08 Jun

ON IP TI SC R SU B

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Syrian troops head to ‘massacre’ site amid calls for demos

NZ mourns death of Shrek the famously shaggy sheep

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Gaga gives heartfelt thanks at fashion award event

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Serena to join Venus in Eastbourne return

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Kuwait net assets swell to KD 81.2bn MPs urge security to probe Syrian-linked paper

Max 47º Min 31º Low Tide 10:18 & 22:50 High Tide 04:59 & 15:38

By B Izzak conspiracy theories

Down with urbanization!

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

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he report which UK-based agency Oxfam issued recently regarding food shortages on a global level is scary. The world population now is nearly 7 billion, and in 2020 is expected to bulge to 9 billion. There is an expectation of a big worldwide food shortage. For example, the scientific agency has found that US alone has food wastage of 40 percent. In my opinion, food waste is one of the reasons but not the only reason for food shortages.

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KUWAIT: MPs Waleed Al-Tabtabaei (left) and Jamaan Al-Harbash attends a National Assembly session yesterday.

The total assets of Kuwait swelled to KD 81 billion, Tabtabaei said after the session. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s net assets at the end of the past fiscal year increased to KD 81.2 billion from KD 75.8 billion a year ago, according to MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei.

Speaking after a secret National Assembly session to discuss the country’s financial status, Tabtabaei said that gross government assets amounted to KD 102.9 billion on March 31, but commitments on the state amounted to KD 21.7 billion. The debate of the country’s fiscal status kick-starts the debate of the state budget for 2011/2012 and the budgets of a number of independent government institutions.

The assets are held in the Reserve Fund for Future Generations (RFFG) and the state reserve fund, both managed by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund. KIA invests in foreign and local holdings, mostly in the United States, Europe and southeast Asia. One of its major local investments is its 24.6 percent holding in Zain valued at over $4 billion and a similar percentage in Kuwait Finance House, Wataniya Telecom and VIVA telecom.

Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali, who gave a briefing on Kuwait’s financial position to parliament, declined to reveal exact figures to reporters, but said the size is “close to figures revealed by MPs”. By law, 10 percent of public revenues are deducted every year and deposited in the RFFG regardless if the budget is in deficit or surplus. The healthy assets have been accumulated over the past 12 fiscal years when oil prices began Continued on Page 13

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Years

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

LOCAL

Crisis looms over ruling family rifts, rebellious Assembly ‘Kuwait going through a critical phase’ KUWAIT: Kuwait is heading for a deep political crisis as the country’s rebellious parliament steps up its pressure on the government and divisions appear within the ruling family, according to a number of leading local analysts. The state has avoided an ‘Arab Spring’ uprising to date, but is locked in a long-running feud between a government dominated by the ruling Al-Sabah family, and a parliament which likes to challenge it — unusual in a region largely controlled by powerful families.

Last month, the country’s premier, accused unnamed family members et but people don’t benefit from it,” Kuwait,” said another analyst, His Highness the Prime Minister of using parliament for their personal said Fawaz Al-Bahr, a young Kuwaiti Shamlan Al-Eissa.

On how best to handle the rebelSheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al- power struggles, saying, “For the first employed in the state oil industry Sabah, unveiled his seventh Cabinet time the conflict is in the open, who participated in recent protests, lious parliament, Al-Ghabra said that after the previous one quit en masse, reaching this sharpness and making adding, “This crisis is much worse HH the Amir is in a difficult position because dissolving it - as Kuwaiti than previous ones. Nasser must go.” with some MPs suggesting that it did it into parliament.”

At the last rally a large crowd rulers have done six times since it Liberal MP Abdulrahman Al-Anjari so to avoid questioning by lawmakers alleging misuse of public funds. expressed concern at the effects of vowed to keep protesting until was established in the 1960s - might not work this time. “This parliament is Within days of the new cabinet line- current events: “Kuwait is going Sheikh Nasser quit.

Al-Ghabra said that he sees no still from the time before the Arab up being announced, several MPs through a critical phase,” he said. returned to the attack, saying they “Leaders of the (ruling] family were way out of the current stalemate as Spring,” he said. “The next parliament wanted to question HH Sheikh always united. Now there are con- the ruling family regards attacks on will be stronger. There will be more Nasser Al-Mohammed and Deputy flicts inside the family. These conflicts the prime minister as a ‘red line’ and political demands, it will be more difthe HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- ficult.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al- will have a negative impact.”

Investors worry that the stalePolitical analyst Shafiq Al-Ghabra Ahmad Al-Sabah, would continue to Fahad Al-Sabah about allegations of mismanagement of public funds, was equally concerned at the fallout back HH Sheikh Nasser, his nephew. mate will hold up a $109 billion state corruption and inefficiency. Both from the present instability: “It won’t The Al-Sabah family allows more development plan because the minget any better; the government is freedom than other Gulf states - par- ister in charge of carrying it out, deny the charges.

Alleged splits within the ruling weak, there is a vacuum and parlia- liamentary approval is needed for all Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh family have also been accused of ment opposes the prime minister,” he major bills, as well as for the budget Ahmed, is busy defending himself intensifying the hostility between asserted. HH Sheikh Nasser has and state investments, for instance, from MPs’ attacks. The plan is part of government and parliament, as faced opposition in parliament ever in contrast to Saudi Arabia, an the state’s efforts to boost the prisome MPs and analysts suggest that since first taking office in 2006, but absolute monarchy where few dare vate sector and diversify the economy, a strategy that has made little ruling family members have been analysts say tension is noticeably ris- to criticize the ruling family.

A number of analysts claim that progress as many projects have been using parliament to push their agen- ing at present as MPs and opposition da. Share prices on the local bourse activists take to the streets. some members of the Al-Sabah fami- shelved by parliament. “Kuwait’s have fallen as investors fear the crisis Emboldened by protests in Egypt ly appear to be positioning them- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will delay economic projects like a and Tunisia, opposition groups have selves for the day when elderly lead- inflows over the last decade were $109 billion state development plan for several weeks staged rallies every ers will have to hand power over to around $800 million, compared to because Cabinet ministers are busy Friday, dubbing it a ‘Day of Rage,’ and younger relatives, and are encourag- Bahrain’s more than $10 billion, the fending off attacks by deputies. Local urging HH the Amir, who has the last ing deputies to attack HH Sheikh UAE’s $73 billion and Saudi Arabia’s daily Al-Qabas, in a rare front page say in Kuwaiti politics, to sack the Nasser and Sheikh Ahmed. “There $130 billion,” said John Sfakianakis, seems to be a power conflict. It’s chief economist at Banque Saudi editorial entitled ‘Enough fighting prime minister.

“We have a 55 billion dinar budg- about power, not about a vision for Fransi in Riyadh. —Reuters among sons of the [ruling] family,’

New KTV policy to tackle sectarianism KUWAIT: Kuwait’s state TV station has adopted a new news and current affairs broadcasting policy which focuses on emphasizing national unity and strengthening social cohesion in the country.

In a press release issued on Monday, a senior Ministry of Information official explained that the ministry is focusing on these priorities in order to underline the message of opposition to sectarianism and fundamentalism, particularly following the cabinet’s introduction of legislation intended to promote national unity.

“Cooperation has been established in order to devise a new strategy that aims to create programs which comply with the efforts to strengthen national unity,” said Yousef Mustafa, an Undersecretary with the information ministry’s news and political programming department.

Mustafa further explained that the ministry’s plans call for the introduction of programs to help combat the social problems currently found in Kuwaiti society.

On a separate issue, a team of information ministry officials has reportedly been assigned to

prepare responses to a number of points raised in State Audit Bureau (SAB) reports from 2010 and earlier this year, meeting recently with SAB representatives to discuss the issues under consideration.

Meanwhile, acting information and communications minister Ali Al-Rashid has reportedly appointed a new director to run his ministerial office. Al-Rashid, who is also the cabinet affairs minister, appointed Saud Al-Khaldi to the post, replacing Mazin Al-Ansari, who will be returning to his previous position with KTV2. —Al-Qabas

VIVA honors 50 Kuwaiti bloggers KUWAIT: VIVA Telecom Co. has organized a private and an exclusive movie show to honor Kuwaiti bloggers. Fifty bloggers have attended the show setting an attendance record for similar events organized by a telecom company in Kuwait.

This event put in the spotlight the effective and positive role of bloggers in interactive and social media that started to take a well-respected position in the media sec tor and has become a set target for most companies in Kuwait. Bloggers had a chance to watch the X-MEN movie premiere at the 360 movie theatre complex.

Abdul-Razzak Al-Issa, VIVA’s marketing and communications manager has expressed VIVA’s interest in supporting bloggers and building a networking channel with them based on their posi-

tive contribution to advance the concept of interactive media where VIVA is interested in being one the pioneers in this area. “ This is not the first time that we honor bloggers, as we had several meetings with them before. VIVA’s elite marketing team is always in touch with them”, Al-Issa said. “We are continuously improving our sites on social media networks like Twitter and Facebook and we are receiving a great participation from VIVA’s agents and fans through sweepstakes and valuable prizes offered on these sites”, Al-Issa added.

This event was organized in conjunction with VIVA’s exclusive release of the iPhone’s white handset available to its customers at all VIVA’s store locations in Kuwait.

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Years

LOCAL

Wife can sponsor non-national husband under conditions Measures to prevent abuse of law

By Hussain Al-Qatari

KUWAIT: Senior EQUATE officials with Dr Marshall Goldsmith.

EQUATE hosts leadership development forum KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company hosted a leadership development workshop with the participation of Dr Marshall Goldsmith, a world authority in developing human resources.

On this occasion, EQUATE Senior Executive for Administration and Corporate Services Abeer Al-Omar said, “With human resources being EQUATE’s most valuable assets, the development of its leaders is a critical issue that is part of our corporate strategy at all time.

EQUATE invests a great amount of time and money into the development and growth of all employees and this event is just one of the many of its kind.”

On his part, Goldsmith said, “I really loved the opportunity to participate with leaders at EQUATE and thoroughly enjoyed their great attitudes, lively discussion and strong willingness to learn.”

The two-day workshop, attended by over 50 EQUATE participants, focused on achieving positive, lasting change in behavior: for individuals, their people and their teams.

Goldsmith was recognized as one of

the fifteen most influential business thinkers in the world in the bi-annual study sponsored by The (London) Times and Forbes.

The American Management Association named Marshall as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past 80 years. He is one of only two educators who have won the Institute of Management Studies Lifetime Achievement Award.

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC).

Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Salafi movement warns of ‘chaotic’ demonstrations KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti political movement believes that calls for holding weekly reform seeking demonstrations can lead to negative consequences if the protests go out of control.

In a statement made available to the press recently, the Salafi Islamist Assembly expressed support to freedom of expres-

sion “as long as it remains within the regulations of the constitution and the Islamic Sharia, and seek to achieve constructive criticism which avoids insults”. They further warned of out-of-control protests and chaos “which could lead to damaging national unity and subsequently compromise our nations stability”. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: The Immigration Department at the Ministry of Interior last week granted Kuwaiti women the right to sponsor their non-national husbands under certain conditions.

According to the new regulations, the wife can sponsor her husband only if she holds an Article 1, 5, or 7 Kuwaiti nationality. That means if the wife has been naturalized Kuwaiti from a previous marriage, and was later divorced from her Kuwaiti husband or widowed, she cannot sponsor her second nonKuwaiti husband. The wife can also sponsor her non-Kuwaiti children.

In what was claimed as measures to prevent any abuse of this law, regulations allow the wife to sponsor her husband for the first year, and the sponsorship can be renewed for three years. After three years of marriage have passed, the wife can grant her husband a fiveyear permit. If the wife conceives a child

MoI launches SMS info service KUWAITP: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) yesterday announced the launch of the first phase of its SMS message service for the public, with the ministry providing subscribers with SMS messages to mobile phone owners on matters related to passport renewal and residency permits, amongst other subjects.

The launch was announced by Sheikh Meshaal Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Ministr y of Information Undersecretar y for Information, Communications and Technology, who explained that the new service will also provide information to motorists on when to renew their drivers’ licenses and how and where to pay traffic fines, as well as advising the wider public on when and where to register to vote in elections, amongst other subjects.

During the first phase of the launch, the SMS messages will be transmitted solely via VIVA Telecom, with Kuwait’s other two leading telecom providers also set to provide the service at a later date. — KUNA

before the first three years pass, her husband can obtain a five-year permit immediately.

These measures are meant to protect from the abuse of this law. Married couples must provide proof that they are married in order for the non-Kuwaiti husband to obtain a visa.

If the married couple get divorced, the visa is revoked.

Currently, Kuwaiti men married to nonKuwaitis can sponsor their wives on a fiveyear basis. Children of Kuwaiti men who are married to non-Kuwaitis are granted the Kuwaiti nationality, while children of nonKuwaiti men married to Kuwaiti women take the same nationality as their father.

The Secretary of the Women’s Cultural and Social Society Lulwa Al-Mulla argued that while this law is progressive, obstacles remain to face many Kuwaiti women married to nonKuwaitis. “The Kuwaiti woman is a national, a citizen who has rights granted by the constitution. She must be equated with the Kuwaiti

man. Sadly, a lot of progressive regulations and laws are passed but are not applied in reality,” she stressed. Al-Mulla noted that for a very long time, Kuwaiti women were denied many basic rights. “The problem is not with legislations anymore; it is with the actual application of these legislations in reality,” she said.

Sanaa, a Kuwaiti woman in her mid thirties married to a Lebanese man, said that it is about time Kuwaiti women are given rights that make them feel equal to the men. “For the longest time, almost all the benefits of being a Kuwaiti were exclusive to the men. It is a relief to see that change is beginning to happen finally,” she said.

Sanaa says that the social stigma for Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis is challenging enough. “At the end of the day we are contributing to this society and giving of our time and effort for its advancement,” she added.

Bedoons given marriage, divorce certificates KUWAIT: More than 1,600 (stateless) residents in Kuwait have been issued with marriage or divorce certificates since the government introduced new legislation overturning the previous regulations which prevented Bedoon people from obtaining official documentation of this nature for decades.

According to the latest statistics from the

Ministry of Justice’s legal documentation department, 1,660 marriage or divorce certificates were issued to Bedoon people between March 24 and June 5.

The statistics also show that residents of Jahra governorate, where the highest number of Bedoon residents live, received the majority of the official documents issued. — Al-Qabas

Remains of 29 Iraqi soldiers found in mass grave KUWAIT: The total number of remains of Iraqi soldiers who died during the Kuwait liberation war in 1991 that were dug out of a mass grave in Al-Mutla’a reached 29 as of the second day of the operation which started last Sunday.

The operation is being carried out by the Ministry of Interior ’s Criminal Evidence General Department, in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the US Army. It was put in place as per information received by Kuwaiti authorities from the US Army, who provided a map showing the location of a grave containing the

bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed by American troops during the war which freed Kuwait from Saddam Husain’s 1990 invasion.

A security source indicated on that regard that search will continue for more bodies through expanding the operation to reach other areas near the mass grave’s location. The remains will be handed by the Kuwaiti authorities to their Iraqi counterparts through the Abdaly northern border checkpoint, and that at a date to be fixed later. The ICRC and the US Army will also supervise the transaction. - AlQabas

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Years

LOCAL

Attempt to smuggle Iraqi woman across border

Kuwait Digest

Disputes and development

Saudi police arrests gang

By Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar

T

alking about national development is fascinating whether Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah or someone else holds ministerial responsibility for the issue.

The story of Kuwait’s development goes back a long way, with both the government and opposition colluding in turning the development issue into an unleashed animal that cannot be restrained, taken care of or controlled.

A quick reading of the history of Kuwait’s development plans, councils and cabinets shows that the only development plan that had been put into practice and showed results in the form of prosperity was the one introduced in 1952, whilst all subsequent ones have resulted in empty slogans and unaccomplished promises.

The current parliament has, almost unanimously, passed a very sloppy and unquantifiable development plan simply to disclaim its own responsibility.

Instead of focusing on assessing the plan itself, we are focusing on how much has been accomplished only for political reasons. Some politicians keep talking about accomplishing 25 per cent of the plan while others disagree with this modest objective and propose an even lower rate of accomplishment as being acceptable.

This leads to the development plan, as well national unity, loyalty and religious piety, being turned into political issues that are meaninglessly dealt with by politicians who urge others to show self-control while showing none themselves.

In view of all this empty political noise, there is a growing belief that once the dispute amongst the ruling family members ends, the implementation of the development plan will race forward. I believe, however, that this opinion is over-optimistic and has been affected by the chaos in our political arena.

The disputes related to the ruling family have been going on for over half a century and will continue to go on; they are very normal. What Kuwait is witnessing at present, however, goes way beyond traditional disputes.

New strategies and definitions of the ruling family’s direct or indirect role in political life, as well as the far greater media and commercial control, need to be transparently handled; we must go beyond discussion of retaining one sheikh or dismissing another, or even dismissing or replacing them both. This is a matter to be decisively discussed and decided upon by the senior ruling family members, as well as by the political and social authorities concerned with social integration.

In conclusion then, the disputes concerning the ruling family will not affect the so-called development plan, which was established in the first place as a false settlement to an already existing dispute and to distribute positions of power; although this was seen as being adequate by our incompetent parliament it simply created more fogginess in tackling public priorities because we don’t actually have a development plan. — Al-Jarida

Kuwaiti delegation lauds Jordan investment opportunities AMMAN: The Jordanian authorities are eager to facilitate investment opportunities for Kuwaiti investors, said a senior Kuwaiti official yesterday.

Hussein Al-Kharafi, the chairman of the Kuwaiti Industries Union’s management board and head of a Kuwaiti delegation currently visiting Jordan, was speaking following a meeting with the Jordanian Prime Minister Ma’arouf Al-Bakhit.

Praising Jordan’s experience in formulating investment-friendly legislation, Al-Kharafi affirmed that this experience, as well as the country’s political stability, is a major attraction for investors seeking lucrative projects there.

Earlier in the day, the delegation visited the Jordanian parliament, where the delegates met with the chairman of the Jordanian-Kuwaiti friendship committee Reem Badran, who emphasized the close ties between the two nations.

Since their arrival on Sunday, the delegates have met with a number of Jordanian officials and businesspeople, and visited industrial and tourist sites, where they learnt more about potential investment opportunities. — KUNA

KUWAIT: An investigation has been launched to discover how and why an Iraqi woman left Kuwait by hiding in the boot of a car after bribing the driver to smuggle her across the Saudi border. The woman was discovered by Saudi police who stopped the vehicle shortly after it crossed the border, with the officers also discovering that the woman was carrying a forged passport. On questioning the car ’s occupants, who included two Kuwaiti women as well as the driver, a GCC national, police discovered that the woman had paid the driver to smuggle her across the border, taking the forged passport in an attempt to avoid detection. All four people were detained whilst the investigation continues, whilst customs officers at the Salmi border checkpoint who allowed the vehicle to go through apparently without checking its trunk have also been referred for questioning.

Abduction foiled Police have arrested a man who attempted to abduct a Kuwaiti woman at knifepoint with the intention of raping her. The attacker forced the woman into his car before she was able to fight him off before escaping. After the attack, she contacted the police and gave them the vehicle’s license plate details, helping officers to trace the car to an address in

Forgery ring Detectives are looking into the activities of an organized crime syndicate which was involved in smuggling fuel to Iraq through using forged documents.

An investigation was launched after police were notified by a local company that they had received documents supposedly from a number of state bodies and the US Army concerning the transport of diesel fuel, which they subsequently discovered had been forged.

Detectives later determined that the documents had been forged by unidentified individuals who were smuggling the fuel to Iraq, where it fetches a higher price on the black market, using US Army trucks travelling there.

Salmiya fight Three Kuwaiti men were apprehended after turning on police officers who came to the aid of another citizen who the men were attacking. The officers were on a routine patrol in Salmiya when they spotted the assailants attacking another indi-

vidual and intervened to stop them. The attackers immediately turned on the police officers and began attacking them instead, as well as damaging the patrol car, with their assault only ending when backup units turned up and helped restrain the thugs. The trio were taken to Rumaithiya police station and charged with assaulting police officers performing their duties and damaging police property.

Surprise pregnancy A housemaid is being held for questioning over her involvement in an ‘illegal relationship’ with an unidentified man after it was discovered that she is pregnant. The woman was rushed to Jahra Hospital after complaining to her sponsor that she was suffering from severe abdominal pain. Medical staff there determined that the pain was actually pregnancy and the woman was detained.

Drunk and dumb A police officer was arrested after turning up for work drunk. Ironically, the officer was actually on his day off when he appeared at Bayan police station believing that he was on duty that day. On realizing that he was inebriated, his colleagues called senior officers, who instructed them to put him in a holding cell to sober up.

Cable thieves Police are hunting for unidentified thieves who stole electrical cables from two transformers in the Wafra area. The theft was discovered after an explosion at one of the transformers in question.

When police officers turned up to investigate the blast, they found that almost 200 meters of cable was missing, with officials also determining that a further 180 meters of cable had been stolen from another substation in the same area.

Couple attacked A Kuwaiti man is facing physical assault charges after attacking a citizen of another Arab country and his wife in a row over the Kuwaiti man’s affair with the other man’s wife. The victim initially told officers when he visited the local police station with his pregnant wife that they had been attacked by the suspect for no reason. When the Kuwaiti man was summoned for questioning, however, he told detectives that he had been romantically involved with his victim’s wife, believing that she was single. When she told him that she was pregnant, he said, he offered to marry her, but was informed that she had already married the other man, her roommate. At this, the man said, he lost his temper and attacked the couple. The investigation into the case is continuing.

— Al-Rai, Al-Qabas, Al-Watan

Shop-owners confused as Abu Ftaira deadline passes quietly

KUWAIT: Investigators at the place where the body of a Kuwaiti man was discovered. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Murder in Surra

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A murder investigation is underway after the body of a Kuwaiti man in his sixties was discovered at his home in Surra, with evidence at the scene indicating that he had been purposefully killed. Bloodstains around the body of the man, who reportedly lived by himself, apparently led police to believe that the man had been murdered. The body was removed for autopsy.

Dealer busted An Iranian expatriate was arrested by drug squad officers after being caught red-handed in a sting operation whilst selling a quarter-ounce of opium to an undercover officer. The detainee had apparently been working for a kerosene distribution outlet providing the fuel to Iranian bakeries in the country and supplementing his income through dealing in narcotics. After arresting him, drug squad officers searched his home, recovering an additional kilogram of opium.

The dealer has been referred to the Public Prosecutor for further legal action.

Landmine blast An unidentified man was killed when he stepped on a landmine in the Salmi desert area. The landmine was believed to have been abandoned there following

Controversy over teachers’ allowances KUWAIT: A case of ambiguity surrounds the situation regarding the teachers’ allowances in the Ministry of Education after it was discovered that some teachers received allowances while others eligible to the same payments never did.

Ministry sources explained that former minister Moudhi Al-Hmoud had approved the proposed form of allowances, but suspended the decision to enforce them until the parliament finalizes the subject. The new minister Ahmad Al-Mulaifi also added more allowances which would be paid depending on teachers’ levels of productivity. However, some teachers discovered that allowances were added to their recent salaries as per the proposal approved by Al-Hmoud, which caused controversy because no official decision to have the allowances enforced has been made. In a separate

Salmiya within a couple of hours and arrest the assailant. On searching the vehicle, officers found items belonging to the victim, with the attacker admitting his actions on being questioned, telling officers that he had been under the influence of alcohol at the time.

subject, an Egyptian man is appealing a Ministry of Education decision to dismiss his daughter from a local public school and ban her from enrollment in any other public school, after she was accused of making derogatory remarks against the state’s leadership.

The man, identifying himself as Hani Ahmad, says that his daughter Hala, 14, engaged in an altercation with six of her classmates when she heard them making insulting remarks against former Egyptian President Hosni Muabarak. “The students dared my daughter to make similar remarks against the leadership in Kuwait, and she was forced under pressure to say that she doesn’t like the government”, Ahmad said, arguing that the situation that his daughter was in addition to her being a minor doesn’t qualify as a reason for her to be accused of state security allegations. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: Kuwait Municipality’s official deadline date for shop-owners and tenants in the Abu Ftaira area to vacate their stores has passed without any action being taken, leaving both municipality officials and the shopowners at a loss as to what comes next.

The municipality previously notified shop-owners and those leasing stores in the Qurain Market area that any business which continued operating there after June 6 would be forcibly shut down, with the municipality officials insisting that these outlets are violating licensing regulations. The owners and tenants, however, argue that they are being unjustly punished for mistakes by the municipality in the issuing of retail licenses.

With the official deadline for the shops’ closure having passed, however, it seems that even the municipality

staff are unsure of how to proceed, with the municipality area director for Mubarak Al-Kabeer reportedly admitting that he had received no instructions on what measures should be taken against the shop-owners and tenants next, according to an insider.

A few of the shop-owners have taken action of their own against the municipality over the closure orders, meanwhile, with the courts ruling in their favor in some cases.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the municipality insider said that the municipality is likely to simply continue collecting fines from the shopowners and tenants until the situation is resolved, with nobody knowing when this might be, especially now that the store-owners are pleading with His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah to intervene in the matter. — Al-Rai

Wataniya Telecom sponsors high school graduations

KUWAIT: The drug dealer pictured after his arrest. the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait. The body was removed for autopsy.

Car accidents A Bangladeshi man was taken to Farwaniya Hospital after suffering a broken right ankle when he was hit by a car in Sulaibiya. In a separate incident, a 22year-old Kuwaiti man suffered lacerations to his scalp in a car crash in Rigga.

He was taken to Adan Hospital.

Ministry to acquire 30 new ambulances KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health is set to receive thirty new ambulances soon. In a statement made recently to the press, director of the MOH’s transportation department Yousuf Al-Dhahi explained that the ministry suffers from shortage in ambulances which require for sixty vehicles to fill the void, but the ministry had to settle with thirty to minimize the waiting period.

A number of employees at the Fahaheel polyclinic are subjected to questioning after they failed to report to their offices in protest of the nonfunctioning air conditioning units.

Officials at the Ahmadi Medical Directorate had provided 20 used AC unites to the polyclinic as a temporary solution until the AC system which has been out of service for two months is repaired. The Ministry of Health officials claim that they are waiting for spare parts to arrive before the maintenance operation can be finished. Employees at the polyclinic seem to be growing frustrated to the point that they threaten to hold a strike if new ACs aren’t installed. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: All over the world, June is a busy month with graduation ceremonies as students embark on one of the most important missions in their lives. It is of utmost importance to Wataniya Telecom to be present on these special occasions and offer support to students who are our country’s future. For that reason Wataniya Telecom is set to sponsor various high school graduation ceremonies throughout the month of June, 2011.

Further reinforcing their promise of supporting the education sector in Kuwait and by taking a positive approach towards learning institutions, Wataniya Telecom intends to demonstrate support for the youth. The purpose behind these sponsorships is to encourage and appreciate the talent, optimism and energy of these bright and hardworking students.

Commenting on Wataniya’ s sponsorship during this month, Abdolaziz Al Balool, Public Relations Director of Wataniya Telecom said, “Our students are our future and we depend on them to carry out the responsibility of building a better tomorrow. We are committed towards offering the youth of Kuwait the well-deserving support and appreciation they deserve.”

Al Balool on behalf of Wataniya congratulated all the students who graduated this year and also added, “We are very proud of all the students and wish them the very best for all their future endeavors.”

The schools management expressed their deepest gratitude towards Wataniya, humbly thanking them for their active approach in displaying their support on behalf of the telecom industry. Some of the schools which will receive sponsorships from Wataniya are: Al Ruayah High School, Duaij Al Sabah High school, Ahmed Alrubee High school, Palestine High School, Essa Al Hamad High School, Abdullah Al-Rujaib High school and Jahra secondary schools.

Supporting the youth with events and sponsorships is an integral part of Wataniya’s corporate social responsibility program. By empowering the future generation, Wataniya aims to secure

the success and prosperity of Kuwait.

Wataniya Telecom was commercially launched in 1999 as the first privately owned operator in Kuwait. National Mobile Telecommunications Company (NMTC) trading under the brand name Wataniya Telecom is listed in the Kuwait Stock Exchange and has operations in 6 countries including Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria and Palestine. Qatar Telecom (Qtel) owns 52.5% of Wataniya Telecom.

Wataniya is a customer-driven company that aims to provide product and service excellence. Over the past 10 years Wataniya has risen to be the second largest operator in one of the most competitive markets, and continues offering a wide range of prepaid and postpaid mobile voice and internet services to both individual and corporate customers.

Wataniya has built its reputation on offering innovative services, maintaining excellent network quality and delivering outstanding customer experience. These three pillars remain the basis of Wataniya’s strategy as it continues to solidify its strong market position.

Abdolaziz Al-Balool

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Years

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Fadhil German, Ghadeer Al-Suqobi, Ahmad Al-Enezi, Mohammad Al-Mansour and Zakariya Dashti.

KUWAIT: A Classical model of Ford. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Awarding a winner in the Black and White category of the photography competition.

Museum to hold eco-friendly car show

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: To mark World Environment Day, the Historical, Vintage and Classic Cars Museum is set to hold an exhibition of ‘Environmentally Friendly Cars’ at its premises in Shuwaikh between June 12 and July 14, with various models of eco-friendly vehicles to be displayed.

The museum is holding the exhibition in cooperation with the Renewable Energy Development Organization (REDO), which follows the International Convention of the United Nations. Speaking at a press conference

held at the museum yesterday to announce the upcoming event, curator Ahmad Al-Enezi explained, “The ‘Environmentally Friendly Cars Exhibition’ is the first of its kind in the Arab world, and will raise the name of Kuwait high internationally,” adding, “These cars aren’t available in Kuwait, but they are used in many countries, and we hope that visitors will enjoy seeing them during the exhibition.

Al-Enezi further revealed that the museum’s management recently decided to set up a photography studio inside the museum itself. “We decided to open the studio due to the great standard of photos that we received during the

photography competition we held recently, and we are presenting the winners with their awards today,” he explained. “This studio will serve to help amateur photographers exchange information, as well as helping them register for special photography courses.”

Another senior museum official, Zakariya Dashti, the head of the museum’s information committee, stressed that the museum is always eager to host events that bring benefits for its members and visitors. “We organize different vehicle-related activities to provide visitors with [information on] the latest achievements in the world of cars,” he said. “Through this exhibition

we aim to increase environmental awareness in our community. Although Kuwait is an oil country, it’s still a pioneer in protecting the environment by supporting environmental issues here and abroad.”

Fadhil German, an Oil Sector Consultant with the REDO, highlighted the international trend towards seeking alternative sources of energy to oil. “The environment plays a key role in protecting humans,” he stressed. “This has led people to search for ways to protect it through finding alternative energy sources that are environmentally friendly. At present, even the GCC countries are considering using solar and

Overcrowding blamed for power blackouts in Jleeb Plans to reduce consumption rates KUWAIT: A senior Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW ) official has blamed the severely overcrowded accommodation in the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh area for the recurring summer power cuts there. “There are traditional Arab-style houses that are usually misused by being utilized as homes for up to 15 families at a time,” said Abdulwahab Al-Terki, the MEW Undersecretar y for Distribution Network Affairs, adding that the uncontrolled numbers of residents in the area causes power consumption levels to soar above manageable levels, at rates far exceeding those set by the ministry.

“These rates are set as per the average number of residents that each zone contains according to official

records,” Al-Terki explained, adding that these records don’t take into account large numbers of illegal residents.

The power cuts in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh usually take place due to short circuits in overloaded transformers there, the official said, claiming that the severe overcrowding leads to consumption levels to reach double the amount of electricity allocated to each transformer, resulting invariably in such incidents.

Meanwhile, the MEW has instructed both the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs (MAIA) to adopt power usage rationalization strategies at their facilities as part of a policy to reduce

Ministers ‘food’ case shelved KUWAIT: A case brought against one current and another former minister concerning local outlets’ sale of foodstuffs unfit for human consumption was shelved by the Constitutional Court during a trial on Monday due to the lack of evidence presented by the plaintiffs.

In the charges brought against Minister of Public Works and State Minister of Municipality Affairs Dr. Fadhil Safar and former Minister of Commerce and Industry Ahmad AlHaroun, the plaintiffs claimed that they had failed in their ministerial duties to end the process of commercial fraud and the smuggling of foodstuffs unfit for human consumption onto the local market.

The plaintiffs further claimed to have identified a serious risk to public health by exposing the fact that Kuwait Municipality had failed to publish the names of companies involved in the sale of such goods.

An investigative committee of Constitutional Court officials led by Councilor Saleh Al-Hamdi ruled, however, that the plaintiffs’ case lacked any substantive elements to show that the current or former ministers’ actions merited criminal convictions against them.

The judicial experts ruled that the case should be dropped since the plaintiffs had not identified any specific crime punishable by law in their accusations. — Al-Qabas

consumption rates during the summer at all state departments.

According to MEW insiders, the education ministry has been instructed to ensure that lights and air conditioning units are switched off as soon as the current exam period ends. The MAIA, meanwhile, has been instructed to do likewise at mosques during hours outside prayer times in a bid to reduce consumption levels.

MEW undersecretar y Ahmad Al-Jassar headed a recent meeting of the ministry’s rationalization committee, during which he lauded the ministries’ cooperation with the MEW’s strategies to reduce electricity and water consumption levels at public facilities. — Al-Qabas

Kuwait mosques won’t be used as proxy battleground KUWAIT: A senior Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs (MAIA) official insisted on Monday that he would not allow Kuwait’s mosques to become proxy battlegrounds for those wishing to participate in the battles taking place in other Arab nations.

