8th Sep

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 , 2012

24 150 Fils

One Direction barge in on Rihanna’s party

No: 15562

SHAWWAL 21 , 1433 AH

44 Pistorius again loses ‘Battle of Blade Runners’

Obama unites hope with realism, seeks new term ‘Tested and proven’ incumbent makes reelection pitch

Canada severs ties with Iran OTTAWA: Canada closed its Tehran embassy and expelled Iranian diplomats yesterday, expressing concern for the mission’s safety and slamming Iran’s support for the Syrian regime and its threats against Israel. “Canada’s position on the regime in Iran is well known. Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said. “Diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran have been suspended. All Canadian diplomatic staff have left Iran, and Iranian diplomats in Ottawa have been instructed to leave within five days,” he added, in a statement.

Canada did not cite a specific incident that caused the breakdown in ties, but issued a strongly worded attack on Tehran’s support for Bashar Al-Assad’s pariah Syrian regime and its “incitement to genocide” against Israel. Baird also attacked Tehran’s failure to account for its nuclear program, which Western powers allege is designed to give Iran a nuclear bomb, and accused the “Iranian regime” of promoting international terrorism. He also warned Canadians, including dual national Canadian-Iranians, that Ottawa will not be able to provide assistance to them if they travel to Iran. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and authorities have denied Canadian detainees consular protection.

There was no immediate reaction from Tehran, but Iran had already threatened “reciprocal action” in May, when Canada closed the visa section in its Iranian embassy, one used by thousands of Iranians with ties to Canada. An estimated 120,000 people of Iranian origin or descent live in Canada, according to official 2006 census data, and thousands of their relatives in Iran visit them every year.

Ottawa has long had poor relations with Iran, in part because of its enmity toward close Canadian ally Israel.

Canada’s relations with Iran also strained when former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor helped rescue six Americans from Iran during the hostage crisis in 1980.

Relations became even rockier in 2003 after Zahra Kazemi, a freelance photographer with dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, died in custody after being arrested while taking photographs outside a Tehran prison in 2003. Canada then recalled its ambassador. Iran also ordered Canada’s ambassador to leave the country after trying unsuccessfully to come to an agreement on an exchange of ambassadors for some time.

But yesterday’s stark statement marked a more definitive breakdown in ties. “The Iranian regime is providing increasing military assistance to the Assad regime,” Baird said. “It refuses to comply with UN resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program; it routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide,” the statement continued. “It is among the world’s worst violators of human rights and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups.” — Agencies

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: US President Barack Obama (right) and Vice President Joe Biden wave after Obama’s nomination acceptance speech at the Time Warner Cable Arena late Thursday on the final day of the Democratic National Convention. — AFP (See Page 11)

Max 44º Min 28º

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: US President Barack Obama implored Americans to grant him a second term, warning that Republican rival Mitt Romney would kill the economic recovery and is not cut out to lead. Four years after he claimed power on a euphoric tide of hope, Obama bluntly warned that the United States faced its most stark political crossroads in a generation, and insisted he never said change would be quick or easy. “The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place and I’m asking you to choose that future,” he said, warning that his Republican rival would gut the middle class and return to “blustering and blundering” abroad. Obama proclaimed that with him, Americans could stay with “leadership that has been tested and proven”.

Sketching an agenda to create millions of jobs, cut $4 trillion from the deficit and revolutionize energy policy, Obama refused to abandon the hope of 2008, saying: “Know this, America: our problems can be solved”. The president spoke at the Democratic National Convention, exactly two months before the election, hoping to break open a knife-edge race with Romney, who paints him as out of ideas to nurse the sickly economy back to health. The speech drew frenzied applause from supporters, but the flashbulbs and fanfare could soon be forgotten, as a new jobs report released yesterday showed still-tepid economic growth nearly four years after Obama took office.

The 51-year-old president directly confronted the deflated hopes spawned when he became America’s first black president amid expectations he would lead a era of transformation and bridge the country’s now-gaping partisan divide. “The election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens you were the change,” Obama said, citing his ending of the Iraq war, more rights for gays and lesbians and near universal healthcare. “If you turn away now - if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible - well, change will not happen.”

As 20,000 supporters packed into a sports arena chanted “four more years,” Obama launched a biting critique of Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan, candidates he said would lead America into dangerous waters abroad. “My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly. “ — AFP

Quakes in southwest China kill 64 BEIJING: Two shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquakes hit mountainous southwestern China yesterday, killing at least 64 people and forcing tens of thousands of people from damaged buildings, state media said. The quakes struck near the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the first one at 11:19 am (0319 GMT) and the second one about 45 minutes later, the US Geological Survey said.

About 700 people were injured and 20,000 homes damaged in the remote mountainous region about 350 km from the Yunnan provincial capital Kunming, the official Xinhua news agency said.

As the number of dead climbed

ZHAOTONG, China: People run as fallen rocks land near their vehicle after the area was hit by an earthquake in southwest China yesterday . — AP

throughout the day, state media reported that Premier Wen Jiabao would travel to the area, as he has often done when disasters strike Chinese regions.

President Hu Jintao called for disaster relief to be dispatched to the area while attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok. Most of the victims were from Yiliang county in Yunnan, near the epicentre of the quakes, which struck at a depth of about 9 km according to the USGS. By mid-afternoon, authorities had moved more than 100,000 from the area as a series of more than 60 aftershocks struck. — Agencies

LOCAL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

News

in brief

86,000 face travel ban KUWAIT: Nearly 86,000 individuals in Kuwait face a travel ban as per Interior Ministry records, a local daily reported yesterday. The figures were provided by security sources and includes the names of 42,000 citizens and 44,000 Indian, Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Pakistani, Filipino, Nepalese and Ethiopian nationals. The Ministry of Interior imposes travel bans on individuals against whom court rulings have been passed. Failure to pay dues is the most common reason why travel bans are imposed in Kuwait, according to sources.

‘Having an unpaid debt or fine of KD 50 or even less leads to an individual being barred from traveling,’ sources told Al-Qabas. A travel ban can easily be reversed by paying the amount at the airport or land border checkpoint ‘as long as the individual does not face legal charges,’ sources added. The number of people facing travel bans reached 88,000 as of last June, according to statistics published in the same newspaper.

Hearing adjourned in citizen murder case KUWAIT: The Criminal Court has adjourned hearing in the case of an Ethiopian woman who reportedly killed her sponsor to October 3. She allegedly severed the victim’s head in Jaber Al-Ali, a day before her wedding. The suspect’s defense presented few requests to the court including summoning a witness and referring the suspect to the psychiatric hospital to evaluate her condition.

KISR study on chemical elements’ presence KUWAIT: The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research(KISR) has begun a research since June to determine the quantity of compounds and distribution of heavy chemical elements in Kuwait’s marine environment at a budget of KD66,000. It will be completed within 24 months. Dr Hassan Al-Muhaini, Head of the project and participating researcher, said that the study relies on finding a concentration of chemical elements in marine sediments. AlShimmari said that the study allows for the possibility of studying its movement into the environment, in addition to protecting the environment and preserving marine as well as human life.

New measures to curb entry of banned foods KUWAIT: The Municipality plans to introduce revised, stringent measures to prevent the entry of prohibited foods into the local market.

Anas Al-Saleh, Commerce and Industry Minister said that the files of companies that imported chicken hotdogs containing pork traces, are being studied, with a possibility of their licenses being revoked.

Health Ministry reports proved that there was a higher percentage of pork than chicken in the hotdogs, adding the company attempted to justify its stand last week by stating that it has received the Municipality’s approval to import the hotdogs and are being denied to do so because of the health report. Meanwhile Istiqlal Al-Musallam, ,Director of Imported Food Department at Kuwait Municipality Engineer said that a new mechanism was introduced recently that will trap companies that attempt to sell inedible food. — Annahar

Opposition to step up public protests Pressure mounts for ‘full parliamentary system’ KUWAIT: A leading opposition group will stage a demonstration at the Iradah Square next Monday against the government’s decision to challenge the constitutionality of the electoral law. It also plans to intensify protests by holding sitins and marches.

“The opposition bloc will discuss holding peaceful demonstrations, marches and sit-ins during its next meeting in line with the law,” said a member of the annulled 2012 parliament Khalid Shukhayyer. He is one of the 34 oppositionists who controlled majority seats in the house that was dissolved following a Constitutional Court ruling last June which reinstated the 2009 parliament.

The Court found the dissolution decree passed late last year to be unconstitutional.

These comments were made at a meeting held by the Nahj group to prepare for the second mass gathering after a demonstration held on August 27 demanding that the Cabinet withdraw the case filed with the Constitutional Court to look into the constitutionality of five constituencies’ distribution, and the number of votes each voter is entitled to. A ruling will be passed on September 25 with many observers and constitutional experts believing that the court may render the electoral system as being unconstitutional. The opposition demand that any changes made to the current system will be passed by a new parliament that is elected after the 2009 assembly is dissolved.

Sources close to Nahj revealed in statements to Al-Qabas that they discussed during their meeting Thursday about “passing the night at the Iradah Square” following Monday’s demonstration. Meanwhile, Al-Rai daily quoted other sources who indicated that the option of staging marches remains a ‘strong possibility’ during discussions held yesterday. Under Kuwaiti law, citizens are allowed to stage demonstrations as long as protestors do not march en masse.

They are required to obtain licenses before they stage a sit-in overnight.

Nahj is optimistic that Monday’s demonstration has better chances of larger participation compared to the gathering held two weeks ago. The opposition bloc believes that participation was affected by “poor weather and the fact that it took place before the end of the schools’ summer break.”

The bloc’s coordination committee convenes today in order to review communications held with different political activists and groups to join the National Front for the Protection of the Constitution, Al-Qabas reported yesterday. In a related note, sources close to the opposition told Al-Rai daily that the front is an “integrated project for reform rather than being a reaction to the government’s decision to refer the electoral law to the Constitutional Court.”

Sources revealed that the front is “a

In this file photo Parliament members prior to a session in the Assembly hall.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

project that will outline the elements of political reform that the opposition will work to achieve.” These elements include “constitutional amendments through which transition to a full parliamentary system and eventually an elected Cabinet is achieved,” as well as regulations paving the way for this goal including “a system based on single constituency and election by list, as well as establishment of an independent election authority.”

A party wishing to join the national front must accept ‘all aspects of political reform’ it promotes, as partial agreement will not result in membership being granted.

Lawmaker Dr Hassan Jouhar said that he welcomed joining a national front “that helps Kuwait out of the current situation by ending the ongoing political crisis as long as the project remains true to its nationalistic approach by eliminating personal interest.” — Al-Qabas, Al-Rai

Slovakian police probe Kuwaiti sisters’ death KUWAIT: Authorities in Slovakia are investigating the death of two Kuwaiti children who drowned in a water park in the capital Bratislava, while a number of local newspapers blamed negligence on the lifeguards’ part behind the tragedy.

The incident occurred last Tuesday at the Senec Water Park, where 6-yearold Maryam reportedly drowned after jumping in a pool that is 117 cm deep, while she was only 105 cm tall.

Meanwhile, her 3-year-old sister Asma faced the same fate when she jumped after her sister, apparently in a bid to save her life, according to local daily SME. SME’s report, featured at the front page of Al-Qabas Kuwaiti newspaper yesterday, indicates that four lifeguards working at the pool were not present at their locations when the incident happened. “They rushed to the scene after hearing visitors’ calls for help and it later appeared that they were present at the covered part of the park”, the report reads.

The two girls died despite CPR attempts performed by their father and another visitor, and later by the lifeguards. SME further reports that the victims’ parents were at a cafeteria around fifty meters away from the scene when the incident happened.

The park’s management refused to give statements to the press “in wait of investigations report”, as members from the management are expected to be summoned by police soon. In the meantime, a lifeguards supervisor at a nearby pool, identified as Maria Navrakova in SME’s report, held the lifeguards at the pool where the incident happened responsible for the case.

“They probably were not present at their locations. Had they been there and done their part in attending to the pool, they should’ve noticed a child falling into the water”, Navrakova told SME. She further explained that each pool is watched by four lifeguards who divide the pool into four areas they can individually watch.-Al-Qabas quoting Slovakian daily SME.

local

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Police bust human trafficking racket 300 workers illegally recruited to Kuwait KUWAIT: Two people were arrested in a major forgery case in which nearly 300 workers were illegally recruited to Kuwait through visa trading. The arrests took place after detectives found out that a citizen used his cargo company by forging car ownership documents enlisting the help of his Syrian employees.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the company forged documents to show that they own 300 vehicles for freight transportation. In reality they owned only 14 vehicles. They then hired staff members illegally, as expatriates were offered an opportunity to come to Kuwait.

At the time of arrest, 279 workers were reportedly recruited illegally to Kuwait and each one paid KD 700 to obtain a visa. A warrant to arrest the owner was issued after police nabbed a number of workers registered with his company. The General Immigration Department detectives was tipped off on the company’s outlawed operations. Detectives learnt that the company’s file with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor(MSAL) showed that it needed 300 staff to work as drivers, whereas its record with the Traffic General Department showed that only 14 vehicles have been registered.

The owner admitted to committing the crimes soon after his arrest, adding that he paid his Syrian representative KD 300 for each forged vehicle ownership document that was presented to labor authorities to hire staff. The representative was soon arrested after the owner divulged details during investigations. The two remain in custody pending legal action.

Investigations are ongoing into the case.

50 held in Hawally crackdown At least fifty African women were arrested for violating labor and residence permit laws. Prostitution charges were pressed against 16 women who were caught in brothels during a recent operation carried out in Hawally and AlNugra. Before the crackdown got underway, authorities sent undercover agents to locations in Sharhabeel and Qutaiba streets after receiving reports that illegal residents gathered there and took part

in illegal activities including prostitution.

During the operation, three coffee shops were shut down after police found that they facilitated prostitution. The detainees were referred to higher authorities.

Teen drowns in gym A teenager drowned in a swimming pool at a gymnasium located in the Capital governorate recently. Paramedics who responded to an emergency call performed CPR on the 18-year-old citizen but their attempts were unsuccessful.

The body was removed for an autopsy.

An investigation was held to determine the circumstances that led to his death.

Probe in Salmiya deaths Salmiya police have begun investigating a homicide case filed after evidence of foul play was detected at an apartment where a citizen’s dead body was found. Police broke into the citizen’s apartment after the building’s watchman reported that foul odor emanated from it. Investigations revealed that he died three days ago.

The body was removed by the Forensic Department for an autopsy, reported Al-Rai. Meanwhile, investigations are underway to determine the cause of death of a Salmiya resident who was found dead inside his apartment recently. The Egyptian man was pronounced dead in his living room where he was found unconscious after police broke into his apartment. Security officers and paramedics rushed to the scene after the building’s janitor reported that he had not left his apartment for days. Investigations are ongoing as police wait for the autopsy report.

Six held in co-worker’s death Six Asian men were arrested from a Hawally apartment where their compatriot was found dead. A criminal investigation was begun after detectives discovered that the victim died while the group were spending the night abus-

ing alcohol. Several liquor bottles were found strewn near the body. Police reported to the scene after an emergency call was made by one of the victim’s friends, who later confirmed during investigations that the seven were drinking when the incident took place.

Work mishap A construction worker died in AlMahboulah recently. The 20-year-old Syrian man was pronounced dead on the scene at a building under construction by paramedics who arrived in response to an emergency call. The body was referred to the Forensic Department following investigations during which crime scene investigators found no evidence of foul play.

Bootlegger at large Police are on the hunt for a male driver who fled from a crash site. Police found liquor bottles inside his vehicle.

Ahmadi police reached at a street in the area where an accident involving two vehicles was reported. One driver reportedly escaped upon noticing patrol vehicles approaching. Officers soon found 250 bottles filled with spurious liquor inside his car. Investigations indicate that the bottles were prepared for sale, suggesting that the suspect met with the accident while on his way to deliver the contraband to customers.

Investigations are ongoing.

‘Suicide’ attempt A domestic worker was hospitalized in a critical condition after falling from a height, while investigations are ongoing to determine if the case is an act of suicide. A suicide attempt case was filed after the African domestic worker’s sponsor told officers that she suffered psychological problems during the last days before the incident, adding that he was preparing to terminate her contract. The woman is currently recovering at the Adan Hospital as police wait for her condition to stabilize to proceed with investigations.—Al-Anbaa, Al-Jarida, Al-Qabas, Al-Rai, Al-Watan

Asian held for possessing 100gm heroin

Scores injured in traffic accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Drugs fighting authorities arrested an Asian for possessing heroin intended for selling.

Acting on a tip-off, security men went to the suspect’s residence where they found 100 grams of the drug hidden under his bed. He was sent to concerned authorities.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Diving Team, part of the Environmental Voluntary Foundation has launched a campaign to lift boats and ships from Al-Shamlan docking area, following the huge fire that broke out there on August 28. The campaign will last four days. The major operation began with the usage of several pieces of heavy equipment, the largest of which can carry a weight of 170 tons to lift heavy ships, in addition to harmful substances like oils, diesel, plastic debris and ship wreckage. —KUNA

The Asian with the confiscated heroin packets

KUWAIT: A car accident took place at Abdaly road. A 27-year-old Egyptian man suffered multiple injuries and a 38-year-old Egyptian suffered spinal injury. Also injured were a 28-year- old compatriot and a fiveyear-old Egyptian girl. All were referred to Jahra hospital.

A car accident took place along Sixth Ring Road, opposite 360 Mall. A 24-year-old expatriate suffered extensive injuries. Two Bangladeshis aged 47 and 43 years respectively were referred to Farwaniya hospital.

A car accident took place at Kabd near the fruit market, resulting in a 20-year-old citizen suffering a pelvic fracture and a Kuwaiti man injuring his foot. He was taken

to Farwaniya hospital. A car accident took place at the Fourth Ring Road opposite AlRawdha resulting in a 53-year-old Egyptian sustaining injuries. A 26-year-old citizen suffered injuries too. Both were referred to Amiri hospital.

A motorcycle accident took place at Shuwaikh Industrial Area, opposite Al-Sayer Company resulting in a 33-year-old citizen suffering injuries. He was referred to Amiri hospital.

Hit and run case A 51-year-old Indian woman was run over by a speeding car at Tunis street in Hawally next to Sadeque round about. She sustained several injuries and was admitted to Mubarak hospital.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Foreign Ministry contacts Iraqi envoy in PoWs case KUWAIT: Official sources from the Foreign Ministry, commented on a local newspaper reports about former Iraqi national security consultant Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie who claims about Kuwaiti prisoners are alive and were taken to Iran. The sources said that Foreign Ministry met the Iraqi ambassador to Kuwait Mohammad Bahr Aloloom and asked him to check with Iraqi authorities about Al-Rubaie’s report. The sources added that ministry has also asked the Kuwaiti ambassador to Iraq Ali Al-Momen to take follow up action on this subject with Iraqi authorities. The ministry has communicated with the regional delegation for International Red Crescent Society and the chairperson of the tripartite committee that follows up the subject of PoWs. They were asked to verify this subject with concerned parties.

Enrollment The Admission and Registration Office at Kuwait University (KU) announced on Thursday that unregistered students will be able to enroll in one or more courses for the new academic year by next week. The registration period will last for two days September 10 to 12 during official working hours at the University’s headquarters in Shuwaikh.

Students should adhere to rules and regulations of the registration process. —KUNA

Indian school refuses to admit students wearing hijab KUWAIT: An Indian private school located in Khaitan reportedly refused to admit female students wearing a hijab (headscarf), according to several parents.

One parent said that the management refused to admit his daughters and asked that girls remove their hijab to be granted admission. He said that all his attempts to convince the school to accept them were futile.

He appealed to Education Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Private Education Muna Al-Loughani to investigate the matter, reports Alshahed.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry(MOE) is ready to begin the new academic year starting Sunday, with 55,000 employees and teachers reporting to work.

Preparations are being made to receive more than 374,000 students distributed over 799 schools in all stages. The kindergarten level begins on Sept 16, first elementary level on Sept 17. The intermediate and secondary levels will begin on Sept 23rd, reports Aljarida.

NAPLES: Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah attends the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT). —KUNA

Sheikha Amthal: GCC unity within UN-HABITAT vital Gulf delegates play key role NAPLES: Chairperson of Kuwait’s Volunteer Center Sheikha Amthal AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah affirmed here yesterday that unity of the GCC corps in the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) would further develop coordination amongst Gulf nations within the human and urban development domains and also help the program achieve its goals.

In an exclusive interview) Sheikha Amthal, who headed the Kuwaiti delegation to the recently concluded Sixth World Urban Development Forum here, said that this was the first time the GCC heavily participated in the event as one unit, affirming that Gulf delegates to the forum contributed tremendously to the meeting.

About the Gulf Consultative Human Settlements Committee, the official said that the group was still formulating its organizational and hierarchy structures, stressing that once things were put into perspective, the committee would heavily contribute to urban and human developments on regional and international scales. Sheikha Amthal commended the role played by UN-HABITAT in supporting urban advancement around the globe, taking into consideration the human and environmental aspects which came along with this type of development.

During her participation, Sheikha Amthal indicated that it was important to establish a global network to exchange information and expertise in regards to the development of human and urban settlements, stressing that

headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing ade-

NAPLES: Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with other delegates. —KUNA such step would help in preventing crises from occurring and help coordinate efforts amongst those interested in such ventures.

The UN-HABITAT is the United Nations agency for human settlements.

It was established in 1978 and has its

quate shelter for all. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its regional centers are called ‘United Nations Centre for Human Settlements’ (Habitat)/(UNCHS), and are situated at Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, and Fukuoka. —KUNA

X-cite launches new e-commerce application from Facebook As the market leader in innovation, X-cite by Alghanim electronics web portal xcite.com has launched its first ever e-commerce application from facebook. This is the first time in the Middle East any electronics retailer has offered such a unique service where customers can shop directly from their facebook page. X-cite fans can now view special offers directly from X-cite’s facebook page, interact, engage and shop for their favorite products.

X-cite has launched this breakthrough in social media to keep pace with the recent advent of E-commerce Facebook integration in the international market. X-cite’s e-commerce facebook integration involves copying different aspects of X-cite’s online portal www.xcite.com onto facebook to expose it to a more massive audience. The new ‘Shop’ tab now available on the X-cite’s facebook page gives visitors an immediate shopping experience of selected inventory. What

makes the Shop Now on Facebook application unique is the virtual-interactive experi-

ence allowing shoppers to view, share, and openly discuss their potential purchases.

After filling up a virtual shopping cart, users are offered various payment options including Visa, Knet, Mastercard, and even Pay-On-

Delivery. This gives customers an opportunity to try out new and innovative ways to explore safe and secure online shopping.

X-cite’s Facebook page is a fantastic resource for the latest and upcoming product knowledge and has been considered to be one of the most active electronic retail pages on the internet throughout the Middle East region. X-cite proved this by recently winning the Best facebook Interactive Award that was held by Pan Arab Web Awards Academy in Jordan. Ali Maaz, Head of Product & Sales at xcite.com commented, “We have an intelligent customerbase requiring intelligent platforms of access.

Our new E-commerce platform on facebook

allows us to give our customers a new online shopping experience with the capability of directly purchasing xcite.com products in a social environment.” The high engagement of users comes from the continuous interactivity of X-cite on their facebook page through various postings on the wall, photos of new products, forum discussions, videos, events, competition, reviews etc Since launching ‘Shop Now’ on Facebook to an international audience late last month, users have already begun to take advantage of the show-cased merchandise by purchasing and sharing products. xcite.com is committed to continuous development and is planning for many application upgrades offering a larger selection of items. To access the Shop Now on Facebook app please visit Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/XcitebyAlghanim?ref=stream#!/X citebyAlghanim

LOCAL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Moroccan youth find their voice Essentially, young people wanted a better functioning state, which to them did not necessarily entail a complete overhaul of the regime. The ripple effects of such calls for reform are reflected in the creation of the Youth Council, which will be a new way to bring government and citizens closer together.

Young people in Morocco make up 30% of the population. The image is used for illustrative purposes only. — www.worldbank.org

CASABLANCA: This September, 30,000 Moroccan youth aged 16 to 30 will participate in a nationwide discussion on the development of a new youth council. The Consultative Council for Youth and Social Work (known simply as the Youth Council) is meant to address youth expectations for democratic engagement by offering a concrete platform for youth to participate in economic, social and political life. It is a part of the monarchy’s new initiative to increase youth participation in post-Arab Spring Morocco.

Demonstrators in Morocco, unlike their counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt, did not call for radical regime change in the 2011 Arab Spring protests. Youth called for an ‘evolution’ rather than a ‘revolution.’ Protestors’ main demands focused on ending corruption, reforming the judicial system, improving access to education and creating a better health care system. Essentially, young people wanted a better functioning state, which to them did not necessarily entail a complete overhaul of the regime. The ripple effects of such calls for reform are reflected in the creation of the Youth Council, which will be a new way to bring govern-

ment and citizens closer together.

The plans for the Youth Council were developed months ago in response to the 2011 protests. However, one year after announcing its creation in the new Moroccan constitution, the ministry of youth and sport has yet to draft its strategic proposition in order to actually establish this council. Once it is formed, the Youth Council will allow for unprecedented grassroots participation aimed at engaging representatives of Morocco youth in the decision-making process.

Moroccan civil society, however, did not wait for the ministry of youth to take action. Supported by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the British Embassy, civil society activists formed a similar group, the Parallel Youth Government, this June. Through this initiative, participating youth will have the opportunity to provide feedback on government decisions.

Lahbib Choubani, the Moroccan minister in charge of government-civil society relations, has promised that the doors of parliament will be open to the Parallel Youth Government and that its participants will be given the opportunity to

attend meetings with members of parliament.

The interaction between these two institutions, the Youth Council, and the Parallel Youth Government, is yet to be determined. Both are trying to promote a greater role for youth. According to a recent World Bank report, half of Morocco’s youth do not attend school or are unemployed. The Youth Council and the Parallel Youth Government can both play a crucial role in addressing the challenges faced by young Moroccans by keeping these issues on the government’s radar and pushing for action.

Accordingly, the first issue on the Youth Council’s agenda will be youth unemployment. Their work should focus on finding much-needed sustainable solutions that address the needs of unemployed youth. One of the challenges the Council will face will be helping the government to reform the education system to be able to meet the needs of the job market.

The same World Bank report found that there is a huge demand for vocational training - which has been largely unmet by educational institutions.

However, if youth organizations and government can work together they can find new solutions to these problems. Regular meetings between heads of education institutions and leaders from youth organizations to hear young people’s suggestions on how to meet their needs could help in the development of new policies that would benefit youth seeking employment. In addition, students could learn about the job market from workers directly by visiting workplaces and learning about their experiences.

Better educated youth will help create a more responsible and politically active nation. These two organizations will hopefully build a bridge between youth and the political system, as well as between students and workers. For them to succeed, youth representatives from all over the country should be involved in creating a cohesive and effective national strategy for addressing youth concerns. Common Ground News Service (CGNews) * Nadia Rabbaa is a freelance journalist and media consultant in Morocco. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Insiders suspected in Saudi cyber attack

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Girl granted bail in Pak blasphemy case

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Indian FM visits Pak amid thaw

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ANNECY, France: Cyclists look at the trailer where the slain British family were holidaying in a campsite of Saint Jorioz yesterday. — AP

Family feud seen in French killing Brother of slain Briton denies having dispute ANNECY, France: Police yesterday were investigating if a family feud over money could be the motive for the execution-style killing of a British-Iraqi family in the French Alps. Prosecutor Eric Maillaud said British police told French authorities of a financial dispute between the murdered British man and his brother, but he cautioned against drawing early conclusions. Victim Saad Al-Hilli’s four-year-old daughter - who was discovered alive and unhurt hours after the shooting beneath her mother’s body - had meanwhile been spoken to and was unable to give police any new clues.

A local man was also killed in the shooting after apparently witnessing the attack on the family’s car. “It seems that there was a dispute between the two brothers about money. This seems to be credible information coming from the British police,” Maillaud told AFP. “The brother will have to be questioned at length. Every lead will be meticulously followed.” He added however that it was difficult to imagine how a family feud could “pass from a financial dispute to a quadruple murder”. A French police source

said the brother of Hilli, a 50-yearold Briton born in Iraq, had presented himself to British police on Thursday to declare his innocence and cooperate in the probe.

Maillaud said the little girl found in the car had been unable to help investigators, adding that officers had to be “extremely careful about the declarations of a traumatised little girl”. Post-mortem results on the four victims’ bodies were due on Friday afternoon and the response to a formal request for DNA samples from Britain was expected to arrive today. Maillaud said police were hoping to “find certain things in the home that could give us leads on the killers”.

Hilli, his wife and mother-in-law were killed in their British-registered BMW estate car on Wednesday in a forest car park near the village of Chevaline in the picturesque HauteSavoie region. The body of local cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, who worked in the nuclear industry was found nearby. Each had been shot in the head in a killing that bore many of the hallmarks of a professional assassination. Neighbours in England said Hilli was an engineer

and named the other victims as his wife Iqbal, who was carrying an Iraqi passport, and his 74-year-old mother-in-law, who had a Swedish passport. The couple’s daughters were named as Zainab, aged seven, and Zeena, aged four.

Zainab was seriously injured after being shot in the shoulder and suffering a fractured skull from what authorities said were “extremely violent” blows to the head. Maillaud said she had undergone surgery and was doing better. “She was operated on again, she is doing well,” he said. “Her state of health is no longer causing much worry. She is out of danger.” The family, from Surrey in southern England, had been staying since Sept 3 at the nearby Saint Jorioz camp site.

A veteran of Britain’s Royal Air Force who has a second home in the area discovered the victims including Zainab whom he found wounded near to the car. Several witnesses reported seeing a car speeding away from the scene around the time the attack took place. Investigators believe an automatic pistol was used and 15 spent bullet casings were found in the area. No weapon

was found at the scene. French authorities on Friday formally opened two criminal investigations into the shooting and said that one police officer would be leaving immediately for London to oversee coordination with British police.

One investigation is for the premeditated murders of the four victims, the other for attempted mur-

der of the two child survivors, prosecutors said. A French police source said three other police were to head to Britain today to work on the investigation. Authorities also unblocked access to the site of the killing in Chevaline but few signs remained of the incident other than some broken glass, tyre tracks and small traces of blood. — AFP

Clashes hit Manama DUBAI: Bahraini police used tear gas to disperse dozens of Shiite protesters who tried to gather yesterday in the capital Manama to demand the release of jailed opposition figures, witnesses said. The protesters, who came in small groups in the old quarter of the capital, were prevented from converging on a main road where they intended to march.

Some carried banners reading “Freedom for the prisoners” and “We want an independent judiciary,” according to witnesses, who said Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of Al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition formation, was present.

The interior ministry said the protest was prohibited and that any participants were breaking the law. The protesters aimed to demonstrate against a Tuesday appeals court verdict, which upheld jail sentences against 13 leading activists, including seven facing life in prison. The Sunni-ruled kingdom, home to the US Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Iran, has continued to witness sporadic Shiite-led demonstrations, mostly outside the capital, since it crushed a protest movement in a bloody crackdown in March of last year. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Insiders suspected in Saudi cyber attack DUBAI: One or more insiders with high-level access are suspected of assisting the hackers who damaged some 30,000 computers at Saudi Arabia’s national oil company last month, sources familiar with the company’s investigation say. The attack using a computer virus known as Shamoon against Saudi Aramco the world’s biggest oil company - is one of the most destructive cyber strikes conducted against a single business. Shamoon spread through the company’s network and wiped computers’ hard drives clean. Saudi Aramco says damage was limited to office computers and did not affect systems software that might hurt technical operations.

The hackers’ apparent access to a mole, willing to take personal risk to help, is an extraordinary development in a country where open dis-

sent is banned. “It was someone who had inside knowledge and inside privileges within the company,” said a source familiar with the ongoing forensic examination. Hackers from a group called “The Cutting Sword of Justice” claimed responsibility for the attack. They say the computer virus gave them access to documents from Aramco’s computers, and have threatened to release secrets. N o documents have so far been published.

Reports of similar attacks on other oil and gas firms in the Middle East, including in neighbouring Qatar, suggest there may be similar activity elsewhere in the region, although the attacks have not been linked.

Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

“Saudi Aramco doesn’t comment on rumours and conjectures amidst an ongoing probe,” it said. The hacking

group that claimed responsibility for the attack described its motives as political.

In a posting on an online bulletin board the day the files were wiped, the group said Saudi Aramco was the main source of income for the Saudi government, which it blamed for “crimes and atrocities” in several countries, including Syria and Bahrain. The Saudi interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The foreign ministry was not available for comment.

Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain last year to back the Gulf state’s rulers, fellow Sunni Muslims, against Shi’ite-led protesters. Riyadh is also sympathetic to mainly Sunni rebels in Syria. Saudi Arabia’s economy is heavily dependent on oil. Oil export revenues have accounted for 80-90 percent of total Saudi rev-

enues and above 40 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to US data.

Saudi Aramco, which supplies about a tenth of the world’s oil, has hired at least six firms with expertise in hacking attacks, bringing in dozens of outside experts to investigate the attack and repair computers, the sources say.

According to analysis of Shamoon by computer security firm Symantec, the way the virus gets into networks may vary, but once inside it tries to infect every computer in the local area network before erasing files to render PCs useless. “We don’t normally see threats that are so destructive,” Liam O Murchu, who helped lead Symantec’s research into the virus, said. “It’s probably been 10 years since we saw something so destructive.” — Reuters

Bombardment, blasts rock Syrian capital

EU gives euro 50m aid, says buffer zone impractical

KIRKUK: Iraqis inspect the site of a blast in this northern Iraqi city yesterday. — AFP

Iraq attacks kill 9 people KIRKUK, Iraq: Attacks in Iraq, including a series of apparently coordinated bombings against Shiite places of worship in the north, killed at least nine people yesterday, security and medical officials said. A car bomb targeted the Khezal Al-Tamimi husseiniyah, or Shiite place of worship, in central Kirkuk at about 12:55 pm (0955 GMT), followed by a bombing at Imam Ali husseiniyah in the city’s northeast, and three bombings at Al-Mustafa husseiniyah in south Kirkuk, security and medical officials said. A roadside bomb meanwhile exploded at Al-Ahmedi Sunni mosque.

