6th Aug

CR IP TI ON BS SU

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

03:34 03:44 05:11 11:54 15:29 18:35 20:00

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150 FILS

Emsak: Fajer: Shoruk: Dohr: Asr: Maghreb: Eshaa:

Troops bombard Aleppo as Syrian astronaut defects

www.kuwaittimes.net

RAMADAN 18, 1433 AH

Are we alone?

NASA Mars rover aims to find out

Glorious triple-gold night for UK

Flash flood kills 34 in North India

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40 PAGES

NO: 15531

Opposition MPs issue stern warning to PM More than 20,000 ink opposition petition conspiracy theories

Humiliation for the nation

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

I

want to salute Kuwait’s parliament and its members. In the past couple of years they succeeded in demolishing any aspect of prosperity, growth and development instead of building our country. And on top of that they killed the feeling of confidence, security and trust in Kuwait.

Nobody wants to invest in Kuwait.

I am sad about the lagging development or the non-existent development. I always think that in the future we can continue the growth and build for the future generations.

This week my optimism went sub-zero. I talked to many young Kuwaiti men and women and I could sense the desperation in their voice and thoughts. The parliament did not kill only Kuwait.

They killed the souls and trust of young men and women. They killed the trust and confidence in our country.

Every young man or woman I asked about their plans for the future answered: “What plans? In Kuwait? No way.” Most of them try to find venues for development outside of Kuwait if they could. It sounded like for them Kuwait is a transit point for business. This is the scary part we are facing now.

It needs immediate solutions. Imagine you are living in your country and you cannot trust to invest in a long-term project because of the state of chaos between parliament, government, sectarianism and tribalism. It is clear now to all of us that we have sectarianism, tribalism and we don’t have strong decisions from the government. You just have to listen to the statements between MPs and how they are attacking each other. Thank God, most of you do not read the Arabic press and online publications. Trust me, you are not losing anything at all.

So, the gloomy picture is not invented by me.

This is based on my observation and discussions with people. That is what frightens me the most.

There is a scary feeling, guys! Many people have started losing confidence and feel insecure. The reality today reminds me of the black days or the first couple of months after the liberation. People had lost hope then. We are facing a more dangerous issue in Kuwait now. The government should wake up for that and try to fix it. They should take emergency measures to deal with this.

Is it possible that a small oil-rich country with a small population has a business environment that “sucks”. The country has reached a stalemate situation. How is this possible? I am not being just pessimistic here. I feel humiliated. What is going on in Kuwait is humiliation for the whole nation.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Cabinet ministers and lawmakers seen during the friendly match at the Yarmouk football Club Stadium on Saturday 4th August 2012. MPs beat the government 5-3. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Max 48º Min 36º High Tide 02:13 & 13:27 Low Tide 07:25 & 19:58

KUWAIT: As the number of people who signed the opposition petition has crossed 20,000, opposition MPs yesterday issued strong warnings to the prime minister over the possibility of referring the electoral law to the constitutional court. The warnings came after the opposition majority bloc held a meeting yesterday to review the situation amid conflicting reports on what the government is going to do regarding the electoral law.

MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun reiterated the opposition’s total rejection of amending the electoral law or referring it to the constitutional court and told Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah that if he cannot face the “forces of corruption” he should resign.

Saadoun insisted that the government should immediately dissolve the 2009 National Assembly and hold fresh elections on the basis of the existing electoral law and voting system.

He added that any change to the law must be debated by the next assembly in consultation with the government and then any future elections can be held on the basis of the new law. The government’s legal team meanwhile was supposed to have finalized its recommendations regarding the electoral law yesterday in prelude for a government decision on the issue at its meeting today.

A number of constitutional experts have insisted that the existing electoral law and voting system, introduced Continued on Page 13

Kuwait posts KD13.2 bn surplus KUWAIT: OPEC member Kuwait has posted record budget surplus and revenues in the 2011-2012 fiscal year that ended on March 31 on the back of high oil output and price, an economic report said yesterday. The oil-rich Gulf state posted a historical budget surplus of KD13.2 billion ($47 billion) for the 13th consecutive fiscal year, the AlShall Economic Consultants said in a report citing official figures. The previous highest surplus of KD9.33 billion ($33.2 billion) was posted in the 2007-2008 fiscal year when oil prices skyrocketted to a record $147 a barrel.

Kuwait had projected a deficit of $21 billion for 20112012 because it calculated oil income at $60 a barrel compared to the actual $110 a barrel and oil output at 2.2 million barrels per day compared to the actual production of 3.0 million bpd. Kuwait has projected a deficit in each of the past 13 fiscal years but ended in surplus mainly for calculating oil income at a very conservative price. During that period, the emirate has accumulated about $250 billion in budget surpluses and is also expected to end the current year in the black, if oil prices remain high.

Under Kuwaiti law, 10 percent of revenues are deducted every year in favor of the state’s sovereign wealth fund,

the assets of which are estimated at about $400 billion.

Returns on the fund are not included in the budget.

Revenues in the past fiscal year hit a record KD30.2 billion ($107.5 billion), Al-Shall reported, more than twice the budget projections of $47.7 billion. Last year’s income is 40.5 percent higher than the previous record of KD21.5 billion ($76.5 billion) posted in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Oil revenues also reached a record KD28.6 billion ($101.7 billion) making up 94.5 percent of total income and more than twice the budget projections. Spending was KD17.0 billion ($60.5 billion), down 12.5 percent on budget projections but a small five percent rise from the previous year. Kuwait has not yet issued its budget for the current fiscal year of 2012/2013 although it has started on April 1 due to a political dispute between the government and parliament. The Gulf state adopts a cradle-to-grave welfare policy where a majority of citizens are employed by the government, receive handsome salaries, pay no taxes and receive services at low charges or for free.

Kuwait, with a native population of 1.2 million in addition to 2.5 million foreigners, says it holds 10 percent of global crude reserves. — AFP

Ramadan Kareem

The shadows of blessed month

By Arshad Elaskar

M

uslims and people of other faiths have to praise and thank God for what He has granted them of blessed seasons, blessings and gifts. They ought to observe these seasons with due care by performing obligations and good deeds and by avoiding prohibitions and sinful acts. These times are but to obliterate sins, to increase good deeds and to lift people in ranks.

This is a month in which Allah (SWT) has made it obligatory upon Muslims to fast so that they might Continued on Page 13

GCC countries eye closer integration RIYADH: The foreign ministers of six Gulf Arab countries will meet in September to discuss a plan for closer integration of the mostly Sunni Muslim monarchies, Saudi Arabia’s English-language Arab News reported yesterday. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah proposed last December that the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, should move “to the stage of unity in a single entity” in response to uprisings in the Arab world and the perceived threat from Iran.

“The initiative to move to a Gulf union

will be discussed by the GCC foreign ministers when they convene next month,” said Abdulatif Al-Zayani, the group’s secretary general, in comments carried by Arab News. He added that a commission set up in December to investigate the plan had finished its work, which had been submitted to the countries’ foreign ministers. In the lead-up to a summit in May this year, some Gulf officials had said they expected an announcement at the meeting of some form of closer union, possibly involving only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Continued on Page 13

LONDON: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win gold in the men’s 100-meter final during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics yesterday. — AP (See Page 20)

in the

news

Tension pushing oil prices higher

Hijab judoka’s dad fumes over insults

7 killed at temple shooting

KUWAIT: A drop in Iranian production coupled with regional tensions were pushing oil prices higher, Kuwait Oil Minister, Hani Hussein, said in remarks published yesterday. “Iranian production has dropped which has contributed to raising prices,” Hussein was quoted as saying by Al-Watan newspaper. “Fears from regional tensions” and economic issues have also pushed prices higher, the Kuwaiti minister added. Global oil prices rebounded sharply on Friday after better-than-expected jobs data in the United States and ongoing tensions over key producer Iran. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for September, jumped $4.27 to $91.40 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in September soared $3.04 to $108.94 a barrel in London deals. Hussein said that despite geopolitical tensions, “oil supplies are going well and there is enough production to meet market demand which is a positive signal to the market.” Iranian oil production has dropped sharply following European and US sanctions on the Islamic republic over its nuclear program, according to OPEC. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday imposed new economic sanctions on Iran’s oil export sector and on a pair of Chinese and Iraqi banks accused of doing business with Tehran.

RIYADH: The father of the first ever Saudi female to compete at the Olympic Games has vowed to sue those who insulted his daughter for challenging strict traditions that prevented women from participating. The father of Wojdan Shaherkani, who stole the limelight at the London Olympics despite lasting only 82 seconds on the mat before being defeated, told Al-Sharq daily that he wrote to the interior minister with copies of insults made on the Twitter microblogging website. “I have sent an urgent letter to the Minister of Interior Prince Ahmed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz with copies of all attacks made on Twitter,” said Ali Seraj Shaherkani. A lawyer has been hired to sue those who attacked his daughter, he said. The judo international referee said he had no problem with those who criticized the performance of his teenage daughter, who despite being swiftly beaten by Puerto Rico’s Melissa Mojica left the stadium to a standing ovation. It is the first time the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom sends women to the Olympics, and Shaherkani was almost kept out after the international federation for judo said she could not wear the Islamic hijab head cover. The 16-year-old judoist eventually took part wearing a swimming cap to cover her hair, but that still did not impress Saudi conservatives who oppose relaxing constraints on women.

CHICAGO: At least seven people were shot dead, including a suspected gunman, during a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, local police said. Greenfield police Chief Brad Wentlandt said authorities do not believe a second shooter is hiding inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek outside Milwaukee, contrary to some media reports. “At this time, we have not identified any additional gunmen,” Wentlandt told reporters, stressing that the situation was “extremely fluid” and that law enforcement agents were still in the process of securing the scene and accounting for all the victims and witnesses. Four people were killed inside the temple and three others outside. Wentlandt said earlier that one suspect had been “put down” outside the temple after shooting a police officer. “An officer arrived on the scene, engaged the shooter and was shot multiple times,” Wentlandt told reporters. “That shooter was put down.” He said the officer was being treated at a local hospital and was expected to survive. Three adult men in critical condition were being treated at Froedtert Hospital, a spokeswoman said. “We’ve heard the scene is still unfolding, so we’re prepared for more” victims, the hospital’s chief medical officer Lee Biblo told CNN.

LONDON: Saudi Arabia’s Wojdan Shaherkani (left) and Puerto Rico’s Melissa Mojica compete during the women’s 78-kg judo competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. — AP

local

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Hill+Knowlton Strategies hosts local media at Ramadan night

KUWAIT: Hill + Knowlton Strategies, the leading international communications consultancy, hosted Kuwait’s local media at a special Ramadan night at the JW Marriott Hotel, Salhiya Hall, on 2 August. The firm created the event as a way of thanking its media partners and expressing the company’s gratitude for their continuous support.

The delightful Ramadan ghabqa took place in the midst of a friendly and amusing ambiance, entertaining the company’s guests with an oriental themed set up, music, traditional buffet spread, and most importantly, oriental hospitality. Ciaran Baker, General Manager at Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Kuwait, welcomed the media saying, “This special Ramadan night has been organized to show our appreciation and thanks to our media partners for their consistent and ongoing assistance, and to acknowledge the important role the media plays in the company’s operations.”

Baker expressed his confidence in the strength of this partnership, and his certainty that it will only continue to flourish in the future. He also affirmed the importance of maintaining strong relations with the media as a central part of the company’s business strategy and service priorities.

KUWAIT: Ahmad Yousuf Al-Mailem and Brothers hosted an Iftar party last Thursday at Al-Mailem diwan in Adaliya. A large number of dignitaries, friends and relatives attended the event. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

local

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

KUWAIT: The Swiss Bel hotel invited representatives of media and press outlets to a ghabqa hosted recently on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Cardamom panna cotta

ar and lemon. Place contents in vacuum bag. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Saffron tuile •1000 grams icing sugar •1000 milliliter flour •1000 milliliter egg white •2 grams saffron Knead all ingredients until a smooth, consistent paste is obtained. Make a thin crust, bake in the oven for five minutes at 180 degrees.

Serving guidelines On the panna cotta, place the pears, ice cream and tuile, decorate with fresh mint.

Thai Shrimps Egg Noodles

By Missoni hotel Cardamom panna cotta, orange and saffron ice cream For cardamom panna cotta • 980 grams cream • 80 grams sugar • 10 grams cardamom • 2 tablespoon gelatin Mix the cream, sugar and cardamom and boil until it thickens. Remove from fire, let it cool and add gelatin. Strain and pour into a glass. Refrigerate.

For orange and saffron ice cream • 485 grams orange juice • 300 grams sugar • 150 grams inverted sugar syrup •750 grams water • 2 grams saffron Boil saffron in water, after add orange juice and sugar mixture, mix and freeze at a temperature of minus 20 degrees for 24 hours.

For pears under pressure •300 grams Pear Williams •50 grams sugar •25 grams. lemon juice •1 vacuum bag Peel the pears and cut brunoise, mix with the sug-

INGREDIENTS • Shrimps 150gm • Eggs 2 piece • Noodles 2pkt • Soy Sauce 3 ml • Oyster Sauce 3ml • Sesame oil 2ml • Garlic 2gm • Ginger 2gm • Onion 10gm • Spring Onion 5gm • Capsicum green, yellow, red 10gm • Cabbage 10gm • Salt 2gm • Black Pepper powder 2gm PREPARATION Cut all the vegetable Julian style. Saute garlic and ginger. Add all the vegetable and peeled shrimps with boiled noodles for 10 minutes.

While cooking add soya sauce and oyster sauce with sesame oil.

Garnish the top of the Thai shrimps egg noodles with chopped spring onion with egg {Omelet slice}.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

LOCAL kuwait digest

kuwait digest

Opposition of voice

Kuwait’s Strait of Hormuz dilemma

By Mohammad Al-Mutairi

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah

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n late 2010, political parties in Egypt decided to boycott the second round of the parliamentary elections in protest against forgery, prompted by candidates of the government’s party taking an unearned lead in the first round.

The political parties urged the government at that point to restart the elections under supervision of international supervisors.

The government rejected these demands categorically, insisting that the elections had been fair, and indicating that independent supervisors violate the state’s sovereignty. This led the parties to boycott the second elections, and form the so-called ‘public parliament’ as a replacement.

The Kuwaiti people know for certain that the coalition of oppositionists in the 2012 parliament came to protect the public’s demand of protecting the constitution. In keeping with this same principle, the opposition today is rejecting the notion of changing the electoral system through urgent decrees made outside the parliament. The opposition’s demands also include an elected cabinet (whose prime minister doesn’t necessarily have to be from outside the ruling family), in addition to constitutional amendments that protect the parliament from repeated dissolutions.

We now stand at a crossroad, and can either protect our parliamentary institution from systematic destruction, or remain silent and watch the parliament turn into a new National Council (referring to the council formed in 1990 to replace the then suspended parliament).

The majority of Kuwaiti citizens realize that the opposition are honestly seeking to liberate the parliament from the government’s dominance, and are not seeking any political or financial gains. Perhaps this is the main reason why the opposition has been assured the public support they have. Even youth groups who call the opposition to adopt a comprehensive program of reform are at the same time supporting the opposition’s efforts to stop the tampering of the electoral system.

In my opinion, the opposition in Kuwait deserves to be called 100% nationalistic, as they never called for nor advocated the use of violence. Recently the civilized nature of mass demonstrations held in Iradah Square garnered international attention. We have an opposition that uses their voice, not their fists, to make their demands. —- Al-Qabas

T

kuwait digest

Our double standards

By Mohammed Al-Rashidi

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n an age when political activists have used social media to topple governments and political leaders are keen to have an account on Facebook or twitter, then why shouldn’t “Abu Khalid” have an online presence for dismantling and transporting furniture?

I called the number which Abu Khalil mentioned in his ad and claimed to be a client. In a short call of five minutes I discovered what the Government and Ministry of Interior seems dedicated to keep buried under the rug.

I discovered that for over 20 years “Abu Khalil” and his six laborers have bought their residency from Kuwaitis, formed bogus companies to sell residences for those who are interested, and dumped their excess furniture literally in the streets. Without any true certifications or degrees, Abu Khalil has founded companies dedicated to transporting furniture amongst other services. He owns a car, possesses a difficult to obtain driving

license, and nefariously operates numerous businesses.

This company, and hundreds like it, are running a profitable commercial business without the approval of the Ministry of Interior, yet no action is taken against them.

Let us suppose that there are 1000 persons who are running small business like Abu Khalil, working in furniture transportation, private tutoring, deliveries, with ads filling the newspapers.

We are talking about thousands of workers who operate with total immunity, avoiding regulation and government oversight. We therefore have a distinct double standard: To be a good citizen in the eyes of the government one must either tradein residency, or become an expat and start a small business far from the eyes of the government.

Note: I am not pessimistic, but feel it necessary to point out the double standards that persist in daily life. — Al-Anbaa

he issue of Iranians threatening to close down the Strait of Hormuz has been recurrent in local news in Gulf states as of late. The narrow strait, located at the very south of the Arabian Gulf provides passage to a large number of oil tankers and commercial shipment, making it of strategic importance globally.

For economic and commercial reasons, especially the fact that the world depends on Gulf exports that form around 40 percent of crude transported by sea, the Arabian Gulf is considered to be the center of global interaction; a field for political struggle and competitiveness between major powers, mainly the United States. This has transformed the Arabian Gulf into a very important water passage that the world simply cannot afford to have. Any country overlooking the Gulf does not have the right to block international trade or oil exports.

The political conflicts between Iran and the West have opened the way for each party to take every chance available to hurt the other, which includes placing economic sanctions, even potential military intervention. And while Iran has a clear disadvantage over its opponents in terms of power, Tehran often attempts to show that they are capable of facing any country. These attempts include repeated threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran realizes as much as the world does that it is too important, globally.

However, the Gulf states should not take these threats for granted. The Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) countries are required to come up promptly with a strategy to protect their interests in the Arabian Gulf in the short and long term.

According to recent reports, the United Arab Emirates has begun building oil pipes through AlFujairah, connecting with its ports at the Arab Sea, therefore avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is reportedly trying to find an alternative to protect its economic interests. While these efforts are important, they reflect the reality that Gulf states are working individually to face the potential common risk which require a common strategy.

The level of damage that Gulf states are going to suffer from should the Strait of Hormuz be closed, is not equal. Yet, Kuwait is probably going to suffer the most due to the lack of economically feasible alternatives. But doing nothing by depending on promises made by other countries that the strait will never be closed, is something that we cannot to afford.

Hopefully, the government will conduct serious studies to face challenges threatening our future oil exports, especially since oil revenues remain the only source of income. — Al-Rai

kuwait digest

kuwait digest

Incomplete suggestions

By Thaar Al-Rashidi

By Dr Hassan Abbas

n order to know who is right and who is wrong, let us have Mr. Twitter be the judge between us. I shall prove that with a simple equation, in spite of it being very clear for everyone, though no one has spoken about it before.

For the truth, most of those who attack the opposition use nick names and remain unknown, and most of those who write against corruption use their own names.

Did you see the question? Very easy, the one who is right thinks that he is right and comes along and reveals his real name in front of everyone, but those who defend the wrong always try to hide behind a nick name, because he doesn’t want people to see his “black face”.

The Chinese say “Beware of what you wish”.

So, beware of the 1st constituency. Because it is the door from which entry will be done to amend the constitution. Thereafter, it will be impossible to return to what we were in.

Three Parliament suggestions were offered and reviewed by the legislative committee in the dissolved current council about the one legislation.

You should read it and read its details, and you will find that it is a suggestion with general features that are not clear, and there is no one single suggestion that is complete, which we can describe as realistic or logical or even understand it clearly, in order that we can judge it by acceptance or refusal.

To return to 25 or keep the 5 constituencies after reinforcing it? We have only those two paths in front of us, no third choice, unless keeping the council on hold is the standby plan, in case of the failure of all paths that lead to one of the two choices.

To be more of exhibiting what we have, we must say that the national action bloc members’ commitment to attend the NA Council session two days back was an application of the principal of their belief in law and constitution. They wanted to convey a message that they are neither with this group or with that group, and very well they have done and we have only respect for their principal. But under the prevailing circumstances, you should decide your stand, “Black” or “White”.

I don’t know why, but after the national action bloc was committed to attend the session, without any one beside them, I remembered the joke about the masked man who raided the tent of a drunk man, put a gun in his face and asked “Are you with us or with the other group?” He answered hurriedly, “I am with you.”

They told him, ok clever, so we are the other group! — Al-Anba

t seems that an urgent decree to change the number of electoral constituencies or the number of votes each voter is entitled to has become imminent and that, especially after Dr Yousuf AlZalzalah who is close to the government, stated that the cabinet will appeal the constitutionality of the five-constituencies system.

First of all, how come the government only now realizes that the current division of constitutions could be unconstitutional? How come the government’s army of advisors and constitutional experts missed this important detail since the inception of the current system following the 2006 elections?

Let’s face it, and admit that what’s changed is the people’s mood. I do realize that by defending the five-constituency system, I am defending the interest of a troublesome opposition and a system that brought sectarian, fundamental, and close-minded MPs to the parliament. But let’s put all that aside and look into the possibility of a potential urgent decree, and the fact that the government woke up three months ago to figure out that the constitutionality of the current electoral system must be verified.

Rectifying the electoral system’s unconstitutional status through an urgent decree is an understatement of the people’s rights. I find it strange that some columnists, lawmakers and elite ideologists who did not like the outcome of the 2012 elections are now supporting the notion of an urgent decree to change the electoral system, instead of such a practice being done in the parliament. How can they accept seeing the people’s dignity be humiliated, and their decision making authority to be violated arbitrarily, just so that the opposition doesn’t control the majority seats in the parliament again?

Releasing an urgent order is like telling people that they are naive, immature and cannot decide what is good for them, therefore the government is going to make the decision on their behalf!

Regardless of all excuses, regardless of the issue of justice or unconstitutional suspicions in the current system, the public is now required to elect their representatives as per the same law in which the previous elections were made. After that, the Constitutional Court decides whether the system is constitutional or not; but only if anyone appeals the election results. It is an issue of principle; being in this case the principle of respecting the decision of the people and their right to self-determination.

Again, my position is made regardless of which party it might sound to be defending. I’m definitely not interested in defending the opposition’s interests because, frankly, I’m convinced that they are dishonest. For example, the opposition claim that the 2009 parliament is invalid because it was dissolved by an Amiri decree. With that logic, they must also agree with an urgent decree made with an Amiri wish! The opposition also rejects the notion of chancing the destruction of constituencies, then calling for merging them into a single constituency. — Al-Rai

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NO: 15531

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RAMADAN 18, 1433 AH

Who was the only Prophet who saw and talked to Almighty Allah?

Prophet Mussa (PBUH) Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) Prophet Essa (PBUH)

Don’t change constituencies

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MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Local

Sheikha Suad to be honored with Manhae Award KUWAIT: Asian Journalists Association will honor renowned Kuwaiti poetess Sheikha Suad Mohammad Al-Sabah with the Manhae Award in the southern South Korean town of Inje next Sunday.

Sheikha Suad is the only poet to be honored with this internationally known award in appreciation for her role in boosting literature and poetry.

The award is granted by the Society for the Promotion and Practice of Manhae’s Thoughts. In March, it announced the winners of the 2012 Manhae Prize, given in three different

categories. Sheikha Suad won the award in literature.

At the announcement, it was mentioned that Dr Suad Al-Sabah “helped foster women’s position in the Arab World, as she has been devoted to poetry writing since 1961, with more than 15 volumes of poetry published. She also assured the importance of having scientific assistance, through her studies, and gave the Arab youth a chance to promote literary works.”

Sheikha Suad has issued 15 divans.

The first one was ‘Min Omri’ (From My

Life), published in 1963. The last one was titled, ‘Letters from the Beautiful Time,’ printed by Suad Al-Sabah Publishing House in 2006.

The eminent poetess and writer had delved into patriotic issues, with the release of her book, ‘Allow me to Love my Country,’ published in 1990, in addition to her historic publications, such as ‘Falcon of the Gulf Abdullah Al-Mubarak AlSabah,’ published in 1995.

Sheikha Suad has written several articles and has presented research papers, addressing issues concerning Muslim

and Gulf women like ‘Women Workers in the Gulf,’ a research about Kuwaiti female workers and another about role played by women in developing Arab and Islamic countries.

Her poetic works have been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. The crux of her writings have been about basic freedoms of the human race, as well as eliminating barriers of discrimination between the two genders.

Moreover, she is credited for being among the ardent female strugglers who succeeded in attaining political franchise

for the Kuwaiti women.

In appreciation of her robust stance in support of Arab human rights, she was granted membership number-one by the Arab Human Rights Organization.

In 1995, she was chosen as representative of the United Nations at the International Woman Conference in Beijing. She was one of five figures that were chosen as honorary guests-including the first ladies of the United States and France. Sheikha Suad heads Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah Charity, founded in 1992.

Former FM warns against ‘plots that target unity’

KUWAIT: A woman buying spices during Ramadan.

KUWAIT: A customer tasting dates. —Photo by Yasser Al Zayyat

Majority of families spend more during Ramadan Price hike main problem

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: During the holy month of Ramadan, grocery stores and supermarkets experience their busiest season. Even after midnight, people stand in long queues in order to purchase their groceries. Many families complain about their inflated grocery bills during Ramadan. “In Ramadan I set a bigger budget for the co-op shopping. Every two days I go to the supermarket as the food consumption in the house is bigger. The main reason is that during Ramadan we sit at home the whole day so we only eat and watch TV. Also, as a part of the Ramadan budget we are preparing for Eid Al Fitr and providing food for the schools,” 40-year-old Faisal told the Kuwait Times.

Other families owe the increased budget in this holy month to the invitations and visits from relatives.

“During this month we have to invite all our relatives,

so we buy more food, and we really have a huge amount of relatives. When we are invited for Iftar, we also have to bring something with us and can’t go empty handed. With Eid fast approaching there must also be a budget for new clothes for the kids, as well as money for Eidiya (money given during Eid specifically for kids),” complained 51-year-old Mohammed.

Some families, however, don’t feel a great difference in their expenses during Ramadan. “I think that we spend more during Ramadan, as there are some items that I don’t usually buy during the whole year, but are a must in Ramadan. What makes it worse is the price hike. Even though they announced that many food items would be discounted during Ramadan, many items are not available or other items have increased. All things considered, however, I haven’t seen a huge spike in my overall budget,” stressed 43-year-old Manal. Indeed, many found that

they spend less during Ramadan. Yasin, 36-year-old, had a different point of view. “In Ramadan I eat at home every day. Also we are not going out, so we don’t spend money as we usually do. Cooking at home is much cheaper than eating at a restaurant. I also don’t have many relatives to invite, so that keeps costs down as well. In addition, during this Eid all the people I know are traveling and not in the country, so I don’t have to buy them anything or give them Eidiya.

Susha, 30-year-old, agrees with Yasin that she spends less due to not eating out and staying at home most of the time. “I don’t like to go to restaurants during Ramadan as I prefer to eat at home, so I’m saving more money. Also, many items were discounted in co-ops as they have special promotions for this month, which also helps my budget,” she pointed out.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti societ y is being threatened by a plot to destroy the unity of its people by spreading sectarianism between social categories, a ruling family member and former minister warned.

Sheik h Dr Mohammad Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s former Foreign Minister, made these statements to reporters during a ghabqa hosted by Kuwait’s ambassador to Qatar Ali Al-Haifi. “There is a foreign agenda seeking to spread chaos in the region by creating divisions within social categories,” he said, speaking about “attempts to export Iraq’s example of sectarian instigation to Kuwait and other countries in the region.”

Sheikh Dr Al-Sabah also criticized statements which speculate that a unity between Gulf Cooperation Council countries would be at a disadvantage at each state’s individuality. “Any threat against Kuwait is automatically a threat against all GCC states,” the former min-

ister stated, adding that lawmakers who often express skepticism about the idea of unity “should work towards union instead of raising people’s concerns.”

“Dark clouds are currently gathering in the region’s sky,” Sheikh Dr Al-Sabah warned, referring to “military gatherings and movements in the region which add to speculations about a potential military strike against Iran.”

While he assured that HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah “is aware of the risks we face, given his long political experience”, Sheikh Dr Al-Sabah indicated that “Kuwait cannot face all challenges alone without help from Gulf states.” He further predicted that countries of the region will be affected by developments of the situation in Syria “because the regime in Damascus will not be affected with a shock without making a reaction towards neighboring states.” —Al-Qabas

Aid to 500 displaced Yemeni families SANAA: Direct Aid-Kuwait society provided in Adan governorate yesterday, aid for displaced people from the Yemeni province of Abyan who escaped the recent clashes between government troops and Al-Qaeda.The displaced Abyan families, estimated to around 500, have been offered food, consisting of rice, sugar, oil, yogurt and dates, said Direct AidKuwait representative Ahmed Shihab.

He added that the society had aided a number of African countries for 30 years

with humanitarian work and educational services. The society seeks to open an office in Yemen to grant water, health, education and humanitarian assistance, Shibab pointed out.

Executive director of the Reform Society charitable trust in the province of Adan, Nasser Ali Al-Babakri praised Direct Aid society for their efforts. He explained that humanitarian aid reflects the deep brotherly relations shared between Yemen and Kuwait. —KUNA

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

LOCAL

Ruling family branch rejects tweets of Sheikh Malik Attempt to stand under spotlight

By A Saleh KUWAIT: A sector in Kuwait’s ruling family rejected Twitter remarks made by one of its members concerning the government’s performance, calling them “an individual practice”, in a statement released yesterday. The statement, signed by Sheikh Faisal Al-Hmoud Al-Malik AlSabah and authorized by the AlMalik branch in the Al-Sabah family, names Sheikh Meshal Al-Malik Al-Sabah who “committed a wrong approach” when he “deviated from the truth and [right] approach through a statement in which he took advantage of the freedom of speech”.

The statement claims that Sheikh Meshal Al-Sabah adopted a “rushed approach” in which he didn’t necessarily speak the truth “in order to stand under the spotlight”. “Following repeated attempts to stop him from adopting this approach, we reiterate our rejection to this kind of approach categorically ”, the statement reads.

“Based on facts supported with the proof that we received, the Malik branch of the Al-Sabah family refuses to be associated with this individual and their irresponsible behavior”, the statement adds. The Al-Malik Al-Sabah branch also expressed “pride in the Kuwaiti democracy ”, and insisted on their stance “in which we unanimously stand behind HH the Amir”.

KAC compensation The Iraqi government has already paid compensation to the Kuwait Airways Corporation in exchange for dropping lawsuits filed against Iraqi Airways, an Iraqi lawmaker said yesterday.

“ The compensation has already been approved and paid, but needs to be put in a legislative framework within the parliament”, said Faleh Al-Sari, member of the financial committee in the Iraqi Parliament. He was commenting on earlier reports which indicated that a bill to approve payment of $300 million in compensation for the Kuwaiti carrier has been forwarded to the Iraqi parliament for voting.

The deal is part of a draft project proposed by the Iraqi government and approved by its Kuwaiti counterpart which additionally allocates $200 million to be invested in joint projects between the two countries.

In another development, an Iraqi political group called ‘The Iraqi Government’, “demands that Kuwait returns four oil tankers held since 1991, or pay compensation”. “ The four tankers, which belong to the South Oil Company and transport Iraqi crude to the global market, were seized by Kuwaiti authorities while they were docked at the Kuwaiti port of Al-Shuwaiba’a”, said MP Aliya Nsayef, the spokesperson of the Free Iraqiya Bloc. She further identified the tankers as “Huteen with a 155 thousand ton capacity, Tariq bin Zeyad with 125 thousand ton capacity, Al-Mutanabi with 135 thousand ton capacity and Al-Fao with 100 thousand ton capacity”.

Constitutionality verification Former MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl urged the Cabinet to verify the constitutionality of the current electoral system with the Constitutional Court as soon as possible, which he believes “better serves Kuwait’s best interest”.

Al-Fadhl, who was among the pro-government minority in the annulled 2012 parliament, indicated that delays in referring the issue to the court “proves that the government has sold out on Kuwait in favor of the opposition”.

He further urged Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah to avoid depending on the opposition “or trust their promises because they will eventually turn on you”.

Arson arrests’ timing A one-time lawmaker believes that the timing in which the Ministry of Interior questioned suspects in burning an election campaign’s tent earlier this year to be “suspicious in a way that cannot be overlooked”.

Five members from the Mutair tribe were recently released on bail after a brief detention regarding the arson that occured last January at the headquarters of the elections campaign for controversial figure Mohammad AlJuwaihel in Al-Adailiya. The arson took place after the Al-Juwaihel reportedly insulted the tribal community.

“Where has [the interior minister] been during the past six months?” Dr. Obaid Al-Wasmi asked in a statement yesterday, in which he demanded clarifications to be announced to the public as soon as possible.

The suspects, who were each released on a KD500 bail, denied charges that included arson, illegal demonstration, disobeying police orders and property damage.

Al-Deqbasi appeal Speaker of the Arab Parliament Ali Al-Deqbasi is planning to urge leaders of Arab and Islamic states

to “take prompt measures in order to find a radical solution to the ongoing crisis in Syria”, during a conference of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca later this month.

Moreover, Al-Deqbasi called on Arab leaders to “urge Palestinians to achieve national reconciliation in order to tackle the ongoing Zionist practices including Judaization of Jerusalem”. He also called for “immediate intervention to stop massacres and ethnic cleansing targeting Muslims in Myanmar at the hands of extremist Buddhist groups”.

Meanwhile, MP Khalid AlAdwa slammed members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference for their “shameful silence on the hideous massacres committed against Muslims in Myanmar during the holy month of Ramadan”, indicating that “more than 20 thousand were killed and tens of thousands were displaced in recent months”.

15,000 laid-off citizens The government has “yet to provide job opportunities and proper training for thousands of Kuwaiti labor forces laid off by private companies since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008”, a group representing the laid-off citizens said in a recent statement. These duties are part of a decision released by the government based on which the laidoff citizens receive financial support until new jobs are provided, said the head of the group, Khalid Al-Duwaisan. He further estimated the number of Kuwaitis affected by the cuts at 15,000, “who face the risk of losing their only source of income in upcoming months”.

KUWAIT: Deputy chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah rewarded four servicemen for finalizing their Master’s degrees recently in different specialties at his office yesterday.

Woman sexually assauled inside lift KUWAIT: A female citizen in her 40s filed a complaint against an expat, claiming he attempted to attack her sexually inside a lift in a Salhiya area before escaping as she screamed for help. The woman told police that the man entered the lift with her, and when the door closed he attacked her and she began screaming. When the door opened, the man escaped using the stairs.

The source said the woman showed police her torn clothes. Detectives are investigating.

Fatal escape bid An Asian woman died when she threw herself from the fourth floor of a building in Hawally area as she attempted to escape from a citizen who attacked her at dawn on Saturday. The citizen was found to be an ex-convict and drunk at the time of the incident. The suspect was taken into custody. A security source said the woman was an employee of a massage parlor, and that the perpetrator sexually attacked her during a massage session. In an attempt to thwart the attack, the woman ran to one of the rooms and locked the door. The source said the perpetrator attempted to break the door open, while the victim sought to escape from the fourth floor flat. The fall from the fourth floor proved fatal for the woman. Detectives arrested the drunk sus-

pect while the victim’s body was recovered by the coroner. Detectives are conducting further investigations.

Beggars arrested Hawally detectives launched a campaign against beggars and roaming vendors that resulted in the arrest of 16 women and 30 men of Arab and Asian nationalities.

Drug abuse Police received a call regarding the body of an unknown person inside the Jahra hospital emergency room. A security source said detectives came to the hospital and determined that the deceased was a 30 year old bedoon. Detectives reviewed the calls from the victim’s phone and called a person who had multiple phone conversations with the victim. The person at first denied any knowledge about the victim’s health condition, and later admitted that both were taking drugs when the victim collapsed. He said that he, along with his 16 year old brother, took the victim to the emergency room before escaping. The source said that the criminal evidence report confirmed that the deceased had ingested drugs before dying. Police are currently investigating.

Missing girl Nurses at Sabah hospital panicked when a 15 year old girl was missing from her bed and promptly informed her Moroccan mother, who is married to a citizen, and asked if she knew of her whereabouts. The mother immediately went to the Shuwaikh police station to file a kidnapping complaint. The woman accused a Farwaniya detective with kidnapping the child, who she had earlier asked to stay away from her daughter. The mother told police that her daughter was previously held at the police station where the detective works and it seemed a relationship developed between the two. When the mother demanded that the detective stay away from her daughter, she claimed the detective kidnapped her daughter. Law enforcement officials insisted that the suspect’s colleagues ask him to bring back the girl, if she was with him, before formally charging him. The detective cooperated and brought the girl to the police station where his colleagues work. He was taken and handed over to Asima (capital) security where he claimed the girl joined him with her consent, though officials said her consent was meaningless since she is a minor. The suspect and girl were sent to the public prosecution, where the suspect

objected to being handcuffed, saying “I am a detective... shame on you.”! The girl starting screaming and tore her clothes saying, “He has nothing to do with this, jail me.”

Detectives could not control her and brought police women to help subdue her.

Both the suspect and the girl were returned to Shuwaikh police station for further investigation.

Perfume thief An unknown thief stole money and highly expensive perfume oils from the branch of an international company.

Workers discovered the door was broken and called their manager who notified police. A theft case was filed and police are investigating.

Dog scare A young citizen resorted to an unusual method to settle the score with his family when he entered the house with a big dog, prompting the family to call police. A security source said Salmiya police rushed to the house to assist the family after the man who attacked his brother at Iftar time, using the dog as protection. Family members told police that the suspect escaped when he discovered a call had been placed to the police. Investigations are underway.

Hypertension among top killers in Kuwait

KUWAIT: Jamel Attal, managing director of Dow Chemical Kuwait, presenting a gift to one of the students of the KISR training course.

Dow supports youth science education in Kuwait KUWAIT: In keeping with The Dow Chemical Company’s (NYSE: DOW) vision of education as a fundamental enabler of innovation, the Company supported the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research’s (KISR) 35th annual summer training course with sponsorship this month. The course, entitled ‘Nano Technology: The partner of the future’ successfully concluded in July.

Over 100 highly skilled and talented high school and university students from around the country took part in the KISR summer training course which took place over the course of one month. The program allowed students to take part in science activities and experiments in the fields of biological sciences, chemistry, genetics and water resources in an effort to enhance their knowledge in those fields while also allowing them to gain firsthand experience.

“The KISR summer training course is designed to refine young talent and enrich their professional experience in their fields of interest,” said Dr Meshaal Al-Samhaan, Associate Research Scientist, KISR. “This year, the sessions were quite successful with 100 participants and we are glad to have had the support of key industry players such as Dow Chemical.”

“We were happy to extend our support to the summer training course this year and hope to be able to partner with KISR again in the future on the work the institute has been doing with Kuwaiti students,” said Jamel Attal, Managing Director, Dow Chemical, Kuwait. “At Dow, we firmly believe that education is an enabler of innovation, and we are committed to supporting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in order to develop young talent and help them become the innovators of the future.”

KUWAIT: Hypertension, the official term for high blood pressure, was ranked amongst the top ten causes of deaths in Kuwait in 2011, contributing to about 3.18% of population deaths.

Global deaths from hypertension, as reported by World Health Organization (WHO), were almost 13%.

Dr Taha Al-Taha, Consultant, Internist and Cardiologist, Head of Internal Medicine at Dar Al Shifa Hospital noted, “There is a lot that can be done to understand and avoid complications from hypertension, but the trick with conquering this disease is knowing that it can be silent; in other words the signs only show when it is too late.”

Hypertension is the term used to describe high blood pressure.

Blood pressure is a measure of the force or pressure of blood against the walls of your arteries (blood vessels) as it circulates.

“The best way to tackle it is in understanding how it works and keeping track of fluctuations through medical checkups and at home.”

Blood pressure readings are usually given as two numbers.

For example, 120 over 80 is written as 120/80 mmHg. One or both of these numbers can be too high. The top number is

known as the systolic blood pressure and it occurs when your heart contracts and pumps blood. The bottom number is known as the diastolic blood pressure and occurs when your heart relaxes and fills with blood.

There are many factors that can affect blood pressure such as how much water and salt is in the body, obesity, stress or anxiousness, smoking and consumption of alcohol. Essentially, they fall under lifestyle choices that can be altered to avoid or improve levels of hypertension.

Other contributing factors include the levels of different body hormones, and the condition of kidneys, nervous system, or blood vessels. Also, with age arteries tend to get stiffer which also has a direct effect on blood pressure levels.

How does hypertension affect health?

Overtime, the consistently elevated blood pressure will cause damage to the blood vessel walls and the organs that are supplied with blood. The damage done to the vessel walls can cause scarring that promotes the build-up of fatty plaque. This build-up can narrow and eventually block the arteries, as well as strain and eventually weaken the

Dr Taha Al-Taha heart. Furthermore, very high blood pressure can cause blood vessels in the brain to burst which results in a stroke. Some studies show that by taking action to lower high blood pressure, one can reduce the risks of heart attack by 25%, stroke by 40% and heart failure by 50%.

There are several lifestyle changes that can be made in order to prevent or treat high blood pressure. These include: * Increasing your physical activity. It is recommended to engage in moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise for 3060 minutes most days of the week. You should speak to your healthcare provider prior to starting any program or activity.

News

in brief

Night time burials allowed KUWAIT: The Municipality will not prevent burials from being held at night, said Assistant General Director of Kuwait Municipality Mohammad Ghazai AlO taibi. The Graveyard’s gates remain open and ready to complete ceremonies as per Islamic Sharia. He pointed out that the time of burial should be decided by the deceased person’s family. AlOtaibi explained this in response to a social media post and local press report stating that no ‘fatwa’ has been issued against night time burial. He added that due to soaring temperatures and sandstorm during the month of Ramadan, some bur y the deceased as per their wish.

KOC excavation projects KUWAIT: The Kuwait Oil Company(KOC) has begun drilling oil wells to the south and north of Kuwait. So far, experts have not been able to gauge the final depth, and results will appear only after two months. Sources said that KOC began excavating two wells in south of Kuwait and one more in the north. Pointing out that with the developments of geological techniques, ability to view what lies beneath has improved. Those techniques are vital tools that help draw clear maps, explaining the structure of the land and its location below ground level. Sources said that the KOC plans to execute many more projects this year.

The company is planning to undertake several excavation projects to increase oil and gas production.

Peaceful power transition D O H A : Q a t a r i Pr i m e M i n i s t e r a n d Fo r e i g n M i n i s t e r S h e i k h H a m a d b i n Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani said yesterday he conducted phone conversations with UN Secretar y-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretar y-General of the Arab League Chief Nabil Al-Arabi and UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan.

He said he told them of the Arab side’s disapproval of a new joint envoy with the same authorization which had been provided to Annan, Qatar News Agency ( Q N A ) r e p o r t e d . T h e Pr i m e M i n i s t e r Sheikh Hamad asserted that a peaceful transfer of power in Syria is the only acceptable authorization. “Annan has reached a result, which he mentioned in his speech that the Security Council is ineffective because of disagreements between superpowers,” Sheikh Hamad said, stressing that “such differences should not come at the expense of the Syrian people, but unfortunately they do.” “The second reason was the temporization from the Syrian side as it has not yet fulfilled its obligations amid an escalation of k illing and destruction,” the Prime Minister said.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Kurdish rebels storm Turkey border post Page 8

Ramallah NAM meet off as Israel bars ministers Page 11

Demonstrators walk behind a banner during a march in Sydney yesterday held in support of the Syrian regime of President Bashar AlAssad and against the intervention of foreign powers in Syria. Organised by a group calling itself ‘Hands off Syria’, the noisy but peaceful demonstration involving hundreds marched to government offices in central Sydney. (Inset) An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube yesterday shows footage of Iranians (background) kidnapped in Damascus, in which a rebel fighter charges the hostages are elite Revolutionary Guards. — AFP

Army pounds rebels in Aleppo Rebels say hostages Iranian Guards ALEPPO, Syria: The Syrian army pounded rebel positions in second city Aleppo yesterday ahead of a threatened ground assault after boasting its capture of the last rebel-held district of the capital. Iran appealed for help from governments with ties to the Syrian opposition in securing the release of 48 of its nationals seized from a bus in Damascus as an Arabic news channel aired footage it said was of the Iranians in the hands of rebel captors who charged that their hostages were Revolutionary Guards.

A high-level security source said the army yesterday completed its deployment of reinforcements to Aleppo, ready for a decisive showdown. “The war is likely to be long, because there will have to be street battles in order to get rid of the terrorists,” the source told AFP, declining to be named. “All the reinforcements have arrived and they are surrounding the city,” he said. “The army is ready to launch its offensive, but is awaiting orders.”

At least two rebel fighters were killed in early morning clashes in Aleppo, which has already been the scene of heavy fighting since July 20, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Troops shelled rebel-held Salaheddin district in the southwest and clashes erupted in the Sukkari, Hamdaniyeh and Ansari neighbourhoods, the Britain-based watchdog said. The opposition Syrian National Council charged that the army’s bombardment of the rebels was hitting key public institutions in the commercial capital, some of historical significance.

“After failing to subdue (rebel forces) in Aleppo... the Syrian regime’s gangs have started to target government institutions and buildings,” the exiled opposition group said. “Some of them have historical and archaeological value.” Aleppo preserves a raft of historical sites, including its renowned 13th century citadel. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation named the Ancient City a World Heritage Site in 1986. The SNC accused the army of shelling Aleppo’s television building. “The criminal regime does not hesitate to shell these institutions,” the group said, adding: “The rebels were forced to move away from the television building in order to protect the Syrian people’s property and heritage.” Rebels

tried to storm the state television building on Saturday before being driven back by shelling, the Observatory said.

Iran appealed to Qatar and Turkey, which both have close relations with the Syrian opposition, for help in securing the release of 48 nationals it says were seized while on pilgrimage to the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Damascus. Al-Arabiya television aired footage yesterday which it said was of the Iranians in the captivity of rebel Free Syrian Army fighters who charged that their hostages were elite Revolutionary Guards. Fighters of the Al-Baraa Brigade of the rebel Free Syrian Army have “captured 48 of the shabiha (militiamen) of Iran who were on a reconnaissance mission in Damascus,” said a man dressed as an FSA officer in the video screened by the Dubai-based channel. “During the investigation, we found that some of them were officers in the Revolutionary Guards,” he said, showing documents taken from one of the men, who appeared in the background.

In the footage, a group of men appeared sitting on the floor, while gunmen behind them carried the old Syrian flag that has been adopted by the rebels. “We warn Iran that we will target all its installations in Syria... The fate of all Iranians working in Syria will be just like the fate of those, either prisoners, or dead,” the bearded officer said. “God is great,” the gunmen chanted as he finished reading his statement. AlArabiya television aired an interview with a man it identified as Al-Baraa Brigade commander Abdel Nasser Shmeir. “They are 48, in addition to an Afghani interpreter,” said the officer, who is the FSA chief in the east Damascus suburb of Ghouta, claiming that the captives were members of a 150-strong group sent by Iran for “reconnaissance on the ground.”

But a Syrian opposition source dismissed the videotape as a fake designed to cover up the responsibility of hardline Sunni Islamist group Jundallah. The source said that the faction -which has no relation with the Sunni rebel group of the same name active in southeastern Iran - was one of an array of Sunni Islamist factions that have proliferated in Syria in recent months. The group also has no links with the mainstream FSA, the source said. “Jundallah are an extremist Islamist group whose religious discourse is based on inciting hatred against

Suicide bomber kills 45 in Yemen ADEN: A suicide bombing in south Yemen blamed on Al-Qaeda killed 45 people, local officials said yesterday, as residents voiced fears that a lack of security personnel on the ground will allow the jihadists to return. In the east of the country, meanwhile, a suspected US drone strike late on Saturday killed five Al-Qaeda militants, a local official said. The bomber struck on Saturday in Jaar, one of a string of towns in Abyan province that were retaken by government troops in June after being held by AlQaeda loyalists for more than a year.

