONOMIC REPORT

A

ccording to the latest available date from the Ministry of Justice, Department of Real Estate Registration and Authentication, for July trading (until July 26, 2012 computed on a monthly basis), total sales of both contracts and agencies scored about KE 246.1 million, which is 10.9 percent less that June 2012 liquidity, that scored KE 276.2 million, while it increased by about 16.4 percent vis-‡-vis its counterpar value in July 2011. A comparative reading to the total trading in 2012 -until the end of July 2012- we notice that total value of contracts and agencies’ sales scored about KD 1897.5 million distributed as follows: the private sector, both contracts and agencies, accounted for about 57 percent of the total, while 35.7 percent went to the investment sector, 6.2 percent went to the commercial sector, and 1.1 percent for warehouses.

In general, real estate liquidity dropped by about 3.1 percent in the first seven months of 2012 vis-‡-vis the same seven months of 2011. However, if we look at the liquidity components of the current year we notice growth in liquidity directed at private housing activity, which increased by about KD 39.3 million, or about 3.8 percent compared with liquidity level in the first seven months of 2011. On the other hand, investment and commercial trading dropped by about 10.1 percent and 25.5 percent respectively, which indicates continued purchasing appeal to the ultimate beneficiary at the expense of trading in real estate. However, we must be patient with this conclusion until the end of the year, as the market was active in the first half of last year, and its activity slowed down in the second half. It seems the opposite is happening this year.

When we compare the average value per deal during the past part of 2012 with the per deal value in the

counterpart period of 2011, we notice a drop in the per deal average in 2012, which scored about KD 333.9 thousand per deal vis-‡-vis KD 395.4 thousand for 2011 (15.6 percent drop). This is a justification for the rise in the private housing share at the expense of other activities, and the drop in the per deal value for the private housing and the investment housing activities, while the commercial and warehousing activities’ per deal value increased, though their contribution is marginal or insignificant.

Qtel’s offer to acquire all Wataniya Telecom’s shares, which was presented to about 47.5 percent of its shareholders at KD 2.6 per share, has become official.

Excluding the treasury shares will not be significant as they do not exceed 0.07 percent (about 2.871 million shares) worth about KD 7.46 million. Qtel’s initial acquisition in March 2007 was the highest acquisition deal in the Kuwaiti market in terms of value, back then when the market was prosperous. It offered KD 4.6 per share with 82.5 percent premium over the stock’s price in the market as of the end of 2006. Value of the acquisition deal equaled 51 percent of the company’s value (KD 1.075 billion). It seems it will remain the biggest acquisition in value for a long time.

Assuming all other shareholders will agree to sell their shares, except for the treasury shares, the new theoretical value of the deal will amount to about KD 615 million. However, that will not materialize as if it does, the company’s status will cease as a public shareholding company and listed on the stock exchange. Naturally, some shareholders will abstain from selling. The abstention is significant, in terms of the number of shareholders, and will occur because some shareholders will not respond to the offer, either out of desire to continue their ownership in the com-

pany at this price, or due to restrictive reasons such as held shares or multi-owners, heirs, for instance, or due to legal dispute among owners or among owners and creditors. However, the probable abstention, and more importantly in terms of value might come from the second largest shareholder, namely, Kuwait Investment Authority, which owns about 23.5 percent, worth about KD 308 million, and this is not supposed to occur if the reason pertains to political sensitivities or to sovereignty because both are irrelevant considerations.

Wataniya Telecom reported profits in the first half of the current year of about 94.6 fils per share. After excluding non-recurring profits from performance in the amount of KD 278 million in 2011 from revaluations, EPS during the first 6 months of 2011 scored 88.6 fils, which means its profitability is constant or increased by about 3 percent, however its operating profits decreased by about 7 percent, due to intense competition in the local market and the impact of the exchange rate on its operations in the Algerian market, according to Qtel’s offered document. This means the company might achieve a net profit of 200 fils per share by the end of the year, or about 5.2 percent of the offer price. Definitely, the company will not distribute all profits and this means the offered price may be fair and closer to the sellers’ interests, if we remember that the acquisition will not add much to the control power on Wataniya Telecom, as Qtel currently owns 52.5 percent of the company. The company’s total equity amounted to about KD 916 million, a book value of about KD 1.8 per share, and the offer price is about KD 0.8 higher than its book value. Net shareholder’s equity of the parent company decreases to about KD 805 million, with a book value per share of about KD 1.6, and with a premium of KD 1 in favor of the acquisition offer. Wataniya Telecom’s share price on KSE closed at KD 2.120 on July 21, 2012, before the acquisition intentions were announced by Qtel when the announcement came on 25/6/2012 to stop trading on Wataniya shares. This means the offer price came with a premium of 22.6 percent, which is not close to the premium of the 51 percent acquisition of the company in 2007, which was at 82.5 percent. However, the market is different now, and the two acquisition objectives are different as well.

Financial & monetary statistics - June 2012 The Central bank of Kuwait (CBK) states in its monthly monetary statistical overview for June 2012, as published on its website, that balance of total public instruments in the end of June 2012 rose by about KD 77 million, thus reaching KD 2050 million (and has maintained its level at KD 1973 million since 8/2011).

Public debt instruments comprise of long-term treasury bonds, with a balance of KD 1925 million (KD 1848 million in the end of March 2012), and treasury bills with a balance of KD 125 million (since July 2011). The average interest rate on treasury bonds for one year scored 1.25 percent, 1.375 percent for two years, 1.75 percent for a maturity of more than two years (in the end of May 2012), and 0.758 percent for 3-month treasury bills (in the end of April 2012). Local banks hold about 96.5 percent of total public debt instruments. As such, total domestic public debt amounted to about KD 2050 million, or 4.6 percent of 2011 nominal GDP, estimated at about KD 44.4 billion.

CBK’s bulletin states that total credit facilities to non-Kuwaiti residents by local banks amounted to about KD 26.361 billion which accounts for about 56.7 percent of total assets of local banks, slight increasing by about KD 365.6 million over its balance in the end of 3/2012, with a quarterly growth rate of 1.4 percent and a growth rate of 2.9 percent vis-‡-vis the end of 2011, which indicates the sustained reluctance by local banks to offer credit facilities, in-line with the growth rate of the macro-economy.

Personal credit facilities amounted to about KD 9.4 18 billion, or about 35.7 percent of total credit facilities (about KD 9.181 billion in the end of 3/2012).

Installment loans reached about KD 5.422 billion, forming about 58 percent of total personal facilities in the end of 5/2012. Loans for purchasing of securities reached about KD 2.707 billion (10.3 percent of total personal facilities), while consumer loans amounted to about KD 933.8 million in the end of 5/2012. Credit facilities for the real estate sector reached about KD 6.892 billion, 26.1 percent of the total (about KD 6.755 billion in the end of 3/20 12), about KD 2.478 billion for trade sector, 9.4 percent of the total (KD 2.398 billion in the end of 3/2012), and KD 2.186 billon for financial institutions (other than banks), or 8.3 percent the total (about KD 2.218 billion in the end of 3/2012).

The bulletin also indicates that total deposits at local banks reached about KD 32.472 billion, which represents about 69.9 percent of total local banks’ liabilities, increasing by about KD 579.8 million over the

amount in the end of 3/2012, with a quarterly growth rate of 1.8 percent. About KD 28.137 billion of the deposits at local banks belong to private sector’s clients in the comprehensive definition, forming about 86.7 percent total deposits, with about KD 25.762 billion, about 91.6 percent, belonging to private sector’s clients in Kuwaiti dinars, and about KD 2.375 billion in foreign currencies. As for average interest rates on clients’ term deposits in both KD and the vis-‡-vis the end of march 2012, they continued their drop on both currencies according to the bulletin; however it revived with a very slight rise on the dollar for the 6 and 12 month rates. The average interest rate on clients’ term deposits is still in favor of KD in the end of the two terms and scored 0.55 7 points for 1-month deposits; 0.677 points for 3-month deposits, 0.737 points for 6-month deposits, and 0.79 1 points for 12month deposits. As of the end of 3/20 12, interest rates were as follows; 0.575 points for 1-month deposits, about 0.694 points for 3month deposits, about 0.776 points for 6-month deposits, and about 0.864 points for 12-month deposits. The average exchange rate of the KD for June 2012 was 280.123 fils per one dollar, a drop by about -0.7 percent compared with the monthly average exchange rate of 3/2012 (about 278.12 fils per one dollar).

Ahli United Bank Financial Results - June 30, 2012 Al-Ahli United Bank announced results of its operations for the first six months of the current year ending June 30, 2012. They indicate the bank achieved net profits for its shareholders-after deducting national labor support tax, zakat, the non-controlling equities and Kuwait Foundation share-in the amount of KD 20.4 million, up by KD 2.2 million, up by 12.1 percent from KD 18.2 million profits for the same period of 2011. Net profit margin increased to 36.3 percent up from 32.7 percent for the same period 2011.

Reasons of this rise are attributed to a drop in operational expenses by KD 4.5 million, or 13.5 percent, to KD 29 million (KD 33.6 million in the same period 2011) because of declining depositors’ distributions by KD 3.6 million (19.5 percent) to KD 14.8 million (KD 18.4 million in the same period 2011). Net financing and interest revenues rose by KD 3.5 million (11.6 percent) vis-a-vis the same period in 2011 due to declining depositors’ distributions by 19.5 percent as indicated above. This declining percentage is higher than the drop in financing revenues by 0.1 percent which scored KD 48.7 million (KD 48.8 million in the same period last year). Net interest margin (the difference between received and paid interests) scored 2.6 percent (2.7 percent for the same period 2011).

The bank’s financial data indicate that its total assets increased by KD 257.8 million (9.8 percent) to KD 2885.7 million (KD 2627.8 million in the end of 2011 and the total increase in assets scored KD 514 million (21.7 percent) versus the first half of 2011 when they scored KD 2371.6 million. Item of financing receivables increased by 6.9 percent, KD 111.4 million, putting the portfolio value at KD 1729.1 million (59.9 percent of total assets) vis-‡-vis KD 1617.7 million (61.6 percent of total assets) in the end of 2011. Likewise, item of financing debtors rose by KD 122.1 million (7.6 percent) when compared with its volume in the same period 2011 when The weekly performance of Kuwait Stock Exchange The performance of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) for the last week (2 trading days, due to Eid Al-Fitr holiday) was more active compared to the previous one, where all the major indices including the general index showed an increase. AlShall Index (value weighted) closed at 414 points at the closing of last Thursday, showing an increase of 0.1 points or about 0.02 percent compared to previous week’s closing, and a decrease of 36.2 points or about 8 percent compared to the end of 2011. It scored KD 1607 million (67.8 percent of total assets). Item of cash and balances at banks rose by about KD 85.8 million, 20.3 percent, to KD 509.1 million (17.6 percent of total assets) versus KD 423.3 million (16.1 percent of total assets) in the end of 2011 but it rose by 66 percent, equal to KD 202.4 million vis-a-vis KD 306.7 million (12.9 percent of total assets) in the same period 2011.

Analysis of the bank’s profitability indexes indicate most of them went up. ROE went up from 13.6 percent in the end of June 2011 to 14.7 percent. Return on capital index (ROC) went up too and scored 34.4 percent (32.2 percent in the same period last year). But ROA dropped slightly from to 1.48 percent (1.5 1 percent) in the end of the first half of 2011. EPS rose to 19.3 fits (18 fils in the same period 2011). Thus the bank achieved annual return on the market value per share by 4.4 percent (4.6 percent in June 2011). Price multiplier to per share earnings (PIE) scored 22.8 times and P/B scored 3.7 times.

Eyeing easier way to send money to Latin America PHILADELPHIA: Every year, Mexican immigrants in the United States send tens of billions of dollars to relatives still south of the border, and for their largesse are hit with billions more in fees. Born in Mexico and now an American citizen living in South Philadelphia, Rosalba Meneses, 24, knows the bite of commissions and foreign-exchange charges when she sends money three times a year, totaling $1,000, to an aunt in Puebla state.

“She uses it for groceries, clothing and spending,” said Meneses, who pays commercial services - including Western Union, Sigue and the online Xoom - to make the transfers, known as remittances. About half of Mexico’s 112 million people have family in the United States. Like Meneses, 20 percent of the Mexicans living here routinely send money back home.

Depending on the amount and required speed of delivery, they are typically charged 10 to 16 percent.

Despite a weak US job market and virtually zero net migration out of Mexico, remittances from “El Norte” have exploded, from $6.6 billion in 1999, to a peak of $26.8 billion in 2007 before falling back to $23 billion last year, according to the World Bank. Against that backdrop, a Philadelphia start-up called Regalii - created by two young entrepreneurs, including a recent University of Pennsylvania Wharton School graduate is testing its “social gifting platform” as a new, free-tothe-consumer way to send remittances throughout

Latin America, with an emphasis on Mexico.

Using a secure website, payment gateway, and text messages, Regalii (a twist on “regalo,” the Spanish word for gift) will compete with the traditional services that take commissions. In Regalii’s model, there are no commissions. An immigrant buys credits - similar to gift cards - to be redeemed at cooperating retail stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, and other merchandisers in Latin America. After money is deposited in the Regalii system, a code is texted to phone of the recipient, who presents it at the store selected by the sender.

Credits are purchased on a “par” basis, meaning, for example, that a $100 gift card buys $100 of merchandise. Regalii makes money because it buys gift credits in bulk and gets them at a discount. And because the merchandisers already have bank accounts in the United States, transactions are in dollars, with no need to charge customers for foreign exchange.

“That’s our secret sauce,” said co-founder Edrizio De La Cruz, 31, during an interview in the company’s spartan office at the University of the Arts on Philadelphia’s Broad Street. The shared space is donated by Good Company Ventures, a Philadelphia incubator for entrepreneurs. “I grew up on remittances,” said De La Cruz, who was born in the Dominican Republic and whose father came to this country for work. Eventually, the whole family joined him, but until then, they were supported by remittances. —MCT

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

BUSINESS

New Range Rover: World’s most refined and capable luxury SUV State-of-the-art adaptive dynamics to further improve peerless quality KUWAIT: The all-new Range Rover brought to Kuwait by Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive Company is the most capable and most luxurious Land Rover yet. Lighter, stronger and with new levels of refinement, the Range Rover reinforces its position as the world’s finest luxury SUV. The fourth generation of the unique Range Rover line, the all-new model has been developed from the ground up, capturing the innovative spirit and iconic design of the original model which changed the world of motoring when it was launched over 40 years ago.

The world’s first SUV with a revolutionary lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body structure is 39 per cent lighter than the steel body in the outgoing model enabling total vehicle weight savings of up to 420 kg. The lightweight aluminium platform has delivered significant enhancements in performance and agility, along with a transformation in fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

In addition to the strong and rigid lightweight body, an all-new aluminium front and rear chassis architecture has been developed with completely re-engineered four-corner air suspension. While the luxurious ride has been retained, the vehicle’s handling and agility have been significantly improved. The new suspension architecture delivers flatter, more confident cornering, with natural and intuitive steering feel. John Edwards, Land Rover

Global Brand Director, said: “The new Range Rover preserves the essential, unique character of the vehicle - that special blend of luxury, performance and unmatched all-terrain capability. However, its clean sheet design and revolutionary lightweight construction have enabled us to transform the experience for luxury vehicle customers, with a step change in comfort, refinement and handling.”

The all-new Range Rover has a clean and

elegant shape which is derived from a fresh new interpretation of Range Rover design cues. While instantly recognisable as a Range Rover, the new vehicle takes a significant step forward with a bold evolution of the model’s iconic design language.

“Designing the next generation Range Rover, following over forty years of success, came with a huge responsibility to protect the DNA of such an icon,” said Gerr y

McGovern, Land Rover Design Director and Chief Creative Officer. “Our design team worked incredibly hard to capture the elegant proportions and pure surfaces which have been a feature of the best Range Rover designs.”

With Land Rover strength at its heart, the new model has been engineered from the ground up to be the most capable, most refined Range Rover ever. Amongst the industry-leading innovations is a ground-breaking next-generation version of Land Rover’s Terrain Response(R) system, which analyses the current driving conditions and automatically selects the most suitable vehicle settings for the terrain.

To ensure exceptional durability and reliability, the new model has been subjected to Land Rover’s punishing on- and off-road test and development regime, with a fleet of development vehicles covering millions of miles over 18 months of arduous tests in more than 20 countries with extremes of climate and road surfaces. Within the cabin, the all-new Range Rover provides occupants with a sensation of serene isolation, meeting the highest luxury car standards for refinement.

Measures like the rigorously optimised body structure and acoustic lamination of the windscreen and side door glass have significantly reduced noise levels, while the new suspension architecture has enabled engi-

neers to achieve even more luxurious ride comfort and refinement. The sumptuous interior incorporates distinctive Range Rover design cues, but executed with a very contemporary treatment, and clean, elegant surfaces which are flawlessly presented using the finest leathers and veneers. With over 118mm more legroom, the rear occupants benefit from vastly increased space and comfort, with the option of a new two-seat Executive Class seating package for the ultimate in rear-seat luxury.

To deliver the model’s characteristic effortless performance, customers have the choice of refined V8 petrol engines and for North Africa, TDV6 and TDV8 diesel engines combining responsive performance with outstanding CO2 emissions. The all-new Range Rover has been engineered with the latest developments in vehicle technologies, from interior luxury features such as exclusive Meridian surround sound music systems and power upper and lower tailgates, to advanced chassis and driver assistance technologies.

Designed and engineered at Land Rover’s development centres in the UK, the new Range Rover will be produced in a new, stateof-the-art manufacturing facility at Solihull, UK - employing the latest low-energy aluminium body construction technologies. The allnew Range Rover will be a truly global car, available in over 160 markets worldwide.

Microlenders provide financial lifeline to online enterprises LOS ANGELES: Erik Jimenez needed $1,000 right away to buy 200 used guitars he could sell from his online store. He couldn’t get a conventional loan or line of credit from a bank because his business of selling vintage and custom music instruments was too small. But the Bellflower, Calif., resident knew how to use social media to generate sales - and that’s what was important to a company called Kabbage Inc. The Atlanta microlender, which provides small online businesses with funding ranging from $500 to $40,000, signed the deal. Jimenez got his cash. “For me, the more money I have access to, the more money I can potentially make,” a delighted Jimenez said. The explosion of online sellers through sites such as eBay, Fab, Etsy and Pinterest has been a boon for entrepreneurs looking to sell a broad assortment of items including used CDs and handmade scarves. But finding a traditional bank to make small-business loans to virtual stores has been a tough sell - and has opened the door to niche players.

Kabbage is one of a number of new lenders that look beyond credit scores to make an assessment, and put more weight on UPS shipping information, Amazon and PayPal records to assess the probability that they’ll get their money back from a particular loan applicant. The lenders also look at how much potential borrowers use Twitter and Facebook to promote their products.

Rob Frohwein, Kabbage’s chief executive, said all those data points help give Kabbage a “360degree view” of how online merchants operate their business. “The more we know about you, the less risk there is for us and the more capital we can lend at more attractive rates,” he said.

Other microlenders targeting online merchants include On Deck Capital Inc. and Capital Access Network Inc., which specialize in high-interest, short-term loans.

“If the local bank wasn’t so risk-averse, and if they understood technology better, they would be doing this lending,” said Stephen HowardSarin, eBay ’s head of marketing in North America. “But they don’t understand.”

Technological innovations and the opportunity for online sellers to avoid a sales tax have allowed online commerce to transcend the economic problems that have punished some bricks-and-mortar operations.

Growth in online purchases is expected to continue, according to a report by EMarketer, a digital media and commerce data collector. The report states that consumers have shown confidence in online commerce, with 58 percent saying they will spend more money online in 2012.

And 70 percent of all Internet users ages 14 and older made at least one online purchase last year.

E-commerce grew 16.1 percent in 2011, and sales are expected to grow to $361.9 billion in 2016 from $194.3 billion in 2011, or about 13 percent a year, according to the report.

Investment firms Robert W. Baird and JPMorgan expect e-commerce to grow more than 12 percent this year.

Small businesses are hungry to latch on to the e-commerce momentum, and microlenders are casting a wide net to reel in as many customers as possible. Lenders such as On Deck Capital and Kabbage attract these small businesses because getting a loan from them is quick and easy. But the interest rates can be high. On Deck’s interest rates run 18 percent to 36 percent, but Chief Executive Noah Breslow said they are able to remain competitive with traditional banks because the loans are typically up in three to eight months. “I think the bottom line is people value speed and convenience,” Breslow said. “A business owner can go online with us and get approved basically within minutes and then get funding in their account the next day.”