Walid Essa Al-Shuaib, the MAIA’s Assistant Undersecretary for Mosques, said that all Kuwait’s mosques call for a moderate form of Islam which avoids extremes.

Al-Shuaib also said that the MAIA has no objections to carrying out any maintenance work required in Shiite mosques, adding that employees at

these mosques who wish to have their salaries paid by the MAIA should also have no objections to such work being carried out. All mosques, whether Sunni or Shiite, come under the MAIA’s umbrella, said the official, revealing that the country’s 14 Shiite Imams and 18 Shiite Moathen or prayer-callers are ministry employees, and adding that the same rules apply to these personnel as to their Sunni counterparts, whether they are Kuwaiti or not. Al-Shuaib said that he fully supports the wage rise demands of all the country’s Imams and Moathen, calling on the MAIA officials to consider increasing their salaries. — Al-Anba

‘Streets named after countries unchangeable’

Ahmadinejad: ‘Plan’ to solve Bahrain issue TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference yesterday that Tehran will soon present “a plan” for Bahrain to solve the problem in the Gulf kingdom. “I hope that in the near future conditions are prepared and we can present our proposal so they can resolve the issue,” he said, without elaborating on his plan for Bahrain after a crackdown on Shiites who led a month of prodemocracy protests there. “The problem in Bahrain is not between the government and the people but it is about the presence of US bases there,” Ahmadinejad added, referring to the US Fifth Fleet which has its headquarters there.

“The ruler of Bahrain should sit down and negotiate with his people. It is not acceptable for him to have unlimited responsibilities. This is not accepted anywhere... The people should have the right to vote, a vote that is both free and just,” he added.

“The people’s rights in the election should be equal... you should not allow arrogant powers to meddle (in your affairs). You should not let them come to plunder your interests and wealth for decades to come. The

Americans are not good friends. The only thing that is important for them is their own illegal interests,” Ahmadinejad said in his first public comments on Bahrain since it lifted the state of emergency.

Ahmadinejad denied that Tehran was interfering in Bahraini affairs. “Iran meddling? If Iran is meddling, then the whole map of the region will change.

Take a look the region’s map,” he said.

Tehran had already welcomed the move as “a positive step forward and in line with fulfilling the demands of Bahrain’s people”. On June 1, Bahrain lifted the state of emergency it imposed in mid-March during a crackdown on pro-democracy Shiite-led street demonstrations, which erupted a month earlier. But Bahrain’s royal family, drawn from its Sunni minority, has not called for a withdrawal of Arab troops from neighbouring Gulf states who were brought in to help deal with the unrest. Predominantly Shiite Iran, which has vocally supported most of the uprisings across the Arab world, harshly condemned the crackdown in Bahrain, which in turn accused Tehran of meddling and fanning confessional unrest. —AFP

KUWAIT: Streets named after countries, capital cities and world leaders cannot be subjected to change, said the cabinet in a letter sent to the Kuwait Municipality.

This was in response to a report referred by the Municipal Council containing objection on decisions of Minister of Public Works and State Minister of Municipality Affairs Dr. Fadhel Safar.

Dr. Safar referred to the cabinet a number of streets renaming recommendations which were previously rejected, but the Municipal Council has since used article 14 of the municipality law which allows them to overrule a rejection made to a street renaming resolution passed during a Municipal Council session.

Among these recommendations is renaming the press street in Shuwaikh after prominent Kuwaiti journalist the late Mohammad Musa’ed Al-Saleh. — Al-Rai

Bosnia hails Kuwait’s positive role SARAJEVO: Bosnian Defense Minister Selmo Cikotic expressed yesterday his appreciation for the stance taken by Kuwait toward the Bosnian state and its army in particular, noting the role played by Kuwait in subsidizing the Bosnian army since its founding.

Cikotic added, during his meeting at the headquarters of the Bosnian Ministry of Defense, with Mohammad Fadhil Khalaf, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, that he appreciates the role played by Kuwait in helping the Bosnian army during its early stages through offering a financial assistance amounting to $50 million.

He also commended the role played by the Kuwaiti embassy in order to upgrade the level of bilateral ties, particularly the role of Ambassador Khalaf who represented Kuwait in 1995, and provided munificent subsidy that consolidated the bases upon which the modern Bosnian army was founded.

Cikotic also expressed his thanks for the State of Kuwait represented by its leaders and people for all stances adopted toward Bosnia and Herzegovina. —

nuclear energy, which are environmentally friendly. Next December the REDO will be hosting a conference on this issue and we will also exhibit vehicles from Brazil and Argentina which work on alternative energy,” he revealed.

The conference was followed by the announcement of the names of the winners of the first car photography competition, which the organizers lauded as having been a great success. Three winners were announced in each of the four competition categories, whilst one overall winner was selected by the public.

A further 50 of the contest entrants were presented with prizes for their participation.

Kuwait digest

Working under scorching sun Dr. Wael Al-Hasawi

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othing is harder to see than the sight of workers toiling hard under the scorching sun for extended periods of time every day. Those workers have probably already got used to hard labor in extreme weather conditions, which are part of the lifestyle they chose to leave their home countries to pursue. But what about human beings who don’t feel the slightest bit of emotion on observing this form of torture that they see every day?

Some people might say that these workers agreed to work under these conditions when they signed their contracts. Others might try to play down the subject by claiming that the workers themselves aren’t complaining, therefore the issue isn’t as bad as is thought. The problem is that Kuwait already has labor regulations that the government desperately tries to use in justifying its stance whenever the country is criticized by human rights organizations.

For example, Kuwait’s labor law states that working in open, outdoor locations is banned when the temperatures exceed 50 degrees Celsius. We must ask, however, whether or not this regulation is properly implemented. How many times have we seen workers working outside when all the evidence suggests that the temperatures are almost certainly well above 50 degrees? And what’s the reason for choosing that specific temperature anyway?

Can anyone even stand being outside for any significant period when the temperature is 45 or even 40 degrees Celsius? I also wonder why they don’t allow workers to work at night, which would also have the advantage of being less costly if we consider that it would only require limited lighting instead of installing temporary shades or finding ways to keep a workplace cooled during the middle of the day.

The answer to those questions is that a laborer in our dictionary is only a machine, that we are more concerned about their productivity than their wellbeing. Some countries have already banned their domestic workers from going to Kuwait following reports about abuse that domestic personnel have been subjected to here. Why can’t we achieve better living conditions for housemaids and low-waged laborers, or even make sure that they are accorded all their rights?

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has been talking for two years about canceling the sponsorship system. There are employers who still don’t commit to the minimum wage rates or working hours, or even pay their workers regularly.

Are we really serious about trying to improve workers’ living conditions?

All these questions remain unanswered, and I honestly don’t know whether the government or the public would even bother to try finding the answers. — Al-Rai

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LOCAL GCC airport security heads endorse aviation risks manual

Kuwait-Russia nuclear energy talks ‘fruitful’ Nuke power for peaceful purposes MOSCOW: A high-profile Kuwaiti official has described the Kuwaiti-Russian talks tackling the peaceful use of nuclear energy as “useful” and “fruitful.” Dr Ahmad Bishara, Secretary General of the Kuwait’s National Committee for the Uses of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes (NCUNEPP), said at the close of his talks with Sergei Kirienko, Chairman of the Russian Atomic Energy Agency (ROSATOM), that discussions were “fruitful” and “useful” and came in a completion of previous consultations with bilateral cooperation in the domain of nuclear energy.

Bishara recalled that the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Vienna, Austria, last September, noting that talks focused on forging bilateral draft agreement in the field of using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes after being studied by the State of Kuwait, and introducing some amendments to it.

He also said that the end formula of the proposed draft agreement will be sent to the State of Kuwait after being approved by the concerned Russian authorities after about two months.

Further, Bishara said that the two sides will set a date for signing the proposed agreement, which he described as “framework”, but after later on consultations.

He also said that the State of Kuwait is still scrutinizing the options of resorting to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful uses, particularly as any final decision on the matter

will take into account the latest catastrophe that hit Fukushima power plant in Japan. The concerned Kuwaiti bodies are studying the consequences of Fukushima power plant, the world reactions to it, and the incident’s environmental and technological dimensions, and the required safety criteria, he made clear.

Bishara asserted that Kuwait will participate on June 20 in a ministerial conference held under the sponsorship of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna in order to discuss the Fukushima catastrophe, noting that Kuwait closely observed reactions to the incident including the decisions made by Germany and Switzerland on abandoning nuclear energy.

The talks also handled the Russian participation in building the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant, and the safety levels there, making clear that the Russian side understood the con-

cern of Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab states in this respect.

Bishara pointed out that Bushehr nuclear power plant is operated under the full supervision of IAEA, and there is no room for taking advantage of the nuclear fuel provided by Russia except for its prescribed goals along with ensuring the return of the depleted uranium to the Russian side.

He also said that the Russian side expressed readiness to mull various aspects of cooperation with the State of Kuwait in the domain of nuclear energy including providing the country with nuclear fuel, data and experience exchange, and the cadres’ rehabilitation.

Bishara arrived in Moscow leading a Kuwaiti delegation made up of Dr Osama Al-Sayegh, NCUNEPP Technical Programs Coordinator, to take part at a conference on the development of nuclear energy. —KUNA

ABU DHABI: Participants in the 25th meeting of GCC airports’ security heads yesterday endorsed a unified manual on the risks facing the civil aviation sector.

The delegates also took a decision to hold training courses at the Dubai Civil Aviation Security Regional Center, and to pay visits to countries with more advanced security systems to assess their security measures.

During the three-day meeting, which is chaired by Air Commodore Mohammad Bin Thani, the director of the UAE’s General Department of Airport Security, the UAE delegation also put forward an overall strategy for the civil aviation security sector in GCC Arab states.

Bin Thani also made a speech at the opening session in which he made it clear that the proposed strategy will establish the guidelines and future plans for civil aviation security in the GCC Arab states.

He added that this strategy would be designed in accordance with a clear-cut vision, and measurable, well-studied and methodical goals which can be continuously reassessed by a working team assigned with conducting the necessary studies and research in this respect. This team, he stated, should be made up of personnel from all the concerned security departments of GCC states’ airports.

He also pointed out that the meeting itself is a demonstration of the completion of the efforts made by GCC Arab states to upgrade their aviation security criteria and create a working environment that effectively contributes to the exchange of experience.

He made it clear that the aforementioned efforts aim to familiarize the concerned personnel with the latest techniques to bring about a quantum leap forward in the aviation and airport security domain.

“Changes and variables on the international arena have resulted in many new security challenges and requirements, a thing which requires us to set necessary plans that ensure sustainable modernization of measures related to aviation and airports security,” Bin Thani stressed.

After Bin Thani’s speech, the delegates held the meeting’s first working session, during which they considered a number topics on the agenda, including a discussion of the working paper presented by the UAE on multi-phase luggage searches at Emirati airports. Another subject under consideration was the security tagging system currently used at Dubai International Airport in order to reinforce cargo security levels.

The GCC airport security chiefs were set to continue their meetings yesterday by holding two working sessions in the morning and evening in order to complete their discussion of the topics on the agenda. —KUNA

kuwait digest

Parliamentary malpractices

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij he latest news about MP Musallam Al-Barrak’s ‘document’ to demand for the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad, is that it will instead be a statement which he hopes to gather lawmakers’ signatures on.

Whether it is a petition or a statement, there’s no real difference given the fact that it is a practice that goes against the parliamentary regulations which limits similar activities to the parliament’s building.

What’s strange about the whole situation is that Al-Barrak’s Popular Action Bloc already has a grilling motion filed along with MP Abdurrahman Al-Anjari against the prime minister, which similar to their other interpellations against the premier, is already filed with intentions to press a no-cooperation motion, while efforts to garner support for this motion went underway even before the grilling is debated.

In my opinion, MP Al-Barrak has went a little bit too far, as not only did he jump past the grilling debate to the no-cooperation stage, but went further than that with a petition aiming to isolate the premier despite the fact that he doesn’t have that right.

Al-Barrak and the Popular Action Bloc probably don’t realize that their extreme hostility with Sheikh Nasser is going to drive people to sympathize with the premier, and would likely lead for his parliamentary support to increase.

Personally, I find myself more companionate towards the prime minister, nothing but for the abuse of constitutional rights that characterizes the activity of his opponents. When we criticize parliamentary malpractices, we can’t help but find ourselves defending those who are being targeted by those incorrect activities.

The eagerness of the Popular Action Bloc to drive Sheikh Nasser away from his position, will only lead for the premier to receive more support. —Al-Qabas

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National Guards celebrates end of freshmen training course KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti National Guards celebrated the end of the third fire fighting training course organized by the fire and rescue unit in Al-Tahrir training camp.

Training course supervisor Capt Butti Jassem Al-Butti attended the ceremony.

Leader of logistics support Dr Abdulrahman Faraj Al-Maie called during the ceremony for the graduates to continue developing their knowledge to what is new in the field of security, safety and to benefit from other experiences. The training course comes within the strategic plans for the National Guards for 2010-2015. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) personnel carried out an emergency evacuation drill on Tuesday at Fanar Mall in Salmiya. Rescue teams from Salmiya and Hawally took three minutes to reach the location, with some 20 people being evacuated via fire exits and taken to gathering points.

The ‘fire’ was put out by the team in 15 minutes. —Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUNA chief visits Vienna office VIENNA: Kuwait News Agenc y Board Chairman and Director General Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Sabah visited KUNA’s office in Vienna.

Sheikh Mubarak was escorted by KUNA’s Head of International Relations Issam Al-Ruwaih, where they took a closer look over the functioning of the office as well as their coverage in the field.

Sheikh Mubarak also discussed ways to develop the office’s work to allow it to function and respond to the requirements of modern media. He was given a detailed explanation about the circumstances of the Office’s work, stressing his full commitment to support and encourage KUNA offices abroad to overcome all obstacles faced by the agency’s correspondents.

Sheikh Mubarak urged the correspondents to make extra efforts to raise the level of information services in the agency, including help-

VIENNA: Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Sabah visiting the KUNA office in Vienna. ing it to continue its role in transferring the news with credibility and neutrality, especially with the current developing situations in the Arab world, which requires adherence to the standards of professionalism and transparency making KUNA a reliable-credible source.

Furthermore, Sheikh Mubarak praised the historical relations between Kuwait and Austria, remembering the Austrian President’s visit to Kuwait in 2009.

He concluded his visit, stressing the role of Kuwaiti media in boosting relations with all countries. —KUNA

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Rare daytime NATO airstrikes hit Tripoli Page 8

SANAA: Yemeni anti-government protesters shout slogans as they march in Sanaa yesterday during a demonstration calling for an interim presidential council to prevent embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh from returning to power. — AFP

Syrian troops march on to ‘massacre’ site Authorities say gunmen killed 120 security personnel AMMAN: Syrian troops with tanks moved on Tuesday toward a town where the government has vowed to quell a revolt after accusing gunmen of killing scores of security men. Though accounts of days of bloodshed in Jisr Al-Shughour ranged from an official version of gunmen ambushing troops to residents’ reports of an army mutiny, the risk seemed to be growing of even greater violence than that which has left over 1,100 Syrians dead since popular unrest began three months ago.

France took a lead in proposing UN moves against President Bashar Al-Assad. But Russia, citing NATO’s inconclusive war on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, said it would veto intervention against Syria in the United Nations Security Council. Despite enthusiasm for pro-democracy movements that have unseated dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, few Western leaderslet alone their autocratic Arab partners-have shown a will to intervene in Syria, an Iranian ally whose volatile mix of ethnic and religious groups sits astride a web of regional conflicts.

Assad’s family and supporters from the minority Alawite sect have dominated Syria since his late father seized power 41 years ago. He has responded with promises of reform, and a security crackdown on protesters in towns across the country. The government has expelled independent journalists, making it hard to determine clearly what is happening in the country. On Tuesday, local residents said a column of armoured vehicles and troops, apparently heading for Jisr Al-Shughour, had reached the town of Ariha, 25 km (16 miles) to the east, a day after Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said army units would carry out their “national duty to restore security”. Western powers have raised the alarm. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament: “President Assad is losing legitimacy and should reform or step aside.” He said European governments were looking at further sanctions.

For France, Britain’s ally in the air war against Gaddafi and the former colonial power in Syria, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris was ready to ask the U.N. Security Council to condemn Syria: “The process of reform is dead and we think that Bashar

JISR AL-SHUGHOUR: This undated amateur video image posted on the Internet and shown on Syrian state television shows a Syrian army soldier lying on the ground apparently dead from gunshot wounds. — AP has lost his legitimacy to rule the country. “We’ll see what the Russians will do. If they veto, they will take their responsibility. Maybe if they see that there are 11 votes in favor of the resolution, they will change their mind. So there is a risk to take and we’re ready to take it.” The United States has also said Assad should reform or go. But in Brussels, Russia’s envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said: “The prospect of a U.N. Security Council resolution that’s along the same lines as Resolution 1973 on Libya will not be supported by my country ... The use of force, as Libya shows, does not provide answers.” Veto-holding Russia abstained on the Libya vote, allowing NATO to begin a bombing campaign that Western powers say saved civilians in rebel-held Benghazi from an onslaught by Gaddafi’s forces, but which has failed to dislodge the Libyan leader.

Just what has happened in Jisr AlShughour, which lies in the northeast close to the Turkish border, remains unclear. Official accounts say gunmen roaming the town and setting fire to government buildings had inflicted an extremely high death toll of over 120 on security men, said to have been killed in an ambush and attacks on a post office and a security post. State television aired footage of at least five dead soldiers and police who it said were victims of an “ambush by armed gangs”. Voices are heard in the video cursing the dead men and describing how they were killed.

“I stabbed them, I stabbed the three of them,” said a man who was not seen on camera. But residents and anti-government activists disputed the government account, saying the casualties followed a mutiny among forces sent to quell civilian protests.

Assad loyalists and mutineers then fought each other around the town, they said. Other footage posted on You Tube showed bodies of at least three soldiers and voices off camera say they were killed by fellow-security force members for refusing to fire on civilians.

Fears of a sharp increase in the level of violence are informed by memories of 1982, when the forces of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, crushed an armed Islamist revolt in the city of Hama, killing many thousands and razing the town’s old centre.

Jisr Al-Shughour residents said violence began when scores of civilians were killed in a crackdown on the hill town on a road between Syria’s second city Aleppo and the port of Latakia. They said security men had raided homes and made scores of arbitrary arrests after the largest pro-democracy protest yet held in the town, on Friday. At least five people were killed.

The killings enraged the townsfolk and prompted defections from security police and troops belonging, like most people in Jisr Al-Shugour, to Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, they said. Assad and many of his army and security commanders are Alawites.

Neighboring countries, including Israel and Turkey, worry about any chaos that could set off sectarian conflict and the emergence of violent, radical Islamists, as happened in nearby Iraq after the US invasion of 2003. —Reuters

Dubai looks to bag top spot as tea goes green Page 8

45 dead in battles in Qaeda-held Yemen town SANAA: At least 45 people were killed in an Al-Qaeda-held town in the latest violence in Yemen and protesters took to the streets of the capital yesterday to demand that President Ali Abdullah Saleh stay in exile. The army said it had killed 30 Islamist militants, including a local Al-Qaeda leader, in the southern town of Zinjibar. A local official said 15 soldiers had been killed in the battles for control of the town seized by militants about 10 days ago. The fighting was another symptom of instability in Yemen, whose leader left for Saudi Arabia at the weekend for surgery on wounds suffered in an attack on his palace in Sanaa.

Demonstrators, who have been trying to topple Saleh for months, called a “millionman march” in Sanaa to pile pressure on him to stay away and hand over power permanently. The volatile situation in Yemen, which lies on vital oil shipping lanes, alarms Western powers and neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia, who fear that chaos would enable the local al Qaeda franchise to operate more freely there. They see Saleh’s absence for medical treatment in Riyadh as an opportunity to ease the president out of office after nearly 33 years ruling the impoverished Arab nation. “We are calling for a peaceful and orderly transition,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday.

Yemen’s acting leader, Vice President AbuRabbu Mansour Hadi, said Saleh would return within days. Saudi officials say it is up to Saleh whether he returns home or not, but they and their Western allies may want to revive a Gulf-brokered transition deal under which the Yemeni leader would quit in return for immunity from prosecution. “Saleh’s departure is probably permanent,” said Robert Powell, Yemen analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “ The Saudis, as well as the US and European Union, are pushing hard for him to stay in Saudi Arabia, as they view the prospect of his return as a catastrophe. “Prior to his departure, the country was slipping inexorably into a civil war. However, his removal has suddenly opened a diplomatic window to restart the seemingly failed GCCmediated proposal. It seems Saudi Arabia and other interested parties are unwilling to allow Saleh to derail it this time.”

Saudi Arabia is worried by the activities of the Yemen-based Al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has staged daring if not very effective attacks on Saudi and US targets. Some of Saleh’s opponents have accused the president of deliberately letting AQAP militants take over Zinjibar to demonstrate the security risks if he lost power. —Reuters

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

Rare daytime NATO airstrikes hit Tripoli Gaddafi vows never to surrender TRIPOLI: Low-flying NATO military craft unleashed a ferocious series of nearly 30 daytime airstrikes on Tripoli, rattling the Libyan capital yesterday and sending plumes of smoke billowing above leader Muammar Gaddafi’s compound.

Reporters counted at least 27 strikes by mid-afternoon, and Libyan television said several structures in the Gaddafi compound were badly damaged. Daylight NATO raids have been rare and signal an intensification of the alliance bid to drive Gaddafi from power.

There were no immediate reports about casualties. NATO officials have warned for days that they were increasing the scope and intensity of their two-month campaign to oust Gaddafi after more than 40 years in power.

The alliance is assisting a four-month old rebel insurgency that has seized swaths of eastern Libya and pockets in the regime’s stronghold in the west.

Ambulances, sirens blaring, could be heard racing through the city during the daylong raids that shook the ground and sent thundering sound waves across the capital. Some of the strikes were believed to have targeted a military barracks near Gaddafi’s sprawling central Tripoli compound, said spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. Others hit the compound itself, Libyan television reported. Pro-Gaddafi loyal-

the day. Some landed in clusters of two and three booming explosions.

Ibarahim said the barracks likely hit yesterday have been repeated targets of NATO. Libyan television later reported other strikes hit the sprawling compound itself. It gave few details. The compound hosts homes, guest houses, large grassy knolls and a camp ground where pro-Gaddafi loyalists sleep. The television said nearby homes were also damaged, along with some infrastructure.

NATO strikes before dawn Monday targeted a building of the state-run Libyan television station, he said, reporting that 16 people were injured. The building was only partially destroyed and Libyan television is still broadcasting. As NATO intensifies air attacks on Tripoli, there appears to be renewed diplomat-

TRIPOLI: Smoke billows from the site of an explosion across an area in which strongman Muammar Gaddafi has his residence yesterday. —AFP ists in the capital fired weapons into the air but after the NATO strikes had ended.

“Instead of talking to us, they are bombing us. They are going mad. They are losing their heads,” said Ibrahim. The spokesman said the daylight strikes were particularly terrifying because families were separated during the day. Libyan school children are taking final exams at the end of the school year. “Tens of thousands of children are in Tripoli. You can imagine the shock and horror of the children.

You can imagine the horror of parents who can’t check on their children who are far away,” Ibrahim said. The strikes began at around 11:30 am local time and continued through

ic efforts to find a peaceful end to the civil war.

A UN envoy was expected in the country yesterday. Ibrahim would not say who envoy Abdul-Elah Al-Khatib would meet, or how long he would stay.

So far diplomacy has failed, given that rebels are demanding Gaddafi leave power.

The dictator steadfastly refuses to cede power.

Also yesterday, Tripoli dispatched Foreign Minister Abdul-Ati Al-Obeidi to Beijing for a three days of talks, an apparent effort to restore some of Libyan government influence and defuse a setback delivered by China last week. Chinese officials announced on Friday that they had reached out to the rebel forces

Dubai looks to bag top spot as tea goes green “Green tea was relatively unheard of 25 years ago in many Middle Eastern countries,” Dubai-based Kurush Bharucha, a Unilever director and world authority on tea, told AFP. “But this has changed rapidly in the past five years. Green tea has got a lot of good press... its health properties are well known,” added the professional tea taster, buyer and blender. “Women, in particular, are embracing green tea in a big way and really going for it as a refreshing, healthy beverage choice”.

“Black” and “green” in tea are what “red” and “white” are to wine. The health properties of green tea are also helping the financial health of the whole tea industry.

Nations that export orthodox black tea, such as Sri Lanka, have in recent years begun a major drive to produce more green tea as well as exotic varieties. Black tea goes through a process of fermentation, or oxidation, which changes the colour of the leaves from green to black. Green tea production stops the fermentation and retains the colour of the leaves.

But both varieties come from the same bush. Decades ago, tea drinkers would opt for either black or green, but now there is a huge choice, and even the humble tea bag is available in an exotic pyramid shape.

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan man makes milk Mainstream black and green have tea at a roadside kiosk in the capital been joined by, among others, organColombo. Exotic and organic teas are ic, herbal and infusions, single-origin, wooing tea drinkers and challenging tra- ready-to-drink and fruit-flavored varieties. ditional black tea’s dominance as never Jasmine, Earl Grey, camomile, before, tea industry experts say, as a tea lemon and mint are some of the more factory in Dubai bids to become the popular choices. The industry is also world’s largest. —AFP seeing a surge in “fruit” combinations as well as libido-boosting “white teas,” lush misty mountains of South Asia and known as silver tips and golden tips. Tea East Africa. Unilever’s Jebel Ali tea-blend- has been relatively unaffected by the ing and packing plant is in the middle of a sharp rise in global commodity prices seen major tea-consuming market-the oil-rich earlier this year, but climate change is Middle East-and records the changing beginning to affect tropical crops, including tea. Prices are more volatile than ever, habits of tea drinkers.

The plant, producing 1.1 million tea and the cost per cup has risen steadily for bags an hour every day all year round, the past five years, said Bharucha, who begins expanding later this year aiming to believes the industry must become more double its output within four years to sustainable and go “green”-in the environbecome the world’s biggest tea factory. mental sense. —AFP DUBAI: Exotic and organic teas are wooing tea drinkers and challenging traditional black tea’s dominance as never before, tea industry experts say, as a tea factory in Dubai bids to become the world’s largest.

The shift in global tea-drinking trends is felt at the Jebel Ali Free Zone, despite it being more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) from the nearest tea bushes in the

challenging Gaddafi, a significant effort to boost Chinese engagement in the Libya conflict and possibly jostle for a mediator role.

Beijing had stayed on the sidelines for the first few months since the revolt against Gaddafi’s government erupted in mid-February, pointedly avoiding joining international calls for Gaddafi to step down and saying that is for the Libyan people to decide. China also abstained in the UN Security Council vote authorizing the use of force against Libyan government loyalists and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels.

But last week, Beijing said the head of Libya’s rebel council met with China’s ambassador to Qatar in Doha, in what was the first known contact between the two sides. China’s decision to engage the rebels was a diplomatic setback for Gaddafi. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular briefing yesterday that talks with AlObeidi would focus on the need for a political solution to the Libyan crisis.

He also reiterated China’s appeals for an immediate cease-fire and called on all parties to “fully consider the mediation proposals put forward by the international community so as to defuse the tensions as soon as possible.” In Benghazi yesterday, a Russian delegation met with the rebel’s National Transitional Council which controls the city and Eastern Libya.

Special representative for Africa Mikhail Margelov said that Gaddafi had lost his legitimacy but that NATO airstrikes were not a solution to the stalemate in Libya. “As long as bloodshed continues the more difficult it will be to build a national reconciliation process after the civil war,” Margelov told reporters yesterday. Margevlov left Benghazi for Cairo, the Interfax news agency reported, addint that the rebels said they supported Russia’s mediation with Tripoli. The envoy did not, however, have plans to go to Tripoli. Russia, along with China, abstained in the U.N. Security Council vote authorizing the use of force against Libyan government loyalists and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels.

The revolt against Gaddafi followed popular uprisings that overturned the longtime rulers of Tunisia and Egypt. A coalition of rebels seized control of much of eastern Libya and set up an administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi. As the conflict escalated, it grew beyond an insurrection by a small group and has now evolved into a civil war. The rebels, led by the National Transitional Council, are well in control of nearly a third of the inhabitable part of Libya the country. —AP

RAMALLAH: Palestinians stand next to a graffiti reading “Price tag, Aley Ayin” written in Hebrew on a mosque in the West Bank village of AlMughayer yesterday. —AP

Palestinian mosque set ablaze in W Bank AL-MUGHAYYIR: Vandals tried to set fire to a mosque in the northern West Bank, causing damage to the inside, Palestinian security sources said yesterday, blaming Jewish settlers. The attackers lit tires inside the mosque in AlMughayyir village, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Ramallah, which damaged prayer mats inside the building. They also spray painted on the walls anti-Arab slogans and the words Alei Ayin, the name of a nearby settlement outpost which was demolished by Israeli police last week in an operation that sparked fierce clashes with the settlers.

An army spokeswoman confirmed the mosque had been torched, saying the military administration had received a complaint from residents and sent a team of forensic experts to search for clues. “The IDF (military) takes very seriously any attempts to vandalize sacred places,” a spokesman said. Hardline settlers have adopted what they call a “price tag” policy under which they attack Palestinians, their fields or villages, whenever the Israeli government takes measures to curb settlement construction.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority said “the Israeli authorities cannot continue to close their eyes (to such acts) because it gives impunity to settlers to continue their attacks.” It called on the international community to firmly denounce the “scandal” and

hold Israel accountable. Israeli officials condemned the desecration of the mosque. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was an “ignominy with provocative intent,” while Defense Minister Ehud Barak vowed the army would lay hands “on the perpetrators of this criminal act.”

Danny Dayan, the head of Yesha, the main settlers’ organization, condemned the “odious and idiotic” attack. Israel considers settlement outposts built in the West Bank without government approval to be illegal, and often sends security personnel to demolish them.

They usually consist of little more than a few trailers. The international community considers all settlements built in the occupied West Bank to be illegal. UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Robert Serry denounced the “provocative and threatening acts by Israeli extremists.”

He called on the Israeli authorities to “hold the perpetrators accountable and protect the human and property rights, including religious sites, of Palestinians.”

A number of mosques in the occupied West Bank have been targeted by similar acts of vandalism in the past two years, most recently in October 2010, when settlers tried to burn down a mosque in the south of the territory. Although Israeli political and religious leaders have repeatedly condemned the attacks, no one has ever been prosecuted. —AFP

Bahraini clerics accuse security forces of bias MANAMA: Senior Bahraini Shi’ite clerics accused police of violating religious freedoms by breaking up religious processions at the weekend, but police said they acted only against Shi’ites chanting anti-government slogans.

Police clashed with Shi’ite marchers on Sunday, less than a week after Bahrain, ruled by its Sunni Muslim minority, repealed an emergency law that quashed weeks of protests. The government said yesterday an unspecified number of arrests had been made. “The targeting of processions is a flagrant violation of freedom to practice religious rites,” said a statement by five senior Shi’ite clerics, including Sheikh Issa Qassim, the most revered cleric in the Gulf Arab state.

“There is no justification at all for acts that create more crisis, tension and anger ... The tight security policing must end and people’s rights must be respected.” Shi’ite villagers, some beating their chests and chanting religious verses as they marched through the streets, were marking the festival of Azza, which commemorates the death of one of the 12 Imams, or early Shi’ite religious leaders.

Residents and leading Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq said on Sunday that police used tear gas, rubber bullets, sound grenades and birdshot to break up the marches in several Shi’ite areas around the capital Manama. A police statement said yesterday that some people had been arrested for anti-government chants. “Some small groups broke the law on Sunday by exploiting the commemoration of the death of the Imam Hadi to stage marches and repeat political slogans that violate (the law),” the official news agency quoted spokesman Tareq bin Dayna as saying.

“A number of those provoking disturbances were arrested ... and have been transferred to public prosecution.” Bin Dayna praised some procession organizers for cooperating with police. Marchers in some of the parades shouted “Down, down with (King) Hamad” and “The people want the fall of the regime.” Some of the gatherings were purely religious, residents said.

The unrest came just two days after the tiny island kingdom’s Formula One Grand Prix was reinstated in a public relations coup for the royal family after over two months of martial law. Its original March date had been postponed due to protests at the time. In March, Bahrain called in troops from neighboring Sunni-led Gulf Arab countries to quash the democracy protests, accusing the protesters of having a sectarian agenda and help from Shi’ite power Iran. The opposition deny this. Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, says the Saudi and Emirati forces will remain in the country indefinitely to help face a perceived threat from Iran, across a short stretch of water from Bahrain. —Reuters

KHARTOUM: Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov (second left) poses with three Bulgarian helicopter crew on a UN contract, who were kidnapped in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region a day after they were released following 145 days in captivity. —AFP

Sudan’s Abyei ‘tense,’ 96,000 displaced: UN KHARTOUM: Nearly 100,000 people are estimated to have fled fighting in Sudan’s Abyei, the United Nations said yesterday, describing the situation in the flashpoint border district as “tense and unpredictable.” “As of 5 June, the estimated number of people to be disp l a ce d by t he A bye i v i ol e nce w a s 96,000 people,” the UN’s humanitarian office said. “The situation in Abyei over the weekend was reported to be tense and unpredictable with reports of sporadic gunfire, and tukuls (traditional thatched huts) being burnt,” it added.