“An Al-Qaeda suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt during a mourning ceremony organized by the Popular Resistance Committees,” a local militia that fought alongside the army, said provincial governor Jamal Al-Aqal. “Bodies were flying in all directions because the explosion

was so powerful,” a witness said. An official at Razi hospital in Jaar said it received the bodies of 24 of those killed, while medics said 12 people had died of their wounds in three hospitals in the main southern city Aden. Relatives took the bodies of six of the dead directly from the scene of the attack for burial, local official Mohsen bin Jamila said.

Later yesterday, Jamila said that “three of the wounded have succumbed to their wounds,” raising the overall death toll to 45. The wounded were being treated in hospitals in Jaar and Aden. The deputy head of Jaar’s municipal authority held the government at least partially responsible for the attack because of its slowness in deploying police to the town after its recapture by the army.

“There is no presence of police in Jaar and other towns of Abyan, while Al-

Qaeda militants remain underground,” said Nasser Abdullah Mansari.

On Wednesday, an attack by AlQaeda militants on a police station in Jaar killed four soldiers and a civilian.

Residents have expressed fears that the jihadists could retake the town.

The suspected US drone strike came near the village of Al-Qotn in Hadramawt province, another region where Al-Qaeda has been active. “A drone fired two missiles at an all-terrain vehicle... killing its five occupants, all members of Al-Qaeda,” a local official said, requesting anonymity. Security forces sealed off the scene of the strike, witnesses said. The United States is the only country that has drones in the region and in recent months has stepped up its strikes on Al-Qaeda targets in the south and east of Yemen. — AFP

• Syria’s first astronaut defects

Shiites and Alawites,” the source told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring also to the minority sect of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The video “was just a cover-up for the fact that this operation was carried out in order to target Iranian Shiites”, the source said.

The source also voiced scepticism about the suggestion that the kidnapped Iranians were Revolutionary Guards. “It makes no sense that the hostages would be members of the Revolutionary Guard,” the source said. “If they were, why would they be travelling on a bus on the unsafe airport road?”

The source noted that Shiite pilgrims - from Iran and elsewhere -have continued to visit holy sites in Syria despite the mounting insecurity, because they believe in the sanctity of their journey, even if it involves serious risk. The source also blamed Jundallah for recent killings of Alawite and Shiite civilians, as well as 15 Syrian troops, in Yalda, outside Damascus.

Tehran, Damascus’s key regional ally, has repeatedly denied it has sent any military units to Syria.

In the latest reported high-level defection, General Muhammed Ahmed Faris, a military aviator who became the first Syrian in space, fled to Turkey on Sunday, the Turkish news agency Anatolia reported. Before crossing into Turkey, Faris visited the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in his

home town Aleppo in a show of solidarity with rebel forces battling Assad’s troops in Syria’s biggest city, it said. Anatolia said it was Faris’ fourth attempt to defect. Faris was born in 1951 in Aleppo. A graduate of the Aleppo’s military pilot school in 1973, Faris joined a Soviet crew on the orbiting space station Mir in 1987, for which he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and also received the Order of Lenin.

Scores of senior Syrian military officers have been crossing into Turkey to link up with the FSA in recent months as the fighting in Syria escalates, often accompanied by rank-and-file troops. Turkey has taken in more than 45,000 refugees fleeing the conflict across the border, and is also sheltering the military defectors in a separate camp where security is higher.

A senior government security figure warned on Saturday that “the battle for Aleppo has not yet begun, and what is happening now is just the appetiser... The main course will come later”. The official said at least 20,000 troops were now on the ground. “The other side are also sending reinforcements,” the official added of the rebels, who claim to have seized half the city. The pro-government Al-Watan newspaper said yesterday that the army had killed “hundreds of terrorists” in Aleppo but that between 6,000 and 8,000 remained in the city.—Agencies

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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

Iraq’s hajji the healer: Creams and circumcisions BAGHDAD: Every day dozens of people flock to Salman Al-Khafaji’s clinic in central Baghdad, hoping the octogenarian can treat their ailments where the Iraqi capital’s hospitals and doctors have failed. Khafaji is one of a dwindling number of mostly men who have filled gaps in Iraq’s health system which during the 1990s was short on medicine as a result of the embargo imposed on the country for Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. And later, following the 2003 invasion, the system was overwhelmed by countless victims of violence.

The 82-year-old specializes - to the extent that such a thing is possible in concocting mixtures of ointments, medicines and creams to treat skin problems. He also carries out circumcisions in a room in his home, and has done so for 53 years. “Sometimes I receive people suffering from burns who have come directly from Yarmuk hospital, or Medical City, or others,” he says, referring to some of the city’s largest hospitals. “They need constant care for long sessions, and that is not always available in hospitals.”

The walls of Khafaji’s house in Karrada, Baghdad’s main commercial district, are lined with framed verses from the Holy Quran and also paintings of the Virgin Mary. Patients walk

along a short corridor to a waiting room in the corner of his home and are then treated in an adjoining area that is separated only by a two-metre-high curtain. Khafaji also maintains another room for patients who need to fully disrobe for treatment. And while he dons a clean white doctor’s coat, none of his patients refer to him as such, instead calling him simply hajji - a title literally given to those who have undertaken Islam’s holy pilgrimage, the haj. In many cases, hajji is also used as an honorific for older men.

On one day, 16-year-old Mohammed Hassan lay on Khafaji’s bed, with bandages and gauze covering parts of his head, arms and legs.

The teenager, a resident of the Baghdad Jadidah neighbourhood in the east of the capital, was burned in a fire that broke out in a car he was in.

“After I left the hospital having been treated, doctors said I just needed some time to recover,” he says. “But the effects of the burns and the pain continued, and I did not feel better until I came here.”

Khafaji trained as a nurse in 1957, working in government-run hospitals for 21 years in Baghdad, the western province of Anbar and the southern province of Wasit. Two years later, he opened his own clinic in his parents’

home. During the late 1970s, he quit his job as a nurse and focused full-time on the clinic, which is open seven days a week and where individual sessions

cuits or hot asphalt,” says Safaa AlKhafaji, one of the clinician’s three sons who work with him.

The situation is a far cry from the

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Salman Al-Khafaji works at his clinic in central Baghdad on June 27, 2012. — AFP cost 40,000 dinars, or about $32. “The worst cases we receive are for people who have suffered burns because of incidents involving electricity short-cir-

peak of Iraq’s sectarian war from 2006 to 2008, when the clinic treated countless victims of violence. Over the years, Khafaji, a father of five and grandfather

of 15, has treated family members of top officials, including the sons of Tareq Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s deputy prime minister who is now in an Iraqi jail awaiting execution. He says his patients also include foreigners living in Iraq - people hailing from Bangladesh, India, and from other Arab countries including, most recently, a Lebanese woman earlier this year who sought his help for a skin problem. Throughout, he has used homemade therapeutic concoctions, mostly for the treatment of burn victims, helping to ease their pain and covering their scars.

Iraqi medical officials insist that patients should be treated only in hospitals or by qualified doctors, but acknowledge that because of longheld traditions, Iraqis still visit traditional healers like Khafaji.

“I checked with four doctors in Iraq and I travelled to Egypt twice for treatment, but there was limited improvement in my condition,” says Adil Mohammed, who travelled from Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, to be treated by Khafaji.

Mohammed, 47, had lesions on his right thigh and said that while doctors advised him to pursue laser treatment, “after a few treatment sessions here, I feel much better”. — AFP

Kurdish rebels storm Turkey border post Erdogan issues warning after 22 killed in assault

GAZA: Palestinians carry the body of militant Eid Hijazi, 23, during his funeral following an Israeli air strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. — AFP

Israeli strike hits gunman in Gaza GAZA: An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian gunman from a radical Islamist group and wounded another yesterday as they rode a motorbike in southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border.

The Israeli military said one of those targeted, Ahmed Said Ismail, was behind an attack on June 18 along the Israel-Egypt border in which an Israeli civilian was killed. Palestinian hospital officials said Ismail was critically wounded and a second militant was killed. Both were members of a radical Islamist militant group “Magles Shoura al-Mujahddin”, which is among Salafi factions that are a fringe presence in Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

A group by the same name claimed responsibility for the June guerrilla raid

from the Egyptian Sinai into Israel which killed an Israeli who was helping erect a border fence. According to a claim issued last month, the two raiders, who were both killed by Israeli forces, were an Egyptian and a Saudi.

Israel has previously accused Palestinian militants in Gaza of involvement in militant activity in Sinai, where insecurity has spread since the USaligned Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, was toppled by a citizen revolt last year. Gaza is governed by Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement which, while also hostile to the Jewish state, is considered too moderate by many Salafis and has at times clashed with them during law-and-order drives. — Reuters

Freelance in Syria: No money, lots of danger AL-BUEDA, Syria: The refusal by Syria’s authorities to allow the media to cover the deadly uprising freely in the country has cast a spotlight on the work of freelancers braving deadly danger to do their job. “We are doing a job that is in danger of becoming extinct - war reporting,” according to Spanish freelancer Mayte Carrasco. He is one of dozens of professional photographers and text and video reporters who have chosen to enter the country secretly to bring to the world the voice of a rebellion the Syrian regime has been trying to silence for nearly 17 months.

These journalists are forced to enter illegally through the largely rebel-held north as reporters officially granted visas by authorities must be accompanied by a ministry information “guide” at all times, limiting their ability to work freely. Most of these go-it-alone reporters believe passionately in what they are doing, but their job is often accompanied by frustration and often fear as they find themselves in precarious situations in which luck alone is likely to protect them.

“The freelancer must keep in mind that he pays his own costs. He has no medical insurance and has not been accredited by any major media” corporation, says Karen Maron, an Argentinian who has covered conflict in the Middle East for years. “The freelancer is alone, all alone. But it is his choice,” she says.

Freelancers such as Italian photojournalist Giulio Piscitelli find in conflicts such as the one currently raging in Syria an opportunity to boost their careers.

“Last year I couldn’t go to Libya,” he says regretfully of the North African country where Western military intervention after a 2011 uprising eventually led to the downfall and death of veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi. “In here, I hope it (Syria) will be a springboard for my

career,” says Piscitelli who is covering a war for the first time. “As big agencies can’t deploy as many teams as they would like, this allows me to sell my production.” But “you still feel exploited,” says Spanish videographer Roberto Fraile.

Carrasco agrees that “we are totally vulnerable. Many journalists do not even have body armour or a helmet while very few are equipped with satellite phones... we also generally lack cash.”

Spanish photographer Alberto Prieto echoes the frustration of his fellow freelancers. “I don’t feel valued by the media I work for. Sometimes they do not even reply to my emails or they refuse to publish my photos. And when they do take them they buy them for a cheap price.”

The many difficulties of the assignment do not deter Piscitelli, however. “I love this job and I think what we do is very important.” David Mesenguer seems reasonably satisfied with his lot. “Given the situation, the media are making an effort financially by paying me much more than they usually offer on every piece,” he says.

For Maron, being a freelancer has its ups and downs. “From a human perspective, it is sometimes difficult to live. A freelancer does a great job and gets recognition for the quality of work. But then it is all thrown away without any explanation or consideration,” she says.

“There is no written agreement stipulating that after successful coverage you should have the right to work based on a proper contract.”

British videographer John Roberts says he has deliberately opted for the life of a freelancer. “Of course I need to make a living and as with anybody else, I appreciate the recognition of peers and colleagues, but beyond this, it’s simply the job and lifestyle that I’ve chosen,” he says. — AFP

ANKARA: Kurdish rebels stormed a Turkish army post on the Iraq border yesterday, triggering fighting that killed 22 people in the latest clash since Ankara launched a major offensive against the outlawed PKK. Prime Minister Tayypip Erdogan condemned the attack as a “dastardly” act and vowed to bring the rebels in line. Six soldiers, two village guards and 14 Kurdish rebels were killed following the assault on an army post in a village in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the local governor told the Anatolia news agency.

Three of the slain rebels were women, said governor Orhan Alimoglu. Another 15 soldiers, one village guard and five civilians were wounded, according to a statement from the governor’s office cited by Anatolia.

The rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launched simultaneous assaults on three border posts but the casualties occurred at a post in the village of Gecimli, the private NTV television station reported. It was the deadliest clash since June when fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels left 28 people dead following a similar attack on an army post in the same region.

Erdogan, in a statement posted on the prime minister’s office website, denounced yesterday’s attack as a “dastardly” act and said: “Terror is doomed to failure ... sooner or later.”

In a stark warning, Erdogan also said Turkey had the strength to bring into line not only the PKK but also “hostile countries and environs that hold in their hands the terrorist organisation’s strings”. He did not name those countries. A series of similar assaults against troops in the Kurdish-dominated southeast prompted the army to launch an all-out offensive against PKK bases in the area last month.

The Turkish ground and air operation, one of the biggest in years, is focused on the town of Semdinli, in Hakkari province, and NTV television said about 2,000 troops are involved. “A serious and strong operation is under way in Semdinli,” Atalay said last week.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation

by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms in the southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some

45,000 lives. Turkey’s latest offensive against the PKK comes as Kurds in northern Syria are reported to have taken control of some regions as fighting escalates in the uprising against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad.

Prime Minister Erdogan has accused

show of force against Damascus. Ties between one-time allies Ankara and Damascus have soured since Assad’s regime launched a brutal crackdown on dissent in March last year.

Relations hit an all-time low after a Turkish fighter jet was brought down by Syrian fire in

CUKURCA, Turkey: People stand near armoured vehicles of Turkish military stationed in front of Gecimli military outpost where Kurdish rebels attacked in Hakkari yesterday. —AFP Damascus of allowing Kurdish rebels a free June, killing its two pilots and leading Ankara hand in the north of the country and warned to brand Damascus a “hostile” opponent. that Ankara would not hesitate to strike “terrorDamascus in terms claims that Ankara is ists”. Ankara claims some of the Kurdish rebels supporting “terrorists” to bring down the Syrian in Syria were forced to move there from hide- regime, referring to the Free Syrian Army of outs in mountainous zones of northern Iraq defecting soldiers which has a base on Turkish after the Turkish army carried out several air soil near the border. Last week, Foreign strikes in the area. The reported control of Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited northern northern Syria by the Democratic Union Party Iraq for talks with Kurdish leader Masoud (PYD), the PKK’s Syrian ally, has pushed Ankara Barzani about the situation in northern Syria. to take diplomatic and military steps to neu- “The new Syria should be free of any terrorist tralise what it sees as any potential threat. and extremist group or organisation,” the two Turkey has massed a convoy of tanks, said in a rare joint statement. Although Turkey weapons and ground-to-air missile batteries has built ties with the Kurdish regional governon the border with Syria and staged military ment in the north of Iraq, Ankara is opposed drills, which have been seen by the media as a to the idea of a separate Kurdish state. — AFP

Morsi asserts authority, defends army CAIRO: Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday gave a lengthy speech to the army in praise of its role during the run-up to his election, proclaiming that he, his government and the powerful generals will cooperate for the future. Speaking with the head of the armed forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi by his side, and hundreds troops including generals in the audience, Morsi stressed his legitimacy as Egypt’s first popularly elected president, but also acknowledged that his ascension to the office would have been impossible without the military’s support.

The words signaled an understanding between him and the army, after initial tensions during Egypt’s transition period since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, himself a former air force commander who led the country for three decades.

Just days before Morsi was declared president, the military council, headed by Tantawi, stripped him of significant powers and declared themselves as the country’s legislative authority after dissolving a parliament dominated

by Morsi’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement. The mili-

tary, which took the reins of power after Mubarak was deposed in a popular uprising in early 2011, also has control over the process of drafting Egypt’s new constitution.

But Morsi largely avoided those issues in the Saturday speech, focusing on the military’s support for the election of a civilian presi-

dent. “The will of the people will never be against the armed forces,” he said, in a thinly veiled reference to his own office. “It is with the armed forces’ help, after God, that we will protect Egypt’s interest internally and internationally.” He also said the armed forces remain a “cornerstone” in Egypt’s relations

ISMAILIA, Egypt: A handout image made available by the Egyptian presidency Saturday shows Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi (right) shaking hands with Egyptian Defence Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi during an official ceremony with soldiers from the second army. — AFP

with the international community, and a factor for the country’s political and economic stability. “This president is the supreme head of the armed forces because of the will of the people. I will not allow anyone to offend the armed forces or this nation, or try to obstruct this democratic path which you protected,” he said.

Morsi promised he would respect the democratic process and future elections. Speaking to the generals, he said: “What I ask of you, rather what I order you, is to continue to support the democratic path in Egypt. This is important for you, your children and grandchildren.”

Aside from the struggle to assert his powers, Morsi and his new government are now entangled in a web of social and economic problems that have festered over the months of transition. He has taken his time to choose a prime minister and form a new government, in what appeared to be a process executed in close cooperation with the military. The final lineup was largely made up of technocrats, but also included a number of Islamists and members of the Brotherhood. — AP

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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

Small change sparks fights in coin-starved Zimbabwe HARARE: Shouting matches and even physical fights break out each time a mini-bus pulls up to drop off passengers at a crowded bus stop in downtown Harare. It’s all about not getting shortchanged. Hyperinflation forced Zimbabwe to trash its worthless local currency three years ago in a move that brought much needed relief to the crippled economy but created a surprising new headache: a lack of coins. “Change is a big problem, and at the same time passengers are impatient with us. I have been slapped a few times for not having change for them,” said a bus conductor Walter Chakawata.

The US dollar and the rand from neighbouring South Africa are Zimbabwe’s main adopted currencies. The dollar, however, is preferred and all prices are pegged to it. But there is not enough US small change in circulation. The result is that prices are either rounded off - making goods and services more expensive - or customers brace themselves for a fight to get their change. The average city commute costs 50 cents. But the dearth of coins means passengers -handing over bills - are always owed change. Some bus drivers pair the passengers, handing them a dollar bill in change and leaving the two riders to sort the rest out themselves.

Often their only alternative is to buy an item worth a dollar that they can then share - a packet of cookies, a pie or anything they agree to. But that has not gone down well with many, who feel obliged to make an unnecessar y purchase.

Others complain it forces them to spend time with a total stranger. Or what if one is in a hurry?

And in a country where many live on less than $2 a day, 50 cents still remains a decent sum, not to be wasted.

The fights have at times turned deadly. Last year, independent papers reported that a state security agent pulled out a pistol and shot dead a bus conductor after he failed to give him change.

In another incident, a conductor and passenger scuffling over change fell into a ditch with live electricity cables and were both electrocuted.

Initially, drivers issued credit notes in the form of coupons but they were not universal and only valid on specific routes. Bus operators also ran into problems with fake coupons, on some days accumulating nothing but paper slips and not enough cash to pay for their fuel.

To get round the problem, a South African five rand coin has become widely accepted as equivalent to 50 cents, for the purposes of public transport, regardless of the actual exchange rate. This in

turn has prompted entrepreneurial-minded young men to smuggle in coins from South Africa to sell to bus conductors. “We have agreed with the Kombi (minibus) drivers to split the dollar into rands, so they come here to get change,” said Felix Munonyanya, a boilermaker who found the trade lucrative enough to quit his job of six years to sell rands on the roadside near the main working-class suburbs of Mbare and Highfields.

Not all merchants buy coins, however. Ice-cream and yoghurt vendor Locadia Chimimba conceded that “the situation is better these days because you can buy change if you want” but she herself does not and still asks customers to buy more to make up the difference. In supermarkets, when the grocery bill does not add up neatly to a round figure shoppers are offered sweets, match boxes, chewing gum and even condoms to compensate. Credit notes have been another option, but Zimbabweans complain they are often printed on thermal paper that fades easily.

The country’s mobile phone services have stepped into the picture, offering airtime in lieu of change. Dubbed Yo-Time, supermarkets can instantly credit a customer’s pre-paid mobile with any value from 10 cents and $50. “When we realised there was a problem of change, we

thought, why not have it paid out as airtime so that people were not forced to buy sweets,” said YoTime’s creative director Walter Chipangura. “We were getting tired of sweets!”

So far, all sides seem pleased. “It has reduced the pressure. There used to be lots of shouting,” said Farai Doka, manager of Spar supermarket in the middleclass Kensington suburb. Authorities considered importing US coins but the idea was dropped when shipping costs proved too expensive - costing two dollars for a batch of coins worth one dollar, experts said. Two years ago bankers imported eight million rands worth of coins, but these were rejected by retailers as they haggled over the exchange rate.

Ecuador, which also uses the US dollar as legal tender, uses coins of its own currency in place of US cents. But trying to mint and re-introduce Zimbabwean dollar coins is likely to bring back painful memories and meet resistance. During the economic meltdown, it took sackfuls of notes just to buy groceries and millions lost their savings as the currency became worthless overnight. “For me, I never want to see the Zimbabwe dollar again,” said Patrick Nyakodzwe, selling airtime scratch cards and packets of biscuits for one rand each near the city’s Copacana bus stop. — AFP

Nigeria sect leader slams Obama over ‘terror’ tag Shekau mocks terrorist designation slapped on him KANO, Nigeria: The suspected leader of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram criticised US President Barack Obama in an online video on Saturday over Washington’s decision to label him a “global terrorist”. It was unclear when the video was made, but it marked the first time Abubakar Shekau publicly addressed the terrorist designation slapped on him by the United States in June. The clip, more than 38 minutes long, could not be independently verified as authentic, but it was similar to previous videos of Shekau.

“You said I’m a global terrorist, then you are a terrorist in the next world,” Shekau said in the Hausa language in the video posted on YouTube while speaking of Obama.

Earlier in the video, Shekau says, “I call on you (Nigerian President Goodluck) Jonathan, you should abandon this ungodly power, you should repent and forsake Christianity, including Obama, who said I have business interests in the United States.” Speaking in a sarcastic tone, an AK-47 leaning against the

wall next to him, he also says, “I know the United States exists, but I don’t know which part of the world it is located in, whether in the west or the north, the south or the east. I don’t know where it is, not to talk of freezing my assets there.”

His comments were a reference to the terrorist designation given to him and two other Nigerians which allows US authorities to seize their assets in the United States. In June, the US State Department announced the designations for Shekau as well as Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid Al-Barnawi. Kambar and Barnawi were said to be linked to Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Qaeda’s north African branch. Boko Haram has carried out scores of attacks in Nigeria that have left hundreds dead as part of an increasingly deadly insurgency.

Members of the group are believed to have received training from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in nor thern Mali, and Western countries have been watching close-

This undated image grab taken yesterday from a video uploaded on YouTube purportedly shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau speaking in a 38-minute clip. — AFP

Nigeria bomber kills 5 soldiers KANO, Nigeria: A suicide bomber in a car rammed into a military patrol yesterday in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu, killing himself and at least five soldiers, a security source said. “The attacker died in the explosion and five soldiers were also killed,” the source said on condition of anonymity. There was no immediate claim for the attack, but it was similar to scores of others carried out by radical Islamist group Boko Haram, whose insurgency has killed hundreds in Nigeria.

The state police commissioner, Patrick Egbuniwe, confirmed the explosion and said that there were military casualties, without providing a figure. He provided a slightly different version of events, saying the suicide bomber was being chased by a military patrol vehicle and the driver blew himself up when soldiers closed in on him.

However, the security source said the bomber in a sport-utility vehicle had been parked along the roadside and rammed into the multiple vehicle military convoy when it passed, affecting two of the vehicles.

Damaturu is located in Yobe state, which has been hard hit by attacks blamed on Boko Haram.

Yesterday’s attack follows a suicide bomber’s attempt to assassinate Yobe state’s top traditional Muslim

leader, the Emir of Fika, on Friday.

The bomber sought to approach the emir after Friday prayers in the city of Potiskum but was pushed away. He blew himself up and wounded a number of others.

Authorities have been carrying out raids since the attempted attack in a bid to arrest suspected members of Boko Haram, which has claimed to be fighting for the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north.

The group is thought to include various factions with differing aims, however, and demands have repeatedly shifted. Members of Boko Haram are believed to have received training from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in northern Mali, and Western countries have been watching closely for signs of further cooperation. Some US lawmakers have been pushing Obama’s administration to label Boko Haram as a whole a terrorist organisation, but American diplomats have stressed that the group remains domestically focused.

They also say deep poverty and a lack of infrastructure in Nigeria’s north must be addressed as part of the solution to the violence.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south. — AFP

ly for signs of further cooperation. Some US lawmakers have been pushing Obama’s administration to label Boko Haram as a whole a terrorist organisation, but American diplomats have stressed that the group remains domestically focused. They also say deep poverty and a lack of infrastructure in Nigeria’s north must be addressed as part of the solution to the violence.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sin” in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, is believed to include a number of factions with differing aims.

Shekau is thought to lead the main radical Islamist branch. After a 2009 uprising that led to nearly a week of fighting, ending with a military assault which left some 800 people dead, the group went dormant for more than a year. It re-emerged in 2010 with a series of assassinations. Bomb blasts, including suicide attacks, have since become frequent.

Its attacks have been focused in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north and a number of have occurred in the religiously and ethnically divided centre of Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer. The West African nation’s 160 million population is roughly divided between a mostly Muslim north and a predominately Christian south.

Little is known about Shekau, though he has appeared in previous YouTube clips a number of times to denounce the Nigerian government and Western influence as well as threaten further attacks. He was seen as the second-in-command of Boko Haram at the time of the 2009 uprising.

The leader at the time, Mohammed Yusuf, was captured by soldiers and handed over to police. He was later killed when police claimed he was trying to escape, though rights groups have called it a summary execution. Many have said dialogue is key to ending the unrest in Nigeria. Shekau made vague comments regarding talks in Saturday’s video, at one point seeming to suggest they were possible, but appearing to rule it out later. — AFP

LILONGWE, Malawi: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) meets Malawi’s President Joyce Banda at the State House yesterday. — AP

Clinton praises Banda for economic reforms LILONGWE: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the first US chief diplomat to visit Malawi as she arrived yesterday in the southern African country’s capital Lilongwe where she held talks with President Joyce Banda. A military guard of honour and groups performing traditional dances, chanting and beating drums welcomed her at Kamuzu International Airport. Clinton met with Banda, Africa’s second woman leader after Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at her official residence State House where the two exchanged warm words.

“For a long time, we have been women and children activists. I have been waiting for the day when we would meet,” Banda told Clinton as the two held hands. Clinton “commended the decisions of Banda’s first 100 days” including a move to float the currency, according to a State Department official who attended the meeting. Malawi devalued the kwacha by nearly 34 percent against the US dollar in May, which had been trading at double the official exchange on the black market. The disparity had caused a severe foreign exchange shortage, as the currency was driven into the hands of informal dealers.

Clinton also warned the Malawi govern-

ment against corruption, which she called a “hidden tax on the Malawi people”. She “encouraged President Banda to be a role model in Southern Africa for more democratic governance and also regional integration among the states of this region.” Clinton next sped off for a short trip to the US embassy, where she gave a brief pep talk to embassy workers. As part of a marathon eleven-day Africa tour she was due to fly later yesterday to South Africa, where she would meet with anti-apartheid icon and Nobel Laureate Nelson Mandela in the week.

A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Clinton tagged visits to Nigeria and Benin onto the trip after South Africa. She is also expected in Ghana for the state funeral of late president John Atta Mills. Banda was sworn in as president in April following the death of late president Bingu wa Mutharika.

She swiftly set about restoring relations with foreign donors, who had suspended funds due to concerns about hardline governance and rights issues under Mutharika. In June the US - the impoverished nation’s largest bilateral donor - said it would restore aid worth $350 million to Malawi’s energy sector in light of Banda’s “bold actions” to reform the government. — AFP

UN staffer shot dead in Sudan KHARTOUM: A Sudanese driver for the World Food Programme has been shot dead in war-torn South Kordofan state, the UN agency said yesterday, in the second attack against it in two days. The killing came as officials announced an agreement on aid access to South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where the UN has described a worsening humanitarian crisis but has been severely restricted in its movement. “Our driver was killed yesterday in an armed attack in an area some 80 kilometres north of Kadugli,” WFP spokeswoman Amor Almagro told AFP. Jamal Al Fadil Farag Allah, married with five children, is the first WFP employee to be killed in Sudan, she said. “He was driving fellow staff member Saad Yousif when their vehicle was attacked by two unknown assailants,” Almagro said. They were travelling on a main road in a marked UN vehicle on official business, she added.

Yousif was wounded but survived and was to be air-

lifted to Khartoum later yesterday. More than 200,000 refugees have fled a worsening humanitarian situation in South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile states since fighting between government and rebel forces from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) began in June last year, the United Nations says. Ethnic minority insurgents of the SPLM-N fought alongside southern rebels during Sudan’s 22-year civil war, which ended in a 2005 peace deal and South Sudan’s independence in July last year.

There are no figures for how many people have died since the war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile began. The government of Sudan has cited security concerns in placing tight restrictions on the operations of foreign relief agencies in the warzone. After African Union-led talks in Ethiopia, AU mediator Thabo Mbeki on Saturday announced an agreement between Sudan, the United Nations, the AU and the

KHARTOUM: Sudanese government negotiator Kamal Obeid speaks during a press conference yesterday. — AFP

Arab League to allow for humanitarian access in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Sudan has agreed to allow an independent assessment of the humanitarian needs, as well as internationally-monitored delivery of aid throughout the war zone, a foreign analyst said. However, a ceasefire will be required to implement the measures, he added.

Progress on aid is unlikely until the political side is addressed as well, “including a possible ceasefire”, a humanitarian source said. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was encouraged that Sudan had reportedly agreed on “modalities” for delivering aid to all civilians affected by the conflict.

She urged immediate implementation of the deal which “needs to be accompanied by a cessation of hostilities and political negotiations between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North”. The WFP worker’s death came two days after armed men in another part of the country spent about 12 hours looting and ransacking a WFP compound, Almagro said. The incident began at about mid-day Thursday and continued until early Friday at the compound in Kutum town, North Darfur, she said. “Our office and guest house were looted,” with furniture, fuel, computers and other items stolen, Almagro said. WFP staff hid during the incident and were unhurt.

“Since the security situation remains tense and unpredictable we have decided to suspend our operation until the situation calms down,” she said.

WFP recently completed a food distribution to about 70,000 people in the area, meaning the suspension will not have an immediate impact on their food supply. The attack against the WFP office came a day after a district chief died from gunshot wounds suffered in an ambush of his car in Kutum, raising tensions. A Briton who worked for WFP in Nyala, South Darfur, was kidnapped earlier this year and spent nearly three months in custody before his release in May. —AFP

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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

Trauma remains for Chile’s ‘Miracle 33’ two years on SANTIAGO: Two years have passed since the day 33 workers were trapped deep inside a Chilean mine for more than two months - and many of the rescued men are still figuring out how to move on.

While a few have managed to turn their fame into success, others are still struggling to heal from the psychological trauma of being trapped in a dark mine shaft 622 m below the earth’s surface. Some say that just making a living has proven difficult after the fanfare surrounding their 69-day ordeal and internationally televised rescue dissipated.

On Aug 5, 2010, a shaft leading to the surface at the San Jose copper and gold mine in the Atacama desert col-

lapsed, trapping 32 Chileans miners and a Bolivian colleague inside. A fivemeter tall cross has been installed near an altar dedicated to Virgin of La Candelaria - patron saint of miners - as a memorial to the accident. “The last time we saw each other, about 80 percent of us were back at work somewhere,” miner Juan Illanes told AFP. He now lives in Chillan, in southern Chile, and works for a company linked to the mining industry.

Illanes said that he has found solace in the local chapter of a Sufi Muslim support group based in Cyprus. “We do group therapy and we meet in Vallenar (in southern Chile). The leader of the group, Abdul, has introduced us to Muslim religious education,” he said,

without going into details. Illanes was joined by two other rescued miners, Omar Reygadas and Dario Segovia, and traveled to Cyprus to meet the spiritual head of the Muslim Sufi Naqshbandi Order.

It took rescuers 17 days to drill a small shaft to establish contact, and more than two months of painstaking effort before they opened a passage way wide enough to pull them out, one by one.

“After a year of trips and television shows, but without work or income, we had to face reality,” miner Pablo Rojas told the daily El Mercurio. Miner and ex-football player Franklin Lobos told the newspaper that it has taken him “a long time to recover physically

and psychologically. “My wife and I separated for some time, and now I get angry more easily than before,” he said.

Victor Segovia, who stayed in the northern town of Copiapo, near the San Jose mine, works as a driver and said he has needed therapy and medication.

Edison Pena, the Elvis Presley fan who ran the New York marathon after his rescue and sang on the US late night David Letterman comedy show, was admitted to a detox center for his drug and alcohol addiction. Mario Sepulveda, the charismatic “star” of the miners and the second man to be rescued, has been more successful since the traumatic experience. He gives

talks at conferences in Chile and abroad. “I work often in workshops trying to reach at-risk children, especially though sports.

I also work with mining companies, on risk and prevention, to ensure that what happened to us never happens again,” Sepulveda, known by his nickname “Super Mario,” told AFP. The miners have just signed a contract with a Chilean company to create a line of memorabilia branded “The Miracle 33” to be sold in the country’s airports.

They said they registered their trademark after catchphrases used by them had been appropriated by other parties. A movie about their story will start filming in November for a planned Feb 2013 release. — AFP

Ramallah NAM meet off as Israel bars ministers Egyptian FM slams ‘blatant action’

Mafia cashes in as broke Italians flog their gold AREZZO, Italy: Italy’s traditional goldsmiths are up in arms over a boom in the poorly regulated cash-for-gold sector that is making billions for the mafia as hard-up Italians rush to sell off their bling. Cash-for-gold shops have filled Italy’s streets in recent months, with blanket television adverts urging Italians to sell off their medallions and jewels for quick cash. Much of the gold eventually makes its way across the Alps to Switzerland - whether legally or smuggled across the border - making gold Italy ’s fastest growing export and Switzerland an increasingly prominent market for Italy.

Custom seizures of gold are up 50 percent, officials say, with one of the latest cases a father and daughter arrested trying to squirrel out 50 kg of the metal worth over two million euros in unmarked ingots. “It’s a booming sector for criminal organisations. Smuggled gold ends up all over the world, in countries where it is swapped for arms, drugs, you name it,” said Ranieri Razzante, head of AIRA, an anti-money laundering watchdog. Legal gold sales to Switzerland totalled 120 tonnes last year - up from 73 tonnes in 2010 and 64 tonnes in 2009, with foundries built on the border having to work flat out to meet demand and almost daily truckloads crossing over.

According to the gold workers’ guild (ANOPO), “almost all the gold exported comes from cash-for-gold” bringing in billions for organised crime. “Italy ’s become a veritable gold mine,” said Ivana

Ciabatti, gold and silversmith president at the national business association Confindustria, who is based in the central town of Arezzo, the gold production capital of Italy. “It’s fundamental to fight the criminal elements in the sector,” she said.

The booming over-the-counter industry is worth at least Ä14 billion ($17.6 billion), according to ANOPO, which is campaigning for changes to the law to stop mafia infiltration of their sector. Thanks to a legal loop-hole, the shops can dodge Value Added Tax (VAT) because they are considered part of the “scrapping” business.

Out of an estimated 28,000 cash-forgold stores in Italy, only a few hundred have registered with the Bank of Italy and professional associations say that some 80 percent of the gold sold there ultimately ends up in Switzerland. Italy historically has some of the highest rates of gold jewellery ownership in the world because of cultural traditions like gifts of gold chains but also because ownership of gold bullion was illegal until a decade ago. “Jewellery was the only form of gold investment allowed and Italian families still own considerable quantities,” said Alessandra Pilloni, an analyst from Bullion Vault, an online London-based gold trader. “Cash-strapped families can now sell unwanted jewels much more easily than before and last summer was a turning point as the crisis deepened,” she said. The price of gold has meanwhile shot up from some $300 an ounce in 2002 to around $1,600 today, triggering the current boom in sales. — AFP

RAMALLAH: A key meeting of Non-Aligned Movement ministers which was to have taken place in the West Bank yesterday was cancelled after Israel denied several of them entry, officials said. The ministers were to have attended a two-day meeting of the movement ’s Palestine Committee in Ramallah at which they were poised to sign a declaration in support of a fresh Palestinian bid for upgraded UN membership. “After consultation between all the delegations in Amman and the Palestinian leadership, the Ramallah meeting of the Palestine Committee of the Non-Aligned Movement has been cancelled,” a senior Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

It came shortly after Israel barred ministers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cuba and Algeria from travelling to Ramallah. A senior Israeli official said the ban targeted five countries which have no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

“A decision has been taken to bar the diplomatic representatives of several countries which do not recognise Israel from crossing the Israeli borders,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity. However, Algeria had earlier informed the Palestinian Authority it would not be sending a delegation to avoid friction at the Israeli-controlled frontier.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr condemned Israel’s “blatant action”, saying: “It is a flagrant violation of the principles of international law and of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.” “ This Israeli action highlights once again to NAM and to the whole international community the plight of the Palestinian people in their struggle to achieve full

independence,” Amr told reporters in Amman.

Foreign ministers from the 13 countries on NAM’s Palestine Committee were to have signed the so-called “Ramallah

pledged to veto it. “In the upand-coming session of the General Assembly next month, President Abbas will speak about this on the 27th,” Malki said. “Palestine will apply imme-

closely coordinated with Israel, Jordan and Egypt. “The logistics of getting them here isn’t easy at all, especially as some countries have no relations with Israel and cannot enter through

AMMAN: Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr speaks as other Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) ministers listen on at a news conference yesterday. — AFP Declaration” suppor ting a Palestinian bid to upgrade their UN status from observer to nonmember state. Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Malki on Saturday called the statement “a political declaration that endorses and suppor ts the Palestinian people’s right to have a state, condemns settlements and suppor ts the Palestinian bid to obtain nonmember status at the UN.” The request will be put to the UN General Assembly on Sept 27, exactly a year after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas tried to obtain full member status.

Despite the high-profile effort, the request was never put to a vote in the UN Security Council, where the United States had

diately to the UN and the head of the General Assembly will be informed that Palestine wants to obtain non-member status,” he said. “After that, we will begin communicating with all components of the General Assembly to talk about the appropriate date” for a vote.

The fresh attempt to secure upgraded status, which is likely to win support from most NAM states when it holds its 16th annual summit in Tehran later this month, is strongly opposed

by Israel and the United States. “ The Non-Aligned summit in Tehran will adopt the Ramallah declaration,” Malki said. He also said the logistics of getting the foreign ministers into Ramallah for Sunday’s meeting had been

the Israeli border,” he said. The Palestine Committee comprises ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cuba, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Senegal, Colombia and India.

Normally, anyone visiting the Palestinian territories can only get there by flying to Tel Aviv then driving through Israel to Ramallah, or coming through an Israeli-controlled border crossing from Jordan into the occupied West Bank.

In a bid to simplify the logistics, Malki had said the ministers would be flown by helicopter from a Jordanian airpor t to Ramallah in a move which still requires Israeli permission. — AFP

US shooter to get life in jail PHOENIX: A possible plea deal in the deadly Tucson shootings that wounded then-US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords would send Jared Lee Loughner to prison for the rest of his life, according to a person familiar with the case. A court-appointed psychiatrist will testify Tuesday that Loughner is competent to enter a plea in the shooting rampage that killed six people and injured 13, including Giffords, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A status conference in the federal case had already been scheduled for tomorrow in Tucson.

The person, speaking Saturday about upcoming events in the case, said the plan is for Loughner to enter a guilty plea in the murders and attempted murders. The plan is contingent on the judge in the case allowing Loughner to enter the plea.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier Saturday that Loughner was set to change his plea. Bill Solomon, a spokesman for the US attorney’s office, said he could not comment on Loughner’s case and the possibility of a guilty plea. The Pima County attorney’s office, which has said it could also pursue state prosecution of Loughner, declined to comment, said spokeswoman Isabel Burruel Smutzer.

Loughner had pleaded not guilty to 49 federal charges stemming from the Jan 8, 2011, shooting outside a

Tucson supermarket where Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet with constituents. Authorities said he shot Giffords, opened fire on the crowd and was subdued by bystanders.

Giffords was shot in the head and subsequently left Congress to devote her time to rehabilitation. Giffords and her husband were traveling in Europe, and spokeswoman Hayley Zachary said Saturday she had no information on developments in Loughner’s case.

US Rep Ron Barber, a Democrat who was elected in June to replace Giffords in Congress after she resigned, also was wounded in the shooting. A spokesman for Barber

Jared Lee Loughner

did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US District Judge Larry Burns ruled previously that Loughner isn’t psychologically fit to stand trial, but that he could eventually be made ready for trial after treatment.

An Arizona college that Loughner attended released numerous emails about him that painted a picture of a struggling student with emotional problems who disturbed others with his strange behavior. Experts have concluded that Loughner suffers from schizophrenia, and prison officials in Missouri, where Loughner has been held, have forcibly medicated him with psychotropic drugs. Even though psychologists have said Loughner’s condition is improving, his lawyers have vigorously fought the government’s efforts to medicate him.

At one point, a federal appeals court halted the forced medication, but resumed it once mental health experts at the prison concluded that Loughner’s condition was deteriorating further.

Loughner has demonstrated bizarre behavior since his arrest. He was removed from a May 25, 2011, court hearing when he lowered his head to within inches of the courtroom table, then lifted his head and began a loud and angry rant. His psychologist has said that since Loughner has been forcibly medicated, his condition has improved.

He sat still and expressionless for seven hours at a hearing in Sept 2011. — AP

SANTO DOMINGO: A boy watches high waves caused by Storm Ernesto along the south coast on Saturday. — AFP

Ernesto spinning west, seen soaking Jamaica MIAMI: Tropical Storm Ernesto kept on a westerly course in the Caribbean Sea yesterday, and was expected to strengthen slowly over the next 48 hours, soaking Jamaica as it passes the island on its way to the Yucatan, US forecasters said.

Tropical storm conditions were expected to reach Jamaica by yesterday afternoon, and tropical storm conditions were possible along the coast of Honduras by late today, the National Hurricane Center said.

Ernesto was following a predicted track that should keep it at sea until a forecast landfall, possibly at hurricane strength, over Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula on Wednesday.

The storm was 345 km southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, around 8 am EDT yesterday, with maximum sustained winds weakening somewhat to 85 kph. Heavy rains were expected throughout yesterday in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. 7.5 to 15 cm were expected in Jamaica. Showers and thun-

derstorms - sometimes severe - were possible on the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire off Venezuela’s northern coast. “Ernesto is forecast to become a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean in a day or two,” the US forecasters in Miami said. Ernesto would be deemed a hurricane if its winds reach 119 kph.

Forecasters expect Ernesto to move into the southern Gulf of Mexico by Thursday but it was too early to know whether it could disrupt oil and gas operations in the gulf. US National Hurricane Center forecasters said another tropical storm, called Florence, formed on Saturday in the eastern Atlantic and was moving west in open waters.

As of early yesterday, forecasters said, Florence was about 1,090 km west of the Cape Verde Islands. With maximum sustained winds of 95 kph, Florence was the sixth named storm of the Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season, moving west-northwest at 24 kph. — Reuters

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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

India’s love of appliances boosts power consumption NEW DELHI: Every evening before Indian executive Sushmita Rao leaves her Delhi office, she phones her maid to switch on the air conditioner so her apartment is refreshingly cool when she reaches home. “I work in an airconditioned office and I suffocate if my place isn’t cool,” said Rao, one of hundreds of millions of Indians who went without electricity last week in the world’s worst-ever blackout. The monster grid failure was blamed on greedy states consuming more than their allotted power quotas as they sought to meet spikes in demand.

Part of the demand surge comes from Indians’ adopting electricity-guzzling lifestyles which adds to the strain on the grid from industrial users and businesses in Asia’s third-largest economy. “As India’s middle class broadens, there’s a heavier burden on energy demand as people buy appliances for a better quality of life,” Will Pearson, global energy analyst at London-based Eurasia Group, told AFP. Experts warn blackouts like those that knocked out power to one half of India’s 1.2 population last Monday and Tuesday, could be the way of the future unless the government fixes the creak-

ing electricity sector. “We’re growing through a major societal transformation... we will need more and more power to fuel our industries, consumer goods, our malls, our offices,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman of leading retail consultancy Technopak. “Unless planners recognise this, we’re going to see many more failures on the scale of the ones we saw.” There are 470 million people in what global consultancy PwC calls the “emerging middle class” those sandwiched between the lowest income group and the middle class.

Though they earn modest sums, collectively they have large purchasing power, PwC says. The middle class numbers 160 million according to India’s National Council for Applied Economic Research - bigger than the populations of Russia or Japan - and is seen rising to 267 million by 2016.

Air conditioners, microwave ovens, toasters and washing machines are possessions that distinguish India’s upwardly mobile and have become increasingly available and affordable since pro-market reforms of the 1990s.

Consumer attitudes in India to air conditioners have “witnessed a paradigm shift” in recent years from luxury prod-

uct to domestic necessity, consultancy TechSci noted, forecasting the AC market will expand annually by 14 percent

an increasing number of Indians who work in air-conditioned offices, shop in air-conditioned malls and dine in air-

NEW DELHI: A salesman gestures to air conditioning units on display at a showroom on Aug 1, 2012. — AFP for the next five years. Indian summers see the mercury rise above 50 degrees Centigrade in many areas, and these are followed by the sticky, humid monsoon season. Ad manager Rao is one of

conditioned restaurants. Rao, who lives alone, says she has a washing machine - “it’s easier for my maid” - two TVs, air conditioners in every room, an entertainment system, laptop, hairdryer and

a host of other electronic devices. “I use a lot of electricity but it’s my lifestyle - I like to be comfortable,” she says.

She’s not alone in her assortment of appliances. “I have everything my parents didn’t have,” said Sheila Krishna, wife of a government bureaucrat.

Experts say last week’s blackouts served to focus minds on how India will meet the fast-growing needs of its citizens, industry and businesses. The power failure was “a wake-up call”, says Technopak’s Singhal. “This country already has 900 million mobile phones - it sounds like a small thing - but these all need to be charged every day.”

Power cuts are a daily occurrence in India which runs a peak-hour electricity shortfall of around 12 percent - despite the fact that about a third of Indians have no connection to the grid. As of 2009, just 66.3 percent of Indians had access to electricity, compared with 98.3 percent for Brazil and 99.4 percent for China, according to the latest World Development Indicators. “It is imperative our basic infrastructure requirements are in keeping with India’s aspirations,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry. — AFP

Sleepy tropical island belies China sea claims Formation of administration in Sansha latest salvo

QUETTA: Pakistani security officials search a destroyed building after an explosives laden car blew up on the outskirts of this city in southwest Pakistan yesterday. A suspected militant killed himself and two children when a bomb in the car he was driving exploded before he reached his intended target, police said. —AFP

UN weighs in on Philippine debate MANILA: The United Nations warned yesterday that failure to pass a controversial birth control law in the Philippines could reverse gains in development goals amid stiff opposition from the powerful Catholic Church. The bill seeks to make it mandatory for the government to provide free contraceptives in a country where more than 80 percent of the population is Catholic and which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Southeast Asia.

Ugochi Daniels, country representative from the UN Population Fund, said she remained “cautiously optimistic” that President Benigno Aquino’s allies who dominate the House of Representatives could muster the numbers to pass the bill on Tuesday after 14 years of often divisive debate. “What is important now is to highlight the urgency of the bill,” Daniels said.

The UN, in a separate statement, said the Philippines was unlikely to achieve its millennium development goal of reducing maternal deaths by three quarters and providing universal access to reproductive health by 2015. The body said it had “extensively studied” the proposed law which once passed could “vastly improve health and quality of life” in a country where a third of the population live on less than a dollar a day.

A rise in unwanted pregnancies could swell the number of people in poverty, and lead to an explosion in urban slum populations, the UN said. And while the country has been enjoying economic expansion of more than five percent in recent years, the gains could be reversed, it warned. “Hopes of future prosperity could turn to dust if the country is not able to deal with the population growth,” the UN said. Daniels said maternal deaths would continue to rise with more and more women getting pregnant at a

young age without the proper health care and access to key reproductive information.