His company, which has lent money in all 50 states, has provided more than $250 million to merchants. Kabbage has a similar strategy. The company said it gives advances - not loans - and expects a 2 percent to 7 percent fee over a sixmonth period and charges a higher fee in some cases for speed and convenience. The need for quick cash is what brought Jimenez to Kabbage.

Jimenez secured the loan at 5 percent interest and paid it off in the first month with the proceeds from the guitars. He made about $38,000 last year and has around $35,000 in sales in 2012.

In 2004, Ed Harmon also struggled to get loans from traditional lenders. He said banks turned him down flat because his online store, which sells water sports equipment such as wake boards and boat supplies, had just started and was based online. “They basically told us, ‘You guys are such a new business it’s hard for us to really get behind that and jump in with a big line of credit because you’re Internet, and Internet scares us,’ “ he said. Harmon was eventually able to secure a loan from a bank, but he found the hours of traditional lenders sometimes made it hard to get money when he needed it.

Last year, one of Harmon’s employees suggested the company take advantage of a good deal on some skateboards. It was late at night on a weekday and all the banks were closed, but he needed money right away to cash in on an attractive wholesale deal. He borrowed about $4,000 from Kabbage. “Using that Kabbage money did jump-start us to selling the 2,000 skateboards,” he said. “Being able to grab the Kabbage money allowed us to do it then instead of waiting until later.” If Harmon needs more money in the future, he’d consider Kabbage as an option. “Down the road, if I were to borrow more money, the interest rate is something I’d have to scrutinize,” he said. — MCT

SACRAMENTO: Erik Jimenez, owner of Belongingsbroker Music Center, tests a guitar in California. — MCT

Gulf Bank announces weekly draw winners KUWAIT: Gulf Bank held its 33rd Al-Danah weekly draw on August 22, 2012, announcing a total number of 10 Al-Danah weekly prize draw winners, each awarded with prizes of KD 1,000.

The 33rd Al Danah Weekly winners are: Sarah Husain Al-Ali, Emad Ali Mohammed Ali, Naser Fahad Naser Al-Soula, Mursi Saad Eddin Abu Baker, Fahed Abdulaziz Farhan, Jafer Mohammed Jeldawi, Ohood rashed Mohammed Al-Nashi, Hesham Sayed Mustafa Al-Mosawe, Ali Hasan Khalil and Ismaeil Ahmed Abdullah Al-Qabandi.

Gulf Bank encourages everyone in Kuwait to open an Al-Danah account and/or increase their deposits to maximize their chances of becoming a winner in the upcoming weekly (KD 1,000 each for 10 winners). Gulf Bank’s Al-Danah allows customers to win cash prizes and encourages them to save money. Chances increase the

more money is deposited and the longer it is kept in the account.

Al-Danah also offers a number of unique services including the Al-Danah Deposit Only ATM card which helps account holders deposit their money at their convenience; as well as the Al-Danah calculator to help customers calculate their chances of becoming an Al-Danah winner.

To be part of the Al-Danah draws, customers can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 56 branches, transfer on line, or call the Customer Contact Center on 1805805 for assistance and guidance. Customers can also log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank’s website, to find all the information regarding Al-Danah or any of the Bank’s products and services or log on www.egulfbank.com/aldanahwinners, to find out more about Al-Danah and who the winners are.

Manufacturing’s ‘skill gap’ has its skeptics

BLAINE: Mark Dauer uses a grinder while welding on a project at Code Welding in Blaine, Minnesota. — MCT

MINNEAPOLIS: To judge from the job listings, welders are in high demand. Manufacturers across the Upper Midwest will tell anyone who listens that they have jobs to offer - more than 2,000 welding positions in Minnesota alone - but not enough solid applicants. They point to a “skills gap” between the jobs available and the people out looking for work.

Textbook economics says this should be good news for anyone who can strap on a helmet and make the sparks fly. If good welders truly are hard to find, employers should pay more to get them on board.

Yet that isn’t happening, leading some economists to question whether the skills gap is really the issue. “If there is a shortage of something, you would expect the price of that something to increase over time,” said Steve Hine, director of labor market information for the state of Minnesota. “It doesn’t matter if that’s skilled welders, or the market for alcohol.”

Instead, the average hourly wage for a welder in Minnesota grew just $1 between 2005 and 2011, to $17 per hour, according to Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development data.

Take inflation into account, and that’s a pay cut.

And welders in Minnesota make more, on average, than they do in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, all

states where firms complain about a skills gap.

Average inflation-adjusted pay for machinists has risen only 9 cents per hour in the past seven years in Minnesota. Hourly wages for factory assemblers and fabricators have risen just 10 cents, and pay for computer-controlled machine operators has fallen $1.61 per hour.

Still, many employers say the skills gap is real and is holding back the economic recovery. The state of Iowa issued a report in May arguing there aren’t enough people to fill jobs that require more than a high school diploma but not a four-year college degree. “The vast majority of folks think there is a skills gap,” said Mike Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry.

While Minnesota manufacturers have added 11,600 jobs since the beginning of February, the people who run these companies say hiring is a struggle. A January survey by Enterprise Minnesota showed 26 percent believe a shortage of qualified workers will affect their bottom line. And 58 percent said attracting qualified candidates had become either somewhat or very difficult. In Wisconsin, the shipbuilding company Marinette Marine just north of Green Bay said earlier this summer it held open 40

spots for entry-level workers and reached out to local schools, but could only find seven workers.

Why hasn’t this driven up average wages? In part because the new manufacturing economy doesn’t spread rewards evenly. Blowtorches hiss, grinders whine and foremen zip around with clipboards at Code Welding & Manufacturing, a job shop in the woods southeast of Blaine, Minn. The company, which employs about 25 people, illustrates how manufacturing rewards versatile, highly skilled workers while leaving one-dimensional workers behind.

Several projects were under way on a recent weekday. One welder built hydraulic tanks with multiple pipe fittings, one welded parts onto a chassis for an airport truck, another put the finishing touches on pump housings for water jet cutters and another fused together bins that sort industrial materials. No two welders in the shop worked on the same project. “Four years ago, that was not the case,” said Curt Simonson, one of the company’s owners. “We would have two or three people on the same job.” Pre-recession, the company mostly did jobs that could be performed by a worker with basic welding skills. But the downturn hit hard. —MCT

26

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

business

Gulftainer keeps on breaking records KUWAIT: Gulftainer Company Limited (GTL), the largest privately owned ports operator in the world, based in Sharjah, have announced that throughput at their Sharjah terminals Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) and Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) - has increased by over 23 percent from January 2012 to July 2012 compared with the corresponding period last year and are estimated to exceed 3.5 million TEUS in 2012.

This remarkable performance, forecast to continue throughout the rest of the year, means that Gulftainer will continue to break its own records despite the global economy going through yet another difficult year. The accomplishment, according to published industry figures, means that Gulftainer’s Middle East ports have been the fastest growing ports in the region over the last 4 years. While many regional players posted results

of below 10 percent, Gulftainer has continued to show double-digit growth.

Gulftainer Group Managing Director, Peter Richards, commented, “Gulftainer continues to work closely with our customers in order to continue this good work. We are absolutely delighted to have achieved such successful results for the year to date. The volume increases in KCT and SCT are an obvious reflection of the trust that customers place in us.”

“These records set by Gulftainer demonstrate the increased volume of trade in the area and we remain very optimistic about prospects for the whole region in the coming years. As we continue through 2012, with the help and support of the Sharjah Ports Authority, we can look forward to a prosperous year ahead as we improve our facilities and increase equipment levels to deliver consis-

tent operational performance to all our stakeholders,” he added Gulftainer management put this sustained consistency down to the ability to be flexible and swift to act. “Gulftainer goes the extra mile to ensure that we are in contact with all customers on a regular basis, we listen to what they have to say and act on what we hear. This means that we pick up market information and detail early and because we are agile in our decision making, we can react quickly in order to satisfy the demands of our customers and the market,” Richards commented. An increase in export volume from the Middle East countries has also resulted in additional full volumes through Gulftainer’s facilities, requiring terminal layouts to be reviewed and revised. The co-operation of shipping lines together on services has resulted in the need for

increased dialogue and co-ordination between the terminal operators and the Lines.

Gulftainer Group has been operating in the UAE and around the world for over 35 years. In the UAE it operates three main UAE ports: two on behalf of the Sharjah Port Authority - Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT ) and Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT); and one in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, on behalf of the international plastics solutions company, Borouge.

Gulftainer has been able to maintain a strong position in the UAE through its ports at Sharjah and Khorfakkan, and KCT was named ‘Shipping Port of the Year’ at the Annual Supply Chain and Transport Awards (SCATA 2011) in Dubai. In recent years Gulftainer has also invested in Iraq, Russia and now Brazil, with the company recently welcoming the first vessel into its Recife Port facility.

British Airways reveals Middle East’s favourite destinations London tops the list

Etihad Airways to fly daily to Casablanca tihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will increase its services to Casablanca to provide daily flights from 28 March, 2013. Etihad currently flies five times a week between Abu Dhabi and Casablanca and in June, 2012 celebrated the seventh anniversary of operations to the Moroccan commercial capital.

The daily service will support traffic growth between Abu Dhabi and Casablanca and connecting traffic to many popular onward GCC destinations including Jeddah, and a choice of Asian cities such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Sydney. The additional services will improve the connectivity in Abu Dhabi by 50 percent.

James Hogan, Etihad Air ways’ President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The Moroccan capital has been a successful destination for us and retains

E

strong volumes of business and leisure passengers throughout the year. We believe there are good prospects for further growth in the region.

“Abu Dhabi’s geographical location makes it ideal as a gateway for air travellers from Morocco to connect to markets in Australia, the Far East and throughout the Arabian Gulf easily and quickly.” The daily ser vice will also strengthen connectivity with code share partner, Royal Air Maroc, allowing Etihad Airways passengers more choice to connect to domestic Moroccan destinations and other points in West Africa.

Etihad Airways operates a three cabin A330-300 aircraft between Abu Dhabi and Casablanca, configured to carry eight passengers in Diamond First class, 32 passengers in Pearl Business class, and 191 passengers in Coral Economy class.

FASTtelco launches i’m Watch KUWAIT: FASTtelco, the leading Internet Service provider specialized in offering high speed internet and turnkey data communication services announced the launch of a new campaign to promote the new i’m Watch, the world’s first real smart watch that has been recently introduced to the Kuwaiti market.

Public Relations Manager Hamad Saleh Al-Selmi mentioned that

Hamad Saleh Al-Selmi

FASTtleco is constantly looking forward to introducing the latest everchanging international technological innovations by providing quality high speed internet and data communication services.

Al-Selmi added that the launch of this campaign is aimed at keeping ahead with the latest innovations introduced to the Kuwaiti market in internet services and smart phones.

Therefore, the new i’m Watch is the first multitasking touch screen wristwatch that works in unison with a

variety of smart phones and allows wearers to use applications such as calls, SMS, music, Facebook, Twitter, photos, weather forecast and many others, without having to forage into their pockets look ing for their phones.

According to Al-Selmi, FASTtelco is continuously committed to utilizing innovative technologies in order to provide the most advanced Internet and data communication services to the Kuwaiti community. The company is also dedicated to meeting its existing customers’ and subscribers’ expectations in terms of delivering state-of-the-art services and products.

He also mentioned that the new I’m Watch has revolutionized the smart phones industry in Kuwait with its various easy-to-use applications.

Therefore, by being among the first companies to promote the world’s first real smar t watch in Kuwait, FASTtelco has succeeded in assuming the leading position in the field of communication technology in the local market.

Al Selmi added that the new i’m Watch is today available in FASTtelco’s showrooms and offers customers a whole new experience in the world of communication thus allowing them to run mobile applications on their wrists and to perform basic tasks such as mak ing calls, checking their e-mail, and receiving Facebook or Twitter notifications, and many others.

Al-Selmi further mentioned that FASTtelco has proven its dedication to continuously introducing top-ofthe-line Internet and data communication services and keeping ahead of the latest international technological innovations.

After winning the Bizz Arab Award of 2012, an international recognition for business excellence and most inspiring companies in addition to the Annual GCC HR Excellence Awards for Best Change Management Strategy of 2012, FASTtelco is still committed to offering both its existing and new customers the most innovative products and services, as well as promoting the internet and data communication industr y in Kuwait. The I’m Watch is being offered as a bundled with 3Mbps subscriptions and above.

KUWAIT: British Airways has announced its five most popular destinations for travellers from the Middle East. British Airway’s hub of London features prominently in the list, while the cities of New York, Washington, Toronto and Houston round out the top five. The list highlights the connection Middle Eastern travellers have with North America, where they travel not just for business or holiday, but to see family and friends, and further their education.

Paolo De Renzis, Regional Commercial Manager, Middle East said: “London will always be included in this list because it is the home of British Airways, as well as an incredibly popular destination for visitors from around the world. North America, however, is also a favourite with our passengers and not just for vacation. Many people from the Middle East have family in Canada and the US, while many also choose these two countries for the quality of education they offer.

“British Airways offers well-timed connections to North America through London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 with attractive fares to cities in Canada and the US. In addition, passengers are able to break the journey in London and discover the best the city has to offer.”

Over the next five years, British Airways will be investing more than £5bn in new aircraft, smarter cabins, elegant lounges and new technologies to make like more comfortable in the air and on the ground. The airline has invested £100 million in the new First cabin that is now fitted on more than 75 per cent of its longhaul fleet. For those looking to discover the best of these cities, British Airways gives these tips: London London can’t be beaten when it comes to history, culture and shopping. It has renowned museums and art galleries, such as the Natural History Museum and the Tate Modern, and world-famous attractions, such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London, that are a must on any visitor’s itinerary. The shopping

is also first class with the likes of Oxford Street, Bond Street and Harrods.

Museum is great for children and anyone who has an interest in things that fly.

New York The city of the famed yellow cab is home to Broadway musicals, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and Central Park. ‘The Big Apple’ is full of great restaurants, fantastic shopping, sporting pursuits, museums and art galleries.

Once the world’s tallest building, the Empire State Building is one of the city’s greatest attractions and offers spectacular views from the 86th-floor observation deck.

Toronto For incredible views of this Canadian city, head to the CN Tower. One of the world’s tallest structures, it stands more than 550 metres high. There’s even a restaurant at the top where diners can feast on fine food as well as views. With around half of the city’s residents not born in Canada, the city is a melting pot of cultures and offers a great place to sample cuisine from around the world.

Washington DC A visit to Washington DC would not be complete without strolling down the Mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, a journey which takes in many of the city’s iconic monuments. This is a great place to get a real feel for American history, so spare some time for the many museums, including the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History, where visitors can view the Hope Diamond.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space

Houston One of the top attractions in the Texan capital, is the Space Center Houston, the official visitors’ centre for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where astronauts are trained. At the Space Center Houston, families can learn about space exploration and experience how it feels to be in space. For shopping, be sure to visit the Galleria Mall which is home to Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co, Dior and more.

Jazeera Airways gets approval for rights issue

MARIKANA: People gather in Marikana after attending a memorial service for the 44 individuals killed in a wildcat strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine. — AFP

Lonmin says 57% of workers came to work JOHANNESBURG: Platinum giant Lonmin said nearly 60 percent of workers reported for duty yesterday at one of its two sets of shafts as it sought an accord to end a labour dispute that has claimed 44 lives. “Eastern Shafts are working this weekend and we have 57 percent attendance across these shafts. The rest of the mine is closed as this is their off-weekend,” Lonmin said in a statement. Lonmin, the world’s third largest platinum firm, said it would spend the weekend persuading the workers to return to the job following the nation’s deadliest police action since apartheid.

“It’s quite good news that 57 percent of the workers in this section pitched up,” a spokeswoman Sue Vey told AFP. The company did not give numbers of the workers on duty. On Friday, Lomnin reported only about 24 percent of its 28,000 work force at Marikana signed in. It said talks were ongoing to find a “common ground among all stakeholders.” “ We continue to communicate with our employees to reassure them that we are all working together to bring resolution and we encour-

age them to come back to work.” Workers are demanding a wage increase to 12,500 rand ($1,500, 1,200 euros), claiming they currently earn only 4,000 rand.

But according to figures released by Lonmin on Friday, when bonuses and other allowances are included, the rock drill operators who launched the strike earn an average of 9,813 rand before taxes. On Friday Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant met with union representatives in Rustenburg, the main city in the platinum belt in the north of the country where police gunned down 34 workers outside Lonmin’s Marikana mine more than a week ago.

About 3,000 rock drill operators at the Lonmin mine launched the illegal strike on August 10. It quickly degenerated into clashes with non-strikers. Ten people including two policemen were killed in the unrest, leading to the crackdown on August 16, when police gunned down 34 armed miners. Police insist that they used teargas first and only opened fire after miners shot at them.

The miners say they were armed only with spears, machetes and clubs. — AFP

KUWAIT: Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways Group yesterday announced that an Amiri decree has been issued in approval of the company’s decision to raise its capital by 91 percent to 42 million dinars through a rights issue of 200 million shares to existing shareholders at a nominal value of 100 fils per share. The rights issue is likely to take place in the fourth quarter of this year once the customary ministerial process is finalized.

Jazeera Airways is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange and is one of the few fully-private airlines in the Middle East. However, the Amiri decree is a necessary step because, in Kuwait, companies operating in sectors that are deemed to be of ‘national interest’ are formalized during the establishment process by an Amiri decree.

These sectors include banks, insurance companies, telecoms and airlines, and therefore it is customary that any changes to Jazeera Airways’ articles of association, such as changes in capital, are to be approved by the head of state H.H the Emir of Kuwait and then processed by the Ministry of Commerce and other regulators before having them enacted.

Jazeera Airways has had a record-breaking earnings streak for the past eight quarters, registering record net profits in eight of the last seven quar ters. Last month, Jazeera Air ways announced a first half net profit of KD 3.8 million, up 21.6 percent from the same period last year, making it the company’s best first half on record.

Jazeera Airways Group has a fleet of 15 A320 aircraft, 12 of which already delivered and placed. The remaining aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and 2014. The 12 delivered aircraft are distributed between its airline business (Jazeera Airways, operating seven aircraft), and its fully-owned leasing business (Sahaab Aircraft Leasing, operating five aircraft). Sahaab has assets placed with Virgin America and Sri Lankan Airlines.

In 2011 the airline carried 1.2 million passengers in total across its network that includes today high-demand business, leisure, family, and weekend destinations such as Dubai, Bahrain, Beirut, Alexandria, Amman, Damascus, Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh, Assiut, Luxor, Mashhad, Sohag, Jeddah, Riyadh, Cairo and Al-Najaf. Jazeera Airways is an IATA member airline and operates one of the youngest Airbus A320 fleet in the Middle East.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

‘Help solve mystery of Gauss’ encrypted payload’ DUBAI: Kaspersky Lab recently announced the discovery of Gauss, a complex, nation-state sponsored cyber-espionage toolkit. Gauss contains many infostealing capabilities, with a specific focus on browser passwords, online banking account credentials, and system configurations of infected machines.

Kaspersky Lab’s experts discovered Gauss by identifying the commonalities the malicious program shares with Flame. Since late May 2012, more than 2,500 infections have been recorded by Kaspersky Lab’s cloud-based security system, with the majority of infections found in the Middle East.

Kaspersky Lab’s experts published a research paper about Gauss that analyzed its primary functions and characteristics, in addition to its architecture, the malware’s unique modules, communication

methods, and its infection statistics. However, several mysteries and unanswered questions about Gauss still remain. One of the most intriguing aspects is related to Gauss’s encrypted payload.

The encrypted payload is located in Gauss’s USB data-stealing modules and is designed to surgically target a certain system (or systems) which have a specific program installed. Once an infected USB stick is plugged into a vulnerable computer, the malware is executed and tries to decrypt the payload by creating a key to unlock it. The key is derived from specific system configurations on the machine. For instance, it includes the name of a folder in Program Files which must have its first character written into an extended character set such as Arabic or Hebrew.

If the malware identifies the appropriate system con-

figurations, it will successfully unlock and execute the payload.