Northern troops and tanks overran the contested border district on May 21 in response to a deadly attack two days earlier on an army convoy to the north of Abyei town, in which at least 22 northern troops were killed. Most of those who fled the violence are pro-southern Dinka Ngok farmers.

A r a b M i s s e r i y a n o m a d s, w h o migrate south each year in search of water and pasture for their cattle, are s a i d to h ave m ove d i n w i t h t h e Sudanese troops, in what some have described as “state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.” The UN said humanitarian workers remained worried about the already high levels of vulnerability among the communities hosting the

fugitives, mostly in Twic County in Warrap State and in the Agok border area. It said the exodus comes “in the middle of the ‘hunger period’ when tens of thousands of households are forced to reduce their consumption (between March and August) before the south’s first harvest.”

The south is already struggling to cope with a large influx of southerners from the north since October, which t h e o f f i ce o f t h e U N H i g h Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday had risen to more than 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 re t u r n e e s. M e a nw h i l e, i n A bye i i t s e l f t h e U N h a s s a i d i t i s “deeply concerned” about persistent insecurit y, despite pledges by the northern army to intervene to stop criminal acts.

The UNHCR reported accounts of looting, shooting, and other harassment by gunmen, from people in the area immediately south of Bantan bridge, which crosses the Bahr al-Arab (K iir) R iver and is one of the main routes linking Abyei to the south. The heavily-armed Misseriya, who have clashed repeatedly with their Ngok Dinka rivals this year, were a key proxy militia of K har toum’s army during Sudan’s 1983-2005 civil war. —AFP

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Exiled leader’s comeback troubles Madagascar talks African Union supports Ravalomanana’s return GABORONE: Madagascar’s feuding political leaders remained bitterly divided over exiled ex-president Marc Ravalomanana’s possible return as they sought a way out of the island’s two-year-old crisis yesterday. Ravalomanana, his rival Andry Rajoelina and the heads of nine other political parties met yesterday in Botswana for the last of two days of talks that regional mediators describe as the final chance to end the standoff sparked by Ravalomanana’s ouster in March 2009. The talks were convened by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), whose mediators have proposed a “road map” that would install a transitional government led by Rajoelina to steer the country to new elections.

But the rivals remain divided over whether those elections would include Ravalomanana, who has been in exile in South Africa since his ouster and whose return is not guaranteed in the road map.

CROMWELL: In this file photo, Shrek the 9-year-old merino sheep is photographed before he has his fleece shorn at the Golden Gate Lodge in New Zealand. —AP

NZ mourns death of Shrek the famously shaggy sheep WELLINGTON: New Zealanders were mourning the loss of the country’s most famous sheep yesterday, a shaggy national icon named Shrek who was renowned for avoiding being shorn for years. Shrek captured the public’s imagination in 2004 after he evaded the annual shearing roundups for seven years by hiding in caves on his farm on the South Island. When finally found, he was clad in an astonishing 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of wool. In a country where sheep outnumber people by nearly 10 to one, Shrek’s story of stubbornness and guile appealed to many.

After his capture, Shrek - a Merino breed of sheep prized for having some of the softest wool - was shorn on live TV in a broadcast that was picked up around the world and watched by millions. His story inspired three books. “He was quite an elderly statesman,” said owner John Perriam. “He taught us a lot.” Until becoming sick three weeks ago, Shrek toured the countr y, commanding $16,000 for appearances and getting the star treatment wherever he went. In one appearance, Shrek was shorn atop a large iceberg that was floating near the South Island coast.

Shrek was one of about 17,000 sheep on the the 27,000-acre (11,000-hectare) Bendigo farm in the small town of Tarras.

Perriam believes Shrek was able to survive the winters and avoid detection by moving about a series of sheltered caves and by munching on small native shrubs.

“It’s bizarre that we missed him seven years in a row,” Perriam said. “But from his point of view, it was the perfect environment.” After Shrek became a star, Perriam gave him his own barn and showroom.

Shrek even had a personal caregiver look after him when he became sick, before the sheep was euthanized Monday at age 17.

Perriam said that as well as laying claim to being New Zealand’s woolliest sheep, Shrek may also have been its oldest. Most sheep live for no more than six years before being slaughtered. Since Shrek’s death, tributes have been pouring in online, including on the Facebook page “R.I.P Shrek the Sheep.” One wrote “Swift Wings Old Boy ... There’s a yummy green paddock (pasture) waiting for you.”

Perriam is planning a funeral service and will ask a friend to scatter Shrek’s ashes atop Mt. Cook, New Zealand’s tallest mountain. —AP

Ravalomanana, who has refused to sign the plan along with two other former presidents at the talks, said he sees the document as a rough draft that he will only sign if amended. “They will prepare a new one,” he told AFP. “The road map is like a document to star t off, and then we’ll see.”He said he believes SADC, which has suspended Madagascar together with the African Union, supports his return to his country to run in new elections. “On my return to Madagascar, they said clearly: if we want to implement true democracy, let the people choose (who) they want to be their leader,” he said.

“My condition (to accept the road map) is simple: to implement true democracy in

Madagascar. This is my hope.”Ravalomanana faces life in prison in Madagascar after being sentenced in absentia for the 2009 killing of a group of demonstrators by his presidential guard during the violent street protests that led to his overthrow. Rajoelina’s camp is insisting the road map be implemented in its current form, and says Ravalomanana must stay in exile or face jail.

“The road map shouldn’t be amended anymore,” said Augustin Andriamananoro, special adviser to Rajoelina. “As far as Mr Marc Ravalomanana, what is the most important thing for a human being? It’s to have freedom,” he told AFP. “I think it’s in his interest to leave the situation as it is to preserve that

Slovenia’s prez calls for reshuffle JUBLJANA: Slovenia needs a government reshuffle or early elections after citizens rejected a crucial pension reform in a weekend referendum, President Danilo Turk said yesterday. “We should not underestimate this political crisis, the fact is that the credibility of this government has been seriously damaged,” Turk told a news conference. “We face two fundamental options: a thorough government reshuffle... or early elections,” he added.

Slovenians overwhelmingly rejected raising the retirement age to 65 (from 63) in a referendum Sunday that dealt a heavy blow to the deeply unpopular government and raised questions about its public finances.

Prime Minister Borut Pahor however ruled out his resignation. “Nobody and no option should be excluded,” Turk urged yesterday in a clear reference to Pahor.

“The government coalition should seriously think and should not jump to easy conclusions and try to solve the situation through cosmetic changes,” he added. “Although early elections would not be ideal, we should also consider such an option,” Turk said. “If it were in my power, I would be considering very seriously dissolving parliament,” he added.

Ahead of the referendum, the government and central bank had urged Slovenians to back the pension reform, arguing its rejection would worsen the country’s public finances and put it on par with Greece, Ireland or Portugal. But Turk dismissed these warnings. “Slovenia’s position is not so bad... and there is no reason for it to worsen in that way,” he said. The current political crisis, which blocked reforms, could be solved if the political parties worked together over the country’s national interests, he added.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s yesterday kept unchanged its outlook for Slovenia at negative. “The current negative outlook on Slovenia’s ratings reflects the possibility of a downgrade should Slovenia’s general government debt burden fail to stabilize because of government failure to comply with its budgetary targets,” S&P said in its report. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also warned that Slovenia needed to carry on with reforms to be able to cope with its ageing population.

“Slovenia’s public finances will not be able to bear the weight of its ageing population unless the pension system is reformed,” state news agency STA quoted from an OECD statement. It also called for Slovenia’s government to resume efforts for a fresh pension reform that would be even more radical than the one rejected on Sunday. —AFP

UK security revamp aims to uproot Islamist threat

MALMO: Lightning strikes the 190 m (623 ft)-high Turning Torso building yesterday. As the unseasonably hot weather was replaced by cooler winds, heavy rain and thunderstorms struck Sweden’s South-west coast. —AFP

Lack of justice may lead to Kyrgyzstan bloodshed ALMATY: Ethnic bias and corruption meant those responsible for killings in last year’s rioting in Kyrgyzstan were not brought to justice and such lawlessness could spark more violence, Amnesty International said. Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim Central Asian nation of 5.3 million, hosts both U.S. and Russian military air bases and lies on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan. Radical Islam, stoked by widespread pover ty, has fuelled instability.

Violence last June saw ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks battle each other in and around the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad. More than 400 people died in the clashes, which started on June 10, 2010 and lasted for four days. “The failure to bring to justice those behind the violence could provide fertile soil for the seeds of future turmoil and future human rights violations,” said Nicola

Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Program Director for Amnesty International.

“Ethnic bias and corruption are behind the per vading impunity in Kyrgyzstan,” Duckworth said. “The rule of law must be upheld in order to rebuild the trust between the ethnic groups and prevent future bloodshed.”

London-based Amnesty’s report, compiled for the first anniversary of the bloodshed, said that “in the aftermath of the violence Kyrgyz security forces used excessive force in their search operations and tor tured or ill-treated detainees”. Uzbeks made up 75 percent of the casualties and sustained 90 percent of proper ty losses, Amnesty International said. But official figures show that, of the 271 people detained after the June violence, 230 were ethnic Uzbeks and only 29 Kyrgyz. —Reuters

freedom. It ’s still not possible for the Madagascan people to think about his return.”

The talks are being led by SADC’s current chairman, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, together with Zambian President Rupiah Banda, SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao and ex-Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, the lead mediator.

The panel has been holding individual meetings with each of the political parties, with Rajoelina the last to air his views yesterday morning. The meetings were expected to go into a plenary session yesterday afternoon half a day behind schedule-with all 11 parties gathered together for talks. —AFP

LONDON: Muslim groups which refuse to tackle militancy will have their funding cut in an overhaul of counter-terrorism policy, the government is due to announce yesterday. More money will be spent on identifying threats in prisons, universities and the health service under a revision of the 63 million pound Prevent program. The review of the scheme, launched by the Labor government in 2007 to stop the growth of homegrown terrorism, was ordered after it was deemed to have failed to produce any discernible security benefits.

Home Secretary Theresa May will announce the policy changes to parliament later. She has already said that up to 20 organizations funded under the program over the last three years could have their funding withdrawn. The government wants to stop state funding from reaching “organizations that hold extremist views or support terrorist-related activity of any kind”, according to extracts of the review seen by the Times newspaper.

Scrutiny of spending has been so lax that it is “possible that Prevent funding has reached extremist groups of which we are not yet aware”, the paper quoted the review as saying. In February, Prime Minister David Cameron called for greater scrutiny of state funding for Muslim groups. He said groups considered for funding should be judged on whether they believed in democracy, universal human rights and equality of all before the law, as well as whether they encouraged integration or separation.

As part of the revamp the government will stop funding what it says are fruitless anti-radicalism projects overseas after admitting millions of pounds have been squandered. In future, overseas funding “must wherever possible have a demonstrable impact on UK domestic security”, the Times reported the review as saying. Other strands of the review include giving more funding to work with militants in prisons and with released terrorist prisoners, to stop radicalization in universities. The government is also expected to expand the Prevent program to include health workers who may be able to help identify those vulnerable to radicalization. —Reuters

NEW YORK: In this photo, participants in a soccer tournament run from an airborne inflatable “bounce house” after high winds sent it flying, scattering spectators and injuring 13 people, one critically. —AP

Call for safety checks, IAEA role to boost nuclear safety PARIS: Thirty-three countries agreed yesterday that stringent inspections, better cooperation and a stronger role for the UN should spearhead nuclear safety improvements following the Fukushima disaster. Ministers and senior officials from advanced economies and developing giants acknowledged that Fukushima was a stern lesson in nuclear risk prevention and crisis management.”We cannot continue to think the way we did before Fukushima,” said France’s ecology minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who chaired the meeting. “What we have learned from this disaster, and what we must remember, is that one accident at a nuclear power plant is enough to create grave and irreversible consequences for man and the environment.

“It is essential to improve cooperation on nuclear safety in the civil sector, on the international level.” A statement outlined several proposals in a roster that will be put to a wider meeting this month. Nuclear facilities should carry out “stress tests” based on early data from the Fukushima disaster, and follow this with regular checks to ensure safety standards were met. In addition, “it appears necessar y to reinforce the global role and missions of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” especially its mechanisms for reviewing national safety frameworks, the statement said.

The UN’s IAEA, at the G8 summit in Deauville last month, has already been asked to review its safety norms for power plants, tak ing into account earthquake risks and the impact from climate change.As for nuclear crisis management, the meeting “reflected” on such options as emergency intervention teams and ways of pooling help, the statement said. It called for harmonisation of procedures in the event of a nuclear crisis, for instance in determining the threshold above which iodine tablets should be distributed to civilians at risk from radioactivity.

Kosciusko-Morizet will present these policymakers’ proposals to nuclear regulatory watchdogs on Wednesday. The conclusions will then be put to a meet-

ing in Vienna of the IAEA from June 2024, a stepping stone towards new international guidelines and procedures for nuclear safety. The disaster occurred when a tsunami, unleashed by a 9.0magnitude earthquake, smashed into the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, destroying backup systems designed to keep its reactors cool.

Jacques Repussard, director-general of France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), said he told the Paris meeting that safety watchdogs had to think the unthinkable.” What happened in Japan had been considered completely unlikely, so it was not taken into account in the (design and safety) evaluation,” he told a press conference.

“The Fukushima accident shows that we can no longer live with that uncertainty.” Earlier yesterday, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said 770,000 terabecquerels of radiation escaped into the atmosphere in the first week of the Fukushima accident, more than double its earlier estimate of 370,000 terabecquerels. The Paris meeting included representatives from the G8 economies as well as Brazil and India and from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). Participants included Germany and Switzerland, which have decided to phase out their nuclear plants, and France and Britain, which have stood by the atom. Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard told journalists she hoped that it would become mandatory for foreign experts to vet nuclear installations and for their reports to be made public.

Kosciusko-Morizet said the meeting did not debate “whether to quit nuclear or get involved in nuclear.” “I think if you asked all the people around the table, everyone would have expressed the greatest respect for the choices of other nations in this respect,” she said. “On the other hand, there was an unchallengeable agreement among all the participants in saying that nuclear safety takes first priority, regardless of the options.” —AFP

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Pawlenty set to blast Obama ‘class warfare’ WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty was due to unveil an ambitious plan yesterday to ignite the US economy while accusing President Barack Obama of championing “class warfare.” In excerpts of a speech he is to give in Chicago later in the day, Pawlenty said he would slash taxes for businesses and individuals, cut government spending and eliminate burdensome regulations. The former Minnesota governor is viewed by political insiders as a potential front-runner in the Republican race

to challenge Obama in 2012 despite his underdog status in the polls. The economy, job growth and the federal deficit are expected to be the prime domestic issues of next year’s presidential campaign. Obama is particularly vulnerable on economic growth. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows public disapproval of his performance on the economy at a new high of 59 percent. “Let’s start with a big positive goal,” Pawlenty was to say in the speech. “Let’s grow the economy by 5 percent instead of the anemic 2 percent

envisioned currently.”

He blamed Obama for weighing Americans down with “big government and heavy-handed regulations.” “Regrettably, President Obama is a champion practitioner of class warfare. Elected with a call for unity and hope, he has spent three years dividing our nation, fanning the flames of class envy and resentment to deflect attention from his own failures and the economic hardship they have visited on America,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty, 50, a popular two-term governor

from a Democratic-leaning swing state, attracted national attention by balancing the Minnesota budget without raising taxes. On Tuesday, he pledged to tackle America’s economic and fiscal woes by cutting the business tax rate by more than half and setting individuals rates at 10 percent for married couples earning up to $100,000 and 25 percent for higher wage earners.

Congress should grant the president emergency authority to freeze spending and withhold up to 5 percent of spending until

the budget is balanced, Pawlenty said. He called for a “Google test” for identifying spending cuts, saying that if a person can conduct a Google search and find and buy goods or service from a private company, then the government does not need to be involved in that sector. He mentioned the US Postal Service, Amtrak, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as such government services.

Pawlenty also called for elimination of “all federal regulations” that Congress does not vote specifically to retain. — Reuters

US congressman Weiner admits online affairs Tearful politician refuses to resign

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel greet guests during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House yesterday. — AP

Germany’s Merkel, Obama open three-day US summit WASHINGTON: German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Washington yesterday for a three-day summit with US President Barack Obama amid lingering differences over the dour world economy and Mideast policy. Obama and Merkel kicked off the visit late Monday away from the confines of the White House, with a dinner in the upscale Georgetown section of Washington. “They spoke for two hours,” a source with the German delegation told AFP. “It was a nice conversation, in a relaxed atmosphere,” held in the popular “1789,” a cozy corner restaurant featuring American haute cuisine. Among their talking points were the crises in North Afica and the Middle East, the euro crisis, the world economy and German and American affairs, according to officials from the German delegation.

Merkel, who will be feted during her stay at a lavish White House banquet, has been joined during her American visit by her reclusive chemist husband Joachim Sauer and several cabinet members. But German media noted that behind the pomp would be lingering strain over Berlin’s decision in March to abstain in the UN Security Council vote authorizing military action to protect civilians in Libya. Germany, which has a non-permanent seat on the council, was the only European Union or NATO member to withhold its support.

Obama told Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel that he would now like to see Germany do more to help the international effort in Libya. “I look forward to discussing with the chancellor how we can enhance our work together to more effectively address the changes underway in the region, including in Libya,” he said, in an interview published Monday.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said shortly after his arrival in Washington late Monday that the amicable start to the visit “shows that USGerman relations are extraordinary.” But he noted that lingering tensions between Berlin and Washington over some issues, notably Germany’s decision not to join military action against Libya,

in which Washington, Britain and France have played leading roles. “Of course, even closest friends sometimes disagree on some things,” Westerwelle said.

But he said Germany would “firmly” stick to its guns on the issue that has led to strained relations with its partners on both sides of the Atlantic. “You must not confuse our position on Libya with neutrality-we want a political solution,” the German diplomat said. “We are clearly against a dictator who has started a war against his own people, we want Libya to get a fair chance by (Muammar) Gaddafi leaving.”

“We want to deliver humanitarian help,” he added, and said Germany was “ready to help with the political process.”

Also on the agenda for Merkel and Obama is a discussion about the role of developing countries in the International Monetary Fund and whether it is a given that an American is always head of the World Bank and a European at the IMF. Germany strongly supports French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde for the IMF post vacated last month by Dominique Strauss-Kahn after the Frenchman was arrested and charged with sexual assault in New York. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said she “personally” welcomed Lagarde’s candidacy for the IMF leadership, although she noted the United States had not taken an official position.

Mexican central banker Agustin Carstens has also thrown his hat in the ring, saying that becoming the next IMF chief would be a major victory for the entire developing world. Obama was also to award Merkel the Presidential Medal of Freedom during her stay. The honor was conferred in February to 15 prominent figures, but Merkel was unable to attend. The medal, the highest US honor that can be bestowed on a civilian, is given to people who have made significant contributions “to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” — AFP

Senior US economic adviser quits WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, is returning to his teaching job after just a year in the job, the White House announced Monday, as the government continues to try to right the recessionplagued economy. Goolsbee, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) will be returning to his tenured job as economics professor at the University of Chicago in time for the academic year that begins in September, the White House said in a statement.

Goolsbee has been on the job for less than a year; He took the top economic adviser position in September 2010, replacing Christina Romer, who also left to return to the academia. His departure comes as Obama gears up for his 2012 reelection campaign, with the economy set to be the main issue on the minds of voters. The council is a three-member panel that provides advice based on economic research and analysis to the president on domestic and international issues.

Goolsbee, 41, has been with Obama since he served as an advi-

sor in the president’s 2008 election campaign, and earlier served as economic adviser during his 2004 senate campaign.

Before taking the job ad CEA chairman, Goolsbee had been the chief economist on the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which Obama set up to provide outside and independent advice as he navigates the economic recovery.

He has also been one of the three CEA members. Over the past years Goolsbee “has helped steer our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and although there is still much work ahead, his insights and counsel have helped lead us toward an economy that is growing and creating millions of jobs,” Obama said in the statement.

The US president praised Goolsbee as “one of America’s great economic thinkers” and “a close friend and one of my most trusted advisers.” In the statement, Goolsbee praised Obama’s judgment and courage “in confronting the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes.” — AFP

NEW YORK: US Representative Anthony Weiner on Monday tearfully admitted having a number of inappropriate relationships with women over the Internet, saying he was deeply ashamed but would not resign.

Weiner, a New York Democrat and leading liberal voice in the US House of Representatives who was expected to run for mayor of New York City in 2013, admitted to inappropriate Internet and telephone conversations with six women but said none of them developed into a physical relationship.

“I’m deeply regretting what I have done and I’m not resigning,” Weiner, who had been seen as a rising star among Democrats, told a news conference while wiping away tears as he apologized for his actions and for lying in the cover-up. “I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle,” he said of an image sent over Twitter of a man in his underpants, which sparked the scandal more than a week ago.

“Once I realized I had posted it to Twitter, I panicked. I took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued to stick to that story, which was a hugely regrettable mistake,” he said. “The picture was of me, and I sent it.” Calling his actions “very dumb” and “destructive,” he stressed he did not have sex with any of the women. Weiner is married to Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The couple was married in a ceremony officiated by former President Bill Clinton.

“I love my wife very much and we have no intention of splitting up over this,” he said, adding she was disappointed by his actions.

Last week, Weiner denied tweeting a photo of a man’s bulging boxer briefs to a 21-year-old female student in Washington state, insisting his account had been hacked. Weiner said his affairs were conducted over several years on Twitter, Facebook, email and by phone with

NEW YORK: A teary US Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY, addresses a news conference, June 6, 2011. — AP women he met online, primarily on Facebook.

Among other things, he said he sent the women explicit pictures of himself. “Certainly he can forget about mayor,” said Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs, at Baruch College in New York, adding that while Weiner might weather the storm, he will likely face a tough challenge if he seeks re-election in 2012.

“It proves the rule that nothing is too stupid for American politicians,” Muzzio said. “You think you’ve seen everything but in a sense, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” It was not immediately clear if Congress would or could take any action against Weiner, who said he broke no law and mostly used his home computer and never used his congressional mobile device in any of his inappropriate actions.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said, “I am calling for an Ethics Committee investigation to determine whether any offi-

cial resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred.”

Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the House Republican campaign committee, said, “It’s time for Democratic leadership to explain why Congressman Weiner’s actions never aroused any suspicion, and why they rushed to his defense.” Earlier this year, two other members of Congress, both Republicans, stepped down amid scandal. John Ensign resigned from the US Senate amid an ethics committee probe into his extramarital affair with a campaign aide. And US Representative Chris Lee resigned after he posted a shirtless and flirty photo of himself online.

On Monday, more pictures of Weiner, this time of him from the waist up sitting at his desk naked, surfaced online. On Monday he characterized his relationships with the women as “a frivolous thing” and admitted that the affairs were conducted both before and since he was married. Weiner’s denials and subsequent admission was evocative of then President Bill Clinton who in 1998 admitted having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky after vigorous denials.

Unlike Clinton, who was accused of being evasive even after admitting his dalliance, Weiner took many questions from the press on Monday, answering them plainly as he choked back his emotions, pausing to sip water on several occasions. Unusual revelations by politicians in the New York metro area are nothing new. Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned after frequenting prostitutes and former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, who was married, tearfully resigned after it was revealed he had a homosexual affair with an aide. Still Weiner being undone by his own actions while using social media tools such as Twitter which he was successfully using to bolster his personal political brand is certainly a modern twist. — Reuters

Wildfire forces evacuation of Arizona town SPRINGERVILLE: Stiff winds whipped up a gigantic blaze in the mountains of eastern Arizona, forcing the evacuation of a third resort town and casting a smoky haze over states as far away as Iowa. Winds of about 30 mph (50 kph), with gusts above 60 mph (100 kph), blew heavy smoke from the fire in the picturesque town of Greer, where most of the 200 fulltime residents had already fled. Everyone still there and in nearby area known as Sunrise were ordered to leave Monday afternoon.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Allan Johnson, owner of the 101-yearold Molly Butler Lodge in Greer, the oldest in the state, said of the fire barreling down on the resort town. He was pessimistic about the chances of saving the lodge and the hundreds of vacation homes in the area. “We’re numb our entire family and our friends are just numb,” he said.

Late Monday, a huge pall of black smoke loomed over the twin towns of Eager and Springer ville, home to about 7,000 people, and sheriff ’s officials told residents there to prepare to leave. The winds and expected lightning are making matters worse in an area dotted with cabins and campgrounds that have long provided a cool

LUNA: Robert Joseph, 64, rides his ATV as smoke plumes from the Wallow fire fill the sky. — AP summer getaway from the oppressive heat of the nearby desert.

The fire was estimated at about 360 square miles (932 square kilometers), officials said Monday night. Officials believe an abandoned campfire may have sparked the blaze more than a week ago. Several hundred people turned out for a community meeting Monday night at which fire officials urged residents to be ready to evacuate if the fire con-

tinues to grow. They vowed to give residents of Eager and Springerville as much notice as possible of an evacuation.

So far, the flames have destroyed five buildings and scorched nearly 230,000 acres (93,000 hectares) of ponderosa pine forest. No serious injuries have been reported. The blaze nearly doubled in size between Saturday and Monday. About 2,700 to 3,000 people are believed to have fled Alpine and

Nutrioso late last week and headed to larger towns for shelter, Gov. Jan Brewer said. Roughly 2,500 firefighters, including many from several western states and as far away as New York, are working to contain the wildfires, fire information officer Peter Frenzen said.

Arizona Gov Jan Brewer signed an emergency declaration Monday that will allow the use of $200,000 in emergency funds and authorizes the mobilization of the National Guard if it becomes necessary. A ridge of high pressure was carrying the haze to central Iowa, said Kyle Fredin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Denver.

The smoke was visible in New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. Fredin said the smoke wouldn’t be noticeable in the Midwest, where humidity already makes conditions hazy. He said it could, however, produce striking orange-pink sunrises and sunsets.

In eastern Colorado, the haze obscured the view of the mountains from downtown Denver and prompted some municipal health departments to issue air quality warnings. Heavy smoke had also blanketed Gallup, New Mexico. By Monday evening, smoke was filling the valley surrounding Albuquerque. — AP

What kind of leftist president for Peru?

LIMA: Peru’s presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori concedes her loss in the presidential runoff during a news conference at her campaign headquarters. — AP

LIMA: In his first, failed run to be Peru’s president, Ollanta Humala projected the image of a radical leftist in Hugo Chavez’s mold. This time, he called the Venezuelan leader’s socialist-oriented economic model flawed, and sought moderate allies and courted Washington. Yet many Peruvians wonder if this 48-year-old political novice, who like Chavez rose to the rank of army lieutenant colonel and has a failed coup on his resume, is really a market-friendly populist.

Many skeptics fear he will renege on his promises and spring revolutionary change on an unsuspecting nation.

That worry sent Peru’s main stock index plunging 12 percent Monday in a fit of jitters a day after Humala narrowly won a presidential runoff. Humala captured 51.5 percent of the vote to beat the daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori. Humala’s win marks the latest triumph of Latin America’s left, which has rebounded with vigor in the past decade,

led by Chavez’s 1998 victory in oil-rich but economically distressed Venezuela. Leftists now govern in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Brazil, and now Peru.

Yet it’s a varied club ideologically. Only some members, such as Chavez, have strained relations with the United States. Even Cuba, under Fidel Castro’s brother Raul, is experimenting with free-market reforms. “Latin America is able to go left when it wants to these days, but it is able to go back,” said Adam Isacson, an analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America think tank.

One example is Peru’s neighbor Chile, which is led by conservative Sebastian Pinera. He followed moderate leftist President Michelle Bachelet. Humala, too, is talking a moderate line.

He promises to make Peru “more just and less unequal,” with “an economy that serves as a motor for social inclusion.” — AP

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Japan to report nuclear ‘melt-throughs’ to UN TOKYO: Japan will for the first time report to the UN nuclear watchdog that fuel in its crippled Fukushima plant may have melted through the bottoms of three reactor core vessels, a news report said yesterday. The Yomiuri Shimbun daily report came a day after Japan more than doubled its estimate of the radiation released into the air from the plant in about the first week after it was hit by the March 11 seabed quake and tsunami. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) now says it believes 770,000 terabecquerels escaped into the atmosphere in the first six days-compared to its earlier estimate of 370,000 terabecquerels. Almost three months after the March 11 disaster, Japan is preparing a report to be submitted this month to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which sent its own multinational

fact-finding team to Japan recently.

Japan’s government plans to tell the IAEA that fuel is assumed to have melted down and through the reactor pressure vessels of units one, two and three and into their outer steel containment vessels, said the Yomiuri.

Tokyo will also pledge to thoroughly reform its nuclear safety systems, including by separating the watchdog NISA from the ministry of economy, trade and industry, which promotes nuclear power, the Yomiuri said. The news came as a 10-member exper t panel independent of the nuclear industry met for the first time to look into the causes of the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl, in Ukraine, a quarter-century ago. Panel leader Yotaro Hatamura, a Tokyo University professor emeritus on human error, said at

the meeting that “nuclear power has higher energy density and is dangerous. It was a mistake to consider it safe.”

NISA’s revised radiation figure released on Monday is likely to fuel criticism of the initially slow and vague flow of information from the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).

The new estimate is closer to that of Japan’s independent Nuclear Safety Commission which had initially estimated a release at 630,000 terabecquerels in the first month after the tsunami knocked out reactor cooling systems.

Prime Minister Naoto K an’s special adviser on the nuclear crisis, Goshi Hosono, said Monday that the latest findings were unlikely to affect the TEPCO roadmap to bring all reactors to stable “cold shutdown” between October and January. NISA also

said in its review that it believes much of the nuclear fuel inside the three reactors melted down faster than previously believed. The agency said melted fuel in unit one dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel and damaged it some five hours after the quake hit the plant at 2:46 pm on March 11, followed by a 14-metre (46 foot) tsunami.

The agency said the same happened in unit two at about 10:50 pm on March 14, and that number three suffered damage at 10:10 pm on March 14. Embattled TEPCO has said it believes the molten fuel is now being cooled by water at the bottom of the number one, two and three reactors, citing the relatively low outside temperatures of the containers. Months of hosing operations have left over 100,000 tons of highly radioactive water in buildings, basements

and ditches at the plant, and TEPCO is struggling to remove the runoff so it can resume crucial repair work. Contaminated water has spilled or been released several times into the Pacific Ocean, and environmental group Greenpeace has warned that it has found unsafe radiation levels in marine species as far as 50 kilometers offshore.

TEPCO has been testing decontamination equipment, some provided by US and French companies, to remove radioactive substances, oil and seasalt from the runoff water so it can be reused as a reactor coolant from about mid-June. With the advent of the summer rainy season in the region, they have also started to ship to the plant 370 truck-sized water tanks with a total capacity of more than 40,000 tons to store excess contaminated water. — AFP

US, Pakistan authorities dispute militant’s death Conflicting assessments reveal US-Pakistan strains

KABUL: US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates shakes hands with an Afghan soldier during a farewell ceremony for Gates yesterday. — AP

Coalition informant plays both sides of Afghan war FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHANK: The Afghan man with a grizzled beard puts his life at risk every time he chats with US Lt Col William Chlebowski. As an informant for the US-led coalition, the middle-aged man - whose name wasn’t disclosed for security reasons - talks to insurgents one day and snitches on them the next. He’s part of a network of Afghans across the country who tip coalition forces to the location of roadside bombs and weapons caches and share information about what militants are doing and planning. It’s a dangerous liaison for both sides. Coalition forces worry about the accuracy of the tips and fear being set up. Informants worry they’ll be outed and assassinated by the Taleban.

Chlebowski, commander of the 5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, is still a little skeptical of the informant he has met dozens of times in the seven months he’s been stationed at Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar province, south of Kabul. His military intelligence officer thinks the informant should be arrested for his ties to militants, but Chlebowski has decided to take his chances with the Afghan spy.

“The reason I give him the benefit of the doubt is because he has to play both sides, or he’d be dead by now,” Chlebowski said after meeting with the informant for about an hour one Monday in late May. The informant, who is not paid for his information, said he decided to help the coalition because Americans helped Afghans fight the Soviets in the 1980s. “During the Soviet time, it was their weapons, their support that helped us,” he said through an interpreter. “It was because of them that we were capable of standing in the face of the Russians. And now that they’re here to fight against terrorism, we are standing in support of them.” “I do it for my country, for my pride, for my family,” he said.

The US-led coalition would not disclose any information about how many Afghan informants work for the coalition, saying it could jeopardize operations or intelligence gathering. However, Colette Murphy, a coalition spokeswoman, said that most forward operating bases will use local residents to gain insight into their communities. A senior Western intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Afghans - including innocent civilians - have been murdered because they were suspected informants for the coalition. But he said he did not know of any Afghan informants killed because their identities were revealed through WikiLeaks, which has released thousands of secret government documents, including some 77,000 classified Pentagon documents on the war.

WikiLeaks has been criticized for not redacting the names of Afghan and Iraqi informants and other information that could put people’s lives at risk. “Their mortality rate is quite high,” said Robert Riegle, a former senior intelligence officer who worked in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“It was the same thing in Iraq. We were losing informants all the time.” Some informants are selfless patriots, but others are opportunists looking for something in return for their cooperation, said Riegle, who now runs Mission Concepts Inc., a private intelligence firm. He said he was very suspicious of people who walked up and offered information and

did not actively recruit local informants in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“In my experience, half of the information you get from them is untruthful horribly reliable,” he said. Chlebowski said that in recent months, his informant persuaded a suspected insurgent to give himself up, making it unnecessary to conduct a night raid on the suspect’s home. He tried to convince two other suspected insurgents to turn themselves in. They refused but left the province, creating more stability in the informant’s village, the colonel said.