Sadiq Omar Rasul, the head of Kirkuk health directorate, told AFP that eight people were killed and 80 wounded in the attacks. And in Baqouba, north of Baghdad, gunmen armed with silenced weapons shot dead a soldier while a woman and two children were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded outside their house in Saadiyah, further east, security and medical officials said. An AFP correspondent saw the burned bodies of two children and dozens of burned-out cars at Al-Mustafa husseiniyah in Kirkuk.

Hadi Qanbar, who had been praying at Al-Mustafa husseiniyah, said that worshippers were told about the attack on Khezal Al-Tamimi and began to leave. “But when we left, explosions happened one after another,” he said. “We do not know why we were targeted.” Azhar Kamal, who was also at Al-Mustafa husseiniyah, said: “We put the blood of the victims on the hands of the prime minister, and we ask him to protect the people of Kirkuk.”

Hassan Hussein, who was at Khezal Al-Tamimi at the time of the attack, said the explosion happened behind the husseiniyah. “We saw our brothers and friends killed and wounded by this explosion,” he said. Khezal Al-Tamimi husseiniyah is the site of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada AlSadr’s main office in Kirkuk. — AFP

BEIRUT: Syrian forces bombarded a crowded Palestinian refugee district in Damascus yesterday, killing at least 10 people according to residents, while other parts of the city were rocked by apparent rebel bomb attacks. The main focus of the fighting is now in the economic centre, Aleppo, but rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Al-Assad continue to attack government forces and buildings in the capital. Five security personnel were killed and several others were wounded in a “terrorist” blast caused by explosives attached to a motorcycle in the Rukn al-Din district of Damascus, state television said.

A car bomb also exploded between the Information Ministry and the main Damascus courthouse, it said, giving no details of any casualties. In the south of the capital, rockets rained down on Yarmouk, a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp. A woman living nearby counted at least 11 strikes. Video uploaded by activists showed clouds of grey smoke curling into the air. “At least 10 people have been killed and 15 wounded since they resumed shelling,” the woman said by telephone, asking not to be named for her own safety. “There are several burned corpses and limbs, so no one is sure of the total death toll.”

Residents across the city said they had been hearing heavy blasts and sporadic gunfire since early yesterday morning.”I can count at least 10 columns of smoke coming from the southern neighbourhoods around the camp,” said activist Samir al-Shami, speaking on Skype. He said tanks and troops had been brought in to conduct raids on some southern neighbourhoods. Assad’s forces are trying to re-establish full control in Damascus as

they battle anti-government forces in Aleppo, Syria’s economic hub, and pockets of rebellion across the country. The army began bombarding Yarmouk on Thursday, possibly targeting rebels who residents say may have entered the camp. “Why are they doing this? What good is shelling a camp with houses and bakeries? They are making sure that every Syrian and Palestinian turns against them,” complained one Palestinian resident near Yarmouk, who also asked to remain anonymous.

Palestinians have been divided over whether or not to support Assad, but there are signs that more and more are now starting to back the uprising. The regional news channel Al Arabiya aired live footage of an opposition protest in Yarmouk an hour before shelling there resumed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that more than

23,000 people have died in an uprising that has lasted more than 17 months.

Around 200,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, said it would give euro 50 million to help Syrian civilians, adding to euro 69 million already contributed.

Kristalina Georgeva, European commissioner for humanitarian aid, told reporters that talk by Western nations of creating a buffer zone shielded from air strikes was currently impractical.

“We do not have a (UN) Security Council resolution that authorises any intervention that could secure space of that nature,” she said.

Georgeva said aid workers saw the buffer zones as a last resort because the humanitarian aims of such projects were difficult to secure, as fighters often infiltrated the areas. — Reuters

DAMASCUS: A firefighter extinguishes a burned car close to where an explosion went off between the buildings of the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Justice yesterday. — AP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Revenge attack kills 12 in Kenya land row MOMBASA: Armed raiders killed 12 villagers and set fire to houses in Kenya’s Coastal region, police and the Red Cross said yesterday, in a revenge attack that is part of a long-running dispute over grazing land and water. The attackers targeted a village in the Tana Delta inhabited

by Pokomo farmers late on Thursday, less than three weeks after 100 Pokomo tribesmen armed with spears and machetes killed more than 50 people in an attack on an Orma settlement.

The violence follows deadly riots in Kenya’s main port of Mombasa after the assassination of a radical Muslim cleric. The two events are unrelated but have exposed deep social, political and sectarian divides that could lead to more violence ahead of a presidential election next year. “They attacked our people and killed so many of our people, burnt our houses and left us with a lot of pain.

Did you expect we would let them get away with it? No

Azerbaijan, Armenia trade barbs on pardon BAKU: Bitter enemies Azerbaijan and Armenia traded accusations yesterday amid growing international criticism of Baku’s pardoning of an extradited Azerbaijani soldier who had hacked an Armenian to death. Ramil Safarov was pardoned, promoted and financially rewarded after being extradited to Azerbaijan from Hungary, where he had been serving a life sentence for killing the Armenian soldier with an axe during a NATO training session in 2004.

Visiting Baku, where Safarov received a hero’s welcome on his return a week ago, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the murder was “a crime which should not be glorified”. But Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev remained defiant, saying the pardon was legal and fair despite the NATO chief’s comments, which followed similar criticism from the United States, the European Union and Russia.

“Armenia is unjustifiably kicking Ramil Safarov up a fuss over Ramil Safarov’s pardoning,” Aliyev said at a news conference with Rasmussen in Baku. “Safarov has been extradited in conformity with the European Convention (on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons) and his pardoning is based on Azerbaijani legislation,” he said.

As tensions simmered between the ex-Soviet neighbours that fought a territorial war in the 1990s, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian accused energy-rich Azerbaijan of flexing its muscles in front of the international community. “We believe that the purpose of pardoning and justifying the murderer is not just that Aliyev wants to improve his image inside the country, but to try to test the international community’s reaction to Azerbaijan’s absurd move,” Sarkisian said in comments released by his press service.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have not yet signed a final peace deal since the 1994 ceasefire in their war over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, and shooting is still frequent along the frontline. NATO’s secretary-general warned against any new outbreak of hostilities. “Two things are clear. First, that there is no military solution. And second, the only way forward is through dialogue, compromise and cooperation,” Rasmussen said. The United Nations on Thursday also voiced concern about heightened tensions between the regional foes, saying “there is no alternative to a peace settlement” over Nagorny Karabakh. The row over the pardon has seen Yerevan break off links with Budapest, which had been assured by Baku that the killer would serve out his prison term in Azerbaijan. Further infuriating Armenia, Aliyev’s website has been publishing a series of letters from citizens congratulating him for freeing the killer. “The extradition and pardoning of national army officer Ramil Safarov has filled us, young people, and indeed the entire nation with a sense of pride and joy,” said one letter from youth club manager Kifayat Amirova in the city of Ganja.—AFP

way,” said 29-year-old Ali Dorobo, an Orma from the area. Dorobo said some in his community were not satisfied with the scale of the latest attack, suggesting the violence could escalate. “We know they will organise another attack and we are waiting. This will not end soon,” Dorobo told Reuters by telephone.

Settled Pokomo farmers and semi-nomadic Orma pastoralists have clashed intermittently for years over access to grazing, farmland and water. The bad blood re-ignited late last month after the Pokomo accused the pastoralists of grazing cattle on their land. Efforts by top government officials - among them Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who visited the area after the previous attack - have so far failed to defuse the tensions. Jillo Dabacha, who chairs a community security group in the Tana Delta locality, said gunfire broke out last night and continued until dawn. He said the attackers appeared well organised. “They sur-

rounded the Pokomo village and attacked, burning houses and shooting indiscriminately,” Dabacha said. A number of women and children had fled the village and were likely hiding in the surrounding bush, he said.

The region’s police chief, Aggrey Adoli, rejected criticism that a heightened police presence in the area had failed to prevent a retaliation many had expected. “When (police officers) were informed, they rushed (to the scene) and repulsed the attackers, otherwise we would be talking of many more deaths plus destruction,” Adoli told Reuters. Cattle rustling and clashes over grazing and farming land are relatively common between communities in arid areas of east Africa and often escalate into revenge attacks. Such attacks have become increasingly violent in recent years because of a steady influx of weapons across Kenya’s porous borders, in particular from war-ravaged Somalia. — Reuters

Radicalism hits ancient Kenyan city of Mombasa Rogo’s death exposed, exacerbated schism MOMBASA, Kenya: Hardline Muslim clerics. Young people who feel marginalized.

Suspicions that police are responsible for the killings and forced disappearances of extremists. These elements created a combustible mixture that exploded into rioting last week after Aboud Rogo Mohammed, a Muslim preacher accused of links to an Islamist insurgent group in neighboring Somalia, was riddled with bullets as he drove his wife to a hospital for a checkup.

Observers say these events underscore growing fundamentalism in Mombasa, dividing people in a city established centuries ago by Muslim traders from the Arabian peninsula, now home to many people of Arab descent and Somalis.

No one has been arrested for the Aug 27 killing that happened in broad daylight but Rogo’s wife, who was wounded in the leg, immediately suspected the police. “It is you policemen who have killed him, we don’t want a post-mortem or any help from you,” Khaniya Said Sagar told police officers who came to assist her. Rogo was the fifth alleged Muslim extremist who has been killed or who has disappeared in the last four months.

The Masjid Musa mosque where Rogo preached weekly became ground zero of the rioting over two days in which four people, including three members of the security forces, were killed and three churches were damaged. Hundreds of angry young Muslims who took to the streets blamed police for the killing of Rogo. “There is growing religious fundamentalism in Mombasa that is reaching to certain heights that were not there (before),” said the Rev Wilybard Lagho, a Catholic priest who is the chairman of the Coast Inter-Faith Council of clerics, a forum which brings together clerics from several faiths to discuss common concerns.

“Extremism divides people as ‘we versus them’ and that brings tension.”

Hassan Omar Hassan, a former deputy head of the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, knew Rogo, and said the cleric became more outspoken and adopted a hardline stance after he emerged from prison. Rogo had been jailed for the Dec 2002 killing of 13 people in a bomb attack of an Israeliowned hotel at the Kenyan coast and the attempted downing of a jetliner packed

with Israeli tourists. Rogo was charged with murder but was acquitted in a trial. “It was at that point that I started to hear Rogo, after imprisonment, becoming more and more audacious. It appears when he was imprisoned he overcame the fear of adversity,” Hassan said. “He started preaching on international jihad, and subscribed broad ideologies of jihad.”

Police said Rogo had belonged to a terror cell affiliated with Al-Shabab that was planning to bomb Kenyan targets over Christmas. Al-Shabab is an Islamist insurgent group in Somalia that has executed people by stoning and chopped off limbs of suspected thieves. Kenyan troops are among the African Union forces backing the Somali government, and are on the verge of attacking al-Shabab’s last stronghold, the Somali seaside city of Kismayo.

Rogo’s death exposed and exacerbated a schism between the Muslim faithful in Mombasa, which boasts an architectural mix of mosques and minarets from Arab traders, British colonial-style buildings and more recently built high-rises. The mix of disparate cultural influences is evident in the clothing people wear here, from Arabstyle robes, hijab headscarves and burqas to hip-hop style outfits complete with sag-

ging jeans, short skirts and tights. There are worries that the rise of extremism here will upset the tradition of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims and will hurt this city’s important tourism industry.

Youths who were protesting Rogo’s death ignored calls by their local imams, or preachers, to stop the violence, said Hashim Kamau, National Youth Chairman for the Supreme Council of Muslims in Kenya.

Kamau said in an interview that he was sent from Nairobi to calm the youths. Human rights campaigners say it is the Kenyan government’s harsh counterterrorism measures that are pushing Muslim youths toward extremism. Last week’s riots were a culmination of anger building up against the Nairobi government because of the killings and disappearances of five Muslim figures, they say.

“This is a society that has been victim of the government’s counterterrorism measures,” Hassan said. “We have Gestapo kinds of raids in this town. We have had a total flotation of the constitution, sheer disrespect and carelessness on the part of the police officers on how they deal with the sensitivities of the Muslim community and profiling.”—AP

MOMBASA: Kenyan paramilitary soldiers move forward to disperse Muslim youths shouting slogans after Friday prayers outside the Musa Mosque in Majengo area in this Aug 31, 2012 file photo. — AP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Dutch vote spawns some offbeat ideas THE HAGUE: Shutting the Netherlands down on Sundays, protecting an African language and living a work-free life are some of the more offbeat policies being put forward by Dutch parties ahead of Wednesday’s vote. A whopping 21 parties are contesting parliament’s 150 seats in the election, the second in just over two years after government collapsed in April over a disagreement on European Union austerity measures. Should they get their say, the conservative Reformed Political Party (SGP), which currently has two seats in the Lower House, wants to close all shops on Sundays in order for citizens “to go to church”.

The party, which bases itself on strict Christian principles and has never had a woman in parliament since its founding in 1918, advocates a “no work” Sunday,

unless the work is an act of charity or an essential service. In an ideal world the SGP would also like to see an end to Sunday matches that are watched religiously at stadiums and in sitting rooms around the football-mad country because they mean police officers “have to work”, a party official told AFP. The Sovereign Independent Pioneers Netherlands (SOPN), also known as the “UFO party” after its founder UFOlogist Anton Teuben, wants to give every citizen a “living wage” and do away with the necessity of having a job. The SOPN also advocates the ban of future land ownership with the total “land area of the Dutch State being seen as the property of Mother Earth. Current owners can use the land provided they look after it,” the SOPN said in its election manifesto. A

US cargo ship captain arrested in Venezuela CARACAS: Venezuelan authorities have arrested the American captain of a US-flagged cargo ship after finding three rifles on board, according to a crewmember of the vessel and a US embassy official. Local officials, the crewmember said, suspect the vessel of arms trafficking and on Wednesday held crew members, under armed guard, at the rear of the ship while other officials interrogated the captain. The captain, the crewmember added, was then arrested and taken from the ship.

The crewmember, one of the 14 other Americans who staff the ship along with the captain, gave an account of the episode in an email to Reuters and also posted updates on his Facebook page. He asked that he not be identified. The detention followed last month’s arrest of another US citizen, who was accused of entering illegally from neighboring Colombia and denounced as a possible “mercenary” by President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez, a socialist seeking re-election next month, is a ferocious critic of Washington, and his nearly 14-year rule has been characterized by frequent bilateral spats and incidents. The crew member of the “Ocean Atlas” in the email said the vessel has been detained in Maracaibo port, in west Venezuela, since Aug. 29. Venezuelan police, the crew member said, boarded the ship shortly after it moored, saying they had received a tip that the vessel carried illegal drugs. —Reuters

Judge orders gunman to shave or be shaved SAN ANTONIO: A US military judge on Thursday ordered the Fort Hood massacre suspect, Army Major Nidal Hasan, to shave or be forcibly shaved, ruling that his beard is not covered by federal laws protecting religious freedom. Colonel Gregory Gross ruled following a hearing that Hasan’s attorneys failed to prove he has grown the beard, which he has worn since June, for religious reasons. Hasan, 41, has said he grew the beard in line with the beliefs of his Islamic faith, and that it is part of his free exercise of religion.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hasan’s military defense lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, said in court that the defendant had tried to plead guilty last month, a sign that he wanted to “to be accountable” for his actions. Other media, including the New York Times, reported that Poppe told the court that Hasan has offered twice to plead guilty. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the 2009 shootings at the sprawling Army base in central Texas. “Bottom line is, the judge ordered him to be forcibly shaved,” Fort Hood spokesman Tyler Broadway said.

The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled last month that if Gross ordered Hasan to shave, the ruling could be appealed. “It won’t happen until the Army Criminal Court of Appeals or the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces makes a decision,” Broadway said of the shaving. —Reuters

“movement” rather than a party, the SOPN predicted winning this election with a “majority of 76 seats or more” but has not managed a single seat since it started in 2003.In its campaign manifesto, the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), run by eurosceptic anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders said it wanted to push for the preservation of the Afrikaans language in South Africa and Namibia. Spoken by white and mixed-race South Africans, Afrikaans has its roots in 17th-century Dutch spoken by early colonial farmers and slaves, with words borrowed from Indonesian and indigenous languages.

Long associated with the white apartheid government, the forced introduction of Afrikaans in segregated black schools led to bloody riots in 1976 in which almost 600 people died. “We are defending our

Dutch language. Afrikaans is closely related to Dutch... but the language is further being marginalised,” the PVV said.

The Party for Animals (PvdD), currently with two MPs, wants recreational angling banned, demanding also that “fishing lessons” in schools be scrapped.

The party also wants a complete ban on pigeon racing as a sport, saying many of the birds die of exhaustion. The Dutch Electoral Commission struck down 26 other parties who said they wanted to take part in the polls, but failed to hand in valid candidacy lists. Of these, the Party for Humans and Other Earth Dwellers said they had no problem with people taking drugs “but in moderation”. They also advocate free food and drink in supermarkets, financed by income tax gained from citizens. —AFP

Santos rejects FARC call for ceasefire Attacks continue ahead of negotiations BOGOTA/HAVANA: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos rejected a proposal on Thursday by leftist FARC rebels for a bilateral ceasefire during talks next month aimed at bringing an end to half a century of war. The call for both sides to put down their weapons while talks are under way in Norway came earlier from leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia at a news conference in Havana. The proposal and its rejection could complicate the process from the start as Santos is adamant that Colombian military operations would continue across “every centimeter” of the Andean nation.

“I have asked that military operations be intensified, that there will be no ceasefire of any kind,” Santos said during an address at a military base in Tolemaida, close to the capital. “We won’t cede anything at all until we reach the final agreement,” he added. “That should be very clear.” A decade ago, during the last attempt at ending Latin America’s longest-running insurgency, the rebels used a demilitarized area the size of Switzerland to beef up their military operations and establish a multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking network. “One of the differences with past peace processes is that we won’t give up one centimeter of national territory or cease operations, and those principals have to be maintained until the end,” Santos said.

At its news conference, the FARC named two negotiators who will sit with government representatives in Oslo and later in Cuba to try to end a war that has left tens of thousands dead since it began in 1964. “We are going to propose a ceasefire immediately when we sit at the table,” senior FARC commander Mauricio Jaramillo said. “Better said, we are going to fight for it. We are going to discuss it there at the table, but it is one

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia: Boys from the Promises From My Neighborhood boxing school run through the streets, some barefoot, of the San Roque neighborhood on Sept 5, 2012. — AP

of the first points,” he said, announcing that talks would start on Oct 8 in Norway.

Santos said there was no firm start date yet and that talks could continue for as long as nine months. The former defense minister, whose approval rating has fallen in recent months, surprised Colombians this week when he said there would be no ceasefire during peace talks with the FARC. Santos had always demanded that the rebels put down their weapons, free all hostages and stop attacks on military, civilian and economic targets before any negotiations could be considered.

Some analysts have said Santos’ sliding poll numbers put pressure on him to allow the talks to go ahead without a unilateral ceasefire from the FARC. Face-toface discussions while both sides are killing each other in Colombia’s mountains would be difficult to sustain and could weaken the government’s hand,

they said. “The FARC will take advantage of its status as negotiator to appear legitimate to the people, while at the same time using weapons to increase terrorist acts to boost its strength at the negotiating table to break the will of the government,” said Vicente Torrijos, a Colombian political analyst. The two sides have set a agenda for talks that includes the rights of victims, land ownership in rural areas and cocaine production and smuggling.

The FARC was founded in 1964 as a rural insurgency. Its founder, Manuel Marulanda, initially received support from the Soviet Union, Cuba and Colombia’s Communist Party. Now an estimated 8,000 strong, the group is funded mainly by the cocaine trade and extortion and has resorted to recruiting children as support for its Marxist cause has waned. It is considered a terrorist organization by Washington and the European Union. —Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Do US presidential conventions still matter?

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: Are US presidential conventions obsolete relics or important gatherings of party faithful that can still help propel a candidate to the White House? Experts are divided. “The audience numbers are terrible. People aren’t watching,” political expert Larry Sabato told AFP. “Conventions might some day be replaced by some kind of electronic nominating system. I call them dinosaurs that are not yet extinct.”

The data may not back this up. President Barack Obama’s prime-time address on Thursday night broke a new Twitter record for political traffic and even before people had time to digest the speech tweets about the Democratic convention were approaching 10 million.

Figures also showed that 25.1 million people tuned in to the second night of the convention Wednesday, when former president Bill Clinton gave an impassioned speech formally nominating Obama. Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-founder of Pollster.com, admitted it is harder for conventions to provide the kind of poll bounce they used to, but said they still matter. “I wouldn’t write off the impact of the conventions in moving the electorate a little bit,” he said, pointing to Republican nominee John McCain’s significant boost after he and running mate Sarah Palin took the 2008 convention by storm.

For Franklin, the most significant change from the conventions of old is that the rival Democratic and Republican events are now lumped together late in the American summer, closer to election day. This scenario,

Obama sees the change... in himself WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama stood before America Thursday a changed man, no longer a vehement prophet of hope, but a symbol of the perils of change in a nation riven by polarized politics. It is only eight years since Obama erupted into public life with a electrifying call for unity at the 2004 Democratic convention. But with Americans exhausted by wars abroad and economic malaise at home it seems longer, and the strain of crisis leadership is flecked in the president’s gray hair and the dimmed fury of his rhetoric.

In his pitch for a second term at this year’s convention, Obama appeared to admit that his definition of change had narrowed. He introduced toughness in place of poetry, in a speech that did not soar or inspire like his rhetoric of old. There were few of the cascading promises that marked Obama’s convention appearance in 2008 and his address seemed less the work of a man who changed politics than of someone who himself was changed by politics. “The first time I addressed this convention in 2004, I was a younger man; a Senate candidate from Illinois who spoke about hope - not blind optimism or wishful thinking, but hope in the face of difficulty,” Obama said. “Eight years later, that hope has been tested - by the cost of war, by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock that’s left us wondering whether it’s still possible to tackle the challenges of our time.”

Later, Obama was looking into his soul again.

“I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed - and so have I,” he said, vocalizing the burden placed on the man who occupies the Oval Office. “I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President. I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. “I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs.”—AFP

he believes, gives a significant advantage to whoever comes second. This time around that was the Democrats, who on Thursday night nominated Obama for a second term during three days of overblown polit-

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: US Vice President Joe Biden appears on stage as he addresses the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. — AP

ical pomp. “There is certainly the advantage of going second because you know what the other guy said and didn’t say and anything you want to respond to you’re now well-positioned to do so,” Franklin said.

This year’s conventions, just 10 and nine weeks from elections day, were seen as offering Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney a crucial chance to make their cases to the American people and rally their troops in key swing states. But Kyle Kondik, an analyst at Sabato’s department in Virginia, said public interest was on the wane and conventions had little leverage.

“Americans just have more choices in entertainment, and the conventions largely attract partisan viewers,” he said. “Combine that with a highly polarized electorate and it’s just hard for the conventions to have a dramatic effect.”

The meetings are now arguably less dramatic as political parties are more ideologically cohesive than in times gone by. Gone are the dramatic floor fights of old when liberal Republicans from the northeastern states and conservative Democrats from the south would take on their respective establishments. “I think there has been a conversion to a line-up of speakers orchestrated to produce variations on a theme, variations on the same message that you want to build through the three nights of the convention,” Franklin said. “I think is more controlled than it was a couple of decades ago.

More strategic planning: you’re gonna talk about women, you’re gonna talk about small business, you’re gonna talk about Latinos.”—AFP

After upbeat convention, dull Obama disappoints Many wonder what happened to renowned orator WASHINGTON: First lady Michelle Obama was enthralling, former president Bill Clinton inspiring and Vice President Joe Biden endearing but President Barack Obama’s speech brought observers down with a bump. Yesterday, reaction from experts and pundits of both right and left to the US leader’s underwhelming re-election pitch - the supposed climax of his nominating convention - was marked by widespread disappointment. And it wasn’t just the predictable scorn of supporters of the Democratic incumbent’s Republican rival Mitt Romney many on the left were wondering what had happened to the renowned orator who blew them away in 2008.

“This was the rhetorical equivalent, forgive the football metaphor, of running out the clock,” wrote Michael Tomasky, a political correspondent for the Daily Beast news website and leftwing British daily The Guardian. “Obama clearly thinks he’s ahead and just doesn’t need to make mistakes,” he surmised, warning: “But when football teams do that, it often turns out to be the biggest mistake of all, and they lose.” On the website of news monthly The Atlantic, staff writer Molly Ball said Obama appeared to be on the defensive: “The speech was so befuddlingly flat as to make you wonder whether its lameness was intentional.

“The president, that legendary orator, vaunted crowd-mover, well-known sweeper-away of audiences in general and political conventions in particular, gave a warmed-over rehash of his stump speech,” she complained. Expectations were high, perhaps explaining some of the disappointment. Obama has won himself a reputation as an arresting speaker. In 2004, the then junior senator gave a speech to the same forum, the Democratic National Convention, that is credited with launching his rapid rise to power.

In 2008, running for president himself, he

inspired hopes of a generational change in US politics with a stirring campaign promising voters hope and what his campaign dubbed: “Change you can believe in.” Then he was confronted by the reality of the global economic crisis and, when his party lost control of Congress, with two years of political trench warfare with a Republican majority determined to thwart his plans. With joblessness persistently high and economic growth weak, many expected greater humility from Obama as he went back to the people to ask for four more years to carry through his program, but even they were surprised.

Observers noted that he had been outshone by the Democrats’ starry line up in the warm-up

to his speech over three days this week at the nominating convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The popular first lady, Michelle Obama, gave a moving and compelling account of the Obama’s personal character on Tuesday night, and then on Wednesday former president Bill Clinton brought the house down. No one could match Clinton’s star power, but on Thursday failed presidential candidate Senator John Kerry mocked Romney’s limited foreign policy experience and Vice President Biden warmed up the hall for his boss. Then came Obama, reworking his “hope” theme, but when he humbly gave credit to the American people, he did so in the past tense: “You were the change.”—AFP

CHARLOTTE: US President Barack Obama accepts to run for a second term as president at the Time Warner Cable Arena late on Thursday, on the final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Unrest threatens B’desh’s key garment export DHAKA: Bangladesh’s $19 billion garments industry attracts some of the world’s biggest clothing brands because of low costs, but many retailers say unrest over pay and delayed shipping schedules are eroding that advantage. The killing of a labour activist and increasing publicity of unsanitary and unsafe working conditions at the country’s 4,500 garment factories is also making some retailers worried about their reputation.

Bangladeshi factories make clothes for brands including Tesco, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, H&M , Marks & Spencer, Kohl’s and Carrefour. Wages are as low as $37 a month for some workers.

In June, more than 300 factories near the capital Dhaka were shut for almost a week until the government and factory owners promised to con-

sider pay demands and persuaded them to return to work. “Unrest in the readymade garment sector is a major concern for us,” said a country manager of a large international wholesale customer, primarily located in the United States. “We have calculated that a two-week work disruption in factories producing 1.5 million units of garments daily would lead up to $8 million losses,” the manager said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.

The garments manufacturing sector earned $19 billion in the year to June 2012, one of the impoverished nation’s biggest industries.

Bangladesh is the world’s biggest exporter of clothing after China.

Readymade garments make up 80

percent of the country’s $24 billion in annual exports. Consultancy firm McKinsey & Company has said Bangladesh can double its garments exports in the next 10 years. But conditions in the industry are below standard. Besides scanty pay, working conditions and safety standards are poor, employees and some analysts say.

Nazma Begum, a worker at a factory at Ashulia, near Dhaka, said the main cause of unrest was low pay, which barely covered family costs.

“Now I get 4,200 taka ($51) per month which should be raised to at least 6,000 taka,” she said. “I spend almost one-third of my wage for hiring a one room shelter while the prices of all daily necessaries are going gone up. Unless our pay is

raised accordingly, there will be more unrest.” Salma Begum, 35, added: “I have three children and my husband is a rickshaw puller.

Together we earn about 6,500 taka ($80) a month but still we are in debt, often borrowing from friends.”

Bangladesh’s 4 million garment workers are mostly women, who work 1015 hours a day, six days a week. Some factory owners employ thugs to put down protests. In April, labour activist Aminul Islam was found murdered and his body bore signs of torture. No one has been arrested. Human Rights Watch said the killing raised the possibility of government involvement because Islam had been detained and tortured by security officials in the past. Officials dismissed the suggestion. — Reuters

Girl granted bail in Pak blasphemy case

Girl to be reunited with family at secret location

HELMAND, Afghanistan: Britain’s Prince Harry (left) is shown the Apache flight-line yesterday by a member of his squadron at Camp Bastion, where he will be operating from during his tour of duty as a co-pilot gunner. — AP

Prince Harry in Afghanistan to fly helicopters LONDON: Britain’s Prince Harry has returned to Afghanistan to fly attack helicopters on the frontline just two weeks after he was photographed frolicking naked in Las Vegas. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Friday that Queen Elizabeth’s grandson would serve a fourmonth tour, based out of Camp Bastion in Helmand Province - one of the most volatile regions in the country where Britain has been fighting alongside the United States against the local Taliban since 2001. “Working alongside his colleagues in the squadron, he will be in a difficult and demanding job,” said Lieutenant Colonel Tom de la Rue in a statement.

The prince, known in the military as Captain Wales, first served in Afghanistan in 2008 as an on-ground air controller, but his tour was cut short after foreign media broke a news blackout requested to protect him while on the front line. The MoD said the danger was less severe in helicopters. “Captain Wales’s deployment has been long planned and the threat to him and others around him thoroughly assessed,” the ministry said.

The 27-year-old, who is regularly in the headlines due to his penchant for partying, has spoken out about his desire to return to active service. “I would love to go back, I really would,” he told ABC’s “Good Morning America” TV program in 2010.

“At the end of the day you train for war, it’s as simple as that. If we could be at peace then fantastic, but if we’re at war then you want to be with your brothers in arms.”

Prince Harry is the first member of the Royal Family to see active combat since his uncle Prince Andrew fought in the Falklands war. — Reuters

ISLAMABAD: A Christian girl arrested in Pakistan for defaming Islam was granted bail yesterday, a judge said, days after police detained a Muslim cleric on suspicion of planting evidence to frame her in a case that caused an international outcry. Rimsha Masih, believed to be 14, may be in danger if she is set free and stays in Pakistan. Her arrest last month angered religious and secular groups worldwide but protests in Pakistan attracted only a handful of supporters. In Muslim Pakistan, the mere allegation of causing offence to Islam can mean death.

Those accused under an anti-blasphemy law are sometimes lynched by the public even if they are found innocent by the courts.

The girl would be reunited with her family at a location that was being kept secret for security reasons, said Robinson Asghar, an aide to Minister for National Harmony Paul Bhatti.

There were no plans to send Masih abroad, Bhatti told Reuters. “I am really satisfied and happy,” he said. “I believe justice has prevailed.” Masih was accused by Muslim neighbours of burning Islamic religious texts and arrested, but police recently said a cleric had been taken into custody after witnesses reported he had torn pages from a Quran and planted them in Masih’s bag beside burned papers.

In Masih’s impoverished village on the edge of Islamabad, some said they were disappointed that she had not been sentenced. “This is wrong. She burned the Quran,” said resident Ijaz Sarwar near the local mosque. Nearby, Saddam Hussein, 18, expressed sympathies for the cleric accused of framing Masih. “If she is freed, the maulvi (cleric) should be freed as well,” he said.

There were conflicting accounts of how much bail would have to be paid

but Masih’s lawyer said it was about the equivalent of $10,000.

Activists and human rights groups say vague terminology has led to the anti-blasphemy law’s misuse, and that it dangerously discriminates against tiny minority groups. Human Rights Watch welcomed Masih’s release and urged authorities to consider reforming the law. “This child should not have been behind bars at all. All charges against her should be dropped,” the international rights group said in a statement. “Pakistan’s criminal justice system should instead concentrate on holding her accuser accountable for inciting violence against the child and members of the local Christian community.” More than a million people globally have signed a petition started

by Masih’s father for her release. But despite the international condemna-

tion, many Pakistanis support the blasphemy law. Last year, Punjab province governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by his bodyguard for suggesting the law be reformed.

Lawyers hailed Taseer’s killer as a hero, tossing rose petals at him after he was arrested. Taseer had been defending a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who was jailed on blasphemy charges. She is still in jail on death row. Two months after Taseer’s murder, Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was killed by the Taliban for demanding changes to the law. Christians living in the Mehrabad suburb, where Rimsha was denounced, are talking about leaving. “Several Christian families have already left and our landlords came telling us that they can no longer guarantee our security,” said Yusef Masih, a father of eight. —Agencies

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan minister for national harmony Paul Bhatti (right) and Christian girl Rimsha’s lawyer Tahir Naveed Chaudhry address a press conference yesterday. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Fears in Pakistan as US blacklists Haqqanis ISLAMABAD: The United States is to blacklist as a terror group the Haqqani network, founded by a CIA asset turned Al-Qaeda ally and probably the most dangerous faction in the Afghan Taleban. But there are fears that it could drag Pakistan, where its leaders are based, closer towards the pariah-like status of state sponsor of terror and jeopardise the prospect of peace talks with the Taleban and any prospect of a solution to the war in Afghanistan. So who are the Haqqanis? Why are they being blacklisted? What threat do they represent and what are the implications for Pakistan?

The network’s founder is Jalaluddin Haqqani, a disciplined Afghan guerrilla leader bankrolled by the United States to fight Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s and now based with his family in Pakistan. In the 1980s Jalaluddin was close to the CIA and Pakistani intelligence. He allied himself to the Taliban after they took power in Kabul in 1996, serving as a cabinet minister under the militia’s supreme leader, Mullah Omar.

When American troops arrived after the 9/11 attacks Haqqani looked up old friends and sought refuge in North Waziristan, becoming one of the first anti-US commanders based in Pakistan’s border areas. He has training bases in eastern Afghanistan, is

close to Al-Qaeda and his fighters are active across east and southeastern Afghanistan and in the capital Kabul. Militarily the most capable of the Taliban factions, the network operates independently but remains loyal to Mullah Omar and would probably fall behind any peace deal negotiated by the Taleban leadership. Now in his late 70s and frail, Jalaluddin’s seat on the Afghan Taliban leadership council has passed to his son Sirajuddin, who effectively runs a fighting force of at least 2,000 men.