Between 2006 and 2010, the maternal mortality rate rose 36 percent to 221 deaths per 100,000 live births, from 162 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 2005, according to the government’s 2011 Family Health Survey. And many of those giving birth were girls between 15 and 19 years old, the UN said. “I think we’ve gone from 11 (maternal deaths) a day to between 14 and 15 a day now. And unfortunately, most of these are poor women,” Daniels said.

The UN Population Fund was “very concerned” about the rising number of deaths, she said, noting that even in wartorn Afghanistan the trend was downwards. She urged Philippine lawmakers to quickly pass the bill and “stop failing our young”. “This is now the time. We have been waiting for a very long time,” Daniels said. The UN’s call came as Catholic priests and nuns led thousands in a protest rally in Manila Saturday to urge lawmakers to scrap the bill. Besides free contraception, it would also give the poor preferential access to family planning services in state hospitals, while lessons on family planning and sex education would become compulsory in schools and for couples applying for a marriage licence.

The UN has said a lack of education and access to condoms has led to an explosion of HIV infections in the Philippines, which it said is now one of seven countries in the world where cases have risen by 25 percent or more since 2001. Aquino has signalled his backing for the bill ahead of tomorrow’s vote in the House of Representatives. The Senate, the upper house of parliament, also needs to pass the bill before it can become law, but some of its leaders were seen giving their support to the church rally Saturday. — AFP

India floods kill 34 DEHRADUN, India: Flash floods in mountainous northern Indian have killed at least 34 people and left hundreds of Hindu pilgrims stranded, officials said yesterday. Twenty-three workers at a hydroelectric power plant in Uttarakhand state died after water gushed into the facility on Saturday, state disaster management minister Yashpal Arya said. Arya said three fire department personnel died in a riverside village in the state, which is in the Himalayan foothills. “ They were washed way from their fire station,” Arya said, adding there had been seven other deaths in the region since the floods began early Saturday after heavy rains.

The state’s Uttarkashi district is a popular Hindu pilgrimage site and some 700 pilgrims who were visiting

shrines in the area had been stranded by the floods, Arya said. The pilgrims became trapped after the floods wiped out roads, cutting off 80 Uttarkashi villages from the rest of Uttarakhand, he said. “Rescue teams have been sent” to help those affected, Arya said, adding the floods destroyed 90 homes and 50 guest houses, with scores more threatened.

Torrential rains on Friday night also hit the nearby state of Himachal Pradesh, drowning a man in his vehicle, washing away several bridges and partly destroying a key highway. While monsoon rains have failed to appear in many regions this year, other places have been inundated. Rains in the northeast last month killed more than 120 people and forced another six million to flee their homes. — AFP

BEIJING: China’s newest city might appear to be a tranquil outpost in the South China Sea, but the beaches and palm trees of Sansha are at the heart of a growing territorial dispute.

The so-called “city” is on Yongxing, one of many small islands, reefs and shoals that make up the disputed Paracel Islands spreading over the northern part of the sea. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, which is home to vital shipping lanes and possesses varying degrees of proven and estimated oil and gas deposits. The formation of an administration in Sansha, which will be responsible for China’s interests in the South China Sea is just its latest salvo.

Taiwan and ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia all make rival claims on areas of the sea, while the United States is also watching China’s increased assertiveness closely. A US State Department spokesman said in a statement Friday that Washington was “concerned by the increase in tensions in the South China Sea”.

The establishment of an administration in Sansha and a new military garrison there “runs counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region”, he added.

China reacted swiftly. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the US remarks sent “a seriously wrong signal, which is not conducive to the efforts safeguarding the peace and stability of the South China Sea and the Asia Pacific region”. He said the establishment of Sansha was “completely within China’s sovereignty”, and called for nations with disputes over territorial claims to stick to friendly negotiations, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Jutting up from lush, green vegetation, a domed colonial-style building is the dominant structure on Yongxing island, a land area of just over two square kilometres. Adding heft are a mayor, a 45-strong local legislature led by a provincial civil air defence official, a court and, most contentious of all, the new military garrison. Chinese media reports give varying accounts of how many people live on the island, which is traditionally centred on fishing. But it seems safe to say that the population doesn’t much exceed 1,000. Inhabitants have access to a bank and a supermarket, pho-

tos on the Internet show. There is a library painted in a salmon-coloured hue and a basketball court shaded by palm trees. Other pictures depict people relaxing in hammocks outside their modest dwellings. There is also a hotel, but there are unlikely to be many visitors yet.

Xinhua said the island has a port and a small military airport. Aerial photos show an airstrip cutting across one end of Yongxing,

km across the sprawling South China Sea. That encompasses not only the Paracels, but Macclesfield Bank, a largely sunken atoll to the east, and the Spratly Islands to the south. All are disputed.

The jockeying for control is complex. China, Taiwan and Vietnam claim the Paracels; China, Taiwan, the Philippines and - according to some reports - Vietnam, the Macclesfield Bank; while China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam,

SANSHA: This picture taken on July 25, 2012 shows the government house in China’s newest city anchored on a remote tropical island with coral reefs, palm trees and white sand beaches giving it the allure of a tourist idyll, under the administration of southern Hainan province. — AFP stretching far out onto reclaimed land.

Improvements are reportedly in store for the islanders in the form of public housing projects and a new hospital complete with a gynaecology and obstetrics department, suggesting an increase in population is expected.

One obscure claim to fame for Sansha, which falls within China’s Hainan province, is that it is simultaneously the country’s biggest and smallest city. While it’s the tiniest in terms of land area and population, it becomes the biggest when total area under its jurisdiction is taken into account, a whopping 2.6 million sq

Brunei and Malaysia have various claims on the Spratlys.

China announced the establishment of Sansha, which can be translated roughly as “three sands”, with much fanfare in late July. The name derives from the city being supposedly in charge of the three island groups. “The provincial government will be devoted to turning the city into an important base to safeguard China’s sovereignty and serve marine resource development,” Luo Baoyou, the Communist Party head in Hainan province, said in a speech marking Sansha’s establishment. — AFP

Karzai accepts dismissal of ministers Two Kiwi soldiers killed KABUL/WELLINGTON: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said yesterday he had accepted a vote by the country’s parliament to dismiss his two top security ministers, but ordered both to remain in their jobs pending replacement, a move aimed at safeguarding fragile stability. The fractious parliament voted on Saturday to remove Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi after a series of recent insurgent assassinations of top officials, as well as cross-border fire incidents blamed on Pakistan which infuriate many Afghan voters as well as politicians.

Their removal could be a blow to NATO plans to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces before the end of 2014, as both positions are crucial to the 11-year war against insurgents as Western countries draw down their military presence. Karzai, who chaired a Sunday meeting of Afghanistan’s National Security Council, issued a statement thanking the pair for “their hard work and dedication”, and saying replacements would be brought

in. Karzai can keep both ministers in their jobs for months if he chooses, and as he previously has done after parliamentary votes to reject his choices. Those moves may have alienated lawmakers whose cooperation he needs to crack down on widespread corruption within his unpopular gov-

ernment in order to help guarantee up to $16 billion worth of aid promised by his Western backers.

Karzai’s powerful finance minister, Hazarat Omar Zakhilwal, is also vulnerable as a result of accusations aired on Afghan television that he stashed away more than $1 million in overseas banks. An

KARIZONA, Afghanistan: A US soldier from Apache team, Task force Geronimo interacts with an Afghan child in this village in Sabari district in Khost province yesterday. NATO has some 130,000 USled troops in Afghanistan helping Karzai’s government fight the insurgency, but they will pull out by the end of 2014, handing responsibility for security to Afghan forces. — AFP

investigation was launched on Saturday by the country’s top anti-corruption chief.

Meanwhile, two New Zealand soldiers have been killed and six wounded in a battle in central Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key said yesterday, while ruling out the possibility of an accelerated troop pullout. The deaths bring to seven the number of New Zealand soldiers killed in Afghanistan since deployment to the war-torn country. “It’s a day of great tragedy,” Key told a media conference. “For New Zealand, a small country, losing seven of our men is an enormous price to pay.

It reinforces the danger faced daily by our forces as they work tirelessly to restore stability to the province”.

The soldiers were killed in an attack on Saturday when they went to the aid of local security forces who encountered suspected insurgents near a village in the central province of Bamiyan. Two local security personnel were also killed in the attack while six New Zealand soldiers, 10 local security personnel and a civilian were injured.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

NEWS

LONDON: Marc Houtzager, of the Netherlands, rides his horse Tamino in the equestrian show jumping team competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics yesterday. — AP

Are we alone? NASA’s Mars rover aims to find out Israel upgrades Arrow ballistic missile shield A message to Iran and Syria JERUSALEM: Israel is upgrading its Arrow II ballistic missile shield in a US-backed “race” against Iran, Syria and other regional enemies, a senior Israeli defense official said yesterday.

The new “Block 4” generation of guided interceptor rockets, radars and technologies for synchronizing Arrow with US systems was being installed in deployed Israeli batteries, a process that would take several weeks, the official said.

“The accuracy and the reach will be greater,” the official said of Arrow, which has been operational since 2000 and is designed to blow up incoming missiles at altitudes high enough for non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely. “It is part of the technological race in the region,” the official, who declined to be named said. Long jittery about Iran’s disputed nuclear program, the Israelis have more recently worried

the Syrian insurgency could loosen Damascus’s hold on its chemical weapons and missiles.

Israel has threatened to attack preemptively in both countries, a prospect that could trigger wider war and clash with Washington’s efforts to resolve the crises diplomatically. Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has repeatedly vowed to retaliate against any attack. “(Israel) knows that attacking Iran is an unattainable wish, unless the regime seeks to commit suicide,” Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA yesterday.

The Pentagon and US firm Boeing Co are partners in Arrow, an investment that the Obama administration hopes will help stay Israel’s hand. US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said last week that Israeli interceptors like Arrow and Iron Dome, which

shoots down short-range guerrilla rockets, were “designed to prevent wars”. Arrow has scored a 80 percent to 90 percent success rate in field tests, system designer Uzi Rubin told Israel’s Army Radio.

“It’s always undergoing changes and improvements, as well as adaptations to new threats,” Rubin said.

Iran on Saturday unveiled a new short-range missile which it said was capable of striking land and sea targets. Syria, for its part, last month went public with its chemical arsenal, saying it was intended for lastresort use against “external aggression”. Tehran also has Islamist guerrilla allies in Lebanon and Gaza who could shell neighboring Israel during any regional conflict. Their shortrange rocket arsenals have been expanding and improving as well, the senior Israeli defense official said. — Reuters

GCC countries eye closer integration Continued from Page 1 But the group delayed any decision to future meetings.

Speaking after the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said any move towards union would include all the countries and that integration of only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain was not on the table. Of the six countries, only Bahrain was hit by major unrest during the Arab uprisings last year, as its Shiite Muslim majority rebelled against the Sunni government in a wave of protests that has continued into 2012. There were also some protests in Oman, prompting a cabinet reshuffle and extra social spending by the government.

Saudi Arabia, the largest of the six countries by size, population and economy, largely escaped the turmoil, although there have been persistent protests among members of its Shiite minority. The GCC countries have accused regional Shiite power Iran of instigating the unrest among members of the sect in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, charges that both Tehran and the protesters have denied.

Tensions with Iran have intensified as it and the GCC countries have backed different sides in the violent rebellion roiling Syria. Speaking on April 28, Prince Saud said the GCC countries should integrate their foreign and military policy to present a more united front. But when leaders of the countries met in May, differences emerged over how to

move forward, Gulf officials and analysts said at the time.

Zayani said a lot of differences had now been resolved, Arab News reported. It did not elaborate.

In another development, Saudi King Abdullah invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for an extraordinary summit of Muslim leaders to be held this month in the holy city of Makkah, state news agency SPA reported yesterday. The Saudi monarch “sent a written letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inviting him to attend the extraordinary Islamic solidarity meeting which will be held in Mecca” in mid-August, SPA reported. Tensions have been running high between the Sunni-dominated kingdom and Shiite Iran as both regional powers had taken opposite stances on the uprisings in Bahrain and Syria.

Iran had voiced support to a Shiite-led uprising in Bahrain which Saudi Arabia had sent troops to crush last year. In Syria, the kingdom had called for arming rebels against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad-who belongs to the Alawite minority, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam-while Iran has been repeatedly accused of sending military aid to the Syrian government. Tehran has denied the claims. Saudi Arabia last month called for the summit in a bid at “unifying the ranks” of Muslims.

Saudi Arabia hosts the headquarters of the 57-member pan-Muslim body-the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which is based in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. — Agencies

Opposition MPs issue stern warning to PM Continued from Page 1 in 2006, are unconstitutional and must be amended. As a first step, they proposed referring them to the constitutional court. Under the electoral law, Kuwait is divided into five constituencies with each electing 10 MPs. Under the scheme, each voter is allowed to pick up a maximum of four candidates.

Constitutional experts said the law is unconstitutional because of the huge differences in the number of voters between districts. Saadoun charged that forces of corruption in Kuwait are pushing hard to abolish the democratic system because it is not serving their interests. He advised the prime minister not to participate in this conspiracy. MP Jamaan Al-Harbash warned that referring the electoral law to the constitutional court will herald the “beginning of the crisis and

not the end”, adding that they are using claims about the electoral law as a pretext to attack the democratic system.

MP Abdulrahman Al-Anjari said the opposition has accepted the constitutional court ruling which nullified the February parliamentary polls and scrapped the 2012 National Assembly, but now they have raised the issue of the electoral law and voting system. He said that constitutional experts and advisors with the government failed to discover that the Amiri decree dissolving the 2009 assembly in December was flawed and only one candidate Safa Al-Hashem discovered that and went to court. Anjari charged that some quarters are trying to disrupt the whole parliamentary and democratic system in the country. The lawmaker warned of involving the judiciary in the ongoing political struggle, saying this will be a very dangerous move.

WASHINGTON: Are we alone? Or was there life on another planet? NASA’s $2.5 billion dream machine, the Mars Science Laboratory, aims to take the first steps toward finding out when it nears Mars’s surface today.

The planet is Earth’s closest neighbor, and scientists have found signs of water there, hinting that some form of life was once likely, even though Mars is now a dry place with a thin atmosphere, extreme winters and dust storms.

NASA said it will find out if its Mars Science Laboratory and rover, Curiosity-designed to hunt for soil-based signatures of life and send back data to prepare for a future human mission-landed safely at 1:31 am Eastern time (0531 GMT) today. That will be about 14 minutes after the touchdown actually happens due to the time it takes for spacecraft signals to travel from Mars to Earth. As of late Saturday, the laboratory was approximately 261,000 miles from Mars, closing in at around 8,000 miles per hour.

“Curiosity remains in good health with all systems operating as expected,” NASA said in a statement. The nuclear-powered rover is the biggest ever built for planetary exploration, weighing in at one ton, about the size of a small car, and carries a complex chemistry kit to zap rocks, drill soil and test for radiation. The landing is a daring and unprecedented maneuver that involves penetrating the atmosphere at a speed of 13,200 miles per hour (21,240 kilometers per hour), slowing down with the help of a supersonic parachute and dropping down gently with tethers from a rocket-powered sky crane.

“This is the most challenging landing we have ever attempted,” said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Two NASA orbiters will be crossing overhead as the lander approaches the surface, and a third orbiter operated by the European Space Agency will also send data back to Earth. The Mars Science Laboratory began its journey to the Red Planet more than eight months ago when it launched from the Florida coast in late November 2011.

“It gets scarier every day,” said McCuistion, noting that only about 40 percent of past attempts by global space agencies to send spacecraft to Mars have succeeded. “Can we do this? Yeah, I think we can do this. I am confident the team has done an amazing job. We

have the A-plus team on this. They have done everything possible to ensure success,” he said. “But that risk still exists. It is going to be tough.” NASA has detailed the final minutes of the complex landing in an Internet video called “Seven Minutes of Terror.” A live broadcast from mission control in Pasadena, California will be on www.nasa.gov beginning at 0330 GMT today.

The landing site for the rover is a flat area known as Gale Crater, which lies near a mountain that scientists hope the rover will be able to climb in the search for sediment layers that could be up to a billion years old.

One potential factor of concern, the weather, appears to be cooperating after a nearby dust storm spotted days ago dissipated, deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada told reporters. “Mars is playing nice and we are going to get good conditions for Sunday,” he said.

Vasavada said the dust storm near the landing site has evolved into a “fairly harmless cloud of dust” that probably will not reach Gale Crater by the time of the landing.

He said it was not “expected to affect entry, descent and landing in any meaningful way.” If the landing goes according to plan, NASA hopes to have some low-resolution black and white images taken from cameras on the rear of the rover shortly afterward. More images will follow in the coming days. Then, engineers on Earth will spend most of August remotely checking out systems on the vehicle, according to deputy program manager Richard Cook. The rover is carrying a chemistry kit that contains a rock-zapping laser, 17 cameras, a drill, radiation detectors, water sensors, and tools to scoop soil and check for carbon-based compounds that are the building blocks for life.

Curiosity may start to roll for its first drive in September, with its first scoop samples expected late in the month and its first drilling attempt in October or November. If the landing fails, McCuistion vowed that NASA would continue its efforts to explore Mars. “We will pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. We will look at this and do something again. We will do it again, this will not be the end,” he said. “Human spirit gets driven by these kinds of challenges and these are the kinds of challenges that force us, drive us to explore. “To explore our surroundings, to understand what is out there, and obviously look at ‘Are we alone?” — AFP

The shadows of blessed month Continued from Page 1 become righteous, pious, fearful and conscious of Him. The objective of fasting is to enhance the state of our piety.

Piety in ourselves is represented by our fear of Allah, working in accordance with His revelation and being satisfied with whatever little He provides - as well as our preparation for the day of departure. The particular type of piety that we will try to gain in Ramadan is the very sensitive type.

The fasting person can only acquire this, because he gives up what he desires to avoid that which he is fearful of, (which is the punishment of Allah). Even though following all obligations and commandments and avoiding all prohibited matters in Islam leads to the state of piety and Taqwa, fasting has an extra special relationship between itself and Taqwa. Allah says which can be translated as: “O you who believe! Fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may gain God-consciousness.” (Al Baqarah: 183) Muslims should, therefore, fear Allah and obey Him, glorify His Graces and give thanks to Him. Strive to be obedient and know that Allah’s Favors are innumerable. Allah says what can be translated as: “And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger fears Allah, and keeps his duty (to Him), such are the successful.” Muslims will soon you will receive an honorable guest and a great season i.e., the blessed month of Ramadan. May Allah extend our lives until it comes and guide us to seek nearness to Him with things that He likes and is pleased with, and gather us with the earlier company of the leading pious people. Verily, He is the Most Generous, All-Kind and Most Merciful.

It was narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The month of Ramadan has come to you as a blessing, in which Allah covers you with His Mercy, remits sins and answers supplications. Allah sees your competition in

good deeds and takes pride in you over His angels. Thus, you should show Allah goodness in yourselves, since a miserable one is he who is deprived from Allah’s Mercy during this month”.

Salman Al-Farisi reported that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered a sermon on the last day of Sha’ban, saying: “O people! The shadows of a great blessed month have come over you. In it there is a night that is better than one thousand months. Allah has made fasting obligatory during it, and night prayer (Taraaweeh) optional.

Whoever performs any good deed in it will obtain the reward of an obligatory act; and whoever performs an obligatory act will be rewarded seventy times more than in any other month. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Paradise. It is the month of rewards in which provision increases. Whoever provides food for a person to break his fast, his sins will be forgiven, and he will be saved from the Hellfire. Moreover, he will receive a reward similar to the one for whom he provided food, without diminishing anything from the reward of the former (the one he fed).”

One of his companions asked: O Messenger of Allah! Not all of us are capable of providing food for fasting persons.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Allah will reward whoever provides food for a fasting person, even if it be some milk mixed with water, a date or a sip of water.

Whoever provides a drink to a fasting person, Allah will provide him a drink from my pond and whoever drinks from my pond, will never feel thirsty thereafter until he enters Paradise”. So be well-prepared to fast in Ramadan and to perform supererogatory night prayer (Tarawih) during it and to compete in righteous deeds. Open yourselves to the gifts of the Generous Lord during the days of Ramadan.

Perhaps an hour spent in pleasing Allah raises man to the status of the close servants of Allah. — Courtesy AWARE Center

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opinion

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Issues

Faith, football and fasting

By Naazish YarKhan t the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London on Friday, the world celebrated the Olympic athletes joining together for a truly global event. Amongst them were a number of Muslim athletes, who are facing the intersection of physically intense athletic competition and the month of Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from eating and drinking - even water.

This inter-mingling between religious commitment and sports has been evocatively captured in the documentary Fordson: Faith, Football, Fasting and the American Dream. As entertaining as it is thought-provoking, the film provides a new angle on what it means to be a Muslim American through the all-American lens of football. Director Rashid Ghazi’s award-winning documentary is about a varsity football team, the Tractors, at Fordson High School, a public school attended by many Arab Muslims in a working class suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, which has one of the highest Arab populations in the United States. Shot over the last 10 days of Ramadan, the documentary provides fresh insights into what it means to be Muslim and American. In the 10 years since 9/11, many Muslim Americans have been challenged about their “Americanness”. The documentary, which elicited standing ovations, successfully portrayed the dual identity of Muslim-Americans and the intersection of the players’ Muslim faith with their undeniable “Americanness”.

The documentary, released in several mainstream theatres in 2011 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11, is a study of post 9-11 America. It reflects the current attitudes of many Muslims and non-Muslims in the United States - including mutual suspicion. One of Fordson’s most important games was on 11 September.

They played against Dearborn High School, a more affluent school. The two teams had long had a football rivalry, but as the film shows, in the post-9/11 environment, the rivalry was about more than football. For the Fordson Tractors it was a way to reaffirm their American identity.

In 11 days, the filmmakers shot enough footage of the students, their community and the daily schedule of training and games in a way that audiences cared about these teens and their football rivalry. During the filming, the film crew, as well as the students and coaches, were also observing Ramadan. This combination of fasting and competing was challenging but the Tractor’s motto, “No Excuses”, prevailed.

A visually stunning documentary, Fordson won accolades at international film festivals and kudos from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And an educational DVD for high school and university students has been created so that young people globally can engage with its messages. Muslim and non-Muslim reviewers and audiences have emphasised how necessary and significant the film is. “It opens your eyes a little so you see another side”, said one review, referring to the Muslim perspectives on post-9/11 America that are rarely covered in media.

It was the kind of reaction that Ghazi had hoped for.

He had first read of the Fordson Tractors in a 2003 newspaper article and was fascinated by the story of its players who competed even while fasting through Ramadan.

It took six years to get the high school to agree to film its students and to secure rights to the story. The last time that football season coincided with Ramadan was in 2009, when the school finally agreed to the filming.

“This was a project we did to tell a story, to shift perceptions about Muslims”, says Ghazi. “We knew we had a great story which is why I pursued it for so many years.”

The documentary has been a labour of love for the producers, husband-wife team Basma Babara-Quraishi and Ash-Har Quraishi. Rashid presented the idea to the Quraishis, both of whom are television journalists, and the couple agreed that the story had to be told in its entirety. The movie has changed producer Ash-har Quraishi’s own outlook on Muslim Americans. “You look at this community and see how well they’ve been able to meld culture and patriotism. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they were even more resilient. They didn’t want to be presented in a pitiful light. They [see] themselves as Muslims and Arabs and American”, says Quraishi. For Quraishi, the Fordson film is an ice-breaker.

When viewed by Americans and global audiences alike, the film makes clear the extent to which Muslims are part and parcel of the American fabric. Films like this, according to Quraishi, are integral to initiating dialogue and furthering conversations about American Muslims, especially in post 9/11 America.

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Naazish YarKhan is a Content and PR Strategist in the Chicago area. —CGNews

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

Political risks to watch on Korean peninsula

By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park orth Korea’s young leader has said he wants to develop the country’s moribund economy and raise living standards, a sign that he may be planning economic reforms. Since he came to power after his father’s death last December, Kim Jong-un’s leadership style has been vastly different from that of Kim Jong-il. Kim the younger has made smiling public appearances at a pop concert and on a rollercoaster, and been sighted with his miniskirt-wearing wife.

Despite these departures from tradition, it is far too early to say Kim has made substantive changes to the running of the desperately poor, internationally isolated country. On April 15, the centenary of his grandfather Kim Il-sung’s birthday, Kim insisted he would persist with his father’s “military first” policies. Tensions rose after the North’s failed launch of a longrange rocket in April, and though there is worry that it will carry out another nuclear test, the immediate threat North Korea poses to stability in east Asia and beyond has faded.

In a rare and surprise move, Pyongyang admitted that the much-anticipated launch of what it said was a satellite had not worked. Less surprisingly, it ditched an agreement it made in February with the United States to suspend nuclear and missile programs after Washington decided not to provide food aid under the deal. Deep-rooted problems have not gone away either: in early August, the UN World Food Program said it will send a first batch of emergency food aid to North Korea, where a series of floods and a typhoon left hundreds dead or missing. North Korea’s agricultural sector has become increasingly vulnerable to floods and drought as a result of widespread deforestation.

In South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April, the first time in two decades they have been held in the same year as the presidential race, voters seemed unperturbed by the rocket launch. Park Geun-hye, the daughter of Park Chung-hee, an iron-fisted ruler assassinated by his disgruntled spy chief and often referred to as the founder of modern South Korea, helped her governing New Frontier Party retain a majority in elections it was widely forecast to lose. She is now its likely front-runner for the December presidential poll.

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NORTH KOREA: WHAT NEXT? International speculation is mounting that Kim’s one-party state is considering reforms to revivify an economy wrecked by decades of mismanagement and sanctions, and rarely far from famine. In response to wide-ranging sanctions over its missile and nuclear weapons programs, the North has become dependent on Chinese aid. In a sign Kim may be looking to emerge from this isolation, he has dispatched his head of parliament, Kim Yong-nam, to Vietnam and Laos, the North Korean KCNA news agency reported. Kim Yong-nam, ceremonial head of the reclusive state, visited Singapore and Indonesia in May. In June, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged North Korea’s new leader to take a different path to his father Kim Jong-il, saying he could steer his nation away from a dark history of starvation and oppression. Still, genuine change may be a distant prospect. April’s attempted satellite launch was an inglorious failure, and experts say it will encourage North Korea to soon test a nuclear device to regain credibility for the leadership at home and abroad.

WHAT TO WATCH Any steps taken towards greater international engagement and economic reform. If there is such a move, it is likely to be in extremely small increments in order to avoid disrupting the entrenched military figures who profit from their control of the country. Whether the North carries out a third nuclear test, and how the international community responds. Experts suggest that in its next test, North Korea will for the first time use a nuclear device containing highly enriched uranium, something it had long been suspected of developing, but which it publicly admitted two years ago. Talks between the two Koreas, the United States, and China. The possibility of either Seoul or Pyongyang making concessions which could end a long dispute over the joint Mount Kumgang tourist resort in the North.

DIFFICULTIES FOR RULING PARTY Economic growth slowed more than expected in the second quarter, to a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent over the previous quarter, the central bank said in July. The figure increases the likelihood of another interest rate cut in Asia’s fourthlargest economy, which relies heavily on exports of smartphones, ships and cars. The central bank cut rates in July, its first such move for more than three years.

It also cut its economic growth projection for 2012, putting growth at 3 percent, down from its previous forecast of 3.7 percent. Economic troubles are likely to make the going tougher for the ruling party in an election year. April’s parliamentary elections set up a tantalizing contest for the presidency in December - a vote that will determine how the country deals with North Korea and addresses pressing domestic issues such as corruption and the widening gap between rich and poor.

The ruling conservative New Frontier Party beat its main challenger, the Democratic United Party, in elections for the 300-seat national assembly. The victory was seen as boosting the presidential ambitions of the conservative party’s frontrunning candidate Park Geun-hye. Amid low ratings and public disgust with corruption scandals linked with President Lee Myung-bak’s administration, Park managed to bring her party back from the dead, giving it a new name and replacing several of the lawmakers running for its seats.

It staged an unexpected win over the main opposition party, which was formed in a merger with a minority leftist party late last year, and which is now seen as having squandered a chance to take back parliament. The Democratic United Party had pledged to repeal a free trade agreement with the United State, and curb the power of huge business conglomerates such as Hyundai and Samsung. A liberal victory in this year’s presidential election would mean a shift toward more welfare

initiatives, and possibly closer engagement with North Korea.

Such a result could also recalibrate Seoul’s close ties with Washington.

WHAT TO WATCH Economic data, and more signals that the central bank will cut rates further. The ruling party has lost its overall majority in parliament after two members elected to assembly quit the party over scandals. It weakens the party’s legislative agenda, but the conservatives may try to form a coalition with a minority party. Popular software mogul turned professor Ahn Cheolsoo has not ruled out entering politics. Were he to declare himself a contender, the political landscape would change dramatically. The Democratic United Party’s strongest presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in, who declared his own bid in June, could become the sole candidate for the entire opposition camp.—Reuters

A year on, Nigeria’s oil still poisons Ogoniland

By Tim Cocks bright yellow sign above the well in this sleepy Nigerian village says ‘caution: not fit for use’, and the sulphurous stink off the water that children still pump into buckets sharply reinforces that warning. “Can you smell it? Don’t get any in your mouth or you’ll be sick,” said Victoria Jiji, 55, as she walked past the bore hole in her home village of Ekpangbala, one of several in Ogoniland, southeast Nigeria, whose drinking water has turned toxic.

Prosperity has flowed from Ogoniland, one of Africa’s earliest crude oil producing areas, for decades. But it has flowed to the big oil companies and to Nigerian state coffers. Locals have long complained that precious little goes their way. A landmark UN report on Aug 4 last year slammed multinational oil companies, particularly leading operator Royal Dutch Shell, and the government, for 50 years of oil pollution that has devastated this region of the Niger Delta, a fragile wetlands environment.

It said the area needed the world’s biggest ever oil cleanup, taking at least 25 years and costing an initial $1 billion.

Shell and the government swiftly pledged to act on it. One year on, residents say they’ve seen no evidence that it has begun. Shell says it is committed to cleaning up Ogoniland, but argues the government must also do its part. Most oil spills are the result of theft by armed gangs hacking into pipelines, it says, and this must be addressed alongside any clean-up. Nigerian oil ministry officials were not available for comment, but government last week announced a new committee to look into implementing the report’s recommendations. When BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico ruptured in April 2010, spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the sea, its reputation took a devastating blow, and it had to pay billions of dollars to those affected. In Nigeria, thousands of barrels are spilled every year, largely without negative consequences for the oil companies.

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POISONED WELLS The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report found that the Ogale community, a group of nine villages including Ekpangbala, was drinking water from wells contaminated with benzene - a known carcinogen - at levels over 900 times the World Health Organization’s guidelines.

“Even before the UN, we knew this water was turning bad.

It smells, and people are complaining of itching and skin rashes,” said Walter Olaka, Ogale’s youth president. Shortly after the report, the government provided Ogale’s villages with water tanks, part financed by Shell. They get refilled most days with potable water, but locals say it’s never enough, and they still use the polluted groundwater for washing.

The tank Reuters visited in Ekpangbala was empty. “Until now, nothing whatsoever has actually been done ...towards the clean up,” said Ben Naanen, chairman of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), founded by the environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, whose campaign against oil pollution drove Shell out of Ogoniland in 1993 although the firm’s dilapidated pipelines still criss-cross its swamps. Saro-Wiwa was hanged in 1995 by the then military government, to worldwide horror. “We continue to hope that things will change, but those hopes are quite honestly looking slim,” said Naanen, a history professor at the university of Port Harcourt, in the heart of Nigeria’s roughly 2 million barrel-a-day oil industry.

Yet many activists remain upbeat that the UN findings are slowly gathering enough momentum to spur action.

The government last week announced “the formation of a Hydro-Carbon Pollution Restoration Project”, though it gave

few details. “The project shall implement the recommendations of the UNEP report on Ogoniland as well as investigate, evaluate and establish other hydrocarbon impacted sites,” the statement said. UNEP cautiously welcomed the government’s pledge on Thursday, but warned that the clean-up was a huge task that will require long-term financing and urged funds to be released now.

OILY WASTELANDS A rainbow-tinted film of crude cloaks the water throughout the creeks and swamps of Nigeria’s Bodo community, giving off intoxicating petrol fumes. Spidery husks of dead mangrove trees blacken the landscape for miles around. An oil-coated heron picks its way through the sludge. Joe Vikpee left at 5.30 a.m. on his small dug-out canoe in search of fish. Still on the water 10 hours later, his haul is a handful of small fish barely enough to feed two people. “They used to be abundant before the spills,” he says. Shell accepted responsibility for two major oil spills that devastated the Bodo fishing community in 2008/9, but it says efforts to clean up had been hampered by insecurity. Now, some 11,000 members of the community who say their lives were ruined by the spills have taken their case to the London High Court seeking compensation of “many millions of dollars”, according to their lawyer Martyn Day. “The people in Bodo are living corpses. You see them alive but they are dead inside. Look at this water,” said Kpoobari Patta, 40, casting his eye over a lead-colored creek. Shell says around 4,000 barrels of oil were spilt in total in the two incidents 1,640 barrels in one in November 2008, and another 2,500 from a corroded pipe that was fixed in February 2009.

A study by Amnesty International on the first spill put the figure between 103,000 and 311,000 barrels. A Reuters visit to the site on a boat revealed oil pollution stretching for miles in many directions. Shell says a lot of that oil has been spilled since by armed gangs in thieving operations known as “bunkering”. “The real tragedy of the Niger Delta is the widespread illegal activity,” Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), a Shell-run joint venture majority owned by Nigeria’s state oil firm, in which EPNL and ENI also have stakes, told Reuters. He said oil theft was responsible for most of the spilt oil in the delta. Amnesty International’s Audrey Gaughran thinks this is a smokescreen to mask Shell’s and the government’s own failures. “No matter what evidence is presented to Shell about oil spills, they constantly hide behind the ‘sabotage’ excuse and dodge their responsibility ... to properly maintain their infrastructure and ... clean up oil spills,” she said. A page on Shell’s website last month said “the company has had very limited access to enter the area to clean up and remediate spill sites” since it was driven out in the 1990s. Ogoni activists dispute that, saying they have invited company officials in to review the damage and replace corroded pipelines, which would be safe with the community’s consent.

PRESSURE COOKER Local activists who have for years been calling on oil companies in Nigeria to be held to the same standards as elsewhere in the world, are skeptical of the government’s pledge the clean up the delta, the latest of many. “It’s just an announcement of intention, nothing more,” said Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of the Earth, Nigeria. “This is a test for the government, whether it cares about its citizens and their survival, or whether they care more about a defective relationship with the multinational oil companies.” Sunmonu said Shell was “committed to playing its part” in any cleanup, which is also the responsibility of the state. — Reuters

sp orts

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Furyk leads at Firestone

RENO: JJ Henry tees off on No. 1 at Montreux Golf & Country Club during the third round of the Reno-Tahoe Open golf tournament.—AP

Henry forges ahead at Reno RENO: American JJ Henry earned 14 points to take a three -point lead after the third round of the PGA Tour ’s Reno -Tahoe Open on Saturday.

Henr y posted an eagle for the third consecutive day and has 36 points overall in the Stableford format event which awards eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie and none for par. Players

are deducted a point for bogey and three points for anything worse.

Henry, who is seeking his second career USPGA Tour title, is three points ahead of Brazil’s Alexandre Rocha in the PGA Tour ’s first Stableford scoring event in six years.

Second round leader Rocha scored nine points Saturday and is in sole possession of second with 33 points. John Mallinger was third at

32, followed by first-round leader Andres Romero, of Argentina, with 31. Mallinger earned 10 points and Romero also picked up 10. Bill Lunde (14), England’s Gary Christian (12) and John Daly (9) are tied for fifth place with 28 points. Daly briefly held the lead with an eagle on the par-five 13th, but then tumbled back down the leaderboard after posting three-straight bogeys.—AFP

AKRON: American Jim Furyk, seeking his first PGA Tour victory in two years, survived a testing back nine with several ice-cool par saves to cling on to the lead in Saturday’s third round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Two shots ahead overnight, Furyk briefly led by five before ending a muggy and increasingly breezy day at the fast-running Firestone Country Club one stroke clear of the chasing pack.

The veteran American carded a level-par 70 on the challenging South Course where several greens were not receptive to approach shots to finish at 11-under 199, one ahead of South African Louis Oosthuizen, who fired a three-birdie 68.

American Keegan Bradley, who will defend his PGA Championship title at Kiawah Island in South Carolina next week, was a further three strokes back at seven under after carding a 67.

Tiger Woods, in pursuit of a record eighth Bridgestone Invitational crown, rebounded from two days of putting woes at Firestone to shoot a 68 for a level-par total of 210, a distant 11 shots off the pace. “The golf course definitely played tougher today,” Furyk, 42, told reporters after offsetting an early birdie with a bogey at the par-three 12th.

“We had a little bit more wind going on, the greens firmed up a little bit and I just felt like it was a lot harder to get iron shots close to the pin.

“I didn’t have as many opportunities, kind of ground it out today. I’m real happy with the way I stroked the ball and pretty pleased with the way I played today.”

Furyk, who clinched the most recent of his 16 PGA Tour victories at the 2010 season-ending Tour Championship, made a good start to the third round, a birdie at the parfive second putting him four ahead. When Oosthuizen bogeyed the par-four eighth, Furyk’s lead increased to five but the South African immediately recovered with a birdie at the ninth to reach the turn in even-par 35.

Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, picked up further shots at the 12th, where he drained a 25-footer, and 16th to close the gap while Furyk bogeyed the 12th after missing the green to the right off the tee.

However, Furyk safely parred the last six holes to maintain his one-shot advantage going into Sunday’s final round when the tee times have been brought forward due to predicted thunderstorms.

Oosthuizen, who has won twice worldwide this year, was delighted to be in position to challenge for his first victory in an elite World Golf Championships (WGC) event.

“Tomorrow is a great opportunity for me, a great spot to be in and to test myself in these events,” the 29-year-old said. “I mean, this is almost as big as a major. “I know the weather is coming in a bit. It’s going to be a tough day. It’ll be a lot of fun playing with Jim and Keegan.”

Woods, who totalled 62 putts in the first two rounds while carding scores of 70 and 72, was relieved to feel more comfortable on the greens on Saturday as he broke par for the first time this week. “I hit the ball well enough to be in the top five and could have made a run just by being in that position if I would have putted well the first couple of days,” the 36-year-old said.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who clinched his maiden major title at last year’s US Open, was delighted to climb into a tie for fourth after shooting a second successive 67.

“I hit the ball well from tee to green, and I took a few of my chances early on,” the 23-year-old said after mixing four birdies with a lone bogey. “I actually had a couple of big saves around four, five and six, and just finished it off well.” British world number four Lee Westwood endured a nightmare day, hitting only three of 14 fairways on the way to 81, his worst score on the PGA Tour since he carded a third-round 80 at the Players Championship in 2005, leaving him at 11-over-par.—Reuters

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

sp orts Malaga confirms Cazorla sale

Faumuina in All Blacks squad

Real squad ‘almost complete’

MADRID: Malaga have agreed to sell their Spanish playmaker Santi Cazorla, confirmed midfielder Enzo Maresca while warning that losing coach Manuel Pellegrini too would be a huge blow to the embattled La Liga club. Malaga announced last week they were undergoing a process of “internal restructuring” amid reports owner Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nassar Al-Thani, a member of the Qatar royal family, wanted to sell up after only two years.

The club said on Saturday Venezuela striker Salomon Rondon had not joined the rest of the squad on a pre -season tour to Italy because he was negotiating his exit, while Cazorla is widely expected to join English Premier League side Arsenal. With his expensively assembled team crumbling around him, Pellegrini may also jump ship but Maresca told a news conference the Chilean was a key part of the Malaga project as they prepare to take part in the Champions League for the first time. — Reuters

NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has named uncapped prop Charlie Faumuina in a 28-man squad for this month’s inaugural Rugby Championship against South Africa, Australia and Argentina. The 25-year-old Faumuina missed the test series against Ireland in June through injury but was singled out for praise by Hansen for his patience and determination.

“He had to wait a while to get over his calf injury before he could be selected officially by the All Blacks so it will be exciting for him and his family,” said the coach. “He’s an outstanding front rower and we look forward to seeing him play at the next level.” Hansen said the world champion All Blacks would need to improve in the Rugby Championship despite bullying Ireland in a 3-0 series whitewash.

“We are all looking forward to the new championship and the various challenges that it will bring,” he said. “But we also know we will need to step up from where we were in the recent series. “We now have the opportunity to take our game to the next level. The three best teams in the world will be playing each other and with Argentina joining in for the first time it’s going to be hugely exciting.” Outside back Cory Jane, who missed the Ireland series with an ankle injury, returns and loose forward Liam Messam has also been selected. A replacement for the injured Conrad Smith will be confirmed next week with 17-test All Black Sonny Bill Williams the likely choice. —Reuters

MADRID: Real Madrid’s squad is “almost complete”, coach Jose Mourinho said as the La Liga champions prepare to begin the defence of their title starting in two weeks.

Real are reportedly chasing Tottenham Hotspur’s Croatian playmaker Luka Modric, with one or both of midfielders Kaka and Nuri Sahin expected to move on after disappointing stints in the Spanish capital. “We are hard at work preparing because we are well aware of the fact that it is not going to be easy, quite the contrary,” Mourinho told Fox in an interview during Real’s pre-season tour of the United States.

“The team is almost complete,” added the Portuguese, who helped end Barcelona’s three-year grip on the La Liga title last season.

“They are special players, we have a lot of the best players in the world and my team’s motivation when faced with new challenges never ceases to surprise me.” — Reuters

MLB results/standings Seattle 1, NY Yankees 0; Toronto 3, Oakland 1 (11 innings); Texas 4, Kansas City 2; Detroit 6, Cleveland 1; Washington 10, Miami 7; Philadelphia 3, Arizona 0; Minnesota 6, Boston 4; Baltimore 4, Tampa Bay 0; Houston 3, Atlanta 2; Cincinnati 5, Pittsburgh 4; La Angels 6, Chicago White Sox 5 (10 innings); St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 1; San Francisco 11, Colorado 6; NY Mets 6, San Diego 2; LA Dodgers 3, Chicago Cubs 1.

American League National League Eastern Division Eastern Division Washington 64 43 .598 W L PCT GB Atlanta 61 46 .570 3 NY Yankees 62 44 .585 NY Mets 53 55 .491 11.5 Tampa Bay 56 51 .523 6.5 Miami 49 59 .454 15.5 Baltimore 56 51 .523 6.5 Philadelphia 48 59 .449 16 Boston 53 55 .491 10 Central Division Toronto 52 55 .486 10.5 Cincinnati 66 41 .617 Central Division Pittsburgh 60 46 .566 5.5 White Sox 58 48 .547 St. Louis 58 49 .542 8 Detroit 57 50 .533 1.5 Milwaukee 48 58 .453 17.5 Cleveland 50 57 .467 8.5 Chicago Cubs 43 62 .410 22 Minnesota 47 60 .439 11.5 Houston 36 72 .333 30.5 Kansas City 44 62 .415 14 Western Division Western Division San Francisco 58 49 .542 Texas 63 43 .594 LA Dodgers 58 50 .537 0.5 Oakland 58 49 .542 5.5 Arizona 55 52 .514 3 LA Angels 58 50 .537 6 San Diego 45 64 .413 14 Seattle 51 58 .468 13.5 Colorado 38 67 .362 19

Hernandez blanks Yanks NEW YORK: Felix Hernandez dominated the New York Yankees in their own ballpark again, pitching his third shutout of the season to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 1-0 win on a sunny, sticky Saturday.

Hernandez outpitched Hiroki Kuroda (10-8) in a duel of right-handers who hadn’t lost since June. Mike Carp hit an RBI single in the second inning for Seattle, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped the night before. The Yankees have lost 10 of 15.

After Robinson Cano doubled with two outs in the first, Hernandez (10-5) didn’t allow another runner to second. He retired Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter and Cano in order in the ninth, fanning Cano to end the game in a breezy 2 hours, 32 minutes.

King Felix has the lowest career ERA at the new Yankee Stadium of any pitcher with at least two starts. After his latest masterful performance, he lowered his ERA to 1.13 after his second shutout at the new ballpark. Overall, it was the seventh career shutout for the All-Star right-hander.

Blue Jays 3, Athletics 1 At Oakland, California, David Cooper hit a

one out in the ninth. Cook gave up a tying, three-run shot in the ninth on Friday night.

Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero gave up a run and three hits in seven innings. He is winless in his last eight starts, receiving a total of six runs of support during that span.

Encarnacion hit a leadoff single against Jerry Blevins (4-1) before stealing two bases and scoring on Kottaras’ two-out error. Moises Sierra, who had three hits, added an RBI double.

SEATTLE: Mariners’ John Jaso backs away from a pitch high and inside from New York Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda in the first inning of a baseball game. —AP tying homer in the ninth inning and Edwin Encarnacion scored on catcher George Kottaras’ throwing error in the 11th, lifting Toronto over Oakland.

The Blue Jays ended a six-game skid a day after they lost to the A’s 5-4 in 15 innings.

Cooper hit a solo homer off Ryan Cook with

Rangers 4, Royals 2 At Kansas City, Missouri, Josh Hamilton drove in two runs and Scott Feldman won his sixth straight decision as Texas defeated Kansas City for its fourth victory in a row.

Feldman (6-6) worked into the eighth inning and became the first pitcher in 29 years to win six consecutive decisions after starting the season 0-6. Doyle Alexander did it in 1983 with the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Hamilton, who leads the majors with 90 RBIs, hit an opposite-field single in the third inning to score Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus.

Mike Olt, called up Thursday from Double-A Frisco, added two RBIs for the AL West leaders. —AP

Nationals pound Marlins WASHINGTON: Adam LaRoche homered twice, Danny Espinosa hit a three-run shot in Washington’s six-run eighth inning, and the Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 10-7 on Saturday night.

The Nationals increased their lead over Atlanta in the NL East to three games. Washington trailed 6-4 heading into the eighth, but the Nationals tied it on RBI singles by Steve Lombardozzi and Tyler Moore against Mike Dunn (0-1).

Espinosa, who had committed two errors leading to Miami runs, hit his 10th homer of the season over the bullpen in left field. Bryce Harper followed with his 10th to make it 10-6.

Ryan Mattheus (4-1) pitched 1 2-3 innings for the win. Tyler Clippard allowed a run in the ninth.

Miami’s Jose Reyes had three hits, scored four runs and stole two bases. His 23-game hitting streak is tied with the New York Yankees’ Robinson Cano for the longest in the majors this season.

Reds 5, Pirates 4 In Cincinnati, Scott Rolen tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Cincinnati Reds beat Pittsburgh for their fifth straight win.

The Reds have won 15 of 16 and opened a 51/2-game lead over Pittsburgh in the NL Central.

It was 4-all when Rolen led off the eighth with a line drive off the right-center field wall, beating the relay with a headfirst slide into third base. Todd Frazier hit a chopper that was fielded by pitcher Jared Hughes (2-1) too late to get Rolen at the plate. Rolen earlier had a two-run single.

Jonathan Broxton (1-0), acquired on Tuesday from Kansas City, pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 25th save.

Phillies 3, D’backs 0 In Philadelphia, Roy Halladay gave up three hits over seven innings and Erik

Kratz homered, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over Arizona.

Halladay (5-6) allowed just four runners and struck out five to earn his first win since May 17. The two-time Cy Young Award winner was winless in his previous five starts, including three after returning from a two-month stint on the disabled list. Josh Lindblom had two strikeouts in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon finished off a four-hitter for his 24th save in 27 tries. Joe Saunders (5-8) was the hardluck loser for Arizona, which had its fourgame winning streak snapped.

Astros 3, Braves 2 In Atlanta, Justin Maxwell had a career-high four hits, including two homers, and the Houston Astros snapped a four-game losing streak with win over Atlanta.

The Astros won for just the fourth time in 33 games, improving to 11-45 on the road - the worst mark in the majors.

Paul Maholm (9-7) lost his Atlanta debut, allowing three runs, six hits, and two walks. He struck out eight in seven innings.