On this visit, which a reporter from The Associated Press sat in on, the colonel pushed him for information about an insurgent terrorizing citizens in another village in northern Logar. “Who’s that snake head in Zarghonshah that you were going to tell me about?”

Chlebowski asked. “If you tell me who it is, maybe I can cut the head off the snake.” The informant shook his head.

“He’s a very bad individual,” he said, sitting on a sofa in the colonel’s office.

“People are scared of him.” He said the man indiscriminately kills Afghan citizens who dare to speak out against him.

“If he will come fight me, I’ll kill him for you,” Chlebowski said. “He hides like a little girl when we come into town.”

Matching the colonel’s bravado, the informant insisted he was not scared of the killer and would try to find someone in Zarghonshah to rat him out.

Chlebowski was dubious about his chances. “The problem is they don’t have anyone there who has courage. They’re all cowards,” Chlebowski said. “They’re scared. They won’t stand up.” The informant proposed a solution. He could use a few coalition development projects planned for his own village to convince people in Zarghonshah that there was good reason to align themselves with the coalition and Afghan government.

Chlebowski wasn’t convinced that would work either. He said he had decided to put potential U.S. development projects in Zarghonshah on hold. Just days before, coalition forces there found a cache of explosive material drying in the sun. While the troops were waiting for a team to arrive and destroy the cache, insurgents tried to quickly bury a homemade bomb on a road the troops use to leave the area. They were run off before they could finish the job.

Before leaving the base on his latest visit, the informant privately told Chlebowski the location of a new remote-controlled roadside bomb planted on a route frequented by coalition troops and asked the colonel for a few favors. Could he have a satellite phone so he could call the coalition for help if he were attacked or ambushed when cell service in the area was down? “I don’t even have a satellite phone,” Chlebowski replied. One more thing: The informant said his friend, who hadn’t done anything wrong, has been repeatedly picked up by coalition forces. “It’s because he looks similar to someone we’re after, unfortunately,” the colonel said.

“My soldiers see a picture and confuse him with the person we’re after. I do apologize for that.” As the meeting ended, the informant reached in a plastic sack and pulled out gifts for the colonel, three brown blankets, a traditional Afghan hat decorated with white sequins and a long scarf. — AP

LONDON: US and Pakistani authorities disagree sharply over claims that senior AlQaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri was killed in a recent missile strike, officials from both countries said on Monday, suggesting sharp strains persist between authorities in Washington and Islamabad. Two days ago, intelligence officials in Pakistan claimed that Kashmiri, a figure in both Al-Qaeda and a Pakistan-based affiliate, was killed by a US drone-borne missile in northwestern Pakistan.

Pakistani officials subsequently issued a series of statements about Kashmiri’s death.

The nation’s interior minister told reporters on Monday: “I can confirm 100 percent that he is dead. I got this information this morning.” But US officials familiar with counterterrorism activities in the region said they still were unable to confirm Kashmiri’s death.

It was more likely than not, they said Monday evening, that the militant leader was still alive. “It wouldn’t be the first time that reports of his death have been wrong,” one US official told Reuters. “We’re simply unable at this time to confirm reports of Kashmiri’s demise. Our working assumption is that he’s still walking around.” A second US official said government experts believed it was more likely that Kashmiri was alive, though they are not ruling out the possibility he was killed in a drone strike.

The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity. The conflicting assessments from Washington and Islamabad indicate relations between the United States and Pakistan, which hit a low point after the US killing of Osama bin Laden last month in Pakistan, remain deeply troubled despite claims by both countries that they were improving.

Kashmiri was wrongly reported to have been killed in a September 2009 drone strike.

It is difficult to confirm the identities of people killed in drone strikes because they occur in remote areas not accessible to foreign journalists. A Pakistani television station quoted the group that Kashmiri headed, an Al-Qaeda affiliate called Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, confirm-

ISLAMABAD: Supporters of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement of Justice) fix candles next to portraits of slain journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad during a vigil. Shahzad, who investigated Al-Qaeda’s alleged infiltration of the navy and told a rights activist he’d been threatened by the country’s intelligence agencies, was found dead dozens of miles outside Islamabad last week. — AP ing his death. Britain’s Channel 4 News said the death had been confirmed by a senior HUJI commander and close aide of Kashmiri.

However, the SITE Institute, a US-based private group that monitors and translates messages posted on militant websites, on Monday cast doubt on an Internet photo said to be of Kashmiri’s dead body and an accompanying fax from HUJI confirming his death.

The US group said it actually appeared to be the body of another militant, Abu Dera Ismail Khan, who was killed in the militant attacks on Mumbai, India, in November 2008.

Diplomatic relations between the United States and Pakistan have suffered since last year, when the name of the CIA station chief

in Pakistan was leaked to local media and the American official, who was supposed to be operating undercover, had to leave the country. Relations worsened considerably after the arrest, and later release, of a CIA security contractor who had killed two Pakistani nationals in what the United States said was an armed robbery attempt. Then, US Navy SEALS killed bin Laden without giving advance notice to Pakistani authorities. Ilyas Kashmiri, said to be a former Pakistani military officer, was high on a list Washington gave Pakistan of militants it wanted captured or killed, a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity. The US State Department has labeled Kashmiri a “specially designated global terrorist.” — Reuters

UN chief Ban Ki-moon running for 2nd term

HARIDWAR: Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev addresses a gathering of followers at his ashram yesterday. — AP

Indian social activist to defy ban on anti-graft fast NEW DELHI: A veteran Indian social activist plans to defy a police ban and go on a hunger strike in the capital today to protest against corruption and the crackdown on a peaceful fast led by a popular yoga guru.

Plans by Anna Hazare to begin a hunger strike with his followers will further pressure the government to act on popular anger about mounting graft across all layers of Indian society.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi have come in for stinging criticism for sending hundreds of police using batons and tear gas early on Sunday to break up a hunger strike by Swami Ramdev and tens of thousands of his followers in central New Delhi. “India is a democratic country. Peacefully protesting and assembling without arms is legal,” Arvind Kejriwal, an associate of Hazare, told a news conference.

“If the government obstructs us then we will resist and give ourselves up for arrest. The government’s attitude is clearly that we have a right to indulge in corruption and if anyone protests then we will either crush them or impose section 144 and not allow them to assemble.” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said Hazare and his followers had been denied permission to hold the gathering, also known as section 144, because there was “apprehension of violence”. — Reuters

UNITED NATIONS: Ban Ki-moon formally asked members of the United Nations on Monday to support his candidacy for a second five-year term as UN secretarygeneral-a goal he looks almost certain to achieve. Ban, 66, a former South Korean foreign minister, already had assurances of support from the United States and other key members of the UN Security Council, diplomats said in March. Ban’s first term ends on Dec 31. He is unopposed for re -election so far. “As I approach the end of my term of office as the secretary-general of the United Nations, I am humbly submitting my name for the consideration of the members of the Security Council for a second term,” said Ban’s letter to Gabon’s UN ambassador, Nelson Messone, this month’s council president.

He sent a similar request for support to the 192-nation General Assembly. In the letter to Messone, Ban said he and the 15-nation council had “found common ground on critical global issues of peace and security-from Somalia to Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East and far beyond.” “I am proud of all we have done together, even as I am mindful of the formidable challenges ahead,” he wrote.

Speaking to reporters at UN headquarters, Ban cited his push to make climate change a top concern for governments as one of his major accomplishments since he took the helm of the world body in January 2007. On his watch, he said, the United Nations “responded quickly and effectively to a series of devastating humanitarian emergencies” in Myanmar, Haiti, Pakistan and elsewhere. Ban said his team also worked to keep attention on the world’s poorest people during the global economic crisis.

Officially, UN secretaries-general are elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security

Council. In reality, it is the five permanent veto-wielding council membersBritain, China, France, Russia and the United States-that decide who gets the job. In recent months, Ban has met leaders of all five of those countries and many more to confirm their support.

Ban’s formal re-election process should be over by the end of June, UN diplomats said. France backed a second term for Ban, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington welcomed Ban’s announcement but did not say whether it would vote for him. “The UN faces an array of daunting challenges and we have worked constructively with Secretary-General Ban on many of them,” he said. “We will have more to say in the coming days.” Western envoys say they have been pleased with Ban’s strong support for the “Arab Spring” movements. — Reuters

UNITED NATIONS: In this photo, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gestures while speaking during a news interview at the United Nations headquarters. — AP

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In Thai ‘red shirt villages’, defiance ahead of election and say they have suffered under Abhisit. But this reflects global trends, not national politics. While Thaksin presided over a period of relative economic stability, the world’s fortunes shifted under Abhisit, as the global financial crisis hit.

By Jason Szep and Ambika Ahuja Its brilliant green rice paddies, thatched-roof huts and overgrown jungle resemble most rural villages in northeast Thailand. But the red sign looming over a quiet dusty road in the community of Nong Hu Ling is something different. “Red Shirt Village for Democracy,” it reads, proclaiming its allegiance to the red-shirted, anti-government movement whose protests paralysed Bangkok last year and sparked a bloody military crackdown that ended with 91 people killed and hundreds of activists arrested. “After what happened in Bangkok, people were scared to wear red shirts,” said Kongchai Chaikang, chief of Nong Hu Ling, a village of 350 people in Udon Thani province, about 450 km northeast of Bangkok. “They feared they would be harassed by police or followed by plain-clothes officers. We want to give them courage by sticking together.”

The idea is catching on. Ahead of a July 3 national election, dozens of rural communities are branding themselves a “Red Shirt Village” in this poor northeast plateau, home to a third of the country’s population, giving the movement grass-roots muscle to mobilise behind its parliamentary allies, the opposition Puea Thai Party.

The mostly low-income red shirts broadly support ousted populist premier Thaksin Shinawatra in a five-year political conflict against the traditional Bangkok elite that includes top generals, royal advisers, middle-class bureaucrats, business leaders and old-money families who back the ruling Democrat Party. At least 320 villages in the provinces of Udon Thani and Khon Kaen have designated themselves “Red Shirt Villages” through regional offices of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), as the movement is formally known.

The phenomenon underlines the government’s failure to pacify opponents ahead of an election many fear will deepen the divide between the urban and rural poor on one side and the elite on the other, a rift that drove Thailand close to full civil conflict last year. The villages and their defiance also highlight the failure of a year-long national reconciliation effort, heightening concerns that the losers of the election will not accept the results, a tangible risk in a country scarred by 18 coups since the 1930s and five years of sporadic unrest.

The polarisation comes at a delicate time with Thailand’s unifying figure for six decades, 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, hospitalised for nearly two years. The military and supporters of the establishment often invoke his name to rally the public against the red shirts, dragging the monarchy into the political melee. In the balance is Thailand’s well-crafted image as “The Land of Smiles”, a catchphrase that crumbled last year under a catalogue of horrific scenes: banks on fire, military snipers firing on demonstrators, mysterious black-clad gunmen rallying behind protesters, grenades exploding in the business district, and free-wheeling Bangkok reduced to 9 pm curfews.

The red shirts have launched about 50 red villages in the past two weeks alone, said Anond Sangnan, the UDD’s secretary-general in Udon Thani. Last week, they inaugurated five at once in Udon Thani’s Sam Prao subdistrict. “After we lost last year, we decided we would fight this battle differently,” he said at the launch of one village, whose Buddhist leader marked the occasion in a ceremony in which red string was tied to the wrist of each villager in a symbolic show of strength. “Originally we wanted the villages to show how much support the movement had, a symbol that empowers people. But it is also a mobilising tool,” he said.

In total, 129 red-shirt villages have been launched in Udon Thani and another 100 in neighbouring Khon Kaen, he said. The bigger goal, he added, is to carve out entire red districts and provinces. Inside the villages, slogans on red T-shirts and posters rail against the “double standards” of Thai society, accusing the rich, the Bangkok establishment and top military brass of breaking laws with impunity - grievances that have simmered since a 2006 coup overthrew Thaksin, a billionaire tycoonturned-prime minister who is revered by the poor as the first politician to have addressed their needs.

Thaksin’s smiling image beams from red signs at the entrance to the red villages. From his villa in Dubai, where he lives in self-imposed exile, he has good reason to smile. His sister, Yingluck, a telegenic 43-year-old businesswoman with no political experience, has electrified supporters since her May 16 nomination to lead the opposition.

‘Attack Attack’ Reuters interviews with a dozen red-shirt leaders, activists and local businessmen suggest the movement has been energised by Yingluck’s popularity. Any perceived injustice to her at the polls could be enough to galvanise supporters and touch off a new wave of unrest.

Opposition to Yingluck is fierce among the royalist establishment who toppled her brother. Her supporters fear the courts or powerful behind-the-scenes figures will intervene to prevent her from forming a government if her party dominates.

“If Puea Thai wins and they don’t let us form a government, Yingluck should rest first. Brothers and sisters, you come out,” veteran red-shirt leader Nattawut Saikua told a recent rally of about 30,000 supporters in Udon Thani.

“Attack. Attack,” he added to waves of applause. “Let’s get this over with and finish the fight. Then we will bring Yingluck back to become prime minister.”

It is a message that resonates with Wan Suwanpong, a

A Thai Muslim woman places a hijab onto the head of Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of fugitive Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, during her election campaign at a mosque in Bangkok on June 03, 2011. — AFP 72-year-old lawyer and radio DJ, who says the election is black-shirted gunmen among the red shirts for the not about bread-and-butter issues but social justice. “This killings. “I am happy to talk to every side,” Yingluck said in is what I have been telling my listeners,” said Wan, whose an interview with Reuters that was nearly drowned out show reaches tens of thousands of listeners in five by cheers in an airport lobby packed with red shirts. provinces on one of several red stations in the northeast “Most importantly, this election is one that will bring true set up to rival government broadcasters. “If we win the democracy to Thailand so I would like to persuade everyelection, we need to be ready to go to Bangkok quickly. one to accept the result.”

That could depend on whether she goes ahead with We need to get food ready, transportation ready, and then we head to Bangkok, surround parliament and raise a general amnesty that would effectively pardon her pressure so the party that comes in first is allowed to set brother, clearing the way for his return and risking the re-awakening of anti-Thaksin protesters who stormed up a government.” he said.

Pressure is something Wan knows a thing or two parliament in 2008, occupied two airports and helped about. In October, authorities turned up at his previous to topple a pro-Thaksin government. When pressed on studio, cut the mast-wires and hauled off the equipment. this by Reuters, she was non-committal. “I cannot make Now he operates in a hole-in-the-wall studio with a rules for one person,” she said. “I have the interest of the bright red carpet on a farm. While he is a populist hero to public in mind first.”

Yingluck is well managed but not well known the poor, Thaksin has been branded a “terrorist” by the government, which accuses him of directing protests beyond her name. She is the youngest of nine children that descended into urban warfare last year. Even among in a family of ethnic Chinese silk merchants, graduated red shirts, he is divisive. He declares himself the embodi- from Chiang Mai University in the north and received a ment of democracy, but his record tells a different story. master’s degree in political science at Kentucky State Critics accuse him of abusing his electoral mandate to University. She rose swiftly through the ranks of family dismantle constitutional checks and balances while companies, first as managing director of Advanced Info cementing his own authoritarian rule during his two Service Pcl , a mobile phone provider formerly controlled by Thaksin before it was sold to investors, and administrations from 2001 to 2006.

A 2003 war on drugs burnished his image as a crime- then as president of SC Asset Corp , a property develbuster and won votes, but human rights groups were oper.

Her affable, relaxed manner and northern dialect appalled at 2,800 deaths in extra-judicial killings in the first three months of the campaign. Corruption scandals, connect with rural Thais, but she stumbles occasionally and alleged abuses of power steadily eroded his popular- on policy. From the stage at a rally in Udon Thani, she breezed through promises of Thaksin-style policies ity among Bangkok’s middle class.

That was compounded by royalist accusations before tripping over the price of rice. “What about rice?

Thaksin was undermining Thailand’s powerful monarchy Are we going to buy rice from farmers?” she said. The - charges he said were politically motivated. Simmering crowd, clearly apprised of her party’s policies, roared anger exploded in 2006 when his relatives sold off, tax back the answer. “Yes.” “Jasmine rice will be bought at free, their $1.9 billion stake in Shin Corp, his telecoms 15,000 baht ($495), right?” “No, no 20,000 ($660),” shouted the crowd. Yingluck didn’t skip a beat. “That’s empire, to a Singapore state company.

But in the northern heartlands, he remains a hero. His right, 20,000 baht,” she said. “See? There are real fans populist policies - from virtually free healthcare, to easy who are listening,” she added, to wild cheers.

In a subsequent Reuters interview, she elaborated consumer credit and a system of low-interest loans to the nation’s 70,000 villages - were unprecedented, winning on her economic priorities, saying she would not interhim enough support to become Thailand’s first elected fere in currency trading, vowing to cut the corporate leader to complete a full four-year term without being tax rate and to pursue big infrastructure projects in the unseated by a coup or pressured into stepping down. mould of her brother whose government built The policies proved so popular the current government is Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, the largest in Asia when it launched in 2006. Economists praised Abhisit’s extending them.

Rural, conservative Thais say they are willing to over- government for steering the country out of its first look his authoritarianism, actually welcoming his take- recession in 11 years in 2009 and generating economic charge, CEO-style leadership. His ouster reinforced his growth last year of 7.8 percent despite the civil unrest. image as a mould-breaking outsider who had challenged Thailand’s stock market was one of the world’s biggest the Bangkok elite and lost. Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008, gainers last year, climbing 41 percent.

But the Democrats have not won an election in 20 weeks before he was sentenced in absentia on corruption and conflict-of-interest charges, settling in Dubai years. Abhisit is desperate to change that, promising where he keeps in close touch with supporters through policies straight out of Thaksin’s populist playbook, Skype, Twitter and Facebook. A court last year seized $1.4 including a 25 percent increase in the minimum wage, billion of his assets, but he retains considerable wealth diesel and cooking gas subsidies, and free electricity for the poor. Two years ago he rolled out free healthafter investing in gold, coal and platinum mines in Africa. care to replace a Thaksin plan in which patients paid just 30 baht ($1) a visit. The campaign platforms of Thaksin’s Clone Thaksin describes his sister Yingluck as his “clone” and both sides are trying to deal with Thailand’s widening she does little to dispel that image, hewing to soundbites wealth gap. The richest 20 percent of Thais earn 55 perechoing her brother’s populism. She has rebuffed cent of the country’s wealth. That figure is close to repeated requests by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for a Tunisia’s, the epicentre of the “Arab spring” uprisings, debate despite polls showing undecided voters want to where the top fifth take in 47 percent of the wealth, see her take on the British-born 46-year-old economist, according to World Bank statistics.

Thailand’s northeast is its poorest and most popuan eloquent speaker whose debating skills were honed in the halls of England’s Eton College and Oxford University. lous region. Its sons are Bangkok’s taxi drivers and its Thronged by supporters at Udon Thani’s airport for her daughters dominate its racy go-go bars. Although first appearance in the northeast, she stuck to well-worn poverty in Thailand is down from 27 percent of the population in 1990 to about 8 percent now, many Thais talking points, vowing to heal the political divide.

That will be difficult. Many red shirts want Abhisit’s in the red-shirt strongholds of the north and northeast government to be held to account for civilian deaths dur- live just above the poverty line. Per capita GDP in Isaan ing last year’s military crackdown. Abhisit denies troops is about $1,410 a year - an eighth of Bangkok’s. Many were responsible for any casualties and blames shadowy red shirts believe Thaksin would have changed that

Kuwait net assets swell to KD...

Continued from Page 1 to increase. Kuwait has posted a budget surplus in each of the past 12 years despite projecting a deficit.

Meanwhile, a number of MPs called on Kuwait security agencies to investigate allegations by a former editor of a local daily who claimed the paper is being exploited by Syrian businessmen linked to the regime in Damascus. The editor, Youssef Al-Nassar, said he has filed a complaint with the attorney general claiming that Al-Balad newsletter, which was due to be published as a newspaper, was being used for money laundering and illegal profiting.

Nassar said that the paper and other businesses are owned by Sheikh Sabah Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, son of the first deputy prime minister and minister

of defense. He claimed that he later found that two Syrian businessmen linked to the Syrian regime were the major stakeholders in the businesses and complained that he feared it could be exploited for other illegal activities.

MP Dhaifallah Buramia, a well-known critic of the defense minister, called on the minister to step down, otherwise the government should dismiss him over the involvement of his son in the businesses.

Buramia said more lawsuits will be filed against the Syrian businessmen in the near future regarding illegal activities. MP Faisal Al-Mislem called on security agencies to promptly investigate the issue to prevent any misuse of local media for spying or other illicit activities. Several other MPs also called on the authorities to pay great attention to the issue in order to avoid a repetition of the Iranian spy ring.

Will the Results be Respected?

Most polls show Yingluck performing well and suggest the opposition will grab the largest number of the 500 available seats. But Korbsak Sabhavasu, the Democrats’ campaign manager, and many independent analysts doubt either party will secure a majority, opening the way for both sides to wheel and deal with smaller parties to form a coalition. That’s where Korbsak reckons Abhisit has an edge. If Yingluck fails to stitch together a coalition, the opportunity passes to Abhisit.

What will happen if Yingluck loses? The answer may lie in the wooden homes in the red shirt community of Nong Hu Ling. Kongchai, the village chief, says he will accept a fair Democrat win, but he is sceptical. “We stand for democracy so we have to accept what the majority want even if it’s not what we want,” he said.

“But people will mobilise if the election is robbed.”

Kongchai and his wife, Kamsan, choose their words carefully - and for good reason. They have been under close surveillance since joining Bangkok’s protests last year. With their two-year-old daughter, they lived under tents with tens of thousands of protesters occupying Bangkok’s main shopping district, showing solidarity with red-shirt leaders.

Three days before a military crackdown, Kongchai returned home. His 18-year-old son, Kittipong, had joined a protest at the governor’s office. When the military launched its assault on the red shirts in Bangkok on May 19, riots erupted in Udon Thani, and the governor’s office went up in flames. Kittipong, a quiet boy who worked the eucalyptus fields, was arrested a month later, one of 51 detained in connection with the destruction of the municipal hall. Just over half were released, but Kittipong was held without bail. His case went to court in May. He shares a packed cell with seven other prisoners, some accused of murder and drug trafficking.

Kongchai blames himself. He pulled Kittipong out of school when he was 15 to join an early wave of proThaksin rallies. In December, local red-shirt leaders brought supplies to his village, including blankets and food. A nearby village had branded itself a ‘Red Shirt Village’ with a red sign. He liked the idea. The movement was in disarray. This was a way to change that, he said. “In the beginning, it was 20-30 people talking halfjokingly about this idea over lunch. We weren’t going to do anything organised. But then the idea caught on.”

The authorities are watching closely. “Officers will drive by, peek in, take pictures, ask our neighbours whether I have gone to Bangkok. They follow me,” Kongchai said. Since April, they’ve had new visitors: soldiers from a military unit responsible for national security issues that went after Communists in the 1970s.

The soldiers, who are well known in northeast, have offered to renovate the poorest house in Kongchai village - a hut with a thatched roof. “They always ask for something in exchange,” said his wife, Kamsan.

On some visits, the soldiers bring framed portraits of the king as gifts to hang in homes. The villagers find it hard to refuse. In Kongchai’s home, the king’s picture hangs on a wall next to a poster of Buddhist monks.

But a far bigger, life-sized picture of Thaksin is draped along another wall. Soldiers have asked leaders in the red villages to take down the signs and red flags but the villages have not complied, said an official with Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command in Udon Thani. The signs breached laws forbidding placement of public billboards without official permission, but the villages would not be forced to take them down, he said.

View Of The Monarchy As Thailand’s polarisation deepens, views of the monarchy have changed, part of a broader cultural shift in the largely Buddhist country where the king has been revered as almost divine for three generations.

Most still express steadfast loyalty to the king, the world’s longest-serving monarch, but his throne is seen as entwined with the political forces that removed Thaksin, especially ultra-nationalists who wear the king’s colour of yellow at protests.

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has yet to command the same popular support as his father, raising questions over whether royal succession will go smoothly. Long-simmering business, political and military rivalries are rising to the surface, forcing Thailand to choose sides between supporters of the Bangkok establishment or those seeking to upend the status quo. For others such as Kongchai, being “red” is a much more simple equation, boiling down to sheer double standards and economics.

His son is one of at least 417 people detained in connection with violating an emergency decree during last year’s red-shirt protests, according to Human Rights Watch. But none of the thousands of yellow-shirted supporters of the establishment - who occupied two airports in Bangkok in 2008 for eight days in a campaign to bring down a Thaksin-proxy government have been arrested, and Thailand’s army did nothing to prevent the airport siege. “I am still a red shirt because there is still no justice for my son,” he said. - Reuters

Down with urbanization!

Continued from Page 1 The other big issue is that governments in every country ignore the neglect of agriculture, which is the main source of food - be it in Japan, the Middle East or Europe.

When I travel across many countries, by now I have learnt some capitals very well. Within a two-year span, sometimes just by driving from the airport to downtown, many areas that used to be green and full of trees have turned into construction areas. Governments all over the world do not realize that we are destroying agricultural land and build malls, offices and residential areas. I know we need to build because the population expands but there should be a balance between urbanization and agriculture.

I’d like to focus on the Middle East - Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon etc. There, many beautiful green

spaces have turned into concrete jungle. People are tempted to sell their agricultural arable land that could be used for planting to people who will turn it into high-rise building or commercial centres. They sell to cash on as real estate is booming. On the other hand, the nice gardens turn into a number of concrete floors in a building.

Freedom to who you sell your land should be there but where are the governments to put rules and regulations for certain areas and spaces in every country that should be planted.

I think this is a major issue which governments should act on and take seriously. This is an emergency. I always hear our foreign ministers have emergency meetings over one issue or another. I have never heard our ministers meet for agriculture reasons.

2020 is round the corner. It is already 2011. If

more land is sold and turned into buildings, fewer people will be fed. Of course, this will cause a serious food shortage. In fact, around the world, agriculture is not taken care of.

Governments are not allocating enough for agriculture. They invest in the defence industry and expeditions to Mars but not in our farms and countryside and food resources. Billions are spent on nuclear technology and missile destroyers. The world should wake up and spare at least 10 percent of its budgets for crops and farming as they are the spine of life.

Now we are seeing revolutions removing governments. I assume that in 10 years, these young generations will be crying for food and will march to preserve the green land and ask for more farms. The slogans ‘Go’ and ‘Down with the Governments’ will Zbecome ‘Down with urbanization’.

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Policy dismay may cut tech funds for Obama

By Kim Dixon ric Schmidt, then chief executive of Google, made history in 2008 when he trumpeted Barack Obama on national television, helping the Democratic presidential candidate win a 5-to-1 donation edge from US technology companies. Much of the industry’s wealth has typically flowed toward Democrats, in part owing to its liberal locales and younger executives. Obama widened the gap in a big way in 2008, far surpassing the 2-to-1 advantage Democrat John Kerry enjoyed four years earlier from the tech industry.

But in the run-up to the 2012 election, Obama’s record on topics from the Internet to tax policy may cut into the campaign cash he can count on from big tech-connected donors. “I think his numbers will go down and whoever the Republican candidate is will go up,” said Ralph Hellmann, a lobbyist for the Information Technology Industry Council’s political action committee.

Industry political action committees give primarily to congressional races, leaving executives and other company officials to donate directly to presidential candidates. Still, they give advice to the executives on giving. The political action committee of the ITIC trade group, which represents Apple Inc, Google Inc and others, gave 65 percent of its donations to Democrats during 2008. In 2008, donations from executives, workers and others linked to the communications sector gave Obama $25 million, compared with the $5 million that went to Republican rival John McCain, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political spending.

An election cycle earlier, Kerry got about $10 million from the sector to Republican George W Bush’s $6 million. Schmidt said recently he would play a role in Obama’s re-election campaign, although it is unclear if it will include the kind of testimonial he provided in an infomercial in 2008.

Polls show Obama holding a strong lead over any Republican opponent, although the stuttering economic recovery is not likely to make his task easy. In April, Obama sought to revive the youthful enthusiasm that was a hallmark of his 2008 campaign, visiting the headquarters of Facebook where he won gushing praise from the social networking giant’s young founder Mark Zuckerberg. Obama backers met in Chicago in early June and are laying out a strategy to raise more than $750 million to reelect him, while some analysts see it all adding up to a record-breaking $1 billion campaign.

But Obama may be hurt by dismay among tech heavyweights about some not-quite-fulfilled promises. One industry official who endorsed Obama publicly in 2008 said there is frustration with “net neutrality” rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. “I think you’ll see a lot of people in the tech community who are disappointed in Obama,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak for attribution, noting the Internet rules leave big loopholes for phone providers like AT&T Inc. Some in the field trend more Republican. Phone companies like AT&T and Sprint Nextel tend to back Republicans, who are more likely to support industry mergers, for example. Cisco Systems Inc chief executive John Chambers and Sprint chief executive Dan Hesse both raised big money for McCain in 2008. But Cisco employees as a whole gave more money to Democrats in 2008, the Center for Responsive Politics says. Obama has beat back some big priorities for tech firms. Companies from Cisco to Microsoft Corp, whose founder Bill Gates backed Obama in 2008, have been pushing for a tax break to bring home profits held offshore. But Obama has been firm that he will not consider such a break outside of a broad revamp of the tax code, which is expected to take years. Many predicted that, while the gap may narrow, Obama will retain the historic Democratic edge in tech fundraising.

Ginny Terzano, who worked as a press official at Microsoft’s Washington office for a decade and has worked for Democrats, said there will be ebbs and flows in the backing for Obama among tech companies. “Some in the sector want to go through a litany of what has and hasn’t been done,” Terzano said. “But Obama’s policies have moved things forward in the right direction more so than not.” —Reuters

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

The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

US deaths a bid to torpedo t

By Prashant Rao n attack that killed five American soldiers Monday was the deadliest in an increasing spate of bids by insurgent groups to ensure Iraq and the US do not agree an extended US troop presence, experts say. The violence, which resulted in the bloodiest day for American forces in Iraq in more than two years, comes as attacks against Washington’s troops and unrest in general are on the rise, according to the US army and a private security firm. And while the 45,000-odd American soldiers now stationed in Iraq are required to withdraw by the end of the year, US officials have been pressing their counterpar ts in Baghdad to decide soon whether or not to keep a contingent of soldiers beyond 2011.

“The purpose of these attacks is to pressure the US administration, through the American public, so that they do not tolerate the loss of more American soldiers,” said Hamid Fadhel, a professor of politics at Baghdad University. “ This matter will generate twofold pressure on the US administration to pull out on time - it wants to respond to the American public and to fulfil the prom-

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ises they have made to Iraq.”

The five US personnel were killed on Monday in “central Iraq”, a brief US army statement said. Captain Dan Churchill, a US military spokesman, declined to give details on how or where the soldiers died. An Iraqi interior ministry official said that at least three rockets struck a base at dawn in east Baghdad where US soldiers were present, but could not specify if it was an American or Iraqi installation. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. “ There are many different groups behind attacks against Americans at this stage, and we cannot distinguish which is the main group,” a senior Iraqi counter-terror officer told AFP, on condition of anonymity. “But the aims of this attack is certainly to accelerate the US withdrawal.” Monday’s deaths were the most of American service personnel in a single day since May 11, 2009, and brought to 4,459 the number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003, according to an AFP tally based on data compiled by independent website www.icasualties.org.

Insurgent groups have been stepping up targeting of US forces over the past two months, par ticularly in

Baghdad and south Iraq, Major Ang Funaro, a US military spokeswoman in an e-mailed response to questi from AFP. She declined to give spe figures, but noted that the rate attacks was around 10 times lower t its peak in early 2007. John Drak Britain-based security analyst for priv security firm AKE Group, added that lence nationwide had been on the since the beginning of the year, f four to five attacks per day in Januar more than 10 per day last month.

According to Ali Al-Saffar, an I analyst with the Economist Intellige Unit in London, insurgents could increasing the pace of attacks to mak seem as though they were forcing troops out. “If the Americans do le and you attack them, then it kind makes it look like you’re kicking th out,” he said. “What the insurgents trying to do is to play to the feeling the Americans said they would le but weren’t really going to leave.”

The remaining 45,000 US forces primarily charged with training equipping their Iraqi counterpa although they still take part in jo counter-terror operations. Drake no that there were key benefits to

Saleh exit lessens risk of

By Alistair Lyon

emeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s departure to have his wounds treated in Saudi Arabia offers Yemen a precious chance to halt a slide into civil war and achieve a peaceful transition of power. Much could go wrong. Young protesters eager to add Saleh to the list of toppled Arab autocrats have greeted his exit with euphoria, but they fear a comeback by the wily leader, who was wounded along with other senior officials in an attack on his palace on Friday. Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, now Yemen’s acting leader, was quoted by the state news agency Saba on Monday as saying Saleh was recovering and would return within days.

The future of Yemen is uncertain. Lying next to Saudi Arabia and vital maritime oil routes, it hosts a virulent Al-Qaeda wing exploiting feeble state control in an impoverished nation riven by rivalries among tribal leaders, generals and politicians. “If Saleh remains out of the country and if his sons and nephews don’t begin instigating or taking provocative action, Yemen can avoid all-out war,” said Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen. “At the same time, we have come dangerously close in the last couple of weeks to what could easily be classified as a civil war, so it’s too early to say. It could go either way.”