The United States blames the network for some of the most spectacular attacks in Afghanistan, such as a 2011 siege on the US embassy and, in 2009, the deadliest attack on the CIA in 25 years. Washington has long since designated Jalaluddin and Sirajuddin “global terrorists” but in July Congress urged the State Department to blacklist the entire network. It comes at a critical juncture, with US President Barack Obama seeking re-election and violence again on the rise in Afghanistan as NATO combat troops prepare to leave in 2014.

Supporters of the designation say the financial sanctions will help disrupt the Haqqani network’s fundraising activities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to The New York Times, their business interests include car dealerships,

money exchanges, construction companies, import-export operations and smuggling networks. But Pakistanis fear it could further worsen ties between Islamabad and Washington just as cooperation had

Jalaluddin Haqqani resumed after a series of major crises in 2011, particularly the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

“Any such decision will take the relationship back to square one, ruining the improvement seen in ties between the two countries during the last couple of months,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. Last year, the outgoing top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, called the Haqqanis the “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s ISI

Indian FM visits Pak amid thaw New visa regime to be announced ISLAMABAD: India’s foreign minister landed in Pakistan for talks yesterday, the latest sign of a thaw in relations between two countries that have fought three major wars against each other. The three-day visit by S M Krishna is not expected to produce breakthroughs on the major conflicts between the two neighbors, including the disputed territory of Kashmir. But Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, are expected to announce a new visa regime that will make travel easier in both directions.

“A new and liberalized visa agreement has been finalized,” Krishna said in an interview published Friday in Pakistan’s The Express Tribune. “It seeks to introduce or considerably improve visa facilities for tourists, businessmen, elderly and those wishing to visit their relations and friends.”

It can currently be difficult for citizens of either country to get a visa to visit the other. Pakistan and India have been at odds ever since they were both carved out of British India in 1947 amid religious bloodshed on both sides. Pakistan was formed as a Muslim-majority state, while the predominant religion in India is Hinduism.

Relations reached a recent low point in 2008 when Pakistan-based militants killed over 160 people in the Indian city of Mumbai. Indian officials have blamed Pakistan’s intelligence agency for supporting the militant group Lashkar-eTaiba that is blamed for the attack, and has demanded the government punish those responsible. “India has repeatedly stressed, including at the highest level, the need for an expeditious and successful conclusion of the trial in Pakistan relating to those involved with the Mumbai terror attacks,” said Krishna in his interview.

Pakistan has denied any connection to the attack.

Lashkar-e-Taiba was formed with Pakistani support in the 1990s to pressure India over Kashmir, but Islamabad claims it has cut off ties to the group. Despite the disagreement over the Mumbai attack, relations between the two countries have improved somewhat over the last year, especially with

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar shakes hands with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna yesterday. — AP respect to trade. Pakistan announced late last year that it would grant India “Most Favored Nation” trade status, which would reduce tariffs. New Delhi gave that status to Pakistan in 1996. The announcement was seen as significant because it indicated Pakistan’s powerful army supported greater trade with India to improve the nation’s flagging economy.

The army had always been seen as a barrier to a better relationship with India. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a visit to India in April. He was the first Pakistani head of state to visit the country in seven years. In July, Zardari invited Singh to visit Pakistan, but New Delhi may need to see more progress against militancy for that to happen. Singh told Zardari on the sidelines of a recent summit in Iran that “there must be a general feeling that Pakistan was doing all that it can to deal with terrorism directed against India from Pakistan’s soil,” according to Krishna. — AP

spy agency, although other American officials later distanced themselves from the remarks. Pakistani analysts argue that the Haqqanis can never be defeated, that sanctions will have little effect because the network moves its money through unofficial channels and that blacklisting the group could jeopardise peace talks with the Taleban.

Saifullah Khan Mahsud, executive director of the FATA Research Center - a think tank that focuses on the tribal belt - said it was a contradiction to try to isolate the Haqqanis.

“Now they say they want to talk to Mullah Omar but not to the Haqqanis, that’s stupid.

Talk to all of them, talk to everybody,” he told AFP. He accused the United States of trying to create a rift among insurgents and put pressure on Pakistan, which has long refused to launch an operation against the network. Pakistani officials have in the past admitted to contact with the Haqqanis as a hedge for influence when US troops leave Afghanistan, but deny supporting their operations and downplay the group’s importance. Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Pakistani journalist specialising in the tribal areas, said the possibility of “real talks” on peace in Afghanistan - suspended last March - would be impossible while the US continued to kill Haqqani fighters. — AFP

Fears for Indian parliament NEW DELHI: India’s parliament broke up yesterday at the end of an almost entirely wasted legislative session that was blocked by protests, leading to concern about the health of the world’s biggest democracy. Opposition lawmakers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who are demanding the prime minister resigns over a coal scandal, staged noisy protests NEW DELHI: Indian Prime for the 16th working day Minister Manmohan Singh in a row in both houses arrives to address the of parliament. Faced with media yesterday. — AP lawmakers shouting and waving papers, the parliamentary speakers of both chambers were left with no choice but to halt proceedings shortly after midday on the final day of the current session. “It is unfortunate that the house was not allowed to function,” a lawmaker from the ruling Congress party, Jagdambika Pal, lamented to AFP outside the heavily guarded building in the centre of the capital. “The BJP is responsible... they have made a mockery of parliamentary democracy.” Parliamentarians have deliberated on legislation for just 25 out of a possible 120 hours during the monsoon session which began on August 8, according to PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based independent study group.

Only four bills were cleared by both houses, despite as many as 30 being listed for debate on issues such as pensions, land acquisition, tax reform and corruption.

Three of them were cleared inside 20 minutes on Monday without any discussion, in line with a trend since 2009 according to which one in every five bills is passed after a debate of less than five minutes, PRS says.

The dysfunction of this parliament, which also wasted an entire session in winter 2010 due to protests by the opposition, has fed a sense of legislative deadlock and drift in a country home to 1.2 billion people. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Myanmar’s ‘88 Generation’ mull next move YANGON: Their youthful defiance of a brutal junta that locked them up for years turned Myanmar’s “88 Generation” student activists into national heroes. As the country reforms, many wonder if it will also make them politicians. Freed along with scores of other political prisoners in January, it did not take long for the movement’s leader Min Ko Naing and his deputy Ko Ko Gyi to regain their fighting spirit. “I want to change society,” Ko Ko Gyi told AFP in the group’s small dilapidated Yangon headquarters, which plays daily host to a steady stream of monks, activists and foreign diplomats.

But it is not - so far - a political organisation, concentrating instead on grassroots activity while other veterans of the democracy movement, most notably Nobel laure-

ate Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, concentrate on their new parliamentary roles.

“We deeply consider what we should do for the future. Some of the leaders are actively engaged in politics and some remain in social work. We are trying to cooperate with political parties and social organisations,” Ko Ko Gyi said. The former protest leaders - whose 1988 mass demonstrations were the greatest test of the military’s stranglehold on Myanmar - remain determined to “perform our duty”, he said, although it remains to be seen exactly what their role might be.

As students two decades ago, the 88 Generation figures raised a huge movement against the junta, with protests spreading from major universities to the streets of Yangon and then the whole

country. Reviled strongman Ne Win stepped down after several months of demonstrations, but the army kept its grip on the country and a huge August rally was crushed in a bloody crackdown that left at least 3,000 people dead. Despite their failure to topple the junta the rallies planted the seeds of political struggle in the minds of a generation. They also gave rise to the country’s most famous dissidents, including Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San. Suu Kyi was swept up in the protests during a family visit to Myanmar from her home in Britain and soon became a prominent activist at the helm of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Years later, dozens of heavyweights of the 80s remain at the forefront of the democracy

movement. But the context has changed dramatically. The junta handed power to a quasi-civilian regime - albeit dominated by former soldiers - in a bloodless political transition in March 2011. A series of reforms ensued that have been praised by the opposition and the West.

Suu Kyi, having supported her party’s boycott of controversial 2010 polls, decided to participate in a landmark April byelection that saw her easily win a seat in parliament. She is now setting her sights firmly on a 2015 general election that could bring the biggest transformation in the country’s political landscape since the army seized power half a century ago. The vote, which many expect to herald an NLD victory, may be the first in Myanmar to be truly labelled democratic. —AFP

Clinton heads to new rifts at APEC summit Brunei ‘nervous’ on how to manage disputes

PYONGYANG: Rev Hyung-jin Moon (left) the youngest son of the late Rev Sun Myung Moon shakes hands with Thae Hyong Chol, secretary general of the Presidium of North Korea, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall yesterday. —AP

N Korea sends wreath to Moon’s family SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has sent a wreath to the family of Sun Myung Moon, the deceased founder of the Unification Church, state media said yesterday. Kim sent the wreath, expressing “deep condolences” over Moon’s death, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. Hyung Jin Moon, Moon’s youngest son and successor as church leader, received the wreath through Jang Song-Thaek and senior party official Kim Yang-Gon, it said. Jang, whose wife is the sister of the North’s late leader Kim Jong-Il, is seen as a key figure in the North’s power elite and supports the young ruler, who is in his late 20s.

Moon also received the North’s “National Reunification Prize” conferred by the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (parliament), the agency said. The prize was also conveyed to Moon Hyung Jin, who crossed the border early yesterday to receive North Korean mourners, it said. “Moon positively contributed to realising the nation’s reconciliation and unity and the country’s peaceful reunification and achieving the prosperity common to the nation,” the agency said. “It’s not clear whether Kim met Hyung Jin Moon, who is expected to carry the wreath when he comes back tommorrow,” church spokesman Ahn Ho-Yeol told AFP. Sun Myung Moon, the self-styled messiah who founded the church famed for its mass weddings and business empire, spanning cars to sushi, died Monday at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia.

Although a staunch anti-communist, Moon began building a relationship with North Korea in the 1990s, visiting Pyongyang in 1991 to meet with then leader Kim Il-Sung for talks that touched on reunification of the divided peninsula. The unscheduled trip sparked speculation that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un may meet Hyung Jin Moon to convey his condolences in person.

Kim on Wednesday issued a public message of condolence over Moon’s death but stopped short of sending mourners to the South.

This was despite the fact that Moon had sent Unification Church delegations including some of his family members - to the funerals of both Kim Il-Sung in 1994 and Kim Jong-Il last year. Hyung Jin Moon was accompanied by Park Sang-Kwon, president of an automaking joint venture the church established in North Korea in 1999. —AFP

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed yesterday to an Asia-Pacific summit torn by disputes between China and its neighbours after a tour aimed at unifying Southeast Asia. After spending much of her 11-day tour focused on the tense South China Sea, Clinton will attend the summit in Vladivostok, Russia, where friction is rife between China and Japan as well as between US allies Japan and South Korea. Clinton yesterday met with students in an initiative funded by the tiny gas-rich sultanate of Brunei for US instruction in English in Southeast Asia, part of an effort to raise economic potential in poorer parts of the region.

Clinton dined Thursday with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who invited her delegation to his imposing palace full of giant neon floral patterns and sparkling lights in the palm trees. With the stop in Brunei, Clinton became the first US secretary of state to visit all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where several governments are engaged in bitter ter-

ritorial disputes with China. President Barack Obama’s administration has put a high priority on building relations with ASEAN, seeing the bloc as economically dynamic and mostly USfriendly. Clinton has urged ASEAN unity in the face of a rising China.

Clinton, who met much of China’s top leadership on a visit to Beijing on Wednesday, said that she had hoped on the tour to see ways forward on the region’s territorial disputes but would stand firm on US interests. “The United States - certainly I - am not going to shy away from standing up for our strategic interests, and in expressing clearly where we differ,” Clinton told reporters Thursday on a stop in East Timor. “The mark of a mature relationship - whether it’s between nations or between people - is not whether we agree on everything, because that is highly unlikely between nations and people, but whether we can work through the issues that are difficult,” she said.

Clinton has voiced hope that China and Southeast Asian nations will work on a code of conduct to manage dis-

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (third left, front) poses with Brunei’s Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed Bolkiah (third right, front) during a family photo for the inaugural launch of the Brunei-US English Language Enrichment Project for ASEAN at Universiti Brunei Daussalam yesterday. —AFP

putes, ideally in time for an East Asia Summit in Cambodia in November.

Brunei, which also has territorial disputes with China, takes over the helm of ASEAN and the East Asia Summit next year. A US official travelling with Clinton said that Brunei was “nervous” about how to manage the disputes and did not want to appear to take sides between China and the United States.

The official said that easing tensions was in the interest of all sides but that Asia has seen “a very certain and definite rise in nationalism, which triggers issues associated with territory, with history and with politics”. “It is a very potent brew and it leads to really unpredictable circumstances,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

China and Japan, Asia’s two largest economies, are not expected to hold a summit on the sidelines of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation talks in Vladivostok as a dispute flares over islands in the East China Sea. Possibly more alarming for the United States, tensions have soared between its two main allies in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, whose leaders are also likely to avoid one another at the 21-member APEC summit. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, long seen as one of the closest foreign allies of Obama, outraged Japan by making an unprecedented trip to disputed islands in the Sea of Japan, known in Korean as the East Sea. Clinton is taking part in the summit instead of Obama, who hosted last year’s APEC meet in Hawaii but had other priorities this time as he delivered his re-election campaign speech at the Democratic convention in North Carolina.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Clinton only briefly as she is not a head of state, his top foreign policy aide said. However, Clinton plans talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that are expected to focus on the two countries’ sharp differences over Syria. —AFP

Xstrata surges on revised Glencore bid

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Lufthansa and unions hint at new talks to end strike

Business

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Japan govt could run out of money by Nov

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

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APEC seeks growth boost despite politics, tensions

MANILA: Applicants wait for screening during a jobs fair conducted by Cebu Pacific, the country’s second largest airline, at a hotel at the financial district of Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines yesterday. — AP

Grim jobs market confronts Obama Weak report strengthens case for Fed action WASHINGTON: US jobs growth slowed sharply in August, setting the stage for the Federal Reserve to pump additional money into the sluggish economy next week and dealing a blow to President Barack Obama as he seeks re-election.

Nonfarm payrolls increased only 96,000 last month, the Labor Department said yesterday. While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in July, that was because so many Americans gave up the hunt for work. The survey of households from which the jobless rate is derived actually showed a drop in employment.

“This weak employment report, in jobs, wages, hours worked and participation is probably the last piece the Fed needs before launching another round of quantitative easing next week,” said Joseph Trevisani, chief market strategist at Worldwide Markets in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

The lackluster report piled pressure on Obama ahead of the November vote in which the health of the economy looms large. “This report underscores President Obama’s failed promises to get our economy moving again,” House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said in a statement. “Wages are stagnant, gas prices and health care costs are up, our national debt has surpassed $16 trillion, and millions of

Americans remain out of work or underemployed.”

The data dampened spirits in US stock markets, which opened marginally higher. Treasury debt prices rallied and the dollar slipped against the euro to its lowest in nearly four months as traders increased bets the Fed would launch a third round of bond buying at a meeting next Wednesday and Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to rise 125,000 last month, but some had pushed their forecasts higher after upbeat data on Thursday.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said the labor market’s stagnation was a “grave concern,” a comment that raised expectations for a further easing of monetary policy. The economy has experienced three years of growth since the 2007-09 recession, but the expansion has been grudging and the jobless rate has held above 8 percent for 43 straight months- the longest stretch since the Great Depression.

The jobless rate peaked at 10 percent in October 2009, but progress reducing it stalled this year, threatening Obama’s bid for a second term. An online Reuters/Ipsos poll on Thursday gave Republican Challenger Mitt Romney a 1-point edge on Obama, 45 percent to 44 percent.

Republicans were quick to seize on the fact that

the unemployment rate has held above 8 percent for essentially Obama’s entire term. Democrats sought to find a silver lining. “Today we learned that the economy added 96,000 jobs in August, marking 30 consecutive months of private sector job growth,” Senator Bob Casey, the Democratic chairman of the congressional Joint Economic Committee said in a statement.

The lack of headway putting Americans back to work has put the question of further monetary stimulus on the table at the Fed. The central bank has held interest rates close to zero for nearly four years and pumped about $2.3 trillion into the economy through two bouts of bond buying, or quantitative easing.

“This is certainly a disappointing report and increases the odds for QE, which were already reasonably high,” said David Sloan, an economist at 4CAST in New York. Economists said at the very least the Fed appeared set to push further into the future its conditional pledge to keep rates near zero through late 2014. Futures traders added to bets on Friday that the central bank would keep rates near zero until at least the second quarter of 2015.

The weak tenor of the report was also emphasized by revisions to June and July data to show 41,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.

In addition, the labor force participation rate, or the percentage of Americans who either have a job or are looking for one, fell to 63.5 percent-the lowest since September 1981.

A total of 368,000 people gave up looking for work in August, the household survey showed. Since the beginning of the year, job growth has averaged 139,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011. The latest gain left the economy 4.7 million jobs in the hole since a brutal recession struck in December 2007, and that does not take into account population growth, which would make the deficit even greater.

Economists blame fears of the so-called US fiscal cliff- the $500 billion or so in expiring tax cuts and government spending reductions set to take hold at the start of next year unless Congress acts-and Europe’s long-running debt problems, for the slowdown in hiring. Job creation last month was weak across the board, with manufacturing payrolls falling 15,000, the first decline since September last year.

Factory jobs were inflated in July because automobile manufacturers kept plants running when they would normally shut them for retooling.There was little improvement in construction employment, which added 1,000 jobs. Temporary hiring fell 4,900, declining for the first time since March. —Reuters

business SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

EgyptAir resumes international flights CAIRO: Egypt’s national air carrier said it resumed international flights yesterday after the airline’s flight attendants suspended a 12-hour strike pending negotiations to meet their grievances. EgyptAir had grounded its international flights from Cairo since dawn due to the strike, filling terminals with grounded passengers. Flight attendants said they stopped work after repeated negotiations to improve their work conditions have failed.

Labor unrest has become common in Egypt since the popular uprising last year that toppled longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Unions complain of rampant corruption and outdated laws, demanding the replacing of officials and the restructuring of state-run companies.

An air traffic controllers’ strike last year delayed flights and caused pas-

sengers to be stranded. Hundreds of passengers crowded into the airport on Friday, some protesting the disruption of their travel plans and arguing with airport staff. Security checkpoints were set up on the road to the airport to keep passengers from swelling the number of grounded travelers in the departure halls, but some who were intent on travelling got out of their cars to avoid the roadblocks and walked to the terminals, carrying their luggage.

Tourism Minister Hesham Zaazoua turned up at the airport to calm the angry passengers and explain the standoff. Company officials said as many as 20 international flights were cancelled, but domestic flights were not affected. EgyptAir cabin crew employees accuse the company of understaffing flights to cut costs. The attendants are also calling for an

increase in their benefits and restructuring of their sector. “We informed civil aviation officials of the strike time after they procrastinated in meeting our legitimate demands for 16 years,” said Tamer el-Sioufi, a spokesman for the flight attendants.

A legal advisor to Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi met with the strikers and granted some concessions: a new sector in the airline’s holding company to manage the affairs of flight attendants, and an increase of male attendants per flight to take the load off female cabin crews, said Abdel-Aziz Fadel, deputy head of EgyptAir holding company.

The attendants agreed to suspend their strike from 5 p.m. local time (3 pm GMT) until Sunday to enable further negotiations, Fadel said.

“EgyptAir losses from the extended strike are somewhere between $20 to

$30 million amid already deteriorating business conditions,” Fadel told reporters.

Roushdy Zakaria, chairman of the board of EgyptAir, told a local radio station that the company is unable to meet the financial demands of the attendants because the airline has absorbed major losses since the uprising. In the wake of the turmoil, tourism to Egypt has dropped considerably, cutting into EgyptAir’s passenger volume. Zakaria said if the financial demands of the attendants are met, that would prompt other employees of the company to demand similar treatment, straining the budget of the 80-year-old flagship airline. Last October, air traffic controllers staged a work stoppage to demand better work conditions, causing delays of scores of flights and leaving passengers stranded for hours at Cairo’s airport. — AP

Xstrata surges on revised Glencore bid Qatar resisted offer, seeking improved terms

NEW YORK: Specialist Thomas A. Bishop works on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. Stocks hit four-year highs Thursday on news of a long-anticipated plan to support struggling countries in the European Union. — AP

European shares set 13-month high LONDON: European shares extended gains to hit a 13month high yesterday, continuing to draw support from the European Central Bank’s bond buying plan unveiled in the previous session, and with investors also betting on an improvement in US jobs figures due later.

Sentiment further improved after German exports unexpectedly edged up in July and on news that China, the world’s top commodities consumer, approved 60 infrastructure projects this week in a bid to boost the economy.

Cyclical sectors, which generally derive strength from an improvement in economic activity, led the rally. Banks, miners and construction shares rose 1.7 to 2.1 percent.

French bank Natixis rose 4.7 percent. Euro zone banks, up 3 percent, have shot up 47 percent since ECB President Mario Draghi said in late July the bank was ready to take all the necessary measures to save the euro. Spain’s IBEX has surged 33 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB is up 29 percent.

At 0822 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.5 percent at 1,109.963 points after rising to a high of 1,113.22, the highest since July 2011. The index climbed 2.6 percent on Thursday after the ECB agreed to launch a new and potentially unlimited bond-buying programme.

“I am positive on the market in the near term. You have got the policy response coming through, valuations are still OK and the macroeconomic backdrop isn’t all that bad. These three things add to the momentum in the market,” Graham Bishop, equity strategist at Exane BNP Paribas, said. — Reuters

LONDON/ZUG: Commodity trader Glencore has raised its offer for miner Xstrata to salvage a bid, now worth about $37 billion, that appeared to be heading for the rocks after Xstrata shareholder Qatar held out for more.

Xstrata said Glencore was now proposing to offer 3.05 new shares for every Xstrata share, up from 2.8, with Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg to become CEO of the combined group, instead of Xstrata boss Mick Davis as originally envisaged.

Xstrata said Glencore was also suggesting a possible change to the structure of the deal that could allow it to pass more easily with a simple majority of shareholders. Glencore’s bid had been teetering on the brink of collapse after Xstrata’s second-largest shareholder, Qatar, with 12 percent, said it would vote against the deal unless it was improved.

Glencore Chairman Simon Murray earlier cancelled a meeting with shareholders in Zug, Switzerland, that had been called to vote on the merger, saying there had been “overnight developments”. Xstrata shares were up 6.4 percent at 1,041.5 pence at 1000 GMT. Glencore’s shares were down 5.2 percent at 371.95p, which would value each Xstrata share at 1,134.45p under the new ratio.

Under the deal’s original structure, holders of just 16.5 percent of Xstrata shares would have needed to vote against the tie-up for the deal to collapse, and Qatar said last week it would vote against, making it very unlikely the bid could have gone through without an improvement.

Glencore left the door open for a change to that structure, as the new

bid will consider both a scheme of arrangement, the current structure, and a straightforward takeover.

Xstrata’s board and shareholders are expected to resist this change, which would allow Glencore to buy shares offered in to a tender, as non-executives had sought to ensure Glencore would either get full control of the miner or remain at its current shareholding.

“The potential change of structure from scheme of arrangement to a takeover is significant. It makes forcing the deal through more likely,” said one of Xstrata’s largest 40 investors.

“I’ve no idea if the Qataris will go for the revised ratio. Clearly they are still important, but if the deal becomes a

takeover, then the Qataris are less crucial.” Qatar and Glencore had not met since the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund demanded an improvement in June to the trader’s offer, and both sides had said they would stick to their positions. “We believe that Qatar will probably accept this 3.05. It’s a little bit higher than we thought. We thought it would be about 3.0. But obviously that’s great for Xstrata shareholders,” said Brewin Dolphin analyst Nik Stanojevic. “I’m very satisfied with the new terms. I think we would be disappointed if we were Glencore shareholders, but we are happy because we are Xstrata,” said Thomas Mitsoulis, asset manager for an Xstrata shareholder. — Reuters

ZUG: People stage a protest during the shareholders assembly of the mining group Xstrata yesterday in Zug. A blockbuster merger between Swiss commodities giant Glencore and Xstrata may be salvaged as Glencore offered to raise its offer, after shareholder Qatar demanded better terms.

Glencore had flatly refused to budge, but after a last-minute adjournment of a crucial vote on the merger today, it made its new offer to exchange 3.05 of the new group’s shares for every Xstrata share. — AFP

business

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Greece’s lenders arrive for crucial audit ATHENS: Chief auditors of international lenders are to arrive in debt-wracked Greece yesterday on a crucial mission which will decide if Athens gets extra time to implement tough austerity in exchange for desperately needed loans.

The troika of creditors-International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank-have been demanding that Athens makes up for lost time following delays brought on by back-to-back elections that caused a two-month political deadlock.

But Greece has been pleading for some “breathing space” to carry out billions in spending cuts required in exchange for rescue loans. Demonstrators are due to add further pressure on the government today, with the country’s two main unions calling a protest in Greece’s second biggest city Thessaloniki against further cuts as the country roils in its fifth year of recession.

As yet, the coalition government has not finalised a new austerity programme to implement the cuts necessary to receive the next instalment of its EU-IMF rescue loans. Auditors, whose crucial report is expected in October, are due to meet Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras on Sunday, while no date has been given on their meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Samaras was also due to hold talks with EU President Herman Van Rompuy on Friday afternoon. A favourable assessment from the auditors is necessary for the release of a 31.5 billion euro ($39.9 billion) loan installment, which Greece desperately needs as part of a promised 130-billion-euro bailout from the EU and the IMF. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both said that the results of the troika assessment would determine

their decision on whether to grant Greece extra time.

If approved, most of the next tranche of rescue loans will be spent on recapitalising Greek banks which took a heavy blow in a Greek sovereign debt rollover earlier this year. Auditors will also look at the new round of cuts amounting to around 11.6 billion euros.

The measures reportedly include a 3.5-billion-euro slash to pensions, health cuts worth 1.47 billion euros and a 517million-euro reduction to defence. Key state staff paid under so-called ‘special salary schemes’-a group that includes police, firemen, clerics, diplomats, judges and the military-are also facing an average pay cut of 12 percent, according to reports.

Samaras has promised that this will be the last round of cuts but Greeks on all sides are expressing outrage at any

further austerity. Local press revealed discord among leaders of the coalition, reporting that the two junior partners were seeking a meeting with Samaras ahead of the troika’s session with the finance minister.

“It is certain that the measures being prepared will test the social cohesion and stability of the coalition government’s cohesion, but they are absolutely necessary in order to obtain financing for Greece from international lenders,” said Platon Monokroussos, chief economist of Eurobank said.

Hospital doctors and judges took to the streets this week, and security forces also demonstrated on Thursday evening against reported salary cuts.

Unions are planning a major march in Thessaloniki today where Samaras is due to open an annual fair before returning to Athens. —AFP

Lufthansa and unions hint at new talks to end strike No immediate plans for further strikes

CERNOBBIO: US economist Nouriel Roubini, center, speaks during a meeting on the world economy in Cernobbio, Italy, yesterday. Experts and leaders gathered in Italy to discuss the global financial crisis. —AP

UK unveils oil field tax breaks to drive growth LONDON: Britain will offer new tax breaks to encourage investment in older oil and gas fields in the North Sea as the government, under pressure to stimulate growth, moves to revive a key part of the economy which has long been a driver of its prosperity.

Finance minister George Osborne said yesterday that income from some mature oil fields would be shielded from a supplementary tax charge on producers to encourage them to maximise the amount of oil they pump out of the ground.

A dramatic fall in Britain’s oil and gas production shaved at least half a percentage point off the country’s economic growth in 2011, a major difference for an economy that is stagnating as businesses struggle with the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

“Finally, the government is waking up to the fact that an 18 percent year-on-year reduction in North Sea production needs to be addressed and is back-pedaling against the recent 12 percent tax hike,” Numis analyst Sanjeev Bahl said.

In March 2011, Britain’s coalition government raised a tax on oil and gas output to 32 percent from 20 percent, a move greeted with dire predictions by the industry. Britain’s oil and gas production, long a driver of British prosperity and boon for now dire public finances, has been in decline since peaking in 1999.

Should production stabilise or even improve, it will have a positive impact on UK economic growth at a time when Prime Minister David Cameron and Osborne are under growing pressure as their flagship austerity plan fails to stimulate growth. The tax breaks for older fields announced on Friday are the latest measure the government has introduced since the 2011 tax hike in an attempt to boost investment by the industry. —AP

FRANKFURT: As a 24-hour walkout grounded 900 Lufthansa flights yesterday, management and unions of Europe’s biggest airline hinted at fresh talks to end their bitter wage dispute. Negotiations could be held as early as yesterday, a spokesman for the UFO labour union told AFP. And a Lufthansa spokesman said: “We can confirm that there is contact with UFO,” the Independent Flight Attendants’ Organisation.

Neither side was willing to divulge further details. “We’ve received clear signals that Lufthansa is going to move,” the head of UFO, Nicoley Baublies, had told AFP earlier, adding that it was unclear whether a mediator would be needed at this point.

Baublies also said there would only be further walkouts if “the two sides fail to move closer”. And following the 24-hour stoppage yesterday-the third separate day of industrial action in a week-no further strikes were planned in the next few days, he told ZDF public television.

The latest strike began at midnight (2200 GMT) and so far “more than 100,000 passengers are affected,” said a Lufthansa spokesman, adding that around half of the airline’s 1,800 daily flights had been cancelled. Frankfurt airport, Lufthansa’s main hub and Europe’s third-busiest airport, was “most affected”. But chaos had been averted because the airline had informed passengers beforehand about cancellations via text messages, and it had also posted information on its website, a spokesman said.

“Lufthansa seems to have been better prepared this time round,” said UFO chief Baublies. The union, which described strike participation as “very high”, claims it is the biggest-ever strike in Lufthansa’s history, but the airline itself refused to comment on the scope of the work stoppage.

The Lufthansa spokesman said “all German regions and all types of flights are affected,” including long-haul flights which in the past strikes were the least disturbed by the strikes. The company had been expecting to cancel 1,200 flights, or twothirds, as a result of yesterday’s strike.

Already on Thursday, the carrier had can-

celled around 50 flights ahead of the planned walkout by cabin crew at six major airports. And the Lufthansa spokesman said that around 13 flights were also expected to be cancelled today due to the knock-on effects of yesterday’s walkouts.

The 24-hour stoppage at the airports of Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Duesseldorf and Stuttgart was called late

is seeking a five-percent pay increase backdated to April after three years of wage freezes.

It is also opposed to the use of temporary cabin crew on Lufthansa flights. “We’re prepared to go to mediation on the issue of pay hikes. But negotiations cannot include the use of temporary staff,” a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP.

MUNICH: German airline Lufthansa striking crew members walk to the train station from the Munich aiport during a demonstration yesterday as Lufthansa cancelled around half of its scheduled flights. A 24-hour strike by cabin crew got under way as unions are seeking a five-percent pay increase backdated to April after three years of wage freezes. —AFP Wednesday, as unions stepped up pressure in their ongoing pay dispute. Other shorter walkouts of eight hours last week and earlier this week had grounded hundreds of flights and affected thousands of passengers. The airline’s chief executive Christoph Franz, interviewed by ZDF television, acknowledged that he had “not anticipated a movement of this scale” but described it as “disproportionate.” According to its latest demands, the union-which represents some two-thirds of Lufthansa’s 18,000 cabin crew-

A 2009 strike by cabin crew cost Lufthansa tens of millions of euros. In February, Frankfurt airport’s apron control staff-traffic controllers who guide aircraft on the tarmac-walked off the job over demands for higher pay. According to Peter Oppitzhauser, an analyst at Credit Agricole Chevreux quoted by Dow Jones Newswires, the first two days of walkouts have already knocked 2.0 percent off Lufthansa’s annual operating result, which is seen at around 500 million euros this year. —AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Coca-Cola’s newest drink is just a few drops NEW YORK: Coca-Cola’s newest drink won’t come in a bottle or a can. And people will only need a squirt or two to quench their thirst. The world’s largest beverage company is introducing its Dasani Drops in coming weeks, which can be squeezed into water for some on-the-spot fruity flavor. And CocaCola is betting that there’s big potential for growth.

“I think there’s an opportunity beyond just flavored waters,” said John Roddy, vice president of Coca-Cola’s water, tea and coffee business in North America. Although there are no set plans yet, Roddy says the next logical category for liquid drops would be tea.

That’s because drinks with higher sugar content are harder to turn into a liquid concentrate.

The Coca-Cola Co. isn’t the first to

come out with flavor drops. The category was pioneered by Kraft Food Inc.’s MiO, which was introduced in March of last year and has quickly spawned copycats, including by supermarkets that sell store-brand versions.

The drops are popular because they come in small, portable containers that can be easily tucked into a purse or even back pocket. And unlike powdered drink packets, people can decide how much or little they want to squirt into their water. A small bottle can also have more than two dozen servings, meaning people save money they’d spend on bottled teas or enhanced waters.

As with Kraft’s MiO drinks, Dasani Drops use artificial sweeteners and have zero calories. Now Coca-Cola is preparing to leverage its scale to stake

a claim in the category. Roddy says the plan is to make Dasani Drops available wherever its Dasani bottled water is sold, including on supermarket shelves, in checkout aisles or in the refrigerated sections in convenience stores.

“We’re looking to make this as broad as we can,” he said. Dasani Drops, which will cost about $4, will start hitting shelves in early October. The company is starting with four flavors, but is already planning to introduce additional flavors next year. Each bottle has about 32 servings.

Without mentioning Kraft’s MiO by name, Roddy said Coca-Cola saw the early success other brands had and realized the category had huge potential. Kraft has said that MiO sales through the first half of the year have

more than doubled to more than $100 million. The name means “mine” in Italian, suggesting users can make drinks however they like.