“The purpose and functions of the encrypted payload currently remain a mystery,” said Aleks Gostev, Chief Security Expert, Global Research and Analysis Team, Kaspersky Lab. “The use of cryptography and the precautions the authors have used to hide this payload indicate its targets are high profile. The size of the payload is also a concern. It’s big enough to contain coding that could be used for cyber-sabotage, similar to Stuxnet’s SCADA code. Decrypting the payload will provide a better understanding of its overall objective and the nature of this threat.”

Kaspersky Lab would like to invite anyone with an interest in cryptography, reverse engineering or mathematics to help find the decryption keys and

unlock the hidden payload. More details and a technical description of the problem are available in our blogpost at Securelist.com Kaspersky Lab is the largest antivirus company in Europe. It delivers some of the world’s most immediate protection against IT security threats, including viruses, spyware, crime-ware, hackers, phishing, and spam. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users.

Kaspersky Lab products provide superior detection rates and one of the industry’s fastest outbreak response times for home users, SMBs, large enterprises and the mobile computing environment.

Kaspersky(r) technology is also used worldwide inside the products and services of the industry’s leading IT security solution providers.

Sweeping Apple win, but Samsung to bounce back Threat to Android software could hurt others more

SEOUL: Banners advertising Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S III, left, and Appleís iPhone 4S are displayed at a mobile phone shop in Seoul yesterday. After a year of scorched-earth litigation, a jury decided Friday that Samsung ripped off the innovative technology used

by Apple to create its revolutionary iPhone and iPad. The jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion. —- AP

Apple’s victory could mean fewer phone options SAN JOSE, California: A jury’s conclusion that Samsung stole the innovative technology used

by Apple to create its revolutionary iPhone and iPad could mean fewer smartphone options for consumers to choose from, analysts said.

Apple Inc.’s $1-billion legal victory sends a warning to other companies manufacturing similar devices, the biggest marketplace threat to Apple. A federal jury’s found Friday that Seoul-based Samsung Electronic Co. stole Apple’s technology to make and market smartphones using Google’s Android software.

“Some of these device makers might end up saying, ‘We love Android, but we really don’t want to fight with Apple anymore,’” said Christopher Marlett, CEO of MDB Capital Group, an investment bank specializing in intellectual property. “I think it may ultimately come down to Google having to indemnify these guys, if it wants them to continue using Android.”

That’s if the verdict stands. Samsung, the global leader among smartphone makers, vowed to fight. Its lawyers told the judge it intended to ask her to toss out the verdict.

“This decision should not be allowed to stand because it would discourage innovation and limit the rights of consumers to make choices for themselves,” Samsung lead lawyer John Quinn said. He argued that the judge or an appeals court should overturn the verdict.

Apple lawyers plan to formally demand Samsung pull its most popular cellphones and computer tablets from the US market. They also can ask the judge to triple the damages from $1.05 billion to $3 billion.

US District Judge Lucy Koh will decide those issues, along with Samsung’s demand she overturn the jury’s verdict, in several weeks. Quinn said Samsung would appeal if the judge refuses to toss out the decision.

Apple Inc. filed its patent infringement lawsuit in April 2011 and engaged the country’s highest paid patent lawyers to demand $2.5 billion from its top smartphone competitor.

Samsung Electronics Co. fired back with its own lawsuit seeking $399 million.

The jury on Friday rejected all Samsung’s claims against Apple, but also decided against some of Apple’s claims involving the two dozen Samsung devices at issue.

It found that several Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the “bounceback” feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.

The US case was the latest skirmish in a global legal battle between the two tech giants.

Its outcome is likely to have ripple effects in the smartphone market. Other device makers relying on Android, the mobile operating system that Google Inc. has given for free to Samsung and other phone makers, may be more reluctant to use the software and risk getting dragged into court.

During closing arguments, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny claimed Samsung had a “crisis of design” after the 2007 launch of the iPhone, and executives were determined to cash in illegally on the success of the revolutionary device.

Samsung’s lawyers countered that it was legally giving consumers what they want: smartphones with big screens. They said Samsung didn’t violate Apple’s patents and alleged innovations claimed by Apple were created by other companies.

Samsung said after the verdict that it was “unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners.”

“This is by no means the final word in this case,” Quinn said in a statement. “Patent law should not be twisted so as to give one company a monopoly over the shape of smartphones.”

The jurors’ determination that Samsung took Apple’s ideas probably matters more to the companies than the monetary damages, Marlett said.

“I don’t know if $1 billion is hugely significant to Apple or Samsung,” Marlett said. “But there is a social cost here. As a company, you don’t want to be known as someone who steals from someone else. I am sure Samsung wants to be known as an innovator, especially since a lot of Asian companies have become known for copying the designs of innovators.”

Apple and Samsung combined account for more than half of global smartphone sales.

Samsung has sold 22.7 million smartphones and tablets that Apple claimed uses its technology. McElhinny said those devices accounted for $8.16 billion in sales since June 2010.

Samsung’s Galaxy line of phones run on Android, and ISI Group analysts viewed the verdict as a blow to Android as much as Samsung.

If Android lose any ground in the mobile computing market, that would hurt Google, too. That’s because Google relies on Android to drive mobile traffic to its search engine and services to sell more advertising.

Google entered the smartphone market while its then-CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple’s board, infuriating Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who considered Android to be a blatant rip-off of the iPhone’s innovations.

After shoving Schmidt off Apple’s board, Jobs vowed that Apple would resort to “thermonuclear war” to destroy Android and its allies.

The Apple-Samsung trial came after each side filed a blizzard of legal motions and refused advisories by the judge to settle the dispute out of court. Legal experts and Wall Street analysts had viewed Samsung as the trial’s underdog.

Apple’s headquarters is just 10 miles from the San Jose courthouse, and jurors were picked from the heart of Silicon Valley, where Jobs is a revered technological pioneer.

A verdict came after less than three days of deliberations, surprising observers who expected longer deliberations because of the case’s complexity.

While the issues were complex, patent expert Alexander I. Poltorak has said the case would likely boil down to whether jurors believed Samsung’s products look and feel like Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Samsung’s lawyers argued that many of Apple’s claims of innovation were either obvious concepts or ideas stolen from Sony Corp. and others. Experts called that line of argument a high-risk strategy because of Apple’s reputation as an innovator.

Apple’s lawyers argued there is almost no difference between Samsung products and those of Apple, and presented internal Samsung documents they said showed it copied Apple designs. Samsung lawyers insisted that several other companies and inventors had developed much of the Apple technology at issue.

Apple and Samsung have filed similar lawsuits in South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia.

“This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims,” Samsung said in its statement.

Samsung won a home court ruling earlier Friday in the global patent battle against Apple.

Judges in Seoul said Samsung didn’t copy the look and feel of the iPhone and ruled that Apple infringed on Samsung’s wireless technology.

But like the jury in California, South Korean judges said Samsung violated Apple’s technology behind the “bounce-back” feature. Both sides were ordered to pay limited damages.

The Seoul ruling was a rare victory for Samsung in its arguments that Apple has infringed on its wireless technology patents.

Samsung’s claims previously were shot down by courts in Europe, where judges ruled that Samsung patents must be licensed under fair terms to competitors.—AP

SEOUL: Defeat in a bitter patent wrangle with Apple Inc, its smartphone rival and biggest customer, will dent Samsung Electronics Co’s $21 billion cash-pile, but could actually help cement its leadership in the global smartphone market. A US court has ordered Samsung - which sold around 50 million phones in April-June, almost twice the number of iPhones - to pay $1.05 billion damages, after ruling that the South Korean firm infringed on some Apple patents. While the verdict was a big win for Apple, the damages are less than half the $2.5 billion compensation it sought - although that could yet be increased by the judge - and are just 1.5 percent of annual revenues from Samsung’s telecoms business.

That phone and tablet business is the powerhouse behind Samsung’s growth, earning around 70 percent of total profit. The group had net profit of $4.5 billion in April-June. Samsung could also see its popular Galaxy smartphone banned from sale in the United States. But its skill as a “fast executioner” - quick to match others’ innovations would likely mean tweaked, non-patent infringing devices would be on the market soon after any ban came into place.

“Samsung has already made some design changes to new products since the litigation first started more than a year ago,” said Seo Won-seok, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. “With the ruling, they are now more likely to make further changes or they could simply decide to raise product prices to cover patent-related payments.”

Also, Apple’s demands for Samsung to pay it a royalty on its phone sales could hit rival phones using Google’s Android operating system more than it hits Samsung. If anything, the blaze of publicity from the high-profile, high-stakes US litigation has made Samsung’s brand more recognisable.

The California jury had only begun deliberating on Wednesday after a complex weeks-long trial.

Friday’s verdict on seven Apple patent claims and five Samsung patent claims suggests the nine-person panel had little difficulty in concluding that Samsung had copied some features of Apple’s iPhone and iPad. It could lead to an outright ban on sales of key Samsung products, with Apple saying it planned to file for a sales injunction within seven days and the judge in the case setting a hearing on Sept 20. Because the jury found “wilful” infringement, Apple could seek triple damages.

The US ruling, read out to a packed federal courtroom in San Jose, just miles from Apple’s headquarters, came less than 24 hours after a Seoul court found that while the iPhone and Galaxy look very similar Samsung hadn’t violated Apple’s design. Samsung issued a defiant response to the US decision, which it called “a loss for the American consumer”, indicating the legal tussle is far from over. “This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims,” Samsung said in a statement.

Nomura analyst CW Chung, speaking before the verdict, predicted it could take “many years” for Apple and Samsung to settle the case whatever the result of this round, leaving the two firmly in control of the $200 billion-plus global smartphone market. “The litigation may end up with both par-

ties entering a cross-licensing agreement, which should enable them to build a higher patent wall in the smartphone market,” said Chung. “This would have a positive impact on the share prices of Samsung and Apple, while posing a substantial threat to other competitors.”

Based on the damages ruling, Samsung is asked to pay Apple around $10 royalty per phone, a move seen aimed at slowing rival phones that run on Android - which account for more than twothirds of the global market. If Apple were to pursue similar legal challenges against other Android manufacturers that could squeeze profit margins as smartphone prices decline in a growing market reinforcing the dominance of Samsung, one of the few with big enough margins to absorb the extra cost. Handset competitors using Android include Taiwan’s HTC Corp, LG Electronics, Google’s Motorola, Sony Corp and some Chinese brands.

Although Samsung had been viewed as the underdog in the US case, the sweeping nature of Apple’s victory was something of a surprise, with many analysts having expected a mixed ruling.

Concerns over potential reputational damage, the short-term cash hit and the impact on billions of dollars of business with Apple had knocked as much as 5 percent off Samsung’s shares this week

in the run-up to the verdict. But the stock is still up nearly 50 percent since Apple filed its accusations.

Samsung has previously been able to move nimbly to release model upgrades by the time courts have ruled certain products infringed Apple patents and retire patent-infringing models from its line-up. It has skirted around those rulings with a few engineering tweaks and has also made some bold design changes to differentiate its devices from Apple’s. “The impact on Samsung will be quite limited, as affected models are mostly legacy products and its new products did make some design changes to avoid potential litigation,” said D J Jung, representative patent attorney for SU Intellectual Property. “Still ... it’s a sweeping loss in the most important market. It’s inevitable that Samsung’s brand will be negatively affected - Samsung could be perceived as a copycat.” Even though Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III phone was not involved in the trial, the jury validated Apple’s patents on features and design elements that Apple could then try to wield against that product. It is possible Apple would not have to seek an entirely new trial against the S III, but rather include it in a “contempt proceeding” which moves much faster, said Nick Rodelli, a lawyer and adviser to institutional investors for CFRA Research in Maryland. —Reuters

SAN JOSE: Jason Bartlett, outside counsel attorney for Apple, center, leave the United States Courthouse and Federal building after a jury reached a decision in the Apple Samsung trial on Friday in San Jose. — AP

SAN JOSE: Kevin Johnson, attorney for Samsung, leaves the United States Courthouse and Federal building after a jury reached a decision in the Apple Samsung trial in San Jose on Friday. —- AP

Xerox DocuMate 4830 Scanner most versatile in its class DUBAI: For small- to mid-sized companies and larger corporate departments needing to scan documents and import them to a content management solution or archive to a storage system, Xerox today announced the new Xerox DocuMate(r) 4830. Rated at 30 pages per minute and 60 images per minute, the scanner has an A3-sized flatbed that can accommodate documents up to A3 and 11” x 17” on the glass and a 75-page automatic document feeder that accommodates documents up to 118” in length to maximize productivity.

The DocuMate 4830 enables users to easily scan batches of large and different-sized documents and delivers the automation and dependability needed for critical scanning applications. Features include: • Ultrasonic Double Feed Detection to minimize rescans and catch double-feeds • Intelligent Image Correction dramatically reduces document preparation time through many efficient enhancing features • Daily Duty Cycle of 3,000 pages a day to handle volume needs.

“The DocuMate 4830 was designed for users who need the versatility of A3 scanning with a flatbed and automatic document feeder, but don’t have the throughput needs to justify a pricier model with production level speeds that a service bureau might use,” said John Capurso,

president and COO at Visioneer, a Xerox licensing partner. “It also increases the security and control of paper document and ID card capture for markets like the healthcare industry.”

• Certified TWAIN, ISIS and WIA drivers to enable communication with hundreds of enterprise content management (ECM) and document image management (DIM) software solutions, • Visioneer Acuity to provide advanced

image enhancement, Visioneer DriverPLUS to enable sophisticated integration with your document capture and workflows, • Nuance PaperPort(r), OmniPage(r) Pro and PDF Converter Pro. The Xerox DocuMate 4830 is priced at $2,495, and is available immediately through online channel partners, VARs and major resellers.

•

28

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

health & science

China’s chaotic health care drives patient attacks Chinese doctors overworked and underpaid HENGYANG: Dr Chen Yuna had just eaten her lunch and was seated at her desk updating patients’ medical records when a masked man entered her office. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed her 28 times in her neck, chest, stomach and elsewhere. Then he left her to die in a pool of blood. He knew the hospital well enough to slip out easily: Before he became Chen’s killer, the man had been her patient.

Chen’s murder in central Hunan province is one of thousands of violent attacks in recent years by patients that have crystallized public discontent with China’s health care system, the largest in the world.

Despite an injection of more than $240 billion in government funding into health care over the past three years, the doctor-patient relationship has continued to break down. Doctors are overworked and underpaid, and many push drug sales or charge extra for services such as deliveries to make more money. Patients are faced with high medical expenses, brief consultations and often poor quality care. The government’s attempts to fix the system may even have made some things worse. Its rapid expansion of insurance coverage means that more patients can pay for health services, which are mostly provided by public hospitals.

But even as demand has gone up, doctors and funding are still in short supply. Hospitals are often scenes of disarray, with beds overflowing out of wards into corridors and shouting matches between patients and medical staff. The anger built up over years is now exploding into violence, with doctors, nurses and interns around the country stabbed, punched or otherwise assaulted by patients or their relatives over the past year. A few have died. Although official data is unavailable, state media reports say there were more than 17,000 “violent incidents” at health care facilities nationwide in 2010, a 70 percent increase from 2004.

In a top Beijing hospital in September last year, a 54-year-old cancer patient stabbed a doctor 17 times after a dispute. In the northeastern city of Harbin in March, a 17-year-old patient with a spinal disease attacked doctors with a fruit knife, leading to the death of an intern. One month later in Beijing, a man identified as a patient stabbed two doctors. “China’s doctors are in crisis,” the British medical journal Lancet said in a May editorial urging a government inquiry into the spate of violence and solutions to ending it. The

story of Chen’s murder is told through interviews with Chen’s husband, her co-workers, a patient and police, and supported by photos and reports from the local health bureau and state

Hospital. She kept journals with detailed medical notes about her patients and a Chinese-to-English glossary of medication names in the back.

Chen specialized in tuberculosis

HUNAN: The inpatient building of the Hengyang No 3 People’s Hospital is pictured in the rural outskirts of Hengyang, Hunan Province, China. Dr Chen Yuna died while working in an office on the fourth floor when a former patient, Wang Yunsheng, stabbed her with a dagger 28 times. — AP media. The alleged assailant’s family could not be reached despite numerous attempts; very little is publicly known about him. He has been charged with murder. Chen grew up surrounded by the medical profession.

As a child in the late 1970s, she lived on a hospital compound with her parents, who both worked as doctors.

Many of her relatives were also doctors.

Around her, however, the world of Chinese health care was changing.

When the Communist Party took control in 1949, it created a centrally planned medical system that ran large facilities in cities and deployed barefoot doctors into the countryside to vaccinate children and promote hygiene. But by the early 1980s, freemarket reforms were virtually dismantling the health care system. The government cut funding to hospitals. They were allowed to make hefty profits from new drugs and technologies instead, and doctors’ bonuses were tied to these revenues. So doctors had an incentive to sell more drugs and tests even if they weren’t needed, and expenses skyrocketed.

Chen graduated in medicine from a local university in 2001 and joined her father at the Hengyang No. 3 People’s

because most of her patients suffered from it - including the man who would later kill her. By many accounts, Chen, 34, loved her profession and worked hard. “She was very warm, very caring,” said Jian Hongjiang, who was Chen’s patient when he was hospitalized in June for TB. “She came to see me every day and always asked me if I was feeling better. I was shocked when I heard what happened to her.”

Chen, like most doctors, rarely had public holidays off and worked many weekends. Her phone rang daily with calls from patients with questions and requests. One of the last text messages she sent was to her department head on April 21, when she was out of town with her husband. “I’ve already accounted for my patients, their conditions are all stable,” she wrote. Some days she came home from work and remarked: “Today was such a hard day.”

Chen’s workload was not unusual. In a survey released February of more than 10,000 doctors by the online medical network Dingxiangyuan, a third said they saw more than 50 patients a day, some more than 100.

Hard work and low government-set salaries have made the medical profession one of the least popular in China.

Entry-level doctors in major cities earn

about 3,000 yuan ($500) a month, doctors say, about the average income of university graduates despite more work and more risk. In grassroots facilities like the hospital Chen worked in, salaries are even lower. After 11 years, Chen was earning only around 3,500 yuan ($550) a month, more if she saw more patients. The low wages have led to widespread and well-known corruption, which fuels hatred of doctors.

Many users of popular online microblogs have cheered the attacks on doctors as rightful punishment for corrupting the health care system.

The April stabbing was not Chen’s first encounter with violence. In September, a patient threatened her with a knife over a dispute about him cuddling with his girlfriend in front of other patients in the ward. Terrified, she called her husband, Liao Chongzhou, who rushed to the hospital. Police took statements but the patient was discharged without incident. Liao did not think too much of it.

“This kind of thing happens all the time in grassroots hospitals,” said Liao, who used to be a doctor too until he quit last year, fed up with what he described as overly demanding patients.

It was only after reports of doctors being severely attacked elsewhere earlier this year that he called his wife’s hospital and suggested they beef up security. Liao told a hospital official: “If something happens, it will be too late

for regrets.” Meanwhile, Wang Yunsheng was growing more frustrated by the day. A decade ago, Wang left his rural home in Hunan at 15 for the prosperous south to work to help support his family. Last year, while doing construction in Guangdong province, he started coughing incessantly.

Several hospital trips later, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The 25-year-old migrant worker took two courses of medication and showed signs of improvement, but suffered from insomnia and a rash on his arms, possibly as side effects. In July last year, Wang went home to Hengyang and turned to the No 3 hospital for help. He spent 28 days in the hospital and at least 8,600 yuan ($1,350) - about one and a half times the annual income of a farmer. He was told that he had drug-resistant TB that is hard to cure. About half his hospital expenses were covered by insurance, one report says, but drug-resistant TB is expensive to treat and would have cost him tens of thousands of yuan over the next few years. With a family to feed, medical bills were the last things he needed. In general, the government’s expansion of health insurance coverage - from 30 percent of the population in 2003 to 96 percent last year - has made it more affordable for people to seek health care. As one result, hospital admissions have surged by two and a half times over the same period. — AP

BEIJING: Chinese patients wait outside a hospital for their doctors’ appointments in Beijing. Despite an injection of more than $240 billion in government funding into health care over the past three years, the doctor-patient relationship has continued to break down. — AP

Music lessons’ mental benefits echo years after practice ends

NIN: Worker collects special kind of salt called flower of salt also known as the caviar of salt in saltworks near Croatian Adriatic town of Nin, some 300 kilometers from capital Zagreb. Nin saltworks is the only one to produce salt called ‘flower of salt’ also known as the caviar of salt which is the healthiest salt of highest quality, obtained only in the ideal weather conditions and harvested early in the morning. It appears at the sea surface as a thin layer of salt flakes, like flower petals, which are collected manually with micron sieves. — AFP

Alzheimer’s drug fails but flashes potential INDIANAPOLIS: An Alzheimer’s treatment from Eli Lilly and Co failed to slow memory decline in two separate patient studies, but the drug did show some potential to help in mild cases of the mind-robbing condition that is notoriously difficult to treat. The Indianapolis drugmaker’s announcement could be a step toward a long-awaited breakthrough in the fight against the disease. But researchers not tied to the studies - and Eli Lilly itself - cautioned against overreacting to the initial results.