Rookie Lucas Harrell (9-7) allowed two runs and four hits with five walks and five strikeouts in six innings. Wilton Lopez got two outs to earn his second career save, and first since 2010.

Cardinals 6, Brewers 1 At St. Louis, Adam Wainwright pitched a five-hitter and also contributed at the plate, leading the St. Louis Cardinals past Milwaukee.

Wainwright (9-10) moved closer to .500 after starting the season at 0-3. He threw 73 of 98 pitches for strikes, walking none and fanning seven.

Wainwright also hit an RBI double and a single, and he scored a run. Carlos Beltran hit his 25th homer, giving him an NL-leading 77 RBIs. Jon Jay also homered for the Cardinals and Yadier Molina added a two-run single. Mark Rogers (01) took the loss. —AP

WASHINGTON: Nationals batter Danny Espinosa watches his three-run home run to left field that gave the Nationals 9-6 lead over the Miami Marlins in the eighth inning. —AP

Al Roudhan soccer tournament KUWAIT: On the 16th day of the late Abdullah Musharie Al Roudhan tournament Hassan Optics defeated Ashoor 3-0. Brazilian Daniel, and his fellow citizen and Saud Al Marte found the net for Hasan Optics.

The game also witnessed the dismissal of Mahoud Behbahani. Hassan Optics are in third spot with Talabatdot.com and Al Adesiya teams topping the group.

In the second game, Goal, continued its strong form to clinch its third consecutive victory by defeating Sulaibikhat 3-0.

The third game witnessed Deewaniat Al Omer in control of the match from the start to demolish Shabab A Dhogha 13-0 which is the highest result in the first phase. In the meantime, football union chairman Sheikh Talal Al Fahad said that Al Roudhan tournament is one of the most important tournaments during the month of Ramadan and play an important role among the Kuwaiti youths pointing out that he is one of the supporters of the tournament since he participated in it before as a player.

Windies defeat Kiwis KINGSTON: West Indies won the second Test yesterday to wrap up a 2-0 series win over New Zealand, beating the Black Caps in Kingston by five wickets.

The hosts reached 206 for five having started the day just 71 runs short of victory, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit the winning run to add to last month’s nine-wicket success at North Sound. Kemar Roach, voted player of the series, missed a half century as he was the only wicket to fall on the day, caught for 41 by Tim Southee off the bowling of Kane Williamson, who induced an outside edge as the hosts claimed their first Test series against the tourists in 16 years.

Narsingh Deonarine came in and helped Chanderpaul guide his side past the winning post, the former levelling the scores with two towards mid-wicket before nicking a single towards third man.

West Indies’ skipper Darren Sammy praised his side afterwards-then looked forward. “The next assignment is the World T20. We have gotten the feeling of what it is like to win, but we have to continue to work hard. The last year or two has been tough for us - we are going to celebrate this day, but it is about continuous hard work,” he said.

Black Caps’ counterpart Ross Taylor said: “It’s been a disappointing tour all round, we have had our chances in this match, in several matches this tour.

“There are some positives, the bowlers bowled well on a tough wicket. We needed to set them 270-300 on what was a fourth-day wicket. I think (our batsmen) shouldn’t be satisfied with 50-60s, we are a young team, we are getting better every now and then.”

After the Kiwis had established a 51-run lead following the first innings the West Indies found their way back to post the win with a day to spare after Deonarine produced figures of four for 37 to help polish off the tourists for a paltry 154 in their second innings. Although

Chris Gayle-returning to the Test fold after 18 months on the sidelines-could only make eight while fellow opener Kieran Powell only managed six, first innings centurion Marlon Samuels then stepped into the breach once again with an innings-leading 52. — AFP

SCOREBOARD KINGSTON: Scoreboard after West Indies wrapped up a five-wicket success on yesterday in their second Test against New Zealand to clinch a 2-0 series win: West Indies second innings (overnight 135 for 4; first innings 209 - MN Samuels 123; Boult 3-58, D A J Bracewell 3-46) C.H Gayle lbw b Boult 8 K.O.A Powell lbw b Southee 6 A.B Fudadin b Wagner 27 Samuels c Wagner b D A J Bracewell 52 S Chanderpaul not out 43 KAJ Roach c Southee b Williamson 41 N Deonarine not out 15 Extras: (b4, lb2, w8) 14 Did not bat: D Ramdin, DJG Sammy, SP Narine, TL Best Total: (5 wickets, 63.2 overs) 206 Fall: 1-20, 2-20, 3-94, 4-113, 5-183 Bowling: TA Boult 12-1-46-1; DAJ Bracewell 13-0-38-1; TJ Southee 14-4-30-1; N Wagner 12-3-41-1; KS Williamson 7.2-1-18-1; MJ Guptill 4-0-21-0, DG Brownlie 1-0-6-0.

New Zealand second innings (first innings 260 - M Guptill 71, L Taylor 60;

Roach 4-70) MJ Guptill lbw d Deonarine 42 BJ Watling lbw b Deonarine 11 N Wagner c Ramdin b Best 6 BB McCullum c Fudadin b Deonarine 19 LRPL Taylor c Ramdin b Best 0 KS Williamson c Sammy b Deonarine 8 DG Brownlie c Deonarine b Narine 35 CFK van Wyk c Chanderpaul b Narine 5 DAJ Bracewell c Fudadin b Narine 14 TG Southee c Narine b Roach 7 TA Boult not out 0 Extras (lb1, w1, nb5) 7 Total (65.2 overs) 154 Fall:1-55, 2-56, 3-80, 4-80, 5-85, 6-98, 7-105, 8-142, 9-151, 10-154 Bowling: KAJ Roach 12.3-34-1, TL Best 13-244-2, DJG Sammy 6-2-19-0, SP Narine 12-119-3, N Deonarine 22-7-37-4.

Result: West Indies won by 5 wickets, won series 2-0

17 MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Williams sisters defend Olympic doubles gold

LONDON: Ben Ainslie of Great Britain celebrates his gold medal during the Finn dinghy class medal race at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

Britain’s Ainslie top Olympic sailor WEYMOUTH: Britain’s Ben Ainslie crossed the finish line and pumped both fists, then stood up in his Finn dinghy and did it again.

A few minutes later, the most successful sailor in Olympics history waved a Union Jack as the home crowd roared from the Weymouth waterfront.

Ainslie won his fourth straight gold medal and fifth games medal overall Sunday to eclipse Denmark’s Paul Elvstrom as the most decorated sailing Olympian ever. Elvstrom won four straight gold medals from 1948-60, including three in the Finn class. Ainslie has never sailed an easy route to gold, and yesterday was no different.

The son of a sailor, Ainslie clinched the historic gold by finishing ninth in the Finn class medals race on Weymouth Bay

in front of a large, partisan crowd, many of them waving the Union Jack.

All Ainslie had to do was finish ahead of Denmark’s Jonas Hoegh—, who had led the London Olympics regatta from Race 1. The Dane finished 10th and took the silver.

As he crossed the finish line, Ainslie began to celebrate. After HoeghChristensen crossed in last, the Dane slumped in his boat.

Still, Ainslie needed a bit of help to clinch gold. With Ainslie and HoeghChristensen dueling at the back of the fleet, Pieter-Jan Postma of the Netherlands could have swooped in and won gold. Postma needed to get into third place to spoil Ainslie’s party, but fell back in the dying breeze and finished fifth. That allowed France’s Jonathan Lobert, who won the medals race, to take the bronze.—AP

WIMBLEDON: Serena Williams relishes her role as copycat little sister.

Even if it takes her 12 years. Now, she has that remarkable Olympic double - just like Venus.

The overpowering American pair teamed to win the women’s doubles title at the Olympics on Sunday, with Serena adding to the singles gold she won on Centre Court at Wimbledon a day earlier.

“Crazy,” Serena said. “I’m always copying her. I forgot that she did it in Sydney and I do it here. We’re the same doubles team, we just split this to singles, so it’s cool.”

The sisters beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 under the roof on a rainy afternoon at the All England Club. Venus - with her red, white and blue braids pulled back into a bun - closed out the match on the very grass she has long loved with a backhand volley winner after the Czechs saved a pair of match points.

“We all talk about this, ‘We have so many medals,’ but to be able to add to that, it’s like an unbelievable feeling,” Venus said. “You know that in that count, there you are. It feels amazing.”

On Saturday, Serena beat Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 for the singles gold. She joined Steffi Graf as the only women to complete the Golden Slam - winning the Olympics and the four majors.

When the Americans in the crowd at Centre Court broke into a chant of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” as the players left the court, the sisters each pumped their fists, turned around to wave, then slapped a high-five.

The medal ceremony had to wait for the outdoor bronze-medal match, which was delayed by rain.

With Bob and Mike Bryan capturing gold in men’s doubles Saturday, make it three golds for U.S. tennis in two days. “It’s great because America’s added three gold medals to our medal count just in the tennis,” Venus said. “I

LONDON: Serena and Venus Williams (facing) of the US celebrate after beating Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka during their London 2012 Olympic Games women’s doubles gold medal match.—AFP feel great to be a part of this U.S. team this year.”

Serena became tennis’ first double gold medalist at an Olympics since Venus won singles and doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games.

The sisters also won the doubles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

With yesterday’s victory, they each have a record four Olympic tennis gold medals, and the sisters didn’t drop a set through their five matches at the London Games.

While Serena was thrilled to win on her own Saturday, with Venus rooting her on from the family box, the doubles is what she most cared about coming to the London Games. Especially considering all the emotional and physical struggles for Venus, who was diagnosed last year with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.

“This is all I wanted,” said Venus, who had all of about two months to raise her ranking and qualify for

the Olympics. “Boy, was that a battle. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I really feel proud of what happened here at the Olympics.”

But for years Venus has been comfortable on the lawn at Wimbledon, where she has won five of her seven Grand Slam titles.

“Venus has been going through so much and she’s so strong and so she’s so amazing,” Serena said.

“And to win this was my goal.”

The Williams’ also became the first tennis players to win Olympic gold indoors since the 1912 Stockholm Games, a match played in a pavilion on wood courts painted black.

Yesterday, they won the fourth game of the second set at love on Venus’ ace, the first of three straight games in which they didn’t lose a point.

Serena overcame two break points trailing 1-0 in the second set.

She pumped her fist and cheered after a forehand winner down the alley past a poaching Hradecka, who was aggressive at the net all afternoon. The Czechs held in four of their first five service games, including Hlavackova’s first that went to deuce four times.

Venus Williams joins Conchita Martinez of Spain as the only tennis players to win medals at three different Olympics. Martinez’s medals all came in doubles - silver in Barcelona in 1992, bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games and silver in Athens in 2004.

Gigi Fernandez and current US coach Mary Joe Fernandez are the only others to win back-to-back Olympic tennis gold medals after they teamed for doubles titles in 1992 and 1996. And the sisters insist they’re not done yet. “We’re looking forward to Rio,” Serena said, “and trying to get some sort of medal there.”—AP

Jin Jong-oh wins Olympic gold

LONDON: South Africa’s Lloyd Norris-Jones passes the ball during their men’s hockey preliminary round match against Pakistan at the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

Dutch defeat Germans LONDON: Teun de Nooijer marked his 450th match for the Netherlands by scoring in the 36th minute to help give the Dutch men’s field hockey team a 3-1 win over Olympic champions Germany.

The Netherlands came back from an early deficit - German forward Christopher Zeller scored in the third minute from a penalty corner. Bob de Voogd and Mink van der Weerden scored the other Dutch goals. The result means the Netherlands are the first team to qualify for the medal round.

In other matches Sunday, Pakistan beat South Africa 5-4, South Korea defeated India 4-1 with three late goals, and Belgium and New Zealand drew 1-1, meaning neither team will advance to the knockout round. Captain Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmad scored late goals to give Pakistan a comeback win over South Africa. The win in a match which featured four lead changes moved Pakistan into third place in its group, level with Australia and Britain, who play each other later Sunday.

South Africa opened the scoring in the second minute from a field goal by Thornton McDade and Pakistan’s Abdul Hasseem Khan equalized in the 20th minute.

Justin Reid-Ross put the South Africans back in front but Khan put Pakistan ahead again with a goal in the 25th minute.

Reid-Ross’ second goal and another

by Wade Paton gave South Africa a onegoal lead before Pakistan’s late scoring surge.

“It was a great match and we had a plan that if we could win that match, we would have a chance to reach the semis,” Khan said. “We played our best and at the beginning there was quite a lot of pressure but at the end we played well.”

Eight-time Olympic champion India has not taken any points from its four games in London. The scores were level with 11 minutes to go after early goals

by Jang Jong-hyun of South Korea and Gurwinder Singh Chandi for India.

But two goals from penalty corners by South Korea defender Nam Hyun-woo and one by captain Lee Seung-il gave the team the late victory.

Balbir Singh, who won gold with India’s field hockey team in the 1948 London Olympics and twice after, was watching the game. “(We are) sorry we could not get a win for him,” said Chandi. “We will be meeting him after the game. We have a lot of respect for him.”

Belgium took the lead over New Zealand with a 48th-minute field goal by Tom Boon, but Nicholas Wilson equalized six minutes later.

Belgium was the stronger side, with 18 chances at goal compared to New Zealand’s eight. “It’s a little bit frustrating for us, we wanted to come and win,” said Belgium coach Colin Batch. “It’s become a bit of a theme for us that we play well for periods of the game but don’t manage to finish.”—AP

LONDON: On his tenth and last shot of yesterday’s 50-meter pistol final at the London Olympics, Jin Jong-oh of South Korea finally overtook compatriot Choi Young-rae - and he felt sorry for grabbing the gold medal away from him.

Defending champion Jin was playing catch-up since Choi unexpectedly dominated qualification and entered the final with a seven-point lead over his favored teammate.

Jin closed in at almost every round, before ultimately topping Choi by 0.5 point to earn his second gold medal in London after winning the 10-meter air pistol event last Saturday.

“It’s a great pleasure for me, but Choi expected the gold so I feel sorry to have taken it away from him,” said Jin, adding that the two were planning to have dinner together to celebrate their achievements. “I didn’t expect to win this gold,” said Jin, who only qualified in 5th position for the final. “I was hoping for bronze. After the fifth shot, I didn’t look at the scores anymore.”

Jin beat Choi 662-661.5 points, while Wang Zhiwei of China took bronze with 658.6 points after edging Xuan Vinh Hoang of Vietnam by the smallest possible margin of 0.1. Except for Jin, most favorites failed

to qualify for one of the eight spots in the final. The 22-year-old Choi, ranked 55th in the world, won silver in his first international shooting final. He is yet to reach the top ten of a World Cup event.

“I am so happy,” he said, while repeatedly kissing his medal. “I did not expect this kind of performance. I just tried to stay in a good mindset and relax.”

Choi said he did not follow the scores from his fifth to ninth shot to avoid getting nervous. “Before my last shot, I just thought, I try my best and than I am fine,” said Choi, adding he would “never” be disappointed with silver, even if gold had been so close.

Several medal hopes failed to advance from the qualification stage, most notably Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan. The world champion shot 559 to share eighth place, then finished fourth in the six-man shootoff for one remaining final spot.

Matsuda, who won four of the last 15 World Cup events he competed in, also missed out on the final of the 10-meter air pistol last Saturday.

Vladimir Isakov of Russia, who won bronze in Beijing four years ago, became another casualty in the shoot-off, which send Giuseppe Giordano of Italy through to the final. World’s No. 1 Damir Mikec of Serbia scored 558, one point short for the shoot-off and two for immediate qualification.—AP

LONDON: South Korea’s Jin Jong-oh reacts after receiving his gold medal for the men’s 50-meter pistol, at the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

LONDON: United States’ swimmer Michael Phelps holds up a silver trophy after being honored as the most decorated Olympian at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

Fitting finale: Phelps retires LONDON: Michael Phelps got up to leave his last news conference at the Olympic pool when his relay mates were asked if they thought he would really stay retired.

Before they could answer, Phelps smiled and said emphatically: “Yes, yes.”

The most decorated Olympian called it a career on Saturday night with a fitting ending - a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the London Games. Phelps’ totals in four Olympics: 22 medals, 18 gold, 51 races and 9,900 meters of swimming.

“I’ve been able to do everything that I wanted,” he said.

“If you can say that about your career, there’s no need to move forward. Time for other things.”

Having hung up his suit, cap and goggles for the last time, the 27-year-old from Baltimore is looking forward to the rest of his life.

He wants to travel and see places beyond the pools and hotel rooms of the last 12 years. His intended destinations include Australia and Europe. He wants to go cage diving among great white sharks in South Africa with Chad le Clos, the last man to beat him in the Olympics.

“I’ve been able to see so many amazing places in the world, but I’ve really never gotten to experience them,” Phelps said.

There’s golf and poker to be played, too. He can’t wait for his hometown Ravens to start another football season, and don’t be surprised if turns up to watch some soccer matches. “He’s a true sports fanatic,” Debbie Phelps said.

And Mom knows best: “He needs time for himself first,” she said. Phelps still plans to be around the sport that made him rich and famous, saying, “I would like to try to take it to an even higher level than it is now.” He certainly left it on a high note.

Phelps regained the lead in the medley relay with his trademark butterfly stroke, then handed it over to freestyle anchor Nathan Adrian.—AP

18 MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Who’s got time for sports at the Olympics?

LONDON: Watching the greatest athletes on earth compete in a quadrennial bonanza of sport is nice, but it’s evidently not enough to satisfy the goldfish-like attention span of 21st-century spectators. At least that’s what Olympic organizers seem to think.

A dazzling array of loud, exuberant entertainment is on display at venues all over London, enough to ensure there’s never a dull moment between archery sets, tennis serves, vaults, slams, dunks and clean and jerks.

Sports purists may shudder at the tackiness and overproduction. The games, after all, are meant to be about Olympic ideals like courage, perseverance and fair play, not how loud crowds can cheer for a troupe of jumprope performers, or a brass band belting out the theme from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.” But most fans seem to love it.

“It’s absolutely marvelous,” said Rebecca Hester, a British spectator pushing her way slowly out of a sloped field at Olympic Park where fans gather to watch sports from nearby venues on a huge screen, listen to live music and be entertained by a fast-talking emcee. “I love the whole atmosphere. Not just the sports, but everything.”

And let’s face it, the Olympics have always encompassed more than just competition, with host countries outdoing each other to put on the most extravagant

opening and closing ceremonies. A seat at Olympic Stadium for Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle’s rollicking, $42 million kickoff show July 27 went for upward of $3,100, the hottest ticket of the games.

And it hasn’t stopped there. London organizers have arranged entertainment at every Olympic venue for all 26 sports, with each act tailored to the competition on display. There are Eastern European cheerleaders, English ballet dancers, US pop singers, British marching bands, and acrobatic acts from around the world.

There’s a game show-style soundtrack and countdown clock that ticks as competitors take their turn in weightlifting, and a video presentation explaining the somewhat mystifying sport of judo. A military brass band in crisp blue uniforms breaks into songs from James Bond movies at Lord’s Cricket Ground between archery competitions.

At basketball, Ukrainian cheerleaders known as the Red Foxes dance and gyrate, and music blasts at every dead ball, much like at an NBA game. An emcee with apparently limited knowledge of hoops exclaims somewhat amusingly: “That was some excellent jumping and good shooting!”

“It’s an American game, so that’s to be expected,” Mark Chivers, an English fan, said Saturday of the onslaught of entertainment. “Just a little bit too loud.”

Even London Mayor Boris Johnson has been brought in to amuse the crowds, although it hasn’t always worked out as planned.

The portly politician got stuck on a zip line Wednesday high above Victoria Park as thousands who had turned out to watch the Olympics on large screens gaped up at him. Fans laughed and took photos of the cord-bound mayor in a helmet and scrunched-up suit as workers endeavored to pull him to safety.

A spokeswoman for the mayor later quipped that “the judges are likely to mark him down for artistic interpretation,” but the crowd went home convinced they had witnessed one of the highlights of the games.

Debbie Jevans, director of sport for Olympic organizers, said the razzmatazz at venues is all about “inspiring people to engage with sport.” She said many emcees are used to explain what is going on to fans who may not fully understand the sport they are watching, and some events feature instructional videos and expert commentary piped in to earpieces that fans can purchase.

At some events, the blaring sideshow seems incongruous, even distracting to the athletes. At traditionsteeped Wimbledon, the Pet Shop Boys put on a concert just before play on the first day of tennis, though things have since returned to stately form.

And at the imposing, 210-year-old Royal Artillery

Barracks, where the shooting competition is taking place, music blasts out of speakers as competitors stand stone-faced, trying to focus as they await their turns. The aim is to shoot at faraway targets or explode compressed discs hurtling through the air, and keeping nerves in check and a steady hand is the difference between losing and Olympic glory.

“Come on, let me hear you roar if he is from your country,” an announcer screams, and the crowd usually obliges. It may be fun, but the earsplitting volume is surely a challenge for competitors in a sport where, as Italian shooter Niccolo Campriani put it, “Adrenaline is not your friend.”

Perhaps the most show business-y venue of the games is beach volleyball, a sport some detractors dismiss as little more than entertainment anyway.

The sand courts outside the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing St. have seen conga lines, comedians and DJs, and endured many iterations of the zany Benny Hill theme song piped in over loudspeakers. Fans don’t seem to mind one bit.

“For a sport like this, you want it to be noisy,” said Richard Barnett, an approving spectator from Sydney, Australia. “It’s a party.” “That was brilliant,” added Geoff Tibbert, a fan from Dorset. “Even though we were near the speakers.”— AP

Glorious triple-gold night for Britain

LONDON: Austria’s Robert Gardos serves to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov during the men’s team quarterfinals table tennis match at the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

Chinese men rolling toward another gold LONDON: China men’s coach Liu Guoliang realizes his country’s lopsided victories damage table tennis’ image, failing to pique interest in the rest of the world.

China wiped out Singapore 3-0 on Sunday in barely an hour to reach the semifinals, another walk-over victory.

China is too good, and Liu knows it.

“We welcome talented table tennis players coming to China to learn the game,” said Liu, who won two gold medals in the 1996 Olympics. “We know it’s not so good, but we have a long history of the game in our country. ... There is very big pressure on us to win, just like American basketball.”

China has already won two gold and two silver medals in men’s and women’s singles, and is favored to take two more gold in the team events. That would push its record to 24 of 28 gold medals since the sport entered the 1988 Olympics.

Three others reached the men’s team semifinals with victories on Sunday: Germany, South Korea and Hong Kong. Germany defeated Austria 3-0, South Korea beat Portugal 3-2, and Hong Kong defeated Japan 3-2. China plays Germany and Hong Kong faces South Korea in today’s semifinals.

Hong Kong’s victory amounted to another win for China, since all three players were born in mainland China, not Hong Kong - and Hong Kong is technically part of China.

Liu was asked if he understood that Chinese dominance might be - well slightly boring. “That’s a matter for the ITTF, not the men’s coach of China,” he said. Timo Boll of Germany, widely regarded as the best non-Chinese player, is expecting support - even from some Chinese fans. “Many Chinese have told me it’s also a little boring for them that China always wins, so I think they are also waiting for a close match.

Tomorrow is the day we need a little more help from them (fans). Maybe the whole world is behind us, even some Chinese fans.” China defeated Germany 3-0 in the gold-medal game in the 2008 Olympics, so Boll has been there before. “We need a good start, and we hope they get a little bit nervous and they don’t play at their limit,” said Boll, who will team with singles bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Bastian Steger. “Then anything else is possible.”

The world governing body has tried to slow China. In these Olympics only two players from one nation could enter singles, which guaranteed a medal for a non-Chinese. Four years ago in Beijing, three could enter - and China swept all three men’s and women’s medals.

China’s state-run system recruits thousands into sports schools, often thousands of kilometers (miles) from home. The field is eventually winnowed to a few. “Over the last 35 years the Chinese have accelerated away from us,” said Werner Schlager, who played

for Austria against Germany. “The Chinese know it’s bad for table tennis if there is no competition. So they know they have to help us in Europe, and they do.”Yang Zi, who played Sunday on Singapore’s losing team, was born in China and grew up in the sports-school system. He left about 10 years ago to play in Singapore.

“There was no chance for me in China,” he said. “It’s really almost impossible to beat China. Chinese players have so much more training time and the government support. ... There are probably more than 200 players in China at my level.” Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and has it own Olympic team, and a separate political and legal system based on its long history as a British colony.

All three Hong Kong players were born in mainland China and speak Mandarin - China’s official language instead of Cantonese, the language spoken in Hong Kong and much of southern China. “If it’s China or Hong Kong it’s the same,” Hong Kong player Tang Peng said. “We are all Chinese and Hong Kong has been returned to China for 15 years. But for now we are representing Hong Kong. But there is no difference between China and Hong Kong.”

Victories by China and Hong today in the semifinals would put the two into Wednesday’s final against each other China vs. China. “We are loyal to Hong Kong, otherwise we would be playing for China,” Hong Kong player Leung Chuyan said. — AP

LONDON: Britain enjoyed its greatest day of athletics on Saturday as Mo Farah in the 10,000 metres, Greg Rutherford in the long jump and heptathlete Jessica Ennis delivered an extraordinary hat-trick of Olympic gold medals on a truly unforgettable night. It was the first time Britain had won three athletics golds in one day and the occasion will live long in the memories of the 80,000 fans who played their own part in creating an atmosphere of spine-tingling intensity and astonishing noise.

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce retained the Olympic women’s 100 metres title in 10.75 seconds but what should have been the premier race of the programme was reduced to something of an anti-climax coming so soon after Farah had drained the crowd of every drop of emotion.

His perfectly executed 10,000 metres run earned the hugely popular Somalia-born 29-yearold Britain’s first Olympic distance gold.

A steadily-run race was exactly what he wanted, though everyone in the stadium was wary of the threat from Kenenisa Bekele, bidding for an unprecedented third 10,000m title.

LONDON: British track and field athlete Jessica Ennis holds up her heptathlon gold medal while greeting fans at the BT London Live concert at Hyde Park.—AP Farah was in complete control, however, and stamped his authority on the race at the bell as a remarkable rolling wall of noise brought him home in a time of 27 minutes 30.42 seconds.

Fast-finishing Galen Rupp finished a surprise second for the United States’s first medal in the event in 48 years, with Bekele’s brother Tariku grabbing bronze. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Farah, who could yet double

up in the 5,000m. “It’s the best moment of my life something I’ve worked so hard for. Long distance is a lonely event and what you put into it you get out of it.” Ennis has been the face of the Olympics virtually since London was awarded the Games seven years ago and, having missed the 2008 Games with a foot injury then lost her world title in 2011, the pressure was on to deliver.

She did so in style as an all-time heptathlon best 100m hurdles and further personal bests in the 200 metres and javelin gave her a mammoth lead heading into the final 800 metres.

Needing only a safe finish in the pack Ennis fed off the crowd and roared home to win her heat and secure a crushing overall victory.

Her 6,955 points tally was a monster 306 clear of Lilli Schwarzkopf of Germany, who was initially disqualified for a lane infringement but then reinstated. Russian Tatyana Chernova finished third for the second Games in a row. “I honestly can’t believe it after all the hard work and after the disappointment in Beijing. I am just so happy,” said Ennis.

Rutherford, who has had a wretched time with hamstrings seemingly forged from tissue paper, came into the Games as the world leader this season but was barely mentioned as gold medal hope. His 8.21 leap gave him the early initiative that would not be enough for a medal, let alone gold, in most major competitions, but it would have done the job on Saturday. Just to make sure, though, he improved it with a leap of 8.31 and nobody could get close, even though it was still the shortest leap to win gold in 40 years.

Australia’s Mitchell Watt grabbed a silver with a last jump of 8.16m with American Will Claye taking bronze on 8.12. “I don’t think many people expected me to win that and maybe me and my team were the only ones who did,” said Rutherford.

The women’s 100 metres might not have been able to compete with the home hat-trick for noise but it did deliver a great race with six women clocking under 11 seconds for the first time in the Olympic final. Fraser-Pryce kept herself a vestwidth in front from the start to finish with the second-fastest Olympic winning time after Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.54 in 1988.

The Jamaican, who served a six-month doping ban in 2010, also became the third woman to retain the title after Americans Gail Devers in 1996 and Wyomia Tyus in 1968. American world champion Carmelita Jeter took silver in 10.78 and Veronica Campbell-Brown claimed bronze in 10.81 as Jamaica took the early lead in what is expected to another great sprint battle with the United States. —Reuters

Saudis take surprise lead LONDON: Saudi Arabia leads the standings at the Olympic equestrian team show jumping competition after a first day dominated by controversy over a veterinarian’s decision to disqualify a Canadian horse.

The Saudi Arabians had just 1 penalty point yesterday and were followed closely by the Netherlands, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland, all with 4 penalty points and tied for second.

Standings can quickly change in the second round of competition Monday, meaning Canada in sixth place with 5 points and the United States, tied with Brazil in seventh with 8 points, are still in the running for medals. The field was narrowed from 15 teams to seven.

Canadian horse Victor, ridden by Tiffany Foster, was disqualified by competition veterinarians for hypersensitivity in the left front leg.

This left Canada without a drop score in the competition where the best three scores out of four riders count.

Canada coach Torchy Millar said Victor had a minor sore spot on his leg, possibly from nicking himself with a hoof in the stall, and that a protest will be lodged, but that Foster is still out of the competition.

The issue of hypersensitivity has followed international show jumping for years, since

capsaicin - the main ingredient in chili peppers - can be used to make a horse’s legs over-reactive to touch and thus jump higher.

Several jumping horses were disqualified at the 2008 Olympics for testing positive to capsaicin. However, jumpers in competition can

easily get small leg cuts, and the tests for hypersensitivity do not distinguish between heat in a leg caused by a minor sore or by a foreign substance. Millar said Victor was not tested for the presence of a foreign substance.—AP

LONDON: Prince Abdullah Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia rides his horse Davos in the equestrian show jumping competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. — AP

LONDON: Hungary’s gold medallist gymnast Krisztian Berki performs during the artistic gymnastics men’s pommel horse final at the 2012 Summer Olympics. — AP

Zou imperious as Brits crash pommel podium LONDON: China’s Zou Kai claimed his fifth Olympic gold medal yesterday, while Great Britain proved their emergence as a force in world gymnastics by supplying two of the medallists in the pommel horse final. Zou’s successful defence of his men’s floor title gave the 24-year-old his second gold medal of the London Games and his fifth overall, which is more than any other Chinese gymnast.

“This medal means a lot to me,” said Zou, whose floor routine was awarded a winning score of 15.933 points. “It’s my fifth Olympic gold medal and I’ve won the most Olympic gold medals in the Chinese team now.”

Zou claimed three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics four years ago and he can repeat the feat if he prevails in Tuesday’s horizontal bar final.

Runner-up Kohei Uchimura finished with the same score as Russia’s Denis Ablyazin — 15.800 — but the Japanese star took the silver medal on account of his higher execution score.

“Although I wasn’t able to get gold today, I think I did really well, so I am satisfied,” said Uchimura, who was crowned individual all-around champion on Wednesday.

In the pommel horse final, Hungary’s Krisztian Berki took the title by the slimmest of margins to prevent Louis Smith from claiming Britain’s first ever artistic gymnastics gold medal.

Berki and Smith finished on the same score — 16.066 points-but reigning world champion Berki was awarded the gold medal as his execution score of 9.166 was 0.100 points higher than Smith’s.

Having won bronze in Beijing four years ago, Smith moved up a step on the podium at the North Greenwich Arena, and the position he vacated was filled by 19-year-old team-mate Max Whitlock.

It gave the hosts their second and third medals of the men’s gymnastics tournament, following Britain’s shock bronze medal triumph in the team final today.

“A bronze medal for Max, two GB gymnasts on the podium-we’re probably one of the best countries in the world at the pommel horse right now,” said Smith.

In front of Prince William’s wife Catherine, Smith produced a flawless routine to close the final but it was not enough to outstrip the elegant display produced by the longlimbed Berki.

“When I saw Louis Smith’s performance, I thought that he could win, because it was quite a strong exercise,” said Berki, the reigning world champion. “Beating two British athletes in London is a great achievement.” There was an upset in the women’s vault final, where an error by American world champion McKayla Maroney allowed Romania’s Sandra Izbasa to claim the gold.

Maroney, 16, produced an outstanding opening vault but then sat down on her landing on her second attempt, allowing Izbasa to snatch the title with a score of 15.191 points.

Maroney was left with the silver medal, while Russia’s Maria Paseka came third.

It is Izbasa’s second Olympic gold, after her floor title in Beijing four years ago, and follows on from the bronze medal she won with Romania in the team final tomorrow.

“The vault final is a war of nerves and it showed,” said Izbasa, who will also compete in the floor final. “I just wished I could do two vaults as cleanly as possible. I didn’t think about the scores.”

Despite her disappointment, Maroney said she was satisfied. “I know I can do better vaults but I also know I didn’t deserve the gold medal because I fell on my second vault,” said the American.

“It happens. It’s gymnastics. You can’t always be perfect.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned.” The artistic gymnastics continues today with the final of the men’s vault and the men’s rings, as well as the women’s uneven bars final. — AFP

19

London 2012 Olympic Games

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

China sweeps Olympic gold LONDON: Badminton great Lin Dan saw something he’s never seen before. Tears from his China head coach Li Yongbo.

“Boys cry, too,” Lin said yesterday after he became the first man to win two Olympic singles titles. “He couldn’t control his tears. I rarely see him cry so he must be very emotional.”

Li Yongbo’s overwhelming joy also came from seeing something neither he nor anyone

Chinese men to win the doubles.

The entire team and coaches celebrated in Wembley Arena after most of the sellout crowd had gone, by forming a circle on the court and cheering and bowing to the few fans left. They then posed for group photos on the podium and let Li Yongbo wear every gold medal. Asked if China’s domination was good for the sport, Lin Dan was unequivocal.

“The Chinese team made their best personal efforts,” he said. “As players we all have respon-

LONDON: China’s Lin Dan plays against Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei at the men’s singles badminton gold medal match of the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP else has seen. A sweep of all five badminton gold medals in the Olympics.

After winning the men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles at the last two world championships, China became the first team to do it in the Olympics.

They missed out in Beijing when Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng lost the men’s doubles final, but Cai and Fu came through yesterday, the first

sibility to achieve the best results and defeat our rivals. We don’t need to consider anything else.”

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, whom Lin beat in the final for a second straight Olympics, agreed with his friend. “I congratulate China,” Chong Wei said. “It’s total domination. It’s good for China but for the rest of the countries, they have to start working harder. “China produce a lot of players, they have a succession plan. Other

countries don’t have a succession plan.” Chong Wei gave Malaysia some relief besides his second silver medal by putting off his retirement until 2014 so he can finally win a world championships title. He’s been denied in the era of Lin Dan, who also ruined Chong Wei’s Olympic hopes by winning their gripping final 15-21, 2110, 21-19. “There’s only one Lin Dan in the world,” Chong Wei graciously conceded.

Chong Wei, on painkillers after tearing ankle ligaments 10 weeks ago, was under tremendous pressure to deliver Malaysia’s first-ever Olympic gold medal. Afterwards, he told his country and fans, “I’m sorry.” But of Malaysia’s three silver medals, he now owns two of them as their most successful Olympian. “He’s such a brilliant rival that I am quite lucky,” Lin said. “I treasure the opportunities of playing him.”

The teammate groomed to succeed Lin, Chen Long, won the bronze from Lee Hyun-il of South Korea, who also lost the bronze playoff in Beijing. Lee Hyun-il, who retired after Beijing but was persuaded to return by desperate Korean officials in 2010, accepted the result with uncommon calm. “I tried my best and I played as well as I can so I don’t have any regrets,” Lee said. “I now feel relieved it is all over.”

Cai and Fu then took the court and weren’t willing to accept the same fate as Lee Hyun-il.

The four-time world champs routed Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 21-16, 2115. “Last time in Bejing we only achieved silver.

We regretted that,” Cai said. “Because it is the men’s doubles, we were expected to do better by our country. For this match we were not afraid of failure, we tried to enjoy it. Part of the reason we won was we were full of confidence.”

With their Queen Margrethe watching in the stands, Boe and Mogensen were happy to settle for silver. “China are the No. 1 badminton nation,” Mogensen said. “It is a little bit annoying that they are as good as they are, but it is a well deserved win for China.”

Lee Yong-dae won his second Olympic medal, after a mixed doubles gold in Beijing, when he and the retiring Chung Jae-sung won the bronze for South Korea from Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia 23-21, 21-10.—AP

Women’s boxing finally steps into Olympic ring Indian Mary Kom wins LONDON: One after another, the boxers walked down the neon-lit tunnel and into history. Two wore skirts. They all wore determination on their faces. And they put on a show that should prove their sport not only belongs in the Olympic ring, but might be a must-see event.

Women’s boxing made its longawaited Olympic debut yesterday, finally punching through the door to the only all-male sport in the summer program. A landmark tournament for gender equality in sports began with 12 entertaining bouts featuring uppercuts, haymakers and footwork that all measure up nicely to the men’s amateur sport.

The fighters all understood the history they made with every punch. They couldn’t let it distract them from their Olympic goals not after every fight that came before.

“We waited so long,” said Swedish middleweight Anna Laurell, who fought in the original women’s world championships 11 years ago. “I’m so proud to be here.

I felt almost tears when I was walking to the ring and I could hear the crowd and my family. I lost a bit of concentration for my fight, but I got it back.” Russia’s Elena Savelyeva won the first bout with a busy jab and strong combinations.

US lightweight Queen Underwood lost a close fight to Britain’s Natasha Jonas. The crowd roared for every fighter, clearly enjoying the tight competition and disciplined styles of the world’s top female boxers.

Indian flyweight Mary Kom also fought in the first women’s world championships in Scranton, Pa., in 2001. She became a women’s sports icon throughout Asia with

her international success in an unlikely sport, but often wondered whether she would ever wear an Olympic uniform.

That’s one reason Kom wept after winning her Olympic debut, 12 years after she defied her father’s wishes to pursue boxing and on her twins’ fifth birthday, no less.

“Every athlete wants to play in the Olympic Games, and these past years, we’ve been waiting and wait-

pro career in the 1950s, attended the fights and got a loud ovation before the show. Every fighter in London has a story of overcoming prejudices or misconceptions while turning this brutal pastime into an Olympic aspiration.

“It’s a long time coming, and it should have happened a long time ago,” said Gloria Peek, the U.S. assistant coach with 34 years in the sport. “It’s going to do a whole lot to revive boxing, because boxing is

LONDON: Edith Ogoke of Nigeria (left) lands a punch against Elena Vystropova of Azerbaijan, during the women’s 75-kg middleweight boxing competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP ing,” said Kom, who beat Poland’s Karolina Michalczuk. “When will boxing be in the Olympic Games? I waited 12 years because I wanted to play. I’m very emotional, but I’m fighting in the ring. I am winning.”

Perhaps it’s appropriate that this historic tournament ended up in Britain, which banned women’s boxing until 1996.

Barbara Buttrick, the English boxing pioneer known as the Mighty Atom during her dominant

dying a little bit. Women have skills, and it’s nice they get to showcase them now. People are going to see this sport in a different light. I’m sure there’s a lot of women around the world who are very happy.” The boxers’ talent was clear, yet so was their perspective on the moment.

The fighters usually hugged after putting on a succession of lively fights, showing a sportsmanship that the men’s amateur sport sometimes loses in its incessant

squabbling about narrow decisions.

Savelyeva beat North Korea’s Hye Song Kim 12-9 in the opening bout, which also featured a female referee, Algeria’s Kheira Sidi Yakoub. Kim threw the first punch of the Olympics, but her looping right missed the ducking Savelyeva, who soon proved too elusive in a well-matched bout.

“It was a total pleasure to make history,” Savelyeva said. “I tried to show my pride in women’s boxing.

It was an amazing thing to do.”

Gender equality still is a nebulous concept around the world, of course: The fans were greeted at the ExCel arena by eight female dancers in tight outfits who performed an NBA-halftime-style show before the biggest day in women’s boxing history. (They did the same on the first day of the men’s matches.)

Michalczuk and Australia’s Naomi-Lee Fischer-Rasmussen then wore skirts into the ring, choosing the gender-specific outfit allowed by amateur boxing’s governing body, but criticized by most fighters. Fischer-Rasmussen’s skirt was particularly short, although she wore compression shorts underneath.

“I like it in the ring,” said FischerRasmussen, who lost to Laurell. “It’s feminine, and it’s something different than shorts that I’m forever pulling down.” Most fighters wore the same style tank tops and shorts worn by the men.

Underwood became the ninth boxer eliminated from the 12member US team, but few Americans had tougher assignments. Underwood knew she had to fight with uncommon aggression even to have a chance against Jonas, a precise counterpuncher with the home crowd screaming in the judges’ ears for her every move.—AP

LONDON: Medals table after 23 of 23 events yesterday.

Nation G China 30 United States 28 Britain 16 South Korea 10 France 8 Italy 6 Kazakhstan 6 Germany 5 Russia 4 Hungary 4 North Korea 4 Netherlands 3 South Africa 3 New Zealand 3 Japan 2 Denmark 2 Romania 2 Belarus 2 Cuba 2 Jamaica 2 Poland 2 Ukraine 2 Ethiopia 2 Australia 1 Canada 1 Czech Republic 1 Sweden 1 Kenya 1 Brazil 1 Slovenia 1

S 17 14 11 4 8 5 0 10 16 1 0 1 1 0 12 4 4 2 2 1 1 0 0 12 3 3 3 2 1 1

B 14 18 10 6 9 3 0 7 15 3 1 4 0 4 13 2 2 3 1 1 1 5 1 7 6 1 0 2 5 2

Tot 61 60 37 20 25 14 6 22 35 8 5 8 4 7 27 8 8 7 5 4 4 7 3 20 10 5 4 5 7 4

Croatia Switzerland Iran Lithuania Georgia Venezuela Mexico Colombia Spain Slovakia Azerbaijan India Armenia Belgium Indonesia Mongolia Norway Serbia Egypt Guatemala Malaysia Taiwan Thailand Greece Moldova Argentina Hong Kong Qatar Singapore Tunisia Uzbekistan

1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 1 1 5 4 3 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1

Wu equals diving medals record with 3m triumph LONDON: China’s Wu Minxia won the women’s 3m springboard diving gold medal to draw level with Guo Jingjing as the most-decorated diver at the Olympics with six medals yesterday.

World champion Wu totalled 414.00 points from her five dives to beat teammate He Zi (379.20) and Mexico’s Laura Sanchez (362.40). Wu’s victory was China’s fifth gold medal from five events as they attempt an unprecedented sweep of all eight diving medals in London.

China won seven out of eight diving events at the Beijing Games four years ago, having won all 10 diving golds at last year’s Shanghai world championships.

Wu reeled off an impeccable back 2.5 somersault on her last dive to clinch the gold medal with a score of 85.50. She led after the opening round with 79.50 for a back 2.5 somersault from Italy’s Tania Cragnotto and He. He nailed 83.70 for a forward 3.5 somersault to take the lead from Wu (79.75) with Cragnotto dropping back to third.

But Wu retrieved the lead with a gem forward 3.5 somersault which netted her 85.25. Another exquisite dive, a reverse 2.5 somersault, earned Wu 84.00 to give her a 13.50 points buffer over He going into the fifth and final round.

Wu, who won the synchronised 3m springboard with He last weekend, made sure of her first individual Olympic gold medal with her showstopper final dive to beat her teammate home by 34.80 points.

China begin their bid for a sixth diving

gold at the London Games with the preliminaries of the men’s 3m springboard today.—AFP

LONDON: Gold medalist Wu Minxia from China waves after the women’s 3-meter springboard diving final at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

Russia leads at London Games LONDON: Natalie Ishchenko loves the technical portion of synchronized swimming, and it showed on the first day of competition in the Olympic pool. Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina of Russia scored a leading 98.200 points in the duet technical routine yesterday.

“They are machines,” Spain’s Andrea Fuentes Fache said. “I want to congratulate them because I don’t understand how they can be so good.” Russia’s opening 25 seconds of speedy legwork was perfectly timed to the rhythm of the Michael Jackson song “They Don’t Care About Us.” Ishchenko and Romashima executed the eight technical elements with precision, but the crowd cheered loudest for the duo’s quickness and energy in

the water. “All the new routines we do other teams copy straight away, so we tried to keep our Olympics routine a secret,” said Ishchenko, who trains 10 hours a day.

Ishchenko has won every technical solo event since the 2007 world championships. “We have the best coaches and specialists in the world, and thank God, they still live in Russia,” she said.

China’s Huang Xuechen and Liu Ou were second at 96.100 after performing to kung fu music. “We felt lots of pressure at the start because it is the first day of competition and these scores will contribute to the final score,” Liu said.

Spain’s Ona Carbonell Ballestero and Fuentes Fache took third at 96.000 with a flamenco-themed routine.

They were slightly out of sync on their last thrust and 360-degree spin.

“We try not to count how long we are underwater because otherwise we would faint,” Fuentes Fache said.

The US duo of Mary Killman and Mariya Koroleva were 10th at 87.900 with a routine to the song “Think” by Aretha Franklin. Koroleva is of Russian heritage, so her loyalties are divided.

“It’s difficult for me to live in America and just be an American because my heart is still Russian,” she said. “It’s difficult to divide between my love to America and my love to Russia, so I support both teams.” Killman and Koroleva put their personal stamp on their routine, coming up with some of the strokes, and designing the costumes that Killman’s mother made. Still, they know they are chasing Russia, which has dominated the sport for several years. Russia swept all seven synchro titles at last year’s world championships in Shanghai. — AP

LONDON: Nayara Figueira and Lara Teixeira of Brazil compete during the women’s duet synchronized swimming technical routine at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

China sweeps Olympic badminton gold

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

19

Speed king Bolt retains 100m title LONDON: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (third left) runs to win the men’s 100m final at the athletics event during the London 2012 Olympic Games. —AFP LO N D O N : J a m a i c a’s Us a i n Bolt sealed his status as the greatest sprinter of all time a f te r re t a i n i n g t h e m e n’s Olympic 100m title with an electrifying display yesterday.

The world record holder turned on the afterburners at 60m to clock an Olympic record of 9.63sec, the second fastest time in history. “I executed and that was the key,” Bolt said.

“When it comes to the championships, it’s all about business for me and I brought it.”

Jamaican compatriot and training partner Yohan Blake, long tipped as Bolt’s successor as the fastest man in the world, claimed silver after equalling his personal best of 9.75sec.

American 2004 Olympic gold medallist Justin Gatlin completed his remarkable comeback from a four-year doping ban by taking the bronze medal in a personal best of 9.79sec.

The 2007 double world champion Tyson Gay came in fourth, one hundredth of a second off his teammate Gatlin in 9.80sec, with a third American, Ryan Bailey, fifth in 9.88.

The sell-out 80,000-capacity crowd at the Olympic Stadium were on their feet when the eight finalists, including the four fastest men in the world - Bolt, Gay, Blake and Asafa Powell - lined up.

As the television cameras picked out each r a ce r, t h e e xc i te m e n t m o u n te d a s t h e y reached Bolt in lane seven, dressed in black shorts and the yellow and green singlet of the Jamaican team.

Th e 2 5 - ye a r - o l d s h owe d n o s i gn s o f nerves as he bid to replicate his gold medal showing in the Beijing Games in 2008.

To mass delight, he practised his DJ mixing skills, one hand raised to his ear, and then drew laughter after drawing pretend pistols and reholstering them after pointing them down the track.

As the starter called them to the blocks, B o l t p u t a f i n g e r to h i s l i p s to h u s h t h e excitable crowd, briefly crossing himself and looking skywards as the television zoomed in and his picture was broadcast on the big stadium screen. As silence descended, the gun

went and Bolt’s reaction time from the blocks saw him rocket away, but Gatlin had the edge on his left.

Bolt, however, pushed his huge frame through his renowned drive and transition phase after 50 metres. Teeth gritted and long legs pumping, Bolt completed what turned out to be a remarkably comfortable victory given the quality and strength of the field.

After Bolt crossed the line, he immediately set off on a lap of victory, a Jamaican flag draped over his shoulders and Blake in tow.