For a beverage giant, however, the introduction of liquid flavor drops is more complicated. Coca-Cola says the drops will boost consumption of water, whether it’s tap water or bottled. Ideally, of course, people would use the drops with its Dasani water, which already saw sales volume rise 13 percent in the first half of the year, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest. Overall consumption of bottled water has also been growing, although at a much slower pace than in the early 2000s. The drops may hurt Coca-Cola’s other units, however. The company also makes enhanced waters, such as Vitaminwater Zero. — AP

APEC seeks growth boost despite politics, tensions Putin: Asia can count on us for energy supply

YANGON: Myanmar labourers sit during a protest in front of the Mayangone township labour office on the outskirts of Yangon yesterday. Hundreds of textile factory workers held a protest march before staging a sit-in outside a labour office outside Yangon demanding better wages. — AFP

Oil gains, US jobs data awaited LONDON: Oil prices rose yesterday ahead of a US jobs report which could point to a stronger economic outlook for the world’s largest oil consumer. Brent crude futures rose 65 cents to $114.14 per barrel by 1146 GMT. U.S. crude rose 60 cents to $96.13. Oil lagged other risk-sensitive assets such as equities for a second day, failing to draw as much support from the European Central Bank’s bond buying plan unveiled on Thursday, with analysts pointing to high prices limiting demand.

“Oil demand continues to be hurt by high prices, it’s difficult to buy at these levels because you are buying demand destruction,” said Olivier Jakob, at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. private employers added a stronger-than-expected 201,000 jobs in August and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in a month, an upbeat signal for a struggling labour market.

This helped to ease fears that the closely watched farm payrolls would show a slower increase of jobs than the previous month at 125,000. Traders were also watching for a possible release of emergency oil reserves by the United States and other major economies, which could lead to downward pressure on prices. US government officials met oil market experts on Thursday as the White House considers the merits of another release. Government officials did not reveal any plans to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), but voiced concern about tightening US fuel supply and sounded out experts on how energy prices could behave in coming months, sources said.

Analysts said that while the threat of an SPR release was crimping prices, the effect of such a move was not yet reflected in prices. “The SPR chatter is also not probably not helping the front Brent spreads although Brent-WTI is not really pricing-in yet a SPR release,” Jakob at Petromatrix said.

US crude oil stockpiles fell more sharply than forecast last week as Hurricane Isaac hit the US Gulf region and temporarily shut down production platforms, refineries and ports, government data showed on Thursday. — Reuters

VLADIVOSTOK: President Vladimir Putin promised Asia and Pacific leaders meeting in the seaport of Vladivostok yesterday that they could count on Russia to be a reliable energy supplier and provide a bridge to Europe that can help revitalize regional trade.

Russia is boosting its exports of oil and gas to Asia after years of focusing almost entirely on supplying Europe.

Moscow also has ambitious plans to develop its railroads, roads, seaports and airports in the east of the country with the aim of providing a reliable transportation link between Asia and Europe.

“The first and main thing we’re going to do is develop transport infrastructure,” Putin told regional business leaders. He played up Russia’s common economic space with neighbors Kazakhstan and Belarus as opening “a direct route to Europe for business in the Pacific region.” Faltering vital signs in China and elsewhere make pushing ahead with more and freer trade an urgent priority for the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose leaders are gathered in the Russian Far East port of Vladivostok for their annual summit. APEC aims to foster growth by dismantling barriers and bottlenecks that slow trade and business, while nurturing closer economic ties. Given its status as an organization governed by consensus, APEC is not known for major policy breakthroughs. Election-year politics and territorial spats make this year particularly challenging.

From the Kuril islands to the northeast of Vladivostok all the way to the Spratlys in the South China Sea, various neighbors are squabbling over territories at a time when they most need to be focused on promoting growth.

South Korea is feuding with Japan, Japan with China and Russia, China with many of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

With elections due soon in South Korea and Japan, and a once-in-a-decade change in the Communist Party leadership pending in China, lame-duck lead-

ers facing nationalist pressures at home have little room for amicably resolving the disputes.

“It’s bad luck that it happens just before all these transitions. Everybody is looking around and saying, ‘these people won’t be at the table in three months,’” said William Overholt, an Asia expert at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

The sharp decline in growth in trade this year - from 12 percent in December to 4.6 percent in May - underscores the importance of pushing ahead with trade initiatives, the APEC Policy Support Unit, an independent data analysis and research unit, said in a report issued yesterday. As hosts, Russian leaders are showcasing their country’s recent entry into the rules-setting World Trade Organization - a key step in traditionally Europe-centric Moscow’s effort to build trade and investment ties with its neighbors in the Far East.

“What I’d expect from the meeting is Russia trying to show itself to be a global power, and certainly my view and that of many others is that is not true any-

more,” said Xenia Dormandy, an expert at the London-based think-tank Chatham House.

President Barack Obama’s decision to skip this year’s gathering - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending in his place - allows Russia greater leeway to shape its agenda, said Peter Drysdale, a professor emeritus at Australia National University who helped set up APEC in 1989.

“After a long time sitting on the sidelines, the Russians have thrown considerable diplomatic firepower into working up a strong APEC agenda,” Drysdale said in a commentary on the website East Asia Forum. Since last year’s summit in Honolulu, Canada and Mexico have gotten the go-ahead to join nine other nations involved in talks on forming a US-backed free trade bloc known as the “Trans-Pacific Partnership.” But participants have yet to reach their goal of setting a legal framework this year for the initiative, and Japan, its leaders preoccupied with tax reforms and domestic politics, has so far been unable to join the negotiations. — AP

VLADIVOSTOK: Russian President Vladimir Putin (3-L) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (3-R) shake hands with delegates during their meeting at the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok yesterday. APEC leaders’ summit in Russia’s far eastern port city of Vladivostok will take place today and tommorow. — AFP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Gold retreats as US jobs data dims stimulus hopes SINGAPORE: Gold eased yesterday from a near sixmonth high hit in the previous session as upbeat data from a struggling US labour market dimmed hopes for more stimulus measures from the Federal Reserve.

Bullion had rushed to its loftiest since early March in the previous session after the European Central Bank unveiled a new and potentially unlimited bond purchase plan to lower borrowing costs of debt-laden nations, in the latest effort to fight the euro zone debt crisis.

But now the market focus is riveted on the key US non-farm payrolls data scheduled for release later in the day, especially after payrolls processor ADP said the US private sector added the most jobs in August since March.

If the ADP figures foretell a strong US August payrolls report it could quash the case for a third round of quantitative easing, also known as QE3, by the Federal Reserve. “There is definitely long liquidation going on

after the ADP number,” said a Singapore-based trader.

“People spent the whole of yesterday buying gold and it is a bit overcooked up here. Now we have good data and the market is struggling to see how it can get a bad payrolls data.”

Central bank cash printing raises the inflation outlook and adds to gold’s attraction as a hedge against rising prices. Spot gold had fallen half a percent to $1,692.86 per ounce by 0622 GMT, off $1,712.91 hit on Thursday - the highest since March 12. Bullion was on course for a 0.1 percent rise for the week after two consecutive weekly gains.

US gold dropped 0.6 percent to $1,695.30.

Technical analysis suggested spot gold could retrace to $1,680 per ounce during the day, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said. But some analysts believe gold still has room to rise as the US labour market is still weak enough for the Fed to take action.

“We think the payrolls number will be very poor,

which should be positive for gold as it would confirm that the Fed will do something at the next FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting,” said Jeremy Friesen, commodity strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.

SocGen has forecast the payrolls number have risen 70,000 in August, versus a consensus expectation of 125,000 in a Reuters poll.

Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds hit a record high of 72.1 million ounces, or 2,044 tonnes, by Thursday. ETF holdings had gained more than 38 tonnes so far this year, with the majority of increase occurring since August when hopes for stimulus from central banks started to run high.

In Asia’s physical market, dealers continued to report scrap flow as prices remained near $1,700 per ounce. “We still see scrap flow today and there is even some buying interest crawling back in,” said a Singapore-based dealer.—Reuters

China shares outperform Asia, HK snaps 3-week losing streak Chinese infrastructure sectors see gains

KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas fuel tanker trucks park at the Klang Valley Distribution Terminal (KVDT) in Dengkil outside Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

National oil firm Petronas was expected to announce its second-quarter earnings late yesterday.— AFP

Singapore shrugs off Qantas-Emirates merger SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Changi airport said yesterday that it will remain a major hub for Qantas and other carriers despite the Australian airline’s decision to shift its European connection point to Dubai.

Qantas said Thursday that flights from Australia to London and Frankfurt, and vice-versa, would stop running through Singapore from April 2013 as part of a new global alliance with the Dubai-based Emirates. The Changi Airport Group said that despite the move Qantas was planning to step up connections between Australia and Singapore.

“We understand that Qantas faces challenges in its international business and needs to restructure its network,” the Changi Airport Group said in an emailed response to queries from AFP. Changi currently serves Qantas routes between Singapore and five Australian cities-Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide-with a total of 90 flights per week. The airport, which is still being expanded, serves about 100 airlines operating 6,200 weekly flights to 220 cities in 60 countries.

A spokesman for Singapore Airlineswhich competes with both Qantas and Emirates-declined to comment on the new alliance. “However, speaking entirely in general terms, we have faced competi-

tion since day one, so it is not unfamiliar to us,” the spokesman told AFP, adding that the airline uses alliances to boost its network and offer connections for passengers. Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, said Changi remains competitive as an aviation hub despite the impending loss of Qantas’ Europe-bound services.

“It’s not a huge blow. Changi will still remain an active participant more than anything else,” he said, citing the Asian travel boom boosted by rising income levels and the emergence of regional budget carriers.

Some analysts, however, cautioned that the Qantas-Emirates deal could signal more serious competition in the longer term between Singapore and Dubai. “This is a very bad sign for Singapore,” said Jonathan Galaviz, managing director of business consultancy Galaviz & Co. which specialises in Asia.

“Singapore’s position as an airline hub in Asia is going to be strongly challenged

by Dubai over the coming years,” he told AFP. Data from Sydney-based industry monitor Centre for Aviation showed Qantas accounts for 8.2 percent of Changi’s air traffic measured on an available-seat-kilometre (ASK) basis, second only to Singapore Airlines.—AFP

HONG KONG: Mainland Chinese shares posted their best day in eight months yesterday, lifting the Hong Kong market, on growing signs that Beijing is accelerating spending to bolster growth. In Hong Kong, traders said gains came not only from short covering, but also long-only funds positioning for a rally in the wake of the China stimulus and reduced Euro zone risks. Every Hang Seng Index and CSI300 Index component stock finished in the black on the day. Markets were also buoyed by the European Central Bank’s decision on Thursday to launch a new and potentially unlimited bond-buying programme, aimed at cooling painfully high borrowing costs in some euro zone member countries.

The CSI300 Index of the biggest Shanghai and Shenzhen listings soared 4.5 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 3.7 percent. Yesterday’s gains were their best single-day showings since Jan. 17. The Hang Seng Index firmed 3.1 percent, its best single-day gain since Dec. 1. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings spiked 4 percent. All four indices also posted their first weekly gain in four. The CSI300 Index rose 5.1 percent, the Shanghai Composite gained 3.9 percent, while the Hang Seng Index and the China Enterprises Index each climbed 1.6 percent.

Gains came in the highest Shanghai volume since March. Even after excluding placements for AIA Group, Citic Securities and China Pacific Insurance Company (CPIC) , Friday’s turnover in Hong Kong was 60 percent more than its 10-day moving average, traders said. The Chinese machinery, cement and steel sectors were among the major gainers on news that Beijing had approved a slew of infrastructure projects this week with an estimated total value of 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion).

Changsha Zoomlion Heavy Industry surged the maximum-allowed 10 percent in Shenzhen and 8.1 percent in Hong Kong.

The latest approvals are on top of ones for 24 railway projects reported by state media on Thursday, and come ahead of a deluge of data out of China on Sunday that could confirm that a downswing in the world’s secondbiggest economy has stretched into a seventh straight quarter. “These reports are a good signal that the Chinese government is prepared to do something, although these projects will take a few years to complete and won’t immediately improve data in the near term,” said Alan Lam, Julius Baer’s Greater China equity analyst.

“It’s still premature to see if this will trigger a rally from here, although investors should prepare to ride a technical rebound,” Lam added.

The outperformance of the mainland Chinese markets on Friday spurred strong gains for proxies for the A-share market. Chinese insurers and brokerages broadly outperformed in Hong Kong and China. Haitong Securities was up 7.5 percent in Hong Kong and 7 percent in Shanghai.

China Life Insurance gained 3.1 percent in Hong Kong

and 5 percent in Shanghai. But the beleaguered Chinese coal and steel sectors saw the biggest moves on the day.

Yanzhou Coal rose 9.1 percent in Hong Kong, but it is still down more than 32 percent this year. Angang Steel gained 8.8 percent in Hong Kong, but it is still down more than 31 percent in 2012.

Chinese excavator maker Sany Heavy Industry jumped 10 percent in Shanghai, but it remained mired near two-year lows after the company posted its biggest quarterly profit decline since 2008 on a jump in unpaid bills. AIA Group jumped 6.8 percent to HK$28.10. Its former parent, bailed-out American International Group, raised about $2 billion after pricing a stake sale at a 0.8 percent premium to its Thursday closing price of HK$26.30. — Reuters

SEOUL: A currency trader smiles near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. Asian stock markets rallied yesterday, boosted by strong advances on Wall Street and a highly anticipated plan to assist debt-riddled countries in the eurozone. — AP

business SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Plan in place for struggling Infosys, but no quick returns BANGALORE: Infosys Ltd, the company that symbolised India’s rise as an outsourcing powerhouse but has struggled this year, will have to wait longer than expected for returns from a remodelled strategy.

The $7 billion company based in Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, has missed sales targets, lost market share, put off an annual pay rise and seen its stock battered this year. “The realisation of the benefits will be delayed shortterm,” said S.D. Shibulal, the company’s chief executive officer, referring to the “Infosys 3.0” strategy that the company says will better position it for the future.

It was a rare acknowledgement for a company famous for hitting or beating its targets. Under the strategy, Infosys will focus more on higher-value software and consulting that can be applied across clients and less on labour-intensive plain vanilla outsourcing services.

The problem is Infosys is shifting

gears at a time when its corporate clients in the United States and Europe, including its core financial services base, are tightening their belts, dealing with fewer vendors, and taking longer to make decisions. Industry-watchers say Infosys’ position as a premium player, which allowed it to charge more and earn fatter margins, is a liability in this market, to the benefit of rivals like Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies.

“It is a challenging environment,” Shibulal said in an interview in the tree-lined 80-acre campus on the outskirts of Bangalore that serves as Infosys headquarters. Shibulal, or Shibu as he is known in the informal Infosys style, is one of the seven engineers who launched the company in 1981 by pooling together $250. He is the fourth person from the group to become CEO, but will be the last-the other three have quit. The company’s

China seeks boost from infrastructure SHANGHAI: China has approved a massive infrastructure package worth more than 1.0 trillion yuan ($158 billion), state media said Friday, as the government seeks to boost the flagging economy.

The top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, this week announced approval of 55 infrastructure projects ranging from subway lines to highways, reports said. The China Securities Journal said the 1.0 trillion yuan figure was a “conservative estimate” for spending on projects announced Wednesday and Thursday.

The government needed to open more funding channels for infrastructure, including allowing banks to relax controls on credit for projects, the newspaper quoted unnamed industry sources as saying. The official Xinhua news agency described the package of projects as a “stimulus plan” though the government did not use that term when announcing the approvals. On Wednesday, the commission announced it had approved 25 new urban railway projects, in what analysts said was a sign the government is ramping up government spending to boost the country’s weak economy. It said the projects, including subways and light railways in 18 cities across China, were valued at more than 800 billion yuan.

The commission on Thursday also unveiled another 30 infrastructure works-including 13 highway projects, 10 waste treatment projects and seven port or waterway projects-but gave no value.

The news sparked a rally on China’s stock market yesterday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closing up 3.70 percent on gains in building material and construction shares.

Analysts said the government spending could boost the country’s economic growth from the fourth quarter of this year.

“Implementation of these projects will begin in the coming months, which will cause fixed asset investment growth to rise,” Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist for Nomura, said in a research note yesterday. “The impact should start to be reflected in GDP (gross domestic product) numbers in Q4 2012.”

He estimated future spending on recently approved infrastructure projects at 1.0 trillion yuan, equivalent to just over two percent of 2011 GDP, and added it would be invested over five years.

But China has so far refrained from equalling the massive 4.0 trillion yuan fiscal stimulus package it launched in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008. China’s economy has eased markedly over the past year, expanding 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012, the worst performance in three years.

The government has set a target for economic growth of 7.5 percent for this year, down from actual growth of 9.3 percent last year. Securities house UBS on Friday cut its China growth forecast for 2012 to 7.5 percent, from the previous 8.0 percent, citing delayed government support.

“In recent months, economic activity has remained weak as export growth slowed. Policy support was not as rapid or aggressive as previously envisaged,” economist Wang Tao said in a report. - AFP

troubles have spurred criticism of everything from its method of choosing CEOs to its pricing strategy to what is seen as an insular and risk-averse culture. It has also prompted worry that the recent troubles may affect the company’s ability to attract and retain talent.

Investors have reacted harshly, pushing Infosys stock down more than 12 percent this year, making it the fourth-worst performer among 71 stocks around the world in the large and mid-cap IT services sector. “It should be the right plan, but the issue is implementation and results,” said Walter Rossini, a Milan-based fund manager with Gestielle India, who owns Infosys in his $300 million fund alongside TCS and Tech Mahindra.

Infosys has long been ahead of the curve in corporate India, stressing high standards of governance and transparency, paying attractive wages to

tens of thousands of young workers, and offering a stock option programme that turned some salaried staff into millionaires.

Instead of offices in business districts, Infosys prefers campus-style locations in places such as Pune and Mysore, a southern city where it has built a $400 million facility it says is the world’s largest corporate training centre, which can train 14,000 staff at a time.

One crucial worry over the company’s recent poor performance is that it will hurt Infosys’ stature as an employer of choice for Indian graduates. It has seen a handful of high-profile executive exits in the past couple of years.

Recently, Shaji Farooq quit his post as the Americas head of financial services to lead a new unit at rival Wipro. Three senior officials at its BPO (business process outsourcing) arm have also recently quit. —Reuters

Japan govt could run out of money by Nov Cash crunch to have big impact on economy TOKYO: Japan’s government could run out of money by the end of November, the finance minister warned, even after an emergency spending deferral to cope with opposition parties’ obstruction of an expenditure-enabling bill, raising the stakes in wrangling over the timing of a general election.

Jun Azumi warned the opposition that further delays could threaten the economy’s recovery from last year’s earthquake and that the unprecedented 5 trillion yen ($63.3 billion) spending delay would give the government only limited breathing room. Although Japan’s feuding political parties are widely expected to reach some sort of compromise to avert a government shutdown, the standoff has forced a shelving of administrative spending and payouts to local governments that were planned for SeptemberNovember.

The opposition-controlled upper house of parliament has shown no movement toward enacting a deficit-bond billneeded to implement about 40 percent of the annual budget’s 90.3 trillion yen in spending-before the current session ends today. The opposition has ratcheted up pressure for an early general election in exchange for passage of the funding bill, although Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has remained coy, simply reiterated his promise to call a poll “soon”.

Several investors and lawmakers have said the most likely outcome would be passage of the bill in October, when an extraordinary parliament session is expected to be convened, with Noda setting an election date at that time in exchange.

Last year, a similar deadlock was resolved when then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan stepped down in August after months of brinksmanship over his vague promise to resign. The spectre has emerged, however, of a Japanese “fiscal

cliff” of economically damaging spending cuts, heightening investor worries over a protracted delay to the deficitbond bill, although financial markets have so far shown little reaction.

Further spending deferrals could be considered in October if the bill remains deadlocked, Azumi said, while the government will do its utmost to avert a

ministry was not currently planning to issue short-term financing bills as a stopgap measure to tide the government over in the event the deficit-bond bill remains deadlocked.

The bill cleared the lower house last month, but it has been blocked in the opposition-controlled upper chamber.

The upper house passed a censure

TOKYO: People look at an electric quotation board flashing share prices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in front of a securities company in Tokyo yesterday. Tokyo stocks jumped 2.20 percent yesterday, in line with a regional rally following gains on Wall Street and in Europe, after the European Central Bank unveiled a plan to help ailing eurozone countries. —AFP shutdown like those that have threatened the US government.

“That could significantly affect the livelihoods of the people and economic activity,” Azumi told reporters after a Friday morning cabinet meeting.

“I want the ruling and opposition parties to consult with each other and swiftly enact the bill at an extraordinary parliament session,” he added. Azumi said his

motion against Noda last month, piling more pressure on him to make good on his promise for a general election.

Under the contingency plan for delayed spending, government bond redemptions and interest payments on outstanding debt will be made in full using reserves set aside specifically for that purpose, finance ministry officials said. —Reuters

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Arab Spring hits silver screen at Venice festival Page 29

One Direction barge in on Rihanna’s party at VMAs Page 24

Pink performs at the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012, in Los Angeles (See Pages 24 and 25). — AP

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

T

he ‘Ironic’ hitmaker - who has 20-month-old son Ever with husband Mario ‘Souleye’ Treadway - feels uncomfortable with the fact that town officials in Ottawa, Canada, celebrate her pop achievements every March. She said: “Yes, 8th March is Alanis Morissette Day in my hometown Ottawa. I’m horrified. “But it’s also International Women’s Day, so I’m not stepping on any toes, because I am a woman...” If she got to choose how the day was marked, Alanis would want it to begin with a drink and there would always be good weather. She told Stylist magazine: “[What would I do?] Make everyone have a mimosa in the morning. Followed by all-day snacks and plenty of sunshine.” The 38-year-old singer also admitted she wished she had asked for more “support” at the height of her fame, because she struggled to cope with the intense interest in her life after she released her worldwide hit album ‘Jagged Little Pill’ in 1995. Alanis who has previously claimed she suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of the LP - said: “Everything was about, ‘I can do it myself.’ It completely dismissed the idea of connecting with each other. I wish I’d asked for more support.”

T

he No Doubt singer used to date the group’s bassist Tony Kanal and she was so besotted with him she was convinced he was the man she was going to end up with forever. Gwen - who wrote No Doubt’s smash hit ‘Don’t Speak’ about their split - said: “That first love you have is so huge and it was, like, so overwhelming and I remember defining myself by that. Basically I was so inspired by this love there was just nothing else. I wanted to get married, I wanted to have babies. It was such a short dream, you know what I mean? I didn’t realise at the time there is so much more out there.” Gwen - who now has two sons, Kingston, six, and four-year-old Zuma, with her rocker husband Gavin Rossdale - is now glad Tony dumped her because it made her the person she is today. She told the new UK issue of ELLE magazine: “It unlocked a whole other side of me I didn’t even know I had. Ever since then, I don’t remember that little girl. She was different. I think that’s the thing: discovering I had something I’m passionate about and I think I’m good at.

That defines me now, more than just young love or whatever.”

T

he two stars appear opposite each other in the sci-fi remake and after chatting between takes discovered they both share a mutual love of verse.

Colin let Jessica borrow some books of his favourite poems and then they would discuss the ones she liked the best. She revealed: “Colin really likes poetry and I’m a bit of an amateur poet myself. He was telling me all about different poets he likes.

He would let me borrow a book and I would look at his poetry book over a week and then I’d pass it back and we’d talk about which poems we liked best.” The 30year-old actress insists it is important to bond with your co-stars at the start of a new film and she always tries to find out what her fellow actors like when shooting starts on a project. She added: “When you have to have chemistry with somebody you’ve just met the best thing to do is find one thing about them that you really like -

whether it’s that he’s kind or really funny or a good chef. “It’s something that you grab on to and you make the basis for your fascination or obsession or passion for that person whom you really don’t know at all.”

The brunette beauty - who is engaged to Justin Timberlake - recently revealed she writes her own poems because she finds it very relaxing. Jessica said: “I like being able to write when I find the time to get into it. I love reading poetry and I’ve written poetry myself since I was in school. “It’s very calming and spiritual to be able to get in touch with emotions and states of mind to write poetry.”

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

T

he Oscar-winning actress stars alongside the Hollywood legend in new movie ‘The Big Wedding’ and while they are close now, she admits she was quite wary of him when they first worked together many years ago. She said: “Mr. Robert De Niro. My god. A legend and also a dear man.

He’s very kind. It’s like, oh, he’s so kind. Why is he so kind? And he’s quiet. But he’s a lovely man. I really like him. He loves his family. You don’t think of him that way when you only know him from a distance. I did a movie with him called ‘Marvin’s Room’ a long time ago, but he was a producer. I didn’t really know him and he was intimidating to me. But things change.”

Diane, 66, also revealed how she likes to walk around Los Angeles as that’s when gets to listen to new music. She told America’s Vanity Fair magazine: “The kind of music I listen to is

T

he BBC Radio 1 DJ - who is expecting her first child with rocker Jesse Wood - is enjoying seeing her body going through the changes of pregnancy, but has yet to have any unusual cravings. She said: “I haven’t had any weird cravings as I’m still at the sicky stage. I am eating a lot of cheese and bagels but nothing too odd like coal! I am loving being pregnant. It’s nice watching your body work its magic.” Now, the 31-year-old beauty - who has previously dated Ian Watkins, Steve Jones and Jesse Jenkins - is keen to take life at a slower pace and plans to do less work and spend more time with friends and family. The ‘Celebrity Juice’ star told Company magazine: “I’m trying to take it easy for the first time ever. Normally I live at a hundred miles an hour so I never get to see any of my friends. This year I’m not doing loads. Instead I’m going to see all my friends, family and boyfriend and just try and have a bit more of a life.”

T

he 19-year-old singer - who came fourth on singing competition ‘The X Factor’ in 2010 - admits she let her success go to her head when she first shot to fame and is ashamed of ruining her reputation in the UK by acting out and throwing tantrums. In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Cher said: “I was an absolute b***h. I raise my hands up to it. I was aggressive, I was cocky. I put my foot in it. I built up this big persona of ‘I’m the bees knees’ and then I had to deal with it and pick up the pieces. “It wasn’t the person I am - I put it on because I was terrified every single day that I was on the TV show. “I read the papers and I looked online and I almost didn’t believe it was me ... I was aggressive and I thought the whole world was against me and I don’t know why. It was weird.” The ‘Swagger Jagger’ hitmaker was recently pelted with bottles full of urine during her live performance at the V

when I’m walking, because I walk all over the neighbourhoods of Los Angeles. How else am I going to see it? If I don’t drive, I take the dog and I listen to something. Right now I love the new Frank Ocean CD, ‘Channel Orange’. It’s just amazing music. I also like the Jay-Z album with Kanye West. The last one - The Throne album. I just think that’s so astonishingly beautiful, the way they orchestrate it. That’s how I got to know who Frank Ocean was. Frank Ocean sang on one of the cuts. He [is] very orchestral in a weird way.”

T

he 65-year-old actress “hates” shopping and doesn’t buy many clothes for herself, so she likes to wear the costumes donned by her screen alter-egos. She admitted: “I really hate shopping. Maybe a handbag. I don’t spend a lot of money on myself. I’m very lucky I can wear some of the costumes from the Patty Hughes character in the series ‘Damages’.” Glenn has enjoyed a career which has spanned four decades but she believes social networking website twitter has had a huge impact on the film industry. The screen icon thinks micro-blogging site has made it harder to get certain types of movies commissioned, meaning independent films face more “challenges” than ever before. She told the Metro newspaper: “Studios make their money with ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Transformers’. The big movies make the money and they can’t afford to make the smaller movies because of things such as marketing costs. “There will always be independent films and there are the film festivals that are important venues for those movies but it’s never going to be easy. “It’s challenging and I know there’s an audience for independent films - but they’re not in the 18 to 25 demographic. There are so many different ways to watch films now. If you don’t have a movie that’s Tweetable in the first five minutes you’re told you’ve got a problem. “People are always fascinated by stories. The challenge is there are a lot of things competing for people’s attention against films.”

Festival in Chelmsford, Essex, but Cher is determined to move on and is confident she can win over the British public. She confessed: “I was very upset but a year or two ago I would have thrown the bottles back. Now I know how to cope with things like that. “It’s going to take time over here to win people over.” Last year, the singer hired Pink’s manager Craig Logan to rebrand her as an international star and has since had phenomenal success in the US, even performing on the ‘Today’ show. Cher boasted: “It’s one of the best decisions I ever made.”It was hard to do it. I wasn’t getting gigs at the time and I was just a girl from ‘The X Factor’. “Now look at me and what we’ve achieved together.”— Bangshowbiz

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Members of the British band One Direction (from left) Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne accept the award for best new artist at the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday, Sept 6, 2012, in Los Angeles. — AP/AFP photos

(From left) Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Wyck Godfrey, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Jackson Rathbone speak onstage.

One Direction barge in on

Rihanna’s party at VMAs T

here may have been no signature moment at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, but there was a signature sound: the screams of teenage girls wild about One Direction. It stopped just short of a British invasion, but the hunky teens in the boy band won three awards on Thursday night’s show

and barged in on Rihanna’s party. Rihanna kicked off things with a spicy performance to open Thursday night’s show, then ended it by taking the show’s top honor, video of the year, for her steamy hit “We Found Love.”

“Doesn’t my girl Rihanna look sexy tonight?” Katy Perry asked the crowd after the performance. And the night’s lead nominee did, showing up in a pixie cut and a figurehugging, elegant scoop-backed white dress before changing into a flowing red outfit for

Gabrielle Douglas performs onstage.

Nicki Minaj accepts the award for best female video for “Starships”.

Host Kevin Hart (left) and South Korean rapper PSY perform onstage.

Kevin Hart (right) presents the award for video of the year to Rihanna for “We Found Love”.

her medley of new single “Cockiness (I Love It)” with rapper A$AP Rocky and “We Found Love.” She brushed imaginary dust from her shoulder as she walked to the stage to thank fans and her creative team.

The camera returned to the pop star often except when it was on One Direction, which provided the night’s most screamed-over performance. The band won best pop video, best new artist and most share-worthy video.

“We’ve grown up watching this show and to even be here is an honor,” Niall Horan said from the stage. The quintet, put together by Simon Cowell after “The X Factor” auditions and the first British act to debut atop the Billboard 200 album chart, seemed stunned as fans screamed upon announcement of their win. The group performed later, rising to a

Lil Wayne accepts the award for best hip-hop video for “Hyfr”. stairwell surrounded by screaming, reaching female fans on an elevated platform and bringing most attendees to their feet.

Members of the US gymnastics team sang along to their song “One Thing” and cameras caught Perry and Rihanna whispering to each other.

“This has been unbelievable,” Harry Styles said backstage. “This was our favorite performance we’ve ever done. For us to be here in the first place is amazing, and to perform and win a Moonman is amazing.”

While there was no easily identifiable signature moment early on, there were a few interesting sights. Pink floated above the

crowd on a pair of oversized lips as she performed her new song “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” before Frank Ocean wowed with a somber, moonlit version of his song “Thinking About You.” Then there was Olympic champion Gabby Douglas flipping on stage to new Alicia Keys song “Girl on Fire,” and Taylor Swift dove into the crowd after a group sing-a-long of her new hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

Chris Brown pulled off something of an upset in the best male video category.

Rihanna’s former boyfriend won for his selfdirected video “Turn Up The Music,” beating out several top stars, including Drake, who tied Rihanna for most nominations with five.

Brown also won for best cinematography.

M.I.A. was the night’s only other multiple winner, taking two off-camera awards for direction and cinematography.

Drake won best hip-hop video for “HYFR,” which featured Lil Wayne. He talked about his black and Jewish roots growing up in Toronto and his sometimes outsider status. “I want to dedicate this award to any kid that’s ever had a long walk home by yourself,” Drake said.

“This is for you, man, for real. We made it.”

Host Kevin Hart, who promised no one would be spared his comedic barbs, opened up old wounds between Brown and Drake in his opening monologue, spoofing the two for the bar brawl that took place between their entourages in June. Drake and friends Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne sat stone-faced as Hart joked: “Nip it in the bud, guys. I’m tired of it.

Fix it tonight.”

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Taylor Swift performs onstage.

Tom Petty (second from right) and family pose on arrival.

Minaj, dressed in a skintight full-body outfit, won best female video for “Starships.” Coldplay took best rock video for “Paradise.”

And Calvin Harris - the show’s house DJ who’s featured on “We Found Love”- won the first best electronic dance music award for “Feel So Close.” Beyonce, Perry, Skrillex and Demi Lovato won awards not televised on the show.

MTV tried something new this year, unveiling a double-decker red carpet that featured two stories of stars and celebrities. Thousands of fans lined up outside the show’s new home, the Staples Center in Los Angeles. In a bit of foreshadowing, One Direction drew the loudest cheers of the day - something even rivals The Wanted acknowledged - even though fans had to labor under a scorching sun with the temperature at 90 degrees.

The sun was especially hot for Amber Rose, who accentuated her pregnant belly with a black lace gown as she and fiance Wiz Khalifa showed off a baby bump. “I’m hot, and my feet hurt, but I look gorgeous,” Rose said. While touching, the moment didn’t rise to the level of The Baby Bump - when Beyonce showed her unannounced pregnancy on the red carpet last year - Taylor vs. Kanye or The Kiss.

Lil Wayne had one of the night’s most tweeted performances when he debuted his heavily bleeped new song “No Worries.” And Keys, who debuted “Girl on Fire,” drew attention well before she took the stage. The singer and her producer husband Swizz Beatz were spotted with their almost 2-year-old son, Egypt, bobbing up and down on Beatz’ lap during Pink’s expletive-laden performance of “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).” There was hubbub on Twitter where several of Keys’ fans noted the bawdy nature of the VMAs. Others just thought Egypt was cute. — AP

The Saturdays pose on arrival.

Demi Lovato poses backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Winners of the MTV Video Music Awards

Actress/ singer Miley Cyrus (left) and Brandi Cyrus arrive.

Here are the winners of Thursday night’s 29th annual MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles: Video of the year: Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris, “We Found Love.”

Best pop video: One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful.”

Best new artist: One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful.”

Best female video: Nicki Minaj, “Starships.”

Best male video: Chris Brown, “Turn Up The Music.”

Best hip-hop video: Drake featuring Lil Wayne, “HYFR.” Best video with a message: Devi Lovato, “Skyscraper.”