Lilly said Friday that its treatment, solanezumab, failed to slow the rate of cognitive decline, which involves a person’s ability to remember things, in two late-stage studies of about 1,000 patients each. But when data from the trials were combined, scientists saw a statistically significant slowing of that rate in the bigger population. They also saw a statistically significant result when they examined a subgroup of patients with mild cases of Alzheimer’s disease. The studies focused on patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s cases.

Lilly officials would not discuss details of the results and said that they plan to talk

with regulators about the next steps for the drug, which has yet to receive Food and Drug Administration approval. Full results from the studies will be presented at two scientific conferences in October. It’s unclear how the FDA will view the results, given that the drug missed its main goals. William H Thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the Alzheimer ’s Association, which was not involved in Lilly’s research, said the statistical significance of the combined results is important.

“If that can be replicated, that is a major finding,” he said. “It’s the first time we’ve been able to change the course of Alzheimer’s disease or any part of Alzheimer’s disease in people.” But because the drug missed its main goals, Thies said the drug “isn’t going to the (FDA) tomorrow to be approved for sale.”

If you look through “rose-colored glasses” at the results, there may be a sign of potential benefit on cognitive tests, said Dr Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. But it is not clear whether that is enough to make a real difference clinically in how patients do, he said. — AP

LOS ANGELES: Lapsed musical instrumentalists (and their disappointed parents): Take heart! The child that gets even a few years of formal musical training before quitting those weekly lessons continues to show evidence that his or her brain has been changed in ways that improve mental function, says a new study. The latest research found that even years after they stopped practicing, young adults who had taken as little as two or three years of instrumental music training in their elementary or middle-school years showed a more robust brain response to sounds than those who had no formal musical training.

The study compared 30 former instrumental students to 15 young adults of similar

age and intelligence who had had no music training.

The echo of music lessons past began to fade as adults grew more distant from their days of piano (or cello, trumpet or saxophone) lessons. But it was still there an average of seven years later, and whether the subject had taken three years of instrumental training or eight did not seem to make much difference in the strength of the effect. The heightened neural response to sounds in a lab means something in the real world, past research suggests: Previous research has linked the kinds of brain signals seen in those with musical training to heightened auditory perception, better auditory-based communication skills and

improved executive function. The last of these - executive function - encompasses such key learning skills as attention, organization, short-term memory and reasoning.

So boosting that in enduring ways could arguably give the kid who took music lessons an academic edge for years after the lessons ended.

The study also suggests that formal musical training was not wasted, even when your budding musician gives up the lessons in favor of, say, basketball, cheerleading or socializing. It does suggest that starting early in life and quitting late may confer a more lasting mental advantage.

But even “a little” formal musical training, say the authors, “goes a long way.” — MCT

Cutting back on sleep ‘is counterproductive’ LOS ANGELES: The old aphorism that “you snooze, you lose” doesn’t apply to students who stay up late to cram for a test or finish a class project.

New research shows that sacrificing sleep for school work is a bad trade. Researchers from University of California, Los Angeles’ Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior enlisted students from three Los Angeles high schools to help them figure out whether academic performance suffered the day after a late night of studying.

It turned out their hunch was correct: Lost sleep resulted in less comprehension during class and worse performance on tests, according to their report, published online Tuesday in the journal Child Development. “Sacrificing sleep for studying seems to be counterproductive,” said Andrew J Fuligni, a developmental psychologist at UCLA and the study’s senior author.

The researchers gave 535 teenagers checklists to keep track of their sleep and study time for three 14-day periods when they were in ninth, 10th

and 12th grades.

The UCLA team found that regardless of how much time a high schooler normally spends on homework each day, a student who gives up sleep for extra study time will have trouble the next day understanding material in class and be more likely to struggle with an assignment or test _ the opposite of the student’s intent. The researchers didn’t quantify the increased risk for academic problems following a longerthan-usual study session, but they said the number of problems was “surprisingly greater.”

The relationship held up no matter how academically ambitious the student was, as measured by the amount of time spent studying on a typical day, and it became stronger as students progressed through high school. The results rang true to Kai Daniels, a college-bound senior at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a Mid-City magnet school. On occasions when she’s stayed up late to study, she’s had more trouble absorbing material in class, she said. “I’d have to re -teach

myself at night,” she said.

The finding “makes a lot of sense,” said Mona el-Sheikh, a professor of human development and family studies at Auburn University whose research includes sleep. Several new studies are showing that the quantity and the quality of sleep are important for remembering new information and consolidating learning, she said. Students who get too little sleep don’t have enough time to process what they study, she added; even just one night of sleep deprivation can have a negative effect. Parents should do what they can to make sure their children have sufficient and consistent sleep, she said.

Fuligni said he could not disclose which schools took part in the research. The students varied in ethnic and economic backgrounds, as well as in their level of academic achievement.

Their checklists revealed that study time did not change over the course of high school - the average was just over an hour per day - but sleep time decreased by an average of 41.4 minutes. He said the

research didn’t delve into why things got worse over time. But as the parent of a teenager, he offered several theories: Perhaps it’s because the work grows more challenging, or that the teenagers are biologically driven to stay up later but still have to rise early because of school start times. They also may have developed other interests, including jobs.

Most adolescents need slightly more than nine hours of sleep a night, which 9 percent of high school students actually get, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Although a consistent study and sleep schedule are ideal, the demands that high school students face make that “infeasible,” the researchers wrote.

Fuligni suggested that students do their best to compensate by distributing study time evenly over the week. When extra time is needed, they should consider cutting back on an activity other than sleep.

Fuligni’s previous research showed as many as four extra hours were available from time spent socializing, watching TV and helping the family. — MCT

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

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Older fathers pass on more new genetic mutations to offspring Autism more prevalent in kids born of older fathers

SULAWESI ISLAND: This undated photo released by Museum Victoria shows a Paucidentomys vermidax, a new species of rat, that was found in the forests of southern Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. — AP

Rat that doesn’t gnaw discovered in Indonesia JAKARTA: A unique species of near-toothless rat that lives off earthworms and doesn’t chew or gnaw has been seen in Indonesia. The shrew-like animal with a long, pointed snout was described online in this week’s British journal Biology Letters. Paucidentomys vermidax, which translates loosely to “few-toothed rat” and “worm eater,” is the only rodent out of more than 2,200 known species that does not have molars and instead has bicuspid upper incisors, it said.

Two rats were found in the mountainous rain forest of southern Sulawesi Island last year on Mount Latimojong and 100 kilometers northwest on Mount Gandangdewata. Since it lacks cheek teeth, the rat sucks in earthworms and slices them with its incisors before spitting out the pieces and then slurping bites down whole, co-author Anang Achmadi from Indonesia’s Museum Zoologicum

Bogoriense said Thursday. The researchers said the discovery is important because it shows how rodents, which are known for biting and chewing, were forced to evolve to survive in Sulawesi’s environment.

“What defines rodents is their capacity to gnaw with their ever-growing incisors, which are worn down to form chisels,” said co-author Kevin Rowe, senior curator of mammals at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. “It’s a remarkable evolution that a trait that’s been so successful (and) has allowed rodents to chew into everything from seeds to felling trees to eating our garbage and chewing their way into our house, this species has given up on that capacity in the pursuit of its lifestyle, which appears to include eating earthworms.” The new rat demonstrates the island’s unique biodiversity despite human threats from illegal logging and mining, Achmadi said.—AP

LOS ANGELES: Men who become fathers later in life pass on more brand-new genetic mutations to their offspring, a study has found - probably contributing to disorders such as autism and schizophrenia in the next generation. The finding, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, buttresses earlier observations that rates of autism and some other disorders are more prevalent in children born of older fathers, sometimes by a factor of two or more, experts said.

Although this has been observed for years from population studies, scientists had not known what lay behind it. The new research, made possible by recent advances in DNA-sequencing technology, also should help correct an overemphasis on the riskiness of women giving birth at older ages, some researchers said.

Although older mothers are at higher risk for complications such as diabetes during pregnancy and are more likely to have children with chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome, the study found that practically all of the new mutations detected in children came from the father.

And the older the father, the more mutations he passed on. A man aged 29.7 at the time he fathered a child contributed 63 new mutations on average to his offspring, the authors found, and a man age 46.2 contributed 126 mutations a doubling, the authors calculated.

Many of the mutations would confer no effect either for good or ill on the children, scientists noted. But some would and that is significant because in developed countries there has been a shift over the decades toward older men fathering children, said study senior author Dr Kari Stefansson. Stefansson, who is a human geneticist and neurologist at the University of Iceland and the company deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, noted for example that the average age of Iceland’s fathers at the time of a child’s conception was 34.9 in 1900, falling to 27.9 in 1980, then rising back up again to 33 in 2011.

“Similar changes have taken place all over the Western world,” Stefansson said. “It’s very likely to have made meaningful contributions to increased diagnoses of autism in our society.

What percentage is due to that and what percentage is due to increased focus on diagnosis, I cannot tell you.” Stefansson and coauthors sequenced the entire genomes of 78 so-called

“trios” - father, mother and child - many times over to detect tiny mutations in which a single “letter” in the DNA code had been altered. Of the children, 44 had received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and 21 had schizophrenia. The genetic codes of five grandchildren were sequenced, too.

The scientists were able to identify stretches of DNA that had come from the father or mother.

But they also could detect new mutations in the child that did not exist in the genome of either parent. To be sure that these were bona fide new mutations and not an error of DNA sequencing, the genome of each person was sequenced many times over and the genomes of 1,859 other Iceland residents were sequenced as well to exclude mutations that already existed in the general population.—MCT

Scientists discover way to overcome phosphorus deficiency in rice LOS ANGELES: Rice, like all plants, needs phosphorus to grow. But there’s a problem for this crop, the most important calorie source in Asia: Much of the soil it’s grown on is low in phosphorus, and yields suffer as a result. What’s more, world supplies of phosphorus - it comes from phosphate rock - are expensive for poor farmers and won’t last forever. So it would be very helpful if rice plants could be altered to tolerate low phosphorus levels. After 15 years of work, scientists in the Philippines, Japan and Italy have now reported doing just that.

The trick was to go back to rice varieties from East India that are known to grow better in poor soils than most. Scientists had identified a strain called Kasalath that they knew could tolerate phosphorus deficiency, but they didn’t know what was behind it. They had narrowed down the effect to a particular part of the genome, though and DNA sequencing later revealed that this region contained a gene that didn’t exist in the reference rice genome (which is of a Japanese variety called Nipponbare) or in other varieties that do poorly in phosphorus-deficient soils.

In the new study, molecular biologist Rico Gamuyao of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and collaborators examined this gene in detail. They concluded that it is indeed responsible for Kasalath’s hardiness in low-phosphorus environments. For starters, the researchers looked to see what happened to the activity of the gene when the rice plant was grown under phosphorus-poor and

phosphorus-rich conditions. They discovered that the gene, which they call Phosphorus Starvation Tolerance, or PSTOL1 - sprang into overdrive when rice was deprived of the mineral.

Then the scientists used genetic engineering to splice the gene into Nipponbare and another strain of rice called IR64. With the added gene, the plants boosted their grain yield by more than 60 percent under phosphorus-poor conditions. Further investigation revealed that the effect of the gene was to greatly enhance the growth of roots, presumably making them more efficient at absorbing what little phosphorus the soil contained.

The scientists then did the experiment in a different way, this time using conventional breeding techniques to introduce the PSTOL1 gene into rice strains that lacked it. They crossed these strains with Kasalath and then bred the hybrids back repeatedly to the non-Kasalath strains so that only small chunks of the Kasalath genome - including PSTOL1 - remained. The result was plants with similarly vigorous root growth. The results were reported this week in the journal Nature. “In light of the need to increase rice production for a growing population despite potentially negative impacts of climate change and increasing scarcity of natural resources, it will be critically important to systematically explore traditional rice varieties in which high-value genes such as PSTOL1 are preserved, and to enable breeders to efficiently use these genes in breeding programs,” the scientists wrote.— MCT

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WHAT’S ON

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

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‘Leniency of Islam’ n unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed by Hamid Al-Turkait. The program is mainly meant to address the expatriates living in Kuwait. Religious questions are received through the program email qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to- 97822021 and answered by the lecturer and Imam in Awqaf Ministry Shaikh Musaad Alsane - a Master Degree holder in Sharia and fiqih from Kuwait University. So don’t forget to watch the program every Friday at 1:00 pm.

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Register and Win promotion at Q8India.com ity Centre, Kuwait’s premier mega-market, in association with Q8India.com, a leading online Indian community portal, is holding a monthlong ‘Register and Win’ promotion campaign. Any resident in Kuwait can participate in the promotion by visiting www.Q8India.com and registering their name, email and phone number. A winner will be picked each day (except Friday), from the list of names registered on the previous day, and receive a free shopping voucher worth KD10 from City Centre.

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Indian Embassy Announcements Indian Embassy passport and visa Passports and Visa applications can be deposited at the two outsourced centers of M/S BLS Ltd at Sharq and Fahaheel. Details are available at www.bls-international.com and www.indembkwt.org .

Consular Open House Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizens on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the Consular Officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall at the Embassy. For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) can be contacted. Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances.

Indian workers helpline/helpdesk Indian workers helpline is accessible by toll free telephone number 25674163 from all over Kuwait. It provides information and advice to Indian workers as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. The help desk at the Embassy (Open from 9AM to 1PM and 2PM to 4:30PM, Sunday to Thursday) provides guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal and other issues. It also provides workers assistance in filling up labour complaint forms. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned attachÈ in the Labour section and the head of the Labour Wing can be contacted.

Legal Advice Clinic Free legal advice is provided on matters pertaining to labour disputes, terms of contracts with employers, death/accident compensation, withholding of dues by employers, etc. by lawyers on our panel, to Indian nationals on all working days between 1500hrs to 1600hrs.

Ambassador’s Open House The Open House for Indian citizens by the Ambassador is being held on all Wednesdays at the Embassy for redressal of grievances. In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day.

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

IDC organises ‘Ramadan-2012 Riyalul Jannah Tent’ ith The Almighty’s grace and help, Islamic Dawa Center (IDC) successfully organised and completed its one month “Ramadan2012 Riyalul Jannah Tent” special program for Tamil Speaking Muslims in Kuwait. Highlights of one month program: 1. Every day iftar had been served for more than 400 people in Mangaf Tent.

2. Ramadan 1-20 days, from night 8 pm to 10.30 pm had been organised with Isha and Kiyamullayl prayer and special speeches on different topics by our guest from India Movlavi Rahmadullah Firdowsi. Everyday more than 200 people attended the event.

3. Ramadan 20-30 days, from midnight 11.30 pm to 3.00 am had been organised with following programs in Mangaf tent and City Jumma Masjid, a. Kiyamullayl prayer b. Quran reading practice

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c. Special speeches with different topics by our guest from India Kovai Ayyub d. Sahar food Everyday more than 300 persons

attended the above said event.

Also Jakath ul Fithr money was collected by IDC and been timely distributed to all poor families in India before Eid. Last but not least that “Eid day

Aware Diwaniya

IMAX film program Effective from 26th August 2012 Today: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm Space Junk 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm The Last Reef 3D 12:30pm, 9:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 7:30pm Monday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Space Junk 3D 10:30am, 8:30pm To The Arctic 3D 11:30am, 7:30pm, 9:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 12:30pm Journey to Mecca 5:30pm The Last Reef 3D 6:30pm Tuesday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm Space Junk 3D 11:30am, 9:30pm Fires of Kuwait 12:30pm The Last Reef 3D 5:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 7:30pm Wednesday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups The Last Reef 3D 10:30am To The Arctic 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm Space Junk 3D 12:30am, 6:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 8:30pm Thursday:

** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm Space Junk 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm The Last Reef 3D 12:30pm, 7:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 9:30pm Friday: To The Arctic 3D 9:30pm Journey to Mecca Born to be Wild 3D Space Junk 3D The Last Reef 3D

2:30pm,

4:30pm,

7:30pm,

3:30pm 5:30pm 6:30pm 8:30pm

Saturday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 5:30pm, 8:30pm Space Junk 3D 11:30am, 4:30pm, 9:30pm The Last Reef 3D 1:30pm, 7:30pm Journey to Mecca 2:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 6:30pm Notes: - All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request.

- “Fires of Kuwait” is in English. Arabic headsets are available upon request.

- Film schedule is subject to changes without notice.

For information call 1 848 888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw

Patriotic songs Competitions ndo-Kuwait Friendship Society, Kuwait (www.indokuwaitfriendshipsociety.com) is planning to conduct competitions in Indian and Kuwaiti Patriotic songs. This is the first time in Kuwait, an Indian Association is organizing contests in “Patriotic Songs” for both Indian and Kuwaiti School students. The first 3 places will be declared separately by Judges who are experts in Indian and Kuwaiti Patriotic songs. Several prizes and awards will be handed over for the winning schools. Pradeep Rajkumar and A K S Abdul Nazar said that IKFS wants let our children learn what they mean as a “Patriotic” to their home country. 4 pages of spot Essay competition related to “Patriotism” also will be held in the same day as a spot registration. 1 girl and 1 boy student from each school can participate in the essay contest. Dr Mohamed Tareq, Chairman of the First Indian Model School in Kuwait “ Salmiya Indian Model School (SIMS) already confirmed as a Co-Sponsor of the Program.

Conditions apply 1) The competitions are meant for all the Schools located in Kuwait and should be nominated by school authority 2) Each school can select group of 7 students for the ‘patriotic songs’ (Indian and Kuwaiti)” and nominate separately 3) Children of above 12 years till 17 years (VII classes to XII classes) are eligible for the contest. But if School is permitted 4) Musical instruments or KARAOKE mixer should be accompanied by the participating students/Children and the school team should operate and select the mixers 5) Time frame: 7 minutes - Names will be called as “First come” in the Registration The event will be held at the auditorium of “Salmiya Indian Model School” on Saturday, 27th October 2012 from 9:30 am onwards. It will be a full day program with fun and full of entertainments. Food-stalls of different Kuwaiti and Indian tastes will installed.

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Special Prayer” was held in three Tamil Jumma Masjids in Fahaheel, Riqqa, City at 6 am and all participants been served with snacks and tea, more than 1,500 people attended the prayer.

Winter 2012 AMIE examination he AMIE Winter 2012 examinations will be held between Dec 01-07, 2012 as follows: Section A (Diploma) - December 14, 2012 Section A (Non-Diploma) December 1-7, 2012 Section B - December 1-7, 2012 The last date for submission of examination application forms are given hereunder: Candidates not appeared at Summer 2012 Exam: Aug 21 - Sept 21, 2012 Candidates appeared at Summer 2012 Exam: Sept 21 - Oct 19, 2012 Candidates intend to appear for the Winter 2012 examination must apply directly to Kolkata by filling the prescribed application form along with requisite amount of demand draft in favour of The Institution of Engineers (India), payable at Kolkata. The details of the examination is available at the website www.ieindia.org.

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he AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya presentation entitled, “Basic concepts of communication across cultures,” by Laurie Santos on Tuesday August 28 at 7:00pm.

If you have lived or worked in a culture that is different from the one in which you were raised then chances are that you have experienced some difficulty in communicating with others. Even when people speak the same language their cultures still play an important role in what they say and how they say it. In fact, the more differences that exist between two people’s cultures, the more difficult it can be for them to communicate effectively. This talk will introduce guests to some basic concepts from the field of intercultural communication, which is an area of research dedicated to better understanding the role played by culture in people’s interactions. By developing a greater awareness of culture (our own and others) we can find ways to better connect with one another. If you are interested in the topic, AWARE Center is the most appropriate place to be on August 28, 2012 at 7:00pm.

Laurie A. Santos, is a Certified Coach with a Master of Science in Law and Justice and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology. She has over 15 years in Behavioral Sciences and her prior work includes several Managerial and Training positions, as well as a long career with the United States government as a Federal Parole Officer and liasion to federal judges.