He stopped to per form his customar y “bow and arrow” pose at various points, to chants of “Usain, Usain!” ringing around the stadium.

I t w a s a re m a r k a b l e re s u l t fo r t h e Jamaican who revolutionised sprinting, and indeed athletics, four years ago in Beijing, setting then-world records when winning the 100 and 200m titles, and also starring in a record-break ing Jamaican quar tet in the 4x100m relay.

He left the Chinese capital as one of the

LONDON: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates after winning the men’s 100m final at the athletics event during the London 2012 Olympic Games.—AP most recognisable figures in world sport, unbelievably going on to beat both his individual sprint marks with new times (9.58 and 19.19sec) in the Berlin worlds in 2009. Bolt

lost his world 100m title in Daegu, South Korea, last July to Blake after sensationally false starting in the final, but has fired back in most emphatic fashion.—AFP

Richards-Ross ends US 400m gold drought

LONDON: Sanya Richards-Ross from the US holds her national flag and celebrates after winning the women’s 400-meter final during the athletics competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

LONDON: This time, Sanya Richards-Ross closed the deal. Four years after a late fade left her crying and wearing bronze at the Olympics, Richards-Ross won the 400meter gold she always thought she should win.

Nearly banging elbows with runners on both sides of her - and with the defending champion making up ground on the outside - Richards-Ross got stronger, not weaker, this time over the last 100 meters.

She surged to the finish, won by about a body’s length and punched her fist when she crossed the line in 49.55 seconds Sunday night to give the U.S. its first track and field gold medal of the London Olympics. Defending champion Christine Ohuruogu of Britain finished second in 49.70 and American DeeDee Trotter, decked out in red, white and blue glitter on her face, won the bronze in 49.72.

This moment, though, belonged to Richards-Ross. At the end, she wrapped herself in the American flag and went to the stands to embrace her husband, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive back Aaron Ross, who took time off from NFL training camp to travel to London.

“You finally did it, you finally did it, babe,” he told his wife. “Enjoy the moment.” Imagine what the trophy case at their house must look like. Ross has two Super Bowl rings. His wife now has an individual gold to go with two others she won in previous Olympic relays, with one more possible next week in another relay.

The world’s top runner at this distance for much of the last four years, Richards-Ross has nonetheless been waiting impatiently for another shot at the individual gold she thought she’d grab in 2008.

That time, the final 100 meters of her race was a disaster. Leading coming into the stretch, she fell back dramatically, and a few minutes later, she was crying in the lower level of the Bird’s Nest.

Quite a different result this time and quite a different scene at the finish. “She worked so hard,” Aaron Ross said.

“All the emotions going through her mind, my mind, her family’s mind, everybody that’s seen the struggles. It just a great moment right now.”

Health issues almost certainly contributed to the bronze medal in Beijing. Richards-Ross spent five years fighting an autoimmune disease called Behcet’s syndrome, but after a visit to a different doctor, she thinks she’s been misdiagnosed.

Fighting her illness - which causes fatigue, sores around her mouth and splochy skin - with a new treatment, the five-time U.S. champion arrived in London feeling as good as she has in years.—AP

LONDON: Andy Murray of Great Britain poses with his gold and silver medals in tennis at the All England Lawn Tennis Club at the 2012 Summer Olympics.—AP

Murray drubs Federer for gold at Olympics WIMBLEDON: Andy Murray stood with the Union Jack draped over his shoulders, an Olympic gold medal around his neck, flanked by the man he had just beaten, Roger Federer, and basking in the roar of the Centre Court crowd. No wonder the often dour Scotsman was grinning.

Murray won one for the home team Sunday, beating Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the tennis final at Wimbledon. The victory marked a career breakthrough for Murray. He has lost all four of his Grand Slam finals, three against Federer, including Wimbledon a month ago.

“I’ve had a lot of tough losses in my career,” he said. “This is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final. I’ll never forget it.”

For Federer, the drubbing marked another Olympic disappointment. Playing in the games for the fourth time, he sought a victory to complete a career Golden Slam but settled for silver - his first singles medal.

“Don’t feel too bad for me,” Federer said. “I felt like I won my silver, I didn’t lose it. So I feel really happy.” Murray swept nine consecutive games to take control, breaking Federer’s serve four times in a row, his inspired play a reflection of raucous crowd support. He erased all nine break points he faced.

“He never looked back,” Federer said. “His

credit for getting in the lead and using the crowd to come through. He did an unbelievable job.”

The match capped the most memorable Olympics for tennis since it returned to the games in 1988 after a 64-year absence. The event transformed staid Wimbledon into a more festive place.

Murray became the first British man to win the gold in singles since Josiah Ritchie in 1908.

Those games took place at Wimbledon, too.

In the day’s first match on Centre Court, women’s singles champion Serena Williams teamed with sister Venus to win their third career doubles gold medal. They defeated Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 under the retractable roof.

Murray settled for a silver in mixed doubles with teammate Laura Robson. They lost to Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, 26, 6-3, 1-0 (8).

Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina won the bronze in men’s singles, beating Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-4. Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova of Russia won the bronze in women’s doubles.

The roof opened shortly before the men’s final, and the beloved Federer - winner of seven Wimbledon titles - walked onto the sunsplashed grass to a standing ovation. —AP

ECB looks ready to break ground in crisis fight Page 23

Oil deal no quick fix for Sudan crisis Page 23

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Myanmar energy tycoon lobbies for smart sanctions Page 25

KIPCO announces KD 17.1m first half net profit Page 22

ATHENS: International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission chief Poul Thomsen , left, arrives for the last meeting between Greece’s new finance minister Yannis Stournaras and the debt inspectors from the European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund, known as the troika at Greece’s Finance ministry in Athens, yesterday. Troika held talks at the Finance Ministry on the euro 11.5 billion (14.1 billion) austerity package for 2013-14 that is due to be finalized later this month. — AP

Greece holds key EU-IMF talks German minister sees Greek euro exit ATHENS: Greece held talks with its international lenders yesterday on further spending cuts it must adopt to secure a new 31.5 billion euro tranche of aid that is vital to keep the country afloat.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said in comments published ahead of the meeting that the new government was committed to reforms aimed at boosting the debt-laden economy and staving off bankruptcy and a threatened eurozone exit.

Stournaras said the next few weeks were crucial for Greece’s future, as the so-called troika of creditors-the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank-determines whether to unlock the 31.5 billion euros ($39 billion) next month.

“We made good progress,” IMF official Poul Thomsen told reporters after the meeting, adding that the auditors would return in September.

Greece has to slice another 11.5 billion euros off its spending plans for the next two years to win the money but further austerity measures are deeply unpopular in a country also struggling with deep recession and high unemployment.

The funds are due to be disbursed in September as part of a 130 billion euros bailout package, Greece’s second internatonal lifeline in two years, but the required cuts have been delayed by political turmoil that triggered two elections in six weeks.

“The country is committed to implementing a series of measures and reforms to revive the economy and permanently remove the threat of bankruptcy,” Stournaras told the Ethnos newspaper.

He acknowledged that Greeks have had to endure “major sacrifices” as the new coalition government that emerged after the June election imposes tough austerity measures, including salary, pension cuts and welfare.

“The coming weeks are crucial for the country’s survival because if we go down a different path than logic tells us, it could drive us outside the eurozone and into bankruptcy.” The conservative-led coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was formed in June with a pledge to renegotiate the EU-IMF bailout and place more emphasis on growth.

But Greece’s European partners have warned that the country is in no position to

demand concessions when its reforms are months behind schedule. “ There is a serious effort” to reach an agreement, a finance ministry source said as the talks got under way in Athens.

Stournaras said he hoped Greece could emerge from its deep recession by speeding up a privatisation programme and and structural reforms which are also being sought by its international creditors.

Greece was given a temporary lifeline last week when the ECB agreed on a move which will give Athens access to another four billion euros of funds and ensure its financial survival until September, a German newspaper reported Saturday.

Greece should exit the eurozone by year’s end and not receive any more aid, a German regional finance minister has said in yesterday newspaper interview, further stirring debate on the issue.

Markus Soeder, finance minister in southern Bavaria state and a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the region’s sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU, said the euro itself was “right and important”.

“But when a country like Greece on a continuing basis cannot pay back debts, it must leave the eurozone,” he told yesterday’s masscirculation Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview.

“The way I foresee it, Greece should quit by the end of the year. Any new aid, any easing of the conditions would be the wrong path,” he said. Last month German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said the “horror” of a potential exit by debt-mired Greece had worn off and Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer has also not ruled it out.

Soeder’s remarks prompted criticism from deputy head of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union parliamentary group Michael Meister who said such a debate was damaging and did not help solve the problems.

“That’s a decision for the Greek government to make and the last thing they need is advice from Germany,” he told Monday’s Tagesspiegel newspaper according to a prereleased article. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who has already called for calm in the rhetoric over the eurozone debt crisis, told Focus magazine that: “Everyone should pay attention to what they say and how they say it.”

Monti warns of euro crisis BERLIN: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has voiced fears that tensions sparked by the eurozone crisis have already turned countries against each other and must not be allowed to rip Europe apart.

Asked about resentment in Italy towards Germany and complaints of German arrogance in its handling of the debt crisis, Monti told Monday’s edition of the German news magazine Der Spiegel that he was “concerned”.

He said he had talked about growing resentment in Italy not only towards Germany and at times Chancellor Angela Merkel but also towards the EU and the euro, with Merkel herself, according to an advance copy of Der Spiegel. But he said the problem went far beyond the relationship between Germany and Italy.

“The pressures, which have accompanied the eurozone in recent years, already bear the traits of a psychological breakup of

Europe,” Monti said. “We must work hard to contain it.” And he warned that if the euro became a reason for Europe to drift apart, “the foundations of the European project” would be destroyed.

The Italian prime minister also said he welcomed comments by the European Central Bank last week that the government bond market, where Italy and Spain’s borrowing costs have soared, was distorted. The problems behind this, he said, must be quickly resolved to prevent further uncertainty about the ability of the eurozone to deal with the crisis. He also called on government chiefs to maintain clear room for manoeuvre in relation to their national parliaments. “If governments were to let themselves be bound completely by the decisions of their parliaments without maintaining their own scope for negotiation, Europe is more likely to break up than see closer integration,” he warned. — AFP

Mario Monti

Romney urges ‘dramatic’ measures WASHINGTON: Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says the US economy needs “dramatic” measures to recover from a deep recession, but not another federal stimulus package.

“I can absolutely make the case that now is the time for something dramatic and it is not to grow government,” the multimillionaire former businessman and investor said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Romney, who is challenging President Barack Obama in November’s election, said that instead, he would rather create “the incentives and the opportunities” for big and small businesses to increase hiring. The former Massachusetts governor favors lowering individual and corporate tax rates, slashing government spending and easing regulations on energy companies to help make America energy independent by 2020.

He has predicted that his economic plan would lead to 12 million new jobs created by the end of his first four-year term, some-

thing he told CNN would be a “normal process” of economic recovery. “When you come out of the kind of recession we’ve had, you should see this kind of creation,” he added in the inter view conduc ted Saturday in Evansville, Indiana.

“We should be seeing 200, 300, 400,000 jobs a month to regain much of what has been lost. That is what normally happens after a recession, but under this president, we have not seen that kind of pattern.” The White House hopeful blasted President Obama’s tax plan, which would allow tax cuts to expire for people who earn more than $250,000 a year, saying it would “kill jobs.” “The great majority of small businesses pay taxes at the individual rate. So as he raises these taxes ‘on the wealthy,’ he’s raising taxes on small business,” he said.

Romney said he was concerned about middle class Americans, who “need our help with good jobs,” not the wealthy, who “are going to do just fine, whoever is elected.”

Top Obama campaign adviser Robert

Gibbs fired back, saying it’s “hard to get millionaires and billionaires to get rid of their tax breaks.” “In order to give the rich tax breaks, (Romney) is going to raise taxes on middle class families,” the former White House press secretary told CNN, adding “that’s not me saying that, that’s the (nonpartisan) Tax Policy Center saying that this week.”

He insisted that Obama’s policies have worked. “There’s no doubt we are better off than we were four years ago,” Gibbs said.

“Are we where we need to be? Absolutely not. Nobody thinks that. We have worked hard to move this economy forward. And we can’t go backward and try the idea that Mitt Romney wants, which is more tax cuts for rich people.”

Obama has slammed Romney’s “fairy dust” tax cuts in a television attack ad, claiming that his rival would swell his own wealth while sticking the middle class with the bill. —AFP

22

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

BUSINESS

UAE business activity edges up slightly in July DUBAI: Business activity in the United Arab Emirates’ non-oil private sector edged up slightly in July from the previous month, but the growth of export orders fell sharply, a purchasing managers’ survey showed yesterday.

The HSBC UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures the performance of the manufacturing and services sectors, rose to 53.4 points last month from 53.2 in June.

The adjusted index remains above the

50-point mark which separates growth from contraction, the survey of 400 private sector firms showed.

“Although the sharp drop in export orders is troubling, overall the data suggests the non-oil economy is showing some resilience,” said Simon Williams, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at HSBC. “The headline score is still firmly in expansionary territory, and the positive output, new order and employ-

ment readings are particularly encouraging given the troubled global economy and the onset of the Gulf summer.” UAE firms saw output growth slow again to 53.7 points in July, the weakest level since March, from 54.6 in June. New orders remained steady at 58.4 points.

Growth in new export orders fell steeply to 50.6 points, the slowest rate since June 2010, from 54.5 in the previous month, with firms saying sales

were increasingly difficult to secure.

Employment growth across the UAE’s non-oil private sector rose again in July, reaching the highest rate since April 2011, the survey also showed.

Output price growth climbed back above the 50 mark in July, while growth in input prices slowed to 53.8 points, the weakest input inflation for a year and a half. Consumer price inflation in the UAE, the world’s No. 3 oil exporter, eased to 0.4 percent on an

annual basis in June, according to government data. In June, Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed alMansouri cut his forecast for the country’s gross domestic product growth this year. He predicted expansion of around 3 percent, down from 4.2 percent in 2011, because of global weakness. Detailed PMI data is only available under licence from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a license. — Reuters

QP Samurai offer new investors, cheap costs Growing trade links between Japan, ME

MUNICH: In this May 9, 2012 file photo flags of the German insurer Allianz SE wave prior to the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Munich, Germany.

Allianz SE said, net profit rose 23 percent in the second quarter as the company’s life insurance business did well. Net profit rose to euro1.32 billion ($1.63 billion) from euro 1.07 billion in the same quarter a year ago. — AP

KIPCO announces KD 17.1m first half net profit KUWAIT: KIPCO—the Kuwait Projects Company - has announced net profit of KD 17.1 million ($ 61 million), or 13.12 fils ($ 4.68 cents) per share for the first six months of 2012 - an increase of 3 per cent on the KD 16.6 million ($60.5 million) profit, or 13.34 fils (US$ 4.86 cents) per share, reported for the same period last year.

KIPCO’s second quarter profit (for the three months ended 30 June, 2012) of KD 8.6 million ($30.7 million) is an increase of 1.2 per cent on the KD 8.5 million ($30.6 million) profit reported for the first three months of 2012.

KIPCO’s total revenues for the first six months of 2012 increased by 20.2 per cent to KD 214.9 million ($767.1 million) compared to the KD 178.8 million ($651.5 million) for the first half of 2011.

The company also saw a rise in operating profit to KD 45.3 million (US$ 161.7 million) for the first half of 2012 - an increase of 31.7 per cent from the KD 34.4 million ($125.34 million) reported in the first half of 2011.

KIPCO’s consolidated assets increased in the first half of 2012, to KD 6.2 billion ($22.1 billion) compared to KD 5.9 billion ($21.2 billion) for the year end 2011.

Masaud Hayat, KIPCO’s Chief Executive Officer, Banking, said KIPCO’s first half results continued the positive trends of previous financial quarters: “Despite a difficult environment, our first half results maintained the growth

patterns we saw in our first quarter and 2011 year-end results. In particular, our financial services businesses are showing continuing improvements in performance, building on the results they delivered at the end of last year. Our real estate and media businesses are also performing to our expectations for 2012.

These are very positive signs and we hope these performance trends will continue into our third and final quarter financial results.”

Masaud Hayat

DUBAI: Qatar Petroleum is set to sell its maiden yen-denominated bond this week in a deal that would raise the profile of Middle East credits among Japanese investors. But the bond may herald a trickle rather than a flood of yen issues from the Gulf.

State-owned QP aims to raise around $1 billion-equivalent with a privately placed, 10-year bond guaranteed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), pricing on Thursday, said a source with knowledge of the deal, who declined to be named because of the matter’s sensitivity.

It would be a rare international offering from QP, whose only dollar-denominated deal was back in 2006. The bond would be just the third yen-denominated financial instrument known to be issued by a Gulf entity. The benefits for regional borrowers from tapping into the Samurai market include diversification of funding, while low rates in Japan mean attractive costs if cash is kept in yen.

“While regional issuers have been able to tap liquidity in Asian local currencies including Malaysian ringgits, Singapore dollars and most recently Chinese renminbi, the Samurai market would be a new liquidity pool which they aren’t able to target via their dollar benchmarks,” said Salman Ansari, Standard Chartered’s head of debt capital markets for the Middle East.

However, although QP’s deal would be a notable transaction from a high-quality borrower, a major wave of Samurai issuance from the Middle East would remain doubtful. “If the issuer feels the cost of funding and the exchange rate has moved in the right direction, then it makes sense, and rates in Japan are low right now,” said Debashis Dey, partner at Clifford Chance in Dubai.

“But it is an opportunistic play, and demand really ebbs and flows. Samurais take time to set up as an issuer has to create a Samurai programme in Japan and that has cost implications too.”

Rumours of a QP Samurai have been circulating for much of 2012 and finally crystallised last week as it emerged five banks

had been mandated: Daiwa, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

Initial price guidance of 27-37 basis points over the offered swap rate, given on Wednesday, was revised on the back of good interest to 30-35 bps over the same benchmark on Thursday, according to IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.

The deal’s JBIC guarantee raised eyebrows as backing from such an institution is normally used to reduce the cost of funds for much lower-rated credits.

Standard & Poor’s rates QP at AA and JBIC at AA-, a notch lower.

“You don’t normally need a wrap for such a highly rated credit - it’s not like Emirates NBD, who got the benefit of much tighter pricing,” said one Gulf-based debt banker. In 2010, Emirates NBD completed a 19 billion yen ($243 million) securitisation, backed by loans on Japanese cars, which helped the Dubai bank raise much cheaper finance than it would have achieved in international markets at a time when Dubai World’s debt was still being restructured.

For JBIC, the rationale for that deal was that it would help support car sales in the United Arab Emirates, where Japanese models had a roughly 60 percent market share. For QP’s deal, the guarantee simply aims to make Japanese investors comfortable with a credit that is new to them.

“Japanese investors are receptive to long-dated exposures and the JBIC guarantee will help ease investments in the region past their local credit committees, who may be unfamiliar with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) names,” said Doug Bitcon, head of fixed income funds and portfolios at Rasmala Investment Bank.

The only previous Samurai bond from the Gulf was from National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which privately placed a 10 billion yen, 15-year deal in July 2011.

One factor likely to attract yen investors to QP is the way in which the company represents the Gulf’s role in supplying energy to the Japanese economy, in particular after last year ’s nuclear disaster at

Fukushima. Japan has been buying about 70 percent of Qatar ’s oil expor ts and around 13 percent of its liquefied natural gas output since March, according to a researcher at the Japanese Institute of Middle Eastern Economies, cited by IFR. “The relationship used to be more about manufacturing but the energy demand will be more acute and that will invigorate the relationship between Japan and the Middle East,” said Dey. It’s not only through energy imports that Japan and Gulf states are forging closer ties; Japanese firms have long been big players in GCC infrastructure projects.

Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco gave the go-ahead in May for their $7 billion Rabigh 2 joint venture.

Nevertheless, Samurai issuance is likely to be piecemeal and restricted to a limited number of GCC names. The most significant constraint is the lengthy process which borrowers have to undergo, which is said to be much longer than to tap dollar markets.

Changes have been made in an attempt to open up the Samurai market. Since April 1, non-Japanese issuers can file a Foreign Company Securities Registration Statement, which allows for some of the documents to be written in English as opposed to the regular all-Japanese filing.

However, it still takes time to set up a programme, so any GCC borrower must have a long-term commitment to issuing in yen. “It is manageable but it is a Japanese issuance process, subject to Japanese rules and restrictions.

It is not something that you’d be able to do overnight,” said Dey. Another consideration is the use of proceeds. While links between Japan and the Gulf are growing, the prohibitive cost of swapping yen back into dollars means entities looking to issue Samurais will need businesses that have requirements for yen.

“As well as diversifying the investor base, should the issuer not wish to take on currency risk and swap back into dollars, the funding levels remain very attractive for issuers,” said Bitcon. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .4390000 .3430000 .2850000 .2780000 .2920000 .0040000 .0020000 .0762440 .7428190 .3860000 .0720000 .7282020 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2810000 GB Pound/KD .4411700 Euro .3451940 Swiss francs .2874390 Canadian dollars .2796850 Danish Kroner .0464060 Swedish Kroner .0408440 Australian dlr .2942070 Hong Kong dlr .0362310 Singapore dlr .2252140 Japanese yen .0035850 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0765350 Bahraini dinars .7456550 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0749530 Omani riyals .7301550 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Malaysian Ringgit

3.553 5.072 3.053 2.141 3.173 220.090 36.173 3.425 6.439 8.876 89.338

.2840000 .4500000 .3520000 .2980000 .2860000 .3000000 .0070000 .0035000 .0770100 .7502840 .4060000 .0780000 .7355200 .0510000 .2831000 .4444670 .3477740 .2895870 .2817760 .0467530 .0411490 .2964060 .0365020 .2268970 .0036120 .0051360 .0021550 .0030020 .0034770 .0771070 .7512270 .4004240 .0755130 .7356110 .0067990

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 74.883 77.158 729.380 745.850 76.464

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 48.250 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.466 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.309 Tunisian Dinar 176.65 Jordanian Dinar 396.190 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.884 Syrian Lier 4.899 Morocco Dirham 32.64 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 280.700 Euro 354.52 Sterling Pound 441.820 Canadian dollar 274.79 Turkish lire 152.400 Swiss Franc 295.01 US Dollar Buying 279.500 GOLD 293.000 148.000 75.250

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

SELL CASH

300.400 750.620 3.710 285.300 554.300 46.000 47.400 167.800 48.810 353.300 37.090 5.310 0.032 0.161 0.237 3.710 399.980 0.191 92.430 44.600 4.340 234.800 1.828

46.000 733.150 3.080 6.970 78.070 75.360 227.950 36.440 2.688 445.400 42.600 294.500 4.400 9.270 198.263 76.960 282.600 1.360

10 Tola

GOLD 1,700.380

Sterling Pound US Dollar

732.970 2.990 6.748 77.640 75.360 227.950 36.440 2.137 443.400 293.000 4.400 9.160 76.860 282.200

COUNTRY

Currency

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 443.400 282.200

SELL DRAFT

298.900 750.620 3.447 283.800

227.900 48.429 351.800 36.940 5.070 0.031

SELL DRAFT

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

302.65 286.24 295.56 352.84 281.80 444.51 3.67 3.449 5.059 2.140 3.173 2.982 76.79 750.34 46.41 401.47 733.41 77.82 75.36

SELL CASH

310.00 286.00 295.00 352.00 283.00 445.00 3.63 3.580 5.300 2.350 3.650 3.150 77.45 750.00 47.70 399.00 736.00 78.00 75.80

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 399.940 0.190 91.430 3.200 233.300

Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro

282.150 285.710 444.285 349.825

Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

286.710 746.985 76.795 77.445 75.205 397.730 46.439 2.136 5.059 2.990 3.448 6.723 692.115 4.585 9.015 4.375 3.235 89.740

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

282.200 2.983 5.072 2.145 3.455 6.770 76.935 75.410 750.200 46.426 447.400 2.990 1.550 355.700 288.800 3.195

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

282.500 351.500 443.250 283.610 3.650 5.061 46.525 2.142 3.447 6.738 2.995 751.200 76.850 75.350

23

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

BUSINESS

Islamic trade finance: Lost in transaction DUBAI: Omar Ibn al-Khattab, ruler of a nascent Islamic empire in the seventh century, once convened a meeting in Medina to admonish his subjects “for avoiding trading and leaving the markets in the hands of the foreign traders”.

The story underscores the importance given by Islam to real economic activity, said Muhammad Qaseem, head of the sharia department at Dubai Islamic Bank-Pakistan. “One of the main sources of earning pure wealth is true sharia-compliant trade.”

Centuries later, however, the Islamic finance industry - which is growing rapidly in some areas, such as debt issuance - is neglecting merchandise trade, leaving trade finance for conventional banks to dominate.

When the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce held its regional meeting in Qatar in March, for example, a five-day agenda devoted just 30 minutes to Islamic finance. The event brought together trade experts from around the globe, but Islamic banks were not prominent. In contrast, Commercial Bank of Qatar and Qatar National Bank , both conventional lenders, were major backers of and par-

COMMODITY REPORT

Commodities correcting after strong rally

By Ole S. Hansen he dollar rallied and financial markets retraced following the European Central Bank meeting in which Mr. Draghi failed to live up to his strong “whatever it takes” statement the previous week. Much of the rally which this comment had triggered was given back, and while the markets may have been left underwhelmed, he did open the door to a new round of policy action. The north south divide which is quite evident within the central bank may slow the progress and some initiatives may require accept from individual parliaments. After an impressive five consecutive weeks of gains, the DJUBS Commodity index went into reverse, with all the major sectors showing negative returns. Industrial metals suffered the most, with copper reaching the lowest level in six weeks, followed by the energy sector, where a return to normal US weather triggered some selling of natural gas.

T

Gold investors left disappointed once again With no immediate chance for additional stimulus, either in Europe or the US, gold traders once again were forced to reduce exposure, as the weaker Euro helped drag the gold price lower. Resistance towards 1640 remains firm, and having suffered losses back below 1600, the search for support begins once again, as seen several times over the last three months.

Short-term risk points towards a test of support, initially the trend line at 1566, followed by the June 28 low at 1548.

The debt crisis in Europe is still a major concern to investors, and with ten-year bond yields in countries like Spain back above the unsustainable level of seven percent, the safe-haven demand for gold is unlikely to go away. A correction and the likely re-emergence of support could possibly be the best outcome in coming days, as investors need reassurance that support from physical and speculative buyer’s remains firm. The strong correlation to the Euro cannot be ignored and the developments on that front will be key decider as to the next move in gold. While gold has remained stuck in its range during these past couple of months platinum has been drifting lower towards support at USD 1380, this despite decent Chinese demand and a price which at current levels is below the cost of production. Platinum has historically been priced higher than gold but has now for year been trading at discount and reached the lowest ratio since January this week.

Copper weak on shrinking Chinese activity The price of copper has moved lower in recent sessions, first on the back of lower manufacturing activity in China and then from lack of additional stimulus in Europe and the US. With copper a major component in construction and manufacturing,continued signs of a global slowdown have left speculators holding a sizable net short position in control. Major support can be found in the between USD 3.25 and 3.20 ahead of the 2011 low at USD 3.0.

North Sea supplies creating havoc with Brent crude pricing It has been a relatively quiet week in oil markets, with the recent established range for both WTI and Brent crude capping the market. But while Brent crude trades near the high of its current range, WTI has been left lingering near the lows. This discrepancy is clearly depicted in the spread between the two global benchmarks, with the Brent premium over WTI having widened to almost 19 dollars.

North Sea supplies have been dwindling in recent months, with upcoming rig maintenance in September putting further pressure on production. Meanwhile in the US, production from shale and increased imports from Canada has left the market well supplied and WTI has suffered as a consequence.

Geo-political risks are still a present danger to overall supplies, but these should continue to be offset by slowing demand both from developed and emerging economies. This leads us to believe that continued range trading will prevail in the weeks ahead, with the outside chance of Brent testing the July high at 108.18 on continued signs about reduced supply from the North Sea. US grain markets saw lower prices for a second straight week, as high prices and the strong dollar have led to a slowdown in exports. Crop conditions are still not showing any signs of improving, and as for corn, any rain now will be too late to significantly change the outlook for a diminishing crop. The extreme volatility in recent weeks has left many traders nursing losses and caused bouts of fatigue, so activity is expected to slow down as we approach the next major crop report from the United States Department of Agriculture on August 10.

In Russia the Agriculture Ministry said that the outlook for this year’s harvest had worsened, but still insisted that there would be an exportable surplus of 10 million tons of grains. The downgrade of the upcoming harvest nevertheless brought back memories of August 2010, when Russia shocked the market by its decision to ban exports despite reassurances to the opposite

ticipants in the event.

Both the Morocco-based Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT) and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corp (ITFC) have called for “capacity building” activities such as seminars and workshops to spur trade among Muslim countries, but such efforts remain largely unmatched by Islamic banks.

“I have not seen a dedicated forum for Islamic trade finance. There are some attempts...but they are not focused,” Nazeem Noordali, general manager of corporate and structured finance at the ITFC. “I don’t know how ready they are.”

Educational efforts by Islamic finance bodies are “not doing well”, said Arif Khalifa, head of global trade finance at Kuwait Finance House. “They are only focusing on introduction and definitions...Conventional banks are more developed.”

The Saudi-based ITFC, a non-government entity promoting Islamic trade, approved transactions worth $3 billion in 2011, 29 percent of which came from the Middle East and North Africa.

One problem lies in the relative youth of Islamic banks, many of which

have only had major international operations for a decade or so and which do not have large numbers of experienced staff with technical expertise in trade.

Some Islamic banks feel trade finance is operationally too intensive for them, said Safdar Alam, chief executive of London-based Siyam Capital. “Lading, transport, documentation - Islamic banks are not geared up to do that”.

Conventional banks, on the other hand, use trade finance to win more business from clients across the whole supply chain, said Alam, a former head of Islamic structuring at JP Morgan. “If Islamic banks want to take it seriously, they need to go through that intellectual hurdle.”

At present, Islamic banks’ preference is for straightforward lending products, Alam said. “Islamic banks want financing to be as simple as possible; all they know is debt financing - who and how much. It all ties up into their cost-benefit analysis.”

Islamic banks could address their limited size through outsourcing, he added. “They can ask conventional banks for help in execution, operation...The big trade finance banks will

educate you.” In fact, global trends promise to increase the scope for Islamic banks to expand in trade finance. The Gulf region is outpacing global trade growth, noted Vincent O’Brien, chair of the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Banking Commission Market Intelligence Group.

Trade between the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has 57 member countries, and the rest of the world reached $1.59 trillion in 2010, representing 10.5 percent of the world’s total, according to the ICDT. Countries with the highest increase in trade volumes last year included Bangladesh, Nigeria and Indonesia, it said.

“There is an opportunity for Islamic banks to be more involved in trade flows between Africa and the rest of the world,” said Noordali. Meanwhile, the euro zone debt crisis is forcing European banks, leaders in trade finance, to retrench. This is leaving an opening for others, John Ahearn, managing director and global head of trade for Citibank, said in an ICC report.

But that window of opportunity may close as non-European conventional banks strengthen client relation-

ships and realign strategies.

Conventional banks in the Gulf such as National Bank of Fujairah aim to expand in the field; “business is picking up, other banks are eyeing the sector,” said R S Rangan, head of trade services at NBF. Another factor which may ultimately aid Islamic banks is the phasing in of Basel III banking standards around the world over the next several years. This could make trade finance more expensive by requiring banks to increase capital reserves. But because Islamic banks in general already adhere to stricter capital requirements, they will face less of an increase in costs, said David Vicary, chief executive of the Malaysiabased International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance.

Islamic transactions tend to be onbalance sheet, so banks must hold more capital reserves; conventional banks have been keeping more transactions off-balance sheet but won’t be able to do this as much under Basel III. “Stronger and better Islamic banks will take Basel III as an opportunity to strengthen their competitive positions,” Vicary said. —Reuters

ECB looks ready to break ground in crisis fight ECB might consider measures to calm markets FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank has broken new ground in the eurozone crisis with hints that it could star t unlimited buying of stricken member states’ bonds to drive down their crippling borrowing costs.

After initial disappointment at ECB head Mario Draghi’s failure to take immediate action to help ailing countries at a meeting Thursday, many analysts were more encouraged after giving his remarks a second reading.

Draghi said the central bank could intervene directly in the bond markets under a programme known as SMP to help countries left high and dry in the crisis but this depended on governments holding up their end of the bargain.

He also said the ECB might consider additional measures to calm markets which have driven borrowing costs for Italy and Spain back near to levels that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek massive bailouts.

Under the SMP programme launched in May 2010 and suspended four months ago, the ECB had said its purchase of sovereign bonds was limited in both time and amount. Christian Schulz of Berenberg bank said the ECB

had “finally stepped up to the plate meaningfully” which could help head off further trouble.

“If the ECB convinces markets that it is providing a reliable safety net for solvent sovereigns which stay on the reform path, it may lure more investors back into these markets,” he said.

“In that case, the ECB may not have to buy many bonds.” Draghi’s comments Thursday disappointed markets expecting immediate action but on Friday, it was the complete reverse with Madrid and Milan soaring by 6.0 percent and more-albeit helped too by better-than-expected US jobs data.

Borrowing rates for Spain and Italy remained dangerously high, however, but were down sharply after spiking on Thursday. The ECB chief also stipulated that it would only intervene if Europe’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Fund, and its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism, were also involved.

This would require countries in dire straits asking for bailouts, which go hand-in-hand with strict reform conditions and targets-hard to swallow medicine for any government. Erik Nielsen of Unicredit said he was con-

cerned by such strings attached to aid and predicted a potential dilemma in the event of a government failing to reach agreement with the EFSF/ESM. “Do they stick with their new doctrine and refrain from intervening and accept what could well be sovereign default, or do they risk their credibility?” he said, describing the potential catch-22.

However, the principle of conditionality is important, especially for the German central bank, the Bundesbank, which has repeatedly stressed its opposition to the bond-buying programme.

The bank, representing the interests of the eurozone’s top economy and paymaster, argues that such moves in effect subsidise public deficits, run counter to the ECB’s statutes and pose a serious threat to price stability. But in an environment in which there seems little imminent danger of high inflation, German public opinion seems to be changing, according to a running theme in several newspaper editorials.

“In light of the drama (in the eurozone), you have to say that the narrow view of the Bundesbank no longer corresponds to the current reality in

Europe,” the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.

Business daily Handelsblatt voiced concerns that the Bundesbank could end up isolated, particularly as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her trusted finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, welcomed Draghi’s muchheralded pledge last week to “do everything” within the ECB’s statutes to protect the euro.

“They have done and continue to do whatever they can within fairly strict limits imposed on them,” said Gilles Moec of Deutsche Bank said, noting that the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England had more room to manoeuvre.

“Draghi went as far as he could, in our view, to indicate in no uncertain terms that massive ECB support would be available as soon as the potential recipient countries-presumably Spain and I taly-accept to trigger the European support procedure.” In an upbeat assessment, Moec said that the ECB had “changed the way the current sovereign turmoil should be seen ...

Draghi in our view is on his way to deliver on his promises from last week.” — AFP

Oil deal no quick fix for Sudan crisis: Analysts KHARTOUM: A last-minute oil deal reached on Saturday between Sudan and South Sudan offers no quick fix for Khartoum’s economic crisis and remains tied to progress on security issues, analysts say.

Both sides agreed Juba would pay Khar toum a package amounting to about $3 billion, as well as a per-barrel fee for sending its oil through the north’s infrastructure for export via Port Sudan. Juba said the fee is $9.48 per barrel.

Khartoum has not commented on the final fee, but El Shafie Mohammed El Makki, head of political science at the

University of Khartoum, said the figures are not encouraging although “something is better than nothing.”

“I think that the economic crisis is very, very, very serious,” he said. “I don’t think such an amount of money can solve the problems.” The true economic value of the deal is also difficult to assess because numbers mentioned by either side are “directed towards the domestic audience,” said Magdi El Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, a non-profit research organisation.

Oil has been at the heart of tensions and economic difficulties for Sudan since the South separated in July last

MANHATTAN: This July 26, 2012 photo shows an aerial view of the Hudson Yards, in New York, a private development project that would be built on top of the Long Island Rail Road train tracks. Bounded by 10th and 12th avenues and West 30th and 33rd streets, it is one of only two pieces of Manhattan land still available for major development. An $800,000 platform will cover the field of open tracks that will continue to be used by the Long Island Rail Road, stretching under the Pennsylvania Station transportation hub. —AP

year with roughly 75 percent of the 470,000 barrels per day produced by the unified country before independence.

The lost oil accounted for more than 85 percent of Khartoum’s export earnings, which reached $7.5 billion in the first half of 2011, according to the World Bank. Without its largest source of hard currency, which is needed to pay for imports, inflation has soared and the Sudanese pound has plunged in value while the government tries to boost exports of gold and other non-petroleum products.

The budget received a further shock when the planned-for oil transit fees from South Sudan failed to materialise as the two sides could not agree on how much Juba should pay.

In January South Sudan shut its oil production-the impoverished nation’s prime revenue source-after accusing the nor th of theft. Khar toum’s Finance Minister Ali Mahmud al-Rasul in May placed Sudan’s losses from not reaching a fee deal at 6.5 billion pounds, $2.4 billion at the time.

The government subsequently devalued the exchange rate under austerity measures that Rasul said would save about $1.5 billion. It also began phasing out costly fuel subsidies and said taxes on bank profits would rise, along with value-added tax, Officials cut cabinet posts, trimmed ministers’ salaries and laid off presidential advisers-measures which University of Khartoum economist Mohammed Eljack Ahmed said were not enough.

While the oil deal-if implemented-will increase government revenue its impact on the economic crisis will depend on

whether the government can seriously cut costs, Ahmed said.

“The government up to now is not able to reduce its expenditure,” he said, and state spending is being driven even higher because of inflation, which rose 37 percent year-on-year in June.

There is also talk that an oil deal may not be implemented unless other issues “particularly security” are agreed upon, he said. “To be frank, it’s an offer on the table rather than a final deal,” said Gizouli.

“As long as there is no security arrangement talk of oil will remain provisional,” he said, adding that underlying Saturday’s announcement must have been unspoken movement by South Sudan to address Sudanese security concerns.

Political scientist Makki agreed that Juba must have made some compromise on security. Sudan accuses South Sudan of backing a major insurgency in South Kordofan state, a charge analysts believe despite denials by Juba.

On Thursday Sudan reiterated that any deal on oil must be subject to a “full and final agreement” on security, to avoid obstacles in the movement of people, goods and services at the border.

Analysts noted that the oil deal came just hours after US Secretary of State Hillar y Clinton met South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir in Juba and urged the two sides to reach an urgent compromise. “ We praise the courage of the Republic of South Sudan’s leadership in taking this decision,” Clinton said in reaction to the oil deal. —AFP

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University brings capitalism to reclusive North Korea SEOUL: Capitalism, in hermit North Korea, is normally associated with moral and economic ruin. The Koreaborn American who heads Pyongyang’s only private university is trying to change that. He believes he has the support of the man many think is emerging as the real power in the North, whose new leaders are pondering how to save their broken economy from collapse.

The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, co-founded by Chan-mo Park, is teaching dozens of North Koreans the skills of a modern market economy, something the impoverished state has managed for decades to avoid.

“I want whatever they learn to be used to revive their country’s economy,” Park told Reuters in an interview in Seoul, one of the world’s most wired cities in sharp contrast to Pyongyang which even though it is home to North Korea’s elite, struggles to provide its residents with power or heating.

“We emphasise practicality and commercialisation of their knowledge,” said the 77-year-old computer scientist, who used to be president of a South Korean university. Park’s comments come as speculation grows young leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the ruling family dynasty on the death of his father in December, is planning to experiment with economic reforms in a country which is constantly on the edge of famine.

Much of the interest has been on his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who seen as having huge influence of the running of the country and who is believed to favour economic reforms.

The university began life at the turn of the century when relations between the two Koreas were starting to warm after decades of bitter divide. It finally opened its doors in October 2010 and now has 300 undergraduate and 70 graduate students in its three departments: electronic and computer engineering, international finance and management and agriculture and life sciences.

The students are handpicked from those who have studied at least two years at the country’s top state colleges. So far all the students are men, but it is considering building a dormitory for women.

“International finance and management study is very popular. Maybe it is because the dean (of that department) ... t old students in a seminar: ‘If you do

this, you can make lots of money’,” a smiling Park said.

“Students study very hard to learn (about the Western economy). Although they have some weaknesses in basics, they have no problem to catch up because they are good at math.”

Everything, including tuition and living costs at dormitories, is free. Students have a monthly $10 cash card to buy snacks at the cafeteria. Although the North Korean government provides no funding, it did mobilise 1,000 soldiers to construct the campus, which has 17 buildings, above one of which hangs a sign eulogising new leader Kim. The students, Park says, are industrious

and keen to learn. Asked if they found capitalism an alien concept, he said: “Even students from the information technology field already know they should learn about the economy to make money.”

Park has been to Pyongyang dozens of times, most recently in July, and says he is seeing change in what is one of the world’s most secretive and tightly controlled societies. “When I took the subway, I was allowed to film freely with my video camera. In the past, even still cameras were prohibited. We were allowed to dance with ordinary citizens,” he added.

Even the about 50 professors, many of them from

TOKYO: Children look at Toyota’s “Porte,” decorated as a popular anime character Pokemon at a Toyota’s showroom in Tokyo. Toyota said April-June profit zoomed to 290.3 billion yen ($3.7 billion) from 1.1 billion yen on a jump in global sales as the Japanese automaker makes a comeback from a disaster plagued 2011. — AP

Western countries, were finding the strain of being under constant surveillance beginning to fade. He singled out Jang Song-thaek, uncle of young leader Kim Jong-un. “I am thinking and hoping that Jang can help his nephew to lead North Korea in a new direction of globalisation,” said Park.

Jang married into North Korea’s ruling family and is thought to have spent time in exile after losing favour for proposing economic reforms that analysts say were opposed by the military. He later returned and was placed near the top of the hierarchy by then leader Kim Jong-il who was preparing the ground for his son to take over. It is a position which many analysts say gives the uncle huge power and who is expected to try to drive through reforms to the economy. Park said he first met Jang in 2002 in South Korea when he was part of an economic delegation o f high-ranking North Korean officials.

“I showed my laboratory. At that time, I found that he was gentle and different from other North Koreans who lived only inside the North, since he studied four years in Russia.”

In April, they met again at a major celebration in Pyongyang. He said it was Jang whom he believed was behind support for the university’s focus on globalisation.

Unlike most of the rest of the heavily controlled society, for whom use of the Internet is largely proscribed, the students can google their way around the Web. Park acknowledges those who question the wisdom of providing such knowledge in North Korea, which has long been internationally sanctioned for its nuclear weapon and missile programmes and penchant for cyber attacks.

“We have only one IP address, so students can’t spend a long time for the internet. They only use it for their study,” Park said. The official line, however, remains deeply suspicious of an economic system where markets rather than the state have a major say. “The lifestyle based on the law of the jungle and all descriptions of immorality and depravity are turning capitalist society into the world of violence and crimes ... capitalism is on its way to ruin,” was the view of one recent article in the state daily Rodong Sinmun. — Reuters

Crisis stifles Italian firms’ competitiveness drive Rising rates undermine drive to fix old problems MILAN: Italy’s “war” with international debt markets has sent borrowing costs soaring for its traditionally prudently managed private companies, stifling their efforts to invest in competing more strongly with rivals in Germany and beyond.

Just as Prime Minister Mario Monti tries to fix the problems that have hindered Italy’s private sector for decades, notably its legendary official red tape, companies are paying significantly more to borrow than competitors to the north.

The European Central Bank has slashed its interest rates and showered banks with cheap cash in the hope they will lend to companies and consumers in the struggling southern nations such as Italy, which have been worst hit by the euro zone crisis.

But at the same time, a jump in Italy’s borrowing costs on the sovereign bond market has dragged up interest rates on bank loans to Italian industry.

“We used to be able to borrow at 2.5-3 percent. But since this war of the sovereign bond spreads began, things have changed dramatically,” said Paolo Bastianello, Chairman of tex tiles group Marly’s. “The cost of credit has certainly risen by a couple of percentage points.”

Marly’s is the kind of Italian manufacturer that typically competes strongly on international markets, mak ing high- end women’s clothes under its own label and for top fashion brands such as Carlo Pignatelli and Kathleen Madden.

A company with annual sales of 16.5 million euros, Marly’s is based near the historic city of Vicenza in the Veneto, a region thick with small and mediumsized companies (SMEs) which have long exported goods and components to the huge German market across the Alps.

Even though the ECB’s benchmark rate has fallen to a record low 0.75 percent, the cost of corporate credit in Italy now reflects more the general risk associated with the state and the cost of sustaining its mammoth 2 trillion debt. Italy’s conservative companies, which have avoided taking on the huge debt burdens typical in the Anglo-Saxon world and fellow euro zone struggler Spain, are paying the price for a state debt equal to 120 percent of annual economic output.

At 81 percent of gross domestic product, total net indebtedness of Italian non-financial companies is significantly lower than in Britain, France and Spain, although slightly higher than in Germany, according to Bank of Italy data.

But Italian firms rely on banks for 70 percent of their financial

debt, a higher share than the European average.

This makes them dependent on banks’ lending policies and vulnerable to domestic economic developments. ECB data released on Wednesday showed that companies in Italy paid on average a 4.57 percent interest rate in June for short-term loans of up to one million euros. This compares with just 3.37 percent paid by their German competitors and is half a percentage point higher than the euro zone average.

Yet 18 months ago, before being engulfed in the euro zone crisis, Italian companies could get small shor t-term loans at 3.22 percent, below the euro average and Germany, ECB data show.

Companies from the largest corporations to the smallest family businesses have now fallen foul of the rule that private borrowers must be a greater credit risk than the governments of the country where they are based.

Italian firms, like many around Europe, have long found it hard to match their German competitors’ high productivity. But if they borrow now to fund productivity improvements, their disadvantage simply grows. “ To the ex tent that I talian SMEs are competing with Germany, they are having to confront a landscape that is not a level playing field any more. It’s significantly skewed against them,” said Sony Kapoor, who heads the economic think-thank Re-Define.

“But put yourself in the shoes of the banks: if you see that the Italian government is paying 6 percent on its bonds, how can you then lend to someone more risky, an SME, at a lower rate?”

For loans with a maturity of five years or more, the cost for companies in Italy and Spain is now based on what their respective governments are paying to sell equivalent debt.

The interest rate on such corporate loans is averaging 6 percent in Italy and 6.5 percent in Spain - where the government is struggling to avoid joining Greece, Ireland, Por tugal and Cyprus in tak ing a full state bailout - against a mere 3.5 percent in Germany, according to Goldman Sachs.

“The influence of official ECB rates on retail interest rates in Italy and Spain has diminished while it has increased in Germany and France,” said Goldman Sachs’ Natacha Valla. “ While I talian and Spanish households and non-financial corporations are facing sharp increases in the rates they are charged by their banks, their German counterparts have been

borrowing at rates declining in line with official rates.”

Changes in official ECB rates traditionally feed through to the cost of bank loans via the corporate bond market, a preserve of the biggest private sector borrowers, but this is no longer true in the weaker euro zone members.

The competitive difference is felt also by the corporate giants.

Italian utility Enel, which has the same credit rating as its German counterpart RWE, pays nearly 336 basis points over swap interest rates for its 2018 bond - giving a current yield of about 4.55 percent.

By contrast, RWE’s 2018 bond trades at just 36 basis points over swap rates, giving a yield of 1.56 percent. Both companies have a BBB+ rating from Standard & Poor’s and an A- from Fitch.

The competitiveness effect is being felt throughout industry.

Last week Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, which is struggling against falling demand in I taly, attacked German-based rival Volkswagen for pursuing too aggressive a pricing strategy.