Best electronic dance music video: Calvin Harris, “Feel So Close.”

Most share-worthy video: One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful.”

Best rock video: Coldplay, “Paradise.”

Best direction: M.I.A., “Bad Girls.”

Best art direction: Katy Perry, “Wide Awake.”

Best choreography: Chris Brown, “Turn Up the Music.”

Best editing: Beyonce, “Countdown.”

Best visual effects: Skrillex, “First of the Year (Equinox).”

Best cinematography: M.I.A., “Bad Girls.” —AP

Katy Perry poses on arrival.

Conquistador poses on arrival.

Emma Watson and Ezra Miller pose on arrival.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Senegal anguishes over ‘slow death’ of film industry F

Lady Gaga wears her controversial meat dress, as she arrives in the Press Room after winning eight 2010 MTV Video Music Awards including “Video of the Year” at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles in this file photo. — AFP

Lady Gaga’s

aded movie posters peel off the walls, a big screen lit only by sunbeams pushing through the broken roof of the musty, abandoned cinema, a symbol to many of the death of Senegal’s film industry.

“When we look at the state of Senegalese cinema, this is it,” film-maker Mariama Sylla says, jabbing her finger towards the derelict Cinema Liberte in a Dakar suburb. Senegal was once at the forefront of African cinema, with directors such as Ousmane Sembene and Djibril Diop Mambety receiving international acclaim during the country’s cinematic golden years after independence from France in 1960. After years of steady decline film-makers are despondent over the future of an industry which they say has been completely abandoned by the government.

“Senegalese cinema was born before the Asian cinema,” said Sylla, co-founder of the Collective of Indignant Senegalese Film-makers which held a recent protest over the moribund state of the industry. “Today the Asian cinema is in the front row in Hollywood, at the Oscars, Cannes... while ours is stuck debating a crisis that has lasted for years.” However new hope has appeared in the form of Senegal’s new Culture Minister Youssou Ndour, the world-renowned singer appointed after a new government was elected in March, who is an artist like them.

A frank document published by Ndour’s ministry in June admits weaknesses in the film industry are “symptomatic of the nonexistence of state support”. “Today the major challenge is finding financing to produce a quality film ... it is also difficult for those who have made a film to show it,” said Mamadou Ndiaye, an award-winning director who cannot survive without his day job.

Last year Ndiaye won the prize for the best television series at Africa’s largest film festival FESPACO in Ouagadougou with his show “Ismael Ndiaxum” (Ismael the Blunderer in the local Wolof language). Cinemas turned

People sit in front of the years long closed ‘’Cinema Liberte’’ movie theater in Dakar, where placards asking for its re-opening have been displayed by members of the Association asking for its re-opening. — AFP into nightclubs, churchesDespite the fact that he works for state television station RTS he has been unable to sell the series to them and show the series to a local audience. As a result the show is likely to be aired first on a French television station. “They (state television) only offer you crumbs,” he told AFP. In the past 10 years, almost all of Senegal’s cinemas-which once numbered about 100 — have been sold off, becoming shopping centres, nightclubs and churches, according to the culture ministry’s report. Eight are still in business but struggling to survive. This means movies such as Moussa Toure’s “La Pirogue” which was shown at Cannes and won two awards at the Francophone film festival in Angouleme in the southwest of France-which this year paid homage to Senegalese cinema-has not been seen by the average Senegalese.

The drama tells the story of 30 people

attempting the hazardous boat crossing to Europe - a story of desperation that many Senegalese can identify with. At the offices of the Association of Senegalese Filmmakers (CINESEAS) only two DVDs of local movies are on sale. A salesperson admits it has been over five years since they have had an original DVD to sell from award-winning director Ousmane Sembene, who is considered the father of African cinema. “Maybe you could buy it in France?” he suggests. “When we make movies, of course it is for the world, for whoever, but I think that a Senegalese who makes a movie wants it to be seen first by Senegalese, especially when the theme is on Senegalese society,” said director Ndiaye.

After independence from France, culture flourished in the west African nation under poet president Leopold Sedar Senghor who is regarded as one of the continent’s most important intellectuals. —AFP

meat gown goes on display Lynskey shines in ‘Hello I Must Be Going’ Review

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he raw meat dress worn by Lady Gaga at a 2010 awards ceremony will go on display in the US capital alongside a fox fur worn by Billie Holiday and boots sported by Patti Smith. The dress made out of raw beef, which caused a sensation at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles two years ago, will be part of an exhibition on women singers at Washington’s National Museum of Women in the Arts.

The dress, which still belongs to the singer, was chemically treated by taxidermists to preserve it and painted red to make it appear “fresh.”

The piano on which the eccentric performer played her first chords is also on display, along with some 250 objects associated with 70 artists from 1920 to the present. “Women Who Rock; Vision, Passion, Power” was organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio to highlight “the essential roles women have played in moving rock and roll and American culture forward.”

Other objects on display include a red jacket worn

by Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, dresses worn by The Supremes, a Jean-Paul Gauthier gown worn by Madonna, a handwritten notebook that belonged to Janis Joplin and a guitar belonging to Taylor Swift. The exhibition runs to January 6, 2013 and will then be displayed in Omaha, Nebraska, Seattle, Washington and Phoenix, Arizona. — AFP

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elanie Lynskey is the kind of character actress you’re always happy to see. Whether it’s been in “Away We Go,” “Win Win,” “Up in the Air” or even something frothy like “Sweet Home Alabama,” you know she’ll offer a performance that feels accessible, unexpected and true. After years of strong supporting work, she steps into a lead role effortlessly in the intimate dramedy “Hello I Must Be Going” as a recent divorcee who finds herself unemployed, depressed and living with her parents in the cushy suburb of Westport, Conn.

Director Todd Louiso and writer Sarah Koskoff’s film may feel like a familiar exploration of a solipsistic 30something enduring an existential crisis, complete with the requisite indie rock score, and it does reach some pat conclusions. But it’s also both funnier and deeper than you might expect at the outset.

Lynskey stars as Amy Minsky, who’s been moping for months in the same ratty T-shirt around her parents’ waterfront McMansion.

But she finds herself making an unlikely connection with Jeremy (Christopher Abbott of “Girls”), the 19-year-old stepson of her lawyer father’s potential client at an important dinner party. An actor since childhood, Jeremy is more mature than his years, as evidenced by the confidence with which he carries himself

This film image shows Christopher Abbott (left) and Melanie Lynskey in a scene from “Hello I Must Be Going.” — AP and the casual way he dismisses their age difference. And Amy, conversely, is less mature than hers, as evidenced by the girlish way she sneaks out of the house for moonlight hookups and worries that they’ll get caught.

Clearly, this can’t last. These relationships never can in movies like this. And naturally, she will blossom because of it, but her transformation is such a joy to watch and her mixture of vulnerability and self-deprecation is so charming that you won’t mind the film’s conventions. This is Lynskey’s movie but Abbott is alluring as well; he has to be to make this

thing make sense. He’s sweet and idealistic but there’s also something slightly mysterious about him.

The supporting performances are strong all around, though, especially from Blythe Danner as Amy’s well-intentioned but clueless mother. A status-conscious Radcliffe grad, she gives advice like: “Getting fat doesn’t do anybody any good” as she drives her daughter to the gym. But she’s also kind of adorable as she reads a Dr Seuss book to her young granddaughter in various voices. —AP

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Kristen Stewart steals limelight as Toronto film fest opens

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Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee poses during a promotional event for the forthcoming Marathi film “Aiyyaa” in Mumbai yesterday. — AFP

Kitten goes for 100-mile ride on NY woman’s bumper

he Toronto film festival opened on Thursday with action movie “Looper” starring Joseph GordonLevitt, but it was “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart who attracted the biggest buzz on the red carpet at the star-studded festival scattered with Oscar hopefuls.

Anticipation was high for one of the world’s premier film festivals that coming off Venice helps mark the beginning of Hollywood’s awards season. Filmmakers see it as crucial launching pad and Toronto has previously propelled such films as “The King’s Speech” to go on to success at the Academy Awards. Ben Affleck, Selena Gomez, Halle Berry, Tom Hanks and rapper-turned reggae wannabe Snoop Dogg, now known as Snoop Lion, are all among a lineup of top stars due to appear.

But it was Kristen Stewart who wowed the red carpet Thursday, signing autographs to streams of cheering fans in her first media appearance since issuing an unusual public apology for cheating on long-term boyfriend and “Twilight” costar Robert Pattinson with British film director Rupert Sanders. Without directly referring to the scandal, Stewart, 22, told Reuters she was thankful “to know that everyone is here” and the support she described as “amazing” before she walked into the premiere of “On The Road” based on Jack Kerouac’s seminal book of the postwar Beat Generation.

At a nearby theater, “Looper,” a futuristic action blockbuster featuring Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis about an assassin haunted by his time-traveling future self, officially kicked off the 11-day festival that will screen more than 280 films. It was the first US-China co-production to open the festival, but is not one of the films being

Cast members Kirsten Dunst (left), Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart are shown before the premiere of “On the Road” during the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday Sept 6, 2012 in Toronto. — AP keenly watched by Oscar observers. It was chosen as the opening film due to its perceived broad entertainment appeal in a slot once mostly reserved for Canadian productions or filmmakers.

Director Rian Johnson told reporters Thursday that following China’s input into the production, a Paris location was switched to Shanghai and that even a joke was later inserted into the script when Gordon-Levitt’s character dreams of France he is warned by his future self of China’s influence: “I’m from the future; you should go to China.” In a sign of Hollywood’s possible future, the festival’s co-director Cameron Bailey backed that up speaking to a packed premiere audience about China’s part in the movie, “It’s not that common yet but this is the future of filmmaking.”

‘Cloud atlas’ ahead Johnson and the film’s stars said they believed the film had more emotional appeal than pure blockbuster entertainment value. Asked about the violence in “Looper” and the wider movie world coming off the Colorado movie house massacre where during a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” in July a gunman killed 12 people, Willis defended violence in the movies as a part of their integral, emotional pull.

“Violence is one of the hard, bad things that exist in the world. It’s not just in films; it exists anywhere,” he told reporters.

“And to pick one thing out and say ‘Well, you shouldn’t have violence in films or you shouldn’t make violence a part of a film, would be like taking the emotion out of it.” —Reuters

Karlie’s Kookies put bite in NY Fashion’s Night Out

F Stacey Pulsifer holds her newly-adopted kitten, Pumpkin, on Sept 4, 2012 in Plattsburgh, NY. — AP

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woman says a 6-week-old kitten hitched a ride on the outside of her vehicle as she drove about 100 miles over upstate New York roads. Stacey Pulsifer tells the PressRepublican of Plattsburgh that she recently drove from her home in Plattsburgh to Elizabethtown in the Adirondacks, then back to her apartment.

Along the way she stopped for coffee and heard meowing coming from her Jeep. She asked two friends to help her search the vehicle. They finally found the kitten wedged behind a bumper and had to cut it free. Pulsifer has since adopted the hitchhiker and named it Pumpkin. She estimates the lucky black cat was lodged in the car for about 22 hours and traveled some 100 miles. She suffered a broken paw during the ride. — AP

ashion’s Night Out is a sartorial pub crawl through Manhattan at the outset of New York fashion week, a chance to scope out the trendiest boutiques with no pressure to buy. On Thursday, it was also a chance to sample top model Karlie Kloss’s gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at $5 a pop, with proceeds going to a foundation to combat hunger launched by a young member of the Bush political dynasty.

“I wanted to create a cookie that I could enjoy and that I could share with all my friends without, I don’t know, worrying about the guilt of a cookie,” Kloss, 20, best known as the face of Christian Dior, told reporters at the DKNY Soho boutique.

Proceeds from the pricey but “fashionably wholesome” Karlie’s Kookies went to FEED, co-founded by designer and model Lauren Bush Lauren, 28, who is the granddaughter and niece of former presidents George Bush and George W Bush, respectively, and whose father-in-law is designer Ralph Lauren.

“We’re very much about getting consumers engaged and active and essentially becoming donors in the fight to end world

hunger,” Lauren told AFP, adding that FEED also partners with Donna Karan’s diffusion line on fund-raising bags and boots.

“I really find, honestly, that so many people are so generous, but I do think younger people are quicker to embrace and understand what we are doing” as a social busi-

ness, she added.

Kloss, a midwestern American who regards her passion for baking as “therapeutic,” has had a particularly busy week, switching modeling agencies and signing on to MTV’s “House of Style” as co-host with fellow catwalker Joan Smalls. —AFP

Top model Karlie Kloss (right) hawks her own Karlie’s Kookies outside the DKNY boutique in the Soho district of New York City. — AFP

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

In this image made out of film “Comrade Kim Goes Flying”, Comrade Kim Yong Mi played

by Han Jong Sim is pulled up in the air by a crane. — AP

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t’s a classic tale of a small-town girl who follows her dreams to the big city. But in this case, the girl is a North Korean coal miner, the big city is Pyongyang and her dream is to become a high-flying trapeze artist. “Comrade Kim Goes Flying,” a collaboration between a North Korean director and two European filmmakers, makes its world premiere Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival before it heads to Pyongyang later this month for its North Korean debut. The film was shot on location with an all-Korean cast, but it avoids overtly political themes and isn’t what foreign audiences might expect to see from North Korea: a feel-good romantic comedy about a plucky young woman who grabs her chance to run off to the circus, only to find her wings clipped by the show’s handsome but arrogant superstar. He seems determined to make sure she doesn’t succeed - until he falls in love with her.

British co-director Nicholas Bonner called the story an “unexpected fairytale.” “It’s one purely about a girl going about her dream” Bonner told The Associated Press in an interview in Pyongyang.

“She’s an individual and rather cheeky character with this dream of hers to fly.” Bonner has been traveling to Pyongyang for nearly 20 years as co-founder of Beijing-based Koryo Group, which organizes tour groups, art shows and sports exchanges with North Korea. Belgian producer Anja Daelemans, a two-time Oscar nominee, got a peek when she showed a short film at the Pyongyang International Film Festival in 2002. The duo teamed up with Ryom Mi Hwa, a North Korean producer who has worked closely with Koryo Group over the years.

Citing the Korean phrase “Over the mountains are mountains,” Bonner and Daelemans describe the making of the movie as a “long and halting process of ups and downs.” The idea for “Comrade Kim” was dreamed up one winter’s night more than six years ago over glasses of whiskey. They tinkered with the script for three years before a North Korean studio was willing to take it on. Finally, Kim Gwang Hun, a director who once collaborated with Ryom’s cinematographer father, took interest. “Actually, I was concerned that the process of approving the script together with our foreign partner would take a lot of time and we would face many difficulties because of

the difference in languages, customs and living environments,” Kim said.

Indeed, the film’s cast and crew have had little interaction with the outside world. North Korea, one of the world’s last Cold War outposts, remains mostly isolated from the rest of the world, a country more famous for its nuclear defiance than its potential for romantic comedies. Yet movies are hugely popular.

Late leader Kim Jong Il famously championed filmmaking as an essential propaganda tool in his 1973 treatise, “On the Art of Cinema.”

North Korea has collaborated in the past with production companies from countries such as Russia, China and Italy. “Promise in Pyongyang,” released this year, is a Chinese-North Korean production.

Bonner and his Koryo Group colleagues have made three documentaries on North Korea. But “Comrade Kim” is the first European collaboration since the action film “Ten Zan, the Ultimate Mission,” a North Korean-Italian production from the 1980s.

For Kim, shooting a romantic comedy was a departure from his usual military-themed work. But he said he relished the idea of offering audiences lighter entertainment. Then there was the issue of casting. Going with acrobatic skill over acting chops, they chose Han Jong Sim and Pak Chung Guk, acrobats with the Pyongyang Circus, and enrolled them in four months of intensive acting training. She and Pak were backed up by some of North Korea’s most famous actors. Han, who plays bright-eyed ingÈnue Kim Yong Mi, says the trapeze scenes were easy but the close-ups were tough. Her character is mischievous and charming, willing to resort to telling white lies to realize her dreams.

“As an acrobat, I use the movement of my body to create a breathtaking impression on the audience, but film actresses have to use their faces to express all their feelings to the audience, and this hasn’t been easy work for me,” she said during filming in June 2010. “Comrade Kim” also offers foreign audiences a look at life inside North Korea. Or at least the cinematic version, where there’s plenty of food on the table and enough electricity for Yong Mi to scribble in her diary at night.

Viewers go inside the gymnasiums where the acrobats who star in North Korea’s famed Arirang mass games perfect their trapeze acts. And the

movie shows North Koreans in baseball caps and Tshirts, not just military uniforms. It also touches on timely themes, including the construction that is part of a major propaganda push that began during the succession campaign for Kim Jong Un, who took over as North Korean leader after father Kim Jong Il died in December.

“Let’s go higher, faster!” Yong Mi shouts, echoing a popular political slogan. The film is rich in visual detail that the filmmakers hope will appeal to foreign as well as North Korean audiences. Kim, the North Korean director, admitted he was worried about working with foreigners. But “it went very smoothly, better than I expected, and it was very interesting to work together with them,” he told AP. “I think it is because our foreign partners can understand our ideas, system, and policies, and the intentions of our filmmakers.” — AP

In this image, Pak Jang Phil played by Pak Chung Guk, the opposite of Comrade Kim Yong Mi played by Han Jong Sim, is shown in trapeze artist costume. — AP

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

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rab cinema is witnessing a new wave of creativity in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts, said directors at the Venice film festival where some of the emerging talent from the region was on show. Social themes that were previously kept bottled up are now making their way on film and the monopoly of older established directors is being whittled away as the repercussions of new freedoms are felt in many parts of the region. “There is something in revolution that gives you energy. It makes you want to talk and explore,” said Hinde Boujemaa, a Tunisian director who brought her moving documentary “Ya man aach” (“It Was Better Tomorrow”) to the festival.

“I have a lot of hope for Arab cinema in the coming years,” she told AFP. “There are new ideas, a new way of seeing things, a new type of cinema. And on top of that we have the freedom to speak,” she said. Boujemaa’s film was shot during and after the Tunisian revolution of January 2011 and focuses on a troubled divorced mother whose hopes for a better life after the uprising are dashed as she struggles to hold on to her children.

The director said she found the heroine of the documentary when she was out filming demonstrations against the Tunisian regime, adding: “I think anyone who had a video camera in Tunisia at that time went into the streets.”

Actress Waad Mohammed poses during the photocall of “Wadjda” at the 69th Venice Film Festival. — AFP She said she wanted to tell the story of Aida because she saw her as one of the poor mass of Tunisians often passed over in media coverage. “The people are ignored. She is the people who are ignored and it is the people who carried out the revolution!” she said. The feature film “El sheita elli fat” (“Winter of Discontent”) by Egyptian director Ibrahim El Batout, which was shot during and after the protests that ousted Hosni Mubarak, also focuses on individuals.

“It’s one of the most amazing experiences of my acting career. The givens were exceptional. Everything was exceptional!” said actor Amr Waked, who plays an Internet activist who was tortured under the regime. Waked was one of the first Egyptian celebrities to come out in favour of the Tahrir Square protests and joined the demonstrations.—AFP

Flowers are displayed during the Expoflora annual flower exhibition in Holambra, about 150km north of Sao Paulo, Brazil. — AFP photos

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he largest flower and ornamental plant show in Latin America is held in a quaint small town founded by Dutch immigrants that is the heart of Brazil’s flower industry. Welcome to Expoflora, complete with an incongruous Dutch windmill greeting visitors at the entrance of the giant flower exhibition center, a two hours’ drive from Sao Paulo. Begun in 1981, the event, broadcast live on the Internet, runs through September 23, with organizers expecting 300,000 visitors.

“Expoflora gives an opportunity to more than 200 Holambra growers to advertise their products for commercial launch. People come from all over Brazil, and it gives the producers an idea of the public reaction to new products,” said Paulo Fernandes, a member of the organizing committee. “It is a sort of window where they can gauge whether to launch a product at the national level or whether they need to make changes,” he told AFP. “It is also a chance to launch new trends in terms of colors, varieties,” he said. “The show also helps promote Holambra, its natural beauty and aims to promote greater flower consumption throughout Brazil,” he added. Organizers say the flower market in Brazil, a huge country of 191 million people, has been growing 12 to 15 percent per year since 2006, with sales expected to reach around $2.4 billion this year.

“There are good prospects for growth. Brazilians consume very little. Our job is to change that,” Fernandes said. “Only about four percent of the national production is exported, as this requires very special logistics,” he pointed out. “The priority for the growers is to increase domestic consumption.” Brazil, Latin America’s economic powerhouse, is the sixth largest flower exporter behind the Netherlands, Colombia, Italy, Israel and the United States. According to Ibraflor, the Brazilian Institute of Floriculture, the country’s exports of flowers and ornamental plants totaled $20.6 million last year.

A unique diversity of flora In Brazil, a country blessed with a unique diversity of flora, commercial cut flowers are often cultivated for special festive occasions, particularly Mother’s Day, with roses, orchids, carnations, begonia and the South African protea (also known as sugarbushes) extremely popular. The

Ipe-amarelo is the country’s national flower while other commonly grown varieties include the camelia rosa, quesnelia testudo, poppy-papaver rhoeas, begonia, cyclamen persicum and the nymphaea odorota.

“This year’s new varieties on display include ornamental eggplants originating from India, daylilies and orchids in all sizes,” Benny Rooijan, a local grower whose father immigrated from the Netherlands in 1957, told AFP. “The amaryllis, originally from South America, is very popular in Europe and we export 95 percent of our production there.”

Rooijan said Brazil’s main competitors in the exotic flower market are Colombia and Ecuador in Latin America and elsewhere, Kenya.

This year’s theme at the 750-square-meter (8,070-square-feet) exhibition center is love, notably celebrated with a rose petal shower.

Among other attractions is a mobile, truckmounted Heineken beer station, featuring five

tanks containing a total 9,000 litres of the world famous Dutch brand.

Expoflora also turned the spotlight on Holambra’s rich Dutch heritage. Now home to 11,000 people, the town, located 140 kilometers (80 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo, was founded in 1948 by Dutch immigrants fleeing their devastated homeland after World War II. “My grandfather came here after the war to build a new life. The Dutch immigrants founded a settlement initially called Fazenda Ribeirao which years later became Holambra,” said 36-year-old local businessman Dennis Peter.—AFP

Brazilian girls of Dutch descent stand by before their dance performance.

Orchids are displayed in a scrapped electronic organ during the Expoflora annual flower exhibition.

technology

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Apple buying fewer Samsung memory chips for iPhone 5 Apple switches to Toshiba, Elpida, Hynix chips SEOUL: Apple Inc has reduced its orders for memory chips for its new iPhone from its main supplier and competitor Samsung Electronics Co, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday. South Korea’s Samsung is a core Apple supplier, producing micro processors, flat screens and memory chips both dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips and NAND memory chips for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. Apple has been cutting back its orders from Samsung as it seeks to diversify its memory chip supply lines, although the South Korean firm remains on the list of initial suppliers for the new iPhone, the source told Reuters. The person declined to be named because the negotiations are confidential. The Korea Economic Daily, citing an unnamed industry source, reported yesterday that Apple had dropped Samsung from the list of memory chip suppliers for the first batch of the new iPhone, the iPhone 5, which is widely expected to be unveiled next Wednesday. The report said Apple instead picked Japan’s Toshiba Corp, Elpida Memory and Korea’s SK Hynix to supply DRAM and NAND chips.

“Samsung is still on the list of initial memory chip suppliers (for new iPhones). But Apple orders have been trending down and Samsung is making up for the reduced order from others, notably Samsung’s handset business,” the Reuters source said. Samsung’s handset business, led by robust sales of its flagship Galaxy line of products, has

become the most important earnings pillar, bringing in around two-thirds of Samsung’s overall profit, and is driving sales of component - from memory chips to micro processors and displays.

Samsung, the world’s top smartphone maker, said on Thursday that sales of its Galaxy S III smartphones topped 20 million since its late-May debut. The source denied market speculation that the reduced orders from Apple were prompted by a souring relationship between the two companies, which are locked in global patent disputes, and said Apple had already been looking to widen its supply chain.

Bernstein analysts estimate Apple’s purchases of mobile DRAM and NAND chips from Samsung have fallen significantly and now only account for around 2.5 percent of Samsung’s 2012 earnings.

Diversification California-based Apple frequently faces a supply crunch when a new product is launched, triggering a consumer stampede that drives demand far in excess of supply and production capability.

Earlier this year, a source told Reuters that Elpida was selling more than half of its mobile DRAM chips to Apple. For batteries used in the next iPhone, Apple picked China’s Amperex Technology Ltd and Japan’s Panasonic Corp, dropping Samsung SDI from the initial supplier list, the Korea Economic Daily said.

In flat-panel displays, LG Display is

one of the dominant suppliers for the new iPhone, according to sources close to the matter, as Japan’s Sharp Corp has fallen behind schedule on iPhone display production. Apple and Samsung have taken their bruising patent disputes to some 10 countries as they vie for market share in the booming mobile industry. Apple won a landmark victory last month after a U.S. jury found the South Korean firm had copied key features of the iPhone and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

Samsung declined to comment and Apple was not immediately available to comment. Still, Samsung remains the sole producer of Apple-designed micro chips that power the iPhone and iPad, making their relationship too important for either party to put at risk. Samsung’s component sales could hit $13 billion next year and bring in $2.2 billion in operating profit, according to a recent estimate by Morgan Stanley. That’s nearly 8 percent of estimated group operating profit. Shares in Samsung rose more than 4 percent yesterday to a 2week high - and set for their biggest one-day gain in 6 weeks. The gain was broadly in line with a technology sector rally after a maker of solid-state drives, which uses flash memory chips, warned of component shortages, raising expectations that production cutbacks have stopped a slump in prices for flash memory chips. SK Hynix shares jumped 6.2 percent and, in Tokyo, Toshiba gained 4.3 percent. —Reuters

Security firms see rise in smartphone cyber-attacks SAN FRANCISCO: Cyber-crooks are increasingly taking aim at smartphones, following their prey as lifestyles migrate to Internet-linked mobile devices, according to new reports by online security firms. Symantec’s annual Norton Cybercrime Report released Thursday calculated that such crimes cost worldwide consumers $110 billion in the past year, with an increase in attacks on mobile devices and online social networks. “Cybercriminals are changing their tactics to target fastgrowing mobile platforms and social networks where consumers are less aware of security risks,” said Norton Internet safety advocate Marian Merritt.

Lookout Mobile Security estimated that millions of dollars have been stolen from people worldwide during the past year using smartphone “malware,” with a “toll fraud” virus proving to be a popular tool. Toll fraud programs prompt smartphones to send bogus premium text messages, charges for which are added to telecom service bills. The money winds up in the pockets of the people responsible for the infections. Toll fraud malware is designed to hide what it is doing, and charges can go unnoticed in complex mobile service billing statements,

according to Lookout senior product manager Derek Halliday.

Lookout, which has more than 25 million subscribers to its service, said that in the past 12 months the amount of toll fraud viruses found on devices climbed from 29 percent to 62 percent.

“The mobile malware industry has matured and become a viable business model,” Halliday said. “Toll fraud is the most prevalent type of malware.” The likelihood of being infected was highest in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China, where smartphone users get “apps” from unofficial sources instead of trusted outlets such as Apple or Google online shops, according to Lookout.

Infected apps may be made available free at file-sharing sites, discussion forums, or through links sent in messages or posted on social networks.

“There are entire systems developed to aid distribution of this malware,” Halliday said. “The bad guys are really focusing on improving and scaling their distribution techniques. They are even gaming legitimate app systems.”

Cyber-criminals also create programs to boost ratings of tainted apps to make them more appealing to unsuspecting smartphone users. Websites

booby-trapped with malicious code remain the most common means of attack.

Aside from toll fraud, there is “adjacking,” in which hackers take a popular application and change segments of its code so that they reap the benefit of advertising. “When we look at the data, 12 months ago we saw a lot of evidence of experimentation that indicated malware developers were looking to see what stuck,” Halliday said. “With toll fraud they have found a business model that seems to be working; now they are trying to find a distribution model.”

Nearly a third of smartphone users have received a text message from a stranger asking them to click on an embedded link or dial an unfamiliar number, according to the Norton findings.

One in five online adults told of being a cybercrime victim at a social network or on a mobile device, the Norton report found. “We do believe it is possible to be safe on mobile,” Halliday said. “It is all about using caution when downloading apps, paying close attention to what you click on, and watching for the same kinds of threats seen on personal computers.” —AFP

NEW YORL: Motorola’s three new Droid Razr smartphones, the Droid Razr M, (center) the Droid Razr HD, (left) and the Droid Razr Maxx HD, are unveiled at a press conference. The phones are the first from Motorola as a part of Google. —AP

Microsoft adding staff in China mobile push BEIJING: Microsoft Corp will hire more than 1,000 additional employees in China this year and boost research and development spending by 15 percent as it tries to catch up with Apple and Google in the fast-growing mobile Internet market, executives said Thursday. The announcement adds to intensifying competition in wireless Internet in China, where nearly 400 million people surf the Web using mobile phones and other devices. Microsoft is promoting its Windows 8 mobile operating system but came late to the market and trails Apple Inc. and Google Inc., whose Android system is widely used in China.

“We respect that we have two players in the market which have a strong role, and we feel ready to attack and have different offers to basically change the game plan on that one,” said Microsoft’s CEO for China, Ralph Haupter, at a news conference. The new employees will be in addition to Microsoft’s workforce of 4,500 in China and will be spread across research and development, marketing and customer service, Haupter said.

Research spending in China will rise by 15 percent over last year’s $500 million, according to another executive, Ya-Qin Zhang, Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific chairman for research and development. He said the current research staff of 3,000 would be expanded by about 15 percent.

Global technology companies and local rivals are spending heavily to gain a foothold in mobile Internet in the world’s most populous online market as Chinese users shift quickly to the new technology.

This week, Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. released its own new mobile browser to compete with Google and Apple and announced it will open a cloud computing center. China had 538 million people online at the end of July, up 11 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, an industry group.

The share that uses wireless devices grew twice as fast, rising 22 percent to 388 million, or 70 percent of the total.

Android dominates the Chinese smartphone market, used on 76.7 percent of phones in the second quarter of this year, according to Analysys International, a research firm. Apple’s iPhone dominates the higher end of the market. Microsoft plans to recruit more local partners to develop mobile applications specifically for China, said Haupter.

He said the company believes it has an advantage in doing that because developers can draw on their experience working on other Microsoft products.

Zhang said Microsoft’s six development centers in China that now spend about 80 percent of their time working on products for global markets will focus more on creating offerings tailored to Chinese customers. Microsoft also plans to expand its cloud computing business in China, the executives said. Zhang said about 100,000 commercial customers now use its private cloud computing service and a service for use by the public is being developed. —AP

technology

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Apple in talks for free Internet radio NEW YORK: US technology giant Apple is in talks to license music for broadcast on a custom online radio service modeled after Pandora, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Apple’s service would work on the company’s hardware, including the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers, as well as potentially on PCs using Microsoft’s Windows operating system. But it would not work on smartphones and tablets that use Google’s Android operating system, as the two technology giants are at loggerheads to dominate the lucrative mobile market.

The licensing negotiations are still at an early stage, the newspaper stressed, adding that it could take months for such a service to launch. Just as with Pandora, ads would be placed between the music on the would-be service, which would use Apple’s iAd platform. The Journal noted that Apple had previously weighed launching a Pandora competitor, but dropped the bid due to licensing costs.

Pandora reported last week that its revenue climbed in the recently-ended quarter but that it still lost money due in large part to royalties paid out for songs. The Oakland, California-based firm, which creates personalized radio stations for users, reported a net loss of $5.4 million on revenue that rose 51 percent to $101.3 million compared with the same period last year. Pandora went public last year at $16 a share, one of several Internet companies to make their debut on Wall Street in 2011. —AFP

Walmart tests iPhone app checkout feature NEW YORK: Wal-Mart Stores Inc is testing a system that would allow shoppers to scan items using their iPhones and then pay at a self-checkout counter, a move that could trim checkout times and slash costs for retailers. If the “Scan & Go” test by the world’s largest retailer is successful, it has the potential to change the way people shop and pay, making the process more personal and potentially faster. Earlier this week, Walmart invited employees with Apple Inc iPhones to participate in a test at a Walmart supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas, near the company’s headquarters, according to a form on the Survey Monkey website.

“All of the effort is to speed your way through the checkout so that we can reduce costs and improve the shopping experience,” said Paul Weitzel, managing partner at retail consulting firm Willard Bishop, who said he had not seen Wal-Mart’s test. “With smartphones and improved technology we’re only going to see more of this.” The test comes months after Wal-Mart said that it would add more self-checkout lanes at its Walmart and Sam’s Club stores as it continues to look for ways to lower costs and prices for its shoppers.

Pushing more shoppers to scan their own items and make payments without the help of a cashier could save Wal-Mart millions of dollars, Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said on March 7. Wal-Mart says it can save $12 million a year for every second it can cut from the average checkout time at the Walmart chain in the United States.

Shoppers often complain on Twitter and in other forums that it takes too long to pay at Walmart, where sometimes only a few of the several checkout lanes are open and staffed with cashiers. While some retailers employ baggers to speed up the checkout process, at Walmart one employee scans and bags items.

“We’re continually testing new and innovative ways to serve customers and enhance the shopping experience in our stores,” said Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar.

Walmart’s iPhone app already includes functions such as letting shoppers create lists and seeing which items are in stock. The test comes as retailers and restaurants are trying to figure out ways to speed up the checkout process by letting customers pay with a tap of their smartphones.

In the Walmart iPhone scanning test, shoppers can scan products with their phone and put them in bags while they shop, and then pay at a self-checkout counter.

The test does not allow users to pay on their phone.