The attitude of Saudi Arabia, which has traditionally played an equivocal role in Yemeni politics, could be decisive. “The Saudis will seize the opportunity ... to extend his medical recovery into a political rest,” said Yemen expert Khaled Fattah.

The risk of Yemen descending into Somalia-style anarchy was “a nightmare for Saudi national security”. The kingdom took Saleh in for urgent hospital care on what a Saudi official termed humanitarian grounds. “We don’t interfere in his decision (to stay or return),” the official said.

That may be Riyadh’s public stance, but the United States and its European allies will be quietly pressing the Saudis to

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ensure that Saleh’s absence from Yemen becomes permanent. The Saudi cabinet said on Monday that Gulf states would pursue effort to broker an agreed transfer of power. “I don’t think the Saudis or his people want him back,” said a Western diplomat. “He doesn’t have regional support. I’d be surprised if he came back and it’s too nice a let-out for him.”

Saleh, however, initially delayed travelling because he was seeking assurances

and economic collapse. A shaky truce calmed Sanaa after two weeks of figh between Saleh’s forces and a powe tribal federation in which more than people were killed and thousands fo to flee.

The president may have handed o to his faceless deputy, Abd-Ra Mansour Hadi, but some of his sons nephews remain in charge of w equipped military and security units. T

Armed Yemeni tribesmen loyal to dissident Yemeni tribal leader Sheikh Sa Al-Ahmar stand outside his damaged house in Sanaa yesterday follow days of battles between his fighters and government security forces. —AFP from Saudi King Abdullah that he would be able to return after treatment, a Yemeni government source said. Saudi Arabia is Yemen’s main aid donor and has also long funded Yemeni tribes to maximise its own influence, but it has struggled to manage the crisis in its neighbour, failing to get Saleh to sign a Gulf-brokered plan for him to relinquish power.

“I’m not sure Saudi Arabia is the infallible snake charmer that people on the outside believe it to be,” Johnsen said. After nearly 33 years in power, Saleh has left the Arab world’s poorest nation close to chaos

have the firepower to challenge Gen Mohsen Ali, a Saleh kinsman who def ed to the opposition with his troops, o take on the Hashed tribesmen who h fought Saleh loyalists. Others who demand a say include a disparate ax Islamist and leftist parties, as well as youthful protesters who want a “n Yemen” - a civil state ruled by democr not the corrupt patronage politics stamped Saleh’s rule.

“There is no single institution or i vidual in Yemen who is capable of ex ing control,” said Fattah. “Yemen’s for

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

ANALYSIS

Inside Germany’s E. coli hunt

By Hans-Edzard Busemann and Brian Rohan ven if Germany finds the source of the E. coli outbreak that has infected thousands of people since early May, it may be too late for Erika.

The 66-year-old chain smokes in the grounds of a Hamburg hospital as she waits to learn if an apparently healthy salad has given her a rare and deadly disease.

“I had prepared a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes,” recalls Erika, whose husband died late last year and who asked not to be identified by her full name because the symptoms she has developed are embarrassing. “I peeled the cucumbers but I did not wash them first.”

She fell ill on May 19 with bloody diarrhoea. A few days later she heard about the outbreak on the radio and went to see a specialist. By then she was suffering from stomach cramps too.

Erika was sent to the university clinic for tests which showed she is one of 2,300 people infected by the outbreak of E.coli. Soon she will learn if she is one of more than 660 to develop haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) where the bacteria attacks the kidneys and nervous system, gives its victims fits and often forces them onto dialysis.

The deadliest outbreak of its type on record has so far killed 23 people - 22 in Germany and one in Sweden. Striking suddenly in the middle of a hot and sunny May, the crisis has doctors struggling to explain the outbreak and public health authorities in one of Europe’s most famously organised countries stumped as to how to manage it and how to stop it happening again. As the outbreak enters its second month, plenty of questions remain, not least of which is this: If the Germans can’t manage an outbreak, who can? “They can’t rule out HUS yet,” Erika says, drawing deeply on yet another cigarette.

“It makes you think.”

Blame the Sprouts The first case in Germany’s E. coli outbreak was reported on May 1. Soon an average of nine cases a day were being reported, rising to 122 cases on May 23 alone. At first, German officials blamed cucumbers - specifically, Spanish cucumbers. Within days, though, investigators had ruled out the vegetable and started looking closer to home for the cause. Chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to explain Germany’s actions to an irate Spanish prime minister and Spanish farmers later said they might sue for damages.

Germany’s main centre for disease control, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), deployed 10 teams

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to outbreak hotspots such as restaurants and canteens and to ask patients exactly what they ate for each course. To double check the data, customers of these establishments who did not fall ill have been interviewed too.

Officials have also sifted through the contents of rubbish bins and fridges and sent some of their contents for analysis.

Specialists working around the clock at RKI headquarters in Berlin cross-check the data looking for what the institute’s president, Reinhard Burger, called a “common denominator”. So far that’s pointed the finger of blame at raw vegetables. After a few

nobody here is sick, and we all eat the food ourselves.”

But public health officials believed they were on the right track. On June 5, Lower Saxony state agriculture minister Gert Lindemann said a “really hot lead” pointed to sprout varieties (alfalfa, mung bean, radish and arugula) from a supplier that sold the Kartoffelkeller its vegetables.

Johanna Tramma at the Fruchthof, a family firm in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, said her sprouts had come from a farm in Lower Saxony which also supplied Hamburg’s wholesale market. Perhaps the E.coli detectives should have focused in on

Radish sprouts are pictured on Monday in Berlin. —AFP days the search took scientists to the Kartoffelkeller (Potato Cellar) restaurant in Luebeck, north east of Hamburg. The former medieval hospital offers traditional fare based on meat and potatoes. On May 13 it had served dinner to a large group of female tax officials.

Then 17 people who had eaten there had fallen sick - and one of the tax officers had died.

Owner Joachim Berger said health inspectors turned the place upside down without finding anything and when Reuters visited at lunchtime on June 4, the Kartoffelkeller was open for business and full. None of his staff had become ill, Berger said.

“Everything has been re-disinfected and inspected, but it’s clear

sprouts more quickly. An outbreak in Japan in 1996, which killed 11 people, was traced back to a similar source, and a US outbreak in 1997 came from alfalfa sprouts.

Officials rushed to the Gaertnerhof farm in the town of Bienenbuettel in Lower Saxony, but the order to shut it down came almost too late. It was sealed off at 5:10 pm on Sunday 20 minutes after a truckload of sprouts left for Hamburg for sale.

It was recalled and returned to the farm while health officials told people to avoid bean sprouts as well as the other raw salad vegetables already on the danger list.

The farm’s owner Klaus

Verbeck told a local paper before retreating behind a fence patrolled by security guards that the Gaertnerhof had been growing organic sprouts for 25 years and was given a clean bill of health for E. coli as recently as the second half of May. Neighbour Sibylle Lange, 45, described the owners as “very serious, hardworking people who were very early producers of organic products”.

In many ways the bean sprout theory sounds reassuringly likely.

Scientists say the steamy temperatures at which sprouts are cultivated are an ideal incubation ground for any microbe. But even the sprouts may not be the culprits. Evidence so far is circumstantial and the first tests on suspect sprouts from Lower Saxony have been inconclusive, said the regional agriculture ministry. The exact source may never be pinned down. “We can’t rule out that the source of the outbreak cannot be retraced anymore.

That’s not unusual in these circumstances,” said Burger at the RKI, adding that the original source of the infection may no longer exist.

“It’s something different every day,” complained Uwe Ruge, accompanying an E. coli patient at the Regio clinic in Pinneberg, a Hamburg suburb. “First it was the Spanish cucumbers. Now it’s this, then it’s that and suddenly it’s bean sprouts. I have no clue what it’ll be tomorrow. I can’t just avoid all food.”

Toxins and Antibiotics Of the 660 or so people to have developed HUS, more than 100 have been diagnosed at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf in the northern port city of Hamburg.

Confirmed HUS cases are treated in an intensive care unit kept closed to the media. At the entry to the unit and to the separate blood-testing unit for outpatients are antiseptic handwash dispensers and signs telling visitors to use them.

The patient profile is confusing: more women than men have developed the worst symptoms, and the women tend to be young - in the 25-35 age bracket. Most of them also tend to be slim. That may be because young women tend to eat more raw vegetables and salad as a “healthy” option, health experts say. The German E. coli strain was first sequenced by a laboratory at the Beijing Genomics Institute, the world’s largest DNA sequencing centre.

On June 3 it identified the E. coli as a new and “highly infectious and toxic” strain.

There is no a clear indication yet if the rate of infection has peaked. “We hope that it fades and in the past few days, when

we look at the numbers, we see it’s getting better,” Joerg Debatin, the medical director and CEO at Hamburg-Eppendor f, told Reuters. “But we honestly said the same thing a week ago.” E. coli turns into HUS when bacterial or “Shiga” toxins enter the bloodstream, according to kidney specialist Professor Rolf Stahl, head of nephrology at the Hamburg university clinic. That can lead to potential kidney and neurological damage and even trigger epilepsy.

Like other E. coli patients, Erika was given medicine to repair her intestinal flora and told to disinfect her household and drink plenty of liquids. But she was not given antibiotics as doctors say this strain of the bug can be resistant and there is growing concern among scientists about the spread of resistance to antibiotics among many common bacteria.

Not so Healthy Even when it is contained, the outbreak will have done lasting damage to at least some conceptions about ‘healthy’ organic food in a part of the world where enthusiasm for natural produce is high. “Genfood? Nein, Danke!” reads a bumper sticker with a smiley tomato logo on a truck at the Gaertnerhof farm in Bienenbuettel. Adapting the smiley sun-logo of the German antinuclear lobby to oppose genetically modified food - “Genfood” proponents of natural foods have seen the organic market in Germany grow to Ä5.8 billion by 2009 (the latest figures available from the national organic trade body). Just under a fifth of that comes from German farms.

Yet some studies suggest organic food is risky, especially when eaten raw, because farmers shun chemicals and rely on fertilizers such as manure or slurry.

The Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli behind this outbreak are known to lurk in cattle guts. The fact that health food and organic produce has been the focus of suspicion from the outset underlines the vulnerability of the food chain to accidents of biology, even in the one of the world’s wealthiest nations.

Germany already had a food scare earlier this year over dioxins in eggs and poultry.

Among the anxious patients wearing post blood-test bandaids waiting for their results at the Hamburg clinic, Erika said she had planned to go on holiday in Majorca this month with her bowling gang, to help her get over the death of her husband. She has cancelled the trip for fear of making her friends sick. “All I can do is wait,” she said tearfully. “The germs are inside me.” —Reuters

Papandreou mulls reshuffle to press reform

By Dina Kyriakidou reek Prime Minister George Papandreou seems set to reshuffle his cabinet as part of an effort to overcome resistance, not least in his own party, to austerity measures key to a new EU rescue deal but fiercely rejected on the streets.

Thousands gather every night before parliament to vent their anger at Greek politicians they blame for the country’s debt crisis, a volatile grassroots protest that past experience shows could turn quickly to violence. As EU leaders and bankers hammer out a new rescue deal, Papandreou must secure national consensus for even tougher times ahead.

Those close to him say he will avoid elections at all costs, fully aware they would plunge the country into even deeper political stalemate and economic chaos.

Papandreou is under pressure in his PASOK party to fire some of the ministers he appointed from outside parliament, including Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, attacked by his party for repeatedly promising no new measures would be necessary. “The average MP is asking: ‘What were you telling us?’,” Yannis Stournaras, head of the IOBE think-tank said. “It was wrong to declare every time that those were the last measures.”

The biggest problem stems from within his own party. In a letter to Papandreou last week, 16 socialist backbenchers demanded that any new deal Greece makes should be discussed and approved by the party. “There appears to be an internal struggle within his team,” Stournaras said. “He needs to find people who can take the measures without fear of the political cost and who can explain the truth to the public.”

Some analysts say Papaconstantinou may survive the reshuffle, partly because no one else wants his poisoned chalice. No one has emerged as an alternative and the prospect of injecting the cabinet with technocrats was waning, as the political handling of a restive public was now key. But a change of faces is,

G

anyway, unlikely to be decisive. Papandreou’s campaign for support must be a broad one. “A reshuffle would only buy the government a short period of time, like a couple of months,” said David Lea, political analyst at the Londonbased Control Risks. “I think we are on the road to early elections now. There is a 70 percent chance, probably by the end of the year.”

Since coming to power in a landslide victory in 2009, the government has seen its popularity drop to slightly below the main opposition conservative New Democracy. Polls are

measures. “The most important risk remains in Greek domestic politics, as politicians will need to show sufficient commitment to pass the (mid-term plan) through parliament, probably by 20-22 June, and show sufficient political support behind any terms in a new lending agreement,” Nomura said in a recent report.

Aware the mid-term plan, which extends to 2015, will need to be backed by whoever wins the next election, EU policymakers have insisted on wider political consensus before

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou talks to the press following a working meeting on June 3, 2011 at the State Ministry building in Luxembourg. —AFP due by 2013 but Greek governments traditionally call them early. Opinion polls show that if elections were held today, they would lead to a hung parliament. Most analysts agree the rivalries of politics are now the biggest hurdle to exiting a debt crisis that has shaken the euro. Funding for 2012 and 2013, when Greece expects to be shut out of bond markets, will only come in exchange for tough

Greece gets more funds, on top of last year’s 110 billion euro bailout. Papandreou tried and failed to get the conservatives on board, after refusing to give in to their demands for drastic tax cuts to boost the economy. It remains to be seen if the EU will waive this condition.

Parliamentary debate proceeds to the echo of gathering protests on the streets. “It is like a boiling kettle ready to explode,” said a

government official on condition of anonymity. On Sunday night protesters were again demanding retribution for decades of scandal and economic mismanagement, waving banners reading “The tower of corruption” and “Greece is not for sale, our politicians are“. But in this, Papandreou’s hands are tied by a constitution tailor-made by MPs to make them virtually immune to prosecution - only parliament can prosecute politicians and any criminal charges expire after two parliamentary terms.

The 16 dissident PASOK deputies made clear they would not necessarily vote against the mid-term plan, which includes Ä6.4 billion of additional tax hikes and spending cuts; but the move was a warning the bill may not enjoy the usual smooth sailing through parliament Papandreou expects from his comfortable majority. “Papandreou is in a very sticky situation,” Lea said. “Words can’t do it, people have heard it all before.”

But even if he manages to slay the manyheaded Greek political monster and push the mid-term plan through, implementation is not expected to be easy. Socialist-controlled labour unions are dead-set against planned privatisations, a key element of the deal to keep Greece afloat. Unions at energy utility PPC have threatened blackouts if the government insists on selling a 17 percent stake in the state-controlled company. Even if he quells such reactions, analysts say a 50 billion euro privatisation target by 2015 is optimistic, given the quagmire of Greek real estate and a restrictive business environment that may keep away investors.

Fiscal targets may also prove hard to meet, with the added tax burden on households further deepening recession without boosting revenues to the desired level, analysts say. “The EU appears to have decided to rescue us but we are backtracking,” Stournaras said. “The government must explain to everyone, to the people that there is no other way - we must push ahead with the measures.” —Reuters

focus

Momentum builds for Japan coalition, but road rocky

By Linda Seig omentum is building for a “grand coalition” to break Japan’s policy deadlock as it struggles with the aftermath of a triple disaster in March, but any new government would probably still have trouble tackling the nation’s structural ills, including a huge debt. Executives of outgoing Prime M inister Naoto K an’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ ) and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are eyeing a temporary tie-up that, by controlling more than 80 percent of the seats in parliament, could implement policies in a divided legislature, where the opposition controls the upper house and can block bills.

First, however, Kan - in office for one year and already Japan’s fifth leader since 2006 will have to make good on a pledge to step down, possibly as early as this month, and pick a new leader who would likely head any new coalition. Kan, struggling to contain a nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s crippled Fukushima plant and rebuild Japan’s northeast from the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami, last week survived a noconfidence vote by saying he would step down. He did not say when, though, and rivals in his own party as well as the opposition want him to go soon, clearing the way for a coalition.

Participants in any new tie-up will need to agree on its time limit as well as what it aims to achieve. The LDP and DPJ are already squabbling over key points. “The LDP wants to be involved in reconstruction (of the tsunami-devastated nor theast), and the Democrats need to deal with the divided parliament. Both understand the merits of a coalition,” said independent political analyst Atsuo Ito. “But they have to decide the time frame and the theme. I think they would aim to achieve reconstruction and stabilise the Fukushima reactors. But whether they can manage to raise the consumption tax is a delicate matter.”

A government panel has proposed raising the 5 percent sales tax and overhauling the social security system to cope with the bulging costs of social security for Japan’s fast-ageing population. Many in the LDP agree a sales tax hike is needed, but other lawmakers in both parties fear it will hurt the economy and scare off voters. “Forming a coalition could be surprisingly difficult. The momentum is there so they probably will, but it would only be meaningful if they can deal with social security and tax reform,” said Nihon University professor Tomoaki Iwai. “It will be easiest to deal with reconstruction.

But if that’s all, it may be meaningless and over within this year.”

To be sure, getting traction on rebuilding from the deadly quake, which left more than 23,000 dead or presumed dead and laid waste to a broad swathe of the northeast, would be a plus. Economists’ forecasts that the world ’s third largest economy will rebound from its second recession in three years are largely based on expectations that in the next few months the government will release $100 billion or more in reconstruction spending. But there is as yet no agreement on how to pay for Japan’s biggest reconstruction project since the years after World War Two, although a mix of higher taxes and debt looks inevitable.

A coalition would prevent a government shutdown by clearing the way to enact a law enabling the issuance of bonds to fund about 40 percent of a $1 trillion budget for the year from April. The LDP, however, insists the Democrats drop costly promises to spend more on households first - a challenge for a new DPJ leader since many DPJ lawmakers oppose such a move. Who will lead the new coalition also remains unclear, although Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretar y Yoshito Sengoku, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and former Foreign M inister S eiji M aehara are among the names floated. Picking a new leader once Kan steps down will not be easy, given deep rifts in the party.

“They need to decide who will be the next leader, who will be in the coalition, how long it will last and whether it will decide in advance when the next general election will be,” said Tetsuro Kato, a professor at Waseda University. No election for parliament’s powerful lower house need be held until 2013, but the LDP is pushing for a promise to hold an earlier poll. Some sceptics think, given the hurdles, efforts to build a coalition will fail. “I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Chuo University professor Steven Reed. “It ’s a game of chicken. Each is saying ‘We want a grand coalition and here are the conditions’.

What they really want is not to cooperate but to have the other guy get blamed.” —Reuters

M

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Years

sp orts Garcia poised for Getafe

Lokomotiv sack coach

MADRID: Levante coach Luis Garcia has rescinded his contract, the La Liga club said yesterday, as local media reported that he was poised to sign for Getafe.

“Luis Garcia, coach of Levante the past three seasons, has today cut his ties with our club,” Valencia-based Levante said in a statement on their website (www.levanteud.com).

Garcia won plaudits for preserving tiny Levante’s top-flight status last season, their first back in the primera division, while Madrid-based Getafe let coach Michel go after narrowly avoiding relegation.

“We are going to offer him (Garcia) a threeyear project,” Getafe President Angel Torres was quoted as saying in Spanish media yesterday. “He is a young coach with character and he has done things very well at Levante.” Local media reported Garcia had agreed to pay Levante one million euros ($1.5 million) to end his contract.—Reuters

MOSCOW: Lokomotiv Moscow h ave f i re d co a c h Yu r i Krasnozhan despite the railw ay s i d e b e i n g a m o n g t h e Russian Premier League title contenders. “ Th e co n t r a c t o f Yu r i Krasnozhan is terminated with immediate effect because of n e g l i g e n ce i n h i s j o b,” Lokomotiv said in a statement on their website (www.fclm.ru) without giving further details.

Krasnozhan was sacked foll ow i n g a n e xe c u t i ve b o a rd meeting late on Monday and the news came as a surprise with Lokomotiv in the top five after a slow start to the season.

“I was shocked by the news,

Tigers belt Rangers ARLINGTON: Brennan Boesch had two of Detroit’s four home runs while setting career highs with five hits and five RBIs as the Tigers belted the Texas Rangers 13-7 in the American League on Monday.

Detroit starter Max Scherzer (7-2) pitched just long enough for his first win in nearly a month, when he won his sixth consecutive decision to open the season. He gave up eight hits in five innings.

All of Detroit ’s homers came off Colby Lewis (5-6), who gave up nine runs in 3 1-3 innings only five days after pitching eight scoreless innings at Tampa Bay.

The White Sox beat the Mariners for the ninth straight time at U.S. Cellular Field and are 13-1 at home against Seattle dating back to 2008. The nine straight wins matched matched a club record for the most consecutive home wins against the Mariners. Seattle rookie starter Michael Pineda (6-3) was an unlucky loser in a strong performance.

Royals 3, Blue Jays 2 In Kansas City, Eric Hosmer hit a game-ending single to lift Kansas City over Toronto in 11 innings, snapping a four-game skid. Hosmer had a hand in all three of Kansas City’s runs with two RBIs and scored a run.

Chris Getz led off the Royals 11th with a bunt single off Frank Francisco (1-3) and stopped at second on Brayan Pena’s single.

Alcides Escobar moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt. An intentional walk loaded the bases with one out. After a line out, Hosmer delivered the gamewinning hit.

Joakim Soria (4-3), who was removed from the closer’s role after blowing three saves in a week , picked up the victory. He did not allow a hit in two innings.

Twins 6, Indians 4 In Cleveland, Minnesota extended its season-best winning streak to five games by beating a ARLINGTON: Texas Rangers relief pitcher Yoshinori sink ing Cleveland.

Tateyama (22) winds up to throw against the Detroit M innesota pitcher Tigers in the seventh inning of a baseball game. —AP Scott Baker (3-4) survived a shaky start — the score was 2-0 to the Indians after Rays 5, Angels 1 I n Anaheim, David Price took a just four pitches — to last until the shutout into the eighth inning, guiding eighth innings, allowing just one addiTampa Bay to victory over Los Angeles. tional run.

Matt Tolbert drove in two runs for Price (7-5) allowed one run in sevenplus innings, struck out seven and the Twins. Josh Tomlin (7-3) lasted six walked none. He struck out the side in innings for the Indians, who led the AL Central by seven games as recently as the fifth.

The Rays took a 2-0 lead in the first May 23 but have lost five in a row and on Matt Joyce’s sacrifice fly and Justin dropped their seventh straight at Ruggiano’s RBI single. Ruggiano hit his home. second homer of the season to extend Orioles 4, Athletics 2 the Rays’ lead to 4-0 and Joyce’s RBI sinIn Baltimore, Oakland suffered its gle in the seventh made it 5-0. Angels starter Tyler Chatwood (3-3) gave up seventh straight defeat, beaten by Baltimore. Orioles starter Brian Matusz five runs in seven innings.

(1-0) allowed two runs in 5 1-3 innings to earn his first win of the season after White Sox 3, Mariners 1 In Chicago, Paul Konerko homered spending two months on the disabled to help Chicago down Seattle. John list. Matt Wieters had two hits, an RBI Danks (1-8) pitched into the eighth and scored a run for Baltimore, which inning to finally break through for his led 4-0 af ter t wo innings against first win of the season in his 12th start. Athletics starter Gio Gonzalez (5-4).

He only allowed one unearned run and The A’s fell a season-worst seven games under .500. —AP one walk while striking out six.

MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Monday.

Baltimore 4, Oakland 2; Minnesota 6, Cleveland 4; Philadelphia 3, LA Dodgers 1; Milwaukee 7, Florida 2; Cincinnati 8, Chicago Cubs 2; Detroit 13, Texas 7; Chicago White Sox 3, Seattle 1; Kansas City 3, Toronto 2 (11 innings); Colorado 3, San Diego 0; Tampa Bay 5, LA Angels 1; San Francisco 5, Washington 4 (13 innings).

American League Eastern Division W L PCT NY Yankees 33 24 .579 Boston 33 26 .559 Tampa Bay 31 29 .517 Toronto 30 30 .500 Baltimore 27 31 .466 Central Division Cleveland 33 25 Detroit 32 27 Chicago White Sox 29 33 Kansas City 26 34 Minnesota 22 37

GB 1 3.5 4.5 6.5

.569 .542 1.5 .468 6 .433 8 .373 11.5

Western Division Texas 34 27 .557 Seattle 31 29 .517 LA Angels 30 32 .484 Oakland 27 34 .443

2.5 4.5 7

National League Eastern Division Philadelphia 36 24 Florida 31 27 Atlanta 32 28 NY Mets 28 31 Washington 26 34

.600 .534 .533 .475 .433

Central Division St. Louis 36 25 Milwaukee 34 26 Cincinnati 31 30 Pittsburgh 28 30 Chicago Cubs 23 35 Houston 23 37

.590 .567 1.5 .508 5 .483 6.5 .397 11.5 .383 12.5

Western Division San Francisco 34 26 .567 Arizona 33 27 .550 Colorado 28 31 .475 LA Dodgers 28 33 .459 San Diego 27 34 .443

4 4 7.5 10

1 5.5 6.5 7.5

to be honest,” Alu Alkhanov, chairman of the Russian FA’s ethics committee, told local m e d i a . “ B u t t h e c l u b d i d n’t b re a k a ny l aws by f i r i n g K rasnozhan. I t ’s an internal matter for the club.”

Th e s a c k i n g fo l l owe d Lokomotiv’s surprise 2-1 home defeat by Anzhi Makhachkala last week, their first loss since early April.

“I don’t want to say anything at this point. I have to think it over before making any comments,” Krasnozhan told local media. He was hired by the Moscow club in December after guiding unfashionable Spartak Nalchik to sixth place last year. —Reuters

Waqar slams Afridi KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket coach has described former captain Shahid Afridi as “immature” and a bad influence on the dressing room.

In excerpts of tour reports seen by Reuters coach Waqar Younis said Afridi’s attitude and unwillingness to resolve issues created an uncomfortable dressing-room environment that affected players and led to defeats in the ODI series against West Indies.

Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) removed him as captain for a one-day series against Ireland. The PCB, who will hold disciplinary proceedings against Afridi, were unhappy about his comments concerning perceived interference in his role during the tour of West Indies, where a dispute with former test captain Waqar came to a head. “As a (former) captain I feel he is still very immature, has poor discipline, lacks a game plan and is unwilling to listen to others’ opinions or advice,” Waqar said in his report. “Besides myself, the rest of the coaching staff has worked very hard with him to improve his abilities as a long-term and successful captain but sometimes his volatile and immature nature have proved detrimental and led to unfortunate outcomes including game losses.” —Reuters

Brewers complete rare sweep MIAMI: Prince Fielder homered and drove in four runs to help the Milwaukee Brewers complete their first four-game sweep in three seasons, beating the Florida Marlins 72 in the National League on Monday.

Fielder hit a three-run homer, his 14th of the season, and added an RBI single. Ryan Braun had two hits and scored twice for the Brewers, who were 5 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Milwaukee star ter Zack Greinke (5-1) allowed two runs in seven innings, winning his fifth consecutive decision and lowering his ERA to 4.83.

The Marlins lost a season-worst fifth game in a row. The Brewers are 20-6 overall since May 9; the best record in the majors.

Phillies 3, Dodgers 1 In Philadelphia, Cliff Lee hit double-digit strikeouts for the sixth time this season, fanning 10 in seven shutout innings to lead Philadelphia over Los Angeles. Lee (5-5) bounced back from one of his worst starts of the season with one of his best.

He walked only one, while continuing to strike out batters at a career-best rate. He has 15 career games with double - digit strikeouts — six this season. Ryan Madson allowed a run in the ninth before finishing for his 13th save.

a pitch from Stammen down the line in right. Javier Lopez (3-1) retired all four batters he faced for the victory.

Giants 5, Nationals 4 In San Francisco, Freddy Sanchez hit a game-ending single with two outs in the 13th inning as San Francisco came from four runs down to beat Washington.

Chris Stewart drew a leadoff walk against Craig Stammen (0-1) to start the winning rally. After a strikeout, Andres Torres singled.

Miguel Tejada hit into a fielder’s choice to move Stewart to third before Sanchez lined

Rockies 3, Padres 0 In San Diego, Clayton Mortensen and five Colorado relievers combined to shut out San Diego. Mortensen (2-3) went six innings before giving way to the bullpen. Huston Street pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

Padres starter Clayton Richard (2-7) took the loss despite one of his better starts this season, giving up one run in seven innings and striking out a season-best eight.

MIAMI: Milwaukee Brewers’ Prince Fielder (right) drops his bat after hitting a three-run home run as Florida Marlins catcher John Buck (left) looks on in the third inning. —AP

Garcia ekes way into US Open, Singh misses COLUMBUS: Sergio Garcia’s long streak of appearances in majors looks set to continue after surviving a seven-man playoff in Monday’s qualifying for the US Open while Vijay Singh’s even longer streak ended.

Garcia, who has fallen to No. 75 in the world, said only last month that he wouldn’t go through qualifying, but he changed his mind and had rounds of 68-67 at Tunica National in Memphis, Tennessee, claiming one of the four spots shared between the seven men in the playoff. His appearance at Congressional this month for the US Open will extend his streak in the majors to 47 straight. This was the first time since turning pro in 1999 that Garcia had to qualify.

Singh also changed his mind about qualifying, and elected not to take part. His run of 67 consecutive majors — dating to the 1994 US Open at Oakmont — is over. His only other chance of getting into the major was via a top finish in the St. Jude Classic this week, but the PGA website said he was no longer in that field.

Those were the two biggest developments on a day of big hopes, with 11 sectional qualifiers in 10 states. No other major fills half its field with anyone willing to give it a try. Among those who got into the US Open, which starts June 16, were: Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, who made it through a playoff and is going to the US Open for the first time. His grandfather won in 1960, and Palmer tied for fifth in 1964 when the Open first went to Congressional.

Steve Irwin, the son of three-time US Open champion Hale Irwin, was among four qualifiers in California. Fred Funk, who turned 55 yesterday of the US Open. Just as noteworthy were some of the players who failed to qualify. The list included a trio of US Open champions. Steve Jones, Lee Janzen and Tom Kite and a trio of British Open champions: Justin Leonard, David Duval and Ben Curtis. “It’s entirely worth it,” Duval said. “You can’t win the golf tournament if you’re not in it. So I guess I’m not going to win it this year.”

College freshman Patrick Cantlay was among the 16 qualifiers in Columbus, which offered the most spots because it had the biggest field that was filled mostly with PGA Tour players. Cantlay, who wrapped up a sensational first season that earned him the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top college player, had rounds of 65-70.

Brandt Jobe, a runner-up by one shot at the Memorial on Sunday, joined Chez Reavie as co-medalists in Columbus. Others who qualified in Columbus were Robert Garrigus, Marc Turnesa, John Senden, DA Points, Marc Leishman, Kevin Chappell, Adam Long, Justin Hicks, Nick O’Hern and Chris Wilson.

Tim Petrovic, Scott Hend and Webb Simpson were part of a six-man playoff for three spots. Among those who got bumped out of the playoff were former Ryder Cup players JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich. Gary Woodland called officials to withdraw.

He moved up to No. 41 in the world rank-

Vijay Singh in action in this file photo ing after his sixth-place finish at the Memorial, and is sure to stay in the top 50 next week to get into the US Open.

Others who failed to earn spots out of Columbus were Rocco Mediate, Sean O’Hair and Bob Hope winner Jhonattan Vegas.

Several other tour players were in Memphis, where amateur Bill Cauley shared medalist honors with Sunghoon Kang, a tour rookie from South Korea. Chad Campbell appeared to be safe until a bogey on the final hole dropped him into a seven-man playoff for four spots. He still won a spot, however, along with Brian Gay, Briny Baird and Garcia.

Among those who didn’t qualify in Memphis were former PGA champion Rich Beem, Stephen Ames, Chris DiMarco and Boo Weekley, who withdrew after his first 18 holes. This was the second time in three years that Funk has qualified. Among the other nine players who qualified in Rockville, Maryland were Ty Tryon, three-time tour winner Kirk Triplett and former U.S. Amateur champion Bubba Dickerson. —AP

Reds 8, Cubs 2 In Cincinnati, Jonny Gomes hit a threerun homer and drove in four runs overall as Cincinnati sent a frustrated Chicago to its seventh straight loss. Gomes’ only two homers since April 17 both set up home wins over the Cubs. Chicago’s slump is its longest since it also dropped seven in a row last July 27-Aug. 3.

Subs starter Matt Garza (2-5) came off the disabled list and lasted only four innings, giving up four runs. Opposing pitcher Mike Leake (5-2) had an RBI single off Garza and took the win. —AP

Teenage golfer Ishikawa not fazed by struggles TOKYO: Ryo Ishikawa has displayed a level of maturity beyond his years in handling success. Now the 19-yearold Japanese golfer is showing he can take the disappointments with the same cool composure.

Ishikawa won three times on the Japan Tour last season and has nine wins overall at home but has struggled this season with no wins. He failed to make the cut in his last two tournaments, including the Japan Golf Tour Championship where he carded the worst score of his professional career — a 12-over 83 in the first round.

When asked of his recent struggles, Ishikawa had a quick response.

“I knew that question was coming,” Ishikawa said on Tuesday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

“It would be strange if it wasn’t asked.” Ishikawa has an exemption for the U.S. Open, which starts on June 16 in Washington, and hopes to get his game straightened out by then.

“Most of the problems stem from my putting and short game,” Ishikawa said. “There is no tournament this week so I’ll have some good practice and hopefully I can put these past two tournaments behind me.”