While Laurie has lived all over the globe including Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa, she is currently calling Kuwait home but owns a home in Oakland, California.

For more information, please call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.

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Arabic courses he AWARE Management is glad to inform you that Summer 3 Arabic language courses will begin on August 12, 2012 until September 26, 2012. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind.

The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers & those working in the private business sector.

Arabic classes at the AWARE Center are unique because students are provided with the chance to practice their Arabic through various social activities that aim at bringing Arabs and Westerners together.

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AWARE Arabic courses highlights * Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics * Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic * Combine language learning with cultural insights * Taught in multi-nationality group settings * Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

For more information log onto:

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian ConsulateGeneral in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, AlBanwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas online at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE

The Embassy of Argentina requests all Argentinean citizens in Kuwait to proceed to our official email ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar in order to register or update contact information.

The embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the embassy. The registration process helps the Argentinean Government to contact and assist Argentineans living abroad in case of any emergency.

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EMBASSY OF BRITAIN Consular section at the British Embassy will be starting an online appointment booking system for our consular customers from Sunday, 01 July 2012. All information including how to make an appointment is now available on the embassy website. In addition, there is also a “Consular Appointment System” option under Quick links on the right hand side on the homepage, which should take you to the “Consular online booking appointment system” main page.

Please be aware that from 01 July 2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers for legalisation, notarial services and certificates (birth, death and marriages). If you have problems accessing the system or need to make an appointment for nonnotarial consular issues or have a consular emergency, please call 2259 4355/7/8 or email us on consularenquirieskuwait@fco.gov.uk. If you require consular assistance out of office hours (working hours: 0730-l430 hrs), please contact the Embassy on 2259 4320.

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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. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy will be closed on Sunday and Monday 19 and 20 August 2012 on the occasion of Aid Al Fitr. The Embassy will resume its duties on Tuesday 21 August 2012. 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.

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EMBASSY OF FRANCE The Embassy would like to inform that starting September 2nd, 2012, visa demands for France will be handled by the outsourcing company “Capago - MENA Company”. Capago - MENA’S Call Center will be operational starting Sunday August 26 for setting appointments beginning September 2nd (+965 22270555). During a transitional period Al-Qabas will continue receiving visa applicants until August 27, then the visa section at the French Embassy (Mansouriah, Street 13, House 24, (+965 22582020) will handle those applications from August 28 until August 30, 2012.

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EMBASSY OF MEXICO The Embassy of Mexico is pleased to inform that it is located in CLIFFS Complex, Villa 6, Salmiya, block 9, Baghdad street, Jadda Lane 7. The working hours for consular issues are from 9:00 to 12:00 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 14:00 to 15:00 hours for lunch break. The Embassy of Mexico kindly requests all Mexicans citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the e-mail: embkuwait@sre.gob.mx in order to register or update contact information. Other consultations or/and appointments could be done by telephone or fax: (+965) 2573 1952.

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EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com.

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EMBASSY OF SLOVAKIA

The Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Kuwait would like to inform the public that on the occasion of the Anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising, the Embassy will be closed on Wednesday, August 29, 2012.

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EMBASSY OF PHILIPPINES The Philippine Embassy opens its embassy for the member of diplomatic corps today (Sunday) for them to offer condolences/sympathy for the untimely demise of Philippine Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jessie Robredo who died in a plane crash last week. Also, the embassy announces that on Monday, the embassy will be closed for public transaction to mark their country’s ‘National Heroes Day’.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Shark After Dark 01:40 Animal Cops Houston 02:35 Bad Dog 03:30 Dogs 101: Specials 04:25 Wild France 05:20 Dolphin Days 05:45 Dolphin Days 06:10 Dogs 101: Specials 07:00 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 07:25 Meerkat Manor 07:50 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 08:15 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 09:10 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 09:35 Breed All About It 10:05 Crocodile Hunter 11:00 Dogs 101 11:55 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 12:50 Wildest Latin America 13:45 Galapagos 14:40 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes?

15:05 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes?

15:35 Wild Animal Orphans 16:00 Wild Animal Orphans 16:30 Cats 101 17:25 Animal Planet’s Most Outrageous 18:20 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 19:15 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 20:10 Great Ocean Adventures 21:05 Wild France 22:00 Monster Bug Wars 22:55 Wildest Latin America 23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:05 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 01:25 Cash In The Attic 02:10 Cash In The Attic 02:55 Bargain Hunt 03:45 Bargain Hunt 04:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 05:50 Come Dine With Me 06:40 MasterChef Australia 07:30 MasterChef Australia 07:55 MasterChef Australia 08:40 MasterChef Australia 09:30 MasterChef Australia 10:15 MasterChef Australia 10:40 MasterChef Australia 11:30 MasterChef Australia 11:55 MasterChef Australia 12:45 MasterChef Australia 13:30 10 Years Younger 14:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 15:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 15:45 DIY SOS 16:10 DIY SOS 16:40 Holmes On Homes 17:30 DIY SOS 17:55 DIY SOS 18:20 DIY SOS 18:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 19:25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 20:10 Out Of The Frying Pan 21:00 Masterchef: The Professionals 21:55 Masterchef: The Professionals 22:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 23:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

00:00 00:10 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:10 02:30 03:00 03:10

BBC World News World Features Mixed Britannia BBC World News BBC World News BBC World News World Features Middle East Business Report BBC World News World Features

03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:10 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:10 10:30 11:00 11:10 11:30 12:00 12:10 13:00 13:10 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:10 15:30 16:00 16:15 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:10 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:15 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:10 23:30

Talking Movies BBC World News Dateline London BBC World News World Features Mixed Britannia BBC World News Click BBC World News Newsnight BBC World News India Business Report BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News World Features Talking Movies BBC World News World Features Dateline London BBC World News BBC World News BBC World News World Features BBC World News BBC World News Newsnight BBC World News World Features BBC World News BBC World News Sport Today Click BBC World News Mishal Husain Meets BBC World News World Features Mixed Britannia BBC World News India Business Report BBC World News Our World BBC World News Sport Today BBC World News BBC World News Talking Movies BBC World News World Features Mishal Husain Meets

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:00 06:15 06:35 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 08:55 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:30 13:10 13:35 14:00 14:15 14:40 15:30 16:20 16:45 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:05 18:30 18:55 19:20 19:45

Puppy In My Pocket Tom & Jerry Kids Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Pink Panther And Pals Looney Tunes Popeye Classics Dexter’s Laboratory Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes The Scooby Doo Show Johnny Bravo The Flintstones The Jetsons Wacky Races Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Bananas In Pyjamas Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Ha Ha Hairies Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show Tom & Jerry Tales Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries What’s New Scooby-Doo? The Looney Tunes Show Dexter’s Laboratory Scooby Goes Hollywood Dastardly And Muttley The Scooby Doo Show Dexters Laboratory Dexter’s Laboratory The Garfield Show Looney Tunes Tom & Jerry Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Johnny Bravo Johnny Bravo The Jetsons The Flintstones Dastardly And Muttley Popeye

20:00 20:10 20:30 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:15 22:40 Doo 23:05 23:20 23:45

Dexter’s Laboratory The Looney Tunes Show Tom & Jerry Tales Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries The Garfield Show What’s New Scooby-Doo? Droopy & Dripple Scooby-Doo And ScrappyPopeye The Jetsons Duck Dodgers

00:30 Bakugan: New Vestroia 00:55 Bakugan: New Vestroia 01:20 Powerpuff Girls 02:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Ben 10 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Powerpuff Girls 04:40 Generator Rex 05:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:55 Angelo Rules 06:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 06:25 Casper’s Scare School 07:00 The Powerpuff Girls 07:15 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi 07:40 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 08:05 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:30 Adventure Time 08:55 Regular Show 09:20 Batman Brave And The Bold 09:45 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 10:10 Thundercats 10:35 Hero 108 11:00 Adventure Time 11:25 Grim Adventures Of...

12:15 Courage The Cowardly Dog 13:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:55 Powerpuff Girls 14:45 Thundercats 15:10 Generator Rex 15:35 Ben 10 16:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 16:50 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:15 Adventure Time 17:40 Regular Show 18:05 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 18:30 Powerpuff Girls 18:55 Courage The Cowardly Dog 19:45 Johnny Test 20:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 20:25 Ben 10 20:50 Ben 10 21:25 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 21:50 Grim Adventures Of...

22:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Ben 10 23:40 Chowder

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:15 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:15 08:30 09:00 09:15 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00

THE SIEGE ON OSN ACTION HD

Open Court World Sport World Report Talk Asia World Report Amanpour CNN Marketplace Europe CNN Marketplace Africa The Brief CNN Presents CNN Newsroom The CNN Freedom Project Inside Africa World Sport Road To Rio World Report CNN Marketplace Middle East Talk Asia World Report CNN Marketplace Europe I Report For CNN World Sport Aiming For Gold African Voices

11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 14:45 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:15 18:30 18:45 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00 23:30

The Brief World Report World’s Untold Stories CNN Presents World Report Leading Women Future Cities Fareed Zakaria GPS State Of The Union International Desk Inside Africa Global Exchange CNN Marketplace Africa Global Exchange CNN Marketplace Middle East World Sport Open Court International Desk African Voices International Desk Road To Rio Fareed Zakaria GPS World Report World’s Untold Stories

00:40 First Week In 01:35 Surviving Disaster 02:30 How Do They Do It? 03:00 How It’s Made 03:25 How Do They Do It? 03:55 How It’s Made 04:20 How Do They Do It? 04:50 How It’s Made 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 How Do They Do It? 06:35 How It’s Made 07:00 How It’s Made 07:25 How Do They Do It? 07:50 X-Machines 08:45 Crash Course 09:10 Fifth Gear 09:40 How Do They Do It? Turbo Specials 10:30 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 11:25 River Monsters 12:20 How It’s Made 12:45 How It’s Made 13:15 How It’s Made 13:40 How It’s Made 14:10 How It’s Made 14:35 Dirty Money 15:05 Dirty Money 15:30 Dirty Money 16:00 Dirty Money 16:25 Dirty Money 16:55 Border Security 17:20 Border Security 17:50 Border Security 18:15 Border Security 18:45 Border Security 19:10 Mythbusters 20:05 Mythbusters 21:00 Stan Lee’s Superhumans 21:55 Cruise Ship Disaster: Inside The...

22:50 Weird Or What?

23:45 Weird Or What?

00:35 Prank Science 01:00 Prank Science 01:25 Weird Or What?

02:15 Game Changers 02:45 Sport Science 03:35 Sport Science 04:25 Sport Science 05:15 Sport Science 06:05 Sport Science 07:00 Curiosity: How Does Life Begin?

07:50 Engineering Thrills 08:40 Head Rush 08:43 Stunt Junkies 09:10 Stunt Junkies 09:40 Nextworld 10:30 Game Changers 10:55 Game Changers 11:20 Catch It Keep It 12:10 Curiosity: How Does Life Begin?

13:00 Sci-Fi Science 13:25 Sci-Fi Science 13:50 Human Nature 14:45 Weird Or What?

15:35 Patent Bending 16:00 Patent Bending 16:25 Head Rush 16:28 The Tech Show 16:55 The Tech Show 17:25 Cosmic Collisions 18:15 Game Changers 18:40 Sci-Fi Science 19:05 Sci-Fi Science 19:30 Human Nature 20:20 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 21:10 Curiosity: How Does Life Begin?

22:00 Human Nature 22:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:40 Stuck With Hackett

00:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 00:55 Style Star 01:25 20 Acts Of Love Gone Wrong 03:15 E! Investigates 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Then And Now 05:30 Then And Now 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Extreme Close-Up 09:45 Extreme Close-Up 10:15 E!es 11:10 Ice Loves Coco 11:35 Ice Loves Coco 12:05 E! News 13:05 Style Star 13:35 Style Star 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 16:55 Behind The Scenes 17:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 18:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 19:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 22:25 Mrs. Eastwood And Company 22:55 Mrs. Eastwood And Company 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:30 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

A Haunting The Haunted Ghost Lab A Haunting A Haunting On The Case With Paula Zahn Mystery Diagnosis Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Files Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Australian Families Of Crime American Greed Scorned: Crimes Of Passion

00:00 Making Tracks 00:30 The Best Job In The World 01:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 01:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 02:00 Kimchi Chronicles 02:30 Kimchi Chronicles 03:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 04:00 Bondi Rescue 04:30 Bondi Rescue 05:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 05:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 06:00 Kimchi Chronicles 06:30 Kimchi Chronicles 07:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 08:00 Danger Beach 08:30 Danger Beach 09:00 Long Way Down 10:00 On Surfari 10:30 On Surfari 11:00 Treks In A Wild World 12:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 12:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 13:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 13:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:00 Kimchi Chronicles 14:30 Kimchi Chronicles 15:00 Wheel2Wheel 16:00 Danger Beach 16:30 Danger Beach 17:00 City Chase Rome 18:00 The Best Job In The World 18:30 The Best Job In The World 19:00 City Chase Rome 20:00 Departures 21:00 Travel Oz 21:30 Travel Oz 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 23:00 Gone to save the planet 23:30 The Best Job In The World

00:00 Making Tracks 00:30 The Best Job In The World 01:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 01:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 02:00 Kimchi Chronicles 02:30 Kimchi Chronicles 03:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 04:00 Bondi Rescue 04:30 Bondi Rescue 05:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 05:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 06:00 Kimchi Chronicles 06:30 Kimchi Chronicles 07:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 08:00 Danger Beach 08:30 Danger Beach 09:00 Long Way Down 10:00 On Surfari 10:30 On Surfari 11:00 Treks In A Wild World 12:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 12:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 13:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 13:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:00 Kimchi Chronicles 14:30 Kimchi Chronicles 15:00 Wheel2Wheel 16:00 Danger Beach 16:30 Danger Beach 17:00 City Chase Rome 18:00 The Best Job In The World 18:30 The Best Job In The World 19:00 City Chase Rome 20:00 Departures 21:00 Travel Oz 21:30 Travel Oz 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 23:00 Gone to save the planet 23:30 The Best Job In The World

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:20 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 06:55 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

The Invaders Monster Fish Animals Of Brazil Indonesia Beyond The Reefs Hunter Hunted Africa’s Deadliest Great Migrations Built For The Kill Animals Of Brazil Indonesia Beyond The Reefs Hunter Hunted Africa’s Deadliest Python Hunters Swamp Men The Invaders Monster Fish The Living Edens Maneater Manhunt Africa’s Deadliest Python Hunters

RED ON OSN CINEMA 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Shane Untamed Animal Fugitives Animals Of Brazil Indonesia Beyond The Reefs Hunter Hunted Africa’s Deadliest Python Hunters Swamp Men

01:00 Malibu Shark Attack-18 03:00 The Godfather III-18 06:00 I Am Number Four-PG15 08:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 10:00 Odysseus: Voyage To The Underworld-PG15 12:00 The Net-PG15 14:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 16:00 Arachnophobia-PG15 18:00 The Net-PG15 20:00 The Siege-18 22:00 Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown-18

01:00 03:15 05:15 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

The Way Back-PG15 Jumping The Broom-PG15 Love Hurts-PG15 Dear John-PG15 Jumping The Broom-PG15 Red-PG15 Ice Age-FAM Last Of The Living-PG15 13-PG15 Red-PG15 Hall Pass-18 The Last Exorcism-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Friends 02:00 Friends 02:30 Seinfeld 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Weird Science 06:00 Friends 06:30 Samantha Who? 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 09:00 Weird Science 09:30 Mr. Sunshine 10:00 Mr. Sunshine 10:30 Samantha Who? 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Friends 13:00 Weird Science 13:30 Samantha Who? 14:30 Mr. Sunshine 15:00 Mr. Sunshine 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Whitney 18:30 Last Man Standing 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 The Office 20:00 Best Friends Forever 20:30 Breaking In 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Seinfeld 23:30 Best Friends Forever

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 18:30

C.S.I. C.S.I. New York C.S.I. Miami Drop Dead Diva Glee The View Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Glee The View C.S.I. Drop Dead Diva C.S.I. Miami Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street

19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Drop Dead Diva Switched At Birth Burn Notice Top Gear (US) Glee

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Criminal Minds C.S.I. Miami Grey’s Anatomy C.S.I. New York Drop Dead Diva Grey’s Anatomy Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street Private Practice C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Drop Dead Diva Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Private Practice Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Private Practice Drop Dead Diva Switched At Birth Burn Notice Top Gear (US) Grey’s Anatomy

01:00 02:45 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 PG15 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Thick As Thieves-18 13 Assassins-18 Four Brothers-PG15 Tremors-PG15 Shanghai Noon-PG15 Four Brothers-PG15 True Justice: Lethal JusticeShanghai Noon-PG15 The Reunion-PG15 Alien-18 Alien Resurrection-18 AVP: Alien vs Predator-PG15

00:00 Youth In Revolt-18 02:00 I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry-PG15 04:00 The Lightkeepers-PG15 06:00 My Girlfriend’s BoyfriendPG15 08:00 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie-PG 10:00 Rat-PG15 12:00 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song-PG15 14:00 Cool Runnings-PG15 16:00 Rat-PG15 18:00 Out Cold-PG15 20:00 The Legend Of Awesomest Maximus-18 22:00 The Answer Man-PG15

01:00 02:30 04:15 07:00 09:00 11:15 13:00 14:45 17:00 18:45 21:00 22:30

Tyson-18 Chico & Rita-18 Scent Of A Woman-18 Don’t Look Back-PG15 Miracle-PG15 Uncorked-PG15 Freakonomics-PG15 Miracle-PG15 The Client List-PG15 Lorenzo’s Oil-PG15 Talhotblond-18 All Good Things-18

00:15 02:30 04:30 06:30 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 18:45 21:00 23:00

Your Highness-18 Senna-PG15 The Winning Season-PG15 Courageous-PG15 That’s What I Am-PG15 Paper Man-PG15 The Girl In The Park-PG15 The Open Road-PG15 That’s What I Am-PG15 Eat Pray Love-PG15 Kick-Ass-18 The Last Exorcism-PG15

00:00 Chicago Overcoat-18 02:00 Love N’ Dancing-PG15

04:00 06:00 08:00 09:45 12:00 14:15 16:15 18:00 20:00 22:00

Certified Copy-PG15 Rio-FAM Hop-PG Real Steel-PG15 Courageous-PG15 Flash Of Genius-PG15 Hop-PG Soul Surfer-PG15 Cyrus-18 Ironclad-18

00:00 Toyz Goin’ Wild-PG 02:00 Ramses Of Egypt-PG 04:15 Legend Of Sleeping BeautyPG 06:00 The Smurfs-PG 08:00 Pocahontas & The Spider Woman-PG 10:00 Alex & Alexis-FAM 12:00 Legend Of Sleeping BeautyPG 14:00 Snow Dogs-PG 16:00 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling-FAM 18:00 Alex & Alexis-FAM 20:00 Cars 2-FAM 22:00 Snow Dogs-PG

00:00 Live Rugby Matchday 00:30 PGA European Tour Championship 05:00 Olympic Women’s Handball 07:00 Live NRL Premiership 09:00 Futbol Mundial 09:30 Live AFL Premiership 12:30 European Tour Weekly 13:00 Olympic Highlights 14:00 Olympic Highlights 15:00 The Rugby Championship 17:00 The Rugby Championship 19:00 Olympic Women’s Basketball 21:00 Olympic Highlights 22:00 Olympic Highlights 23:00 Trans World Sport

01:00 02:00 02:30 04:30 05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 19:00 21:30 23:30

Trans World Sport Rugby Match Day The Rugby Championship Rugby Match Day Rugby Union Currie Cup PGA European Tour Weekly Futbol Mundial Live NRL Premiership Rugby League Challenge Cup The Rugby Championship Futbol Mundial PGA European Tour Weekly Live PGA European Tour AFL Premiership NRL Premiership NRL Premiership

01:00 04:30 07:00 09:00 11:00 14:30 18:30 21:00 23:00

Premier League Snooker AFL Premiership The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship Premier League Snooker NRL Premiership ITU World Triathlon Series The Rugby Championship Rugby League Challenge Cup

01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

V8 Supercars WWE SmackDown UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Live V8 Supercars WWE Experience This Week in WWE UAE National Race Day Mobil 1 The Grid V8 Supercars V8 Supercars WWE Experience WWE Bottomline WWE SmackDown V8 Supercars UFC V8 Supercars V8 Supercars WWE SmackDown