Borrowing inequality is affecting much of the euro zone’s southern flank and has spread well beyond corporate loans. For instance, Spanish home buyers have to pay twice as much in interest for a mor tgage loan than Finns. Italy and Germany have traditionally been large trading partners as well as rivals in the business arena. Both countries enjoy a broad industrial base, with a strong manufacturing sector made up of thousands of SMEs. Germany is I taly ’s biggest export market. Italian firms sold goods there worth a record 49.4 billion euros last year, equivalent to 13 percent of all exports. Italy’s imports from Germany were 62 billion euros, around 15 percent of the total.

Companies from both countries also compete on third markets but the high cost of credit is hindering investment that Italian firms ought to be making to keep up with competition abroad.

Brass valves maker Enolgas, with sales of 30 million euros, is an example. Based near Brescia in Lombardy, Italy’s wealthiest and most industrialised region, the firm pressed on with investments through the financial crisis which began in 2008. However, owner Sandro Bonomi, said Enolgas finally had to suspend them last year. “With a crisis as acute as the current one, the focus for small Italian companies is on the shortterm, on winning revolving credit to keep the operations going.

This is at the expense of loans for investments,” he said. — Reuters

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Planned expat fee is talk of the Cayman tax haven GEORGE TOWN: One among thousands of lawyers, accountants and other workers from around the globe, Paul Fordham is escaping cold weather and the taxman by working in a sunny British territory in the Caribbean. He and many others, however, worry they soon may be looking for another haven.

The Cayman Islands have lost some of their allure by proposing what amounts to the territory’s first ever income tax. And it would fall only on expatriate workers like Fordham who have helped build the territory into one of the most famous or, for some, notorious offshore banking centers that offer tax advantages for foreign investment operations.

“The discriminatory nature of the tax has stirred up so much uncertainty for people who moved here thinking they knew what they were getting into,” said Fordham, an insurance sector specialist from the London area who moved to the main island of Grand Cayman 61/2 years ago. His recent attempt to sell his house collapsed because an interested buyer was spooked by the prospect of the islands’ first direct tax. In the seaside capital of George Town, where financial experts

in casually elegant clothes unwind over beer or white wine, conversations have been about little else since July 25, when Premier McKeeva Bush declared his intention to impose a 10 percent income tax on expatriate workers as part of an effort to bail the government out of a financial hole.

Bush refuses to call it a tax, preferring instead to dub it a “community enhancement fee.” The 10 percent payroll levy, as things stands now, will be imposed Sept. 1 on expatriates who earn more than $36,000 a year.

It’s a monumental shift for the territory of 56,000 people where zero direct taxation, friendly regulations and the global money they lured in recent decades helped transform the economy of the island chain, a dependency of Jamaica until 1959, from a reliance on seafaring, fishing and rope-making.

Government data show 91,712 companies were registered as of March 2011. A total of 235 banks, including most of the world’s top 50 banks, held licenses at the end of June as did 758 insurance companies. Assets for the registered companies totaled $1.607 trillion last September, down from $1.725 trillion a year earlier. Bush says the tax is necessary to meet British

government demands that the territory diversify its sources of revenue beyond the fees and duties it now relies on, that have left his administration with a budget deficit.

“This is not an us-and-them story, no matter how many screaming headlines call this an expat tax,” Bush told a crowd of critics and supporters late Wednesday during a four-hour meeting in a school gym, where each side vented complaints against the other.

Opponents argue that a social contract may have been broken by targeting only the roughly 5,875 expatriates who are paid more than $36,000 a year, saying it could drive some away and hurt the financial services and tourism sectors that are now the pillars of the Caymans’ economy. Government reports say a majority of the wealthiest residents are Cayman citizens.

Numerous competing tax havens, from Jersey to the British Virgin Islands, impose income taxes on workers, but not on one sector of the population.

Under a controversial “rollover” immigration policy, expatriates in the Cayman Islands already are required to leave the islands for a year after living and working locally for a period of seven years. Richard Murphy, director of

British-based policy consultants Tax Research LLP, thinks fears are overblown that a direct tax on expatriates will cause an exodus. “The finance industry in Cayman exists to sell to foreigners, and, like it or not, many are heavily invested in Cayman structures.

They’ll bear the additional price,” Murphy said in an email.

But leading businessmen argue that indirect taxes such as work permit fees, stamp duty on real estate deals and duties on imported goods already make the Caymans a relatively pricey place to do business. Work permit fees are typically 5 percent to 15 percent of salary and would remain along with the income tax, raising an expat worker’s tax costs to between 20 percent and 30 percent of salary.

Anthony Travers, chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, described the tax plan as “probably the single greatest existential threat to the Cayman Islands in over 200 years.” “The whole economic structure in the Cayman Islands has been based on having no direct taxation,” he said in a phone interview.

Many people complain that Bush’s proposal was made without public consultation and note that it came

roughly three years after a government-commissioned report said a payroll tax combined with the work permit fees would make the Caymans less competitive in the market for skilled professionals.

And it’s not just finance types who are troubled. At a small beach in downtown George Town, local fishermen gutted glistening jacks and snappers debated the merits of the new tax.

They agreed that overspending and excessive hiring by the government was behind the islands’ financial difficulties. “The way I see it, this tax on expats is causing a division in this society and that’s not good. It’s too much spending by the government that got us here,” said fishing boat captain Dennis Downs, sitting next to a table displaying the morning catch.

Bush said he is looking for any feasible alternative for solving the government’s revenue problems and rumors are swirling that he may withdraw the tax proposal because of the heated reaction. On Saturday, he told local TV station Cayman 27 that he was open to recasting the “community enhancement fee” on expats but only “if a solution can be found that does not affect ordinary Caymanians.” — AP

Myanmar energy tycoon lobbies for smart sanctions Asia’s most corrupt nations

TOKYO: In this photo taken Wednesday, July 4, 2012, Chiaki Hayashi, co-founder of the Loftwork Inc., speaks during an interview at her office in Tokyo. Hayashi’s young business earned 900 million yen ($11 million) in annual sales taking a different but equally Japanese route. She offers a service that stems from her diagnosis of the sickness at major companies - the loss of the innovative spirit. She hopes to start a kernel of creativity going at companies that “starts small but snowballs.” — AP

Russian tycoon under pressure to sell assets MOSCOW: A Russian tycoon whose holdings include a leading investigative newspaper critical of the Kremlin said that he wants to sell his Russian assets because of pressure from state security services.

Alexander Lebedev, worth $1.1 billion according to Forbes magazine, said the main KGB successor agency has targeted him with a series of investigations and inspections to push him out of business.

“For the past three years my business has been deliberately and continuously destroyed by Division K of the Federal Security Service’s economic security department,” Lebedev said on his blog.

“Haunting and pressure has targeted not only me and workers of my companies, but my family members as well.”

He said the main reason behind the Russian Federal Security Service’s pressure on him was corruption investigations by the Novaya Gazeta he has financed, alleging that some of its officers were involved in corruption.

Lebedev and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev own a 49 percent stake in the newspaper, while the remaining shares are controlled by Novaya’s staffers. Lebedev also owns two newspapers in Britain, the Independent and the Evening Standard.

The Novaya Gazeta’s relentless criticism of the Kremlin and its investigations into official corruption have put many of its journalists under fire. Four of its reporters have been killed since 2000, including Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of the Kremlin and its policies in Chechnya who was gunned down in the

elevator of her Moscow apartment building in 2006. Others have been harassed and attacked.

Lebedev said on Ekho Moskvy radio that he may hand over some of his assets to Novaya so that the newspaper may continue operation, because he no longer has no cash to keep funding it.

Lebedev has also supported Alexei Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption crusader and blogger who was a key driving force against massive protests in the past winter against Vladimir Putin’s rule. Earlier this week, Navalny has been charged with theft amid a widening crackdown on dissent that followed Putin’s re-election to a third term in March. He may face 10 years in prison if convicted.

Lebedev, a KGB veteran like Putin, has avoided blaming the president for his woes. He said that security officers targeted him because he was the “main sponsor of the opposition,” but dismissed that claim as “utter rubbish.” He added, however, that he had expected the Kremlin to intervene to stop attacks on him.

Lebedev has made his money in the bank ing industr y and owns the National Reserve Bank. He also has a stake in Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and owns Red Wings airline and other assets. Lebedev said that it would be hard for him to sell his assets because the security services would discourage any potential buyers. He said he had no intention of leaving Russia, adding that he would try to take a more active role in politics. — AP

Qatar’s Barwa Real Estate H1 profit slumps 21.1% DUBAI/DOHA: Qatar ’s Barwa Real Estate , the Gulf Arab state’s largest listed property developer, posted a 21.1 percent drop in its net profit for the first half of 2012.

Barwa made a net profit of 593.6 million riyals ($163 million) for the opening six months of this year, versus 752.5 million riyals in the same period of 2011, it said in a bourse filing on Sunday. It did not provide other figures. In May the company’s chief executive said it planned to launch an 18 billion riyal mixed-use Golf City project ahead of the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament. Located within the planned coastal Lusail City north of the

capital Doha, the project will include 4,000 residential units and a golf course, and is expected to be ready by 2018, group CEO Abdulla al-Subaie said. It will be financed through a combination of off-plan sales and subdevelopment.

Barwa is 45 percent owned by Qatari Diar, the property arm of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. It has properties in France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and focuses on retail, office, hospitality and residential developments. Last year, Barwa laid off approximately 90 employees in a restructuring move. — Reuters

YANGON: An energy magnate lauded as a rare “legitimate” tycoon in crony-dominated Myanmar has quietly lobbied for an end to Western sanctions-except those targeting cronies who flourished under military rule.

Michael Moe Myint is part of Myanmar’s “One Percent”-a jet-setting moneyed class comprising fewer than two dozen families who have long monopolised the business landscape of the poor but resource-rich nation. Many of them are accused of harvesting wealth by currying favour with the military junta that ruled Myanmar with an iron grip until last year when a quasi-civilian government took charge under President Thein Sein.

Some of them are under individual sanctions for propping up the military, even as Western powers in recent weeks have eased restrictions on trade and investment to reward the new regime for a raft of sweeping reforms.

But Moe Myint, who enjoyed a meteoric rise from a pizza delivery boy in West Virginiawhere he pursued a degree in Physics-to the head of a multi-million dollar oil and gas empire, has “repeatedly declined ‘offers’ to enter into a typical crony relationship”, according to a 2009 US embassy cable.

Although known to be former dictator Ne Win’s personal pilot while working for Myanmar Airways before launching his company, “he is a legitimate businessman... who earned his success through hard work and ingenuity rather than ties to the regime,” said the diplomatic note released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

That is no small praise in one of Asia’s most corrupt nations where success for a large enterprise was considered impossible without the patronage of former military rulers endowed with arbitrary powers to issue business permits and licenses.

The kleptocratic system of governance enriched a small clique notorious for its entrenched vested interests and sometimes nefarious business practices — while a third of the population subsists below the poverty line. The US diplomatic cable, which praises Moe Myint for being the country’s “largest single taxpayer”, notes that “regime crony Tay Za, who allegedly earns more annually, pays far less in taxes, as his companies have a tax holiday”. Tay Za, of the Htoo Group, has a reputation as Myanmar’s wealthiest and flashiest tycoon, with a penchant for Italian sports cars

and travel by private jets. He is accused by the United States of being an “arms dealer and financial henchman” of the military junta-a charge he denies.

Zaw Zaw of the Max Myanmar conglomerate meanwhile is “one of several mid-level cronies that actively do the regime’s bidding” to expand his commercial enterprises, which include a jade mine and a professional soccer team, according to another US diplomatic cable from 2007.

‘A force of resistance to reform’-” The biggest problem” with such cronies is that they “made their money-not by coming up with new products or finding new marketsbut simply by securing concessions against the otherwise tight restrictions on private sector activity by the previous military regime,” said Sean Turnell, a Myanmar expert at Macquarie University in Sydney. “ They’re ‘rent seekers’ rather than the entrepreneurs Myanmar needs. They were, and are, a force of resistance to reform.” And yet pressure to reform is more palpable than ever amid the threat of regulatory changes and the emergence of new competitors as the long-isolated nation opens up to foreign investment as sanctions ease.

The European Union suspended most of its sanctions on Myanmar in April and Washington recently gave the green light for US firms to invest in the country, as investors rush to tap what is widely seen as Asia’s next frontier economy.

“Myanmar sits on top of vast unexploited reserves of oil and gas. To those unwilling to lift sanctions, I ask ‘Do you want to be left out of the equation?’” Moe Myint told AFP in an interview in late May at his neoclassical lakeside villa in Yangon, replete with chic teakwood furniture, avant-garde artworks, and uniformed maids in attendance.

Earlier this year, in a letter to a high-level US official, Moe Myint asserted that Myanmar’s institutionalised cronyism was “a direct result of sanctions”.

“Sanctions did not hurt the powerful and the rich; it actually provided them with the means to further exploit the human and natural resources” of Myanmar, wrote the tycoon who heads Myint and Associates, Myanmar’s largest contract oil and gas services provider, as well as another energy exploration company. A better alternative is to “target certain individuals and institutions that have directly benefited through their close relationship to

some members of the regime”, he suggested, a politically-sensitive view seldom expressed within Myanmar.

Moe Myint acknowledged the letter accessed by AFP, but declined to say more about it. The US embassy in Yangon did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2008, the US slapped a visa ban on him and his family because of his link to the oil and gas sector, believed to be riddled with cronyism. Some years ago, one of his two sons-a petroleum engineer at Chevron in California-was stranded in Canada and forced to shift base to Australia because his H1B visa was not renewed.

The ban was lifted just a few months ago, apparently after the embassy cable that exonerated Moe Myint of being a crony, but his son chose to return to Myanmar at the request of a high-profile neighbour: Aung San Suu Kyi. Moe Myint’s living room is festooned with photographs of his family at a private banquet with the Nobel laureate, who he says became a family friend after she was freed in 2010, alongside pictures of the family hobnobbing with Thai royalty.

‘Let’s forgive and forget’-Last Christmas, when the family dined with Suu Kyi, “she used her charm” and convinced his son to return home because “the country needs young men like him”. Suu Kyi was elected to parliament for the first time earlier this year.

“She told me: ‘I’m 66, you’re 60, we’re not young any more. Here’s a great opportunity to do something for our country. Let’s forgive and forget the past and look towards the future’,” the tycoon said, referring to the reforms.

“I am willing” to forgive and forget, says Moe Myint, who has “paid a price” for resisting pressure to become a crony, according to the leaked cable. The former regime in turn “made it difficult for the company to invest in both the onshore and offshore sectors”, awarded lucrative contracts to relatives of ministers, and exerted financial pressure by delaying payments for oil purchased from his company, the memo said.

On his coffee table sat a dog-eared copy of “Why Nations Fail”, a book by two US economists that stresses the importance of inclusive rather than extractive institutions that grab wealth and resources away from one part of society to benefit another. He plans to send Thein Sein a copy. — AP

Microfinance offers lifeline to Myanmar poor MAWBI: While foreign investors with big plans pour into Myanmar after decades of military rule, microfinanciers are looking to fund the dreams of farmers in the grindingly poor countryside.

A reformist government took power last year and overseas firms are queuing up in search of business opportunities, but Myanmar is still desperately short of banks and other financial service providers.Microfinance initiatives-which provide small, lowcost loans to the poor are seen by experts as a way to help alleviate poverty in one of the world’s least-developed countries. Khin Mar Shwe is among the 135 beneficiaries in Mawbi village of a loan scheme launched across the Irrawaddy delta five months ago

by PACT, a non-governmental organisation.

Thanks to a 60,000 kyat (about $70) loan, at one percent a fortnight interest, the 35-year-old has nearly doubled the number of ducks she farms to more than 80.

“As there are more ducks, I get

more eggs to sell and more money to use now,” she says of the scheme, which means she no longer has to turn to informal lenders for credit that can carry an interest rate of 20 percent a month.

Rates in rural areas can climb even higher for those without collateral such as gold and land, according to experts, locking borrowers into debt. “If you’re paying that interest rate, it’s going to be very hard to make a profitable return,” says Sean Turnell, an economist at Macquarie University in Sydney.

After the ravages of military rule, which ended last year, Myanmar has been left with “a deeply unsophisticated, underdeveloped” financial system which lags neighbouring countries, he adds.

As a result, private loans were the equivalent of just five percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2010, according to International Monetary Fund estimates released in May. That compares with an esti-

mated 30 percent in Cambodia.

The situation is worse still in rural areas where there is “no finance available... truly nothing”, Turnell says, meaning microfinance has a “big role to play” in the predominantly agricultural nation.

While it is still in an embryonic stage, there is no doubt about the development potential microfinance offers, says Michael Knaute, chief executive of social enterprise Oxus Development Network. — AFP

SHANGHAI: An investor, center, speaks to another while they look at the stock price monitor at a private securities company Friday Aug. 3, 2012 in Shanghai, China. Asian stock markets fell last week after the European Central Bank’s policy meeting failed to deliver on bold promises of action to overcome the region’s prolonged debt crisis. — AP

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business

Is the time right for resurgence in global equities?

Ignoring the day to day sharp fluctuations, markets are now used to life post financial and economic crisis. Attitudes towards equity investment have seen such an enormous shift since the subprime housing crisis in US back in 2008.

Some traditional investors being institutions, SWF, pension funds and individuals have responded by padding themselves with the relative safety of fixed income investments and income generating investments such as real -estate and bank deposits and by doing so they have dramatically reduced their weight in equities.

I have to admit that markets have really shaken nerves and scared most investors away from equities. Some global companies have also responded by getting leaner, lighter on their feet, and essentially better value for investors combined these with strong balance sheets looking stronger and with a hefty dividends yield relative to bonds or cash. Perhaps now is the time to get back into global equities. Over recent years, investors have increasingly shied away from equities as a whole, in favor of the apparent relative safety of fixed income. One major reason for the move

out of equities is, of course, their volatility and perceived risk. Spectacular losses have frightened many, and the memory of seeing the markets tumble is still fresh enough to put investors off being overweight in equities.

I find it extremely difficult as I mentioned in my previous articles to lend to any government at historical low interest rates of just above 1%, even if

Hayder Tawfik

it has AAA credit rating. Why do so when I can buy top quality stocks with a dividend yield of 3%. Companies such as IBM, EXXON Petroleum, McDonalds and Oracle. The switch from equities to other safer investment assets was justified then but I do not see the excuse any more. When governments and corporate are in frenzy of borrowing and issuing bonds at historical interest rates then this should be a clear signal to investors that the party may be is over and investors should make sure that they are not late to the party. Only last week Siemens of Germany announced share buy back worth US$3.6bn. Siemens will issue bonds and use the proceeds to buy back its shares. The stock rallied by 7% on the announcement. This is a clear signal from the company management that they see better value in their shares rather than bonds. As we all know that stock markets have a mind of their own and they could easily start going up even with the crisis still around. I think what we have been seeing in the last couple of months is a clear turn around and now markets are heading up. Remember, the trend is

always your friend. Long term investors should not be worried and distracted by the daily bad news headlines; instead they should do the work properly and identify those top quality stocks which can reapthem the rewards in them looking for in the future.

Since 2008 financialcrisis, abig number of investors shied away from global stocks and they instead invested at home. I very much expect that once the global markets turns around and start establishing an upward trend , we will see local investors not only reducing their local equity investments but also switching out of those perceived saferinvestment into stocks. Why investing globally is a very prudent way of investment? But investors can have global exposure without investing globally.

Investing globally in itself is changing shape. One thing is for sure is that companies themselves are increasingly becoming global players. As these companies have diversified and become global, investors have taken out a lot of the risk if investing outside their own markets. While, in the past investments might be led by a country or region,

nowadays, increasingly picking stocks on global basis takes precedence. If investors are unable to pick the right stocks may be they should try to identify sector dynamics, but this way investors need to understand the global economic cycle. We at Dimah Capital believe in investments themes based on our global macroeconomic view, which allow us to overweight the right sectors then within those sectors we pick the right stocks.

Unfortunately, four years after the financial crisis, decisions are still being made by investors looking back that far and that is why we are still seeing nervousness. However, going forward it is very unlikely that it will be repeated. So why base your portfolio on an event that is probably not going to happen?

I am afraid, the sense of safety that comes in the form of cash deposits or fixed interest investment is in fact and illusion in today’s high inflation environment, since inflation erodes interest in both bonds and cash investments.

— Executive Vice President of Asset Management, at Dimah CapitalHT@dimah.com.kw

Nissan ME announces new GM for corporate communications

Yolande Pineda

DUBAI: Nissan Middle East has announced the appointment of Yolande Pineda to the position of General Manager, Corporate Communications. Yolande joins Nissan with over 20 years of experience in multinational organizations across both corporate and marketing communications roles. She will operate out of Nissan’s Middle East headquarters in Jebel Ali Freezone, Dubai.

Yolande started her career in Nokia Telecommunications as a trainee in 1990, rising to take overall responsibility of the company’s communications function in France and North Africa by June 2000. She then moved to Latin America to handle Communications and Corporate Communications for Nokia Networks and became leader of the region’s 12 person team for Nokia Corporation two years later. It was her role as Nokia Corporate Communications Director for Middle East and Africa which brought her to Dubai in February 2007.

In January 2009, she joined Mars Corporation to become the Corporate Affairs Director for Africa, Middle East and India before becoming the Director of the French Business Council, the position from which she joins Nissan Middle East.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds announces entry into Makkah MAKKAH: Malabar Gold and Diamonds, the prominent jewellery group will strengthen its presence in Saudi Arabia by unveiling its most awaited showroom at Makkah today (6th August 2012) at 8 pm.

Launching an outlet in this holy city with a unique history and cultural diversity is yet another important milestone for the jewellery chain.

This will be the Group’s 70th outlet worldwide and 5th in Saudi Arabia.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds is witnessing a remarkable growth in the Saudi jewellery Industry since their advent in the area. Opening a new retail jewellery outlet in Makkah, one of the fastest growing and prosperous cities in the world, will add tremendous value to the Group’s growing presence in Saudi Arabia and further strengthen their portfolio. Conveniently located near King Fahad Gate Masjid Al-Haram, this new venture is the latest step taken by the Group in building leadership in the most promising emerging markets.

Over the past two decades, Malabar Gold and Diamonds has built an international reputation as a premium jewellery chain and a unique source of gifts for the celebrated occasions of life. Access to breathtaking collections and an unwavering commitment to superior quality of craftsmanship distinguish their elegant and stylish collections. Their new showroom will also showcase an enviable array of classic designs with distinguished quality and unparalleled level of service that give them an edge in the global market.

The branded jewellery segment of the group , Era-uncut diamond jewellery, Mine-diamonds unlimited, Divine- Indian heritage jewellery, Precia- precious stone jewellery and Starlet- kids jewellery also offer the same promise of quality, design and value, which provide them a great platform for gaining international market share.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds continues their distinction as a leading jewellery retailer with an impressive outlook ahead and intends to open more outlets, with the aim of entering into the Far East and European markets in the near future.

The jewellery group is also planning to increase their store presence sig-

nificantly by raising their retail network to 220 outlets by the end of 2015. As a part of their expansion strategies, they are planning to come up with more showrooms at Batha in Riyad, Madina, Jubail, Al Hasa and Jeddah and a manufacturing unit at Al Khobar shortly. This is in addition to their already existing showrooms in Saudi at Al Khobar, Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah.

The Group has undergone a huge transformation early this year as a part of their rebranding process.

This makeover is firmly rooted in the longstanding promise- commitment to total customer satisfaction - the one traditional value that they are never going to give up. This remains at the core of all new initiatives and modernization that is taking place, as well as the global expansion that is on the anvil. In a sense, the makeover is a perfect mix of old values and new trends.

At Malabar Gold and Diamonds, experienced and dedicated staff, with a wealth of experience in the jewellery trade, are dedicated in assisting their customers on a one to one basis by helping them choose the perfect pieces from the wide collection of exquisite fine jewellery.

The customer friendly buyback and exchange policies give customers enough reasons to keep coming back to their store. jewellery purchased from Malabar Gold can be exchanged at any of their outlets without any loss in making charge or gold rate within 15 days of purchase. Old ornaments can be exchanged with new ones without any deduction in gold rate by paying only making charge. They also offer lifetime free maintenance and service to all their products.

On her appointment Yolande commented: “Nissan has a long and proud heritage in the region with a proven commitment to providing vehicles which meet the demands of the Middle East and its motorists. We boast one of the largest product ranges of any automotive manufacturer in the Middle East and our ambitious plans ensure we will continue to deliver ever more exciting and innovative vehicles to market. I look forward to playing my part in Nissan Middle East’s future success.”

Yolande, 44, has a Master of Science in Marketing and Sales from the Ecole de Management Europeen de Strasbourg and speaks fluent English, French, Portuguese, and Catalan Spanish. She is actively interested in culture in all its forms - music, theatre, dance, opera and reading - and has a particular passion for fashion. She loves being outdoors and enjoys walking and cycling.

Yolande describes herself as a true team leader who believes in creating the best working environment for her team members to blossom and contribute to the organization development.

EMC reports 19% increase in second-quarter profit DUBAI: EMC Corporation yesterday reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2012, marking the company’s 10th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth for consolidated revenue, GAAP net income, and GAAP and non-GAAP EPS. EMC expects to achieve its full-year 2012 goals for consolidated revenue, non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow.

Second-quarter consolidated revenue was $5.31 billion, an increase of 10% compared with the year-ago quarter. Second-quarter GAAP net income attributable to EMC increased 19% year over year to $650 million. Second-quarter GAAP earnings per weighted average diluted share increased 21% year over year to $0.29. Secondquarter non-GAAP1 earnings per weighted average diluted share were $0.39, an increase of 11% year over year.

During the second quarter, EMC generated operating cash flow of $1.24 billion and free cash flow2 of $958 million, a year-over-year increase of 16% and 36%, respectively.

Additionally, the company expanded GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin and operating margin percentages on a year-over-year basis, and ended the quarter with $10.9 billion in cash and investments.

Joe Tucci, EMC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “I am very pleased with EMC’s execution and record second-quarter financial performance. We are seeing a transformation in the IT industry unlike anything we have seen before.

Organizations are moving quickly to adopt cloud computing and take advantage of both the efficiency and agility that comes with running IT-asa-Service. Customers are also looking to deploy a new generation of Big Data applications to gain competitive advantage and differentiate their businesses. And they demand that all this be done in a secure and trusted way. EMC is widely recognized as a leader and driver of this transformation.”

David Goulden, EMC President and Chief Operating Officer, said, “Looking ahead, we remain on track to deliver our ‘triple play’ simultaneously taking market share, reinvesting for growth and delivering improved earnings -

and are well positioned for our next major phase of growth.”

Second-Quarter highlights In the second quarter, revenue from EMC’s Information Storage business increased 7% year over year.

Second-quarter revenue from EMC’s RSA Information Security business increased 13% year over year and revenue from VMware (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, grew 22% year over year Business outlook The following statements are based on current expectations. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. These statements do not give effect to the potential impact of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures or business combinations that have not been announced or closed as of the date hereof. These statements supersede all prior statements made by EMC regarding 2012 financial results.

All dollar amounts and percentages set forth below should be considered to be approximations.

• Consolidated revenues are expected to be $22.0 billion for 2012.

• Consolidated GAAP operating income is expected to be 17.5% of revenues for 2012 and consolidated non-GAAP operating income is expected to be 24% of revenues for 2012.

• Consolidated net cash provided by operating activities is expected to be $6.2 billion for 2012 and free cash flow is expected to be $4.9 billion for 2012. Excluded from free cash flow are $900 million of additions to property, plant and equipment and $400 million of capitalized software development costs. * The weighted average outstanding diluted shares are expected to be 2.2 billion for 2012. * EMC expects to repurchase $700 million of the company’s common stock in 2012.

Doha’a Gholam - Assistant Human Resources Manager

The Regency Hotel expands its HR team with a promotion KUWAIT: The Regency is delighted to announce that Doha Gholam has been promoted from Training Manager to Assistant HR Director with effect from July 15th 2012. Her appointment comes after a brief period of secondment at The Regency as Acting Ladies’ Lounge Manager where she made outstanding contributions in the field of operations and revenue generation.

Gholam joined The Regency family just over a year ago and is a native of Lebanon. Doha’a graduated from the University of Cairo with a Bachelor of Mass Communication and Media. Her career initially started in Special Needs education, and then moved to hotels industry joining training Department. Through working in a number of five-star international hotels across Egypt, she completed over 30 courses, some of which led to diplomas, including certificates in Human Development and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). In her new role, she will be responsible for ensuring the correct implementation of all The Regency’s policies and standards, evaluating the employees’ needs and assisting the HR Director in day-to-day operations.

Doha brings excellent communication skills being fluent in Arabic and English and is known for her ‘can do’ attitude. Ever the considerate employee she is known for her loyalty and tireless efforts to go beyond the call of duty.

An accomplished pianist she also loves to travel and learn about different cultures and has visited numerous European countries. Doha is married with 3 children, she is proud to succeed in both family life and her career path.

Workers, GM in deal to avoid Brazil job cuts SAO PAULO: American carmaker General Motors and union representatives in Brazil reached a deal late Saturday to delay at least until November 1,840 possible job cuts at a plant in Sao Paulo state, the union said.

“We reached a deal to delay the dismissal of 1,840 workers that was supposed to take place roughly aruond this date,” a union envoy told AFP after more than nine hours of talks among union representatives, GM staff and government officials. In addition the deal calls for suspending until November the contracts of 940 workers on the production line in question who will still receive their pay, the union said. The line will stay open at least until November with 900 people at work.

Talk will continue on the future of the production line beyond November. GM workers have taken to the streets seevral times in recent days saying they hoped to stop what they called a plan for massive job cuts at the plant located in Sao Jose dos Campos. The complex has eight plants and a total of 7,500 workers.—AFP

Al Tijari announces winners of daily draw with Najma Account KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al Najma Account draw yesterday. The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry represented by Abdulaziz Ashkanani.

The winners of the Al Najma Daily Draw are :Jawad Saeed Ghanim KD 7000/Sulaiman Abdulatif Al-Jaber KD 7000/Mishal Sadeq Haidar Abu Al-Hasan KD 7000/Ali Kathem Hashem KD 7000/-

Emad Eshaq Mohammed Ali — KD 7000/The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces the biggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of the new Najma account.

Customers of the bank can now enjoy a KD 7,000 daily prize which is the highest in the country and another 4 mega prizes during the year worth KD 100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha and on the 19th of June which is the date of the bank’s establishment.

With a minimum balance of KD 500, customers will be eligi-

ble for the daily draw provided that the money is in the account one week prior to the daily draw or 2 months prior to the mega draw. In addition, for each KD 25 a customer can get one chance for winning instead of KD 50.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all lucky winners and also extends appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their effective supervision of the draws which were conducted in an orderly and organized manner.

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TECHNOLOGY Sound advice

Sony’s new compact camera is worth the extra bucks Q. Do you have any information on the new, $600+ Sony pocketsized camera that is getting rave reviews? I am not a pro but love taking pictures and need a pocket camera. I use movie mode often and being able to take low-light night photos would be lovely. I hate flash for both for the washed-out look and the startling, intrusive quality when photographing people. It stinks for nature and buildings too. Is it worth it for me to spend the money for the new Sony, when other small cameras cost much less?

A. The camera you are referring to is the $649 Sony DSC-RX100. It is generating a lot of buzz and is selling out everywhere. The 20-megapixel DSCRX100 has a sensor far larger (in physical size, not megapixels) than any other compact camera and combines it with a sharp Zeiss zoom lens packed in a solid metal body small enough to fit into a pocket. It’s designed for serious photographers who want as little compromise as possible in a pocket camera, as well as well-heeled travelers and family shooters who want the very best.

The large sensor is what makes the DSC-RX100 unique in the compact class and is the reason for the price premium. Large sensors work well in low light and in good light pictures have a smooth, deep, natural look. Given the camera’s size and capabilities, the $649 price is warranted. The critical question is “Is it worth it for me to spend all that money on the new Sony, when other cameras cost much less?”

In your case, I think the DSC-RX100 is worth splurging for. Good pictures in low light without flash are important to you. With its large sensor the DSC-RX100 does this far better than any other compact camera. The large sensor, sharp lens, optical image stabilization, and 1080p AVCHD video recording make for top-notch video as

well. If you buy anything less you are not going to get the results you want and won’t be happy. Though new cameras come out all the time, the DSC-RX100 is a very powerful tool and with its 20 megapixels, big sensor and sharp lens it will be useful to you for many years.

If low-light capabilities and video recording were not as important I would recommend taking a look at the Olympus XZ-1. It has a top-notch lens and internal processing that produces clear, sharp, colorful pictures without fuss. It retails for $399 and refurbs can be had for as little as $299.

Unfortunately its 10-megapixel sensor is only about 1/3 the physical size of DSC-RX100 sensor and the video recording is only 720p Motion JPEG. This takes up more space on memory cards than the higher resolution 1080p AVCHD video of the DSCRX100. I also find AVCHD to generally look better and playing back the movies is as easy as putting the memory card in the slot on your TV or Bluray player. This isn’t meant to demean the XZ-1. I have tested the camera and simply love the way it works, the quality feel, and especially the outstanding images it produces with little fuss. For most people it would be more than enough, but your needs demand the DSC-RX100. —MCT

Biggest supercomputer in Europe goes into operation ‘Machine can go around world 70,000 times a second’ MUNICH: Europe’s fastest supercomputer covers an area of 500 square metres, weighs 100 tons and performs at a maximum rate of three Petaflops. The SuperMUC computer, built by IBM and installed at the Leibniz computing centre (LRZ) in Garching near Munich, is able to complete 1,000 trillion - or 10 to the power of 15 - calculations per second, putting it in the fourth spot in the world in the computing stakes. IBM compares the performance of the SuperMUC, which has just gone into operation, with 3 billion people using pocket calculators each carrying out 1 million calculations per second.

Arndt Bode, who heads the LRZ management board, compares it to a machine hammering in nails with a head measuring 1 millimetre across to represent each calculation.

“The machine could go around the world 70,000 times a second,” he says. German Research Minister Annette Schavan says: “Supercomputers are a key to finding answers to the pressing problems of the 21st century.”

The LRZ looks back on a 50-year history. At its launch in 1962 it did routine calculations.

“At the time, computers were used exclusively

for calculating in the normal sense, for example calculations for engineers,” Bode says.

Scientists from 24 European countries, along with Turkey and Israel, will make use of the new IBM facility, with an international group deciding who gets access. “The computer is fully booked. Several times a year a call goes out for applications and it would be booked out more than three times over on the basis of those applications,” Bode says.

Physicists, earth scientists, astronomers, mathematicians and doctors will all profit from the facility, alongside mathematicians and climate scientists. “Simulation has established itself as the third pillar of sciences alongside theory and experiment,” Schavan says. “Supercomputers have changed how research is done and simplified product development.” Supercomputers can do calculations on climate change, the effects of earthquakes and models of movement under the earth’s crust. They can create an image of what happened after the Big Bang. Theories about dark matter and energy can only be backed up with their assistance.

Gene sequencing and analysing complex

Tech

“This is more than just playing around,” says Jurran. And it isn’t that expensive.

“You can get a lot here for just a few euros.”

Garageband is available for only 4 euros (4.85 dollars). Comparable mini studios like FL Studio Mobile or Music Studio cost about 12 euros. Rhythm machines like Xenon Groove Synthesizer (4 euros) or Korg Ielectribe (16 euros) are also affordable. And the selection is huge - although only for Apple’s iOS operating system, notes Jurran. Android is clearly second fiddle in this field. Nonetheless, apps like Pocket Band, Caustic or Reloop mean it isn’t totally excluded either.

Of course, mobile solutions can never replace a PC system with the right software, but they are a good supplement, says Constantin Koehncke of Native Instruments. That company’s app, iMaschine, allows people to create beats and to see how they sound with some accompaniment and vocals. It’s practical for testing out musical ideas while on the road. “You can, for example, sketch out a song while you’re sitting on the commuter train,” he notes.

And whatever you create can be expanded on a PC, since anything created on the app can be transferred to a PC, or just put straight online.

Hobby musicians can also benefit from using their tablet as a remote control for PC music software. “It’s great. It has a great future,” says K ahlen.

Steinberg offers a free app, Cubase iC, that is perfect for one-man projects, says company spokesman Stefan Trowbridge. It makes it easier for a musician sitting in front of a microphone in his living room and decides he wants to record a passage on his computer. “This way he doesn’t have to jog to the computer first to press record.”

But the touchscreen controls on these apps are not so precise, notes Kahlen. That can be especially true for a music app on a mobile. It can be very tricky, editing individual notes on a small display. Even if it’s possible to edit something precisely, it’s always easier with a mouse, adds Kahlen. So hobbyists still shouldn’t expect too much. The app that creates the perfect hit with the push of a button still hasn’t been created, says Jurran. And Trowbridge is still sceptical of examples like that of Gorillaz, especially when people say it’s a sign music will soon be sold only via iPad. “That’s just dreams of the future,” he says. —dpa

briefs

Wooden headphones from Tivoli suppress and enhance sounds BERLIN: Tivoli Audio have introduced a new set of closed headphones made out of wood. The Radio Silenz headphones offer an active noise suppressor, which filters out disturbing noise for up to 50 hours on one AAA battery. At the same time, the function can be used with a button on the cable to briefly enhance exterior noises, which could be useful for example with announcements on trains. The Radio Silenz headphones weigh about 120 grams and are available now in shops for about 160 euros (195 dollars).

Compact desktop computer from Packard Bell BERLIN: Packard Bell’s new desktop computer series iMedia S packs a big punch in its compact, body. The computer is equipped with either a Trinity or E processor from AMD or Intel’s i3 and i5 chips from the second and third generation. The hard drive capacity ranges up to 2 terabytes with up to 8 gigabyte of RAM. In addition, there is also room for a separate graphics card and an optical drive. The price varies depending on features with the iMedia S’s basic price starting at 349 euros with an E1-1200 processor from AMD, 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard drive and no additional graphics card.

Turn your mobile into a sound studio MUNICH: You don’t need a drum kit to be a drummer these days. All you need is a mobile packed with the right apps to create a portable sound studio. The question is, is this more than just a high-tech game? After all, professional band Gorillaz created the album The Fall on an iPad. The 20 apps used as instruments on the album are listed on the band’s website and available to anyone who fancies himself a musician.

But beginners shouldn’t expect to create a masterwork on their first try.

Still, it’s possible to have a lot of fun with the touchscreen. Plus, the music apps don’t cost much. The good news for beginners: it’s child’s play to make music with apps. It’s not necessary to read music or know much about the technology. All you have to do is just start. Some apps, like Garageband or FL Mobile Studio turn iOS devices into complete sound studios. And you still don’t need to be a sound engineer to make a decent recording. These apps are very accessible to beginners, says Dieter Kahlen of the Association of German Sound Engineers: it only takes a little while to make some listenable music. “These things are designed for quick successes.”

That’s made possible, partially, with pre-produced samples and functions that automatically generate the proper accompaniment. Just pick a beat, a bassline and a guitar riff, record yourself singing “Yeah, yeah, yeah” and your first song is essentially done. Of course, people who prize music played by hand might sniff disapprovingly. After all, it ’s “not really creative,” notes Kahlen.

But there are different approaches.

Some apps let a smartphone make the same sounds as an organ if they’re connec ted to a keyboard, notes N ico Jurran of German computer magazine c’t. “Or you use your tablet as a notestand,” is another popular example.

Apps like Tonara, which is free, even turn the page automatically and show at which point you are. These can be helpful when practicing. Meanwhile, Avid Scorch will patiently play, again and again, how one par t in a score should sound - even particularly slowly if desired.

An app likes Amplitube means musicians always have a guitar amplifier on hand. Just attach the guitar with an adapter and rock and roll can fill any room. It’s perfect for practicing while under way or recording something.

protein structures, useful for investigating diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, are also part of the work. How organs such as lungs actually operate can be simulated to a high degree of accuracy. Work is proceeding to make aircraft engines quieter using computers like these, and Bode says that with modern car design, virtually everything is simulated, from engine performance to air-conditioning.

The new computer is saving energy by cooling its chips using water at about 40 degrees Celsius. “The chips operate properly at 70 to 80 degrees. And water conducts the excess heat away more effectively than air,” Bode says. While previous computers of this kind use at least half their energy requirement for cooling, with SuperMUC this will fall to between 10 and 20 per cent, saving up to 1 million dollars a year. In winter the heat will be used to heat buildings. There is another benefit. SuperMUC is much quieter than other supercomputers. “There are big computers where the cooling fans are so loud that you can’t go into the computing rooms without hearing protection,” Bode says. —dpa

GUATEMALA CITY: A man holds a Tablet Pad CT10 after a press conference. Cyber Tech Guatemalan technology development company, which has an assembling plant in China launched the tablet in the Guatemalan market. —AFP

Keep cookies, spies off your computer BERLIN: No sooner have you purchased a new pair of shoes online than you’re suddenly seeing them everywhere - primarily in banner ads across other sites gracing your computer screen.

Are you being tracked? In a word: yes. But there are steps you can take to cover your internet tracks.

The fact of the matter is that there are entire lockers of data being gathered online by advertising agencies, from just about every web surfer, whether they consent or not. This data tracking is a tool for creating a profile of a customer. The more these ad agencies know about potential customers, the more effectively they can advertise to them.

So long as it remains anonymous, it’s no more than annoying. But as soon as a user is identified, and his movements start getting tracked through the net, it’s no longer a laughing matter. Blame it on cookies, these internet trackers that hunker down in your computer and make sure you’re always recognizable.

“The advertising networks gather up a user’s surfing behaviour and give him a globally unique identification number,” says Christian Krause of the independent data security centre of the German state of Schleswig Holstein.

“Users with that kind of number on their computer can always be recognized again.”

That’s how an online store knows which pages you’ve already looked at and what you did there. But personalized ads are the least of the worries floating out there. Things can get really problematic when you’re on a page where you have to log on with your name, like on a social network such as Facebook or Google+.

“The problem is, that this data gets assigned to your name,” says Thilo Weichert of the Schleswig Holstein centre. That’s especially worrisome to privacy advocates, since this namelinked data isn’t just for use by the advertising industry, but also companies that want to know a customer’s background or more about his finances. Government agencies also track this data.

And the demand for more data is only growing, according to a study by Xamit, a consulting agency that specializes in data security. It showed that 29.9 per cent of sites inspected

during 2011 used a web statistics service that allowed user tracking. The year before, that figure was only 24.7 per cent.

About three-quarters of those sites examined used a service that did not adhere to data security standards, noted Xamit. But there are strategies internet users can adopt against attempts to suck up data. “Users should always try to delete stored cookies and the browser history after every internet session,” says Ragni Serina Zlotos of German computer magazine c’t.

“That’s possible with all contemporary browsers.

With Firefox, you can even set it so that the cookies are automatically deleted after every session.”

But that strategy only works with normal cookies. Online advertisers have upped the ante, now using flash cookies that, according to data security experts, are saved on the computer, independently of the browser. These have to be deactivated in the settings manager of Flash Player, which can be found in the System Controls.

Firefox users should also consider the add-on Better Privacy, which can delete flash cookies and so-called DOM storage cookies. The browser add-on Ghostery, available for all browsers, also provides some protection from internet snooping. It shows which tracking services and advertising networks are currently following you, and then blocks them. “This has a real ‘A-ha’ effect for a lot of users,” says Krause.

Ghostery also tries to block the tracking. “But you shouldn’t count on that working. The programme performs differently depending on the browser employed,” according to Krause. A lot of browsers also come with do-not-track functions.

“You can install the browser settings so that you’re not followed,” says Zlotos. Whether internet trackers adhere to those rules is the question.

So far, Twitter has required them to honour it.

Another tip: if you’re going to do a lot of surfing with Facebook or Google+, but don’t want to be recognized everywhere, use two browsers, says Krause. “You use the one for social networks, the other for all other internet sites.” The little bit of comfort you sacrifice is made up for by the protection it provides for your personal data.

Walkman media player with Android and Bluetooth BERLIN: Whether it’s the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, Bluetooth headphones or an external speaker, Sony has announced a new Walkman series with varying features. The flagship among the new models is the Walkman F800 with a 3.5 inch touchscreen, Android 4.0 and WiFi for about 250 euros. For 100 euros less, there is the S770BT which includes colour coordinated and cable-free headphones with Bluetooth control. The E570, which costs about 120 euros more, is said to digitally suppress exterior noises. The final new model is the beginner’s Walkman, the E473K for 110 euros, which includes a small speaker dock which is powered directly by the MP3 player. All of the Walkman models are expected to be in shops in August.

Compact camera with remote control via WiFi BERLIN: The new Lumix SZ5 camera can be controlled with a smartphone with the help of a WiFi adapter. The manufacturer Panasonic said the adapter even works if the compact camera and smartphone are not registered in a wireless network. An app allows the smartphone user to also zoom and set the focus besides just taking the snapshot. And the Lumix can transmit new photos via a WiFi connection to a computer and without a connecting cable. In addition, the camera has a sensor with 14 megapixels and can record videos with 720p resolution (HD ready). The SZ5 will be in shops starting in September for about 220 euros. —dpa

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

New study links current events to climate change Hansen’s study blames heat waves for global warming

KAMPALA: A medical worker from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, working on the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, is pictured at a laboratory. — AP

The spread of Ebola and fear in Uganda KAMPALA: Washington Ocaya trembles when he recalls the grisly memory of a man suffering from Ebola haemorrhagic fever, when the deadly disease swept through his home region of Gulu 12 years ago. “The man was very weak and blood was leaking out of his eyes, flowing below the ears on both sides of his face,” he said. “Blood was coming from other parts of the body. I could see fluids flowing out as well,” Ocaya said. In two Ebola outbreaks in 2000 and 2007 in Uganda, more than 200 people were killed. A 12-yearold girl died last year.

Now the highly contagious disease has struck Uganda for the fourth time - since the beginning of July, 16 people have died. The lethal Ebola virus can kill an estimated 90 per cent of those infected. The Health Ministry on Wednesday said about 60 people are suspected of having the disease, eight of whom are in the capital, Kampala.

Ebola is characterized by a sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. It is typically followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases, internal and external bleeding, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“When I recall that image, I tremble,” said Ocaya, who at 26 has just graduated from university. “And with this new outbreak, I am scared. I cannot shake hands with people.”

President Yoweri Museveni on Monday appealed to people to take precautions to curb the spread of the disease, including refraining from physical contact such as shaking hands. The direct contact mourners have with the bodies of the deceased also plays a significant role in virus transmission, according to WHO. Many Ugandans are panicking. Instead of shaking hands, some are heeding Museveni’s advice and waving their fists in the air as a form of greeting.

But others, such as undergraduate Patrick

Mukonyezi, admit that the president’s suggested measures are not easy. “I am scared of Ebola but I end up greeting in the usual way, shaking hands. We are used to shaking hands when greeting and this is difficult advice to follow,” he said. The government has also called on people to avoid mass gatherings, crowded bars and restaurants and to be on the lookout for Ebola’s nasty telltale symptoms - such as haemorrhagic fever, bleeding from orifices and violent vomiting episodes among friends, family and colleagues.

The authorities are overwhelmed by calls from anxious members of the public who are usually only suffering from minor ailments, officials say. “We are receiving countless telephone calls to our alert centres... people are calling all the time complaining of a variety of ailments especially fever, and asking whether it’s Ebola,” said Dr Anthony Mbonye, the head of the new Ebola task force.

Health centres, too, have received worried patients who are sick with other illnesses. “People are scared ... we are answering all the calls and directing people to take any suspected cases to hospitals,” said Mbonye.

“Some clinics are overcrowded with patients thinking they have contracted Ebola. It turns out to be simple fever.” Local media reports suggest that some people are staying away from hospitals when they require treatment for other illnesses, in case of contracting Ebola from infected patients. Health officials have identified the current strain of the virus as a strain that was first identified in Sudan in 1976. The virus is believed to have originated along the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola river, for which it is named.

More than 1,200 deaths have been documented since the virus was discovered, WHO said last year. There is still no known cure for Ebola. — dpa

Japanese sun-seekers head back to Fukushima beach IWAKI: A beach of white sands and lush green in this laid-back region away from big Japanese cities is supposed to attract a throng of vacationers at the current height of summer. Many people, however, avoid coming to the region, 65 kilometres south of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which went into meltdown after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Local authorities opened Nakoso beach in Iwaki city on July 16 for the first time since the nuclear disaster, despite persistent concerns about radiation. It is the only functioning beach in Fukushima prefecture this summer.