Ishikawa also missed the cut at the Transitions Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational but his problems seem minor compared to those of his idol Tiger Woods. Woods withdrew after only nine holes last month at The Players Championship and fell out of the top 10 rankings for the first time in 14 years.

Ishikawa said it was difficult to watch Woods struggle with his game.

“I’ve always looked at him from the perspective of a fan,” Ishikawa said. “It’s difficult for me to take this news as another player. I sure hope he recovers. I’ve always been awed by his ability and skill.” Known earlier in his career as “Bashful Prince,” Ishikawa has become the face of golf in Japan. He played 34 times last year, including one span of 20 tournaments in 22 weeks, because the tour and sponsors lean so heavily on him.

He won his first Japan Tour event as a 15-year-old amateur, won the money title at 17, and last year became the first player to shoot 58 on a major tour.

He announced in March that he will be donating all of his 2011 tour earnings, plus an additional $1,200 for every birdie he makes during the year, to the Japan earthquake relief efforts.

Ishikawa was playing in the Cadillac Championship at Doral on March 11 when he awoke to news of the earthquake and tsunami.

“I want to do anything I can to help,” Ishikawa said.

“I visited an evacuee center and will make another trip up to the region in July.” No Japanese golfer has ever won a major. Ishikawa has said his dream is to win The Masters, and some in Japan feel he should play more on the U.S. PGA Tour to improve his game. —AP

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Mavs looking for a complete game against Heat DALLAS: The success-starved Dallas Mavericks will have to stop the explosive scoring runs by the Miami Heat if they are going to win their first NBA championship, coach Rick Carlisle said on Monday.

Miami holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series in large part because of their ability to score points in bunches. “We’ve got to put one of those 48-minute games together,” said Carlisle. “Last night every time we gained some traction, they would hit us with a 6-0 run or an 80 run or they would chip away at our five-point lead.

“And so this time of year when you’re dealing with teams of this caliber, if you have a lull offensively or defensively, the other team is going to

take advantage of it.” Paced by Dwyane Wade’s 29 points, the Heat edged the Mavericks 88-86 on Sunday at the American Airlines Center to seize the home court advantage. Unless Dallas find its shooting touch, the series could be over before returning to South Florida.

Forward Dirk Nowitzki scored 34 points for the Mavericks, including 15 in the pivotal final period, but the 32-year-old All-Star is getting little help elsewhere.

Guards Jason Terry, JJ Barea and Jason Kidd are all shooting under 40 percent and it is unlikely the Mavericks can rally unless they start connecting from the outside.

“We were doing a great job in the first three rounds, knocking down open shots,” said Barea,

who is just five for 23 (22 percent) in the finals.

“That’s what got us those wins.

“We just have to keep our confidence. They’re going to go down at some point.” The next two games are in Dallas, with Game Four late yesterday.

“Somebody has to step up and help Dirk out,” said Barea. “If we had somebody else stepping up and getting hot like he is right now, we’d be in a good place.”

Terry, shooting just 38 percent, said the Mavericks will have a “Game Seven” mentality late yesterday. “We dropped the first one at home, which was very disappointing,” he said.

“We have not had a good 48 minutes of basketball in this finals. We’re looking forward to it.”

Terry, often guarded by Miami’s LeBron James, conceded that the Heat are loaded with talent. “There’s no tricks. There’s no magic show going on,” he said. “These guys are who they are.

They’re great individual players and when you allow them to get out in transition and get easy baskets, they’re spectacular.

“So our job is to eliminate that part of it and for 48 minutes, impose our will on them.” Terry said a high-scoring game favors the Mavericks, who have yet to reach 100 points in the series.

“We have to get the ball out quickly and push,” he said. “We need to look for earlier opportunities in transition. Get this tempo up. I honestly believe if we score 100 points they can’t beat us.”— Reuters

Ecclestone wants new vote on Bahrain GP

TRINIDAD: India’s opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan (right) plays a reverse sweep on his way to score a half century as West Indies’ wicket keeper Carlton Baugh looks on during their first oneday international cricket match. — AP

Sharma guides India to easy win over Windies SCOREBOARD PORT OF SPAIN: Scoreboard from the first one-day international between West Indies and India at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad yesterday: West Indies innings L. Simmons c Harbhajan Singh b Kumar 6 K. Edwards c Kohli b Harbhajan Singh 21 D. Bravo c Sharma b MM Patel 4 R. Sarwan c PA Patel b MM Patel 56 M. Samuels b Raina 55 D. Bravo st PA Patel b Harbhajan Singh 22 C. Baugh lbw b Harbhajan Singh 16 D. Sammy lbw b Kumar 4 R. Rampaul not out 9 D. Bishoo lbw b Raina 0 A. Martin not out 2 Extras: (lb-5 w-12 nb-2) 19 Total: (for nine wickets; 50 overs) 214 Fall of wickets: 1-23 2-28 3-59 4-141 5-177 6-191 7198 8-204 9-206 Bowling: Kumar 10-1-37-2 (w-3), MM Patel 9-1-47-2 (w-2), Mishra 10-1-38-0 (nb-1 w-1), Harbhajan Singh 10-0-32-3 (w-1), Pathan 2-0-16-0 (w-1), Raina 6-0-232, Kohli 3-1-16-0 (nb-1).

India innings PA Patel run out 13 S. Dhawan c Simmons b Martin 51 V. Kohli c Baugh b Rampaul 2 S. Badrinath c Baugh b Bishoo 17 RG Sharma not out 68 SK Raina c Simmons b Martin 43 YK Pathan c & b Rampaul 10 Harbhajan Singh not out 6 Extras: (lb-3 w-3 nb-1) 7 Total: (for six wickets; 44.5 overs) 217 Did not bat: Kumar, MM Patel, Mishra Fall of wickets: 1-29 2-34 3-61 4-104 5-184 6-210 Bowling: Rampaul 10-0-58-2 (nb-1 w-2), Martin 10-039-2 (w-1), Sammy 9.5-0-52-0, Bishoo 10-1-37-1, D.Bravo 2-0-17-0, Simmons 3-0-11-0.

Result: India won by four wickets

PORT OF SPAIN: Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten halfcentury guided India to a comfortable fourwicket win over West Indies in the first one-day international in Trinidad on Monday.

Sharma, who batted sensibly after India had slumped to 104 for four following the loss of three early wickets and opener Shikhar Dhawan for 51, made 68 not out in 75 balls as the world champions wrapped up victory with more than five overs to spare.

West Indies, batting first on a low bouncing pitch that suited spinners, could only manage 214 for nine from their 50 overs with Ramnaresh Sarwan (56) and Marlon Samuels (55) combining for more than half the team’s score.

Only three other batsmen made double figures and none scored more than 22. Sarwan and Samuels put on 82 for the fourth wicket but when they departed the tourists were able to stem the run flow and pick up regular wickets. Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers, capturing three for 32 from 10 overs.

India, playing their first one-dayer since winning the World Cup on home soil in April, were missing captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made a shaky start to their reply.

They lost three wickets in the first 16 overs and the game was still in the balance when Dhawan threw his wicket away just after reaching his half-century when he holed out in the deep.

But Sharma knuckled down and shared a vital 80-run stand with Suresh Raina that put India back on course. Raina departed for 43 and although India lost a sixth wicket they got home safely, Harbhajan sealing the win with a six.

Sharma, who also hit a six and three boundaries, was named man of the match. The second of the five matches is scheduled for today. The teams also play a three-match test series starting at the end of June. — Reuters

Katich out, Cummins in for Australia SYDNEY: Australian opener Simon Katich’s Test career looked to be over yesterday after he was left off the list of 25 players awarded central contracts for next season by Cricket Australia.

New blood was injected into the group of players who are expected to be the core of the Australian test, one-day and Twenty20 international sides for the next 12 months with the inclusion of uncapped 18-year-old pace bowler Patrick Cummins.

The 35-year-old Katich, who averaged 45.03 runs in 56 test matches after his debut in 2001, was joined on the scrapheap by 31-year-old middle order batsman Marcus North, who was dropped after his 21st test during the Ashes debacle.

Lefthander Katich made what now looks like being his final appearance for his country in the humbling loss to England in Adelaide in December, when he injured his Achilles tendon.

“Simon has been a fantastic player for Australia and a key and successful member of the test team in recent years,” chief selector Andrew Hilditch said in a news release. “However, amongst other matters, (we) felt it was the right time now to start blooding our next opening partnership in preparation for the Ashes two years from now.”

Australia play test series in Sri Lanka and South Africa this year before hosting New Zealand and

India in the southern hemisphere summer.

Cummins was included alongside his fellow quick James Pattinson, the 21-year-old who made his international debut on Australia’s recent tour of Bangladesh. “(We have) added two exciting young fast bowling talents to the list in James Pattinson and Patrick Cummins,” Hilditch added.

“James has tasted international cricket and we see him as a young man of immense talent who is made of the right stuff to succeed at the higher level.

“Patrick Cummins is an exceptional talent who has impressed with his opportunities to date for New South Wales and it will be very exciting to watch his progress.”

Erratic pace bowling was one of the factors blamed for Australia losing an Ashes series on home soil for the first time in 24 years.

Despite that humiliation, selectors decided not to clear out the old guard wholesale and former captain Ricky Ponting and batsman Mike Hussey, both 36, retained their contracts.

“We are confident these young players, in combination with our established senior players, will play a key role in ensuring Australian cricket returns to its rightful position as a leader in world cricket over the coming years,” Hilditch concluded. — Reuters

LONDON: Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has called for a rethink, and a fresh vote, on last week’s controversial decision to hold the postponed Bahrain Grand Prix in October.

Max Mosley, former head of the governing I nternational Automobile Federation (FIA) and a long-time Ecclestone ally, also weighed in yesterday by saying the calendar could not be changed without the agreement of all the teams and the race had no chance of going ahead.

The FIA announced on Friday that Bahrain, first scheduled as the seasonopener in March but postponed due to civil unrest, would be held on Oct. 30 in place of the Indian Grand Prix.

The inaugural New Delhi event was moved to a date yet to be agreed as the last race of the season in December. Ecclestone told the Times newspaper that it would be better to move Bahrain to the end of the season, and suggested a fax vote could be organised at short notice to overturn the I nternational Automobile Federation (FIA) decision.

“The way things are at the moment, we have no idea what is going to happen,” Ecclestone said of the situation in Bahrain, where police continue to arrest Shi’ite protestors.

“Better that we move Bahrain to the end of the season and, if things are safe and well, then that is fine, we can go. If they are not, then we don’t go and there are no problems.”

Ecclestone took issue with the FIA, who declared Bahrain a safe destination after a fact-finding mission last week by their Spanish vice-president Carlos Gracia.

“We listened to that report from the FIA and that was saying there were no problems at all in Bahrain,” said Ecclestone. “But that is not what I am hearing and I think we can see that we need to be careful.”

The decision to race in Bahrain has triggered widespread opposition, with human rights campaigners outraged by

MEXICO: Sauber Formula One driver Sergio Perez, of Mexico (left) speaks as Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon looks on during a press conference at Los Pinos presidential residence. — AP

the move af ter anti- government protests prompted a bloody crackdown in the Gulf kingdom.

Formula One teams are also against extending the championship into December, while fans who had booked non-refundable flights and holidays to India for that grand prix stand to lose money.

Ecclestone said money, with the Bahrainis paying an estimated $40 million to host the race this year, was not the issue.

“It is whether it is safe and good to have a race, that is the issue,” said the 80-year-old. “We can change this by October 30 date by having a vote by fax if necessary. It can be done, and fast.”

Mosley, who left office in 2009 but remains influential within the FIA, agreed. “He (Ecclestone) is right. I don’t think there is the slightest chance the grand prix will actually happen,” he told BBC radio.

“Apart from anything else you cannot change the calendar, in the way that is proposed to change, without the

unanimous agreement of the teams.”

The FIA said in a statement on Friday that the decision had been unanimously ‘agreed’ by the world motor sport council meeting in Barcelona.

Two team principals, Force India’s Vijay M allya and Ferrari ’s Stefano Domenicali, attended that meeting. FIA president Jean Todt could not confirm that there had indeed been unanimous agreement, however.

“I couldn’t say precisely,” Tuesday’s Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying. “ Was it 25 hands? 27? I saw all the hands up and said, ‘Ah, unanimous agreement ’. I pronounced it. And nobody objec ted. No one said ‘I abstained’ or ‘I voted no’.”

Mosley, who fought regular battles with the teams over the years and knows the intricacies of the rulebook as well as anyone, said it would be up to them to decide.

“Until the written agreement of the teams is forthcoming, you can’t actually change the date. It can’t be done,” he said. — Reuters

Japan promises ‘profitable’ 2019 World Cup TOKYO: Japan’s new rugby chief believes the cost of reconstruction following the deadly earthquake and tsunami in March will not impact the country’s ability to host a profitable 2019 World Cup, although he did admit their budget was “tight.”

Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) Chairman Tatsuzo Yabe told Reuters: “The disaster has not had any effect at all on the financial guarantees we have secured.

“I don’t believe there will be a problem. When it was decided to hold the 2019 World Cup in Japan, (profitability) was the biggest question of course.

“Since the disaster, the International Rugby Board (IRB) have kept faith in the financial guarantees.” Japan’s public debt is already twice the size of its $5 trillion economy and the government has to fund massive reconstruction with a fiscal policy crunch looming.

The IRB recently approved Japan’s budget plans, though there are concerns

in some quarters over the country’s fitness to host the first rugby World Cup in Asia following the disaster.

Despite a nuclear crisis triggered by the giant tsunami still raging north of Tokyo, Yabe predicted the 2019 World Cup would be a money-spinner for the IRB. “Our aim is to host a successful rugby World Cup and to make sure the profitloss statement is in the plus column at the end,” he said in an interview at the JRFU offices in Tokyo.

“We don’t want to cause problems for the IRB or the Japanese government.

We’re confident we will make a profit but we know it will be hard work.”

The National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, which subsidises international sports events in Japan, has already pledged $43 million to the JRFU-around 20 percent of the estimated overall operating costs.

“The Sports Ministry is also throwing a

AUSTRIA: Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine looks on during a photo opportunity in Going. WBO and IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his title against WBA champion David Haye from Britain in Hamburg, Germany, on July 2. — AP

lot of weight behind the World Cup,” said Yabe. “We’re also going through other government channels.

“Tokyo’s 2016 Olympic bid failed. FIFA won’t come back for a long time after Qatar were awarded the (soccer) World Cup in 2022. The next Olympics in Japan could only be in 2020, so rugby is at the forefront.

“The ministry is trying to pass a bill allowing for the release of extra funds for building stadiums for sports events in the future.”

Yabe told Reuters that, since the IRB rejected Japan’s proposed plan to take games to Hong Kong and Singapore in 2019, there were currently nine candidate venues nationwide.

Utilising Japan’s 2002 soccer World Cup stadiums is an option the JRFU are also examining, with Yokohama, venue for that tournament’s final, on the list. “(Yokohama) can hold over 70,000 and is the biggest on the list of candidate venues,” said Yabe. “We would like to do something for the people of (disaster-hit) northeast Japan. Sendai’s J-League stadium is on the list, or we could build a new stadium there.

“But as of now building a stadium there is not in our plans. You can construct a stadium in three years but the budget is tight,” he admitted.

Yabe credited Japan coach John Kirwan for the dramatic improvements the “Brave Blossoms” have made since the All Black great took charge in 2007.

“At the last World Cup we drew one and lost three games,” said Yabe. “This year I’d like to see us beat Tonga and Canada — as a minimum.”

Japan also face tournament hosts New Zealand and France in Pool A, matches Yabe described, tongue planted firmly in cheek, as “a little difficult.”

“In 2019 we will be at home so we want Japan to be in the knockout stages at the very least,” he said. “We’ll be looking at reaching the last eight.” — Reuters

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No tsunami but FIFA’s corruption storm rages on LONDON: Though Jack Warner’s threatened soccer “tsunami” remains stuck in the doldrums, the corruption storm raging around FIFA shows no sign of abating after another extraordinary week for the game’s governing body.

President Sepp Blatter is embarking on another four-year term and, despite his promise to reform FIFA, the 75-year-old Swiss lawyer is facing almost daily broadsides in the fallout from the corruption scandals centred on the awarding of hosting rights for the World Cup. In the face of sustained assaults on the integrity of his organisation, Blatter has raised some eyebrows by turning to opera singer Placido Domingo as well as 88-yearold former U.S. Secretary of State Henry

Kissinger for advice. They are among a group of people Blatter drafted in to form a “council of wisdom” to help restore FIFA’s tarnished image after he was re-elected unopposed last week.

Sceptics are proving hard to win over though, with Diego Maradona branding FIFA a museum run by dinosaurs who do not want to give up power and saying that, despite the chaos and upheaval of the last few weeks, “nothing would change”.

“I’m not surprised Blatter was re-elected because they look after themselves,” he said.

“They will stay until they are 105 years old. I hope they will resign but don’t be under any illusions that they will.”

His view echoed those of the many observers who were not surprised when

FIFA’s over-worked ethics committee announced that Blatter had no case to answer, having provisionally suspended his previous presidential rival Mohamed Bin Hammam, and vice-president Warner, over bribery allegations.

Warner then said that he would create a “football tsunami” by revealing the content of email exchanges with Blatter.

However, he later said that on legal advice he would no longer do so “at this point in time” and restricted his announcements to a defence of his own position.

“I haven’t thieved anything, I haven’t given anybody anything and I don’t know what the hullaballoo is all about,” he said.”

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke also rowed back after a leaked email of his sug-

gested Qatar had “bought the 2022 World Cup”. He later said he meant only that Qatar had used its financial muscle to lobby support. Barbadian Lisle Austin, who replaced Warner as interim president of CONCACAF, was himself suspended by that body’s executive committee on Friday and Honduran Alfredo Hawit was appointed to replace him.

FIFA has now told Concacaf officials to attend a special hearing in Miami starting on Tuesday where they will be questioned about allegations that they were offered or given bribes by Bin Hammam and Warner in exchange for their World Cup votes.

Former FBI head Louis Freeh has been appointed to lead FIFA’s investigation into the Concacaf bribery allegations but some associations are complaining about a “US-

driven agenda” and want him replaced.

Freeh, at least, has a background of relevance to the task in hand, while Domingo’s only association with the sport would appear to be his role as one of the Three Tenors who made ‘Nessun Dorma’ the signature tune of the 1990 World Cup. “They are not the experts but advisers, and what they should be also is the kind of council of wisdom,” Blatter said after announcing the appointment of Domingo and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize winner Kissinger. “People say he (Kissinger) is an old man, but he is a wise man... And if this committee of solutions or the ethics committee have the impression that they should do something then let them take the decisions.” —Reuters

Guatemala hold Honduras

CARSON: Jamaica forward Dane Ricahrds (left) takes the ball to the net as Grenada defender David Cyrus attempts the slide tackle during the first half of a Concacaf Gold Cup soccer match. —AP

Jamaica crush Grenada LOS ANGELES: Jamaica made a strong start to their bid for a first Gold Cup title with a crushing 4-0 victory over Grenada on Monday.

First half goals from Luton Shelton and Ryan Johnson were supplemented after the break by Demar Phillips and Keammar Daley efforts as Jamaica dominated their opponents in an opening Group B match that could have been much worse for Grenada.

“Our finishing was a big letdown,” Jamaica manager Theodore Whitmore told reporters after his team recorded 10 shots on goal. “We managed to score four - what a way to start.”

Grenada, the smallest nation competing in the 12-nation tournament for Nor th and Central America and the Caribbean, have yet to record a Gold Cup goal after being outscored 10-0 in

their first tournament appearance in 2009.

Grenada goalkeeper Shemel Louison made some daring saves in the second half, but his team managed just one wayward attempt at goal and could not keep Jamaica from dominating possession. Johnson, who plays for the San Jose Ear thquakes in Major League Soccer, was named the man-of-thematch as he helped his side thrive even without forward Omar Cummings, who missed the game with an ankle injury.

“I want to help Jamaica go as far as we can in this tournament,” Johnson said. “We did the most important thing, and that was to keep a clean sheet.

Both teams resume Group B action on Friday in Miami, where Jamaica face Guatemala and Grenada take on Honduras. —Reuters

LOS ANGELES: Guatemala held off Honduras to grab a 0-0 draw in their Gold Cup Group B opener despite finishing the game with nine men.

Defenders Gustavo Cabrera, in the 61 minute, and Henry Medina, in the 78th, were sent off but still Guatemala managed to deny their Central American rivals all three points during a spirited and physical match that went against the early Gold Cup trend of onesided contests.

Goalkeeper Ricardo Jerez, who needed treatment on multiple occasions in the second half, kept his Guatemala defense organised but had to withstand some heavy Honduras pressure in the final minutes to secure the point. “ This tie feels like a win,” Jerez told reporters after he was named man-of-thematch. Honduras, who captured the Gold Cup in 1981 and were considered dark horses to break up the recent monopoly of Mexico and the United States, had some good chances to net the winning goal with attacker Carlo Costly looking dangerous.

But Honduras, who competed at last year’s World Cup in South Africa, could not make the scoring connection much to the frustration of head coach Luis Fernando Suarez.

“The way we played, we definitely didn’t deserve to win,” Suarez told reporters. “The players who were supposed to create did not create the space.”

Earlier in Group B, Jamaica, who Guatemala face in Miami on Friday, thrashed Grenada 4-0 to top the standings. Honduras will play Grenada in their second group match also in Miami on Friday. —Reuters

CARSON: Guatemala forward Carlos Ruiz (bottom) settles the ball with his chest away from Honduras defender Victor Bernardez during the first half of a Concacaf Gold Cup soccer match. —AP

Agency criticises Polish Euro 2012 preparations WARSAW: Delays in updating Poland’s transport infrastructure threaten its ability to successfully host Euro 2012, the country’s top audit agency said yesterday.

Technical problems, shortages of funds and legal issues have recently marred Poland’s preparations to co-host the European soccer tournament with Ukraine next year.

“Euro 2012 preparations have visibly advanced. But the scale of delays, abandoned projects and

poorly implemented investments is so significant that it may threaten the smooth running of the tournament,” Poland’s Supreme Audit Office (NIK) said.

“NIK states that modernising the road infrastructure has suffered the most serious negligence,” NIK, a state institution that is independent of the government, said in a report.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who made updating dilapidated infrastructure in the European

Martin fires France to victory in Ukraine

BUENOS AIRES: River Plate’s Mariano Pavone (right) fights for the ball with Colon de Santa Fe’s Marcelo Goux (center) and Colon de Santa Fe’s Ariel Garce at an Argentine League match. —AP

Sarsfield retain lead over Cruz BUENOS AIRES: Velez Sarsfield beat title challengers Godoy Cruz 2-0 at home on Monday to remain a point clear at the top of the Argentine Clausura championship with two matches to go.

Second-placed Lanus won 2-1 at Independiente despite missing a retaken penalty. Velez, who were beaten by Uruguay’s Penarol in the semi-finals of the South American Libertadores Cup last week, have 33 points from 17 matches, Lanus are on 32 and Godoy Cruz 28. It might have been a different story, though, if goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero had not made two very good saves from Ruben Ramirez and Mariano Donda in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with the score 0-0. “Now we have taken one of the candidates out of the way,” Barovero told Futbol Para Todos.

“Luckily the team showed guts after the Libertadores loss,” added striker Juan Manuel Martinez, who scored a

brilliant opening goal in the 65th minute.

Martinez took possession at the corner of the box, skipped over a string of tackles before slotting home. David Ramirez, who joined Velez from Godoy Cruz in January, added the second in the final minute when he took a cross from fellow substitute Guillermo Franco on his chest, swivelled and volleyed in off the underside of the bar.

At Independiente, midfielder Diego Valeri put Lanus ahead with an early free kick for his ninth goal of the Clausura. Mauro Camoranesi laid on the second for striker Mario Regueiro in the 75th before defender Maxi Velazquez headed a late consolation.

With the score 1-0, Lanus were aw a rd e d a p e n a l t y w h i c h S i l v i o Romero put away but the referee o rd e re d i t to b e re t a k e n fo r e n c ro a c h m e n t . K e e p e r H i l a r i o Navarro dived well to save Romero’s second effort. —Reuters

KIEV: An experimental France side came from behind to beat Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine 4-1 in a friendly in Donetsk on Monday with Marvin Martin scoring twice on his debut for Les Blues after coming off the bench.

Analotiy Tymoshchuk gave the hosts the lead with a long-range shot in the 54th minute but France responded in style with Lorient striker Kevin Gameiro equalising.

Martin struck twice late on either side of a goal by Younes Kaboul. Oleg Blokhin’s Ukraine will play at least two matches in Donetsk next year but they will hope for an improvement between now and then after being humbled by France.

The first half was mainly forgettable although Ukraine went close to breaking the deadlock after 41 minutes when Oleg Gusev raced unmarked through the midfield but fired wide.

Ukraine went ahead when France goalkeeper Steve Mandanda could do nothing to stop Bayern Munich midfielder Tymoshchuk’s thunderbolt flying into the net.

Gameiro forced a save from Andriy Pyatov soon after but France were level after 58 minutes when he seized on a deflection off a defender to smash a shot into the top corner. Real Madrid’s Benzema twice threatened Ukraine’s goal but it was substitute Martin, a 76th minute substitute for Yohan Cabaye, who put France ahead in the 86th minute with a low shot into the corner. Kaboul then outjumped his marker to head in the third goal from Martin’s corner and Sochaux’s Martin completed his remarkable cameo with a neat finish past Pyatov. It was a timely win for France after they were held to a 1- DONETSK: France’s Anthony 1 draw with Belarus in Reveillere (front) fights for the ball a Euro 2012 qualifier with Ukraine’s Serhiy Nazarenko last week. —Reuters during their friendly match. —AP

Union’s largest ex-communist member a priority ahead of Euro 2012, said Poland would be ready on time.

“Euro 2012 in Poland is not under threat. All the investments indispensible for the tournament to go ahead will be finalised,” he told a news conference yesterday.

“I shall inform you shortly on how we plan to make up for the delays,” he said, adding that not all the investments Poland had

hoped to carry out for the June 8-July 1 tournament would come into effect.

Today in Warsaw, UEFA representatives are due to present their latest assessment of Poland’s preparations.

Tusk, himself a keen soccer fan, hopes the investment in the tournament will translate into political backing for his centreright Civic Platform (PO) party in national elections due in October. —Reuters

Federici saves Socceroos MELBOURNE: Australia had goalkeeper Adam Federici to thank as they held on for a 0-0 draw against a profligate Serbia in a friendly in Melbourne yesterday.

Federici, understudy to veteran keeper Mark Schwarzer, stood firm as Serbia peppered the goals in a frantic second half in front of a crowd of more than 28,000 on a chilly night at Docklands Stadium.

In a re-match of last year’s World Cup group-stage clash in South Africa which Australia won 2-1, the Reading keeper dived to his right to stop a blazing shot from Radosav Petrovic in the 83rd minute and then repeated the feat in stoppage time.

Both teams fielded second-string sides in the tune-up for the qualifying phase for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil starting in September and would rue a number of missed scoring chances.

Serbia midfielder Adem Ljajic was perhaps the most guilty, spraying a shot over the bar five minutes before the break after finding himself clear on goal inside the box.

James Troisi missed the Socceroos’ best chance to break the deadlock when, having only the keeper to beat, he prodded a weak shot into Damir Kahriman’s arms in the 79th minute.

Australia coach Holger Osieck, who rested first-team regulars Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Schwarzer, was pleased with the effort of his fringe players but was left frustrated by their lack of polish.

“I think I was not too happy, our game lacked a little bit of the fluid passing ... We played the complicated ball instead of the simple ball,” the German told reporters after recording his ninth win from 14 matches since taking charge after the World Cup. “On the other hand, our team showed a great deal of effort again ... Basically, I got a lot more positives than negatives.”

The match drew a heavy security presence around the stadium with concerns over crowd trouble following incidents involving Serbian fans at the Australian Open tennis in recent years.

The match had to be paused for a minute in the second half while staff extinguished one of a number of flares hurled near the pitch from a boisterous Serbian contingent behind one of the goals but otherwise passed without incident.

Australia, playing their second match in three days after beating New Zealand 3-0 in Adelaide in a friendly on Sunday, had a chance deflected away off Matt McKay in the fifth minute, but were soon on the back foot.

A rough challenge on midfielder Zoran Tosic gave Serbia a free kick, with Ljajic sending his long-range effort just wide of the far post six minutes later before VfB Stuttgart midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic cannoned a 30-metre strike that shaved the near post in the 16th minute.

Forward Brett Holman briefly ignited the home crowd’s hopes in the second half, finding space in front on the hour, but sent the shot over the bar before blasting another wide a few minutes later. —Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

S P ORT S

Cech saves the day for Czechs in Japan draw YOKOHAMA: A stunning double save from Petr Cech allowed the Czech Republic to hold Japan to a 0-0 draw yesterday as the tri-nation Kirin Cup ended without a single goal being scored. The Blue

the winner-takes-all clash in Yokohama also finished in a stalemate.

“Nowhere in the world could a team improve as much in so little time as we have,” Japan coach

Cech brilliantly saved a Shinji Okazaki header after 78 minutes before acrobatically blocking Tadanari Lee’s follow-up from point-blank range, drawing gasps from a crowd of 65,000.

JAPAN: Japane’s Atsuto Uchida fights for the ball with the Czech Republic’s David Lafata during their friendly soccer match in Yokohama. —AP Samurai and Czechs had both failed to break down Peru in the two previous games before Chelsea goalkeeper Cech ensured

Alberto Zaccheroni told reporters, slightly overcooking his praise after another tepid performance. “This team has tremendous potential.”

Jol named new Fulham manager LONDON: Experienced Dutchman Martin Jol was named the new manager of Premier League side Fulham yesterday, replacing Mark Hughes who resigned last week after one season in charge.

The 55-year-old former Tottenham boss has agreed an initial two-year contract with the option of a further 12 months.

Jol, who was sacked by Spurs in 2007, was linked with the Fulham role last year but Dutch club Ajax refused to release him from his post as head coach. He has been out of work since quitting Ajax last December and said he was excited at returning to England.

“I am very happy to join Fulham football club, a wonderful traditional club,” he told Fulham’s website. “It is a club with good, solid foundations and a great fan base.

“I remember coming here with Tottenham and I even think I played here when I was a player (he played for West Brom and Coventry). Craven Cottage is a real football stadium, I loved going to Fulham.

“I could have gone to other countries, but I was waiting for the opportunity to come back to England.” Jol said he had already discussed bolstering Fulham’s squad this summer in a meeting with owner Mohammed Al Fayed.

“Yesterday we had a good conversation about players and where we can try to strengthen and get one or two quality players,” he said.

Al Fayed, the multi-millionaire former owner of the Harrods department store, said Jol was the right man to lead the club into the future.

“He understands my vision for the club, and believes in what we are striving to achieve here,” Al Fayed said. “I know that he will dedicate himself to helping us move forward, and is with us for the long term, to help us build and progress.

“We have enjoyed three incredibly successful years, and my hopes and dreams for this club are for that journey to continue.” Hughes guided Fulham to an eighthplace finish in the just-completed season before quitting. Although the Welshman immediately brushed off speculation linking him with the vacancy at Premier League rivals Aston Villa, it is believed he is now in contention for the job. —AFP

Troicki, Raonic win opening matches HALLE: Fifth-seeded Viktor Troicki and eighth-seeded Milos Raonic both breezed into the second round of the Gerry Weber Open with easy victories yesterday.

Troicki, who helped Serbia win the 2010 Davis Cup title, needed just 53 minutes to get past Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-2, 6-3. Troicki will next play Igor Andreev of Russia in the second round of the Wimbledon warmup tournament.

Raonic took just a bit longer to dispatch of Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 6-1. The 20-year-old Canadian’s second-round opponent will be Tobias Kamke of Germany. The sixth-seeded Florian Mayer had a harder time beating German compatriot Dustin Brown 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3. Mayer, who next plays Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan, came into the tournament with his highest ever ranking at No. 18. He is also his country’s No. 1, but said that was of no significance.

“Of course I have more self-confidence, but that’s because I’m number 18 in the world not because I’m number one in Germany, Mayer said. “The most important thing for me is to move further up the world rankings.

“If someone else, Philipp Kohlschreiber or Philipp Petzschner, would be 15th and I were 16 or 17, my self-confidence would be the same as Germany’s number 2.” Petzschner also reached the second round yesterday with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over another German, Dominik Meffert, and will next face Daniel GimenoTraver of Spain, who came back for a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev.—AP

Japan defender Maya Yoshida wasted the best chance of the match seven minutes into the second half when he somehow head-

ed over from two metres out with Cech stranded and the goal wide open.

“The fact we didn’t score in the two games is something to chew over,” said midfielder Keisuke Honda after Japan had gone a record 14th match unbeaten at home. “We need to play with a bit more intensity and take our chances.”

The home side were playing their first competitive games since winning a record fourth Asian Cup in January and March’s deadly earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.

Peru and the Czechs agreed to travel to Japan after receiving assurances they would not be exposed to the risk of radiation from the nuclear crisis 240 km north of Tokyo.

“If we can’t beat teams like this at home we won’t scare too many of the world’s top teams,” said Japan captain Makoto Hasebe.

“We were poor,” added the German-based midfielder, though Japan played marginally better than against Peru last week. “There is room for improvement still. I apologise if we were boring.”