Classifieds SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JZR QTR JZR AEE MEA ETH MEA RJA KAC GFA UAE ETD THY JZR FDB MSR RBG QTR KAC THY CLX KAC JZR DHX JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC KAC IRA FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB IRA ETD GFA IRC UAE MEA JZR MSR MSC JZR JZR KAC MSR GFA KAC FDB KAC KNE KAC JZR QTR SVA FDB RJA KAC JZR QTR JZR ETD KAC UAE UAL GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY KAC QTR KAC KAC FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC KAC JAI KAC KAC AXB FDB OMA MEA KAC QTR GFA ALK KAC JZR KLM UAE JZR ETD KAC ABY QTR LMU JZR AIC FDB GFA UAL FDB JZR DLH MSR THY JAI PIA

Arrival Flights on Sunday 26/8/2012 Flt Route 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 267 BEIRUT 998 ATHENS 406 BEIRUT 620 ADDIS ABABA 408 BEIRUT 642 AMMAN 108 GENEVA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 768 ISTANBUL 189 DUBAI 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 3553 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 544 CAIRO 770 ISTANBUL 792 LUXEMBOURG 154 ISTANBUL 1541 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 505 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 615 SHAHRE KORD 53 DUBAI 284 DHAKA 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 603 SHIRAZ 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 6801 AHWAZ 871 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 401 ALEXANDRIA 561 SOHAG 201 DAMASCUS 742 DAMMAM 610 CAIRO 219 BAHRAIN 672 DUBAI 57 DUBAI 774 RIYADH 472 JEDDAH 538 SOHAG 535 CAIRO 140 DOHA 500 JEDDAH 8055 DUBAI 640 AMMAN 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 134 DOHA 173 DUBAI 303 ABU DHABI 1802 CAIRO 857 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 177 DUBAI 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 542 CAIRO 144 DOHA 166 PARIS 786 JEDDAH 63 DUBAI 624 SOHAG 405 SOHAG 787 RIYADH 618 DOHA 674 DUBAI 572 MUMBAI 102 NEW YORK 562 AMMAN 389 KOZHIKODE 61 DUBAI 647 MUSCAT 402 BEIRUT 502 BEIRUT 146 DOHA 221 BAHRAIN 229 COLOMBO 514 TEHRAN 481 SABIHA 417 AMSTERDAM 859 DUBAI 135 BAHRAIN 307 ABU DHABI 172 FRANKFURT 129 SHARJAH 136 DOHA 1109 ALEXANDRIA 539 CAIRO 981 CHENNAI 59 DUBAI 217 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 8053 DUBAI 239 AMMAN 636 FRANKFURT 614 CAIRO 772 ISTANBUL 574 MUMBAI 205 LAHORE

Time 0:15 0:20 0:50 1:30 1:35 1:45 2:05 2:10 2:15 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:50 3:00 3:10 3:20 3:20 3:25 4:10 4:35 4:55 4:55 4:55 5:00 5:55 6:00 6:15 6:30 7:15 7:30 7:35 7:45 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:20 9:25 9:30 10:00 10:15 10:45 10:55 11:05 11:25 12:00 12:25 12:30 13:25 13:30 13:40 13:40 13:45 13:45 14:15 14:20 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:40 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:15 15:30 16:35 16:40 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:45 18:15 18:20 18:40 18:40 18:45 18:55 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:20 20:25 20:35 20:55 20:55 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:25 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:10 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 22:55 23:10 23:35 23:40 23:50 23:55

Airlines AIC FDB UAL DLH MSR DHX JAI THY AEE MEA ETH MEA THY UAE FDB RBG ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR RJA JZR JZR GFA THY JZR KAC CLX BAW FDB IRA KAC JZR KAC ABY KAC KAC UAE QTR FDB KAC ETD IRA KAC KAC GFA IRC JZR KAC MEA JZR UAE MSR KAC MSC KAC JZR JZR GFA FDB MSR KAC KAC KAC JZR KNE FDB SVA KAC JZR RJA QTR KAC ETD JZR QTR UAE GFA JZR ABY UAL SVA JZR QTR FDB MSR MSC JZR KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC OMA MEA KAC GFA JZR DHX ALK KLM JZR ABY ETD UAE KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR LMU QTR AXB FDB FDB GFA KAC

Depature Flights on Sunday 26/8/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 52 DUBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC 637 FRANKFURT 615 CAIRO 373 BAHRAIN 573 MUMBAI 773 ISTANBUL 999 ATHENS 407 BEIRUT 621 ADDIS ABABA 409 BEIRUT 769 ISTANBUL 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 3554 ALEXANDRIA 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 643 AMMAN 164 DUBAI 200 DAMASCUS 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 534 CAIRO 537 SOHAG 792 GIALAM 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 614 SHAHRE 171 FRANKFURT 256 BEIRUT 117 NEW YORK 126 SHARJAH 671 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 133 DOHA 56 DUBAI 1801 CAIRO 302 ABU DHABI 602 SHIRAZ 773 RIYADH 741 DAMMAM 214 BAHRAIN 6802 AHWAZ 172 DUBAI 541 CAIRO 405 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 872 DUBAI 623 SOHAG 103 LONDON 406 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 480 ISTANBUL 176 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 501 BEIRUT 561 AMMAN 673 DUBAI 538 CAIRO 473 JEDDAH 8056 DUBAI 503 MADINAH 617 DOHA 786 RIYADH 641 AMMAN 135 DOHA 513 IMAM KHOMEINI 304 ABU DHABI 238 AMMAN 141 DOHA 858 DUBAI 216 BAHRAIN 134 BAHRAIN 128 SHARJAH 982 BAHRAIN 511 RIYADH 266 BEIRUT 145 DOHA 64 DUBAI 621 ALEXANDRIA 402 ALEXANDRIA 184 DUBAI 361 COLOMBO 571 MUMBAI 62 DUBAI 283 DHAKA 351 KOCHI 648 MUSCAT 403 BEIRUT 543 CAIRO 222 BAHRAIN 502 LUXOR 171 BAHRAIN 230 COLOMBO 417 DAMMAM 1540 CAIRO 120 SHARJAH 308 ABU DHABI 860 DUBAI 343 CHENNAI 137 DOHA 301 MUMBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 554 ALEXANDRIA 1110 ALEXANDRIA 147 DOHA 390 MANGALORE 60 DUBAI 8054 DUBAI 218 BAHRAIN 415 KUALA LUMPUR

Time 0:05 0:10 0:25 0:30 0:35 0:40 0:50 2:15 2:30 2:35 2:45 3:05 3:40 3:45 3:50 4:00 4:05 4:20 4:50 5:40 6:00 6:50 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:10 7:30 8:05 8:15 8:25 8:25 8:35 8:55 9:00 9:05 9:05 9:20 9:35 9:40 10:00 10:05 10:05 10:15 10:25 10:25 10:25 10:45 11:15 11:20 11:30 11:55 12:15 12:20 12:25 12:30 13:00 13:10 13:15 13:20 14:25 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:40 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:20 15:45 15:45 15:50 15:50 16:15 16:25 17:20 17:30 17:45 18:05 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:50 19:20 19:25 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:45 21:50 21:55 22:05 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:10 23:15 23:25 23:30 23:50

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

CHANGE OF NAME I, Murugesan Uma Mageswari, holder of Indian passport No. E2156446 have changed religion (embraced Islam). Hence I will be known as Safia Begum.

(C 4108) 25-8-2012

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw

Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw

Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw

Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw

Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw

Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw

Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw

Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw

Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw

Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw

Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw

Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw

Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw

Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw

Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw

Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw

Supreme Council for Planning and Development www.scpd.gov.kw

Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

34

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 777

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) Strong urge for the social life may find you around town today, but you may walk a fine line between good company and disapproval—caution. This may be a better time to work on repairs, upkeep or to catch up on some reading material. Your love relationship can afford some nourishment. Look toward developing a love that knows no conditions. Your home environment, friends and surroundings in general get attention and encouragement later today. You may enjoy some fun activity with brothers, sisters or young people. The key to understanding your personality and the circumstances that you find yourself in just now is found in the environment or support system that surrounds you. Feed your support system.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You are turning the corner into a strong appreciation for the past and for your roots in life. Making your home situation more pleasant and attractive plays a part in this. The sale or purchase of real estate could bring you much gain before the end of this cycle. You may yearn for family harmony. Lasting values and finding your path and purpose is what guides you.

There are new paths opening up for you—opening up avenues that have before now been blocked. Your home environment, friends and surroundings in general receive much attention. You will gain from the time you spend with young people this afternoon. Do not forget to include all family members in any decisions to move or purchase property.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord.

4. Of or relating to of comprising atoms.

10. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

13. An acute inflammatory disease occurring in the intestines of premature infants.

14. (archaic) The emperor of Japan.

15. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

16. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

17. Small tropical American tree bearing edible plumlike fruit.

19. A midnight meeting of witches to practice witchcraft and sorcery.

22. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

23. (Greek mythology) One of the three Graces.

27. Of or relating to or characteristic of the Republic of Chad or its people or language.

28. (of a young animal) Abandoned by its mother and raised by hand.

32. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt.

35. Any of various deciduous or evergreen ornamental shrubs of the genus Abelia having opposite simple leaves and cymes of small white or pink or purplish flowers.

37. The compass point that is one point east (clockwise) of due north.

39. 4-wheeled motor vehicle.

40. Scarabaeid beetle considered divine by ancient Egyptians.

44. The state prevailing during the absence of war.

47. A fraudulent business scheme.

50. A midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region.

51. (Mesopotamia) God of agriculture and earth.

55. An accidental happening.

59. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

60. The compass point that is one point south of due west.

61. Any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits.

63. An interest followed with exaggerated zeal.

64. How long something has existed.

65. A port city in southwestern Iran.

66. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This morning you keep busy with chores. You may find yourself looking forward to helping a young person. Important matters, fun activities and learning about people are pleasant parts of this morning.

Today may be a bit challenging; however, with your sense of humor, anything too serious will quickly take a turn toward a positive end. This is a time in which support and recognition should be available from both your family and friends. You feel at home in the world and it more than adequately takes care of you. You could have deep insights into your own feelings. Enjoy being entertained or plan to entertain others. Your mate or love partner is smart—listen and be patient, she or he may be helping you save money this evening.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You will find the early part of this day is the best time for working in the yard, painting or rearranging furniture, etc. There is much passion and drive for whatever you want to accomplish. A loved one may ask you for help or ideas regarding some emotional problem. You may find this person highly emotional. You can help find the answers that are right for this person if you let love guide you. Love means thinking realistically and not emotionally—positive things will happen. It also means dealing with the facts, accounting for all the details and making careful measurements. A social affair may be in the works for this evening. Perhaps an outdoor barbecue is in the making. Homemade ice cream or watermelon makes for a pleasant finish.

NON SEQUITUR

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may find yourself analyzing your life situation and surroundings. Conversations of an inspiring kind may be in order with young people or others around you today. Someone is sympathetic to your feelings and there is a sense of support and harmony. An interesting conversation with some friends may have you thinking about the psychic events in your life. You place a high value on your dreams and ideals and do not consider them otherworldly or impossible. You experience the unity around you—that which joins things together. Mysticism, mythology, poetry and music are natural. These are all known items to you. People who encounter you may wish they could see the world as you see it.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You seem to be on autopilot this morning and that means whichever the wind blows you are game for most anything. If you are not working you could be running errands or tending to chores. Clear communications come through the art of listening and you may find opportunities to listen a bit more than you really want to listen. If you are in the process of completing chores during an interaction with another individual, it might be advantageous to add how pleasant it would be to share a conversation along with the chores. This will either help to hurry along the subject matter or . . . you will gain a deeper understanding of a friend or family member. Later reward yourself with a fun adventure in the afternoon: swimming, garage sale, garden shop.

DOWN 1. Squash bugs.

2. Established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules.

3. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

4. Type genus of the Amiidae.

5. Steady recurrent ticking sound as made by a clock.

6. A Turkish unit of weight equal to about 2.75 pounds.

7. A cooler darker spot appearing periodically on the surface of the sun.

8. An artificial language that is a revision and simplification of Esperanto.

9. A heavy odorless colorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances.

10. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

11. Pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness.

12. American novelist (1909-1955).

18. Used especially of fruits.

20. (Scotland) A slope or hillside.

21. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively.

24. Military headquarters from which a military commander controls and organizes the forces.

25. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

26. The content of cognition.

29. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.

30. The face of a timepiece.

31. A British peer ranking below a Marquess and above a Viscount.

33. A mature blood cell that contains hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the bodily tissues.

34. (Scottish) Bluish-black or gray-blue.

36. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

38. A fixed charge for a privilege or for professional services.

41. Rate of revolution of a motor.

42. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

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

45. A communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia.

46. Being one hundred more than three hundred.

48. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.

49. A domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church.

52. A spar rising aft from a mast to support the head of a quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail.

53. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

54. A quantity of no importance.

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

57. A boy or man.

58. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

62. An associate degree in nursing.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Friendships and involvement in group activities play an important part of your weekend. Satisfaction that comes from accomplishing or sharing experiences with others is something no one can take away from you. You are very deliberate when it comes to partnerships, lovers— relationships of all kinds. You tend toward long-lasting friendships and are very loyal, sometimes too sober. Today, however, you display your sharp, nimble mind with a ready wit. You are quick to get insights and to see new solutions involving family problems as well as investments or budgeting. You express your good communication skills. Natural physical dexterity—good hands too! You are the life of the party when it comes to spontaneity.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) This is a time when you can expect a little boost: some extra support or recognition from those around you. You may feel that you are in touch and in harmony with others; the lines of communication are open.

The support you need is there for anything you want to accomplish. If you are not working you may be in some volunteer service. Many people think of volunteer service as drudgery but you have many hours of fun and enjoy the people with whom you can share the experience. At home later, you just want to talk of your experiences and people gather around to hear of your escapades. The escapades are more adventurous than risky but if you work with the handicapped in helping with competition sessions, you have a lot to report.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

Take care of almost any financial responsibilities. For those that you cannot, send a note with a promise of payment to come. Then make it a point to set aside the funds for any outstanding debts. There is ongoing work with plants and experiments with landscaping—perhaps on paper. Perhaps a winter garden is something for which you will want to plan. Upkeep around your living area is also important to you. Later today you will enjoy the company of friends and young people and having a good time. There could be some sports competition, either involving you or with you coaching. You appreciate your situation and enjoy support from those around you. Matters that have been confusing in the past may become clear now. There is a healing now.

Do not take chances or risks just now—be satisfied with the ordinary and usual. Novel ideas or insights could be more damaging than useful. There is hectic emotional drive present today. You are very expressive and outgoing when it comes to your feelings and emotions—you may find yourself in deep discussions that concern world affairs, trends of the community, etc. This urge to express yourself, to speak out and have people listen to you, propels you into many an interesting situation. Creativity of all kinds holds your interest and you could find yourself spending money on some form of music, art or literature. You are driven to excel in any form of physical or creative expression— sports, theatrics, arts and crafts, etc.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You are an aggressive prime mover, able to get things moving.

You may, however, find yourself distracted from time to time. You could discover something new about yourself or a family member today. A favorite hobby has your attention later this afternoon. Increased confidence and a more outgoing manner may be the key that opens many a new door for you. You may decide to sign up for an art show or talent show in the future. A friend or loved one brings you much joy today. There is a chance to understand those around you and to have a special time with your favorite people this evening. General good feeling and a sense of support and harmony make this a happy time. Someone may compliment you on your tastes. Are you cooking?

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

The mental world appeals to you and you are very discriminating when it comes to concepts, ideas and thoughts. You may find yourself attending a book review or book signing today. You are interested in having a signed book to give as a gift or to place on your bookshelf. You also enjoy collecting lovely words and a flair for description—the artistic in all its many forms.

Conversations with relations this afternoon may find you looking for truths; relax. You love to communicate and pursue conversations. This is a good time to mend or let go of a relationship. You are direct and can give insight to a better understanding when things become confused. People come to you for advice because you can simplify the seemingly difficult subjects.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

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

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TAT TE OF K KUW WAIT A

el.: 161 Te

DIRECTORA AT TE GENERAL GENE OF CIVIL AV VIA AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP PARTMENT A

WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

Hot and humid weather especially over coastal areas with variable wind changing to light to moderate south easterly wind, with speed of 06 - 28 km/h

BY Y NIGHT:

Humid weather especially over coastal areas with light variable wind, with speed of 06 - 22 km/h

No Current Warnings arnin a

WARNING A

22459381

41 °C

31 °C

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT

44 °C

27 °C

Al-Mirqab

22456536

NUW WA AISEEB

40 °C

27 °C

WA AFRA

ST TAT TION

43 °C

25 °C

SALMI

43 °C

25 °C

ABDAL LY

46 °C

28 °C

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

JAL ALIY YAH A

45 °C

29 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FA AILAKA

40 °C

30 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

37 °C

30 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

36 °C

31 °C

W.Hawally

22630786

WA ARBA A - BUBY YAN A

39 °C

24 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

SFC. CHART

Temperatures DA ATE T

WEA ATHER T

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

29 °C

VRB-SE

06 - 28 km/h

29 °C

VRB-NW

06 - 22 km/h

47 °C

30 °C

NW-SE

10 - 32 km/h

45 °C

28 °C

VRB-SE

10 - 32 km/h

MAX.

MIN.

New Jahra

24575755 Sunday

26/08

Hot+Relatively humid

45 °C

West Jahra

24772608

Monday

27/08

hot

46 °C

South Jahra

24775066

Tuesday

28/08

hot

North Jahra

24775992

Wednesday e

29/08

Hot+Relatively humid

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

25/08/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AY YS FORECAST DA AY

24892674

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT

RA AY YER TIMES PRA Fajr

03:59

MAX. Temp.

44 °C

Sunrise

05:22

MIN. Temp.

28 °C

Zuhr

11:50

MAX. RH

34 %

Asr

15:24

MIN. RH

05 %

Sunset

18:18

MAX. Wind i

N 36 km/h

Isha

19:39

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FALL A L IN 24 HR.

00 mm

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

23900322

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Dr. Salem soso General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

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

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

BY Y DA AY:

KUW WA AIT CITY

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36

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

LL Cool J intruder

has criminal record

he man charged with breaking into LL Cool J’s house earlier this week has a lengthy criminal record that includes a manslaughter conviction in Texas, court records show.

Authorities say the actor-rapper subdued Jonathan A. Kirby early Wednesday after finding the man in his Los Angeles home, breaking Kirby’s nose, jaw and ribs in the process. Kirby, 58, has a lengthy arrest and criminal history in LA, but also was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Dallas in 1988. Records show Kirby was sentenced to six years of imprisonment, but was paroled the following year. By January 1990 he had been arrested on a prostitution-related charge in West Hollywood, and in 1995 was convicted of felony residential burglary. He is charged with the same offense in the LL Cool J incident and could face 38 years to life in prison if convicted.

No additional details about the circumstances of the Texas manslaughter conviction were available Friday. Prosecutors want Kirby, a transient who has used different names and dates of birth over the years, treated as a third-strike offender. Authorities say LL Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, and his family were unharmed during the break-in, and nothing was apparently taken from their home. Kirby has yet to make a court appearance and had to be hospitalized because of his injuries.

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Berry hasn’t forgiven Downey Jr for arm break

alle Berry still hasn’t forgiven Robert Downey Jr for accidentally breaking her arm. The actress suffered the injury when they were filming ‘Gothika’ together in 2003, but she doesn’t feel he sufficiently apologized about the incident, and still avoids him around Hollywood. A source said: “She didn’t think he was sorry enough. He didn’t even send flowers. Whenever she sees him in town she won’t talk to him.” Halle has talked of the injury, which lost her weeks of work, hinting that it happened carelessly. She said: “It wasn’t like I was trying to fall 50 feet and just fell wrong or did something crazy. I was shooting a scene with Robert and he grabbed my arm the wrong way and broke it.” Robert has also previously talked about the injury, playing down that it was entirely his fault. He said: “It was an accident, I’m sorry if she’s still upset. I did everything I had to do to keep my side of the street clean. I wish her the best.”

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Cumberbatch’s father impressed by Hobbit role enedict Cumberbatch’s father was thrilled when the actor landed a role in ‘The Hobbit’.