The app transfers the scanned items to the self-checkout kiosk and then shoppers complete the transaction using the normal self-checkout process. —Reuters

Amazon takes on iPad with larger Kindle Fire Apple set to introduce smaller iPad

SANTA MONICA: Amazon unveiled four new Kindle Fire tablet computers on Thursday, including ones with larger color screens, as the online retailer steps up competition with Apple ahead of the holiday shopping season. Amazon.com Inc. showed off the larger Kindle Fire with a high-definition display amid expectations that Apple Inc will introduce a smaller iPad as early as next week. The larger Fires will have screens that measure 8.9 inches (22.6 centimeters) diagonally, compared with 9.7 inches (24.6 centimeters) for the iPad. The original Fire had 7-inch (17.7-centimeter) screens. The basic version of the larger Fire will sell for $299, or $100 less than the cheapest iPad. “It’s very clear today that there are two names in the market for tablets. One is Amazon and one is Apple,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. Seven out of every 10 tablets sold in the second quarter were iPads, according to IHS iSuppli. Tablets using Google’s Android operating system have not been able to carve out a significant stake. Amazon is trying to change that with the new Fires, which run a modified version of Android.

Amazon has been selling lower-priced tablets at thin, if any, profit margins to boost sales of digital items from its online store. As a result, it has been able to compete with the iPad on price. CEO Jeff Bezos said in an interview backstage that Amazon won’t lose money on the devices even if customers don’t use them to buy digital content from its online store. “We want people to buy content from the device, sure,” he said. “We’re fine if they don’t.” The basic, 7-inch (17.7-centimeter) Fire model will cost $159, down from $199 for the original model, which sold out last month. Amazon says it is 40 percent faster, comes with twice the memory and has a longer battery life than the old version. It will start shipping next Friday.

“I want one,” BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said about the $159 Kindle Fire.

“It’s a great price, and it’s certainly not something that’s going to be making money for them initially. It’s great for consumers. How great a business strategy (it is) for Amazon remains to be seen.”

Amazon’s bread-and-butter is not its Kindle gadgets but the movies, books and music that people consume through them. By contrast, Apple sees content sales as a sideline and wants to make a healthy profit on every device sold. For example, the cheapest iPad costs $399 and the most recent models start at $499.

But Amazon signaled Thursday that it is going head-to-head with Apple when it unveiled its high-end Kindle Fire HD. It will

have two Wi-Fi channels and two internal antennas for faster, smoother transfers.

That will be crucial for high-definition movies and other large files, Bezos told reporters. The HD model will also have more storage, starting at 16 gigabytes (the same as the iPad), compared with 8 GB for the old Fire. About 2 GB is taken by the Fire’s operating system.

An 8.9-inch (22.6-centimeter) model will go for $299 and start shipping Nov. 20.

That means a device nearly as big as the iPad will sell for at least $100 less. A 7-inch (17.7-centimeter) HD model will sell for $199, starting next Friday. Movies will play in 720p on the 7-inch (17.7-centimeter) model and 1080p on the larger one. The Fire, however, won’t have as extensive a selection of apps as the iPad. In addition, while the HD models will have a front-fac-

“They did at least enough to compete against Apple and against Google this year,” he said. That said, Sebastian added that he wouldn’t worry about Apple. “I’d worry about the other Android tablets,” he said. Google, for one, has a 7-inch (17.7centimeter) Android tablet called the Nexus 7. Samsung Electronics Co., which outsold Apple in smartphones this year, also makes Android tablets under the Galaxy line. Barnes & Noble Inc. has the Nook Tablet, which also runs on a modified Android system. Amazon also refreshed its line of stand-alone e-readers.

Called Paperwhite, the new e-reader model has a black-and-white screen and comes with a light source. Tablets such as the iPad and the Fire don’t work as well in bright light because they are lit from the back. Bezos says the light on the

Amazon Kindle vice president Peter Larsen holds the Kindle Fire HD at the introduction of the new Kindle devices in Santa Monica, California, Thursday, Sept 6, 2012. —AP ing camera for video chats, the iPad has one on the rear as well for taking photos and video. A premium Kindle Fire HD model, one with the ability to connect to the 4G cellular networks that phone companies are building, will cost $499. It will come with 32 gigabytes of memory and an 8.9-inch (22.6-centimeter) screen. A data plan with AT&T will cost $50 a year and come with a cap of 250 megabytes per month. Apple’s 4G iPads with 32 GB cost $729, not including data plans with AT&T or Verizon Wireless. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said Thursday’s event showed that at the end of the day, Amazon is a “legitimate competitor in the tablet market.”

Paperwhite is directed down at the display. The device promises eight weeks of battery life, even with the light on.It costs $119 and starts shipping Oct 1. Amazon says it will start taking orders Thursday.

There’s also a model with 3G cellular connections for $179. The Seattle-based retailer is also dropping the price of its low-end Kindle to $69, from $79. That will start shipping next Friday. With the Paperwhite, Amazon “proved that there is still value in the uni-functional device,” Gartner’s Milanesi said. But, she added, it has to be cheaper than the rest. Amazon’s stock jumped $5.16, or 2.1 percent, to close Thursday at $251.38. Earlier in the day, it hit a record high of $252.70. —AP

Nokia flagship smartphone to go on sale in November Nokia will start selling the Lumia 920, its new flagship smartphone using Microsoft’s Windows software, in November in European countries, sources at telecom operators told Reuters yesterday. Nokia did not disclose the price or roll-out dates of the

Lumia 920 and smaller Lumia 820 models - which are seen crucial for its turnaround efforts - when it unveiled the models earlier this week. An executive at an eastern European operator said he would start sales of the Lumia 920 in the second half of November,

adding larger countries would receive the model earlier that month. A source at a Nordic operator said sales at his carrier would start in mid to late November.

A Nokia spokesman declined to comment yesterday on when sales would start. —Reuters

CINEMA SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (06/09/2012 TO 12/09/2012) SHARQIA-1 THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) SUN+TUE+WED THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THU+FRI+SAT+MON GRABBERS (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY(2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 4:00 PM

6:00PM 8:00 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

SHARQIA-3 THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES(2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

MUHALAB-1 TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2(2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

MUHALAB-2 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-3 TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3Dl) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-1 TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-2 GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-4 TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital)

8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

3:15 PM

SHARQIA-2 BRAVE (3D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

FANAR-3 Ek Tha Tiger (Hindi) (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) Ek Tha Tiger (Hindi) (2D-Digital) Ek Tha Tiger (Hindi) (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-5 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES THE EXPENDABLES 2 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 3 THE EXPENDABLES 2 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

MARINA-1 THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 4:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:15 AM

MARINA-2 GRABBERS (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-3 BRAVE (3D-Digital) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS STOLEN (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-1 GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-7 THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 4:15 PM Ek Tha Tiger (Hindi) (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

2:00 PM (2D-Digital) 6:30 PM 09:30 AM 12:30

360º- 5 BRAVE (3D-Digital) BRAVE (3D-Digital) BRAVE (3D-Digital) BRAVE (3D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

360 º- 6 TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:45 PM 6:15 PM 8:45 PM 11:15 PM

AVENUES-8 BRAVE (2D-Digital) BRAVE (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 9:00 PM 12:15 AM

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

AVENUES-9 TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) THE EXPENDABLES 2(2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 7 GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) GRABBERS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-10 THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 8 STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:15 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-11 TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 9(VIP-1) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 9:00 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-2 TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) TOTAL RECALL (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

360 º-10 (VIP-2) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

AVENUES-3 LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

360 º- 11 LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 9:00 PM 11:30 PM

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

360 º- 1 THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2(2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2(2D-Digital) THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 1:00 AM

360º- 2 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:45 PM 8:00 PM 11:15 PM

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-4 LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) LAWLESS (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 1:00 AM

AVENUES-5 STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) STOLEN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

1:15 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM

AVENUES-6 STOLEN (2D-Digital)

1:30 PM

360º- 3 TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) TINKER BELL: SECRET OF THE WINGS (3D) NO FRI (07/09/2012) Special Show “BRAVE (2D-Digital)” for Oil Kuwait Tanker Co. FRI (07/09/2012) JUST CRAZY ENOUGH (2D-Digital) JUST CRAZY ENOUGH (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360º- 4 THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) THE BOURNE LEGACY (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

12:30 PM 3:15 PM 6:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 12 TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) 12:45 PM TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) NO FRI (07/09/2012) Special Show “BRAVE (2D-Digital)” for Oil Kuwait Tanker Co. FRI (07/09/2012) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

360 º- 13 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-IMAX) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-IMAX) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-IMAX) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2D-IMAX) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:30 PM 5:45 PM 9:00 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 14 INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN(2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN(2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN (2D-Digital) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

TV listings

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

00:45 Human Prey 01:35 Untamed & Uncut 02:25 Adrift: 47 Days With Sharks 03:15 Top Five Eaten Alive 04:05 I Was Bitten 04:55 Animal Kingdom 05:20 Shamwari: A Wild Life 05:45 Animal Airport 06:10 Animal Airport 06:35 Wildlife SOS International 07:00 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 07:25 Meerkat Manor 07:50 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 08:15 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 09:10 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 09:35 Breed All About It 10:05 Dogs 101 11:00 Crocodile Hunter 11:55 How Not To Become Shark Bait 12:50 New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin 13:45 Best Bites: 25 Greatest Shark Moments 14:40 Great White Invasion 15:35 How Sharks Hunt 16:30 Into The Shark Bite 17:25 Jaws Comes Home: Return Of The...

18:20 Wildest Latin America 19:15 South Georgia: Life Under The Furious 50 20:10 Great Ocean Adventures 21:05 Sharkzilla 22:00 Summer Of The Shark 2 22:55 Shark Feeding Frenzy 23:50 Untamed & Uncut

00:35 Antiques Roadshow 01:25 Open House 01:55 Open House 02:20 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 02:50 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 03:20 Living In The Sun 04:15 MasterChef 04:40 Saturday Kitchen 2007/08 05:10 Living In The Sun 06:05 MasterChef 07:00 Antiques Roadshow 11:25 Open House 11:50 MasterChef 12:45 MasterChef 13:35 Bargain Hunt 14:20 Bargain Hunt 15:05 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 15:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 16:35 Come Dine With Me 17:25 Antiques Roadshow 21:00 Cash In The Attic 22:40 Bargain Hunt 23:25 Bargain Hunt

00:30 Bakugan: New Vestroia 01:20 Powerpuff Girls 02:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Ben 10 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Powerpuff Girls 04:40 Generator Rex 05:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:55 Angelo Rules 06:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 06:25 Casper’s Scare School 07:00 The Powerpuff Girls 07:15 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi 07:40 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 08:05 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:30 Adventure Time 08:55 Level Up 09:20 Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated 10:10 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 10:35 Hero 108 11:00 Adventure Time 11:25 Grim Adventures Of...

12:15 Courage The Cowardly Dog 13:05 Ben 10 13:30 Ben 10 13:55 Powerpuff Girls 14:45 Thundercats 15:10 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 15:35 Hero 108

16:00 Angelo Rules 16:50 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:15 Adventure Time 17:40 Regular Show 18:05 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 18:30 Evil Con Carne 18:55 Courage The Cowardly Dog 19:45 Johnny Test 20:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 20:25 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:25 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 21:50 Grim Adventures Of...

22:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 22:50 Ben 10 23:40 Chowder

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Botched-18 Sanctum-18 Faster-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 I Am Number Four-PG15 Smoke Screen-PG15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 Twins Mission-PG15 Smoke Screen-PG15 Child’s Play 2-18 Metro-PG15

The Company Men-PG15 The Conspirator-PG15 Age Of The Dragons-PG15 Backwash-PG15 The Conspirator-PG15 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM Hanna-PG15 Ong Bak 2-PG15 Helen-PG15 Vampires Suck-PG15 Winter’s Bone-18 Awaydays-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 02:30 Hot In Cleveland 03:00 Whitney 03:30 Melissa & Joey 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:30 Whitney 09:30 The Simpsons 10:00 Modern Family 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 14:00 Melissa & Joey 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 The Simpsons 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Man Up! 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 The Office 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 23:00 Hot In Cleveland 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00

House Glee Castle Glee Good Morning America Smallville Castle The Ellen DeGeneres Show Glee The View

12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 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

House Glee Touch Live Good Morning America Smallville The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Drop Dead Diva C.S.I. C.S.I. New York C.S.I. Miami Glee

Warehouse 13 Castle Touch Greek House Touch Warehouse 13 Psych Private Practice Glee House Castle Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Private Practice Warehouse 13 Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Private Practice Drop Dead Diva C.S.I. C.S.I. New York C.S.I. Miami Greek

01:00 Thick As Thieves-18 03:00 The Hit List-18

04:45 07:00 09:00 PG15 11:00 13:15 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:15 21:15 23:15

X2-PG15 Rocky-PG15 Warriors Of Heaven And EarthX2-PG15 Salt-PG15 Warriors Of Heaven And EarthHidalgo-PG15 Tupac: Resurrection-18 Metro-PG15 Bats-18

00:00 Rag Tale-18 02:15 Little Fockers-PG15 04:00 Open Season 3-FAM 06:00 Big Fat Liar-PG 08:00 My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend-PG15 10:00 The Lightkeepers-PG15 12:00 Snow Dogs-PG 14:00 How The Grinch Stole Christmas-PG 16:00 The Lightkeepers-PG15 18:00 Made In Dagenham-PG15 20:00 American Virgin-18 22:00 The Dilemma-PG15

01:15 Mademoiselle Chambon-PG15 03:00 Wild At Heart-18 05:15 The Weather Man-18 07:00 Les Miserables 25th Anniversary-PG15 10:00 Divorces!-PG15 12:00 The LXD: The Uprising BeginsPG15 13:45 The LXD: Secrets Of The RaPG15 15:45 Divorces!-PG15 17:45 Across The Sea Of Time-FAM 19:00 Country Strong-PG15 21:00 American History X-18 23:00 Blame It On Mum-18

01:45 03:15 04:45 PG15 06:30 09:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Roommate-PG15 Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2-PG15 Rise Of The Planet Of The ApesThe Karate Kid-PG Win Win-PG15 Muhammad And Larry-PG15 Ice Age-FAM Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG Win Win-PG15 Restless-PG15 Ondine-PG15 Scream 4-18

00:00 Turtle Hero: Part I-FAM 02:00 Rainbow Valley Heroes-FAM 04:00 A Venetian Rascal Goes To America-FAM 06:00 Turtle Hero: Part I-FAM 08:00 The Lucky Dragon-PG 10:00 Ramona And Beezus-PG 12:00 A Venetian Rascal Goes To America-FAM 14:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 16:00 Turtle Hero: Part II-FAM 18:00 Ramona And Beezus-PG 20:00 The Smurfs-PG 22:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG

METRO ON OSN ACTION HD

00:00 MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris Matthews 01:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 02:00 Live NBC Nightly News 02:30 ABC World News W/ Diane Sawyer 03:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 04:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 06:00 NBC Nightly News 06:35 ABC Nightline 07:00 ABC World News W/ Diane Sawyer 07:30 Live NBC Nightly News 08:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 09:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 10:00 MSNBC Morning Joe 13:00 MSNBC Caught On Camera 14:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 16:00 MSNBC Up With Chris Hayes Saturday 17:57 Live MSNBC Hardball W/ Chris

Matthews 18:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 19:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 20:00 ABC 20/20 21:00 MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry 23:00 MSNBC Investigates

00:00 02:00 PG 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 PG15 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Last House On The Left-18 Justin Bieber: Never Say NeverHenry’s Crime-PG15 Lord Of The Dance-PG Call Of The Wild-PG15 Quest For Zhu-PG Rise Of The Planet Of The ApesThe Nanny Express-PG15 Call Of The Wild-PG15 Red-PG15 Ondine-PG15 Super-18

00:00 PGA European Tour 04:30 UFC The Ultimate Fighter Prelims 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Live AFL Premiership 10:00 Live Rugby Match day 10:30 Live Rugby Union Championship 12:30 Live Rugby Matchday 13:00 Live Rugby Matchday 13:30 Live Rugby Union Championship 15:30 Live Rugby Matchday 16:00 European Tour Weekly 16:30 Live Cricket Twenty20 19:30 Live Super League 22:00 Rugby Matchday 22:30 Rugby Union Championship

01:00 04:00 07:30 09:30 10:30 12:30 14:30 15:30 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

UFC The Ultimate Fighter Premier League Snooker Live Rugby Union ITM CUP WWE Bottomline Live NRL Premiership Live NRL Premiership Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial Live Rugby Union ITM CUP Live Rugby Union Currie Cup Live Rugby Union Currie Cup Cricket Twenty20

00:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 11:30 13:30 14:00 18:00 22:30

NRL Premiership Pro 12 Golfing World European PGA Tour Pro 12 PGA European Tour Weekly Live European PGA Tour AFL Premiership European PGA Tour

00:00 WWE SmackDown 02:00 WWE Bottomline 03:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 04:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 WWE SmackDown 09:00 WWE Bottomline 10:00 WWE Vintage Collection 11:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 12:00 V8 Supercars Extra 12:30 AFL Premiership 15:30 WWE Bottomline 16:30 WWE SmackDown 18:30 V8 Supercars Extra 19:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter Prelims 21:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter Finale

00:00 Ocean’s Eleven-PG 02:05 Raintree County-PG 04:50 Tea And Sympathy-PG 07:00 Manpower-PG 08:40 The Shoes Of The FishermanFAM 11:10 Raintree County-PG 14:00 That Midnight Kiss-FAM 15:40 Jailhouse Rock-PG 17:15 Saratoga-PG 18:50 Soylent Green-PG 20:25 Crazy In Love-PG 22:00 The Year Of Living Dangerously-PG

what’s on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Landscapes Expanded SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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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

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

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he British Council and Contemporary Art Platform Kuwait, in partnership with the National Council for Arts and Letters, are pleased to announce Landscapes Expanded, a month long residency programme that aims to support artists from different backgrounds to explore landscape art in their own practice.

The exhibition out of Britain explores one hundred years of British landscape and examines the ways in which artists have engaged with landscape and addressed timeless and fundamental questions about man’s place in the world. The works in the show illustrate individual artist’s attempts to find their place amongst an ever-changing environment where they are often driven to challenge traditional ways of interpreting and framing the landscape.

Landscapes Expanded will support artists to explore contemporary issues intrinsically related to site, space, and place in their field of work. The residency will begin with a three-day workshop that will support artists to develop concepts for their research in the weeks that follow.

Throughout the programme participants will benefit from group and individual reviews of their work and guidance from the residency facilitator and visiting contributors.

The residency programme will be led by artist and curator Alia Farid Abdal, who explores personal perspectives of public space and constructed landscapes in her

Announcements Onam celebration Konni Nivasi Sangamam celebrates Onam on Friday, 21st September 2012 from 10 am to 4 pm at Abbassiya United Indian School. Public meeting honored with presence of prominent dignitaries from social-cultural-political sectors, maveli, athapookalam, chendamelam, ganamela, mimicry and other cultural events will be conducted as part of the program.

Ccome and enjoy! Feel the experience of traditional tastes! Have lots of fun & frenzy! rock with music!

Free Arabic course IPC and all its branches is opening free Arabic language course for non Arab ladies accessible in beginners and advance levels. Class will commence in September 14. Islamic and Quran courses are also presented in different languages. Registration is on!

Calling all Ten-pin Bowlers, The Indian Bowling League (IBL) Season 3 will be held at Cozmo Entertainment, Salmiya commencing on Friday the 28th of September at 3 pm. Kindly reserve your team in advance to avoid disappointment, on a first come first serve.

‘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.

own art work and academic research. The programme will also benefit from insightful contributions from visiting artists and art critics such as British Artist David Rayson, whose work is featured in Out of Britain.

Rayson is currently the Professor of Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. Participants’ work produced during the residency programme will be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMArt Kuwait) at the end of October 2012.

Chosen works may also be exhibited at a British Council Visual Arts exhibition that will showcase artists from the Gulf at the Brunei Gallery in London in 2015.

Eligibility: ● This residency is open to practicing artists and creative practitioners (from all disciplines) who are keen to develop the concepts of landscape art in their practice. ● Applicants must reside in Kuwait. ● Applicants must commit to participate in a three-day workshop (18th - 20th September 2012) and closing presentation, which will take place on 18th October 2012. ● The workshops will be hosted in English, however translators will be available should they be required.

Procedure DEADLINE: 9th September 2012 (10am) Please e-mail the following (in English or Arabic) to nadia.elsebai@britishcouncil.org ● Artist C.V. ● Up to 10 images of your work with an

appendix stating the title, medium, and year the work was executed.* ● A statement of intent (up to 500 words) explaining why you are applying to the programme and what you hope to obtain from it. Please briefly state what themes you are interested to explore during the residency programme.* Please note that large images will have to be submitted via or any other host site in which your images can be downloaded directly. Alternatively, you may wish to submit a link to your work online. For videos, please provide links of uploaded material either on YouTube or vimeo.

You may elaborate on any of the suggested topics below, or propose your own topic of research.

Suggested topics for research: ● Urban Tribes ● The politics of dress ● Geopolitics ● Landscapes created by advertising ● Monuments in the construction of Landscapes and History ● The demolished landscape, erasing history, and recuperating memory ● Imagined landscapes, futuristic and fictitious We will expect all applicants to make a considerable commitment to producing art work throughout the month long residency, and contributing quality finished pieces to the closing exhibition at MoMArt Kuwait (end of October 2012).

Audition for ZEE Antakshari Focus Kuwait 6th annual day As a part of the 6th anniversary celebrations, Forum of Cadd Users (FOCUS Kuwait), a nonpolitical, non-religious organization is set to stage a mega cultural event “Focus Fest2012”. This mega event will be a blend of traditional and contemporary dance and musical extravaganza by renowned South Indian playback singers Jyotsna and Sudeesh. Scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, October 12, 2012, at the Al-Jeel Al-Jadeed School Auditorium, Hawally, the mega musical show, is expected to be a super-hit in Kuwait. Joseph Panicker, Chairman of the Institution of Engineers India (IEI) has released the Raffle Coupon of “Focus Fest-2012” handing over a copy to Thomas Itty, one of the Conveners of Program Committee, in the function held at Ebenezer Auditorium, Abbassiya on the evening of August 13. An attractive program flayer also has been released by him handing over a copy to Sam Pynumood, the popular social activist and former advisory board member of FOCUS. The function was presided over by FOCUS President Sasi Thompson. General Secretary M N Saleem, Vice President Manoj George, Joint Secretary Shaheed Labba and various subcommittee conveners and members present on the occasion.

Premier GOAL Academy, Everton hold Open Day The Premier GOAL Academy in association with Everton FC are holding their Open Day at Shaab Park GOAL Football Centre on Saturday 8th September from 0900-1200 and 1500-1700. Sponsored

by Porshe Centre Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company and under the patronage of the British Ambassador to Kuwait, Frank Baker, everyone is invited to attend.

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or the first time Indian Cultural Society brings you live excitement of ZEE International antakshari in Kuwait.

Audition & first round will be held in Kuwait, there after followed by semi finals in India & Grand Finale in Dubai. Complete team of Carnival films & Zee TV will be in Kuwait for the final round of selection on Friday 5th October with Jaaved Jaaferi: Celebrity Judge, Akriti Kakkar: Female Bollywood Singer & Host of Antakshari, Manish Paul: Host for Auditions, Sarfaraz Khan: Actor, Director and Producer, Michael Amin: Producer & Director Carnival films world. Musicians, Male Singer & many more for live performances......

Final audition at 10 am & music show at 7.30 pm at AIS-Hawally. First phase audition

will be on Friday 21st September at KMA Jabaria. Audition commences at 10am sharp & music show at 7.30pm with renowned playback singer Madhushree Bhattacharya and live orchestra from Bollywood.

Criteria for audition entry 1. Age - 15 years & above 2. Ability to sing 3. Bollywood trivia knowledge 4. Registrations are open to all nationalities residing in GCC countries.

Participant should be present on audition date as per given time frame. Carnival films & ICS Executive members or family members are not allowed to participate in this competition.

K’s Path to hold fundraiser quiz night

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oin in with your friends and family to support a great cause!Kuwait City: K’S PATH (Kuwait Society for Protection of Animals and Their Habitat) - a local non-profit organization committed to animal welfare and environmental protection - will hold its fundraiser Quiz Night on Friday, September the 28th 2012 at 7 pm, proudly hosted by the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK). The funfilled evening will have participants compete in teams of up to 6 to win exciting prizes including a special prize for the best team name.

“Our Quiz Nights are a great way for families and friends to get together to have fun

and support a worthy cause,” says K’S PATH Chairman Ayeshah Al Humaidhi. “Our past fundraiser quiz nights were very well received and we’re back by popular demand this year.

All proceeds from the fundraiser go towards the upkeep of K’S PATH shelter and programs.”

There’s great trivia, novel quiz rounds with prizes and delectable dinner. Register your team today by sending your team name and details by 23rd September.

what’s on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

NAFO to celebrate Onam on Sept 21

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Floral decoration Kuwait Ernakulam Resident Association (KERA) presented this floral decortation as a specially invited guest during the ‘Ponnonam 2012’ celebration organized

by Music and Arts Society for Social Welfare (MASS), Kuwait.

BSK annual Carnival Day

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he British School of Kuwait, located in Salwa block 1, street 1, will be holding its annual Carnival Day on Saturday September 15 from 10 am to 1 pm. It will be a fun filled day with lots of activities for the whole family. You can also find out more information about the various afterschool activities for children and parents open to everyone in Kuwait at The British Academy of International Arts (BAIA)such as dance, theatre, music, art and cuisine and various sports such as football, swimming, karate, cricket and many more offered through The British Academy of Sports (BAS). Sponsors will be on hand to provide free gifts and add to a wonderful atmosphere of fun and entertainment.

Seminar on Islam’s Holy book at Aware

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he AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya presentation entitled, “The Quran: An Introduction to Islam’s Holy Book,” by Dr Teresa Lesher on September 11th, at 7 pm. The Quran is a 1400year old Arabic document said to be God’s message to mankind. Dr Teresa Lesher will briefly explain the methods of revelation, documentation and preservation of the Quran, as well as its style and themes. She will clarify Its importance to Muslims until today is indicated by their approach to handling and studying it. Open discussion will follow the presentation and complimentary translations of the Quran in English will be offered to all attendees.

Dr. Teresa holds her PhD in Information Science from the UK and is now associate professor at the Kuwait College of Basic Education. She held the position of General Manager of the AWARE Center for three years and returns often to host presentations related to Arab and Islamic culture.

ational Forum Kuwait (NAFO Kuwait) will celebrate Onam 2012 with its full spirit and fervor on Friday, September 21, 2012 at the Indian Community School Auditorium from 10 am onwards.

Indian Ambassador Satish C Mehta will be the chief guest on this happy occasion. A galaxy of eminent personalities in Kuwait is also expected to join the celebration.

Starting from the floral carpet called “Athapookkalam,” NAFO family will present various cultural programs bringing back the nostalgic memories of a bygone era of prosperity, equality and righteousness under the golden reign of Mahabali.

In addition, a grand sumptuous meal, the traditional ‘Onasadya’ will also be served.

Winter 2012 AMIE examination

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he AMIE Winter 2012 examinations will be held between Dec 01-07, 2012 as follows: Section A (Diploma) - December 1-4, 2012 Section A (NonDiploma) - December 1-7, 2012 Section B - December 1-7, 2012 The last date for submission of examination application forms are given hereunder: Candidates not appeared at Summer 2012 Exam: Aug 21 - Sept 21, 2012 Candidates appeared at Summer 2012 Exam: Sept 21 - Oct 19, 2012 Candidates who intend to appear for the Winter 2012 examination must apply directly to Kolkata by filling the prescribed application form along with requisite amount of demand draft in favour of The Institution of Engineers (India), payable at Kolkata.

Taste of Jamaica’s 5th Poetry Slam Contest

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he 1st place winner of the 4th Poetry Slam Contest in Kuwait Skywalker (John Nicholson) will be defending his 1st place title during the Taste of Jamaica’s 5th Poetry Slam Contest on the Saturday, September 8, 2012.

The event which is sponsored by Taste of Jamaica (Ayana Ashanti) will be held at Rotana Hotel in Fahaheel by 7:30 pm. Nada Faris (Kuwait’s finest) is the first and only Kuwaiti to participate in Taste of Jamaica’s Poetry Slam Contest since 2010. The first contest was held inside the Embassy of Jamaica in Kuwait on October 22, 2010. Nada is the first female, first winner and first Kuwaiti to hold the title of the First Place in the Taste of Jamaica’s first Poetry Slam Contest. Will Nada regain her title back from Skywalker?

Find out at our 5th Poetry Slam Contest on September 8, 2012. Be there and watch us perform. Doors open at 7:30 pm. There will be dinner and an art show.

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 Consulate-General 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.

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EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE

The Embassy of Argentina requests all Argentinean citizens in Kuwait to proceed to our official email ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar in order to register or update contact information.

The embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the embassy. The registration process helps the Argentinean Government to contact and assist Argentineans living abroad in case of any emergency.

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EMBASSY OF BRITAIN Consular section at the British Embassy will be starting an online appointment booking system for our consular customers from Sunday, 01 July 2012. All information including how to make an appointment is now available on the embassy website. In addition, there is also a “Consular Appointment System” option under Quick links on the right hand side on the homepage, which should take you to the “Consular online booking appointment system” main page.

Please be aware that from 01 July 2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers for legalisation, notarial services and certificates (birth, death and marriages). If you have problems accessing the system or need to make an appointment for nonnotarial consular issues or have a consular emergency, please call 2259 4355/7/8 or email us on consularenquirieskuwait@fco.gov.uk. If you require consular assistance out of office hours (working hours: 0730-l430 hrs), please contact the Embassy on 2259 4320.

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EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

health & science

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Vietnam hit by new ‘highly-toxic’ bird flu Strain mutation of deadly H5N1 virus: Report View of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park. — AFP

Third person dies from Yosemite park virus LOS ANGELES: A third victim has died from a rare rodentborne virus contracted in Yosemite National Park, out of eight cases now confirmed with the disease, authorities at the US tourist spot said Thursday.

The park has issued warnings to some 10,000 people both within the United States and overseas who visited Yosemite between June 10 and late August, and stayed in a specific area of tent cabins.

Previously the number of confirmed cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) was put at six, with two fatalities. The park said Thursday eight cases were confirmed and three people had died, adding: “The five remaining individuals are either improving or recovering.”

“We want to make sure that visitors have clear information about this rare virus and understand the importance of early medical care,” said Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher. “We continue to work closely with state and national public health officials, and we urge visitors who may have been exposed to hantavirus to seek medical attention at the first sign of symptoms.”

Symptoms of the disease, which can develop with two to six weeks of contracting the virus, include fever, chills, myalgias, cough, headaches and gastrointestinal ailments.

But they can rapidly escalate into serious breathing difficulties and death. — AFP

HANOI: A new highly-toxic strain of the potentially deadly bird flu virus has appeared in Vietnam and is spreading fast, according to state media reports.

The strain appeared to be a mutation of the H5N1 virus which swept through the country’s poultry flocks last year, forcing mass culls of birds in affected areas, according to agriculture officials.

The new virus “is quickly spreading and this is the big concern of the government”, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan said, according to a Thursday report in the VietnamNet online newspaper.

Experts cited in the report said the new virus appeared in July and had spread through Vietnam’s northern and central regions in August.

Outbreaks have been detected in six provinces so far and some 180,000 birds have been culled, the Animal Health department said. The Central Veterinary Diagnosis Centre said the virus appeared similar to the standard strains of bird flu but was more toxic.

The centre will test how much protection existing vaccines for humans offer, the report said.

Some experts suggested that the new strain resulted from widespread smuggling of poultry from China into the northern parts of Vietnam. Two people have died this year from the virulent disease-but long before the new strain was identified. According to the World Health Organization, Vietnam has recorded one of the highest numbers of fatalities from bird flu in southeast Asia, with at least 59 deaths since 2003.

The avian influenza virus has killed more than 330 people around the world, and scientists fear it could mutate into a form readily transmissible between humans, with the potential to cause millions of deaths. — AFP

HANOI: A vendor selling live chicken at a local market in Hanoi. A new highly-toxic strain of the bird flu virus, which is fatal to humans, has appeared in Vietnam and is spreading fast, state media said recently. — AFP

In body-conscious Brazil, half are now overweight

Singapore chokes on smoke from Indonesia SINGAPORE: Singapore registered its worst level of air pollution for the year yesterday as smoke from forest fires in Indonesia blew over the city-state, triggering a health warning.

As of 8am (0000 GMT) Singapore’s Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) ranged from 65-75 after a night of thick, choking haze over the island. The air began to clear later in the morning thanks to favorable winds. A PSI reading of 65-75 is still in the moderate range. Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy.

“For the past one week, an increase in

hotspot activities was observed over Sumatra,” the National Environment Agency said in its latest update.

“The current prevailing winds blowing from the southwest or south have transported the haze from fires in southern Sumatra towards Singapore,” referring to the Indonesian island. The agency said hazy conditions could still recur and advised people with heart or lung disease as well as children and older adults to “avoid all physical activity outdoors.”

“Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.” —AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: One of the world’s most body-conscious countries, Brazil is now threatened by growing obesity rates, with half of the population already overweight. As a result of an unbalanced diet and a rise in more sedentary lifestyles, Brazil, which moved 30 million people out of poverty and into the middle class over the past decade, is paying a heavy price for its frenetic growth.

Official statistics corroborate the alarming rise in the number of overweight or obese people in the world’s sixth largest economy. Nearly half of the country’s 194 million people are overweight and 16 percent obese, according to a health ministry report released in April. The percentage of overweight people jumped from 42.7% in 2006 to 48.5% in 2011, while the obesity rate increased from 11.4% to 15.8% in the same period.

The most overweight section of the population are men aged 35-45, of whom almost two thirds are fat, and women aged 45-54. “It is high time to reverse the trend so as to avoid becoming like the United States, where nearly 35.7 percent of the adult population is obese,” Health Minister Alexandre Padilha warned. “Brazilians have a poor diet. They could eat green vegetables but they prefer beans and fat,” said Solange de Goncalves, a 38-year-old from Rio who weighs 123 kilos (271 pounds) and is among Brazil’s 30 million obese citizens.

Overweight since her childhood, she also suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes and concedes that her life is not easy.

“People look at you in the street. You cannot find clothes matching your size.