Japan play South Korea on Aug. 10 in Sapporo before the Asian 2014 World Cup qualifiers begin in September. “Japan were quality opponents,” said Czech coach Michal Bilek. “We were missing some of our regular starters so I was a bit worried but the younger players coped well.”—Reuters

Bruins maul Canucks to claw back into Stanley Cup BOSTON: Boston clawed their way back into the NHL Stanley Cup Finals by mauling the Vancouver Canucks 8-1 on Monday after they were stung into ac tion by a vicious hit on Nathan Horton.

After losing the first two games of the best- of-seven final series in Vancouver, the Bruins returned home with coach Claude Julien declaring his team had not come this far just to roll over and accept defeat.

The Bruins responded with their best effort of the postseason, handing the Canucks a beating on the scoreboard and on the ice in an ill-tempered Game Three filled with fights, trashtalking and ferocious hits.

The series momentum took a dramatic shift early in the first period after Aaron Rome’s blindside hit to the head of Hor ton lef t the Boston winger unconscious and twitching on the ice.

Medical staff were quickly on the ice, carefully strapping the motionless Horton onto a backboard then transporting him to a local hospital where he was reported moving all extremities.

“You always make mention about the guy that’s gone to the hospital, I’m sure being there, he (Horton) would like to see this team win this hockey game,” Julien told reporters.

“It’s always something to motivate yourself with, ... when a guy goes down the way he did. “Looking back at the hit, you say: ‘was it a dirty hit?’ I think what I would call it is it was a blindside hit that we’ve talked about taking out of the game.”

Rome was immediately ejected with a game misconduct and interference major but the Bruins could not make the Canucks pay for their indiscretion right away, failing to convert the fiveminute man-advantage.

However, payback came in the second period when the Bruins scored shorthanded, powerplay and a pair of even strength goals to take a 4-0 lead.

Andrew Ference opened the scoring

11 seconds into the second period before 43-year-old Mark Recchi made it 2-0 with the man advantage.

Brad Marchand then dazzled the capacity crowd with a superb shorthanded effort, charging down the wing then slicing across the ice while fighting off a defender and flipping the puck over a sprawling Roberto Luongo to make it 3-0.

David Krejci capped off the second period burst, while Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly, Michael Ryder and Recchi, with his second of the game, connected in a bruising third that featured several skirmishes and officials handing out seven 10-minute misconducts.

Tim Thomas turned in another spectacular performance in the Boston net with 40 saves though Jannik Hansen’s third period goal ruined his shutout bid.

“We started scoring and the floodgates opened and we just kept going and trying to score more,” said Thomas.

“We needed to win this game to start turning some momentum, to start to get us back in this series.

“We’re still down 2-1 in this series. I wouldn’t consider that right back in the series but I wouldn’t consider us out of the series now either.”

The Bruins host Game Four today, though statistics suggest their Cup quest will be an uphill battle. Only four teams-Pittsburgh (2009), 1966 and 1971 M ontreal (1966, 1971) and Toronto (1942) — have erased 2-0 deficits and come back to hoist the Stanley Cup. In the first two games there was little to separate the t wo teams, the Bruins suffering two gut-churning onegoal losses- the first in the final seconds of regulation and the second just 11 seconds into overtime “I’d rather lose 8-1 than like the way they lost their games,” said Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin. “This is not about goal differential. “We got outplayed and we have to be better. You have to look at it and learn something from it.” —Reuters

BOSTON: Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) shoots and scores against Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo (1) in the second period during Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals. —AP

SYDNEY: This Jan. 14, 2009, file photo shows Serena Williams after winning a break point. —AP

Serena returns in time for Wimbledon LONDON: Serena Williams, the dominant force in women’s tennis for the past decade, will return to action after nearly a year ’s absence at next week ’s Wimbledon warm-up event in Eastbourne, she said yesterday.

The 29-year-old American won the last of her 13 grand slam singles titles at Wimbledon last year before a freak foot injury and complications including lifethreatening blood clots cast doubt over her career.

Her return to play at the grasscourt event, which begins on Saturday, for the first time since her only appearance on England’s south coast in 1998 is a huge boost for the tournament and the women’s game which has suffered in comparison to the golden era on the men’s side.

“I am so excited to be healthy enough to compete again,” the four-times Wimbledon champion said in a statement posted on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) website (www.lta.org).

“These past twelve months have been extremely tough and character building.

I have so much to be grateful for. I’m thankful to my family, friends, and fans for all of their support. Serena’s back!”

World number 25 Serena, whose last competitive match was her victory at Wimbledon last year over Vera Zvonareva, has been handed a wildcard by tournament organisers and will join sister Venus in a strong draw which includes newly-crowned French Open champion Li Na of China.

Venus is also returning just in time for Wimbledon after being out injured since the Australian Open. “People here will be absolutely thrilled that she’s back playing world class tennis, and that she’s chosen the grass courts of Devonshire Park as the venue for her return,” tournament director Gavin Fletcher, who can

expect a surge in ticket sales, said.

“Serena can be guaranteed a huge welcome when she arrives.”

Despite a history of injuries, Serena has provided the benchmark in women’s tennis since she followed her sister on to the Tour in 1997, winning all of the game’s major prizes.

Since she trod on broken glass in a Munich restaurant a week after winning Wimbledon last year, sustaining a cut that required 18 stitches and then surgery to repair a lacerated tendon, the women’s game has struggled for top billing.

It looked as though Serena could be forced to hang up the rackets for good earlier this year when she was diagnosed in February with blood clots in her lung and required emergency treatment, an experience she described as “hard and scary”.

With Justine Henin retiring for a second time, Maria Sharapova struggling until a recent resurgence and the likes of Serbians Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic failing to take up the challenge, the WTA has continually batted back criticism that the women’s game was in crisis.

Kim Clijsters has proved her class by winning the US Open and Australian Open in the absence of Williams but current world number one Caroline Wozniacki is yet to win a grand slam.

The return of Serena and Venus, therefore, could not be more timely, especially with Wimbledon looming and few would bet against one of them winning again. Between them they have won nine singles crowns at the All England Club and any champion to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in the absence of the American siblings would be left with an asterisk next to their name on the honours board. —Reuters

Ivanovic seeks coach to change fortunes BIRMINGHAM: Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic is seeking the coach who will help one of the most naturally talented players on the circuit return to the top. Ever since the 6foot-1 (1.86-meter) Serb with the intimidating serve and lethal forehand won the French Open three years ago, she has underwhelmed on tour.

It took Ivanovic until last year to win another title — she picked up two — but she has yet to get back even to the quarterfinals of another Grand Slam. She was ousted in the first round of the recent French Open. Her lack of confidence has at times been both painful and very public.

She has watched the long sequence of success of compatriot and friend, Novak Djokovic, this year, and says she has often thought “could I borrow just a bit of your confidence?” Injuries have exacerbated her problems.

Even this year, while withdrawing from events citing an abdominal strain, fatigue and a wrist injury, she has maintained a top-20 ranking. But the physical and psychological issues might be alleviated by the insight, structure, and organization provided by a top-class coach.

Ivanovic traveled with only a sparring partner for most of this past year, having parted suddenly with coach Antonio van Grichen, and she thinks the ensuing instability in her regimen and in her mind has affected her results. “It’s been a bit of a struggle and a little up and down — and that’s been happening for the last couple

of years in my career,” the 23-year-old said sadly.

“I want something more stable. I want something more solid. I know it’s not easy to find a good coach, but it’s something I should consider again.” Ivanovic did noticeably better at big tour stops in Indian Wells and Miami in March when she had access to Darren Cahill’s coaching through one of her sponsors, Adidas. She scored five wins, including one over Jelena Jankovic, a former world No. 1, and held five match points against Kim Clijsters, the U.S. Open champ.

“It made a difference getting proper interaction and guidance,” said Ivanovic, who will not be able to receive regular coaching from the Australian because he’s responsible for other players. So she is looking elsewhere. “I have names of people I would like to talk to, but that’s hard to do during competition,” Ivanovic said.

“Still, I’m thinking about it and talking to people about how to approach it.” She has a clear idea of the sort of coach she wants.

“First I have to find a good one,” Ivanovic said, hinting that this was not easy.

“Then, someone who will commit. And someone willing to travel. And someone with whom to get along, because you do spend a lot of time together.

“For a coach to be able to help you, they need to get to know you well. They need to see what’s happening — that you are not in the mood to talk, or something like this. It is very hard to find the right person. —AP

Jamaica crush Grenada

Brewers complete rare sweep

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

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Ecclestone wants new vote on Bahrain GP

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SCOREBOARD LONDON: Scoreboard at stumps on the fifth day of the second Test between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s here yesterday: England 1st Innings 486 (M Prior 126, A Cook 96, E Morgan 79, S Broad 54, I Bell 52; C Welegedara 4-122, S Lakmal 3-126) Sri Lanka 1st Innings 479 ( T Dilshan 193, T Paranavitana 65; S Finn 4-108, G Swann 3-101

LONDON: England’s (left-right) Matt Prior, Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann and Andrew Strauss watch as a shot from Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene slips past during the 5th day of the second Test match at Lord’s cricket ground. — AP

Sri Lanka hold out for draw after Cook ton LONDON: Alastair Cook scored his third century in four Test innings but England had to settle for a draw in the second match of their series against Sri Lanka at Lord’s here yesterday. Sri Lanka, set an imposing victory target of 343, finished on 127 for three with 15 overs left on the fifth and final day-the earliest the sides could agree a draw.

This result left England 1-0 up heading into the third and final Test starting at the Rose Bowl on June 16. The highest score ever made in the fourth innings to win a Test at Lord’s is 344 for one, needing 342, by the West Indies against England in 1984.

There was never a realistic chance of Sri Lanka reaching a similar target, with the more immediate question whether they could avoid losing all 10 wickets in the 58 overs left when their second innings started.

Sri Lanka had, after all, been routed for just

82 in under 25 overs in Cardiff as England won the first Test by an innings and 14 runs.

But, on a typically good Lord’s pitch, they held out with England frustrated as much by the 63 overs lost in the match to bad weather as by the tourists’ batting.

England’s hopes of a Cardiff repeat had been bolstered when Sri Lanka acting captain Kumar Sangakkara (12), opening in place of injured skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan, cut giant fast bowler Chris Tremlett to Eoin Morgan at backward point. Sangakkara may have a Test average of over 56, but his exit continued a poor run of scores in England where his corresponding average is just above 26.

By contrast, Mahela Jayawardene’s previous two Test at Lord’s had both yielded hundreds and the first innings of this match saw him make 49. However, he could only manage 25 on Tuesday before edging an intended drive off a

Stuart Broad outswinger to fourth slip, where Kevin Pietersen held a sharp diving catch.

Occasional medium-pacer Jonathan Trott gave England renewed hope when he had durable opener Tharanga Paranavitana lbw for 44 with only his ninth ball.

Sri Lanka were now 96 for three, with 25 overs left, but an England attack missing injured Ashes star James Anderson couldn’t manage another wicket. Thilan Samaraweera was 17 not out and Prasanna Jayawardene 12 not out.

Earlier, England made 335 for seven declared in a second innings featuring Cook’s 106 and Ian Bell’s 57 not out.

Left-handed opener Cook’s century was his third in four Test innings following 189 against Australia in Sydney, 133 in Cardiff and 96 in the first innings of this match.

He was eventually stumped by Prasanna Jayawardene off impressive left-arm spinner

Rangana Herath to end a five-half-hour innings.

Herath was the pick of Sri Lanka’s attack with three for 87 in 24 overs. England had resumed Tuesday on 149 for two, a lead of 156, with Cook 61 not out and Pietersen 15 not out.

It looked as if they would bat through yesterday’s morning session without losing a wicket. But, shortly before lunch, an increasingly fluent Pietersen was bowled by Herath for 72 to end a third-wicket partnership of 127 with Cook. It was the second time in as many matches that Pietersen had been dismissed by Herath and the 20th time in Tests he’d fallen to a leftarm spinner.

Sri Lanka took the field without Dilshan who, it was confirmed Tuesday, had suffered a broken thumb caused by twice being hit by Tremlett during his first innings 193 — the highest individual Test score by a Sri Lankan at Lord’s. — AFP

England 2nd Innings (overnight: 149-2) A. Strauss lbw b Welegedara 0 A. Cook st P Jayawardene b Herath 106 J. Trott b Herath 58 K. Pietersen b Herath 72 I. Bell not out 57 E. Morgan c Lakmal b Fernando 4 M. Prior run out (P Jayawardene) 4 S. Broad c P Jayawardene b Fernando 3 Extras (lb12, w1, nb18) 31 Total (7 wkts dec, 78.1 overs, 366 mins) 335 Did not bat: G Swann, C Tremlett, S Finn Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Strauss), 2-117 (Trott), 3-244 (Pietersen), 4-305 (Cook), 5-312 (Morgan), 6-319 (Prior), 7-335 (Broad) Bowling: Welegedara 10-1-50-1 (3nb); Lakmal 17-070-0 (7nb, 1w); Maharoof 7-0-24-0 (2nb); Fernando 20.1-2-92-2 (6nb); Herath 24-2-87-3.

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings T. Paranavitana lbw b Trott 44 K. Sangakkara c Morgan b Tremlett 12 M. Jayawardene c Pietersen b Broad 25 T. Samaraweera not out 17 P. Jayawardene not out 12 Extras (b7, lb3, w6, nb1) 17 Total (3 wkts, 43 overs, 182 mins) 127 Did not bat: F Maharoof, R Herath, D Fernando, S Lakmal, C Welegedara, T Dilshan Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Sangakkara), 2-66 (M Jayawardene), 3-96 (Paranavitana) Bowling: Tremlett 9-1-31-1 (1nb); Broad 9-2-29-1 (1w); Swann 12-2-19-0; Finn 8-2-31-0 (5w); Trott 4-1-5-1; Pietersen 1-0-2-0.

Result: Match drawn

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US dollar falls on China comments Page 24

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Asian stocks down amid US economy pessimism

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Jazeera Airways joins IATA; 238th airline-member Page 22

MUMBAI: Indian woman Nagina, 26, makes a basket on the road-side in Mumbai yesterday. Nagina, originally from Mount Abu in the western state of Rajasthan, makes and sells about eight baskets thereby making around 260 Indian rupees ($6) profit per day. — AFP

Eurozone’s Juncker reveals ‘death threats’ IMF: Vital loan for Greece depends on EU STRASBOURG: Luxembourg Prime Minister and top eurozone fixer Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament late Monday he has received “death threats” by mail from Greece. “What can you say to the Greeks? It’s a good question I often ask myself, because I receive lots of letters from Greeks-including death threats,” Juncker told lawmakers during an evening question-and-answer session in Strasbourg, France. The head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers from the 17state euro currency area, who is a leading figure in negotiations over a second bailout for Greece in just over a year, revealed the threats three days after talks with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou over new aid for Athens.

Some 50,000 people took over central Syntagma Square outside the Greek parliament on Sunday, with numbers growing dayby-day as ordinary Greeks vent their anger at what they see as politicians bowing down to European demands for austerity. AFP tried to reach Juncker’s spokesman after his remarks, filmed in the parliament, but there was no

immediate reply. The quick-witted Juncker made the comment without a smile or further expansion and there was no reaction either from his trusted sidekick, the EU’s economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn.

Papandreou sealed a deal for 110 billion euros ($160 billion) of loans from eurozone partners and the IMF last year, but with borrowing rates double what they were then on commercial markets and Greece’s debt mountain hitting 350 billion euros, new loans as part of a 60 billion euro additional rescue are being discussed. Juncker said Greece was a country that had “all my sympathy.” He said it was “others who put (Greece) into a coma,” referring to the socialist Papandreou’s predecessors in power in Athens, and reiterated that “Europe needs Greece.” In order to win Friday ’s pledge of more loans alongside pushed-back redemptions on existing debts, Papandreou had to agree to surrender some of Greece’s financial autonomy and accelerate a fire-sale of state assets.

German telecommunications operator Deutsche Telekom said Monday Athens had

sold it another 10 percent of the national Greek telecoms company OTE, in a deal expected to have a value of around 400 million euros. However, in a sign of the difficulties faced by the Greek government, the chairman of the main Greek port of Piraeus publicly opposed the government’s plans to privatize the harbor. International backers want greater control over a radical economic overhaul, ranging from decisions over a privatization program aimed at raising 50 billion by 2015 to fixing the country’s chaotic tax collection system.

“The more privatizations there are, the less the sacrifices will be that are imposed on the most modest Greek citizens,” Juncker had earlier said during the 90-minute session. With observers asking whether Papandreou could withstand a hot summer of mass demonstrations, Juncker reiterated EU appeals for politicians on all sides in Greece to find a “consensus” to “give the outside world the image of a country which knows where it is heading.”

Rehn spoke of “a certain credibility gap still concerning Greece,” and asked why political

factions could not come together to sell a new package to dispel fears of default and broader eurozone collapse to a Greek public feeling short-changed.

European leaders must take tough decisions on Greece at a June summit before the IMF will disburse its share of a vital rescue loan, a senior IMF official said yesterday. “I believe there is a summit in Europe by heads of state (in June) where some hard nuts need to be cracked and they need to make some decisions,” Bob Traa, the IMF’s senior resident representative for Greece, told a conference in Athens. “And then actually we will be ready to go to our board and to disburse in early July because we know time is of the essence,” Traa said.

The IMF official was referring to a loan installment of 12 billion euros ($18-billion) out of an overall 110-billion-euro rescue package set aside for debt-hit Greece last year by the global lender and the European Union. Athens urgently needs the money to pay next month’s bills. And it looks increasingly likely to need more loans when that res-

UBS downgrades UAE, Peru

World oil markets well supplied: Iraq

UAE urges retailers to cut prices for Ramadan ABU DHABI: UBS downgraded the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Peru, citing lackluster growth and declines in return on equity at the OPEC member state and Ollanta Humala’s victory in the Latin American country’s presidential election. UAE’s economy is slowly recovering from the 2008 financial turmoil, helped by higher oil prices. UAE’s economy declined 1.6 percent in 2009 - its first contraction since 1988.

UBS, in a note to clients on its global emerging markets strategy, downgraded Peru on political risks arising from Humala’s victory.

Left-wing former army commander Humala’s victory in the presidential election sent Peru’s stock market in a tailspin with the main index falling 12.5 percent, its biggest loss ever, before trading was suspended. UBS continued to maintain its “overweight” rating on the BRIC countries, citing strong fundamentals and growth potential even as it remained cautious on Korea, Taiwan, Eastern Europe and Andean countries like Colombia and Chile.

Oil price of $100-$120 is reasonable VIENNA: World oil markets are well supplied and prices at $100 to $120 a barrel are fair, Iraq’s oil minister said yesterday, suggesting Baghdad may not see a case for an increase in OPEC’s output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Vienna today, and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers favor increasing OPEC’s oil output target to lower prices that are well above $100 a barrel. “In my opinion the current level is not too high,” Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi told reporters. “Recent indications from the oil market as far as the stocks and supplies (are concerned) is good-there is good supply.”

Luaibi sad he favoured oil prices in the range $100-$120 a barrel and that Iraq expected to earn more than $7 billion from oil exports in May. Brent crude was valued yesterday at $114.50 and US crude at $99.

He declined to comment on whether he thought OPEC should increase its output target at today’s meeting, but said Iraq, which is outside OPEC’s system of output

targets, plans to expand its own supplies.

Baghdad hopes to increase its oil exports to 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from ports at Basra and Ceyhan by the end of the year, the minister said, which would be an increase of about 300,000 bpd from current levels.

The country is also expecting to add to its oil reserves soon and include some resources from the Kurdistan region, run by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) into the total. “In a very short time, we will announce an increase in Iraqi proven reserves,” he said, without being more specific. “Some reserves in KRG will be added to Iraqi proven reserves.” Iraq is the only one of OPEC’s 12 members allowed to pump at will, a legacy of its years of sanctions and war. Luaibi did not expect Iraq would be subject to an individual OPEC target any time soon. “If we are talking about the next couple of years, I should say it is early to state that Iraq will enter an OPEC quota.” — Reuters

cue package expires in 2013, but the IMF has threatened to withhold its share of the funding without new measures and support decisions to make Greece’s huge debt sustainable. The International Monetary Fund has made no secret of its desire to see greater cohesion in Europe on addressing the Greek debt crisis, which was followed by similar bailouts in Ireland and Por tugal within months.

“Greece’s partners in the euro area ... need to speak with one voice, leaving no doubt of their continued financial and political support,” Traa said. The Greek debt has exploded to over 350 billion euros and most analysts agree that a damaging restructuring in some form to enable the country to maintain its repayments cannot be avoided for long. All sides close to the Greek rescue-the government in Athens, the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank-have strongly warned against an outright restructuring, though there is some debate over milder forms of debt repayment that could include prior agreement with private lenders. — Agencies

VIENNA: Kuwait´s Minister of Oil Mohammad Al-Busairi arrives at the headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday on the eve of the 159th meeting of the cartel. – AFP

20-50% price reduction The United Arab Emirates economy ministry called on retailers to slash costs of basic commodities by 20-50 percent during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Al-Bayan newspaper reported yesterday. The world’s No 3 oil exporter has avoided unrest that hit nearby Oman, Bahrain and Yemen. However, con-

cerned about the turmoil, the UAE has said it would spend $1.6 billion to improve infrastructure in less-developed northern emirates.

The Gulf country has also raised military pensions by 70 percent and introduced bread and rice subsidies. “The ministry has given all selling outlets a period of two weeks to present their final offers for (prices of) commodities during Ramadan,” the daily cited Hashem Al-Nuaimi, head of consumer protection at the UAE economy ministry, as saying. “(The ministry is) advising that the discount offers range between 20 and 50 percent,” he said. The government also instructed retailers not to impose additional fees on credit card payments as of July 1, Al-Bayan said. Rising food prices have become hugely sensitive around the world, helping to fuel protests that toppled rulers of Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year, with unrest spreading across North Africa and the Middle East.

Food prices usually soar during Ramadan, which starts in August, as families enjoy more elaborate evening meals after the daylight fasting. Last month, the UAE government said it planned to combat rising global commodity prices by fixing the cost of about 400 foodstuffs and household products at 70 outlets in the second largest Arab economy. Annual inflation in the OPEC member edged down slightly to 1.1 percent in April from 1.2 percent in the previous month. — Agencies

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business

Investors demand more from reclusive Turkmenistan AVAZA: Foreigners in Turkmenistan find no cash machines to withdraw money and cannot roam with their mobile phones while much basic economic data, such the unemployment rate, remains a state secret.

Yet still the isolated but energy-rich exSoviet state is courting foreign investment and finds no shortage of interest in its vast natural resources. There has been a lot of progress but Turkmenistan does not “have a full appreciation for the magnitude of the opportunity and the challenge that goes with it,” said Douglas Uchikura, the head of Chevron’s operations in Turkmenistan.

“There’s now a window of opportunity to accelerate a focus from recognizing the potential to realizing that potential,” he told a gas industry conference in the Turkmen resort Avaza on the Caspian Sea. “ The desired production growth will require a huge amount of capital investments,” he said, warning that for Turkmenistan to

Foreigners find no cash machines to withdraw money phones do not work when they land in Ashgabat-TM Cell does not offer roaming.

Turkmenistan sits on top of the second largest gas field in the world-South-Iolotan Osman-and needs investors to help increase its exports.

The desert nation bordering Afghanistan and Iran, plans to triple gas production to 230 billion cubic meters in the next two decades. It predicts a more than sixfold increase in oil output, to 67 million tons per year. “Our country could become one of the biggest gas suppliers in the world,” said Amanaly Khanalyev, chairman of the national gas company TurkmenGas. Yagshigeldy Kakaev, chairman of the state agency for management and use of hydrocarbon resources added: “By 2030, world demand for gas will double and it will

become a key supplier, it has to be able to compete in an already competitive gas market. As a sign of Western interest in Turkmenistan, US giant General Electric opened an office in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat this month. Michael-Dieter Ulbrich of Austrian oil firm OMV said: “The window of opportunity for TurkmenGas has never been more open than now but we need commitments.”

Some basic services are lacking. Internet access is notoriously expensive, nearly $7,000 (4,800 euros) per month for the fastest broadband connection. Meanwhile, the authorities suspended Russian mobile operator MTS in December, leaving stateowned TM Cell as the sole mobile service provider in the country. But any foreign visitor arriving in Turkmenistan finds their cell

demand more extra resources.” There are political problems too. Along with an abysmal record spotlighted by international human rights groups, Turkmenistan ranks 197 out of 210 countries in the World Bank’s Government Effectiveness Index.

Turkmenistan was also ranked 172 out of 178 countries in Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index. It is absent from the World Bank’s Doing Business global sur vey. Under President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, who replaced the eccentric ruler Saparmurat Niyazov after his death in 2006, Turkmenistan has begun gradually opening up to the rest of the world but with mixed results. Following a 2008 reform, the national money, the manat, is now tied to the US dollar and the cur-

rency black market has virtually disappeared. The economy remains almost entirely cash-based, however. The state sector continues to dominate and various estimates show it amounts to between 75 to 90 percent of the economy.

Berdymukhammedov made several references in the past to the potential of forming new political parties but no actual changes have taken place, international human rights organizations say. In 2010, Turkmenistan opened a second pipeline to neighboring Iran.

Ashgabat is negotiating with Afghanistan, Pakistan and India on the new TAPI pipeline while Brussels wants Turkmenistan to commit gas for its Nabucco project. Following a 2009 spat with Russia, whose influence in Turkmenistan has fallen in recent years, China became its leading export market following the completion of a pipeline that is slated to reach full capacity by 2012. — AFP

Jazeera Airways joins IATA 238th airline-member FREEDOM TOWN: Award winning Jazeera Airways was inducted into the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a full airlinemember during IATA’s 67th Annual General Meeting that was held in Singapore yesterday, thus becoming the 238th airline-member of the global organization. Jazeera Airways CEO Stefan Pichler said, “Our induction into IATA comes during a milestone year for Jazeera Airways that included the airline’s return to sustainable profitability for the last three consecutive quarters in-a-row and a continued lead in market share on most of our routes for two years in-a-row.

Joining IATA is a privilege that couldn’t have come at a better time and we look forward to experiencing the benefits of joining it.”

“We are pleased to welcome Jazeera Airways to the IATA family. IATA membership is an important mark of quality, starting with aviation’s top priority, safety. Already Jazeera Airways has completed the IATA Operational Safety Audit and is on the registry. As an IATA member, we hope that access to our programs and services will help Jazeera Airways to take advantage of the many opportunities of the rapidly growing Middle East region, particularly in the liberalized environment of Kuwait,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. IATA represents 238 member airlines from

Marriott Hotels launch Executive Dining Card Added benefits and privileges for each cardholder KUWAIT: Kuwait Marriott Hotels announced yesterday the launch of the Executive Dining Card, at a roundtable briefing that was held at the JW Marriott Hotel.

Cardholders visiting any of the restaurants located at the Courtyard

by Marriott Hotel such as Soul & Spice, Tiramisu Cafe, Atrium Restaurant & lounge, as well as restaurants at the JW Marriott Hotel such as Terrace Grill, La Brasserie, KEI restaurant, CafÈ Royal and the tea lounge will enjoy exciting privileges.

The Executive Dining Card also offers a wide range of benefits that include 20% discount for members dining alone, 50% discount of the total bill for 2 persons, complimentary health club vouchers, complimentary breakfast vouchers, a complimentary massage sessions, complimentary stays for a couple at either of the Marriott hotels and much more.

Introducing the Executive Card features, General Manager of Kuwait Marriott Hotels, George Aoun said,”

We are delighted to introduce this card that is poised to add even more benefits to our Marriott guests. The card is valid at both the JW Marriott and the Courtyard by Marriott hotels, and will offer great discounts and privileges adding value to their visit as they enjoy a lovely ambiance and hospitable service..”

Director of Events & Restaurants, Ziad Watfi said, “At our hotels it is our constant endeavor to offer the finest dining experience coupled with an array of added privileges.

These promotions have been launched just in time for summer, and have been designed to accommodating the needs of our niche clientele in mind. We look forward to welcoming our guests to the hotel and hope they enjoy their experience with us.”

For further inquiries about the Executive Dining Card, guests can visit the front desk at either hotels or call hotline number 99755186, and fill out an application form. The card is priced at KD 75 per year.

over 120 countries who carry 93% of the world’s scheduled international air traffic. The organization provides a powerful, unified and experienced voice to support and promote its member airlines’ operations and aspirations.

As a member, Jazeera Airways will take part in global discussions and vote on issues regarding the development of the commercial aviation industry. Jazeera Airways will also participate in forums and have access to updated studies and indicators. Additionally, Jazeera

Airways will have full member voting rights, which provides the company with a voice in setting industry-wide standards that govern airline operations in order to ensure passenger safety.

IATA also promotes constructive debate on improving operational efficiency and infrastructure. Other benefits of joining IATA include getting cheaper access to IATA’s $US300 billion ($287bn) settlement systems, which allow fast and efficient settlement of intra-company payables and receivables.

Accenture to strengthen capabilities in Middle East KUWAIT: Accenture is enhancing its capabilities in the Middle East through an agreement to form a joint venture with Saudi Arabiabased Al Faisaliah Group (Al Faisaliah) through the acquisition of a majority stake in Al Faisaliah Business & Technology Company (FBTC), an Al Faisaliah subsidiary.

FBTC is a leading information technology services business in Saudi Arabia. The transaction is subject to customary closing requirements and is expected to close within 90 days.

FBTC is already one of the leading Enterprise Resource Planning solution providers in Saudi Arabia and provides integrated business

and technology services to a wide range of clients. Once the transaction is completed, Accenture s position in the Middle East market will be strengthened by the combination of FBTC s enterprise architecture, systems implementation and technology consulting skills, with Accenture s broad management consulting, technology and outsourcing experience, industry depth, focus on innovation and global delivery capabilities.

“We are delighted to be entering into this agreement with Al Faisaliah and believe the joint venture will provide an opportunity to bring together the local experi-

ence and technology skills of FBTC with Accenture s global network and capabilities,” said David Thomlinson, Accenture s senior managing director Geographic Strategy & Operations. “The agreement demonstrates our commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and enhances our ability to provide a much broader range of services for clients in the region.”

HRH Prince Mohammed K A AlFaisal, president and CEO of Al Faisaliah Group, said: “I am confident that this joint venture will benefit both Al Faisaliah and Accenture. Over time, we will continue to hire Saudi nationals as the needs of our business evolve.

Beyond this, the joint venture will bring global best practices to the Kingdom and support the improved effectiveness and competitiveness of our customers in the private and public sectors.”

“Strengthening our presence in Saudi Arabia is a priority for Accenture,” said Omar Boulos, managing director of Accenture in the Middle East.

“As always, our focus will be on providing our clients with the support they need to meet their business goals. The joint venture with Al Faisaliah will accelerate the execution of our strategy and is another indicator of our commitment to the market.”

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2700000 .4460000 .3980000 .3250000 .2770000 .2900000 .0040000 .0020000 .0741580 .7224970 .3810000 .0700000 .7082760 .0040000 .0430000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2731500 .4486080 .4003420 .3276550 .2798520 .0536940 .0444480 .2925030 .0351130 .2221820 .0034040 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0743970 .7247280 .0000000 .0728590 .7096650 .0000000

US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.435 6.129 3.188 2.498 3.844 223.630 35.290

.2760000 .4570000 .4060000 .3360000 .2870000 .2980000 .0072500 .0035000 .0749030 .7293580 .4010000 .0770000 .7153940 .0072000 .0530000 .2752500 .4520570 .4034200 .3301750 .2820040 .0541060 .0447900 .2947510 .0353830 .2238900 .0034310 .0061850 .0025180 .0032160 .0037550 .0749690 .7303000 .3893210 .0734200 .7151210 .0064010

Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

3.694 6.351 9.070 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 73.203 75.426 713.010 728.910 74.733

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 49.000 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.171 Yemen Riyal 1.256 Tunisian Dinar 203.110 Jordanian Dinar 387.650 Lebanese Lira 182.100 Syrian Lier 5.926 Morocco Dirham 36.248 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 274.400 Euro 403.090 Sterling Pound 452.100 Canadian dollar 281.440 Turkish lire 174.480 Swiss Franc 330.400 Australian dollar 294.730 US Dollar Buying 273.200

Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

GOLD 285.000 145.000 74.500

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees

SELL CASH 296.500 729.800 3.970 283.800 539.000 14.100 54.300 167.800 48.400 405.000 35.990 6.290

SELL DRAFT 295.000 729.800 3.700 282.300

224.000 46.239 403.500 35.840 6.130

0.033

387.840 0.185 93.280 3.850 226.600

330.400 5.800 9.270 74.720 274.400

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 451.000 274.400

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees

Selling Rate 274.150 284.930 451.655 404.585 329.240 725.581 74.617 75.280 73.076 387.259 46.167 2.497 6.122

Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

3.199 3.703 6.343 672.461 3.511 9.134 5.980 3.911 90.161

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 712.580 3.210 6.360 75.490 73.270 223.960 43.680 2.500 451.000

GOLD 1,584.400

10 Tola 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

0.033 0.238 0.240 3.510 389.180 0.186 93.280 47.300 4.310 228.100 1.861 52.200 712.760 3.300 6.550 75.920 73.270 223.960 43.680 2.639 453.000 45.200 331.900 5.800 9.450 198.263 74.820 274.800 1.230

Currency US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Nepali rupee Yemeni Riyal Jordanian Dinars Syrian Pounds Euro Canadian Dollars

Rate per 1000 (Tran) 274.300 3.205 6.140 2.515 3.715 6.385 74.785 73.350 729.300 46.195 455.000 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 389.700 5.750 406.400 287.000

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 273.850 Euro 403.800 Pound Sterling 452.800 Canadian Dollar 282.000 Japanese Yen 3.450 Indian Rupee 6.130 Egyptian Pound 46.165 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.497 Bangladesh Taka 3.680 Philippines Peso 6.345 Pakistan Rupee 3.188 Bahraini Dinar 729.300 UAE Dirham 74.650 Saudi Riyal 72.175 *Rates are subject to change

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

BUSINESS

Wefix kicks off its unprecedented service offerings KUWAIT: Amid a noticeable audience of elite and distinguished clients, Wefix - a multi brand and high-tech electronic repair and service center, celebrated the official launch of its business and service offerings.