The ‘Sherlock’ star made his father proud by scoring the role of sinister dragon Smaug in Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s beloved classic because he used to read the book to him as a child. Benedict told HELLO! Magazine: “It was the first ever story that I properly remember and my dad used to do all the characters when he was reading it. Such fantastic memories. He was over the moon when I told him I’d been cast.” The 36year-old actor physically portrays the dragon - which has been re-worked using CGI technology - as well as voicing the film’s menacing villain, the Necromancer. Benedict was encouraged to pursue his dream by his parents, who are both actors, and thinks their decision to send him to posh boarding school Harrow is responsible for his current success. He explained: “I was cast in so many amazing plays at Harrow and encouraged by some incredible teachers to blossom as an actor that there came a point where there was really nothing else that I could imagine doing.”

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Led Zeppelin subliminal blues ed Zeppelin were “almost subconsciously,” influenced by delta blues.

The ‘Black Dog’ band may have come from England’s midlands in the late 60s, but their hearts were in the Mississippi Delta of the US, according to frontman Robert Plant. Speaking after performing at the Sunflower Blues Festival in Clarksdale, he said: “So much Zeppelin did come from here.

Almost subconsciously, just through the floor of the room where we were recording. With [guitarist] Jimmy [Page]’s enthusiasm and knowledge and record collection, between the two of us, on that level, we had such a mutual preference towards that stuff, and the wild side of rock ‘n’ roll.” Referring to The Rolling Stones’ singer and guitarist, he added: “Without the people from around here, where would we have been? What would Mick and Keith have done?” Led Zeppelin officially disbanded in 1980, but Robert says the spirit of the blues lives on through his work with other bands, such as Strange Sensation, Alison Krauss and his latest project, Sensational Space Shifters, but also through other contemporary artists. He added: “It’s all a long way back, even to go back to Led Zeppelin or the Stones or whatever, but it did shape, and still does shape, the music from around here. It goes through to the Black Keys, to Jack White, to all over the place. There’s nothing new under the sun - you just get a can of paint out.”

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No motive in

Scott’s

suicide note

Moss cleans up her act

ilm director Tony Scott was buried on Friday at a Los Angeles cemetery as local media reported that the suicide note he left behind contained no mention of why the “Top Gun” maker would take his own life. The Los Angeles Times said on Friday that the note, along with other letters left by Scott before he jumped from a Los Angeles bridge this week, did not mention health problems. The Times cited law enforcement sources as saying officials may never determine the reason behind Scott’s suicide. Scott, 68, the brother of Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott, had recently completed a film and seemed to be in good health when he parked his car on a suspension bridge over Los Angeles harbor, climbed a fence to get to the edge and leapt off, plunging nearly 200 feet (61 meters) into the water below. Los Angeles County coroners said reports that he might have had brain cancer were wrong. An autopsy was performed and a final cause of death may not come for weeks, pending toxicology and other tests results. Scott enjoyed a good reputation in the film and television industry, having produced TV shows and made movies such as “Days of Thunder” and “Crimson Tide.”

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ate Moss is cleaning up her act in order to have another baby. The 38-year-old supermodel - who is known for her wild antics and former drug-use - is forgoing her old party lifestyle because she plans to have a second child with her husband, The Kills’ guitarist Jamie Hince. A friend of Kate’s told the Daily Mail newspaper: “Kate has made no secret among her circle that she’d love to have a baby with Jamie.” “There’s no doubt in my mind that the prospect of another child is a massive motivation for her to clean up her act. “She eats like a horse now, too, while back in her catwalk days she could easily “forget” to have lunch and dinner.” Kate wed Jamie in July 2011 and the pair live in London’s leafy Highgate area with her nine-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Lila Grace. The star has recently been spotted holidaying in Saint Tropez where she enjoyed family-friendly activities with Lila and her rocker husband, who is reportedly very keen to experience parenthood with Kate. The source added: “Jamie worships the ground she walks on, so to have the kind of bond that comes from parenthood would mean the world to him. “Clearly it’s not a straightforward process - neither of them are spring chickens. But it’s what they want more than anything else. “She’s still Kate, but she’s somehow different. It’s a change for the better, if you ask me.”

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Holmes splurges on innerwear MacLaine sad to say goodbye to Downton hirley MacLaine had a “tiny tear in her eye” when she left ‘Downton Abbey’. The American actress - who plays the role of the Countess of Grantham’s mother in the ITV series - did not struggle settling into her new role alongside an established cast and was sad to say goodbye at the end of filming, her co-star Lesley Nicol revealed. Lesley, better known to audiences as Mrs. Patmore, told BANG Showbiz: “Whoever you are, coming into a show that’s already established, it is quite hard - I don’t care who you are! Unless your ego is massive. “A friend of mine did a few episodes of ‘Friends’, Helen Baxendale, and that was for a minute, you’re the newcomer, it’s a new set, I guess it would be similar on ‘Downton’. “But she’s still a human being and we all get frightened sometimes. Anybody, but she obviously wasn’t that frightened and had a very nice time. There was a tiny tear in her eye, somebody told me, when she left.” Discussing the forthcoming third series, Lesley joked it could be renamed ‘Downsize Abbey’ because of problems with financing at the fictional house. She added: “There might be some ructions, they might have to downsize ‘Downsize Abbey’! There are money problems which cause problems for how the house is run.” —Agencies

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atie Holmes spent $15,000 on lingerie following her split from Tom Cruise. The former ‘Dawson’s Creek’ actress - whose divorce from the actor was finalized earlier this week - reportedly went on a lavish spending spree to cheer herself up following the breakdown of her five-year marriage. A source told National Enquirer magazine: “Katie treated herself to a lavish post-split pick me up shopping spree. She splurged on nearly $15,000 worth of sexy lingerie and undergarments alone. “She also bought 15 pairs of pricey Christian Louboutin shoes and went on a tear at Barneys New York department store, buying a closet’s worth of clingy cocktail dresses and power suits to wear to auditions and meetings.” Katie - who has a six-year-old daughter, Suri, with Tom - is also said to have been consulting with various “life coaches” to get a new direction to go with her new look. The source added: “She wants to show the world who she really is - a beautiful, confident and talented woman balancing single motherhood and a thriving career. “Now she’s ready to roar, she’s interviewing life coaches to help deprogram all the crap Tom filled her head with. “Katie is willing to shell out whatever it takes to reclaim her fabulous looks and personality and relaunch her career.”

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37

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

LIFESTYLE M u s i c

&

M o v i e s

The changing pace of television news

By Nart Bouran unisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation sparked shockwaves that continue to reverberate across the Arab world and beyond.

Bouazizi’s act of protest not only marked the beginning of profound political and social change throughout the Middle East; it also revolutionized how news is reported and consumed across the region.

A lasting legacy of the Arab uprisings is the rise of citizen journalism - the use by the general public of mobile devices and harnessing the power of social networks to rapidly capture and report on events as they unfold.

The easy accessibility of tools and devices that enable anyone, anywhere to produce an immediate, first hand, eyewitness account of events has caused news organizations everywhere to reappraise the term ‘breaking news’. Nowhere was this change more visible than in the uprisings that erupted in the Arab world in the spring of 2011,

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with demonstrations in some countries erupting so quickly that journalists were unable to get in fast enough to cover the birth of the protests leaving citizens as the only witnesses of events.

While print media have reacted to the change by providing richer, deeper commentary and analysis, and developing a two way dialogue with their online readers, broadcasters have had to rethink their approach to better interact with their audience.

It’s no longer good enough for media companies to have the largest news gathering resources and the best journalists; it’s now essential for them to embrace technology and deliver news to their audience via social media as well as through multi-media platforms.

Technology has irrevocably changed journalism, especially the reporting of breaking news. News organizations now incorporate social media networks into the heart of their newsgathering to source material and capture eyewitness reports, whilst at the same time having to remain vigilant about verifying the authenticity of that material before putting it on air.

Social networks provide a platform to engage with audiences and to get a sense of differing opinions on key issues, while also providing a

Cameron Crowe moving forward with ‘Beautiful Boy’ eautiful Boy,” a long-gestating film adaptation of David Sheff’s New York Times best-seller “Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction,” is moving forward, an individual close to the project told TheWrap. Crowe is looking to direct the film after he completes an untitled romantic comedy set up last month at Sony.

Crowe’s script is a “meditation” on both “Beautiful Boy” and the related memoir written by Sheff’s son, Nic Sheff, about his own experience on drugs, “Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.” Paramount optioned the rights to both books in 2008, the year they were published, and had first considered Steven Zaillian to write the script for producer Plan B Plan B is now producing with New Regency. Paramount is no longer involved.

“Beautiful Boy” refers to the song John Lennon wrote for his son Sean in 1980. David Sheff was inspired to have his own family after conducting the last major interview with Lennon before he was assassinated in New York in 1980.

Crowe also has been asked to work on an adaptation of Michael Chabon’s novel “Telegraph Avenue” for HBO, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap. The novel is set in Berkeley and takes place during the Bush/Kelly elections. Last month, TheWrap reported that Sony had acquired Crowe’s untitled romantic comedy, with Emma Stone attached to play the lead. Crowe is planning to shoot the film in Hawaii and is looking for a male lead. Scott Rudin is producing.

“Beautiful Boy” and “Tweak” were published by Houghton Mifflin Co. “Beautiful Boy” chronicles Nic Sheff’s descent into methamphetamine abuse as a teenager from the perspective of his father. Crowe last directed 2011’s “We Bought a Zoo.” The “Almost Famous” filmmaker co-wrote “Zoo” with “Devil Wears Prada” writer Aline Brosh McKenna. —Reuters

scious that our target audience - especially the youth of Arabia who are enjoying a new found voice of expression - are not only consuming news differently and across a multitude of platforms, but is also actively participating and commenting on it.

This is why at Sky News Arabia we have focused on building an integrated newsroom staffed by the best multimedia journalists from the Arab world. Our XX reporters, correspondents and editors are professionals trained to meet the changing needs of the audience.

We are committed to producing independent, 24 hour rolling news across the multiple formats that our audience expects.

We are excited by the launch of Sky News Arabia and we look forward to delivering the news the public wants, in the format it wants, whenever and wherever it wants.

Nart Bouran platform for news output, driving younger audiences to the website and mobile app in addition to the TV channel.

As a result, the weight of responsibility on television news journalists has never been greater. Reporters have to be faster with breaking news and sharper in their reporting from a much wider range of sources, while editors must find the balance between - speed, accuracy

and guaranteeing impartiality in accordance with ethical journalistic conduct.

It is in this rapidly changing environment that Sky News Arabia launched across the Arab World on the 6th May 2012.

Our tackling of the news will be different. We are con-

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In this May 22, 2012 file photo, hip-hop artist Usher Raymond takes the witness stand in court in a legal battle with his ex-wife in a custody fight involving their two sons, in Atlanta. —AP

R&B singer Usher wins primary custody of sons rammy-winning R&B singer Usher on Friday was awarded primary physical custody of his two sons, ending a long legal fight with his ex-wife. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane ruled that the singer, 33, will have primary custody of 4-year-old Usher Raymond V and 3-year-old Naviyd Ely Raymond, according to Cherrise Boone, spokeswoman for the court clerk’s office. His custody will start Sept 1.

Boone said Usher and his ex-wife Tameka Foster Raymond will have joint legal custody. The type of visitation hasn’t been determined yet for Tameka Raymond.

Usher’s lawyer, Ivory Brown, did not immediately return a call on Friday. Lisa West, a lawyer for Tameka Raymond, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Usher, whose real name is Usher Raymond IV, married Tameka Raymond in 2007. They divorced two years later.

He said the couple had been separated since July 2008 and claimed there was “no reasonable hope of reconciliation” and the marriage was “irretrievably broken.”

In May, Usher testified that Tameka Raymond spit at and tried to fight with his girlfriend during one visit and that his ex-wife hit him during the dispute. He said he didn’t press charges because: “I didn’t want the boys to know that their father put their mother in jail,” he said. Tameka Raymond’s attorney claimed that Usher provoked her client and that his account is exaggerated. The custody decision comes after Tameka Raymond’s 11-year-old son Kile Glover died last month after he was critically injured in a boating accident. The boy was run over July 6 by a personal watercraft on Lake Lanier northeast of Atlanta, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. —AP

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Olavi Uusivirta from Finland performs during the 2012 Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu on August 24, 2012. —AFP Photos

Brian Molko, singer of the British band Placebo performs on stage during the Rock-en-Seine music festival, in Saint-Cloud, near Paris.

Syria arrests filmmaker, actor who helped crackdown victims ecurity forces in Syria have arrested a filmmaker and an actor who helped people made homeless or jobless by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, their friends said on Friday, and part of an apparent crackdown on the country’s secular intelligentsia. Arwa Nairabiya - who founded the “Damascus Dox Box” documentary film festival - was arrested at Damascus airport on Thursday evening before boarding a plane to Cairo, fellow filmmakers and relatives said.

Secret police agents also raided the home of Mohammad Omar Oso, an actor who had starred in several popular television series, and took him to an unknown destination, the Damascus Media Centre activists’ group said in a statement. Thirty-five year-old Nairabiya was part of a new generation of Syrian filmmakers who had defied a state ban on independent film production even before the revolt against Assad began 17 months ago.

“It seems it is a crime to establish an independent cinema movement in Syria,” said fellow Syrian director Ahmad Malas, in a video statement recorded at an undisclosed location outside Syria. “We call for freedom for Arwa Nairabiya, actor, producer and graduate of the Syrian Higher Cinema Institute who is always smiling.”

One of Nairabiya’s friends, speaking from Damascus on condition of anonymity, said he feared for his safety. “We pray that Arwa gets off lightly. The regime has been brutal

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toward Syria’s intellectuals,” the friend said. The Syrian state has a Soviet-like monopoly on cinema and television production. The establishment shunned Oso, who is also in his 30s, when he refused to join the state-controlled actors’ guild and sign statements declaring support for Assad at the start of the revolt, his friends said.

Nairabiya has championed the cause of human rights and freedom of expression in the face of state attempts to control culture through institutions that monopolize teaching of art, film and dance to support the personality cult of Assad.

Artistic expression repressed Syrian security forces, who have arrested tens of thousands of people since the uprising began, do not comment on detentions, which human rights groups say are arbitrary. Assad has claimed to have introduced what he regards as far-reaching political reforms in response to prodemocracy street demonstrations, yet strict state restrictions on freedom of speech and artistic expression have remained in place.

Three months ago, Assad’s forces shot dead Bassel Shehadeh, another young filmmaker who had abandoned a Fulbright scholarship in the United States to document a military crackdown on the central city of Homs. In another incident, authorities blamed “treacherous hands” for the

killing earlier this month of director Bassem Mohiedine in a Damascus suburb rocked by clashes between the military and rebels. No one has claimed responsibility for his death.

In a third case, the relatives of sculptor Wael Qastoum said he died last month after being tortured in a Damascus prison. Qastoum, a Christian from Homs, had spoken out against state repression, said a relative who asked not to be named. Other leading cultural figures have been badly beaten. Secret police agents last year assaulted Ali Farzat, the country’s best known cartoonist, and broke both of his hands.

Witnesses said pro-Assad militiamen, known as shabbiha (ghosts) beat novelist Khaled Khalifa earlier this year after he attended a funeral for Rabih Ghaza, an activist who was found shot and stuffed in the trunk of his car near a security branch in Damascus. Many of the new generation of filmmakers have been inspired by French-educated Syrian director Omar Amiralay, who made international award-winning films that chronicled what he regarded as Syria’s demise under the Assad family’s rule.

Amiralay died of natural causes at age 66 one month before the uprising broke out; having famously warned Assad that Syria “is marching steadfastly on its hooves to its own demise, after being betrayed by its rulers.” —Reuters

Philly gets ready to host Jay-Z’s music megashow he city where America was made is gearing up for rapper Jay-Z’s “Made In America” music festival, which officials estimate will attract 100,000 fans to Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend.

Construction of stages and tents began this week at the somewhat unusual venue, a tree-lined boulevard in the heart of downtown. It’s the first show on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to require paid admission.

Rock stalwarts Pearl Jam are co-headliners of the two-day event.

Officials said there should be no problem handling the crowd considering the city’s long tradition of staging much larger concerts at the same location. “Every year, we have detailed plans for public safety, street access, trash removal and we successfully accommodate 400,000 to 500,000 visitors on the 4th of July,” Mayor Michael Nutter said in a statement.

For those who can’t make the festival on either Sept 1 or 2 don’t worry - filmmaker Ron Howard will be directing a movie about the show. Overall, city officials expect 50,000 paying fans each day for the bill curated by Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. Musicians include Skrillex, Drake, Afrojack, Chris Cornell, Run-DMC and hometown favorite Jill Scott time Concerts will run from 2-11 pm on three stages, one of which will be near the Museum of Art steps made famous in the film “Rocky.” “Thirty amazing acts are coming together to perform at one of Philadelphia’s most iconic sites,” Geoff Gordon, regional president for concert pro-

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moter Live Nation, said in a statement Friday.

Gary and Kristin Camp of Wilmington, Del, were enticed by the lineup and bought a pair of two-day passes. Though they have

Organizers say the blocks-long site will be enclosed by 8-foot-high double-fencing patrolled by security. Material woven into the chain-link barrier is designed to keep non-paying spectators from seeing

File photo, entertainer Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter smiles in between interviews, after a news conference at Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia.—AP some questions about logistics and transportation, Gary Camp said they’re prepared for a couple of long days and are looking forward to the show - especially Pearl Jam. “I think it’s going to be an exciting event in a unique setting,” Camp said.

the show.

It’s a big change from previous parkway music events, which have been free. That includes annual Independence Day shows featuring performers like Sheryl Crow and The Roots, as well as the Live 8 concert for

African poverty relief in 2005 and a Bruce Springsteen set in 2008. As of Friday, twoday passes for “Made In America” cost $135 each, while a one-day ticket was $75. VIP passes, and travel packages with hotel rooms, ranged from $350 to nearly $2,200.

Prices could go up closer to the concert date.

Mark Nevins, who lives in the nearby Fairmount neighborhood, is interested in seeing Pearl Jam. But he said sitting through an hours long festival for one band seemed like a lot of time and effort. “I’m hoping I can hear it from my house, or maybe head down toward the parkway and listen in from the outside,” Nevins said.

It certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see people trying to catch a few free tunes from outside the perimeter. But officials stress that fence-climbers will be prosecuted. Also, Hollywood producers Howard and Brian Grazer (“A Beautiful Mind,” “The Da Vinci Code”) have signed on to make a film about the festival. The pair’s 2007 movie “American Gangster,” about a notorious Harlem drug lord, inspired Jay-Z’s album by the same name. “Made In America” is sponsored by Budweiser and will be held rain or shine. It benefits United Way organizations in greater Philadelphia and southern New Jersey; Lancaster, Pa, and New York City. —AP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Matt ‘Airistotle’ Burns of USA performs.

US air guitarist crowned world champion in Finland

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merican Justin Howard, alias Nordic Thunder, was crowned world champion air guitar player late on Friday in the northern Finnish city of Oulu, narrowly ahead of his compatriot Matt Burns, or Airistotle.

Howard, looking like a Viking warrior in his leather tunic, gave an energetic performance that including sliding across the stage bare legged, and won the title with a score of 34.6 points, just ahead of Burns who got 34.4 points.

“I feel amazing, I feel loved, I feel like crying and laughing and hugging,” said Howard after winning both the title and the prize of a handmade electric guitar. Howard was US champion air guitarist last year, and took silver in the 2011 world championship. The air guitar world championships have been played in Oulu since 1996. — Reuters

Justin ‘Nordic Thunder’ Howard from the USA holds up the first prize guitar hand-made by Matti Nevalainen after winning.

Justin ‘Nordic Thunder’ Howard performs.

Theun ‘Tremelo Theun’ de Jong of Netherland performs.

Matt ‘Airistotle’ Burns of USA performs.

‘Essential’ film copyright protection turns 100 I

n the crisp 39-degree Fahrenheit (4degree Celsius) air of a converted bunker in rural Virginia lies the US’s greatest collection of early film.

Stacked in metal tins on shelves in 124 concrete vaults that stretch almost eight-feet (2.5- meters) high, movies that wowed audiences decades ago are meticulously stored so that one day, they may play again.

The vaults at the Library of Congress’ Pack ard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia, represent decades of work by copyright officials to not only protect the rights of filmmakers, but also preserve their movies for future generations. The collection is in many ways the culmination of work that began 100 years ago Friday, when US -made movies earned their own copyright designation and transformed from a fledgling industry into a global economic and cultural juggernaut.