On a recent clear and sunny day, around 200 people, including many children, were splashing in the sea. One mother said she brought her family because they could not stay indoors and the beach is the closest one from their home. “You could not do anything if you were worried about radiation all the time,” she said, holding her two-year-old daughter. “We eat vegetables grown in our garden. Children swim in a school swimming pool.” A twenty-something woman, who was lying on the beach with her friends, said they were surprised to see such a small crowd. “We did not think about radiation,” she said. She is not concerned about what she eats and drinks in her daily life, either, she added. Some people who evacuated from areas closer to the Fukushima plant were also taking a dip in the sea. “Levels of radiation are much lower here than those of Naraha,” a man in his 60s who came with his two granddaughters said, referring to his hometown within the no-go zone.

The evacuees have stayed in Iwaki temporarily and don’t know when they will be able to return home, he said. Airborne radiation was measured at 0.09 microsieverts per hour on that day, far below those considered a threat to health, and lower than the natural background radiation in many countries. But a local environmental group commissioned to investigate the radioactive contamination in the area said they found higher levels of radiation in some par ts of the beach. They were detected “in the undergrowth,” slightly back from the beach, city official Tatsuya Kusano said.

The city has no plan to make the area off-limits, he added. But he didn’t dismiss people’s caution. “Although the city opened the beach, it is up to each person to make their own judgment.” The city has not released the latest data on radioactive contamination in the area, making such

decision-making harder. Kusano said access to the figures would not have much impact on the crowds. “We do not think those concerned about radiation would come here to begin with.”

Many of the people interviewed said they had checked the available information, and decided to come to the beach because the local government has declared the water is safe, even if it didn’t release the actual levels of seaborne radiation. Most of those coming to the beach are from other parts of Fukushima prefecture, locals say, but the numbers are down on previous years. A guesthouse owner said she had received very few bookings since the disaster.

“In summer, parking lots in this area used to be filled with cars and local inns and hotels used to be flooded with reservations,” she recalled. Around 170 kilometres further south, Mikiko Watabanabe, a researcher at the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Centre, expressed doubts about the safety levels. “I believe it is problematic that authorities decided to open the beach and let children swim in school swimming pools despite radioactive contamination in the region,” she said. Tens of thousands of residents have already left the prefecture out of fear of the health effects of radiation.

After the meltdown, which saw radioactive material melt through the bottom of several reactors, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co also dumped around 11,500 tons of wastewater containing radioactive substances into the Pacific in April 2011. The move sparked an international outcry and infuriated local fishermen, most of whom have been unable to restart fishing. But since the initial outrage, the marine contamination has not featured prominently in the media, which has focused in recent weeks on the opening of the beach and women in bikinis. “The media is not critical. They just report what authorities say,” Watanabe said. Opening the beach is part of a campaign by the government and the media, which wants to promote the image of a safe Fukushima, said Seiichi Nakate, a member of the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation. The group has urged the central government to evacuate all children from the area. “The government and the media have further promoted the [positive] campaign. It is not only bad but dangerous. It is inhumane,” Nakate said. “I’d like to appeal to the international community to help resolve this human rights issue.” — dpa

WASHINGTON: The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can’t be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist. The research by a man often called the “godfather of global warming” says that the likelihood of such temperatures occurring from the 1950s through the 1980s was rarer than 1 in 300. Now, the odds are closer to 1 in 10, according to the study by NASA scientist James Hansen. He says that statistically what’s happening is not random or normal, but pure and simple climate change.

“This is not some scientific theory. We are now experiencing scientific fact,” Hansen told The Associated Press in an interview. Hansen is a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a professor at Columbia University.

But he is also a strident activist who has called for government action to curb greenhouse gases for years. While his study was published online Saturday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, it is unlikely to sway opinion among the remaining climate change skeptics.

However, several climate scientists praised the new work. In a blunt departure from most climate research, Hansen’s study - based on statistics, not the more typical climate modeling - blames these three heat waves purely on global warming: Last year’s devastating Texas-Oklahoma drought. The 2010 heat waves in Russia and the Middle East, which led to thousands of deaths. The 2003 European heat wave blamed for tens of thousands of deaths, especially among the elderly in France.

The analysis was written before the current drought and record-breaking temperatures that have seared much of the United States this year.

But Hansen believes this too is another prime example of global warming at its worst. The new research makes the case for the severity of global warming in a different way than most scientific studies and uses simple math instead of relying on complex climate models or an understanding of atmospheric physics. It also doesn’t bother with the usual caveats about individual weather events having numerous causes.

The increase in the chance of extreme heat, drought and heavy downpours in certain regions is so huge that scientists should stop hemming and hawing, Hansen said. “This is happening often enough, over a big enough area that people can see it happening,” he said. Scientists have generally responded that it’s impossible to say whether single events are caused by global warming, because of the influence of natural weather variability.

However, that position has been shifting in recent months, as other studies too have concluded climate change is happening right before our eyes. Hansen hopes his new study will shift people’s thinking about climate change and goad governments into action. He wrote an op-ed piece that appeared online Friday in the Washington Post.

“There is still time to act and avoid a worsening climate, but we are wasting precious time,” he wrote.

The science in Hansen’s study is excellent “and reframes the question,” said Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia who was a member of the Nobel Prizewinning international panel of climate scientists that issued a series of reports on global warming.

“Rather than say, ‘Is this because of climate change?’ That’s the wrong question. What you can say is, ‘How likely is this to have occurred with the absence of global warming?’ It’s so extraordinarily unlikely that it has to be due to global warming,” Weaver said.

For years scientists have run complex computer models using combinations of various factors to see how likely a weather event would happen without global warming and with it. About 25 different aspects of climate change have been formally attributed to man-made greenhouse gases in dozens of formal studies. But these are generally broad and non-specific, such as more heat waves in some regions and heavy rainfall in others.

Another upcoming study by Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, links the 2010 Russian heat wave to global warming by looking at the underlying weather that caused the heat wave. He called Hansen’s paper an important one that helps communicate the problem. But there is bound to be continued disagreement. Previous studies had

been unable to link the two, and one by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded that the Russian drought, which also led to devastating wildfires, was not related to global warming. White House science adviser John Holdren praised the paper’s findings in a statement. But he also said it is true that scientists can’t blame single events on global warming: “This work, which finds that extremely hot summers are over 10 times more common than they used to be, reinforces many other lines of evidence showing that climate change is occurring and that it is harmful.”

Skeptical scientist John Christy of the University of Alabama at Huntsville said Hansen shouldn’t have compared recent years to the 1950s-1980s time period because he said that was a quiet time for extremes. But Derek Arndt, director of climate monitoring for the federal government’s National Climatic Data Center, said that range is a fair one and often used because it is the “golden era” for good statistics.

Granger Morgan, head of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, called Hansen’s study “an important next step in what I expect will be a growing set of statistically-based arguments.” In a landmark 1988 study, Hansen predicted that if greenhouse gas emissions continue, which they have, Washington, DC, would have about nine days each year of 95 degrees or warmer in the decade of the 2010s. So far this year, with about four more weeks of summer, the city has had 23 days with 95 degrees or hotter temperatures.

Hansen says now he underestimated how bad things would get.

And while he hopes this will spur action including a tax on the burning of fossil fuels, which emit carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas, others doubt it. Science policy expert Roger Pielke Jr. of the University of Colorado said Hansen clearly doesn’t understand social science, thinking a study like his could spur action. Just because people understand a fact that doesn’t mean people will act on it, he said. In an email, he wrote: “Hansen is pursuing a deeply flawed model of policy change, one that will prove ineffectual and with its most lasting consequence a further politicization of climate science (if that is possible!).” — AP

Penn researchers enlist dogs in battling human cancers PHILADELPHIA: Sasha is still spunky at 12 - a white dog with a smattering of black, floppy ears and a sweet face. Even after she lost her right foreleg to bone cancer, her owners said, she could jump and catch a Frisbee. Unfortunately, in nearly all cases like Sasha’s, the surgery offers just a short respite before the cancer comes roaring back. Her only hope now lies with an experimental treatment being developed at the University of Pennsylvania.

Doctors at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine recently pumped a modified listeria bacteria into her bloodstream, hoping to push her immune system to kill remaining cancer cells. If the treatment works, it is likely to be tested next on humans with this type of bone cancer, called osteosarcoma. Veterinary scientists say such cross-species research is on the rise.

While animal research has long played an important role in human medicine, an increasing number of clinical trials for dogs are being designed to help both species. Right now, the vast majority of cancer treatments that work in mice fail in people, said immunologist Carl June, director of translational research at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. By testing the treatments in dogs, he said, veterinarians are helping sort out the potential winners.

Osteosarcoma is also easier to study in dogs because it’s relatively common, especially in larger breeds. In humans, it’s an orphan disease, but it takes a vicious toll. It strikes young people, most of them between the ages of 13 and 25. Often their only hope for survival is a radical amputation. Liliana Ruano said she and her husband, Carlos, wanted a dog that could accompany the North Carolina couple on hiking and camping adventures, and Sasha turned out to be just perfect. They often visit Carlos’s family in Pennsylvania and hike with Sasha in French Creek State Park.

The first sign of trouble came earlier this year, when Sasha started limping. The local veterinarian

thought it was an injury; it seemed to get better for awhile, but then it got much worse. An X-ray revealed bone cancer, and the doctor offered grim choices.

They could do nothing and their faithful hiking buddy would die in agony, or they could amputate the leg, which would give her a few months of pain-free life before the cancer returned, usually as a fatal chest tumor. Mild chemotherapy would extend her life slightly. They opted for the surgery and chemotherapy, and Sasha came through very well. She’s running around and playing Frisbee - for now, anyway.

Concerned that Sasha’s cancer would come back, Liliana found information about the Penn trial on a Facebook page about dogs and cancer. She called to find out more and connected with Nicola Mason, who explained the treatment, its risks and benefits. Mason told them the tumor would have to be of a certain type for Sasha to qualify - expressing a marker called her2/neu. Sasha’s tumor tested positive.

Mason, who has both a veterinary degree and a doctorate in immunology, said osteosarcoma tumors that strike dogs are very similar to those that strike humans. Dog and human lymphomas are also similar, and she is also involved in a trial to treat dog lymphoma. Treatment with listeria bacteria might sound scary because it’s associated with food poisoning, but it is disabled, Mason said. “It’s modified so it does not cause disease and is rapidly cleared.” But it should still prompt an immune response in Sasha. Modified listeria has been tested in mice and used in some trials connected with human cervical cancer, she said. For this treatment, the listeria was also genetically modified - a gene was added to allow the bacteria to make a protein called her2/neu - the same one they tested for and was expressed in Sasha’s tumor. The idea is to train the patient’s immune system with the her2/neu protein the way you might train a bloodhound with a piece of someone’s clothing. —MCT

PHILADELPHIA: Nicola Mason takes Sasha for a walk. Use of dogs is increasing in research into human disease.— MCT

New programs help kids with ADHD make better choices DETROIT: In a day camp for often smart but distracted kids, 11-year-old Ben Paxton has learned to see something positive in his diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Sure, many kids like him get antsy, procrastinate or lose their tempers. But they also are often bright, creative and funny, says Ben, an avid video gamer, like many with ADHD, as well as a swimmer and all-A student at Novi Meadows School.

“People think we’re kind of stupid, but we’re really quite smart,” Ben explains. “We just have a hard time curbing our really big flaws.” Part outdoor-adventure, part ADHD social skills 101, this Training Your Dragons Camp in West Bloomfield, Mich., strives to build teamwork, leadership, goal-setting and coping skills in kids with ADHD - a diagnosis that can be befuddling, stressful, isolating and depressing. The day camp tries to help kids understand that while their diagnosis may help define them in part, the way the color of your hair o r a the shape of your nose can, they have choices in their response to situations that bring out their worst traits, says Kevin Roberts, an ADHD coach from West Bloomfield who designed the camps with Drew Yanke, a psychotherapist in Birmingham, Mich.

Their next offering, Friendship

Camp, for boys 7-12 Aug. 6-10 in Novi, gives kids tips on how to control behaviors that isolate. A Back to School Confidence Camp Aug. 13-17 in Rochester will teach kids coping skills for school. Another Dragons camp will be held Aug. 20-24 in Wixom. Dragons camp helps boys face the dragons, or issues, that kids

with the disorder face: impulsivity, anger, oppositional behaviors and poor organizational skills.

These campers are kids who forget their homework, insist on having the last word and who may pull all A’s but bring home report cards marked with negative comments about not followings directions, says Roberts, an

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan: Drew Yanke (left) an instructor at a camp for boys with ADHD at Sacred Heart Academy speaks with a camper, Ben Paxton, 11, of Novi. — MCT

ADHDer, as he calls himself and those with the diagnosis. Roberts is the author of a new book, “Movers, Dreamers and Risk-Takers, Unlocking the Power of ADHD” (Hazelden, $14.95). It summarizes Roberts’ own life growing up with ADHD in Redford as well as skills he’s acquired through a master’s degree program and 14 years of work as an ADHD coach for kids. Roberts, 43, came to understand his own ADHD late. He wasn’t diagnosed with it until he was 26.

Growing up in a household “bursting with clutter,” Roberts was “a little frustrated” with a mother who had outgoing, eccentric traits that matched her son’s. Many people like him never get diagnosed, a controversy that has created a debate about whether the condition is growing or just being diagnosed more.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 5.4 million children ages 4 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD. Boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with the condition. Without better understanding about why he faltered in elementary and middle school, Roberts struggled until his mother found tutors and other opportunities through church and youth groups to help a boy who didn’t fit into the usual round pegs.—MCT

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy heals many ills CHARLOTTE: The patient slides into a clear, giant cylinder. The thick door shuts tightly behind her.

The technician turns some dials, and the treatment begins. This is how many patients begin a session of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment that has largely outgrown early skepticism and is spreading as an option for various medical conditions. The treatment typically involves a patient entering a chamber set at a pressure two to three times greater than sea level - and breathing 100 percent oxygen.

It’s used to treat more than a dozen medical conditions and has become especially popular in treating serious wounds that fail to heal, including those related to diabetes or radiation from cancer treatments. In some cases, the treatment can help patients save feet or limbs from amputation. One study found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy decreased major amputations in patients with diabetic foot ulcers from about 33 percent to almost 9 percent. By one estimate, there are now about 20 hospital-affiliated centers in North Carolina that offer hyperbaric treatments, compared to four a little over a decade ago. In recent years, the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, a nationally recognized center, has been providing some 3,000 patient treatments a year.

Meanwhile, some centers offer hyperbaric therapy to treat conditions from autism to Lyme disease, even though many experts argue there isn’t enough scientific evidence to prove that it works.

“We have to have reasonable proof that supports the use of hyperbaric oxygen,” said Dr. John Feldmeier, president of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, based in Durham, NC. For those being treated for serious diabetic wounds, hyperbaric therapy allows oxygen to reach damaged tissue to help healing, even when blood flow to the area is compromised.

Jim Postell, a 56-year-old retired police officer in Concord, NC, was afraid he was going to lose his right foot to a diabetic wound. It developed gangrene and it hurt so much that he could barely stand. Before the treatments started, his doctor had to remove a lot of damaged tissue. Postell was shocked at how much flesh came off. “When I first saw that, I would have never thought in a million years that that was going to heal up,” he said. But the therapy worked, the wound healed, and he looks forward to getting back to his old life.

Dean Pyle, a 44-year-old pastor at Harvest Community Church in Huntersville, NC, had also been through the treatments for a serious diabetic wound. He was a bit nervous about getting in the chamber the first time, wary of what it would feel like. When the pressure increased, his ears started popping as they do during an airplane’s takeoff. But that was it. During his 40 sessions-each about two hours-he grew fond, much to his surprise, of watching the “Live! With Kelly” show on the TV outside his individual, “monoplace” chamber.

At the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine, the hyperbaric center has “multiplace” chambers that can treat 18 to 20 patients at a time. These rooms can be pressurized, and patients typically breathe oxygen through head tents. The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society now has approved 14 uses based on extensive research, and treatments are generally covered by Medicare.

Longtime professionals in the field say there was

early skepticism within the medical community on the credibility of the treatments. And it didn’t help when photos of Michael Jackson lying in a chamber-supposedly to keep him young-surfaced. “They were selling chambers to people to treat, quote, ‘problems,’ that there was no evidence that it worked on,” said Dr. John Wassel, medical director of Presbyterian Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine, “So there was a reaction from the medical community.”

There are some clinics that offer hyperbaric therapy for conditions outside the widely accepted uses. Charlotte Metro Hyperbarics in Huntersville, NC, for example, sees patients for autism, cerebral palsy and Lyme disease, among others. Athletes trying to speed recovery from injuries are also treated.

Patients sign a consent form where they acknowledge they’re not guaranteed the therapy will be successful in their case. Federal law prohibits clinics from promoting unapproved uses for the cham-

CHARLOTTE: Patient Joyce Markolfuses is on oxygen while undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatments at CMC-Mercey’s Wound Care Center. — MCT

bers, and Charlotte Metro Hyperbarics doesn’t advertise the therapy as a “cure.”

Clients mostly pay out of pocket because many insurers don’t cover these conditions. Treatments are typically 40 sessions, which range from $75 to $150 each. Half of the clinic’s patients are local, while the other half are from out-of-state. “We’re the only center, in a lot of cases, for many people that will even allow them to get in the chamber” for what they want to get treated for, said clinic owner Anson Hall, whose daughter undergoes hyperbaric oxygen therapy for an autism disorder.

For treating autism, Dr. Danielle Rose, the clinic’s medical director, explained that the chambers can stimulate and regulate a patient’s immune system with the profusion of oxygen and lowering of acids in the body. She said studies have suggested that autism can be aggravated by an immune system that’s out of balance.

The Autism Society of North Carolina neither endorses nor discourages hyperbaric therapy, but encourages parents to make informed decisions.

Many doctors in hyperbaric medicine maintain that there’s not enough evidence to support using the therapy for autism. “I would feel (it) would be unethical for me to refer a child with autism, where I don’t even have an inkling of any evidence that it actually works,” said Dr. Richard Moon, medical director of the Duke Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology.

Boog Atkinson, 57, of Charlotte, NC, hopes the therapy will heal the wounds on her feet. “It’s frustrating because you don’t know what’s going to work,” she said as waited to get into a chamber for her 10th or so session. You try “so many different things and nothing seems to work. And it’s just taking forever.” She has even asked friends: “When do you give up?”

In the chamber to her left was Postell, who was in the middle of his final session. He once worried that he would lose his foot. And now he can’t wait to get back to his garden. “To see what it was and what it’s come to is nothing but a miracle to me,” he said. Harvin, of Durham, just finished his last hyperbaric session at Duke. When he first started treatments, he noticed an improvement in just two days.

Then somewhere around the 40th session, fresh, pink skin had grown back over his foot. Now he says it looks like most of his foot is going back to normal. “It just kept getting a little better and better,” he said. — MCT

30

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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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Attention Kids!

EF VBS 12 starting from Aug 24, 2012. Six Exciting days of singing, games & bible stories for children of all ages. HURRY Limited Seats. Register Online www.cefkuwait.org.

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Slayel Al-Jahra Park hosts girgian he Slayel Al-Jahra Park hosted a girgian festival featuring various activities and competitions organized in cooperation with Al-Jahra School Program for Dental Health. A Jahra police unit was present at the event which witnessed a large participation from families and children.

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Competitions in Patriotic songs ndo-Kuwait Friendship Society, Kuwait (www.indo-kuwaitfriendshipsociety.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 09:30 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.

Dr. Ghalib Al-Mashoor said in a press release that Invitations for all schools located in various parts of Kuwait are already been sent. Schools under one management but from different locations can also participate in the contest individually. As per the school directory, there 23 Indian schools in Kuwait. The last date of receiving names of the Participants is scheduled on 2nd day of October, 2012 Gandhi Jayanti day.

The entry is free to all and due to 2nd day of Eid Al-Adha holidays, a large crowd is expected to attend in addition to, Senior Kuwaiti and Indian citizens will also grace the function.

All the applications of interest should be sent to: ikfsociety@gmail.com Phone:99430786

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KIB announces Ramadan working hours uwait International Bank has announced its working hours during the holy month of Ramadan in a press statement released by the bank stating: “We would like to congratulate our valued customers on the start of the holy month of Ramadan, and we are glad to announce that the bank’s working hours will be from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm at the head offices and its 18 branches distributed around Kuwait.”

Similar to every year, KIB services and products will be accessible to all customers during the bank’s working hours, and around the clock customers can perform their banking transactions and submit their enquiries through Al-Dawli Weyak which offers a dedicated 24/7 call center and can accessed from anywhere around the world. KIB customers can also use Al-Dawli Online and SMS Banking to further manage their accounts and banking needs around the clock. For more information on KIB’s services and products, please visit the bank’s website on www.kib.com.kw or check the latest updates on www.facebook.com/aldawlibank or follow us on Twitter @alDawliBank.

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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 month-long ‘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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Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

The Police Officers Club hosted a girgian event recently which was attended by club members and their families.

‘Leniency of Islam’ An 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 AlTurkait. 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.

Registration for Ramadan STARS Squash Tournament begins Once again this year, the stage is set for the fourth annual ‘Ramadan STARS Squash Tournament’ to be held from August 3 to 9 at the Kazma Sporting Club, Adailiya.

Abdulrahim Al-Awadi, the Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee has announced that doors are now open for registration to all those who are interested in participating, stating that the deadline for registration will be August 1. The participation in this tournament is open to all and will fall under three categories this year. The first category is for amateurs from ages 17 and above, second category is for professional players from ages 20 and above and

the third category is for ladies 17 and above. Following its last three years of grand success, the 4th annual Ramadan STARS Squash Tournament is being organized during Ramadan for squash lovers who will have an opportunity to practice the sport while being encouraged to develop their skills in a healthy, competitive and social environment. All details pertaining to the tournament and means to participate can be found on the tournaments facebook page under ‘Ramadan Stars Squash Tourney’ or follow the official twitter page @RamadanStars for updates. The registration is taking place at GO SPORT store located at The Avenues Mall. Alawadi also pointed out the great interest the ‘Ramadan Stars Squash tournament’ received from the private sector, where companies took the initiative in sponsoring the tournament. Alawadi expressed his gratitude and thanks to Kazma Sporting Clun, Go Sport, Comtel, Vio, Unite Colors and Alawadi Photography guaranteeing unique prizes for all winners.

Aware Center Ramadan Diwaniya “The AWARE Center cordially invites you to its third Ramadan diwaniya presentation entitled, “The Fascinating and Delicious World of Dates,” by Claudia AlRashoud on Tuesday August 7th, 2012.

One of nature’s most perfect foods, the date holds a special place in the history, hearts, and homes of Kuwaitis.

Dates were once a vital source of sustenance for desert travelers and a staple commodity of Kuwait’s seafaring

trade. Today, the date is still one of the most important cash crops in the region, with between 600 to 700 varieties grown.

Of all the traditional foods eaten during Ramadan, nutritious and delicious dates undoubtedly have the most benefits for those who are fasting. With this Ramadan coinciding with the local date harvest, now is the time to enjoy them, whether you are fasting or not.

Join local photojournalist Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud for a diwanniya presentation that will immerse you in the fascinating world of dates on August 7th, 2012 at 8:00pm at the AWARE Center premises where you will learn about dates in local tradition, culture, cooking, and agriculture, and sample some of the different types of these healthy fruits of the desert.

Originally from California, Claudia Farkas Al Rashoud has enjoyed working as an author and photojournalist in Kuwait since 1979. She was the first female reporter/photographer for the Arab Times newspaper, and her photographs and in-depth feature articles continue to be published in this local daily as well as in many international publications. She has written a number of books, with photographs, about Kuwait which include Kuwait Before and After the Storm, Kuwait’s Age of Sail, Kuwait Kaleidoscope, Dame Violet Dickson (also available in Arabic), and a children’s book about Kuwait’s desert environment and the animals that live in it called What the Camels Said to Santa.

For more information, please call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

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MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

WHAT’S ON

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, Al-Banwan 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 on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE

The Kuwait Pilots’ Society hosted a ghabqa recently on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

—Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

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 BANGLADESH

The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will follow the following office hours during the holy month of Ramadan. Sunday to Thursday: 9 am - 3:30 pm. Friday and Saturday: Weekly holidays.

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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 non-notarial 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 INDIA During the holy month of Ramadan, the office timings of the Indian Passport and Visa Service Centres of BLS International Visa Services Co, Kuwait, situated at (i) Emad Commercial Centre, Basement Floor, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Sharq, Kuwait, and (ii) Mujamma Unood, 4th floor, Office No. 25-26 Makka Street, Fahaheel, Kuwait, will be from 8.00 am - 3.00 pm from Saturday to Thursday (i.e. six days a week). Tokens for submission of applications will NOT be issued after 2.00 pm. Delivery of passports and visas will be from 11.00 am onwards. Embassy of India, Kuwait, will maintain its usual working hours.

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EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform Kenyan residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that with effect from June 1, 2012 the Embassy has moved from its current location to a new location in Surra Block 1, Street 8, Villa 303.

Please note that the new telephone and fax numbers will be communicated as soon as possible. For enquiries you can contact Consular Section on mobile 90935162 or 97527306.

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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 ■■■■■■■

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, AlSalaam 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, e-mail:myankuwait11@gmai1.com ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 25317531, Ext: 14.

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EMBASSY OF PHILIPPINES

In reference to our announcement last July 14 2012 announcing the transfer and opening of our new Philippine Overseas Labor Office due on August 1 , we regret to inform Filipinos in Kuwait that due to unavoidable circumstances, the August 1 opening will be moved to new date August 5. POLO will be closed to public transactions on July 30, 31 and August 1 & 2. For emergency please contact the POLO hotline at Tel 99558527.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 01:40 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:25 08:15 08:40 09:10 09:35 10:05 11:00 11:25 11:55 12:50 Irwin 13:45 14:40 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:25 18:20 19:15 19:40 20:10 20:35 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Air Jaws Animal Cops Houston Monster Bug Wars Wildest Latin America Wild France Killer Whales Dogs 101: Specials Baboons With Bill Bailey Austin Stevens Adventures Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Jeff Corwin Unleashed Jeff Corwin Unleashed Monster Bug Wars Wildlife SOS Gorilla School Animal Cops Philadelphia New Breed Vets With Steve Animal Precinct Monster Bug Wars Baboons With Bill Bailey Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Baby Planet Cats 101 Dogs 101: Specials Wildlife SOS Gorilla School Monkey Life Animal Battlegrounds Monster Bug Wars Dogs 101: Specials Cats 101 Animal Cops Houston

00:10 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 00:55 DIY SOS 01:25 MasterChef Australia 02:10 MasterChef Australia 02:55 MasterChef Australia 03:45 MasterChef Australia 04:30 MasterChef Australia 05:00 MasterChef Australia 06:10 Living In The Sun 06:55 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 07:20 MasterChef Australia 08:10 MasterChef Australia 08:35 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 09:20 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 10:05 Bargain Hunt 10:50 Antiques Roadshow 11:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 12:30 10 Years Younger 13:20 Gok’s Fashion Fix 14:10 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 14:55 Bargain Hunt 15:40 Antiques Roadshow 16:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:15 Come Dine With Me 18:00 Masterchef: The Professionals 18:30 Masterchef: The Professionals 19:25 James Martin’s Favourite Feasts 19:55 Come Dine With Me 20:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 21:25 Antiques Roadshow 22:15 Bargain Hunt 23:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 23:45 Holmes On Homes

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:15 01:30 02:00 02:30 02:45 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:30 05:45

BBC World News London Live Worlds Of English BBC World News London Live Sport Today Our World BBC World News London Live Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live India Business Report BBC World News London Live Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live Asia Business Report Sport Today

06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 07:45 08:00 08:30 08:45 09:00 09:30 09:45 10:00 10:30 10:45 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 12:45 13:00 15:00 15:30 15:45 16:00 17:00 17:30 17:45 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 22:30 22:45 23:00 23:30

BBC World News London Live Hardtalk BBC World News London Live World Business Report BBC World News London Live BBC World News London Live World Business Report BBC World News London Live BBC World News London Live World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live Hardtalk BBC World News London Live World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live BBC World News London Live World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live BBC World News London Live World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live Hardtalk BBC World News London Live BBC World News London Live BBC Focus On Africa BBC World News London Live BBC World News London Live World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News London Live Hardtalk

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 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:15 11:40 12:00 12:15 12:40 12:55 13:20 13:35 14:00 14:50 15:15 15:40 16:00 16:15 16:40 17:05 17:30 17:55 18:10 18:35 19:00 19:15 19:40 19:55 20:20 20:35 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:15 22:40

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 The Garfield Show Tom & Jerry Kids Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Ha Ha Hairies A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Garfield Show Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory Pink Panther And Pals The Scooby Doo Show Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley The Flintstones Wacky Races Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Puppy In My Pocket Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show The Garfield Show Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Dexter’s Laboratory Johnny Bravo Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

23:05 Popeye 23:20 The Jetsons 23:45 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 The Marvelous Misadventures...

06:25 Casper’s Scare School 07:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 07:15 Adventure Time 07:40 Johnny Test 08:05 Grim Adventures Of...

08:55 Courage The Cowardly Dog 09:45 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:10 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 10:35 Powerpuff Girls 11:25 Chowder 12:15 Ed, Edd n Eddy 13:05 Ben 10 13:30 Sym-Bionic Titan 13:55 Foster’s Home For...

14:20 Foster’s Home For...

14:45 Angelo Rules 15:35 Powerpuff Girls 16:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 16:40 Johnny Test 17:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:55 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 18:20 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 18:45 Young Justice 19:10 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge 19:35 Adventure Time 20:25 Courage The Cowardly Dog 21:15 Grim Adventures Of...

22:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Ben 10 23:40 Chowder

00:00 Mainsail 00:30 World Sport 01:00 World Report 03:00 Backstory 03:30 Talk Asia 04:00 Fareed Zakaria GPS 05:00 CNN Newsroom 06:00 Business Traveller 06:30 News Special 07:00 World Sport 07:30 Inside Africa 08:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 News Special 11:00 World Business Today 12:00 Backstory 12:30 African Voices 13:00 World One 14:00 Fareed Zakaria GPS 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 19:00 World Sport 19:30 African Voices 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 CNN Newscenter 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25

Rattlesnake Republic Rattlesnake Republic Rattlesnake Republic Rattlesnake Republic

04:20 Rattlesnake Republic 05:15 Rattlesnake Republic 06:05 Rattlesnake Republic 07:00 American Chopper 07:50 Mythbusters 08:45 Ultimate Survival 09:40 Border Security 10:05 Auction Kings 10:30 How Do They Do It? 10:55 How It’s Made 11:25 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 12:20 Extreme Fishing 13:15 River Monsters 14:10 Border Security 14:35 Auction Kings 15:05 Ultimate Survival 16:00 American Chopper 16:55 Fifth Gear 17:20 American Loggers 18:15 Mythbusters 19:10 How Do They Do It? 19:40 How It’s Made 20:05 Border Security 20:35 Auction Kings 21:00 The Gadget Show 21:30 Hillbilly Handfishin’ 22:25 River Monsters 23:20 Robson Green’s Extreme Fishing Challenge

00:35 01:00 01:25 02:15 02:45 03:35 04:00 04:25 05:15 05:40 06:05 06:30 07:00 07:50 07:53 08:20 08:50 09:40 10:30 11:20 12:10 13:00 13:50 14:45 15:35 16:00 16:03 16:30 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:50 23:40

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 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 10:15 THS 12:05 Mrs. Eastwood And Company 12:35 Mrs. Eastwood And Company 13:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 E!es 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Giuliana & Bill 17:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 18:55 E!es 19:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:55 Ice Loves Coco 21:25 Ice Loves Coco 21:55 Ice Loves Coco 22:25 THS 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:30 00:55 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:10 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 Jones 11:10 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 Jones 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 Jones 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

THE WARLORDS ON OSN ACTION HD

Tech Toys 360 Tech Toys 360 Mega World Game Changers Scrapheap Challenge Junk Men Junk Men Mega World Sci-Fi Science Sci-Fi Science Game Changers Game Changers Human Nature Head Rush Weird Connections Sci-Fi Science Smash Lab Scrapheap Challenge Mega World Mega World Mega World Mega World Mega World Mega World The Gadget Show Head Rush Weird Connections Sci-Fi Science How Stuff Works Smash Lab How The Universe Works Mighty Ships Mega World The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Mighty Ships Mega World Sport Science

Stalked: Someone’s Watching I Was Murdered Australian Families Of Crime American Greed Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Stalked: Someone’s Watching I Was Murdered On The Case With Paula Zahn Mystery Diagnosis Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Street Patrol Street Patrol Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Disappeared Deadly Sins Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 00:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 01:00 Latin America On A Motorcycle

01:30 Latin America On A Motorcycle 02:00 Departures 03:00 Banged Up Abroad 04:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 05:00 Gone to save the planet 05:30 Gone to save the planet 06:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 06:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 07:00 Latin America On A Motorcycle 07:30 Latin America On A Motorcycle 08:00 Departures 09:00 Banged Up Abroad 10:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 11:00 Gone to save the planet 11:30 Gone to save the planet 12:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 12:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 13:00 City Chase Rome 14:00 Departures 15:00 Travel Oz 15:30 Travel Oz 16:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 17:00 Gone to save the planet 17:30 Gone to save the planet 18:00 Kimchi Chronicles 18:30 Kimchi Chronicles 19:00 Madventures 19:30 Madventures 20:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 21:00 Chasing Time 21:30 Chasing Time 22:00 Treks In A Wild World 23:00 Meet The Natives: USA

00:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 00:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 01:00 Latin America On A Motorcycle 01:30 Latin America On A Motorcycle 02:00 Departures 03:00 Banged Up Abroad 04:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 05:00 Gone to save the planet 05:30 Gone to save the planet 06:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 06:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 07:00 Latin America On A Motorcycle 07:30 Latin America On A Motorcycle 08:00 Departures 09:00 Banged Up Abroad 10:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 11:00 Gone to save the planet 11:30 Gone to save the planet 12:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 12:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 13:00 City Chase Rome 14:00 Departures 15:00 Travel Oz 15:30 Travel Oz 16:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 17:00 Gone to save the planet 17:30 Gone to save the planet 18:00 Kimchi Chronicles 18:30 Kimchi Chronicles 19:00 Madventures 19:30 Madventures 20:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 21:00 Chasing Time 21:30 Chasing Time 22:00 Treks In A Wild World 23:00 Meet The Natives: USA

00:00 Megacities 01:00 Trapped 02:00 Salvage Code Red 03:00 Big, Bigger, Biggest 04:00 Helicopter Wars 05:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 06:00 Pirate Patrol 07:00 Naked Science S2.5 08:00 Megacities 09:00 Trapped 10:00 Salvage Code Red 11:00 Megacities 12:00 Engineering Connections 13:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 14:00 Pirate Patrol 15:00 Naked Science 16:00 Megacities 17:00 Storm Worlds 18:00 Salvage Code Red 19:00 Mega Bridges 20:00 Aftermath 21:00 Hunter Hunted 22:00 Nomads 23:00 Naked Science S2.5

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 India) 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 10:35 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

Lion Battle Zone Expedition Wild Great Migrations Dino Death Trap World’s Weirdest Wild India (Secrets of Wild

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 India) 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 10:35

Lion Battle Zone Expedition Wild Great Migrations Dino Death Trap World’s Weirdest Wild India (Secrets of Wild

Built For The Kill Great Migrations Dino Death Trap World’s Weirdest Dino Autopsy Snake Wranglers Snake Wranglers Predator CSI Fish Warrior The Living Edens World’s Deadliest Animals World’s Deadliest Animals Planet Carnivore Planet Carnivore Predator CSI Great Migrations Dino Death Trap World’s Weirdest Dino Autopsy Snake Wranglers Snake Wranglers

Built For The Kill Great Migrations Dino Death Trap World’s Weirdest Dino Autopsy Snake Wranglers Snake Wranglers

BLACK FOREST ON OSN CINEMA 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

Predator CSI Fish Warrior The Living Edens World’s Deadliest Animals World’s Deadliest Animals Planet Carnivore Planet Carnivore Predator CSI Great Migrations Dino Death Trap World’s Weirdest Dino Autopsy Snake Wranglers Snake Wranglers

00:00 02:00 04:15 06:00 08:15 10:15 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 PG15 22:15

Sinners & Saints-18 Windtalkers-PG15 S.W.A.T.: Firefight-PG15 Iron Man 2-PG15 The Warlords-PG15 Ticking Clock-PG15 The Net-PG15 The Warlords-PG15 Game Of Death-PG15 The Net-PG15 Master And Commander-

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 12:30 14:30 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00 PG15

Fright Night-PG15

Skirt Day-PG15 Helen-PG15 Black Forest-PG15 Not Since You-PG15 Skirt Day-PG15 Muhammad And Larry-PG15 Black Forest-PG15 Passing Strange-PG15 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 Page Eight-PG15 Hanna-PG15 What’s Wrong With Virginia-

00:00 King Of The Hill 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Friends 02:00 Friends 02:30 Seinfeld 03:00 Whitney 03:30 Last Man Standing 04:00 Weird Science 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Weird Science 06:00 Friends 06:30 Dharma And Greg 08:00 Weird Science 08:30 Whitney 09:00 Weird Science 09:30 Two And A Half Men 10:00 Happy Endings 10:30 Dharma And Greg 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Friends 13:00 Weird Science 13:30 Dharma And Greg 14:00 Last Man Standing 14:30 Happy Endings 15:00 Two And A Half Men 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Friends 18:00 Whitney 18:30 Raising Hope 19:00 Napoleon Dynamite 19:30 Happy Endings 20:00 Friends With Benefits 20:30 King Of The Hill 21:00 The Daily Show Global Edition 21:30 The Colbert Report Global Edition 22:00 Wilfred 22:30 American Dad 23:00 American Dad 23:30 Friends With Benefits

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00

Bones Top Gear Specials Burn Notice Covert Affairs Desperate Housewives The View Good Morning America

07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Desperate Housewives The View Bones Covert Affairs Live Good Morning America The Practice The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Suits Justified Missing Top Gear Specials Desperate Housewives

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 Top Gear Specials Revenge Bones Covert Affairs Revenge Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street Necessary Roughness Top Gear Specials Bones Burn Notice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Necessary Roughness Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Necessary Roughness Suits Justified Missing Top Gear Specials Revenge

01:00 The Manchurian CandidatePG15 03:15 Largo Winch 2-PG15 05:15 From Paris With Love-PG15 07:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 09:00 Superman/ Batman: Apocalypse-PG15 11:00 From Paris With Love-PG15 13:00 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 15:00 Superman/ Batman: Apocalypse-PG15 17:00 The Recruit-PG15 19:00 Bats-18 21:00 Restitution-PG15 23:00 Quarantine 2: Terminal-18

00:00 The American President-PG15 02:00 Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie-PG15 04:00 Bubble Boy-PG15 06:00 How To Train Your Dragon-PG 08:00 Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie-PG15 10:00 Last Holiday-PG15 12:00 My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend-PG15 14:00 Inspector Gadget (1999)-PG15 15:45 Last Holiday-PG15 17:45 Mystery Men-PG15 20:00 Nothing To Lose-PG15 22:00 Griff The Invisible-PG15

00:55 03:00 05:30 07:30 09:00 11:00 13:00 14:45 16:45 19:00 21:30 23:15

The Great Debaters-PG15 Scent Of A Woman-18 Antwone Fisher-PG15 Family Gathering-PG15 Waiting For Superman-PG15 Up Close And Personal-PG Khao Niao Moo Ping-PG15 Waiting For Superman-PG15 Spiderman 2-PG15 The Great Gatsby-PG Blame It On Mum-18 One Hour Photo-18

01:00 Labor Pains-PG15 03:00 Les Miserables Anniversary-PG15 06:00 Unmatched-PG15 07:00 Mean Girls 2-PG15

25th

09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00 PG15

Legend Of The Guardians-PG My Last Five Girlfriends-PG15 Love N’ Dancing-PG15 Rango-FAM Legend Of The Guardians-PG 127 Hours-PG15 How Do You Know-PG15 What’s Wrong With Virginia-

00:00 Alex & Alexis-FAM 02:00 Winner & The Golden Child: Part I-FAM 04:00 Flubber-PG 06:00 Scooter The Penguin-FAM 08:00 Rainbow Valley Heroes-FAM 10:00 Kung Fu Panda 2-PG 12:00 Flubber-PG 14:00 Ramses Of Egypt-PG 16:00 I’ll Be Home For Christmas-PG 18:00 Kung Fu Panda 2-PG 20:00 Last Of The Mohicans-PG 22:00 Ramses Of Egypt-PG

00:00 Olympic Women’s Water Polo 01:30 Futbol Mundial 02:00 Cricket Test Match 09:00 NRL Premiership 11:00 Olympic Sailing 11:50 Live Olympic Athletics 14:25 Olympic Women’s Beach Volleyball 15:55 Live Olympic Equestrian 19:20 Olympic Sailing 19:55 Live Olympic Sailing 20:45 Live Olympic Athletics

02:00 NRL Premiership 04:00 NRL Premiership 06:00 European Challegne Tour Golf Highlights 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 Super Rugby 10:20 Live Olympic Men’s Hockey 13:00 Live Test Cricket 20:55 Live Olympic Men’s Weightlifting 23:05 Olympic Women’s Hockey

01:30 AFL Premiership 04:00 Total Rugby 04:30 Trans World Sport 05:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 European Challenge Golf Highlights 08:30 AFL Premiership 11:00 Olympic Cycling 13:15 Olympic Women’s Weightlifting 15:40 Live Olympic Men’s Shooting 16:55 Live Olympic Synchronised Swimming 19:15 Olympic Handball OR Men’s Volleyball 20:55 Live Olympic Men’s Diving

02:00 UFC Prelims 05:00 UFC 07:00 WWE Bottomline 08:00 WWE Experience 09:00 V8 Supercars 10:00 V8 Supercars 10:50 Live Olympic Men’s Basketball 15:25 Live Olympic Women’s Boxing 18:50 Live Olympic Women’s Football 21:50 Live Olympic Men’s Basketball

00:00 Town Creek-PG15 02:00 Justin Bieber: Never Say Never-PG 04:00 Henry’s Crime-PG15 06:00 The Nanny Express-PG15 08:00 The Winning Season-PG15 10:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 12:00 Henry’s Crime-PG15 14:00 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice-PG15 15:45 The Winning Season-PG15 17:45 Real Steel-PG15 20:00 Mr. Nobody-PG15 22:15 Unstoppable-PG15

Classifieds MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Arrival Flights on Monday 6/8/2012

Depature Flights on Monday 6/8/2012

Airlines

Flt

Route

Time

Airlines

Flt

QTR

148 DOHA

0:20

AIC

982 AHMEDABAD

0:05

JZR

267 BEIRUT

0:50

UAL

981 WASHINGTON DC

0:25

CLX

792 LUXEMBOURG

1:40

DLH

637 FRANKFURT

0:30

ETH

620 ADDIS ABABA

1:45

JZR

554 ALEXANDRIA

0:30

RJA

642 AMMAN

2:10

JAI

573 MUMBAI

0:50

GFA

211 BAHRAIN

2:20

PIA

206 PESHAWAR

1:10

UAE

853 DUBAI

2:25

THY

773 ISTANBUL

2:15

ETD

305 ABU DHABI

2:30

ETH

621 ADDIS ABABA

2:45

FDB

67

DUBAI

3:10

CLX

792 GIALAM

3:40

MSR

612 CAIRO

3:20

UAE

854 DUBAI

3:45

QTR

138 DOHA

3:25

FDB

68

3:50

KAC

544 CAIRO

4:10

ETD

306 ABU DHABI

4:05

DHX

170 BAHRAIN

5:00

MSR

613 CAIRO

4:20

KAC

412 MANILA

6:15

QTR

139 DOHA

4:50

BAW

157 LONDON

6:30

QTR

149 DOHA

5:40

JZR

529 ASSIUT

6:40

JZR

560 SOHAG

6:00

KAC

206 ISLAMABAD

7:15

RJA

643 AMMAN

6:50

JZR

555 ALEXANDRIA

7:35

GFA

212 BAHRAIN

7:05

KAC

302 MUMBAI

7:50

KAC

545 ALEXANDRIA

8:10

KAC

352 COCHIN

8:05

BAW

156 LONDON

8:25

KAC

362 COLOMBO

8:20

ABY

126 SHARJAH

9:05

UAE

855 DUBAI

8:25

KAC

787 JEDDAH

9:35

ABY

125 SHARJAH

8:30

UAE

856 DUBAI

9:40

KAC

284 DHAKA

8:45

QTR

133 DOHA

10:00

QTR

132 DOHA

9:00

FDB

56

10:05

FDB

55

DUBAI

9:20

KAC

537 SOHAG

10:05

ETD

301 ABU DHABI

9:30

ETD

302 ABU DHABI

10:15

KAC

344 CHENNAI

9:45

GFA

214 BAHRAIN

10:45

GFA

213 BAHRAIN

10:00

KAC

541 CAIRO

11:30

UAE

871 DUBAI

10:45

KAC

165 ROME

11:45

MEA

404 BEIRUT

10:55

JZR

776 JEDDAH

11:50

MSR

618 ALEXANDRIA

11:25

MEA

405 BEIRUT

11:55

MSC

401 ALEXANDRIA

12:00

UAE

872 DUBAI

12:20

JZR

561 SOHAG

12:25

MSR

619 ASSIUT

12:25

MSR

610 CAIRO

13:30

KAC

103 LONDON

12:30

OMA

645 MUSCAT

14:00

MSC

406 SOHAG

13:00

KNE

472 JEDDAH

14:15

KAC

785 JEDDAH

13:10

QTR

140 DOHA

14:25

JZR

176 DUBAI

13:20

SVA

500 JEDDAH

14:30

MSR

611 CAIRO

14:30

RJA

640 AMMAN

14:55

OMA

646 MUSCAT

15:00

KAC

788 JEDDAH

15:00

KAC

673 DUBAI

15:05

KAC

546 ALEXANDRIA

15:05

KNE

473 JEDDAH

15:15

QTR

134 DOHA

15:15

SVA

501 JEDDAH

15:45

SYR

341 DAMASCUS

15:55

KAC

617 DOHA

15:45

KAC

118 NEW YORK

16:00

RJA

641 AMMAN

15:50

KAC

538 SOHAG

16:10

QTR

135 DOHA

16:15

ETD

303 ABU DHABI

16:35

KAC

741 DAMMAM

16:30

UAE

857 DUBAI

16:55

JZR

538 CAIRO

16:50

UAL

982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES

17:10

SYR

342 DAMASCUS

16:55

SVA

510 RIYADH

17:20

ETD

304 ABU DHABI

17:20

GFA

215 BAHRAIN

17:20

JZR

177 DUBAI

17:30

KAC

1795 JEDDAH

17:30

BAB

436 BAHRAIN

17:35

QTR

141 DOHA

17:45

JZR

777 JEDDAH

17:40

UAE

858 DUBAI

18:05

ABY

127 SHARJAH

17:45

GFA

216 BAHRAIN

18:20

IRA

3407 TEHRAN

18:10

JZR

134 BAHRAIN

18:20

KAC

542 CAIRO

18:15

ABY

128 SHARJAH

18:25

KAC

786 JEDDAH

18:40

UAL

982 BAHRAIN

18:30

KAC

104 LONDON

18:45

SVA

511 RIYADH

18:35

MSC

405 SOHAG

19:00

KNE

978 JEDDAH

19:05

MSR

620 ASSIUT

19:10

KAC

618 DOHA

19:20

KAC

674 DUBAI

19:25

KAC

742 DAMMAM

19:30

JAI

572 MUMBAI

19:35

FDB

61

DUBAI

20:00

MEA

402 BEIRUT

20:15

QTR

146 DOHA

20:25

GFA

221 BAHRAIN

20:35

FDB

59

20:45

ALK

229 COLOMBO

20:55

UAE

859 DUBAI

21:15

ETD

307 ABU DHABI

21:20

BBC

43

21:25

DUBAI

DHAKA

266 BEIRUT

18:50

3406 MASHHAD

19:10

BAB

439 BAHRAIN

19:35

MSC

402 ALEXANDRIA

20:00

KNE

979 JEDDAH

20:05

MSR

621 ALEXANDRIA

20:10

KAC

283 DHAKA

20:15

JAI

571 MUMBAI

20:35

FDB

62

DUBAI

20:40

KAC

331 TRIVANDRUM

20:50

KAC

351 KOCHI

21:05

MEA

403 BEIRUT

21:15

FDB

60

DUBAI

21:25

KAC

543 CAIRO

21:30

GFA

222 BAHRAIN

21:35

DHX

171 BAHRAIN

21:50

ALK

230 COLOMBO

21:55

ETD

308 ABU DHABI

22:20

UAE

860 DUBAI

22:25

QTR

137 DOHA

22:35

KAC

301 MUMBAI

22:40

KAC

205 ISLAMABAD

22:45

BBC

44

23:05

QTR

147 DOHA

23:10

GFA

218 BAHRAIN

23:30

KAC

411 BANGKOK

23:40

23:40

TAR

328 DUBAI

23:45

23:45

JZR

502 LUXOR

23:55

136 DOHA

21:35

975 CHENNAI

22:25 22:35

UAL

981 BAHRAIN

22:40

KAC

1796 JEDDAH

22:45

TAR

327 TUNIS

22:55

DLH

636 FRANKFURT

23:10

MSR

614 CAIRO

23:35

THY

772 ISTANBUL

23:40

KLM

411 AMSTERDAM

23:40

JZR PIA

539 CAIRO 239 SIALKOT

DUBAI

IRA

AIC

217 BAHRAIN

DUBAI

Time

JZR

QTR GFA

Route

DHAKA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

ACCOMMODATION One big room for couple or bachelor, Filipino only near Gulf Mart Farwaniya.