Once I even got stuck in a bus turnstile,” she told AFP, her voice cracking with emotion. Goncalves is envious of the celebrities who make headlines or star in telenovelas, like Suede Junior, a male model sporting a “Made in Brazil” tattoo on his chest. “To go to the gym, take good care of one’s body is something common in Rio,” he told AFP on Ipanema beach. After a 12-year wait, Goncalves had a gastric ring inserted in July, a procedure covered by her public health insurance. “I am happy.

I already lost 15 of the 50 kilograms I want to lose,” she said. With the operation, which reduces the size of the stomach, a patient can lose 80 percent of his excess weight but must be monitored by a surgeon, an endocrinologist, a psychologist and a nutritionist for the rest of his life.

“The key to a successful treatment is dieting. The surgery is meant to help the patient, but if he drops the diet, he will regain weight,” explained Octavio Falcao, a specialist who carries out the surgery. The number of Brazilians undergoing the ring procedure soared 275 percent between 2003 and 2010 to 60,000 a year. — AFP

CLASSIFIEDS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Prayer timings Fajr: Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:58 11:50 15:25 18:19 19:39

Al-Madena Al-Shohada’a Al-Shuwaikh Al-Nuzha Sabhan Al-Helaly Al-Fayhaa Al-Farwaniya Al-Sulaibikhat Al-Fahaheel Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Ahmadi Al-Mangaf Al-Shuaiba Al-Jahra Al-Salmiya

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Hospitals Sabah Hospital Amiri Hospital Maternity Hospital Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital Chest Hospital Farwaniya Hospital Adan Hospital Ibn Sina Hospital Al-Razi Hospital Physiotherapy Hospital

24812000 22450005 24843100 25312700 24849400 24892010 23940620 24840300 24846000 24874330/9

Clinics Rabiya Rawdha Adailiya Khaldiya Khaifan Shamiya Shuwaikh Abdullah Salim Al-Nuzha Industrial Shuwaikh Al-Qadisiya Dasmah Bneid Al-Ghar Al-Shaab Al-Kibla Ayoun Al-Kibla Mirqab Sharq Salmiya Jabriya Maidan Hawally Bayan

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ACCOMMODATION

knows the areas of Kuwait.

Contact; 99401126. (C 4125) 5-9-2012

Sharing accommodation available in Mahboula for non-smoking Keralites.

Contact: 66725394. (C 4127) 6-9-2012

Cook for Kuwaiti family, available in Kuwait with transferable residence, experience in houses, not restaurants. Call: 94088822. (C 4116)

Available one bedroom for an Indian executive bachelor in a 2 B/R, 2 bathroom C-A/C apartment /new building across Salmiya Garden block 10 from 1st September to stay with a couple, the person should be non-smoking with clean habits. Contact: 25653928 / 66015253. (C 4123)

Required English speaking maid / nanny. Please call 99824597. (C 4117) 1-9-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, Bino Mathavath George, Passport No: Z2111118, Mathavath House P.O. Veerpad Kallara, Kannur Dt. Kerala do hereby declare that my daughter’s given name as ELIANE SHARON BINO (bearing Passport No: J0976424 issued at Kuwait) shall henceforth be known as ELAINE BINO MATHAVATH. (C 4126)

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES

Fully furnished flat for rent for 3 to 4 months near Indian Public School, Salmiya. Good location. Contact: 50166063.

(C 4124) 3-9-2012

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

A room available in a furnished two bedroom flat in Salmiya for a working class single lady- close to the bus stop. Please call 99702658

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

Required one room in a decent accommodation for one mature person in Khaitan/ Farwaniya/ Omeria.

Call 66773840. (C 4120) Sharing accommodation available for decent bachelor non smoking, Amman street, one big room, opposite to Al Rashid hospital. Contact 66232356. (C 4121) 2-9-2012

SITUATION VACANT Driver for a Kuwaiti family, must he having driving license and transferable residence and

information SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines QTR JZR QTR SAI ETH PIA RJA GFA UAE ETD OMA THY FDB MSR KAC QTR JZR MSC THY JZR DHX JZR KAC BAW KAC JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD BAB GFA IRA UAE MSC JZR MSR IRM JZR MSR KAC GFA FDB MPH JZR KNE JZR QTR KAC SVA RJA JZR KAC KNE QTR IRC KAC IZG KAC KAC JZR ETD UAE UAL GFA SVA JZR MSC JZR KAC ABY KAC KAC QTR

Arrival Flights on Saturday 8/9/2012 Flt Route 6130 DOHA 185 DUBAI 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 239 ISLAMABAD 642 AMMAN 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 768 ISTANBUL 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 1546 CAIRO 138 DOHA 503 LUXOR 2401 ALEXANDRIA 770 ISTANBUL 1541 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 555 ALEXANDRIA 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 284 DHAKA 344 CHENNAI 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 3407 MASHAD 871 DUBAI 2405 SOHAG 165 DUBAI 618 ALEXANDRIA 5066 MASHAD 325 NAJAF 610 CAIRO 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 57 DUBAI 975 AMSTERDAM 241 AMMAN 472 JEDDAH 535 CAIRO 140 DOHA 562 AMMAN 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 257 BEIRUT 788 JEDDAH 476 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 6791 MASHAD 538 SHARM EL SHEIKH 4161 MASHAD 118 NEW YORK 1545 CAIRO 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 857 DUBAI 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 177 DUBAI 2403 ASSIUT 777 JEDDAH 176 GENEVA 127 SHARJAH 502 BEIRUT 542 CAIRO 144 DOHA

Time 0:05 0:15 0:20 1:30 1:45 2:05 2:10 2:20 2:25 2:30 2:50 2:50 3:10 3:20 3:25 3:25 3:55 4:00 4:35 4:55 5:00 6:00 6:15 6:30 6:35 6:40 7:15 7:30 7:45 7:50 8:05 8:15 8:20 8:20 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:20 9:30 9:35 10:00 10:10 10:45 10:50 11:05 11:25 11:55 12:30 13:30 13:40 13:40 13:45 13:55 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:00 15:00 15:15 15:25 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:20 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:30 17:30 17:40 17:45 17:45 18:00 18:15 18:20

KAC BAB KAC FDB MSR JZR KAC KAC IRM JAI KAC IRA AXB OMA MEA KAC QTR KNE GFA KNE ALK KLM JZR UAE BBC SYR ABY QTR JZR KAC FDB JZR AIC GFA UAL JZR DLH FDB MSR THY DHX JAI

786 438 104 63 620 175 618 674 5064 572 774 607 393 647 402 790 146 460 221 474 229 415 135 859 43 341 129 136 513 614 61 539 975 217 981 239 636 51 614 772 372 574

JEDDAH BAHRAIN LONDON DUBAI ASSIUT DUBAI DOHA DUBAI MASHAD MUMBAI RIYADH MASHAD KOZHIKODE MUSCAT BEIRUT MEDINAH DOHA MEDINAH BAHRAIN JEDDAH COLOMBO AMSTERDAM BAHRAIN DUBAI DHAKA DAMASCUS SHARJAH DOHA SHARM EL SHEIKH BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO CHENNAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN AMMAN FRANKFURT DUBAI CAIRO ISTANBUL BAHRAIN MUMBAI

Airlines AIC UAL MSR JAI KLM QTR THY SAI ETH RJA PIA THY UAE FDB OMA ETD MSR MSC QTR QTR JZR GFA THY JZR BAW FDB JZR JZR JZR ABY KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE KAC KAC QTR FDB KAC

Departure Flights on Saturday 8/9/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON 615 CAIRO 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 6131 DOHA 773 ISTANBUL 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 643 AMMAN 240 SIALKOT 769 ISTANBUL 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 2406 SOHAG 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 534 CAIRO 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 240 AMMAN 256 BEIRUT 324 AL NAJAF 126 SHARJAH 561 AMMAN 671 DUBAI 1543 CAIRO 787 JEDDAH 856 DUBAI 537 SHARM EL SHEIKH 101 LONDON 133 DOHA 56 DUBAI 107 GENEVA

18:40 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:10 19:15 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:35 19:40 19:50 19:55 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:25 20:25 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:05 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:30 21:35 22:00 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:25 22:35 22:40 22:55 23:10 23:30 23:35 23:40 23:40 23:50 Time 0:05 0:25 0:35 0:50 0:55 1:30 2:15 2:30 2:45 3:10 3:20 3:40 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:20 4:45 4:50 5:40 6:55 7:05 7:10 7:30 8:25 8:25 8:35 9:00 9:05 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:35 9:40 10:00 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:10

ETD BAB JZR GFA IRA KAC MSC KAC KAC JZR UAE MSR KAC JZR IRM GFA FDB MSR JZR KAC JZR KNE MPH KAC RJA KNE JZR KAC SVA QTR IRC KAC IZG ETD JZR QTR UAE KAC MSC JZR GFA ABY UAL SVA JZR KAC QTR FDB BAB JZR MSR KAC KAC KAC JAI IRM IRA KAC KAC OMA MEA KNE KAC GFA KNE DHX ALK KLM JZR ABY KAC UAE SYR QTR KAC KAC FDB JZR BBC QTR AXB GFA KAC JZR

302 437 356 214 3406 541 2404 165 501 776 872 619 785 176 5065 220 58 611 174 673 538 473 975 617 641 461 512 789 505 135 6792 773 4162 304 238 141 858 1545 2402 134 216 128 982 511 266 613 145 64 439 184 621 283 1541 153 571 5063 604 331 350 648 403 477 543 222 475 171 230 415 1540 120 381 860 342 137 301 205 62 554 44 147 394 218 411 504

ABU DHABI BAHRAIN MASHHAD BAHRAIN MASHHAD CAIRO ASSIUT ROME BEIRUT JEDDAH DUBAI ASSIUT JEDDAH DUBAI MASHHAD BAHRAIN DUBAI CAIRO DUBAI DUBAI CAIRO JEDDAH SHARJAH DOHA AMMAN MADINAH SHARM EL SHEIKH MADINAH JEDDAH DOHA MASHHAD RIYADH MASHHAD ABU DHABI AMMAN DOHA DUBAI CAIRO HURGHADA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN SHARJAH BAHRAIN RIYADH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DHAKA CAIRO ISTANBUL MUMBAI MASHHAD ISFAHAN TRIVANDRUM KOCHI MUSCAT BEIRUT JEDDAH CAIRO BAHRAIN JEDDAH BAHRAIN COLOMBO DAMMAM CAIRO SHARJAH DELHI DUBAI DAMASCUS DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD DUBAI ALEXANDRIA CHITTAGONG DOHA KOCHI BAHRAIN BANGKOK LUXOR

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:15 10:25 10:30 10:45 11:10 11:30 11:35 11:45 12:00 12:15 12:20 12:25 13:10 13:20 13:25 14:25 14:25 14:30 15:05 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:25 15:45 15:50 15:50 15:55 16:00 16:00 16:15 16:25 16:25 16:45 17:20 17:30 17:45 18:05 18:15 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:50 19:00 19:20 19:25 19:30 20:05 20:10 20:15 20:15 20:30 20:35 20:40 20:50 20:50 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:15 21:30 21:35 21:35 21:50 21:55 22:05 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:10 23:30 23:40 23:45

Yesterday始s Solution

C R O S S W O R D 7 9 0

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

ACROSS 1. A federation of North American labor unions that merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955.

4. A member of a North American Indian people living around the mouth of the Colorado river.

10. The bill in a restaurant.

13. The dialect of Chinese spoken in Canton and neighboring provinces and in Hong Kong and elsewhere outside China.

14. Surveying instrument consisting of the upper movable part of a theodolite including the telescope and its attachments.

15. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

16. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

17. A chain of connected ideas or passages or objects so arranged that each member is closely related to the preceding and following members (especially a series of patristic comments elucidating Christian dogma).

18. An unforeseen obstacle.

19. Australian shrubs and small trees with evergreen usually spiny leaves and dense clusters of showy flowers.

21. A city of northern Poland near the mouth of the Vistula River on a gulf of the Baltic Sea. 23. A former monetary unit in Great Britain.

25. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

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

32. German hero.

34. A large fleet.

37. Squash bugs.

38. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

40. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

41. The syllable naming the fifth (dominant) note of any musical scale in solmization.

46. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.

48. A festival featuring African-American culture.

52. American professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934).

56. A river in southeastern Australia that flows generally northwest to join the Darling River.

57. The act of scanning.

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

61. Starch resembling sago that is obtained from cuckoopint root.

63. Payment due by the recipient on delivery.

64. Wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite.

65. A communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern Asia.

66. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

DOWN 1. An Indian nursemaid who looks after children.

2. A family of languages of the Fula people of west Africa in the sub-Sahara regions from Senegal to Chad.

3. An accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape.

4. Tropical American tree producing cacao beans.

5. Leaf or strip from a leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper.

6. A large and densely populated urban area.

7. A lyric poem with complex stanza forms.

8. (plate tectonic theory) A hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.

9. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

10. A circular segment of a curve.

11. A doctor's degree in musical arts.

12. A coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds.

20. The principal evil jinni in Islamic mythology.

22. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

24. A nonmetallic largely pentavalent heavy volatile corrosive dark brown liquid element belonging to the halogens.

27. A river in central Italy rising in the Apennines and flowing through Florence and Pisa to the Ligurian Sea. 28. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

29. Small beads made from polished shells and formerly used as money by native Americans.

30. A republic in central Europe.

31. A small cake leavened with yeast.

33. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

35. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

36. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

39. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan.

42. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

43. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.

44. A legendary creature resembling a tiny old man.

45. A type of submachine gun that is designed and manufactured in Israel.

47. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

49. Marked by keen caution and watchful prudence.

50. An Asian river between China and Russia.

51. United States writer (born in Poland) who wrote in Yiddish (1880-1957).

53. Framework for holding objects.

54. A slender double-reed instrument.

55. A quantity of no importance.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Nationals tame Cubs WASHINGTON: Adam LaRoche added to his home run tear with a two-run shot and the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 9-2 in a fight-filled game Thursday night to finish a lopsided fourgame sweep. The trouble started with a testy exchange between Cubs bench coach Jamie Quirk and Nationals third base coach Bo Porter in the fifth inning.

The benches and bullpens emptied, but there was no pushing or shoving. Quirk was ejected before play resumed.

In the sixth, Chicago reliever Lendy Castillo threw his first pitch of the inning near Bryce Harper’s legs and the ball that sailed all the way to the backstop. Harper made a move toward the mound and was quickly intercepted by catcher Steve Clevenger. Both teams spilled onto the field again, and this time things got a little nasty. Players pushed and shoved each other in the infield and Clevenger took an open-handed swipe at Washington shortstop Ian Desmond.

Clevenger, Cubs right-hander Manuel Corpas and Nationals lefty Michael Gonzalez were ejected - though neither pitcher was in the game. Order was finally restored and Washington went on to its fifth straight victory and eighth in nine games. The Nationals (85-52), who have the best record in the majors, remained 71/2 games ahead of second-place Atlanta in the NL East. The Cubs (51-86) have lost 17 of their last 18 road games and six in a row overall. They were outscored 31-9 in the series. Kurt Suzuki hit a three-run homer to help back Jordan Zimmermann (10-8), who struck out nine in seven innings. LaRoche hit his seventh home run in his last six games.

Justin Germano (2-6) allowed seven runs, six earned, in four innings - his shortest start of the season.

BRAVES 1, ROCKIES 0 Tim Hudson pitched seven sharp innings and Atlanta posted its second straight 1-0 victory over Colorado, winning both times with an unearned run.

This was an especially galling loss for the Rockies. Juan Francisco raced home with the lone run when Colorado starter Jhoulys Chacin (2-5) dropped a routine throw back to the mound from his catcher. That was enough for Hudson (14-5), who stranded eight runners. Craig Kimbrel earned his 34th save. It was the first time in more than 28 years that a team won consecutive 1-0 games with unearned runs. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the last to do it, against Cincinnati in July 1984, according to STATS LLC. MARLINS 6, BREWERS 2 Josh Johnson pitched seven solid innings and ended his career-worst four-game losing streak, leading Miami past Milwaukee. Johnson (8-11) allowed two runs and four hits while striking out seven. He won for the first time since Aug 3 at Washington. Greg Dobbs drove in two runs for Miami. The Marlins had 12 hits, three by Donovan Solano. The Brewers lost for just the fourth time in 17 games. A day earlier, they pulled within 61/2 games of the second NL wild-card spot. The Marlins scored three runs in the first inning as Solano, Jose Reyes and Dobbs each drove in a run off Marco Estrada (2-6).— AP

Brain disease deaths high in NFL veterans NEW YORK: A study of former NFL players finds they were unusually prone to dying from degenerative brain disease, the latest indication that repeated blows to the head may cause serious trouble later on. The death rate from Alzheimerís, Parkinsonís and Lou Gehrigís disease combined was about three times what one would predict from the general population, researchers reported.

Prior research had suggested football players were unusually prone to those diseases, said

lead researcher Everett Lehman of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, reported online Wednesday in the journal Neurology, looked at death certificates. It drew on a longrunning study of more than 3,400 NFL players with at least five playing seasons in the league between 1959 and 1988.

Some 334 had died by the end of 2007, the cutoff for being included in the study.

Researchers compared their death rates from various causes to that of a comparable group of American men. One or another of the three brain diseases was listed as the underlying cause of death in 10 cases, which is about three times the general rate for American men, the researchers reported. Researchers noted that the study canít prove that the results were caused by football-related concussions, and that they may not apply to pro or amateur players whoíve played fewer than five years.—AP

NFL - Manning returns after 20-month hiatus

BALTIMORE: Pitcher Joba Chamberlain #62 of the New York Yankees throws to a Baltimore Orioles batter during the sixth inning at Oriole Park in Baltimore, Maryland. — AFP

Orioles square with Yankees atop AL East BALTIMORE: Mark Reynolds hit two of Baltimore’s season-high six home runs - three in a wild eighth inning - and the Orioles climbed back into a first-place tie with New York in the AL East with a 10-6 victory Thursday night. Adam Jones’ leadoff homer in the eighth off David Robertson (1-6) put Baltimore ahead 7-6 after the Yankees had rallied from a five-run deficit in the top half.

Matt Wieters followed with a single and Reynolds hit a drive into the seats in left. Chris Davis then slammed the first pitch from Derek Lowe over the wall in right. Wieters and Robert Andino also connected for the Orioles, who have won 10 of 13 - a run that includes three of four over New York.

Reynolds, who also went deep in the sixth, has homered in three straight games and has eight in his last seven, including two in each of the three wins against New York. Darren O’Day (7-1)

got the final out in the eighth and Jim Johnson worked the ninth in a nonsave situation.

RANGERS 5, ROYALS 4, 10 innings Ian Kinsler hit a leadoff triple in the 10th inning for Texas and scored on Michael Young’s single. Josh Hamilton and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning to help the AL West leaders overcome a 3-0 deficit.

The Rangers (82-55) moved a seasonhigh 27 games above .500 and own the best record in franchise history after 137 games. They won their sixth straight series and upped their division lead to 51/2 games over idle Oakland.

Mike Adams (4-3) allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth. Joe Nathan earned his 30th save in 31 tries, converting his 28th consecutive opportunity since a blown save on April 11. Greg Holland (6-4) took the loss.— AP

DENVER: When the four-time NFL MVP with the four-time surgically repaired neck takes the field on Sunday for the Denver Broncos’ opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it will have been 1 year, 8 months and 2 days since Peyton Manning’s last meaningful snap. What a long, strange journey it’s been. Manning’s march began with an irritated nerve in his neck that got worse and eventually weakened his throwing arm, leading to a series of operations that forced him to miss all of the 2011 season.

Without him, the Indianapolis Colts nosedived and then decided to rebuild from top to bottom, including selecting Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the top pick in the draft.

So, they cut Manning loose on March 7, marking the end of an era, a 14-year alliance between the team that drafted him No. 1 overall and the quarterback who brought Indianapolis from football irrelevance to the 2007 Super Bowl title and a second appearance in the NFL championship game three years later.

A thousand miles (kilometers) away, Denver was Tim Tebow’s turf. But management wasn’t completely sold on the exalted but erratic passer for whom coach John Fox had dusted off the old read-option offense last season. Two weeks after he stood alongside Colts owner Jim Irsay at an emotional farewell news conference, Manning was standing next to Broncos boss John Elway, the powerful pair of Super Bowl winners talking about hoisting another Lombardi Trophy, this time together. And soon.

While that quest begins in earnest on Sunday, it had its roots in Denver long before Manning ever dreamed he’d be wearing the orange-mane mustang on his helmet instead of the horse shoe. Shortly after signing with the Broncos, Manning visited baseball’s Coors Field with wide receiver Eric Decker and revealed that he had worked out with his friend, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, during the NFL lockout last year. While Manning, who unseated Helton as the starting quarterback at the University of Tennessee in the mid-1990s, was rehabbing from neck surgery, Helton helped arrange for him to use the Rockies’ facilities to work out. “He’s a great friend,” Manning said that day at the ballpark. “What he did for me last year, allowing me to use this facility, use the trainers to work out as part of my rehab process. I’ve come a long way ... They were a big part of it. The whole Rockies organization, I can’t thank them enough for opening their doors to me last year when I certainly was an outsider.

I’ll always be indebted to them.” Manning’s right triceps had atrophied after one of his neck surgeries. He told the New York Times recently that when he went with Helton and a Rockies trainer to an indoor batting cage at Denver’s downtown ballpark, the first pass he threw to Helton nose-dived so much that Helton actually thought he was just goofing around.

He was dead serious. His arm was shot, his future in American football in doubt. A few days later, an MRI revealed that Manning needed spinal fusion surgery. Nobody realized it at the time, but Manning’s days in Indy were numbered. Brandon Stokley, who rejoined his former quarterback in Denver this summer, said he never knew things had become that bad for Manning. “I really didn’t see him throw until we went to Duke” during Manning’s free agency tour in March, Stokley said. “And I purposefully didn’t ask him, ‘Hey, how you throwing? How you doing?’ I wanted to just go out there and judge for myself, and I was like, ‘Wow, he looks really good. And I was impressed. But I didn’t see him during the season or during the lockout.”

Manning got stronger and stronger and by the time he left Indianapolis, he had a doctor’s note saying he was ready to return to work. He proved that in private workouts for several teams. The Broncos signed him to a five-year, $96 million deal that can be torn up after this season if his health doesn’t hold up.

But all indications are that his arm strength is no longer an issue, and he showed during the preseason he can take a big hit and bounce right back. “He needs no endorsement from me, guys,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “This guy is Peyton Manning, and guys like him earn their reputations with their play, and usually rising up at significant moments. Obviously, this is a significant one for him and we’re expecting his very best.”— AP

SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Leuluai aims for spectacular farewell LONDON: When former New Zealand Warriors hooker Thomas Leuluai broke his leg in June, he admits his hopes of playing for Wigan Warriors were hanging by a slender thread. But after securing the Super League Leader’s Shield on his return last week against Hull KR he is hungrier than ever to leave England on a high with the playoffs now on the horizon.

The 27-year-old will continue his comeback against St Helens on Friday in the final fixture of the season, but before he returns to Auckland for the 2013 season he wants to play a pivotal role in Warriors’ challenge for a first Grand Final victory since 2010.

“Straight after the Exiles game, when I had the scan and they said there was a

break there, I thought that might be it for me,” said Leuluai, who has made 30 appearances for New Zealand. “Luckily it was a clean break, they said I would be out for 12 weeks, I’ve come back after 11 so I’m happy.

“I’ve pushed it pretty fine. I’m back a week earlier than I should have been. It was important to get as much time under my belt as I could before the play-offs start.”

Another man making a return to his homeland once the season is over will be Bradford’s Ben Jeffries, but the ex-Wests Tigers stand-off admits forging a new career coal mining represents one of the biggest challenges of his life. The 32-year-old, who has spent ten years plying his trade in the Super

League with Wakefield Wildcats and Bulls, will combine the job while playing part-time with New South Wales outfit Kurri Kurri Bulldogs in 2013.

“Coal mining is a massive industry in Australia,” said Jeffries, whose side still stand a chance of making the playoffs if they beat Catalan Dragons today. “People are queuing up to get into that line of work so I’m grateful to have landed this job. “It’s a no-brainer really. I don’t know what my exact role will be just yet but I’ll be working in the mining industry. “I know that when I get there I can diversify into certain categories of mining. I can be open-cut or underground. “I’ve loved playing for Wakefield and Bradford, but starting a nine-to-five job and living in a country

I’ve not lived in for 10 years represents a new challenge for me now.”

Meanwhile, Warrington Wolves will go into their clash against Widnes Vikings on Sunday knowing the hard work still lies ahead, and head coach Tony Smith insists the chance of securing a remarkable double will focus the player’ minds. Smith, who made 28 appearances for St George Dragons in his playing days, has already claimed Challenge Cup glory this season. But he admits the chance to replicate St Helens’ league and cup double in 2006 is lingering in his mind. “That would be nice and we’re in there trying,” he said.

“It’s all about maintaining that concentration for the next number of weeks. It really does intensify now.” — AFP

Williams can have a ‘Beckham effect’ TOKYO: Boxing All Black Sonny Bill Williams can have a David Beckham-like effect on Japanese rugby, says the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) new chief executive Brett Gosper. “The game needs big stars,” Gosper said in his first formal interview in the job, comparing the celebrity status of Williams to that of former England soccer captain Beckham. “It’s great for the game to have stars who are larger than the game almost, that are larger than life,” he said. Williams, also New Zealand’s heavyweight boxing champion, left the world champion All Blacks and Waikato Chiefs for a 12-match deal with Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights reportedly worth $100,000 per appearance.

“Sonny Bill Williams is one of two or three people in the world - a little bit like David Beckham - who can capture the imagination, hearts and minds of young kids, mums, dads, a cross-section of the population. “That generates interest in the sport as well,” added Gosper as cicadas chirped noisily outside an empty Chichibunomiya rugby stadium, headquarters of the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU).” Williams, who helped New Zealand to retain the Bledisloe Cup last month, missed Japan’s Top League season opener last Saturday but is expected make his

debut this weekend in Sapporo. Gosper, himself a former Australia under-21 international, rejected criticism that Williams’s huge salary should have been invested in developing Japanese rugby at local level.

“It is a kind of indirect way of doing it,” said the 53-year-old, managing director of the World Cup which will be held next in England in 2015 before Japan hosts Asia’s first in 2019.

“Particularly in Japan, where there is a love for the celebrity factor, I think he’s a terrific injection of interest in the game in Japan. “I think it’s a great way to spend the money that they’ve spent. It’s now up to Japan to take advantage of that wonderful opportunity of having him here.” Despite Japan not having won a World Cup game in 21 years, Gosper said the future of the “Brave Blossoms” was in safe hands under Australian coach Eddie Jones. “There’s no question that a good-performing home team in their own World Cup is great for atmosphere, great for the home crowd and adds to the tournament,” he said. “We think that seven years out they have the time to gain the competition and be very competitive and step up a notch from where they were at the last World Cup. “You want to see a step up in 2015 and then you’ve got the build-up to 2019. — Reuters

Catalan giants bid to get season up and running PARIS: Catalan giants Perpignan go into the fourth weekend of Top 14 action today still without a win and facing the tricky challenge of a home match against Bayonne to get their season up and running. Despite three losses on the trot, Perpignan coach Marc Delpoux remained optimistic in his prognosis of his side’s performances, saying that it needed some time before the new gameplan was well and truly bedded in.

“My feeling is that apart from the actual results, everything’s going okay,” said Delpoux, who took over at the 2009 champions after quitting rival Top 14 outfit

Bordeaux-Begles at the end of last season.

“The players are putting in place what we want to do, they’re extraordinary in training. We’re progressing in what we want to do, but it takes time to put in place our gameplan.”

Perpignan have so far lost to Toulon, Bordeaux-Begles and most recently Clermont, and face champions Toulouse in Barcelona on September 15. “We have two big problems: our points in the standings, unfortunately not at the high level we were hoping for, and the mounting number of serious injuries over the last two weeks,” Delpoux said. — AFP

WELLINGTON: Argentinean rugby team Pumas train at the Hutt Recreation Ground, 13 Km away from Wellington. Pumas face New Zealand’s All Blacks for a Rugby Championship match today. — AFP

Power and passion as All Blacks, Pumas clash WELLINGTON: There will be no shortage of power and passion when New Zealand defend their unbeaten record in their Rugby Championship third-round clash against Argentina in Wellington today. The All Blacks have so far beaten Australia twice, despite problems with their decision making, while Argentina have taken confidence from holding South Africa to a 16-16 draw after a first round loss.

That draw in Mendoza two weeks ago showed the Pumas will not be easy to beat in their first year in the Southern Hemisphere competition. But the All Blacks, who have never lost against the Pumas, are taking inspiration from past confrontations against the Argentines, with photos of their matches splashed across the walls of their team room. With stormy weather forecast, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said they are relishing the prospect of an intense battle against the formidable Argentine forwards. “Regardless of whether

it’s wet or dry it’s going to be a battle up front and our boys talked about it and they’re quite excited if it is wet as it gives them a chance to get stuck in,” he said. The All Blacks will try to shut down two key players-captain and backrower Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez, McCaw added.

“Lobbe is certainly one of the players who gets them going. They look to him for inspiration. They key for us is to limit his effectiveness,” he said. “They’re quality players and we’ve got to make sure we don’t give them a chance to show what they can do.” The All Blacks have made six changes including the promotion of Aaron Cruden to fly-half after Dan Carter pulled out with a groin strain. Centre Conrad Smith and prop Tony Woodcock return from injury while lock Brodie Retallick, flanker Victor Vito and wing Julian Savea come in for Sam Whitelock, Liam Messam and Hosea Gear. — AFP

sports SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Djokovic puts on a show NEW YORK: If the rest of the week goes the way Novak Djokovic hopes, he’ll play two more matches at Flushing Meadows and end up holding the US Open trophy for the second straight year. Hard to imagine he’ll play much better, or put on a more entertaining show, than he did Thursday night. Djokovic made it to his 10th straight Grand Slam semifinal by beating No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in a 3-hour, 6-minute tennis masterpiece that featured Djokovic deftly turning defense into offense, sometimes in the span of a single shot, and del Potro often shaking his head, wondering what the heck he had to do to get a point off this guy.

A match worthy of two former US Open

with a drop volley, which del Potro got to, but hit long. Djokovic pumped both fists in the air and del Potro sagged his 6-foot-6 frame onto the net, resting his forearms there before taking a towel and draping it over his head for the long walk back to the baseline.

Djokovic closed out the set with a running backhand winner from four feet behind the baseline - not the first or last time he rapidly turned from defender to aggressor on a night when he hit 43 winners, including 14 from the backhand side. The crowd, as it had so many times over the thrilling end to that set, stood and roared. “That was an incredible feeling for a player to see,” Djokovic said.

“Then you get more excited and motivated to

NEW YORK: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts against Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro during their 2012 US Open men’s singles quarterfinals match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. —AFP champions, playing in the sport’s biggest stadium under the lights. “I didn’t expect anything less,” Djokovic said. The high point came late in the back-and-forth, 84-minute second set - 11 minutes longer than Djokovic’s entire first-round match - when del Potro forced a tiebreaker by saving three set points to win a game that extended to eight deuces and lasted 17 minutes. Second-seeded Djokovic won the tiebreaker 7-3, but really it was the 20-shot point that made it 6-3 that finished it off.

Del Potro, the 2009 champion, hustled to the net to chase down a drop shot, then retreated when Djokovic lobbed that reply over his head. He returned a deep lob that gave him time to get into position to hit a solid backhand back. Djokovic answered that

play even better. So, I mean, probably one of the better sets I have played in 2012, for sure.

I mean, he’s a great opponent.”

Next up for Djokovic is a meeting Saturday with No. 4 David Ferrer, who advanced to his fourth career major semifinal in his typical, never-say-quit fashion. He outlasted eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in 4 hours, 31 minutes. “The match, it was very emotional,” Ferrer said. “My opponent, he deserve also to (have) won this match, no? In one tiebreak, it’s a lottery, and I (was) lucky in important moments.” The other semifinal will pit No. 3 Andy Murray against No 6 Tomas Berdych, each of whom won their quarterfinal matches Wednesday - Berdych by taking out Roger Federer. The men’s final is Sunday.

In the women’s semifinals Friday, No 4 Serena Williams plays No 10 Sara Errani and No 1 Victoria Azarenka plays No 3 Maria Sharapova. When the Ferrer-Tipsarevic quarterfinal ended, it immediately became a candidate as one of the best matches of the tournament thus far. It quickly, however, had company once Djokovic and del Potro took the court. What little their match lacked in pure quantity it more than made up for with quality. “It was much, much closer and tougher than really the score indicated,” Djokovic said. “I think whoever saw the match would understand.”

After losing the marathon second set, del Potro immediately asked for a timeout, grabbed his bag and headed to the locker room. Nobody would’ve blamed him for not coming back, given the fight he put up and the reward he got for it - nothing. But he did return and after losing serve in the first game, still extended the set to 63 minutes and gave himself two chances at break points, neither of which he converted. Quite simply, there was no beating Djokovic, who painted lines with his down-the-line backhand, got breaks on the net cord at least a half-dozen times, got two calls from the replay system that showed his shots landing in by the tiniest of margins.

“I wanted to destroy that machine,” del Potro said. “But what can you do?” Three times, after some good break he’d gotten, Djokovic sent a meek wave of apology over to del Potro, who more than once found himself lifting his hands, gesturing to his players box, wondering what more there was to be done. The second set, both men agreed, decided the match. “I had the chance to win that set, but Nole played really well, basically, in the important moments,” del Potro said. “He deserved today, and he played much better than me for the rest of the match. He was too much for me.”

Djokovic is into the US Open semifinals for the sixth year in a row, and the streak of 10 straight semifinals he has at all major tournaments - dating to Wimbledon in 2010 - ties Rod Laver and Ivan Lendl for the second-longest, behind Federer’s record of 23. But Federer is gone from this tournament. Rafael Nadal didn’t play because of a knee injury. That leaves Djokovic as the only man among the final four who has hoisted a Grand Slam trophy. He’ll be going for his sixth. Del Potro knows who he likes.