“Copyright was very essential from the very beginning of the industry,” said Patrick Loughney, chief of the Packard campus, a former Federal Reser ve bunker 90 minutes west of Washington, DC, that has been converted into a state-of-the-art archive. It is a dual safehaven, intended to protect both the film’s creators and, in the process, establish a collection that outlasts a film’s box-office haul. “It’s basically been a Noah’s Ark effort to save the creative history of the United States,” he said.

Congress carved out a film copyright designation on Aug 24, 1912, and within weeks, filmmakers were registering their dramas, documentaries and comedies. The first was “Black Sheep’s Wool,” a melodrama about the troubles of European nobility who came to North America. It, like many films of its age, is lost. But the Packard Campus does have the only known copy of the fourth film registered, a 1912 version of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” created by Thomas Edison’s film company.

Fragments of another of the first five films registered remain in another archive run by New York’s Museum of

Modern Art, he said, but the rest are currently considered lost. Although more than 5,600 earlier films had received copyright protection, Loughney and others say creating a film category reflected its growing influence and the desire to see it protected. “It certainly adds legitimacy to a medium if it’s recognized and has its own category,” said Michael O’Leary, a senior vice president of global affairs

cases, hacking studio servers to get access to new releases. Federal authorities have prosecuted or shut down websites suspected of copyright infringement.

For Loughney, the priority is ensuring that films and other works housed at the Packard Campus remain available for future generations to enjoy.

That is why the staff maintains copies and the equipment to play them - of

This undated publicity photo released by the Library of Congress shows Datacine Operator Patrick Kennedy working in the Film Lab at the Library of Congress Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center located in Culpeper, Virginia. — AP

Photo shows Digital Film Preservation Specialist, John Carter, working on a film in the Digital Restoration Lab. for the Motion Picture Association of America.

For early filmmakers, “It gave them a little bit of a protection, a little bit of security. They were probably on a little more tenuous ground than we are today,” he said. Early films faced a familiar concern for modern studios - piracy.

“America was a hotbed for that activity, certainly for film,” Loughney said. Early filmmakers often resorted to putting their logos on the backdrops of their sets to discourage piracy, Loughney said. He’s seen prints where an infringing movie house had actually scratched out the logos from each frame. Today, movie pirates sell cheap DVDs of films that are still in theaters and in some

bygone film technologies such as tapes and reels. Eventually many of the works may be digitized, but the facility houses the only known copies of many works.

“Our mission is to keep it forever,” Loughney said. “When we say forever, we have to mean it.” Only a fraction of the works produced between 1912 and 1930 survive, in part because they were produced on nitrate film, which is so flammable, the Library of Congress wouldn’t accept copies of the films until around 1940.

Instead, a copyright agent would review a reel of the film when it was brought to Washington, but it would not be kept. The nitrate vaults at Packard are just one element of its

Patrick Loughney, chief of the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, reviewing films to be preserved. preservation efforts. Today, copies of all registered films are filed with the Copyright Office and kept for posterity

and in case a lawsuit is filed. Films of all kinds - from blockbusters to B-movies to porn films - flow into the facility in formats ranging from traditional film reels to special hard drives. It costs $35 to register a movie online and $65 on paper, no matter what the film’s budget. Packard also preserves copyrighted music and other recordings, and newer creations such as video games.

“Copyright is more important than ever,” Loughney said. “It has a practical function. The physical depositing or registering of material creates a national archive that can live on for future generations,” he said. Indeed, many of the early films registered under the movie designation offer a peek into audience preferences, with fewer superheroes but not that dissimilar from today. They included dramas focusing on nobility, adventure and war stories, and comedies. “I think the average American never thinks of copyright,” he said. “It has served an important function in the past and should serve an important function in the future.” — AP

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

lifestyle T R A V E L

On the dark side, tourists haunt Peru’s oldest cemetery

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t was cold and dark, and people clutching lanterns in the moonlight gave a spooky cast to Peru’s oldest cemetery, now Lima’s oddball hit with locals and tourists. “It is scary. But we’re into it,” said a teenage girl clinging to her boyfriend as they walked through darkness and silence interrupted only by visitors’ footsteps.

Each group has a guide who entertains visitors with tales about those buried at the Presbitero Matias Maestro Museum-Cemetery, a Peruvian national historical monument.

Night tours are scheduled with different themes for different crowds: one focuses on love; another on patriotic fervor; still others on presidents; and inevitably one focuses on death itself. “What really brings in the most people is

the tour focused on death, in November, and another on love, in February,” says historian Jose Bocanegra, who has the historical details at the ready. Some visitors are so apprehensive about being in a cemetery that they tiptoe around expecting something worthy of a horror movie.

When tours started a decade ago they were limited to no more than 40 people; but they have become so popular that groups are now as large as 350 people, mainly young people and tourists, Bocanegra said. One of the most popular tombs for local visitors is Peruvian poet Jose Santos Chocano, who asked to be buried standing, in a one square meter space.

“So his coffin was placed in the niche verti-

A couple pretend to be a mirror image of each other in Jane Gilling’s sculpture, Provenance (a gift frame) at Sculptures By The Sea in Sydney, Australia. — AP photos

cally. And on his tombstone, there are lines from his poem ‘Shipwrecked Life,’” Bocanegra said. “This square meter that I have looked for on Earth will be mine, if a bit late. Dead, in the end, I shall have it. ... I only expect now a square meter, where one day they’ll have to bury me, standing,” the poem reads. It is a cemetery, and it is dark, to be sure.

But there is enough light for visitors to stop and get a look at Carrara marble sculptures like the “La Dama de la Mantilla” (Lady in a mantilla) and “El baston de Hermes” (Hermes’ staff ).

Bronze works such as “A mother weeping at her son’s tomb” and “A cry of pain” also are on display, steeped in the mood of the location, adorning mausoleums that are often caked in

mud and apparently forgotten. The cemetery, tucked into a corner of Lima’s Barrios Altos district, was named for its designer, the priest Matias Maestro, who also was buried there.

Opened in 1808 by Viceroy Fernando Abascal during Spanish colonial rule, the facility is a sort of history of Peru in tombs and crypts.

Decorated with a staggering 940 sculpturessome of them from as far away as Italy, by sculptors like Santo Varni, Pietro Costa, Ulderico Tenderini, and Rinaldo Rinaldi, or France’s Louis-Ernest Barrias and Antonin Mercie. The success of the tours is a blessing for the facility, providing a source of funding to care for tombs and sculptures that have themselves often seemed on their last legs. — AFP

People run up and down stairs in a park adjacent to the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge in Sydney.

5 free things for tourists to do in Sydney A

hh, Sydney. The stunning sand and surf. The weird and wonderful wildlife. The positively eye-popping prices. With Sydney consistently ranked among the most expensive cities in the world, and the Australian dollar at nearrecord highs, overseas tourists on a budget might find themselves sweating even more than usual under the blistering Aussie sun.

But no worries, cash-strapped travelers: There are plenty of fabulous things to do in Sydney for free.

Waterside hikes From the turquoise waves lapping the coastline to the sparkling harbor, much of Sydney’s beauty comes from the glittering water surrounding it. Drink in the views with a hike along the city’s waterside pathways.

The 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) clifftop coastal walk between Bondi and Coogee beaches passes parks, sandy coves and an eerily beautiful cemetery overlooking the ocean.

Every November, the popular Sculpture by the Sea exhibition features large art installations placed along the path and beaches, providing a free seaside art show.

One of the best harbor hikes is the 10kilometer (6.2-mile) Spit to Manly track (yes, we know it sounds funny. Just trust us.) Start at Spit Bridge, reachable by city bus, and follow the path through lush rainforest, powdery beaches, and up rocky outcrops offering panoramic views of the harbor. Stop in one of the quiet coves for a swim, and watch for the tiny fairy penguins that live here. The hike takes three to four hours and ends in the beachside suburb of Manly.

mined to climb higher, you can scale one of the bridge’s concrete-and-granite pylons for a mere $15. You’ll get a nearly identical view as the BridgeClimb patrons and will actually have money left over for dinner at one of the city’s lovely harbor side restaurants.

Beaches Sydney’s beaches are world-famous for a reason. The golden sand is soft, the jeweltoned water is generally warm, and surfers can almost always find a good break somewhere. Bondi is the best-known beach, attracting surfers, sunbathers and more than a few local eccentrics (people-watching here is highly entertaining). Just heed the lifeguards’ warnings, or you may find yourself featured on the popular Aussie reality show “Bondi Rescue” alongside other hapless swimmers caught in rips, stung by jellyfish or bonked in the head by surfboards. South of Bondi is the smaller, more

Royal botanic gardens This 75-acre sanctuary fringing Sydney harbor features lush tropical greenery and rainbows of flowers, ponds and water fountains, exotic birds and creepy-cute flying foxes - also known as fruit bats. Free guided walks are offered every morning at 10:30, departing from the information counter at Palm Grove Centre in the heart of the gardens. At the edge of the gardens is a peninsula known as Mrs. Macquarie’s Point, which offers the quintessential view of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge behind it.

Fragrant flowers line the pathways of the Royal Botanic Gardens where visitors enjoy its flora and fauna. despite Sydney’s east coast location.

Visitors amble through the Art Gallery of New South Wales. laid-back Bronte. Like many Sydney beaches, it features a saltwater pool for wavewary swimmers. To the north are the surfing beaches of Dee Why, Curl Curl and the pine tree-lined Manly. A short walk from Manly is Shelly Beach, a calm bay perfect for kids and snorkelers. Bonus: Because of its westfacing position, Shelly offers a sunset view,

People gather on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Harbor Bridge While it may be tempting to join the parade of jumpsuit-clad tourists climbing the Harbor Bridge, the sky-high prices (between $200 and $300 - per person) could send you plummeting back to reality. The good news: You can still enjoy the bridge’s breathtaking views of the city skyline, Opera House and harbor for free. A walkway along the bridge allows pedestrians to wander between the north and south sides of the city in about 30 minutes. If you’re deter-

NC mountain home earns reputation as luxury spa

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n Travel + Leisure’s most recent World’s Best Awards list for top destination spas, you’d expect to find familiar brand names like Canyon Ranch. But the No2 spot on this coveted lineup might surprise you: Westglow Resort & Spa, located in Blowing Rock, NC, 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Asheville and 200 miles (321 kilometers) from Raleigh.

Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, Westglow was built in 1916 by American artist and writer Elliott Daingerfield. The Greek Revival home, ringed on all sides by the Blue Ridge Mountains, is named “Westglow” because of the incredible views. Daingerfield described them as “never glaring, always glowing throughout the shadows, clouds or mist.”

After a tricky drive careening around mountain curves, a hairpin turn into a formal driveway opens up to a stately mansion and ridge-upon-ridge views as Daingerfield’s description comes to brilliant life. Guests lounge on the west portico sipping wine and

watching the sun set behind the grandeur of Grandfather Mountain. You feel suddenly cocooned and set apart from the rest of the world. Westglow remained in the Daingerfield family until 1978, when fitness devotee Glynda Valentine bought the residence and turned it into a spa. In 2005, Bonnie and Jamie Schaefer purchased the 20-acre estate, and in 2006 it first appeared on Travel + Leisure’s destination spas list, coming in at No 15. In 2009, Westglow joined Relais & Chateaux, an elite association of luxury hotels and restaurants.

The Schaefers expanded the resort beyond the manor house, adding more lodging at Cedar Lodge, a rustic triplex across the road, as well as a Life Enrichment Center with spa facilities and exercise rooms.

Westglow offers plenty of opportunities for both relaxation and fitness and outdoor activities. There are guided hikes on nearby mountain trails (led in the morning by Valentine), a lap pool, tennis court, exercise classes and gym with weight-training and

cardio equipment. Spa fitness packages include weight-loss programs and wellness services like stress counseling. Hiking, biking and luxury camping are available, too, along with activities arranged through local outfitters such as canoeing, kayaking, fly fishing, golfing, horseback riding, rock climbing and whitewater rafting. Private personal trainers as well as Pilates and tennis instructors are also at hand.

But if your idea of a spa vacation involves more lounging than lunging, floor-to-ceiling windows in the Life Enrichment Center invite contemplation of Blue Ridge Mountain vistas from a padded chaise longue, swaddled in a soft white robe, hibiscus iced tea on one side and a bevy of magazines on the other. The 3to-1 staff- to-guest ratio means that glass of tea is always full. Spa treatments include seaweed and mud wraps, facials, massages, hot stone therapy, reflexology and aromatherapy. The full-service salon offers hair care, manicures, pedicures and waxing. After a calming massage, you can dip in one of two

Art gallery of new South Wales and national maritime museum If you need a break from the sun, head indoors to these museums, both of which offer free admission. Next to the Royal Botanic Gardens is the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which features a collection of Australian, Asian and European art and free guided tours. The National Maritime Museum is located at Darling Harbor, a stretch of waterfront restaurants, bars and shops. Afterward, take a stroll along the promenade, which always features a few street performers. There are frequent fireworks displays throughout the year, and nearly every Saturday night in the Australian summer. — AP

This undated photo provided by Westglow Resort & Spa shows an aerial view of the historic Greek Revival mansion, built in 1916, that serves as the main manor house for Westglow.

This undated image provided by Westglow Resort & Spa shows the relaxation lounge of the resort’s Life Enrichment Center. — AP photos

whirlpools and enjoy a meal at the poolside cafe.

For dinner, Westglow’s restaurant, Rowland’s (named for Bonnie’s father) has two menus. One is called the “indulgent menu” with locally sourced vegetables, cheeses and meat entrees like beef tenderloin, pork chop and lamb loin. The specialty is miso-marinated sea bass over rice. Desserts range from homey and satisfying - strawberry-and-cream ice box pie and sumac pound cake - to the over-the-top “Chocolate Earth.” The spa menu is a scaled-down version of the indulgent menu, except the only dessert is a berry crisp.

—AP

R&B singer Usher wins primary custody of sons

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2012

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Royal de Luxe street theatre actors perform in their western play ‘Street of the Fall’ (Rue de la Chute) in Aurillac, central France, on August 23, 2012, during the 27th edition of the Aurillac street theatre festival. — AFP

Fast facials, the ‘spa-rty’ and other spa trends P

arties at the spa, treatments for stressed and time-pressed consumers, cross-cultural traditions, and a whole lot of purple - from lavenderscented treatments to mauve nail polish are some of the trends and services that were shown off at the annual International Spa Association meeting held Aug 16 in New York. Here are some details: SPA-RTY: Rejuvenation at the spa need not be a solitary pursuit. “A trend we’ve been seeing is private events called ‘spartys’ getting booked in the spa space - for weddings, corporate events, etc.” said Lauren Clifford, a spokeswoman for the Regent Palms Turks and Caicos, which has a 26,000-square-foot (2,415-square-meter) indoor-outdoor facility at the Caribbean island resort.

Aspira Spa, located at The Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, is also seeing gatherings of friends, colleagues, sorority sisters and even multi-generational families for group events at the spa, says general manager Lola Roeh. Roeh’s recently married daughter Shannan “didn’t do a traditional shower, but had a spa shower instead.

Guests had a spa service, then gathered back for lunch, then had another service and got together in the whirlpool to relax.”

Cross-cultural: Massage aficionados may be familiar with Thai massage techniques in which practitioners walk on their clients’ backs. Miraval, a spa located in Tucson, Arizona, turned heads at the spa meeting with a demonstration of a form of Thai massage called Naga ($215, 50 minutes) in which therapist Peter Bird was suspended above his client, holding on to white silk ropes wrapped around his arms.

He varied the pressure of his feet and legs on the client’s muscles by using the ropes for balance and to move up and down.

“A lot of people think they’re going to be sore afterwards but they’re not, because the pressure is deep but soft, not sharp,” said Bird, who studied the technique in Thailand and says holding the ropes makes it easy for him to balance his weight.

Kohler Waters Spa, based in Kohler, Wisconsin, is introducing a ritual inspired by Middle Eastern hammams in which guests are robed in traditional Turkish towels called pestemals, bathed in warm water poured from a copper bowl, then scrubbed with an exfoliating mitt. “Kohler is known

Photo shows warm basalt rocks being used in Australia’s Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat presentation of ‘The Australian Spirit of Sound,’ in their booth.

for water and bathing products, so this is a service that’s ritualistic and water-based, offering quiet and relaxation,” said Linda Machtig, Kohler’s group marketing manager.

At Gwinganna, a retreat in Queensland, Australia, about an hour from Brisbane, Aboriginal influences are incorporated into a stress-reduction treatment that includes listening to didgeridoo music while the therapist shakes a rainstick and applies smooth, hot black basalt stones to the body. “We’re looking to switch off the stress responses,” said Gwinganna marketing manager Tracy Willis.

File photo shows a woman receiving a spa treatment by a representative of the Aspira Spa, at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, Wiisc, in the their booth at the International Spa Association event, in New York Pa.

Patrina McInnes using a rain stick, after applying basalt rocks, at Australia’s Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat presentation of ‘The Australian Spirit of Sound.’ — AP photos

Alexandra Ciasulli, right, demonstrates a Sugar Foot Scrub in the Massage Envy Spa booth.

The Lavender Parfait Hand Treatment,

by Kohler Waters Spa, in Kohler, Wisc, is demonstrated.

Nail polish by Deborah Lippman is applied in her Mini-Mani demonstration.

Marcus, but now she’s bringing her lacquers and treatments to spas at hotels like the Fontainebleau Miami and Trump, RitzCarlton and Four Seasons properties.

For the insomniac, Mohonk Mountain House’s “Solutions for Modern Living” services now include a treatment called “Attainable Sleep” that helps guests at the New Paltz, NewYork, spa re-learn how to fall asleep through relaxation, aromatherapy, a soak and massage ($185, 90 minutes).

Mohonk also sells aromatic oils and bath salts to help clients recreate the feeling at home.

Peter Bird, from the Miraval Resort and Spa, in Tucson, Ariz, demonstrating Naga Thai Massage at the International Spa Association event.

Stressed and time-pressed: In a hurry?

A new facial treatment called HydraFacial available in 2,000 spas across America offers five procedures in 15 minutes: exfoliation of dead skin, a gentle acid peel, porecleaning, hydration with antioxidants and application of moisturizers and sunscreen.

The treatment runs $135-$175 depending on location. “ There’s no downtime, and you get instant results,” said Alex Ignon, director of HydraFacial marketing. Brides-to-be can have the treatment a day before the wedding without worrying about a side effect of reddened skin.

Deborah Lippmann is a manicurist to the stars but says her quick-dry and waterproof nail polishes and treatments work for real women with busy schedules, whether they’re walking the red carpet or doing dishes. Lippmann is known for doing nails for celebs, designers, magazine covers and runways, and her high-end products ($18 to $20 for polishes) have long been available at retailers like Barneys and Neiman

Purple power: Purple is popular in spa services, as a color and as a concept.

Aspira is offering an “Indigo Journey” that includes a violet clay mask, massage with violet-infused oil, reflexology, lavender aromatherapy and “chromatherapy” (color therapy with purple tones), and an elderberry facial. Clients handle sparkling amethyst stones as part of the three-hour, $435 treatment, which also incorporates

Hindu beliefs in opening the center of intuition, or “third eye.”

Kohler Waters Spa is promoting a “lavender parfait” pedicure and manicure, while Massage Envy, a membership-based day spa in 800 locations, is offering a lavender foot scrub as a $10 add-on service to a massage, with hot towels to open pores and shea butter to moisturize. (Massage Envy clinics will also donate $10 from every massage and facial on Sept. 19 to the Arthritis Foundation.)

Lippmann says mauve is the nail color for fall. And she adds that dressing up purple polish with a little glitter, as she does with her “Let’s Go Crazy” line of lacquer, is not just for little girls; it’s a way for women of all ages to add sparkle to a look. She also says dark colors look just fine with the new trend of shorter nails.

The business: The International Spa Association’s annual look at the industry by the numbers found a slight uptick in 2011, with $13.4 billion in revenue and 156 million spa visits, a more than 4 percent increase from 2010, according to an analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers of information provided by 1,000 destination and day spas in the US. The number of full-time employees in the industry is up as well by 9 percent, though part-time and contract employees declined slightly, as did the number of spa locations.

“Everybody in the industry is slightly encouraged by seeing the return of some growth. The consumer is beginning to spend more money and looking ahead we’ve picked up a lot of confidence in the industry,” said Colin McIlheney, PwC global research director. — AP