Contact: 94418396.

1-8-2012 Sharing accommodation available for bachelor in Farwaniya near Finger Print Office. Contact: 60375424/ 97220725 (C 4092) 31-7-2012

Prayer timings SITUATION VACANT A Kuwaiti family looks to hire an Indian or Filipino driver. Tel: 96156162 (Akram). (C 4093) 4-8-2012

Fajr:

03:42

Duhr:

11:54

Asr:

15:30

Maghrib:

18:37

Isha:

20:02

CHANGE OF NAME I, Rajee Ramanathan Koolathu daughter of Koolath Velappan Ramanathan holder of Indian Passport No. K1677756 have embraced Islam religion with new name Fathima Raja. (C 4095) 6-8-2012

No: 15531

MATRIMONIAL Orthodox parents (Ex NRI) invite proposals for their daughter (22/166) B.Tech, fair from parents of professionally qualified boys (M.Tech, B.Tech) with good family background Orthodox or Jacobite.

Email: bsamuel@nascorporate.com.

(C 4094) 4-8-2012

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

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 759

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Sticking close to home may leave you feeling like you’re missing the boat on certain things, but you’re probably better off, Aries. People may make outlandish promises that sound good today but will basically flop tomorrow. Stay safe and don’t invest a great deal of time or money in risky ventures. Keep moving at a steady pace. You’ll find success your own way.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

You’re riding a wave of prosperity and things are looking up for you, Taurus. The situation today may appear too good to be true. The bad news is that’s probably the case. It may be that the truth is being masked, and that there’s a great deal of speculation and hype causing a frenzy of activity. Feel free to join the frivolity, but realize that the bubble may burst tomorrow.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. The act of losing.

5. Lower in esteem.

10. A knockout declared by the referee who judges one boxer unable to continue.

13. A ruler of the Inca Empire (or a member of his family).

14. Secured or held in place by tape.

15. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.

16. One who is playfully mischievous.

18. Toward the mouth or oral region.

19. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

20. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

23. Plant with an elongated head of broad stalked leaves resembling celery.

25. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

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

29. An emblem (a small piece of plastic or cloth or metal) that signifies your status (rank or membership or affiliation etc.).

31. The month following July and preceding September.

32. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

34. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

38. (Greek mythology) Greek god of war.

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

41. The capital and largest city of Liechtenstein.

42. Experiencing or showing sorrow or unhappiness.

44. The capital and largest city of Japan.

45. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

46. German chemist who was co-discoverer with Lise Meitner of nuclear fission (1879-1968).

48. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

51. A legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body.

53. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

56. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

57. A pilgrimage to Mecca.

59. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

61. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds.

63. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

64. Acute lung injury characterized by coughing and rales.

65. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

66. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

DOWN 1. A speech defect that involves pronouncing s like voiceless th and z like voiced th.

2. Belonging to some prior time.

3. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

4. A violent hot sand-laden wind on the deserts of Arabia and North Africa.

5. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series).

6. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

7. The month following March and preceding May. 8. The upper house of the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.

9. A doctor's degree in education.

10. Small genus of Eurasian aquatic perennial herbs.

11. Valuable fiber plant of East Indies now widespread in cultivation.

12. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

17. A small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time.

21. An associate degree in nursing.

22. The ending of a series or sequence.

24. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

27. A sensation (as of a cold breeze or bright light) that precedes the onset of certain disorders such as a migraine attack or epileptic seizure.

28. Advanced in years.

30. Large fish-eating Indian crocodilian with a long slender snout.

33. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary having one or many seeds within a fleshy wall or pericarp.

35. Chief port of Yemen.

36. Water soaked soil.

37. Relating to or containing the azo radical.

40. On a beach.

41. The month following March and preceding May. 43. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

45. American Revolutionary patriot.

47. A member of a seafaring group of North American Indians who lived on the Pacific coast of British Columbia and southwestern Alaska.

49. Dearly loved.

50. In bed.

52. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.

53. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid.

54. A island in the Netherlands Antilles that is the top of an extinct volcano.

55. The Hebrew patriarch who saved himself and his family and the animals by building an ark in which they survived 40 days and 40 nights of rain.

58. Preserve of crushed fruit.

60. A rotating disk shaped to convert circular into linear motion.

62. A state in northwestern United States on the Pacific.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

The wind is blowing quite strongly today, and you’ll find that things are flying around in a frenzy, Gemini. This whirlwind of activity is threatening to pick you up, spin you around, and take you away. Be cautious of anything that suggests this. People may take on unrealistic attitudes that lure you into grand schemes.

Beware of fanciful promises.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Things are sporadic today, Cancer. You may find a thousand things on your plate, and all of them look delicious. There’s a great deal of wind to fuel your fire, so let it burn red hot. You might get caught up in a frenzy of activity. Have a good time but realize that it might not last forever. The royal carriage is likely to turn back into a pumpkin at some point.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

Don’t get pulled off track by empty promises today, Leo. Someone may try to sell you oceanfront property in the middle of Iowa. Beware of things that sound too good to be true. People may be talking quite a bit, but in reality they probably have nothing to say. Don’t waste your time trying to make sense of useless drivel. You’ve got more important things to do.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

Catch the wave of activity that’s spinning in your direction today, Virgo. You’ll find prosperity and good fortune within your reach. Expand your horizons and connect with others intellectually. Hurdles will shrink to nothing as long as you maintain a positive attitude. It will be tremendously easy for you to make great strides in any project you’re working on.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

There may be a bit of opposition coming at you, Scorpio. There’s a light, airy feeling that’s prevalent everywhere. This is definitely the kind of energy you can connect with today. There’s a great deal of strength in numbers. Don’t let anyone try to stand in your way. It could very well be that they are operating on incorrect information.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

What seems like the perfect plan today may not necessarily seem like the perfect plan tomorrow, Sagittarius. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

There’s an expansive feeling in the air that’s working to catch you up in its net and pull you into its plan. Beware of get-rich-quick schemes. The wool could get pulled over your eyes on a day like this.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

You may find it hard to trust others today, Libra. Trust your instincts - they’re probably right.

Don’t take anything at face value. There’s a fanciful frenzy that’s threatening to lure you into its madness.

Approach things cautiously. You may discover that people are full of hot air. If it doesn’t have real meaning for you, don’t waste your time.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

There’s a flurry of activity around you today that you should latch onto, Capricorn. You’ll be on a magic carpet ride that takes you into the clouds. The most difficult thing to remember is to not get so carried away that you lose sight of the ground. Keep in mind that things aren’t always exactly the way they seem.

What appears to work perfectly today may not work at all tomorrow.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

You’ll find yourself working well with any group today, Aquarius. There will be a great connection between you and the people around you. Make sure you ground your relationships in something meaningful or else you could find that you’ve built a whole reality out of something that doesn’t exist. Be true to yourself and try not to get fooled by anything that seems too good to be true.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

There’s an incredibly expansive feeling in the air that you should latch onto, Pisces. Things are moving rapidly. You’ll find long-term trends come together quite well. The thing to be aware of today is making sure you’re operating based on facts you know to be true. Check your sources. Be cautious, but if you see an opportunity that looks good, run with it.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 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

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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

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22515088

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22532265

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22531908

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22518752

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22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

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

Tel.: e 161

DIRECTORA AT TE GENERAL GENE OF CIVIL AV VIA AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP PARTMENT A

Dusty and Very e hot with moderate to fresh north westerly to northerly wind, with speed of 25 - 50 km/h

BY Y NIGHT:

Relatively hot with moderate to fresh north westerly wind, with speed of 20 - 45 km/h causing raising dust

Dusty weather

WA ARNING

36 °C

22451082

KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT

48 °C

37 °C

Al-Mirqab

22456536

NUW WA AISEEB

45 °C

38 °C

Sharq

22465401

WA AFRA

48 °C

36 °C

Salmiya

25746401

SALMI

46 °C

31 °C

ABDAL LY

49 °C

36 °C

Jabriya

25316254

JAL ALIY YA AH

48 °C

35 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FA AILAKA

47 °C

34 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

41 °C

38 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

38 °C

35 °C

W.Hawally

22630786

WA ARBA A - BUBY YAN A

45 °C

34 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

ST TATION T

DA ATE T

WEA ATHER T

Monday

06/08

Tuesday

07/08

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

Wednesday e

North Jahra

24775992

Thursday

North Jleeb

24311795

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

very hot + raising dust

47 °C

36 °C

NW-N

20 - 45 km/h

hot

46 °C

36 °C

N-NE

12 - 35 km/h

08/08

very hot

47 °C

37 °C

N-NW

15 - 38 km/h

09/08

very hot + raising dust

48 °C

37 °C

NW

25 - 50 km/h

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES 03:42

MAX. Temp.

49 °C

Sunrise

05:10

MIN. Temp.

37 °C

Zuhr

11:54

MAX. RH

13 %

Asr

15:30

MIN. RH

05 %

Sunset

18:37

MAX. Wiind

N 68 km/h

Isha

20:02

TOT TA AL L RAIINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

24892674

23900322

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT

Fajr

24884079

Fintas

05/08/2012 0000 UTC

Temperatures DA AY

24575755

24710044

SFC. CHART

4 DA AY YS FORECAST

New Jahra

N.Kheitan

.03 mm

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

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

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:

47 °C

24719048

22545171

Expected Weather e for the Next 24 Hours

KUW WA AIT CITY

Al-Omariya

Al-Shohada’a

262 - 2630 Ext.: 2627

WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

MIN. REC.

Firdous

22418714

Fax: 24348714

MAX. EXP P.

Al-Ardhiya

PHONE

Al-Madena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Brad Pitt has turned into a groomzilla he hunky actor can’t wait to tie the knot with partner Angelina Jolie and has been meticulously planning their big day for late September, even down to the placements and hymns. The couple are set to tie the knot on their sprawling estate Chateau Miraval in France in front of just 20 guests including their six children Maddox, 10, Pax, nine, Zahara, seven, Shiloh, six and four-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Angelina isn’t so bothered about when they tie the knot - it’s Brad who is piling on the pressure. “He wants the main house to be finished when the event takes place, even though the close friends and relatives who are invited aren’t the types to care. “He wants everything to be absolutely perfect.” Meanwhile it has been claimed the couple - who met on the 2004 set of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ - had plans to get married from the start of their relationship, according to the man who designed their engagement ring. Robert Procop said: “Brad and Angelina are a very romantic couple.

They always knew they’d be together forever and get married one day, right from the start.” Robert also believes their relationship has matured with time. He explained: “The relationship may have been all flying planes and riding motorcycles at the start, but any new relationship is exciting that way. “Now though, they’ve settled into this wonderfully strong family unit and it’s beautiful how in love they are.” The designer added: “They’re both lovely, very talented people that complement each other . . . when you’re with them, you can see how strongly in love they are.”

T

Daisy Lowe is addicted to sugar

Sanders hasn’t seen his wife since his fling

he 23-year-old model - the daughter of Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale - admits she loves to eat and never deprives herself of food because it is one of the “finest things” in life. She said: “I can have an occasional drink and not need a lot. I’ve picked up and quit smoking. The only thing I’m addicted to is sugar! “I ate a kilogram of fudge in the past two weeks. But I love eating, I don’t think I’ve ever missed a meal.

I’m not built that way and I don’t like watching what I eat. One of life’s finest things is enjoying your food.” However, she does admits she sometimes feels big when she is next to stick-thin models. She added to Britain’s InStyle magazine: “Of course, there are times when I’ve stood next to models and felt like an elephant, but I’m adamant about the fact that I’m not a big girl, I just have the natural feminine figure. “I like to stay strong about how I’m built. If people want to book me, that’s great and if they don’t, that’s cool.”

T

upert Sanders hasn’t seen his wife since his fling with Kristen Stewart was revealed. The ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ director was captured on camera kissing his leading lady and admitted his betrayal to Liberty Ross, the mother of his two children, and the model-turned-actress has so far refused to see him. A source told People magazine: “They seemed like a perfectly happy family. This was devastating for her.” “She’s been focused just on her kids through this. It’s what she cares about the most. “Now she’s really feeling strong and looks forward to resuming her life.” According to insiders, Liberty hasn’t decided if she will forgive her philandering spouse. It was recently revealed that Liberty wants to meet with Robert Pattinson, who Kristen cheated on, in order to compare stories. An insider revealed:”Liberty is still furious with what happened and wants answers. She has not spoken to Rob yet, but wants to see him and compare stories. She is hoping they can bring some comfort to each other.” This comes after it was revealed that Robert wants to talk to Liberty to get some clarity on the situation and check if Kristen’s story that there was no full blown affair is true. A friend said: “He needs to know for his own peace of mind if theirs was just a fleeting moment. “He hopes Liberty can help him find the answers he so desperately craves. “Nothing is very clear at the moment but perhaps a meeting would lend some clarity to the situation. He needs to know the truth.”

R

Conor Maynard would date a cougar

Duchess Catherine’s perfect roast chicken ritain’s Duchess of Cambridge’s perfect evening involves cooking for her husband.

Catherine - who wed Prince William in a glittering ceremony in London’s Westminster Abbey in April 2011 - loves spending the night in with her husband and eschews clubbing dates because she prefers working in the kitchen. A source told Vanity Fair magazine: “Some might say it’s a little dull, but they love it. I saw William recently and he is so happy. “They’ve grown out of clubbing and have no interest in parties. They just enjoy being together at home.” Another pal added: “Kate was on the King’s Road not so long ago carrying a shopping bag with chicken in it that she was taking home to cook for William’s supper. That’s their idea of the perfect night.” The whole royal family is said to be delighted with how things are going at the moment as a result of the nuptials. Another insider added: “There’s happiness in the House of Windsor generally at the moment for the first time ever. Charles and Camilla are genuinely happy. William is happy because Charles is troubled less and he has Kate to share his future with.”

B

he 19-year-old singer says he wouldn’t turn down an older lady if she approached him at one of his concerts, but would draw the line at 70. Conor said: “A fair share of mums do turn up at my shows. If I met someone and there was a connection, their age wouldn’t make a difference. “Unless it was ridiculous, and she was in her 70s.” The ‘Can’t Say No’ hitmaker also divulged that he likes to pull out all the stops to woo girls and says his future girlfriend will be treated like a princess. He told Reveal magazine: “I’m single and ready to mingle. I don’t have the time to give a girl what she deserves because things are crazy right now. I’m focused on getting where I want to be. But, in a relationship, I like to go one step further. “One ex-girlfriend really wanted to see a West End show in London, so I booked tickets, then arranged for her to star at a five-star hotel as well. She was really excited.”

T

Perry thrilled for Adele

Danes ugly film roles

David Beckham

aty Perry thinks Adele being pregnant is “so cute”. The ‘Teenage Dream’ singer is a huge fan of humble British star Adele - who briefly appeared in Katy’s ‘Part Of Me’ 3D movie singing her praises - and says she is delighted her fellow singer is expecting a baby. Katy said: “I love the fact that she’s going to have a baby. That’s so cute of her. She’s such a good woman. “And she was really nice in my movie, saying nice things about me. I’ve always loved her.” The 27-year-old star - whose divorce from Russell Brand was finalised in July - confessed that she first bonded with ‘Someone Like You’ singer Adele when the hungry singer stole her fast food burrito. Katy joked to Britain’s OK! magazine: “She came and saw one of my shows really early on when I played this small venue in London. “She came backstage and I was eating a burrito and she was like: ‘A burrito? Where did you get that burrito in England? Where did you get Mexican food?’ “And she took it!

laire Danes doesn’t mind being ugly for a film role.

The ‘Homeland’ actress - who is famed for parts in ‘Romeo + Juliet’ and ‘My So Called Life’ - admits she can be vein when discussing herself, but does not feel the same about her characters. She said: “I don’t have much vanity in my work. I do have plenty in my life, but when I’m playing someone else, I think, ‘Well if she’s ugly, it’s not on me, it’s her’. “I’m not limited by that. I’m always amazed when I see actors checking the monitor to see how they look. That’s so alien to me. That’s so bananas! But it’s usually just a feeling that I allow to surface and I don’t really know how it’s registering on my face, but it just does.”

However her willingness to look bad has not always helped her find film roles and she often gets offered characters she does not like. She added to British GQ magazine: “They’re hard to avoid. It’s always some insipid person, or someone who is just invisible.”

is a strict father

K

C Tempah wants to be rap’s first good boy he ‘Pass Out’ singer wants to represent a softer, more accessible side to hip-hop because he comes from a good home and is very close to his parents. Tinie said: “I’m incredibly close to my mum and dad. Even to this day I call them Mummy and Daddy. “I was well brought up, my parents are still together. When people listen to hip-hop, they think everybody’s from a broken home, that it only appeals to people from broken homes and those on drugs.

“But the majority probably do live with their mum and dad.

They probably do go to good schools, and I just want to represent that.” The fashion-loving rapper also said his ideal woman has a great sense of humour and the looks to match, but his real winner is a regional accent. Tinie admitted to More! magazine: “I’m a sucker for a pretty face. And a sense of humour, because I like to crack a joke. “I think Yorkshire girls are beautiful, their accents as well... It’s easy on the ear. I like it.”

T

he soccer star and his wife Victoria want their children Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, nine, Cruz, seven, and 12month-old Harper - to be “down-to-earth” so try to instill in them the values they were brought up with by their own parents. He said: “They’re normal kids. And that’s because me and Victoria have kept our roots and a very English, down-toearth living for the kids.

“We want to give them the same morals we had growing up, the way our parents brought us up, which was in a very strict way.” Although the Beckham family have not lived in the UK for over a decade, London-born David - who currently lives in Los Angeles, California and has previously been based in Spain and Italy - thinks it is important to stay in touch with his roots. He told Esquire magazine: “I’ve lived out of England now for 10 years but it doesn’t change anything. I’ll never forget where I’m from, never forget my roots. It doesn’t matter where I live, I’m English, simple as that. And I want our kids to have an English upbringing.” —Bang Showbiz

T

37

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

LIFESTYLE M u s i c

&

M o v i e s

Stars bring their years, and their A-games, to ‘Hope Springs’ ou’ve never seen Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones quite like this. As old marrieds facing “intensive” couples counseling over their comatose sexual relationship, two of America’s finest screen actors are by turns silly, befuddled, awkward and confused. And “Hope Springs,” the new comedy from the director of “The Devil Wears Prada” and scripted by a “Game of Thrones” writer, is all the more amusing for it. Seeing the best in the business act out the no-eye-contact body language, the embarrassment of talking about life’s most intimate details, and alternately grump or whimper about it gives this fluffy comedy a tiny dose of gravitas.

It’s funny, but it’s not the farce you might expect when you learn Steve Carell is the frank, soft-spoken couples counselor that Kay (Streep) insists that she and Arnold (Jones) visit up in Great Hope Springs, Maine. Carell doesn’t go for laughs. In even tones delivered with barely a hint of humor, he reassures Kay and calms down Arnold.

“Let’s try to keep the conversation descriptive ... and helpful,” Bernard Feld (Carell) counsels. He has to, because the long-suffering Kay is at the end of her tether. Their kids are grown and she and Arnold haven’t slept in the same bed or even in the same room in ages. “I want a real marriage again,” she protests. Arnold the accountant is dismissive, defensive and occasionally funny as he answers her charges, and those of “Bernie.”

“We’re not 22 years old anymore,” he always begins. He always finishes with “We’ve been married 31 years!” As if that wins the argument, hands down.

Jones makes Arnold clipped, gruff, a complainer and a guy who is used to doing most of the talking in this marriage. A guy this cheap doesn’t like being blackmailed into flying to Maine

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In this file picture taken on August 10, 2011 Festival goers enjoy a concert at Sziget(Island) Festival on ‘Hajogyar’ (Shipyard) Island in Budapest. —AP

Budapest’s Sziget festival to kick off 20th edition lacebo, LMFAO, The Killers and over 150 groups from Hungary, Europe and further afield will grace the stages at Budapest’s 20th Sziget Festival on August 6-13, one of Europe’s most popular music events.

For the first time, a live stream of the week-long fest-now one of Hungary’s biggest tourist events-will be available on YouTube, according to its organisers. The open-air festival, held ever y year on an island in the Danube, will feature some 400 concerts in 50 venues, with theatre performances, dance workshops and circus acts held on the sidelines.

Some 400,000 people are expected to attend. Sziget, which is celebrat-

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ing its 20th edition, was named Best European Major Festival at the European Festival Awards earlier this year. The traditionally eclectic line-up includes major acts like Korn, Mando Diao, US rapper Snoop Dogg and British group Hurts, as well as a variety of groups from all over Europe and Hungary. Among them will be Kraak & Smaak from the Netherlands, Italy ’s Karmatronic, Serbia’s Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra and Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel.

One stage will also be dedicated to Roma musicians and artists from eastern Europe, as has been the case for the past 11 years. Sziget is the only

major festival with such a feature.

Over the past two decades, SzigetHungarian for “island”-has established itself as a major stop on the summer festival circuit, drawing fans of every type of music, from rock and reggae to hip hop and world music. A novelty this year will be a 42-metre (138-foot) high ferris wheel, which will afford visitors a unique view of Budapest and of the festival, and at night, will act as a giant screen for film projections.—AFP

(most of the film was shot in Connecticut).

“Anything on this menu that doesn’t have LOBSTER in it?” Director David Frankel made the maudlin “Marley & Me” and the sentimental but laughstarved “The Big Year,” after breaking out with “The Devil Wears Prada.” He and screenwriter Vanessa Taylor avoid the easy laughs _ none of these Mainers have Down East accents.

Lennox.

Streep and Jones never break character, never cross the line into “Give me a break.” Streep lights up at every new attention Arnold drops on her, and Jones, toning down the cranky thing he’s made his bread and butter, shows hurt and fear, maybe for the first time ever onscreen. And they land every giggle there is to be had out of these situations. But there’s a hint of real self-

Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones star in “Hope Springs.” —MCT The easy laughs they don’t avoid concern sex _ sex talk, “experimenting” in marriage, giving voice and action to fantasies, shopping for sexual self-help books and the like. Everybody in town _ waitresses, desk clerks, the bartender (Elisabeth Shue) _ asks, “Are you guys here for Bernie?” Marriage counseling is their cottage industry. And there are plenty of cliches _ a soundtrack packed with “on the nose” pop tunes, from “Everybody Plays the Fool” to the romantic works of Al Green and Annie

help in Bernie’s advice, and a hint that “Hope Springs” eternal in this stale, worn-out marriage. Not that the old pros acting it out let on that there is.

Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis rally the troops in Fort Worth rank the Tank! Frank the Tank!

Frank the Tank! The chant rose up inside the stifling gymnasium at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on Wednesday afternoon, a nod to Will Ferrell’s character in the movie “Old School.” The crowd of uniformed men and women were stoked, because Ferrell and his funnyman cohort Zach Galifianakis

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running unopposed for his fifth term, until he’s challenged by the unexperienced Marty Huggins (Galifianakis).

From the trailer, which features the buzz-worthy scene of Cam Brady inadvertently punching a baby, Ferrell’s character seems a bit like a hybrid of his George W. Bush and Ron Burgundy from “Anchorman.”

After some red carpet shenanigans

Actor Will Farrell poses for photos upon arrival for a premiere of his new film “The Campaign” in Sydney yesterday. —AP were in the house.

Fort Worth was just one stop on an 11-city “Whistle Stop” promotional tour for their new comedy, “The Campaign”; the tour’s had them doing everything from serving coffee in Seattle to overseeing a game of tugof-war at the base in Fort Worth. In the movie, which hits theaters Aug. 10, Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a longtime North Carolina congressman who’s

that (naturally) included baby kissing, the pair took to the stage to oversee a game of tug-of-war between Team Brady and Team Huggins. “Nothing says excitement in a hot room of people like tug-of-war,” Ferrell cracked.

Thanks to some microphone issues and mammoth walls of people, it was tough to see which team won, but that wasn’t really the point.

There were serious thanks to the

men and women in the room. “Thank you for your service to the country, and everything you do, and your time apart from your families,” Ferrell said, adding that there would be a special screening of “The Campaign” for base personnel, on Aug. 4.

Said Galifianakis: “However, admission is $75 a head.” They thanked people for turning out to see them, and joked that they’d reward everyone with hot chocolate, space heaters and parkas.

Scanning the crowd, Ferrell noted: “Someone has a sign that says: ‘My baby punches back.’” Earlier, on the red carpet, I got the chance to ask the guys a few goofy questions, although Ferrell seemed to be obsessed with my now old-school Flip video camera, repeatedly calling it a Flip phone. “Is that a Flip phone? Didn’t they go out of business?” Yep. “That’s one of the last remaining ones.” “You just bought stock in Flip phones,” Galifianakis said. “That’s why I’m having heart palpitations right now,” Ferrell said, “because I put 50 percent of my worth in Flip phones.”

“And Blockbuster video,” Galifianakis helpfully added . Finally letting go of my poor Flip cam, we hurtled into a quick Q&A: Q. You’re here to oversee a game of tug-of-war. Do you think that’s an apt metaphor for Congress?

Will Ferrell: Very much so. That’s all they’re doing, with no real results.

Q. With your candidates being from North Carolina, would either one of them hire Rielle Hunter as a videographer? (That would be John Edwards’ former mistress) WF: Well, mine would, for sure. My character is very much a philandering type of professional politician who would love any sort of beautiful woman.

Zach Galifianakis: My character wouldn’t know what a videographer is.

Members of the crowd watch The Black Keys, unseen; play at Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. —AP

Lollapalooza lineup shuffled due to big storm powerful thunderstorm rumbled into downtown Chicago on Saturday, forcing organizers to suspend the Lollapalooza music festival for more than two hours while the tens of thousands of concertgoers took shelter in parking garages.

The festivities were halted at 3:30 p.m. after the National Weather Service issued a severe thunder storm warning because of a line of storms that was barreling down on the city from the west. Organizers said it was

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unfortunate, but that safety was paramount. The estimated 100,000 concert goers took the evacuation order in stride, for the most part, and calmly left Grant Park for nearby underground garages that were designated evacuation centers for the sold-out three-day event, which ended yesterday.

Crowds were allowed back into the venue after the worst of the storm had passed and police and concert organizers had inspected the park for

any damage. It was only last summer that storm- driven wind gusts knocked down heavy stage rigging at the state fair in neighboring Indiana, killing seven people and injuring dozens of others. Organizers posted a reshuffled Saturday lineup that added a half-hour to the night’s events, which were scheduled to culminate with the Red Hot Chili Peppers performing on the main stage. —AP

Q. Name three government agencies your characters would eliminate if elected.

WF: Uh, Secretary of Beef. I would probably get rid of the Secretary of Night ... Night Employees, and then, I don’t know if you need a Secretary of Housing. I don’t know what they do.

ZG: The Secretary of Cul-de-Sacs.

Who, when you think about it, do very, very little. That’s the main one. I think if you got rid of that, we’d save a lot of money. —MCT

Vocalist Dianne Reeves performs with Reginald Veal on bass on August 4, 2012 in Newport, Rhode Island, at the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival. —AFP

Lebanese singer Dolly Shahine records her latest song “Abwab al-Sama”(The Gates of Heaven ) at a studio in Cairo yesterday. Shahine, 32, is a Lebanese singer, actress, fashion designer and makeup artist who rose to fame in 2005 with her role in the Egyptian movie Wija as the “femme fatale”. —AFP

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

lifestyle T r a v e l

Diverse history woven into RNC host city I

n a twist of irony, many visitors to August’s Republican National Convention will travel between their hotels and the downtown event on a busy road named to honor President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. Kennedy Boulevard, a gateway to downtown from the west, was so named in 1964 partially because of a special connection between Tampa and the 35th president. Kennedy had waved to massive crowds lining that road from an open-topped Lincoln Continental on Nov. 18, 1963. The next time he rode in that car, four days later in a motorcade through downtown Dallas, he would be shot to death.

A statue of JFK now stands at the present site of the University of Tampa, looking out over his eponymous thoroughfare. The Tampa-JFK connection is just part of Florida’s rich presidential history.

It includes Andrew Jackson’s role as Florida’s first territorial governor in Pensacola, Harry S. Truman’s “Little White House” in Key West - the winter quarters hosted a total of total of six presidents - and the famous compound kept by the Kennedy family at Palm Beach. After Kennedy became president, a secret bunker was installed in an island off the coast in case of a nuclear attack.

There’s more in Tampa, too. A stone’s throw away from Kennedy’s statue is a grand structure topped with curiously ornate minarets that was once called the Tampa Bay Hotel. Built by railroad magnate Henry Plant, it was there that then-Col. Teddy Roosevelt and members of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry - better known as the Rough Riders - bivouacked in 1898, before shipping out for Cuba and the Spanish-American War. Today, the building houses a museum and is a centerpiece of the stately downtown University of Tampa campus.

In more modern history, as the Tampa Bay area grew up and Florida became a critical swing state, visits by sitting presidents have become relatively common, and Tampa has become a required campaign-trail stop for any candidate who hopes to win over the many swing voters here.

For visitors to the Aug. 27-30 convention, there is plenty more to take in. Tampa’s former Latin quarter, Ybor (EE-bor) City, adjacent to downtown, was for the first half of the last century the cigar manufacturing capital of the world, with more than 200 factories once lining the narrow streets. That heritage is celebrated here, and still alive in the cigar shops mixed in among the bars and restaurants in what is now a bustling entertainment district. In the so-called “Cigar City,” aficionados can put fire to a

This undated photo provided by Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater shows beach visitors at Sunset Beach in St. Petersburg. — AP photos fine stogie rolled minutes before right in the window of one those Ybor City shops.

Don’t fancy a cigar? Then how about a Cuban sandwich? That’s the other product virtually synonymous with Tampa and is similarly interwoven into its history. A staple of the early immigrant communities in Ybor City, the sandwich of hamburger, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on pressed Cuban bread remains a Tampa favorite, with many restaurants and sandwich shops claiming to have the best or most authentic version.

(Like pizza, Cuban sandwiches are hardly ever bad, regardless of who makes them.)

The area is expected to benefit directly from the convention to the tune of around $175 million, according to the host committee, and down the road attract potential visitors from among the millions of people watching it on TV around the world.

File photo shows the downtown Tampa, Fla. Tampa will host the Republican National Convention on Aug. 27-30, 2012.

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hether you’re in the Tampa Bay area for the Republican National Convention or there on a family vacation, you’re probably aware of the usual tourist spots: the beach, Busch Gardens, the Florida Aquarium. While the region does boast some of America’s most beautiful beaches, there are also some out-of-theway spots that reveal a different side of this sunny state.

Here are five free things - including one very gorgeous but littleknown beach - to do in the Tampa Bay region, which encompasses both the city of Tampa and neighboring Pinellas County.

This undated photo provided by Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater shows the St. Petersburg skyline and waterfront.

Jose Marti Park: While it’s physically located in the city of Tampa’s historic district called Ybor City, this tiny park is really part of Cuba.

Yes, THAT Cuba. Named after the revolutionary who helped oust the Spanish out of Cuba in 1900 who also spent time in Florida, the land

The event will attract three times more media members than the Super Bowl, which Tampa has hosted four times.

“It’s coverage that you can’t buy,” said Travis Claytor, spokesman for the area’s tourism bureau.

“Every time they do a cut-away shot of the skyline of downtown Tampa or the Tampa Bay Times Forum, or show beauty shots of the beaches and the attractions, that’s promoting the destination like we’ve never been able to promote it before.

This is an opportunity that has never come along before, and it’s priceless, to be honest with you.”

Tampa will be the focus for convention visitors, of course, with its big-city skyline, world-class aquarium, Busch Gardens theme park, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, and the riverfront arena where all the convention floor action will take place. But the area is what it is - cool and cosmopolitan enough to attract Super Bowls, NCAA Final Four tournaments and now, a political convention - because of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and the rest of what is collectively known as “Tampa Bay.” Visitors will do themselves a disservice if they don’t cross the bay and check out St. Petersburg’s stunning waterfront downtown area, as well as the youthful vibe of Clearwater Beach. Some of the best white-sand beaches anywhere are close by, too. Two of them - Fort DeSoto Park and Caladesi Island - have topped the list from Stephen P. Leatherman, a Florida International University professor dubbed “Dr. Beach” for his annual rankings of the nation’s best coastlines.

Just north of Clearwater is Tarpon Springs, a small town established by Greek immigrant sponge divers in the early 20th century whose descendants have worked hard to maintain the distinct Mediterranean flavor. The sponge docks now cater to tourists with a string of wonderful Greek restaurants, bakeries and gift shops.

“It was presented (to the RNC) as a complete area and all we have to offer,” said convention host committee spokeswoman Aileen Rodriguez. “The community really came together to put the bid together and get it in. Now we’re excited about showcasing the whole area to the guests who are coming into Tampa Bay.”

File photo shows the main beach at Caladesi Island State Park, a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico, on Florida’s West Coast is seen in Dunedin, Fla. Tampa will host the Republican National Convention on Aug. 27-30, 2012.

This undated photo provided by the University of Tampa shows a statue of John F. Kennedy in Plant Park on the UT campus in Tampa, Fla. Delegates and other visitors will be utilizing hotels on both sides of the bay, with a network of as many as 400 buses will shuttle them to and from the Tampa Bay Times forum for the four nights of the convention. — MCT

was bought by a couple in the 1950s to honor the man himself. The couple gave the land to Cuba - but Fidel Castro took over the country a few years later. To this day, property records show that the owner of the .14 acre park is the “Cubano Estado,” or “Cuban State.”

Teddy’s Tampa: In 1898, before he was president, Col. Teddy Roosevelt once stayed in Tampa on his way to fight the SpanishAmerican War in Cuba. He and the First United States Volunteer Cavalry - also known as the Rough Riders - bivouacked and planned the invasion at the Tampa Bay Hotel, an ornate structure with silver minarets built by a railroad magnate. The building is now part of the campus of the University of Tampa and houses a museum.

Mafia Cemetery: Did you watch the movie Donnie Brasco?

Remember how Donnie and Sonny Black met up with famed mobster Santo Trafficante Jr., the mafia boss of Florida and Cuba? In Tampa, you can see Trafficante’s final resting place at the L’Unione Italiana Cemetery in Ybor City. Trafficante died in 1987 at a Houston hospital after a triple bypass. During his funeral at the Tampa cemetery, police officers stood outside and took photos of the mourners.

Sunset Beach: Almost all of the Tampa-area beaches are located west of the city in Pinellas County, and all of them are gorgeous. But one of the nicest and most secluded is Sunset Beach, nestled at the tip of a small beach city named Treasure Island. There are few businesses on this part of the barrier island; it’s mostly homes and condos. From downtown Tampa, take I-275 South to 22nd Ave. S, then head west.

St. Petersburg Waterfront: Downtown Tampa is mostly concrete and steel, but across the bay is a kinder, gentler cityscape. You can stroll along parks and waterfront between the historic, Mediterranean-revival Vinoy Renaissance Resort and Golf Club and the new, eye-popping Salvador Dali Museum. Pass by the Museum of Fine Arts, a marina, a yacht club and some gorgeous banyan trees.

On nearby Beach Drive, cafes, bars and stores line the street. — AP

This 2011 photo provided by Busch Gardens shows riders on the Tampa, Fla., theme park’s Cheetah Hunt roller coaster.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

lifestyle T r a v e l

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ot long after he and his brother bought the derelict Green Park Inn at auction, Steve Irace learned something that astonished him. “If you looked in the lobby or the dining room or the bar, you saw the columns,” the Long Island, N.Y., native says. “Those columns are single pieces of solid American chestnut that run from floor to ceiling and beyond.”

With American chestnut selling for $12 a board foot on the collector lumber market, he realized the hotel “was worth more dead than alive.”Luckily for the community, and for history buffs, that’s not why the brothers bought this “Grande Dame of the High Country.”

“We feel that we’re caretakers of a national treasure,” Irace said during a recent visit to this Victorian jewel, perched atop the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. “We resurrected this property. We

brought it back. We wouldn’t let it die.” The property started as a boarding house in 1882. The bulk of the grand lodge you see today was constructed in 1891. When it opened, each room came equipped with an electric bell to summon attendants and running water - albeit, just a small spigot with which guests could fill their washbasins.

The lobby walls are lined with photographs of famous guests - Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover slept there, as did first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe and oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, America’s first billionaire. Annie Oakley gave shooting lessons on what is now the inn’s parking lot, and Margaret Mitchell wrote a portion of “Gone With the Wind” during a sojourn there, Irace says with pride. But there was a time, not so long ago, when the Green Park appeared head-

ed for the scrap market.

By the May 2010 auction, the hotel was boarded up and bankrupt. Its spindle-railing Queen Anne balconies were rotten and sagging, the steam heating system cold and leaking. A man from nearby Deep Gap who had done painting for the Iraces told them it was up for sale. They were the only bidders. The brothers call themselves hotel “affection-ados.” This is the fourth historic hotel property they’ve rehabilitated (the others are in Florida and Vermont). The hotel reopened in October 2010 with just 15 of the more than 80 rooms available for guests. That number has since more than tripled to 53 - 22 of them with balconies.

With their high ceilings and large windows, the rooms are classic and airy. The luxuriously comfortable beds and other tasteful furnishings were all manufactured right here in the Tar Heel state, Irace says

proudly. The rooms no longer come with buzzers, but each is equipped with a large flat-screen television and complementary Wi-Fi. Vintage iron lighting fixtures use energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. We could have made this like a bed and breakfast, you know, and frou-frou and cutesy and put, you know, 24 pillows in every room and put chintz on chintz, and cute little knickknacks and gewgaws all over,” Irace says. “If we did that, we would have to charge more for the rooms. And I wanted, if a working man wanted to come here and show his kids how Grandma used to vacation, I wanted him to have that option.”

The inn sits at 3,620 feet (1,100 meters) above sea level, across U.S. 321 from North Carolina’s first commercial tourist attraction - the Blowing Rock. The bar is called The Divide - because the Eastern Continental

Divide runs literally right through it. “If you were to spill a drink on one half of the building, it would flow to the Mississippi River, in theory,” Irace says. “And if you spilled a drink on the other half of the room, it would flow to the Atlantic Ocean.”

A history room off the lobby contains a collection of chamber pots, vintage photographs, hardware from the original doors and even the old service window from the days when the Green Park housed the area’s only post office. Like most historic properties, the Green Park is not without its tales of tragedy. Laura Green, a member of the family that founded the place in the 19th century, hanged herself in Room 318, allegedly because her fiancee didn’t show up for her wedding day, Irace says.

“Haunted Wautauga County, North Carolina” has a chapter on the inn, although author Tim Bullard declares at the outset, “It is not haunted - repeat, not haunted. But it sure looks like it is.”

Executive chef, James Welch, had stayed at the Green Park under its old management and “never, ever” thought he would someday be working there. “Oh, it was disgusting,” says Welch, who got his start at 12, filleting chicken in his mother’s and grandmother’s Greensboro diner. “To be honest with you, I didn’t even want to take my clothes off to sleep in the bed.”

Welch, 47, a James Beard-nominated chef, had done kitchen stints at Sheraton hotels in nearby Greensboro and Miami before coming to Blowing Rock 18 years ago to help open a restaurant. He was looking for a new challenge when the Iraces recruited him to run the inn’s Laurel Room Restaurant. They gutted the old kitchen, spent $500,000 to bring it up to code and opened it a year ago.

Welch and his staff turn out delicate appetizers - like mixed baby greens with raspberries, goat cheese and shaved chocolate - and hearty entrees such as braised lamb shank with wild mushroom risotto and gremolata. And then there is his signature dish: Espresso-crusted, bittersweet chocolate-stuffed beef tenderloin with goat cheese pistachio au gratin, French beans and Bailey’s Irish Cream sauce. This dish came to him when, while drafting the next day’s menu, he discovered two Hershey’s kisses his daughters had given him that morning melting in his shirt pocket.

Irace realized that he’d committed to Welch - and bankrolled his kitchen upgrades - without ever having tasted his cooking. After the first bite, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. “I grew up in New York and I’ve traveled a lot in my life, and I’ve eaten in the finest restaurants in the world,” he says. “It knocked my socks off.”

Despite the good food and first-class renovation, things at the inn have gotten off to a slow start. Irace admits that opening a hotel during the worst recession in generations wasn’t ideal. “We all went through different phases, different moments when we said, ‘We can’t do this.

It’s not going to work,’” Irace says. But they already have devoted fans. Judy and Scott Champney of Johnson City, Tenn., have stayed there a half-dozen times on trips to the area for concerts at Appalachian State University in nearby Boone. They love the atmosphere, especially the pianist and jazz trio who alternate playing outside the dining room. Scott Champney, who teaches biochemistry at the East Tennessee State University medical school, sometimes sits in on drums.

“Our three sons call it ‘our hotel’ ... like we own it,” says Judy Champney, a retired high school English teacher who would get points if she stayed at the Holiday Inn Express just down the road. “I’m just thrilled that they’ve restored it, rather than tearing down a beautiful old building like that.” The Green Park was recently accepted as a member of Historic Hotels of America, a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for hotels that have “faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture and ambiance.” Irace and his brother are confident that, as the economy turns around, that same rising tide will lift their boat. “A lot of our guests buy into what our employees buy into, and what Gene and I bought into,” he says. “Which is: We’re building something. We’re saving something.

We’re saving something that’s worth saving.”— AP

Budapest’s Sziget festival to kick off 20th edition

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012

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A Palestinian man bakes loaves of bread in his traditional mud oven during Ramadan in the Jabalya refugee camp. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from dawn till dusk during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. In the evening they break their fast. — MCT

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ntil recently Han Huohuo was just a twenty-something Chinese fashion blogger.

Today he enjoys front-row seats at European catwalk shows and rubs shoulders with the editor of Chinese Vogue. More than a million people now follow the wildly famous fashion blogger on weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, and a leading website recently listed him among the country’s top 20 movers and shakers in the industry. The 28-yearold’s flamboyant style-he favors women’s clutches, skintight black pants and the occasional high heeland passion for the industry have won him fame in a country where fashion icons are just starting to emerge.

Experts say his rapid rise to fame over the past four years was propelled by international brands eager to latch onto anyone who holds sway in China-set to become the world’s largest luxury market by 2015, according to a Boston Consulting Group forecast. “You’ve got so many luxury brands throwing money at China and they are grabbing people who have some sort of influence,” said Chloe Reuter, who runs a luxury communications agency in Shanghai, Reuter PR. “It’s extraordinary what kind of stuff they get given. They fly first class and have chauffeurs.

This picture taken on July 27, 2012 shows Chinese fashionblogger Han Huohuo posing in Beijing. Until recently Han Huohuo was just a twenty-something Chinese fashion blogger. — AFP photos

“Because everything is very new, people are basically being catapulted into A-list segments-something that might take a lot longer anywhere else.” Han’s unconventional style would stand out anywhere, but in China, it is particularly unusual. His microblog-set against a leopard-print background-features a stream of portraits of himself stalking city streets in leather pants, designer purses, fur-lined coats and gold bracelets. Part of his head is shaved, while what hair he has is long and swept back like a mane.

Not everyone likes his look, with some scorning his feminine style as “abnormal” and “evil”.

“It’s just like Lady Gaga,” Han said in an interview with AFP, referring to the pop star known for extravagant outfits. “A lot of people criticize her but many are also praising her because she did what others didn’t dare to do. “The reason I got attention is that I did what others didn’t dare to do,” he added. “I think I encouraged a lot of people.” Han launched his blog in 2008 but since then his microblog, which he began in 2009, has become his main outlet for expression.

‘Celebrities out of nothing’ Han is now so well-known that he says he sometimes dresses down when he goes out to avoid being

Photo shows Chinese fashionblogger Han Huohuo posing in Beijing.

pestered for photos. Most of his fans simply follow him on his Weibo account. “I look at it pretty often. He has his own ideas and opinions,” said Jiang Li, a design student at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. “We see him as one of the trendier fashion icons,” said her classmate Guan Jiao.

Han entered fashion early-and almost by accident. Bored with university, he left to work as a travel writer for a Beijing magazine that decided to launch a fashion section.

The management tapped Han to run the new venture simply because he was the youngest person in the office.

From there he became an editor at the Chinese version of Marie Claire magazine, where he built up his fashion knowledge and network, leaving four years later in 2010 to start his own projects.

Now his fame extends to the upper crust of the fashion world, including the editor of Chinese Vogue, Angelica Cheung. Cheung says bloggers like Han are “very good in terms of influencing this younger generation of consumers,” but cautions that they could lose their position as quickly as they won it if they only post uninformed or unoriginal views. “I think certainly these fashion bloggers create a lot of celebrities out of nothing,” she said. “The only ones who will remain are the ones who have real knowledge and insight into the fashion industry.

“Even with Han Huohuo, he’s still young. There’s still a lot to learn.”

And other fashion voices are cropping up as well-not only online personas such as “Dipsy” (270,000 followers) and Leaf Greener (30,000) but also artists including Yi Zhou, models like Du Juan and editors such as Cheung, said Reuter. As he seeks to establish himself beyond his blog, Han has worked with labels including Hong Kong-based Linea Rosa to design shoes and clothing, compiled a fashion photography book and appeared as a judge on a Chinese fashion design television show.

He says his style has evolved into plainer clothing like T-shirts, although bold accessories-especially women’s purses-are still a must.

“Accessories must stand out,” he said. “I really like women’s clutches because I think men’s accessories are too ugly... They’re impossible to use. “I don’t care what people say. I figure, I like them, and that’s the most important thing.”— AFP

Models showcase creations by designer Debarun on the third day of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) winter/festive 2012 in Mumbai yesterday. The LFW, held twice annually, featuring creations by over 85 designers will culminate with a grand finale on August 7. — AFP

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afari-inspired and patterned pieces transition into trendy fall attire. Tribal prints speak for themselves, blending unique colors and patterns for a stylish vibe that evokes ancient times. This summer, tribal motifs were ready-to-wear on maxi dresses, jumpsuits, skirts and blouses.

The appeal isn’t going away. To take warrior-like looks into autumn, pair the prints with more neutral pieces, says Dawn Gore, owner of Amelia’s Boutiques in the Kansas City, Mo., area. — MCT