“I think he’s playing better and better every day and tournament,” del Potro said. “He is the favorite to win this tournament. I saw him playing at a very high level for the three hours in the match, and he has intensity to win all the matches in the tournament.” —AP

Klitschko and Charr battle for WBC belt in Moscow MOSCOW: Ukraine’s world heavyweight boxing champion and aspiring politician Vitali Klitschko today defends his WBC belt against challenger Germany’s Manuel Charr in a 12-round bout in Moscow. The veteran Klitschko, 40, enjoys an impressive professional record of 44-2 with 40 KOs and the bout at the 30,000-capacity Olimpiysky indoor sports arena in Moscow will be his 17th world heavyweight championship fight.

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Charr is still unbeaten in his professional career.

With 21 wins and 11 KOs, he is ranked seventh in WBC standings. At 2.00 meters tall with a reach of 2.03m, Klitschko, known as Dr Iron Fist for his intelligence and punch power, is eight centimeters taller than the Beirut-born Charr with a reach of five centimeters longer.

Klitschko said he experienced smooth preparations for the bout with Charr, after taking a break from his political activities in his native Ukraine ahead of parliamentary elections on October

28. The boxer leads the aptly-named Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR, meaning punch) party which is currently running third in opinion polls and is vehemently critical of President Viktor Yanukovych. “It’s my first ever bout in the Russian capital and I’m really happy to have my title defence in Moscow,” Klitschko told reporters. “I know that professional boxing is very popular in Russia and many of Russians support me and my brother (and fellow boxing champion) Vladimir.” —AFP

MONZA: Mercedes’ German driver Michael Schumacher drives at the Autodromo Nazionale circuit in Monza. —AFP

Schumacher fastest in first Monza practice MONZA: Michael Schumacher rolled back the years and showed his enduring pace yesterday with the fastest time for Mercedes in free practice for Ferrari’s home Italian Grand Prix.

With the Monza grandstand festooned with banners hailing both the great German and Ferrari’s current idol Fernando Alonso, Schumacher blasted around the fastest circuit on the calendar with a best lap of one minute 25.422 seconds.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, winner in Belgium last weekend and runner-up at Monza for the past three seasons, was second fastest with Schumacher’s team mate Nico Rosberg third.

Schumacher’s performance came with the Formula One paddock swept by speculation about his future and linking Button’s team mate Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes for 2013.

“Michael we love you” and “Michael, we will always be with you” were among the banners, some in Italian, testifying to his continuing adoration of a driver who won five of his seven championships with Ferrari.

Alonso, the championship leader with a 24 point advantage over red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel after 12 of the 20 races, was fourth on the timesheets but pulled up with a suspected engine problem six minutes before the end of the session.

Williams driver Pastor Maldonado, who has a 10-place penalty for the race, also stopped on track in the closing minutes.

Belgian Jerome D’Ambrosio, who raced for Virgin last year, was 15th fastest on his first day in the Lotus as stand-in for banned Frenchman Romain Grosjean and set a lap time of 1:27.180 compared to team mate Kimi Raikkonen’s 1:26.046.

Ma Qing-Hua tested for HRT as the first Chinese driver to take part in a Formula One Grand Prix weekend. He was slowest of all with a time of 1:31.239.- Reuters

Schumi could take management job MONZA: Mercedes team chief Ross Brawn yesterday said he had not ruled out the possibility of former seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher taking a management job with the team next year. Brawn, besieged by questions about Schumacher’s future amid speculation that the German may be poised to retire for a second time, said he had an open mind.

Television pundit and former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan this week claimed that Schumacher had decided already to retire and was to be replaced by 2008 champion Briton Lewis Hamilton, currently with McLaren. All involved with that report have denied that any decisions have been taken with Schumacher, 43, insisting that he was going to make his decision about next year, the third of his comeback, in October. Asked about the current situation and the future, Brawn said a management switch was not out of the question, but made clear it was not something that had been considered or discussed with Schumacher or Mercedes.

“It is possible,” he said. “In terms of what role Michael would play in the future, we are not discussing that in detail because that is not a consideration at the moment. “But Michael’s experience of motor racing, and his judgment and so on, would be an asset to any team. I am not sure he wants a day-to-day commitment that some of us do, but he would like to stay involved. “He loves the sport, he loves racing, and he loves developing the cars, and seeing how the team works. I can full well see in the future that he would retain a strong interest and that will come one day, and I do hope it will be with us.” —AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Pistorius surrenders 2nd Paralympic title LONDON: Surrendering a second Paralympic title in London, a chastened Oscar Pistorius was gracious in defeat this time. Four days after suggesting a rival bent the rules to take away his 200-meter title, Pistorius - the original “Blade Runner” didn’t even make the podium for the showpiece 100 final on Thursday. The 2008 Beijing champion had to settle for fourth place in the Olympic Stadium, even finishing behind compatriot Arnu Fourie, who earned the bronze medal. It was British teenager Jonnie Peacock who claimed the glory, roared to gold by an 80,000-strong home crowd, in 10.90 seconds.

“For me not to be able to defend my title, but to see a performance and to be beaten by an athlete like that, makes me extremely happy,” Pistorius said of the 19year-old world-record holder. “He really epitomizes professional sprinting - not just as a Paralympic athlete but as one of the world’s best. “And to be part of that race, even if I didn’t finish on the podium, was a blessing.” Pistorius, the 25-year-old double amputee, was not bothered about being upstaged in the T43 classification race by roommate Fourie, who is two years his senior and narrowly edged him a tight finish.

“I saw my name come up in third place when we crossed the line and I was quite happy ... and when I actually saw that Arnu had beaten me I think I was more happy that I came fourth,” said Pistorius, who made his groundbreaking debut at the

Olympics last month. “I am going to celebrate his medal with him tonight.” The pleasure was a far cry from the seemingly bitter aftermath on Sunday in the stadium when Pistorius accused 200 winner Alan Oliveira of using lengthened blades to depose him as Paralympic champion. The Brazilian could place only seventh in the shorter sprint, a place behind world champion Jerome Singleton of the United States.

“I think the sport has been appreciated a lot more now, and we can focus on proper performances,” Pistorius said. “And we saw a proper performance by Jonnie Peacock tonight ... I just got beaten by three better guys.” Richard Browne, the American who took silver in 11.03, sees a changing of the guard in the Paralympic sprints. “It’s good to be that new wave coming in,” the 21year-old Browne said. “It’s a new generation - me and Jonnnie.”

Asked if it was the end of his dominance, Pistorius replied: “Most definitely. I haven’t dominated the 100 in about three years.”

But he did anchor the South Africa team to victory in the 4x100 relay on Wednesday.

The priority in London for Pistorius has always been on defending the third of his Beijing titles: the 400 meters.

“I’m desperate for that,” Pistorius said.

Just as desperate as he was to become the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics, where he reached the 4x400 relay final and the semifinal in the 400 on the London track last month. — AP

LONDON: (From the top) Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira, from Brazil, Oscar Pistorius from South Africa, Richard Browne from the United States, Jonnie Peacock from Great Britain, Arnu Fourie from South Africa, Blake Leeper from the United States and Jerome Singleton from the United States compete in the Men’s 100 meter - T44 category final at the 2012 Paralympics games in London. Jonnie Peacock took the gold medal. — AP

Paralympics medals table LONDON: Medals table after the eighth day of competition at the 2012 Games: Gold Silver Bronze Total Austria 2 3 China 70 60 53 183 Azerbaijan 2 3 Great Britain 31 39 38 108 Serbia 2 3 Russia 31 31 23 85 Norway 2 2 Ukraine 27 18 23 68 Kenya 2 1 Australia 25 18 26 69 C Republic 1 6 United States23 21 27 71 Turkey 1 4 Germany 14 21 17 52 Greece 1 3 Brazil 14 10 5 29 Slovakia 1 1 Poland 10 11 6 27 Latvia 1 1 France 8 13 13 34 Namibia 1 1 Netherlands 8 6 16 30 Romania 1 1 Iran 8 5 6 19 UAE 1 1 Cuba 8 5 2 15 Denmark 1 0 Italy 7 5 9 21 Fiji 1 0 S Korea 7 5 6 18 Iceland 1 0 Spain 6 13 11 30 Jamaica 1 0 Tunisia 6 5 4 15 Macedonia 1 0 Nigeria 6 5 1 12 Israel 0 2 Ireland 6 2 5 13 Croatia 0 2 S Africa 5 7 9 21 Argentina 0 1 New Zealand 5 5 4 14 Taiwan 0 1 Canada 4 11 7 22 Bulgaria 0 1 Egypt 4 4 6 14 Portugal 0 1 Belarus 4 1 2 7 Singapore 0 1 Algeria 3 4 8 15 Colombia 0 1 Mexico 3 4 8 15 Ethiopia 0 1 Hong Kong 3 3 4 10 India 0 1 Japan 3 3 4 10 Iraq 0 1 Sweden 3 2 3 8 Malaysia 0 1 Switzerland 3 2 2 7 Uzbekistan 0 1 Thailand 3 1 2 6 Slovenia 0 1 Belgium 3 1 1 5 Venezuela 0 0 Finland 3 1 1 5 Angola 0 0 Morocco 3 0 1 4 Indonesia 0 0 Hungary 2 4 5 11 Sri Lanka 0 0

Paralympic 5 3 0 1 1 3 3 5 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 3 4 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1

10 8 5 5 4 10 8 9 4 2 2 2 2 5 1 1 1 1 6 5 5 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

London Games highlights ‘integration’ question LONDON: As the London Paralympics draw to a close, with record ticket sales, bumper crowds and the highest profile in the Games’ history after a successful Olympics, talk has again turned to merging the two events. But any joint competition is unlikely to happen soon, as the International Paralympic

Committee (IPC) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) governing bodies recently signed an agreement to keep the current system until 2020. “That (holding an integrated Olympics and Paralympics) is something that we’ve not discussed either internally or with the IOC at this stage,” IPC president Philip Craven told

AFP in a recent interview.

The Briton, in office until 2017 and then hoping for a fourth and final term, did not rule out integration but predicted that it would be “way into the future” and “definitely not before 2028”.

Certainly, talent is no longer a factor when it comes to elite athletes with a disability competing

against their non-disabled counterparts at the Olympics and other events. Gold medal-winning cyclist Victoria Pendleton said team-mate Sarah Storey proved the point, after she just missed out on the Olympics and set a Paralympic time in London that would have won her a non-disabled World Championship silver.

“She competed for Team GB as an able-bodied athlete at the World Championships and in the Paralympics and there’s no reason she couldn’t compete as part of the Olympic team,” the British rider said this week. “ She proved she can compete as an Paralympian and an ablebodied Olympian.” — AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Woods’ rivalry with McIlroy takes shape at Crooked Stick CARMEL: First there was Tiger Woods and Ernie (Els), then there was Tiger and Sergio (Garcia) and Tiger and Phil (Mickelson). Now it is Tiger and Rory (McIlroy) and it shows every of sign of becoming one of golf’s great all-time rivalries as the young Northern Irishman and veteran American went toe-totoe at the BMW Championship on Thursday.

After carding birdies on their opening holes, it was clear the massive gallery was in for a special treat on a sweltering Thursday at Crooked Stick Golf Club as Woods and McIlroy showcased their considerable talents.

While the third stop of the FedExCup playoff series features an elite field of 70 golfers, the first round quickly turned into a two-man show with Woods and McIlroy whipping the crowd into a frenzy with a display of quality shot-making. Some of Woods’ rivalries over the years have been manufactured but his rivalry with McIlroy has been allowed to develop naturally, blossoming into a battle of the generations.

Now aged 36, Woods is staring at the downside of a brilliant career. At 23, McIlroy’s star is on the rise, the richly gifted heir to Woods’ throne. “As Jack (Nicklaus) said numerous times, it was nice to be part of the cross-generational conversations we had with Gary (Player) and Arnold (Palmer) really,” said Woods. “He was kind of on his way out but he was part of the (Tom) Watson and (Tom) Weiskopf and (Lee) Trevino and all those guys. “It was nice to be a part of it, be in it for over 20 years. “This is my 17th year out here. The guys I battled head-to-head are early 40s if not late 40s, like Vijay (Singh) is late 40s. This is the next generation of guys.”

CHANGING OF THE GUARD While Woods can see golf’s future, he is not yet ready to acknowledge a changing of the guard is taking place and even a quick glance at the rankings backs him up. McIlroy and Woods are the only two players to have won three PGA Tour events this season and the American remains confident that Nicklaus’ career record of 18 majors is within his reach. But the golfing world is also predicting greatness for the mop-topped Northern Irishman and if McIlroy can live up to those lofty expectations, their rivalry could yet develop into one for the ages.

McIlroy has always offered Woods respect, but he has never been in awe. While many

CARMEL: Tiger Woods (left) and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland place their ball markers on the second hole during the second round of the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana. — AFP have crumbled in Woods’ presence, McIlroy has never shown any fear.

It was certainly a mutual admiration society on Thursday as Woods and McIlroy, playing together in a tournament for the second time in three weeks, heaped praise on each other. The rivalry has developed to the point that it seems to bring out the best in both men, McIlroy carding an eight-under-par 64 to grab a share of the first-round lead while Woods was just one shot back after returning a 65. “He’s a nice kid, he really is,” gushed Woods. “It’s fun to play with him and he’s just an amazing talent. “You watch him swing the club and watch him putt and play, he doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. “You can see that in the next decade or so as he really matures and understands some of the nuances of the game, he’s only going to get better.” — Reuters

Lee and Griffin share lead in South Korea SEOUL: Home player Lee Jun-Seok and Australian Matthew Griffin were sharing a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Charity High1 Resort Open in South Korea yesterday. Lee fired a fiveunder par 67 to surge to the front of the field, while Griffin, a natural left-hander who plays righthanded, moved up from second place with a round of 70. Lee, 25, who spent the last 11 years in Australia where he learned the game, was making only his second start in a OneAsia event and only found out he was going to play in the tournament an hour before tee off on Thursday.

“I wasn’t really in great shape for this, but I tried my best and it turned out pretty good,” he said,

according to a OneAsia press release. “I’m still finding my way so I hope I can keep this up. Making the field was a result, playing the weekend is a bonus.” Griffin has had just one bogey in 36 holes of golf-but was disappointed to have dropped a few putts. “The last time I was leading going into the weekend was at least a couple of years ago, at the Australian PGA,” said Griffin. “I have won since, but never had the lead going into the weekend for a while.” The one billion won ($900,000) tournament is being played in Gangwon-do province, which will host the 2018 Winter Olympic games.

The venue, South Korea’s highest course, doubles as a ski resort in winter.— AFP

Confessions: Wall of silence in doping crumbling NEW YORK: Broaching the subject of doping in cycling used to cause riders to pedal for the hills. Now, some are lining up to speak out. In recent weeks, and amid the backdrop of the US Anti-Doping Agency’s dogged pursuit of Lance Armstrong, the wall of silence that once formed an impenetrable ring about cycling has been crumbling. Tyler Hamilton and Jonathan Vaughters, former Armstrong teammates, as well as reputed riders Joerg Jaksche and Johan Museeuw have spoken with candor about doping, confessing to their own infringements and commenting on the doping past of others in the peloton.

Jaksche was one of several riders kicked

off the Tour de France on the eve of the 2006 race in connection with the Operation Puerto case into blood doping.

Now retired, he admits freely to his doping past. “I spoke out too much. That was the main problem,” he told Cyclingnews on Tuesday. “By showing them the mirror, riders weren’t happy with me.” On Cyclingnews’ forum late Wednesday, Vaughters, the manager of the GarminSharp team, joined a discussion on doping.

He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday that he had made his comments under the pseudonym JV1973.

Vaughters said there is a discernible

shift in the sport - one toward more responsible openness, rather than entrenchment in denials, as used to be commonplace in cycling’s dark days.

“These skeletons have to be moved out of the closet and you need to have a clean start,” Vaughters said. “I feel like there should be a once-and-for-all truth and reconciliation and, at that point in time, everything can move forward.” “(Cycling) is so much cleaner than it has been in the past.

It’s super encouraging to see clean riders winning the biggest races,” he added.

Vaughters, who last month confessed to doping during his time as a professional cyclist, made his comments on the forum

in the same week as Hamilton’s book release and comments made by Jaksche and Museeuw. Hamilton, Armstrong’s US Postal Service teammate from 1998 to 2001, detailed the years he spent lying about his doping and his relationship with Armstrong in his book, “The Secret Race, Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-Ups and Winning at All Costs.”Two weeks ago, Armstrong dropped any further challenges to USADA’s allegations that he took performanceenhancing drugs to win the Tour from 1999-2005. A day later, USADA stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour titles and banned him for life. —AP

SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Redemption on the line for African giants CAPE TOWN: Cameroon and Nigeria lead the list of African heavyweights seeking to restore battered reputations and move closer to sealing berths at next year’s African Nations Cup in the final round of qualifiers.

Both countries missed out on the last finals earlier this year but are hoping to return to the continent’s top soccer tournament despite missing key elements of their squads. Cameroon play away in the Cape Verde Islands without captain Samuel Eto’o, who is boycotting the team at the end of an eight month suspension after accusing the national federation of poor management.

Nigeria, who are also away against Liberia, dropped both Peter Odemwingie and John Obi Mikel from their squad in an unexplained decision by new coach Stephen Keshi. Senegal are also in search of a measure of redemption after a disastrous Nations Cup tournament in Equatorial Guinea and have recalled Demba Ba and Moussa Sow for their key tie against the Ivory Coast away. The meeting in Abidjan pits two of last year’s form sides together and has been eagerly anticipated since July’s draw. “It’s a most important game that will we need to be on form for because we have the away leg to come in Dakar,” Ivorian captain Didier Drogba told reporters in midweek.

Champions Zambia are also in a tricky tie, hosting the first leg against

Peter Odemwingie

Samuel Eto’o

Uganda in Ndola.

“It’s been the case for a long time that it is always difficult to qualify for the Nations Cup,” said Zambia coach Herve Renard, who still has the bulk of his Cup winning squad. Libya are again forced to shift their home match to a neutral venue because of

the security situation in their country and have chosen Casablanca in Morocco to host Algeria. The return legs will be played on the weekend of Oct 12-14 and the 15 winners compete in next year’s finals in South Africa along with the host nation from Jan. 19-Feb. 10. — Reuters

Manager Levein targets flying start for the Scots GLASGOW: Scotland manager Craig Levein admits he is desperate for his side to get their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a flying start against Serbia at Hampden Park yesterday. The Scots start on the road to Brazil 2014 with a double header at home against Sinisa Mihajlovic’s Serbia before taking on Macedonia on Tuesday and Levein would love to lay down a marker in Group A by claiming maximum points from the two games. He knows Scotland are facing a hard task as they aim to qualify for their first major tournament since the World Cup in 1998, but he believes his squad has the quality to mount a serious challenge.

“Serbia are a good team. They came out of Pot Two at the World Cup draw, above Belgium, so they’re a decent side,” Levein said. “They’re going through a bit of a transitional phase just now, bringing in younger players.

But they always produce quality players. “We’ll be doing everything in our power to beat Serbia and Macedonia and I’m comfortable with the quality of player we have. “But I also know we’re playing, particularly in the first game,

very hard teams.” Levein’s hopes of a positive opening to the campaign suffered a significant blow when fullbacks Steven Whittaker and Phil Bardsley were ruled out and then Danny Fox, Russell Martin and Charlie Mulgrew all withdrew through injury this week.

But Levein remains upbeat and says he is delighted with the number of options he was in attack. “We’re quite lucky because for a while it looked as if we would struggle in the forward areas,” he said. “Kenny Miller has always been excellent for Scotland-he has great international experience and it’s brilliant to have him on board. “But Jordan Rhodes has now appeared on the scene and got a big move to Blackburn. We’ve also got Ross McCormack banging in goals and Jamie Mackie is playing regularly in the Premier League.

“Steven Naismith can also play through the middle and Robert Snodgrass is playing at the top of his game. We’ve got young James Forrest at Celtic, Shaun Maloney at Wigan, James Morrison at West Brom and

Matty Phillips at Blackpool. “So we’re looking a bit better in that area. We’re very lucky to have these attacking options. We’re really strong now in attacking midfield, wide and up top.”

Levein’s faith in his squad is echoed by Scotland’s Norwich midfielder Snodgrass, who is adamant his side aren’t just going along for the ride in Group A. “The best countries in the world go and do it every time they are called upon,” he said.

“We are not here to make up the numbers. There is a firm belief about this squad that we can go and pick up maximum points and qualify. “There is a good mood about the camp, there always has been every time I have been here. “We have a job to do as footballers and we will approach each game thinking we can win it. It starts on Saturday and everybody is raring to go.” Levein called up Huddersfield leftback Paul Dixon and Milton Keynes Dons defender Gary MacKenzie on Monday, while Bristol City’s Richard Forster has also joined up with the squad to cover for the defensive injuries. — AFP

Ivorian golden generation seeking elusive silverware JOHANNESBURG: Time is running out for Didier Drogba and other Ivory Coast ‘golden generation’ stars to capture the Africa Cup of Nations trophy.

The ‘Elephants’ were favorites to win the last four tournaments only to fall short each time with the most heartbreaking failure being the penalty shootout loss to Zambia in the final this year.

Drogba, Boubacar Barry, Kolo Toure and Didier Zokora are in the twilight of their careers as they launch another attempt to conquer the continent by hosting Senegal Saturday in a final round qualifier for the 2013 Cup of Nations.

It is the stand-out first leg fixture among 15 to be played this weekend with the return matches scheduled for October and the aggregate winners joining hosts South Africa at the January 19February 10 tournament. “This may be the last chance for this awesome generation and if the players are able to bring home the trophy it would be a tremendous gift for the entire nation,” says Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi. “My objectives are very clear-to qualify this team for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and to do better than in the previous edition, that is to say, to win the competition.”

Although the Ivorians and the Senegalese Teranga Lions have been playing qualifiers for decades, they have never met, adding an extra dash of intrigue before the clash at the 35,000-seat Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan. Ivory Coast, who failed to win the trophy this year despite not losing nor conceding a goal in six matches, are expected to build a winning lead at home, but bruised Senegal come into the game desperate to restore national pride. If the Ivorians were unlucky losers of the Libreville final last February after Drogba blazed a regular-time penalty over, Senegal were shambolic as they lost all three first round games to make a humiliating early exit.

Amid the after-shocks, there was the inevitable change of coaches and when Frenchman Pierre Lechantre did a u-turn after getting the nod, local Joseph Koto was given the rebuilding task. “The team that is most motivated and committed should win in Abidjan and we have the means to succeed there. Ivory Coast may be favorites, but we are strong challengers with footballers who can compete against anyone,” says Koto. Ivory Coast are near full strength with goalkeeper Barry and striker Salomon Kalou fit after missing a friendly draw in Russia last month while Senegal hope Newcastle strikers Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse can shrug off poor club form.

Zambia start the title defense at home to Uganda in mining town Ndola and the return of Netherlands-based striker Jacob Mulenga, who missed the 2012 triumph through injury, is a boost for French coach Herve Renard. Uganda have not competed at the Cup of Nations since losing the 1978 final to hosts Ghana and Scottish coach Bobby Williamson has developed a workmanlike squad that came agonizingly close to qualifying for the last tournament. Cameroon will lack star striker Samuel Eto’o when they visit the Cape Verde Islands as he snubbed a call-up after his eightmonth ban ended last month, claiming the squad is “amateurish and poorly organized”.

The Indomitable Lions missed the 2012 Cup of Nations as did Nigeria, whose coach and former captain Stephen Keshi has vowed to resign if the Super Eagles fail to eliminate Liberia, who have home advantage first. Unstable post-revolution security in Libya means they must host Algeria in Moroccan city Casablanca while fellow North Africans Tunisia play in Sierra Leona and Morocco in Mozambique. Asamoah Gyan, back from a selfimposed exile following a costly penalty miss against Zambia in a 2012 semi-final, leads Ghana against Malawi in Accra because regular captain John Mensah is injured. — AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Eriksson: Old guys right for England BANGKOK: Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson yesterday backed current boss Roy Hodgson’s decision to stick with the country’s “old guys”-saying he had no one better to replace them. Eriksson, speaking to AFP after taking up a new post in Thailand, said 30-something stalwarts John Terry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard remained the best choice as England embark on 2014 World Cup qualifying. “That means he hasn’t found anyone better... so he has decided to stick with the old guys,” Erkisson said of the trio, who were all members of his 2006 World Cup squad. “They are still playing regularly for their clubs, why shouldn’t they be in the national team?”

This week, Hodgson made a robust defense of his old stagers as England prepare to open their qualifying cam-

paign in Moldova, followed by a home game against Ukraine next week. “Because I think they are good enough, that’s why,” Hodgson shot back, when asked why he had picked the three. “I want to win football matches and I won’t be prepared to throw players of Terry, Lampard and Gerrard’s quality away from the national team until I am sure there are much better players who can take their place and help us win games,” he added.

Eriksson will watch England’s progress from Bangkok, where he is advising Thai Premier League side BEC Tero Sasana “until the end of the season”, which finishes next month. Considered one of the game’s best managers when he took the England job in 2001, he has since endured unsuccessful spells at English clubs Manchester

City, Notts County and Leicester City, and national sides Mexico and Ivory Coast. “It’s a big challenge,” he said of his new job. “Football is getting better here, the interest is getting higher and they want to learn... people understand football and talk football in Thailand.”

The Serie A-winning coach, who was the first foreigner to manage England, has previous links with Thailand.

Billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra hired Eriksson to manage Manchester City in 2007, while in 2010 the Thai owners of Leicester appointed him for an ill-fated spell in England’s second tier. He said he was hoping for an enjoyable time in Thailand, the Southeast Asian tourism hotspot known for its beach resorts and smiling people. “(Thailand) is an easy country to live... great food, weather and nice people,” he said.— AFP

Rooney regrets transfer request

No split with Liverpool owners, manager says LIVERPOOL: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted he is on the same wavelength as the club’s US-based owners despite problems during the recent transfer window.

Fenway Sports Group have been criticized after Liverpool failed to sign a striker following Andy Carroll’s loan move to West Ham. Rodgers admitted he would not have let the England forward leave had he not been confident he could bring in a replacement. But a deal for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey fell through because FSG would not pay what they considered an inflated price.

That led to suggestions the manager had been undermined by the owners but he insisted the situation had been made clear to him when he took over from the sacked Kenny Dalglish in June. “I’ve had long conversations with the owners,” he said. “I’ve got to say they have been very honest and very up front right from the off.

“I came here first and foremost because of the owners. I felt a genuine honesty in their approach to it and in how they wanted to go forward with the football club.” Rodgers, speaking at a forum with representatives of Liverpool fan sites and blogs, added: “Of course the window didn’t quite go to plan but going forward a great deal of learning has taken place.

“Every manager always wants more players but the reality of where the club is at there needed to be a little bit of surgery done on the squad.

“Some of the wages here were absolutely astronomical in terms of value and worth. That needed to be looked at. “I knew there would be a wee bit of pain in the short term but hopefully for the longer-term gain,” the former Swansea manager said of a Liverpool side who’ve taken just one point from their first three matches. “We finished up where we were at and now we have got to move forward as a football club and really have the one-club mentality.”

Meanwhile, with so many players away on international duty for World Cup qualifiers, Rodgers is getting to know his youth squad members. “I’ve tried to get around the youth team players, the reserve team players, and look at the level we have,” he told liverpoolfc.com.

“First and foremost it’s a chance for me to see the players working and see their improvements and try to help and guide them. “They are trying to make steps up towards the first team and this gives them an opportunity to learn, and not just from the coaches. “They come up here and train with Jamie Carragher, a guy who is in his 18th year as a professional. “It is great for young players at 18 or 19 to see a guy who has been doing this work nearly as long as they’ve been alive and showing the same enthusiasm and commitment to want to learn and improve.”— AFP

Wayne Rooney

France players forego bonuses for friendlies HELSINKI: France’s international footballers have agreed to forego bonuses for friendly matches and will receive no bonus unless they qualify for the 2014 World Cup, French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet said yesterday. “The players will forego their bonuses for friendly matches, which is something at least,” said Le Graet. “There will no longer be bonuses for the coming two years of competition.

On the other hand, if we go to Brazil (for the World Cup) 30 percent of the sum paid

by FIFA will be given to the players who

participated in qualification.

“This sum should amount to 8 million euros ($10.2m), or about 2.4 million for the team.” During the final phase, 30 percent of the FIFA bonus will also be paid to the players, he said. “Concerning image rights, which have not changed in a long time, it will be increased from 10,000 euros per match to 15,000 euros per match,” he added. Le Graet also said that the annual saving of 2 million euros will go towards amateur football and the running of the federation. —AFP

MANCHESTER: Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has admitted that handing in his transfer request two years ago was the biggest mistake of his career. Rooney is currently promoting his latest autobiography, My Decade in the Premier League, which is also being serialized by the Daily Mirror. In the latest extract, Rooney admits he regretted asking for a transfer. Rooney issued a statement in September 2010 in which he questioned United’s ability to attract top players and indicated he wanted to leave.

Two days later, though, he performed a dramatic U-turn and signed a new five-year contract. He wrote: “In September 2010 my ankle puts me on the sidelines. “I get frustrated with myself, my game, my injury, and everything around me. “I’m stuck in a cycle of bad form but I can’t get out of it. “And that’s when I make the biggest mistake of my football career. “In October, I release a statement which publicly questions my happiness at Old Trafford. Am I better off elsewhere? “Everyone makes a fuss. There are discussions inside United to sort out the issue, people outside United chuck their opinions around, but the thing is, nobody really knows what’s going on in my life.

“None of them understand where I am in my career. They don’t know where my head’s at. “The only person who really knows what’s going on in there is me, but even I’m not sure what I want.” He continued: “Then the manager has his say. ‘Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it’s a better cow than the one you have in your own field. And it never really works that way’.

“He’s saying the grass isn’t always greener, and he’s right. “I like what’s in my field. I’m wrong. United want the same as me: trophies, success, to be the best.”

Meanwhile Rooney told the Manchester Evening News that his recovery is on track after suffering a gash to his leg in a tackle against Fulham a fortnight ago. “The injury is going well. It could have been a lot worse than what it was. It is up to the doctor. When he declares me fit I will be ready. “What I don’t want to happen is to come back too early when it is not quite healed and it opens up again first game. That would just set me back again another four weeks.” “Overall, I think at the most I will miss four games.” He added that he was keen to get back onto the pitch to start building a partnership with summer signing Robin va Persie. “I am looking forward to getting back into the team and trying to forge an understanding with him (Van Persie),” Rooney added. — AFP

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Sports

Pistorius surrenders 2nd Paralympic title

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News

in brief

Kagawa fails to shine TOKYO: Manchester United star Shinji Kagawa appeared dissatisfied with his goalless performance when Japan defeated the United Arab Emirates 1-0 ahead of next week’s World Cup qualifier. The Asian Cup holders got their win on Thursday night in Niigata from Dutch Vitesse Arnhem striker Mike Havenaar’s header off Yuichi Komano’s pinpoint cross in the 69th minute.

But Red Devils new boy Kagawa left the pitch to be replaced by Stuttgart striker Shinji Okazaki at half time, with his highlight being a back-heel pass for CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda’s first shot on goal in the second minute. “Of course, I wanted to play more time, because I always try to score a goal.

But it’s up to the coach to decide. I must think over my performance, because I couldn’t score,” said a dejected Kagawa after the game. “I can’t say anything as I played only 45 minutes. It would have been different if I was able to score when I received a pass from (Hiroshi Kiyotake),” added Kagawa, who has not scored in the last three games for the national side.

New Zealand celebrate WELLINGTON: New Zealand erased the memory of a dismal Oceania Nations Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory over New Caledonia in their opening third round match of Oceania World Cup qualifying in Noumea yesterday. Oceania champions Tahiti, who had captain Nicolas Vallar sent off just before halftime, were earlier beaten 2-0 by the Solomon Islands in Honaira in the first match of the region’s final round of qualifying for the 2014 finals in Brazil. New Zealand, who qualified for the 2010 finals in South Africa, were humbled 2-0 by New Caledonia in the semifinals of the Oceania Nations Cup in June, which cost them the opportunity of a big payday at next year’s Confederations Cup in Brazil. Yesterday, first half goals from Shane Smeltz and Chris Wood settled the nerves, although the All Whites were required to do most of the defending in the second half. In Honiara, Tahiti were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of halftime when Vallar was sent off for a foul on counterpart Henry Fa’arodo, who had earlier given the home side a 1-0 lead and was bearing down on goal. Himson Teleda added the second goal after the break, to give the Bonitos an upset win in the first match of the final stage of qualifying in the Oceania region, which consists of a single pool of the four teams, all playing each other home and away.

Australia thrash Lebanon

NIIGATA: Japan’s forward Shinji Kagawa (left) follows his head shot past United Arab Emirates’ defender Mohamed Ahmad during their football friendly match in Niigata. Japan beat UAE 1-0. — AFP

SYDNEY: Australia got a welcome boost before they restart their World Cup qualifying campaign when a Tim Cahill header put them on course for a 3-0 victory over Lebanon in an international friendly late on Thursday. The Beirut victory was the first in five matches for the Socceroos, who need a win against Jordan in Amman next Tuesday to keep Asian champions Japan in sight at the top of Group B in the fourth round of Asian qualifying. The Japanese are threatening to run away with the group after taking seven points from their first three matches, five clear of Australia and Iraq who both drew their opening two encounters.

Australia ignored the disruption of the floodlight failure which stopped the game four five minutes in the first half to claim their first win since they beat Saudi Arabia in February. Cahill, who missed the 3-1 friendly defeat to Scotland last month, got them off the mark by leaping above his marker to head home his 25th international goal in the 19th minute.

Dynamo beat Real Salt Lake HOUSTON: Colin Clark’s stoppage-time penalty kick gave Houston a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Thursday night, helping the Dynamo extend their unbeaten streak at home to 22 matches. Houston earned the penalty three minutes into stoppage time when Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando fouled Macoumba Kandji inside the area, and Clark drove a left-foot shot straight down the middle to end the club’s fourmatch winless stretch. Brad Davis wasted an earlier chance to put the Dynamo ahead when he missed from the penalty spot in the 76th minute. Both teams went into the match without several frontline players due to international duties, suspension or illness.