Wefix is the first electronic service showroom with an innovative concept and incomparable service. As a one-stop showroom and a single telephone hotline for multi brand maintenance and repair, Wefix is more than prepared to provide instant diagnosis, cost estimate, and repair services to its wide client base.

Wefix provides many different services which includes transparency as the showroom is widely open to ensure possibilities of viewing your appliance being repaired in front of you.

Convenience always comes first at Wefix. Clients may enjoy the elegant and relaxing showroom ambiance, thanks to the entertainment option of Video Wall, played throughout the day; not to mention Wefix’s hospitality.

Adel A Mohammad Wefix Manager stated that “At Wefix, quality of service is fully guaranteed by us and customer satisfaction always comes First”. Touring the center, the invitees were

S Africa launches $1.3 bn job fund to fight unemployment CAPE TOWN: South Africa yesterday launched a nine billion rand ($1.3-billion, 911-million-euro) fund that aims to create 150,000 jobs in three years to fight the country’s 25 percent unemployment rate. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said South Africa needed “a new boldness and a new energy to be infused into the job creation process,” with two billion rand set aside to fund employment projects in 2011. “Perhaps even more importantly, we need to be able to demonstrate that we can deliver on policy pronouncements and focus more on delivery than on talk about jobs,” he told reporters.

South Africa wants to create five million new jobs by 2020 but unemployment rose to 25 percent in the first quarter of the yearreaching 33.4 percent if discouraged job seekers are included. The fund is open to proposals from government departments, municipalities, business and NGOs yesterday and will issue grants for job programs. “This

fund is a bold new venture that acknowledges we have got a problem,” said Brian Whittaker, deputy chair of the fund’s investment committee. “Very high numbers of especially young people out of work is something that the country can’t live with and for which we don’t really have known and fixed solutions. There’s an opportunity here to do something innovative.”

The fund will be administered by the Development Bank of Southern Africa and aims at a matched funding ratio for private sector applicants. “The establishment of the fund doesn’t remove the constraints but what hopefully the fund does is releases a degree of creativity that we haven’t seen before,” said Whittaker. “It will enable us as a country to be bolder on some of the initiatives than we have before and to take some risks.” The fund works on a co-funding approach, with the private sector expected to match grants awarded.—AFP

Australia, Hungary to boost investment GODOLLO: Australia and Hungary agreed yesterday to improve trade and investment ties and help citizens retiring in each other’s countries, the countries’ foreign ministers said. “A special group is to be set up to enhance investment and commercial relations between Hungary and Australia,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said on the margins of a two-day meeting of the ASEM group of Asian and European countries. On his first visit to Hungary, Kevin Rudd, Australia’s first foreign minister to join the ASEM forum, held what he described as “a good conversation” with Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The talks focused “in particular on economic cooperation in the future,” Rudd said. “Australians have deep affec tion for Hungar y,” he added, noting that the 75,000100,000-strong Hungarian commu-

nity in Australia “have made a great contribution to our countr y.”

Budapest and Canberra, candidates for non-permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council in 2011 and 2012 respectively, will “be bidding for each other,” Rudd confirmed.

The two countries also agreed to mutually transfer retirement pensions to each other’s citizens wishing to return to their country of origin. Similar agreements were soon to be concluded as well with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, among others. “The act we signed (on) social security makes it easier for Australian Hungarians to operate and live in both countries,” Rudd remarked. Australia was a favored destination for many central Europeans after World War II and Canberra has already signed several bilateral pension agreements.—AFP

introduced to the Wefix team of professional managers, well qualified technicians and experienced engineers.

About Wefix Backed by more than 55 years

of experience in the electronic field which include sales, after sales support, service and maintenance supported by our affiliated companies, SSC ( Supplying Store Co.), Electrozan and ACS

(Al-Wazzan Computer Systems).

Wefix continuously strives for excellence by raising the bar and exceeding customers’ expectations.

Business confidence, cargo picking up: IATA Asia seen as driver of global growth SINGAPORE: Airlines pieced together encouraging news for the global economy yesterday, spurred by a pick-up in business confidence and cargo, at a conference overshadowed by profit fears and growing trade tensions. Airlines representing 93 percent of world traffic were given a respite from strikes, oil prices and profit warnings with a prediction from their main trade association that world trade would pick up and that Japan’s crisis would ease by end-year. “Business travel is still solid. There has been a dip due to the Japanese earthquake but we don’t expect that to be permanent,” Brian Pearce, chief economist of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said.

After flattening out from a big recovery seen last year, when factories scrambled to ship components to get production lines moving again after the financial crisis, air cargo movements should resume growth in the second half, he said. About 35 percent of global trade by value moves through airports and the forecast represents increasing confidence in demand for capital goods and high-value components, while premium travel is closely tied to business confidence.

IATA, which groups 230 carriers, halved its forecast for industry profits in 2011 to $4 billion this week from $8.6 billion. Profits are down over three quarters from last year, due mainly to higher oil prices and setbacks in the economy. The geographical story remains mixed, Pearce said. “You are seeing the Asian, S outh American and many African economies actually doing extremely well at the moment. They are certainly not being held back by any of the debt problems that we currently see many European economies being held back by.” Chinese domestic traffic, which is often regarded as a barometer of the domestic stimulus in the world ’s second-largest economy, had dipped temporarily as authorities moved to head off inflation but should return to a growth path.

Japan, he said, should show a “pretty full recovery” in traffic by the end of the year as the impact on global supply chains from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami tapered off. Asian airlines are aggressively pursuing growth through alliances and tie-ups with other carriers. Singapore Airlines announced a tie-up with Virgin Australia after pledging to set up its own long-haul budget carrier.

Airlines provide a gauge for key parts of the economy as they benefit from discre-

SINGAPORE: Newly appointed Director General for IATA Tony Tyler (center) embraces former IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani, right, while Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong (left), watches on in Singapore during The Air Transport Association (IATA) 67th Annual General Meeting yesterday. —AP tionary travel from businesses and cargo shipments that along with shipping reflect industrial patterns in Asia. IATA says the airline industry supports some $3.5 trillion in economic activity or 7-8 percent of global GDP. But the shift of economic power and wealth eastwards and southwards from the developed economies in the past decade has stoked tensions that erupted in a rare outburst at IATA, a trade lobby run rather like an international organization. Gulf airlines led

by Qatar Airways rounded on European airlines and Canada for blocking access to their markets, while European airlines accuse them of raking in hidden subsidies.

The three-day conference opened with a showdown bet ween airlines and the European Union over an EU emissions trading plan that foreign governments regard as a stealth tax, leading to warnings that China and others could retaliate. Meeting in the tenth anniversary year of 9/11, airlines were also left acutely aware that they and other forms of passenger transport remain most at risk from terrorism. “The airline and air industry continues to be a prime target for terrorists, but we’ve seen from recovered intelligence etc that they are also focusing a lot on mass transit,” said Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble.—Reuters

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business

Investors concentrate on medium sized stocks GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Blue chips closed almost unchanged during yesterday’s session as Investors concentrate on selected medium sized stocks. All 10 large cap stocks closed flat, except for Gulf Bank which lost 1.82 percent from its share value.

Trading activities was weak during the day, at its lowest level since April 05, 2011. On economy front, The National Assembly yesterday submitted to the parliamentary commission of budgets and final account the State financial status bill for examination.

The committee will review and study the bill for the State financial status, expiring on March 30, 2011, and file a relevant report by December.

The National Assembly session was turned into an open-door meeting, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Abdullah Al-Roumi said. He said that the question of the State financial status was deliberated during the clandestine session upon a request by the Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali, who spoke during the session, along with a number of MPs. Market Indices Global General Index (GGI), market weighted, ended the day up by 0.02 percent, at 194.18 point. Market Capitalization was up for the day at KD31.84bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 6,314.1 point, adding 1.20 points (0.0.02 percent) to its previous close.

Market Breadth During the session, 96 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 27 equities advanced versus 21 that retreated.

Daily Trading Activity Trading activity was down this session. The trades conducted in the services sector. Total volume traded was down by 38.18 percent with 96.16 million shares changing hands at a total value of KD12.54 million (19.55 percent lower compared to the day before). The services sector. was the volume leader today, accounting for 48.08 percent of total shares. The same sector was the value leader, with 55.11 percent of total traded value.

Kuwait Hotels Company was the most active in terms of values of shares traded during yesterday session, with 7.56 million shares exchanged at an aggregate value of KD1.86 million.

Top Gainers and Biggest Decliners In terms of top gainers, Salbookh Trading

Company took the top spot for the day, adding 7.81 percent and closed at KD0.069. On the other hand, Al Dar National Real Estate Company shed 8.70 percent and closed at KD0.021, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors Wise Market sector indices witnessed mixed performances with the Insurance and Food sectors ending the day unchanged. However, gainers dominated and Global Non Kuwaiti Index led the gainers, registering an increase of 0.52 percent to close at 46.93 points. Bahrain-based United Gulf Bank gained 4.84 percent to close at KD0.325. The gains registered in the industrial sector’s stocks, led Global Industrial Index to increase by 0.41 percent.

Out of the gainers in this sector, United Industries Company and Gulf Cables & Electrical Industries Company which registered an increase of 5.00 percent and 1.30 percent, respectively. It is worth mentioning that, Gulf Cable and Electrical Industries Company received a letter of tender No WKM 39/20102011 from Central Tenders Committee (CTC).

Under the KD1.63mn worth of tender, the company will supply street lighting cables and flexible cables for distribution networks. The company will refer to the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) to complete related procedures.

Banking sector was the major loser for the day with Global Banking Index registering a decline of 0.14 percent on the back of the loss registered in Gulf Bank. It is worth mentioning that the market capitalization of the banking sector represents 43.58 percent of the total market capitalization of the KSE as of June 07, 2011.

Corporate News A consortium that includes Kuwait Real Estate Company (KREC), IFA Hotels & Resorts and United Investments Portugal has closed an acquisition deal worth $315mn for New Yorkbased Yotel hotel. KREC will own a 0.40 percent stake in the property.

The Central Bank of Kuwait turned down the request submitted by Coast Investment & Development Company to extend its previous approval to repurchase issued shares and sell treasury shares.

US dollar falls on China comments LONDON: The US dollar fell broadly yesterday, hurt by a warning from a Chinese official of the risks in holding huge dollar assets while European equities rebounded as investors picked up beaten-down shares. The weaker dollar helped Brent crude oil prices rise back above $114 a barrel though gains were limited by expectations that oil cartel OPEC will raise its production targets this week and worries that an economic slowdown will erode demand.

The greenback hit a one-month low against the euro and a record low versus the Swiss franc after a Chinese foreign exchange official said the dollar would continue to weaken against other major currencies and warned of risks in holding “excessive” US assets. It slid 0.5 percent against a basket of major currencies to 73.556, its lowest in a month, and plumbed 0.8328 Swiss francs on trading platform EBS-a record low. “China has been growing its share of US securities quite aggressively in the past and the threat that they will be selling these holdings has always been there,” said Adam Myers, senior forex strategist at Credit Agricole.

“This is not a credible threat as a selloff will lead to a steepening of the US yield curve which will hurt the US and the Chinese, who are dependent on the US economy. But I do agree that the dollar is headed lower in the long term.” US debt prices were slightly weaker but this was largely due to the rebound in equities, with benchmark Treasury note yields up about three basis points at 3.024 percent. The dollar has been persistently weak in recent months due to worries about the solidity of the US economic recovery and expectations that interest rates, most notably in the euro zone, will continue to be raised significantly faster.

The European Central Bank is expected at its meeting tomorrow to signal a second rise in rates this year, offsetting the impact on the euro of concerns that Greece will eventually have to restructure its debt. The euro jumped to a onemonth high of $1.4682, up 0.6 percent on the day and up more than 4 percent since it bottomed out against the dollar on May 23. Investors will look to a speech

by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at 1945 GMT for more clues on the US central bank’s view of the economic slowdown and its impact, if any, on the Fed’s exit from its extremely easy monetary policy.

European shares snapped a four session slide with investors picking up beaten-down stocks, notably in the utilities and basic resources sectors, though worries that the global recovery was stalling after a spate of weak US data capped gains. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent, clawing back from an 11-week closing low on Monday. The European advances helped world stocks as measured by MSCI up 0.2 percent, and followed gains in Asian markets. “Shares in Asia were higher so that’s giving us a mild boost and some people think the falls yesterday may have been a bit overdone,” said Markus Huber, senior trader at ETX Capital.

US stock index futures also pointed to a firmer open on Wall Street, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures, and Nasdaq 100 up 0.5-0.6 percent. US Federal Reserve officials on Monday said recent economic data has been disappointing, with one suggesting it could delay the Fed’s exit from its extremely easy monetary policy. Brent crude oil for July delivery edged back above $114 a barrel, bolstered by the dollar’s weakness, but gains were muted on the possibility that OPEC might raise its output targets this week and worries about the demand outlook.

Earlier, Iraqi Oil Minister AbdulKareem Luaibi said world oil markets were well supplied and prices were not too high. The comments suggest Iraq may not support the increase in OPEC output that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers favor. London Brent was last up 0.2 percent at $114.75, having fallen as low as $113.80 earlier. Spot gold was bid firmer at $1,549.00 per ounce, after closing at $1,543.05 on Monday, boosted by the weaker dollar. Gold, one of the chief beneficiaries of worries about the security of currencies and other assets, set a record high of $1,575.79 per ounce in early May. — Reuters

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business

UK mulls tougher approach to foreign takeovers LONDON: What do Britain’s major airports, most of its utilities, the top drugstore chain, one of its biggest brewers and the maker of the nation’s favorite chocolate bar have in common? All are owned by foreign companies. They have been snapped up in recent years in a rash of takeovers that is raising concerns about how much of this island nation has fallen to profit-seeking investors from abroad. While the United States and many European countries have strict regulations barring foreign control of many businesses, Britain has been largely content in the belief it has more to gain than lose from its relaxed takeover rules.

But last year’s controversial $21.4 billion takeover by Kraft Foods Inc of 195-year-old Cadbury PLC, maker of the Dairy Milk bar, stirred up nationalist sentiment and prompted the government to consider a tightening of the legislation. With its decision on a so-called Cadbury Law due in just a few weeks, debate is raging about whether Britain should become more protectionist.

On the one hand, unions argue that more foreign takeovers hurt Britons’ job prospects. On the other, businesses and legal experts say that putting up barriers to entry will block crucial investment and encourage tit-for-tat practices.

Britain has consistently attracted more foreign direct investment than any other European country.

According to analytics firm Dealogic, foreigners have spent more than $1 trillion on acquiring

5,400 British companies in the past decade. The British, in return, have spent $750 billion on 6,000 companies. That trend has ratcheted higher in recent years, with overseas buyers attracted by the weak British pound and the country’s comparatively relaxed tax laws. Last year, foreign purchasers accounted for 54 percent of the 113 takeovers, compared with just 40 percent in 2009, according to London-based law firm Wedlake Bell.

Among the foreign owners are Spanish infrastructure firm Ferrovial, which bought Heathrow Airport owner BAA in 2006 for 10.3 billion pounds, while French utility EDF acquired British Energy in 2008. Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, meanwhile, is on its third foreign owner, Tata Motors of India.

Potential future targets include banknote printer De La Rue, oil firm BP, food group United Biscuits, the London Stock Exchange, gas company Centrica and software manufacturer Invensys.

“It is an endorsement of the health of our public markets that so many overseas companies are interested in investing in London-listed companies,” said Tim Bird, a partner at law firm Wedlake Bell. “However, we should be concerned that British firms do not have the firepower to be the hunter rather than the hunted as it suggests that UK companies are still relatively weak coming out of the financial crisis and the recession.” Many are worried the country’s liberal takeover regime makes Britain’s companies easy targets to

LONDON: British Treasury chief George Osborne (right) and John Lipsky, acting head of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, leave after addressing a press conference at the Treasury in central London Monday on June 6, 2011. The British government should stick to its guns and continue with its deficit-reduction strategy despite weaker than anticipated economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said. — AP predators from countries - mainly the United States, France, India and China - that do not allow anywhere near the same level of foreign access in return.

In the US, poison pill defenses corporate plans to discourage takeovers - are still legal and many states have laws preventing foreign takeovers. Unlike its relatively easy entry into Britain, Dubai’s DP World’s attempt to buy port management businesses in the US in 2006 was scuppered by a political backlash. In

Europe, Italy’s government joined others this year in considering new rules to thwart unwanted foreign takeovers in sectors deemed strategically important.

Canada, like some developing countries, has been aggressive in warding off foreign bids to use its mineral wealth to strengthen other sectors. Australia’s BHP Billiton last year abandoned its $39 billion bid for PotashCorp after failing to secure government approval. A major concern is that foreign own-

ership can have a big impact on jobs. “While there may be a business sense in some consolidations - for instance British Airways and Iberia we are always very wary about the underlying rationale for the fusion,” said Len McCluskey, general secretary of leading trade union Unite.

Last year’s Cadbury-Kraft deal appeared to bear out such worries.

Both lawmakers and the public were outraged when the US company reneged on a pledge to keep open a British chocolate factory, switching production to Switzerland instead to reduce its tax bill. A crossparty committee of lawmakers in May said they still have “significant concerns” about the company’s jobs plans, and criticized Kraft’s chief executive Irene Rosenfeld for refusing to appear before parliamentary hearings. In the feverish climate that followed the deal, Business Secretary Vince Cable, a member of the governing Conservative-led coalition, launched a consultation examining tougher rules for hostile foreign bids.

Proposals under consideration included increasing the threshold for control of a company to 66.6 percent from the current 50 percent and banning hedge funds from voting on offers. But it appears the government will shy away from any protectionist measures that take into account the nationality of the bidder and instead adopt more measured suggestions from the Takeover Panel. The panel’s changes include forcing predators to disclose more about their intentions and ensure

they cannot lay siege to firms for long periods of time that create uncertainty for employees and shareholders.

Break fees and non-solicitation deals will be outlawed, except in case of a friendly rescue takeover, and bidders will also have to stick to any pledges to employees for at least a year. Patrick Sarch, an M&A partner in the corporate practice at London law firm Clifford Chance, which advised on the Cadbury deal, said the government was right to avoid any kind of public interest test that would potentially politicize takeovers, creating uncertainty for both buyers and sellers. “Having a political discretion would ultimately be quite arbitrary,” he said. Sarch is among those who point out that not all foreign takeovers are negative as many bring significant investment.

Some have resulted in headquarters and jobs - being moved to London such as the merger of TUI and Thomas Cook. Jaguar Land Rover, meanwhile, probably wouldn’t exist given the lack of domestic interest. And regardless of how far the government takes the Cadbury Law, just about everybody agrees that keeping Britain competitive in areas like skills, infrastructure and tax is the only way to ensure a level playing field for both foreign and local buyers.

In the end, Sarch points out, it may be a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted: “It’s a bit late in some ways to start protecting stuff now.” — AP

Bruised FTSE aided by strong mining stocks FTSE 100 up 0.2%; Burberry lifted by bid speculation

AMADORA: Passos Coelho leader of the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) enjoys a pastry in a bar in Amadora on the outskirts of Lisbon. — AFP

Portugal leader reassures markets on debt, reforms Polish unemployment rate dips to 12.2% LISBON: Portugal’s incoming prime minister moved fast yesterday to reassure the markets of his commitment to tame the national debt, standing by a campaign pledge to go beyond the demands of a 78-billion-euro EU-IMF rescue. Pedro Passos Coelho, leader of the centre-right Social Demcorats (PSD) which defeated the Socialists in a general election on Sunday, also said his government would lower labor costs for exports as a way to revive the economy. “We must be more ambitious in terms of privatizations, in public media for example,” he said in an interview with French business daily Les Echos.

The PSD backs the privatization of one of the state broadcaster RTP’s two television stations as well as the state water company and the Lisbon metro. Partially privatizing savings bank Caixa Geral de Depositos is also part of Passos Coelho’s vision as outlined in a book published in 2010 called “Change,” as a way to reduce the role of the state in the Portuguese economy. Portugal became the third eurozone countr y after Greece and Ireland to seek a bailout after outgoing Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned in March when parliament rejected his minority Scoialist government’s latest austerity measures, sending Lisbon’s already high borrowing costs sharply higher.

Last month, Greece was forced to agree to privatize more national assets in order to reach the budget targets set out in the bailout program it reached last year with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. During the campaign, Passos Coelhos warned that Portugal risked following the example of Socialist-run Greece, which now needs even more money a year after it got its bailout, if Socrates remained in power.

Under Portugal’s bailout plan, Lisbon must cut its public deficit to 5.9 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the year from more than 9.0 percent in 2010 and to within a eurozone limit of

3.0 percent of GDP by 2013.

Budget cuts demanded in exchange for the three -year aid package are expected to cause the Portuguese economy to contract by around 2.0 percent this year and next. Passos Coelho told Les Echos that since internal demand will not be able to fuel growth in the short-term, Portugal was “expecting a lot from external demand.” He vowed to stimulate exports, in part by lowering the cost of labor for firms that export. “That will be a way to regain export competitiveness.

We have no other way, since we are in the euro zone,” Passos Coelho said.

Barclays Capital said the EU-IMF program “may work but it will have to deliver the proposed fiscal consolidation path and, more importantly, it must succeed in raising long-term GDP growth to 1.52.0 percent.” “We think this might be particularly challenging for Portugal. Over the last decade Portugal has suffered chronically low growth because of very weak productivity and a loss of competitiveness,” it added in a research note. The Social Democrats won 105 seats in the 230-seat legislature in Sunday’s election and Passos Coelho has said he will seek to govern with the smaller conservative CDS-PP party which garnered 24 seats.

Polish unemployment Meanwhile, the Polish unemployment rate dipped to 12.2 percent in May from 12.6 percent in April and 13.1 percent in March after a marginal rise to 13.2 percent in February from January, official data showed yesterday. The number of jobseekers at the end of May fell to 1.96 million down from 2.04 million in April, 2.13 million in March and 2.15 million in February, the country’s Central Statistical Bureau (GUS) said.

In May 2010, the jobless rate in Poland, a country of 38 million, stood at 12.0 percent of the workforce.

Unemployment traditionally rises in Poland in the winter months, when activity drops in sectors such as construction and farming. — Agencies

LONDON: Britain’s top shares were higher yesterday, continuing a rebound from last week’s sharp falls, as gains from mining stocks more than offset declines from retailers after weak sales data on the high street. The FTSE 100 was up 9.73 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,872.89 by 1118 GMT, having added 0.1 percent on Monday.

The index fell 1.4 percent last week, pressured by gloomy US data. Miners added the most points to the blue-chip index, building on the previous session’s gains. Bargain hunters moved in on Rio Tinto, up 1.4 percent, which has recently been trading below its 200-day moving average. “We seem to be in something of a straitjacket at the moment.

On the one hand you have got the ongoing European sovereign debt situation, although things do seem to be inching along in terms of Greece,” Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

“The other arm is the US situation where there is a debate going on about whether the economy is in a soft patch or whether it is something a bit more structural ... Until either one or both of those issues can be resolved, it is difficult to see the market moving on in any meaningful way.” Greece has made progress in

tackling its debt crisis but cannot afford to relax the pace of reforms, the International Monetary Fund’s senior representative in Greece told a banking conference. Bank stocks were mixed, recovering some of their poise after a sell-off in the previous session.

Lloyds Banking Group was the best performer, up 1.6 percent after being the biggest bluechip faller on Monday after downbeat comment from chief executive Antonio HortaOsorio in an interview with the Financial Times.

Fellow part state-owned lender Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 0.6 percent as the Kuwait Investment Authority said it would consider buying a stake in RBS although no offer has yet been made. Barclays shed 0.4 percent, after a ruling by the judge overseeing the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy case.

The trustee for the brokerage arm of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc was entitled to $4 billion in margin assets that have been the subject of the long-running legal fight with Barclays, the judge said. JPMorgan cut estimates for investment banks after weaker than expected second-quarter results in the sector, with the broker reducing its price target for Barclays.

News

in brief

UK house prices rebound LONDON: British house prices rose by 0.1 percent in May month-on-month after a plunge of 1.4 percent in April, data from a major home -loans provider showed yesterday. However they slumped by 4.2 percent in May compared with 12 months earlier the largest annual drop in 19 monthsaccording to figures from mortgage lender Halifax.

“Low earnings growth, higher taxes and relatively high inflation are all putting pressure on household finances,” Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said in a statement. “Confidence is also weak as a result of uncertainty about the economic and employment outlook. These factors are probably constraining housing demand and applying some downward pressure on prices.” Halifax, which is part of state-controlled Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), said the average house price in Britain stood at £160,519 (179,865 euros, $263,617) in May. Philippines inflation climbs to 4.5% MANILA: Inflation in the Philippines has risen to 4.5 percent as prices of clothes, fuel and utilities went up. The National Statistics Office yesterday released the inflation rate for May, up from 4.3 percent in April. It brings year-to-date inflation to 4.2 percent.

Central bank Governor Amando Tetangco says the rate is at the low end of a forecast range of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent, and suggests that upward price pressure remains. Tetangco told reporters last month that after peaking in the second or third quarter of this year, inflation should moderate in 2012 to between 3 percent and 5 percent.

Australia keeps rates steady SYDNEY: Australia held official interest rates steady at 4.75 percent yesterday, saying floods and cyclones had thrown the economy into reverse and Europe remained plagued by debt fears. The Reserve Bank of Australia left the official cash rate unchanged for the sixth consecutive time after data last week showed the heaviest economic contraction in 20 years due to the summer’s natural disasters.

Weakness was seen on the high street after retail sales fell unexpectedly in May as low wage growth and high inflation forced consumers to rein in spending after a strong Easter, a survey from the British Retail Consortium found. Marks & Spencer shed 0.8 percent, Tesco dropped 1 percent, and Next fell 0.2 percent. “Any time that there is not consistent buying out there by the bulls, you are going to get the focus straight back onto anything bad-so, the high street, Greece, and the general lack of economic figures in the US,” said Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital.

Among individual movers, Resolution topped the FTSE 100 leader board, up 3.5 percent, after the insurance consolidator said it will return 500 million pounds surplus cash to investors. Burberry firmed 1.5 percent, as traders pointed to a French press report pointing to bid talk within the sector. French retailer and luxury goods company PPR is in talks to make a large acquisition in the luxury sector, La Tribune reported, citing an unnamed internal source. Whitbread, meanwhile, was a big faller, off 1.4 percent, after Barclays Capital downgraded its rating for the leisure firm to “equal-weight”. — Reuters

OPEC outlook dents crude LONDON: US crude retreated yesterday due to expectations OPEC might raise its production target this week and to worries about the demand outlook. However dollar weakness limited losses as a weaker US currency makes oil more attractive in other currencies.

“Sentiment is still cloudy ahead of OPEC. The only effect counteracting (that) at the moment is the weaker dollar, which has seen a continuation of the trend from last week in the aftermath of the weaker US data,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank.

US crude has stayed in a fairly tight range for a month as concerns that global growth would hit demand have been offset by supply worries caused by civil war in Libya and turmoil in Syria and Yemen. US light crude for July delivery fell 41 cents to at $98.60 a barrel by 1119 GMT. Brent crude fell 2 cents to $114.46 a barrel after reaching its weakest close in nearly two weeks on Monday. Investor eyes are now firmly fixed on this week’s OPEC meeting, at which major oil producers are at odds over whether to boost production quotas. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies may struggle to push more than a cosmetic increase in oil supplies.

The dollar fell broadly to hit a onemonth low against a basket of currencies and the euro and to a record low versus the Swiss franc after a Chinese official warned of the risks of excessive dollar holdings. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, favor a hike in output on concerns that high oil prices are limiting economic growth. Saudi Arabia is already planning to hike its own oil output by 200,000-300,000 barrels per day in June.

But delegates gathering in Vienna for the OPEC meeting today said a deal to do anything more than just close the gap between OPEC’s out-of-date official production target and actual supplies could prove difficult. “We’ve been stuck in a range, and investors are waiting for the outcome of the OPEC meeting, to see what the outlook is and how it redraws the map for world supply and demand,” Zug based Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob said.

“What is relevant is the production level of Saudi Arabia, not the formal agreement,” Jakob added.

PRICE PRESSURE He said that any increase in supply could depress prices significantly. “If Saudi puts any incremental barrels on the water, it will be very bearish and we could see WTI move to below its 200-day moving average at around $91.” Geopolitical concerns supported crude prices on worries that escalating violence could further limit supply after Libya’s production went off-line earlier this year.

The United States called for a peaceful and orderly transition in Yemen in the absence of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is in Saudi Arabia recovering from wounds suffered in an attack on his palace in Sanaa. Syrian forces fought gunmen in battles that left more than 120 members of the security forces dead, state television said in the first report of large-scale armed clashes in the revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad. In Tripoli, loud explosions shook the town in what appeared to be stepped-up NATO air strikes on the Libyan capital yesterday morning, and rebel forces seized a town in the west, driving out Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. — Reuters

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BUSINESS

Investors shift focus to emerging market consumers MONTREAL: Emerging markets have lost little of their luster-despite concerns about Brazil, China and India overheating-but investors are slowly shifting their focus from commodities to consumers. Amid concerns about inflation in Brazil and a housing bubble in China, emerging market investors are becoming ever-more refined in their choices.

With the value of emerging market stocks estimated at 10 trillion US dollars, the economies of developing nations are no longer “monolithic,” Arjun Divecha, chairman of global investment management firm GMO, told a group of political and industry elites in Montreal Monday. “The view we have is that we don’t have to think of emerging markets anymore as being monolithic. We can think of them as being segmented in various ways.” “In broad terms,” Divecha

argued, “we can think of them as serving three audiences. First the exporters. These are the people who make stuff and sell it to the rest of the world, outside of emerging markets.

These are the companies that do well when growth is good.”

“The second group are the commodity producers. These are the companies that basically take stuff out of the ground, process it in some form and then sell it.” “And the third group is the domestic market,” he told panelists at the International Economic Forum of the Americas. The prevailing thinking is that “given what’s happening in the US, in Europe and in Japan, it’s hard to see that we’re going to have really strong growth over the next few years. And with commodity producers, their performance in some sense will be dependent very much on commodity prices. And so there-

fore it’s somewhat of a crap shoot.”

Divecha said that companies that serve domestic demand - such as cell phone manufacturers-will therefore outperform exporters and commodity producers. “Are people in India going to have more cell phones? The answer is yes,” he told a panel of experts discussing strategies for investing in emerging markets.

“When poor people in poor countries get richer, the first thing that they do is to save. But at a certain level of wealth, people save less and consume more.” Divecha said the shift from saving to consumption has unpredictable consequences in the market. The so-called “sweet spot” of consumption in emerging economies is between $3,000 to $10,000 per capita GDP, he claimed. “” This is where we see the massive non-linearity of the market,” he said.

In China, per capita GDP reached $1,000 in 2000. In 2010, when it reached $3,000 the growth of car sales grew exponentially, from one million to 17 million. In the next five years, when per capita GDP reaches $6,000, some 460 million people will be able to afford a car. “How many people actually forecast that China’s car sales would actually be 15 million or 17 million? Zero. And that’s the point. The point is that non-linearity of demand is very difficult to forecast.” He also said that a changing demographic picture was also benefiting emerging economies. In the 1960s and 70s, for every 100 people of working age, another 80 of nonworking age were being supported.

Now, the proportion of working to non-working individuals is 100 to 50.

The demographics are now improving and contributing to a “dramatic

demand in consumer goods.”

Philippe Maystadt, President of the European Investment Bank, said emerging economies have proven resilient and developed “cushions to mitigate the impact of the shock of the financial crisis, pointing out that strong capital inflows have returned since mid 2009. Some of the growth in emerging markets over the last decade has been nothing short of astonishing, experts said. In Brazil, China and India, the stock market hit double and triple digit gains since 2000. The gains convinced many investors that the developing worlddespite governance challenges and perceived riskier lending practices of banks-was the real engine of the global economy. But in the big emerging economies, growth has now cooled due to inflation-fighting efforts. —AFP

Asian stocks down amid US economy pessimism Hyundai Heavy Industries Co slips 1.3% BANGKOK: Asian stock markets fell for a second day yesterday as pessimism about the health of the US economy led to another session of dour trading on Wall Street. Oil prices slipped below $99 a barrel ahead of a key OPEC meeting this week. The dollar strengthened against the euro and the yen as European officials haggled over how to prevent Greece from defaulting on billions of euros in debts. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was virtually unchanged at 9,383.32 and South Korea’s Kospi index slipped 0.8 percent to 2,095.49, with heavy industrials sinking amid fears of a global economic slowdown.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co slipped 1.3 percent, while steelmaker POSCO was 1.2 percent lower. Memory chip maker Hynix Semiconductor, among the most actively traded on the Kospi,

world’s largest mining company, dropping 1 percent.

In Japan, news reports that Toshiba Corp and Sony Corp may cooperate to make themselves more competitive in small and

shares were battered Monday after TEPCO acknowledged that more action was needed to prevent a massive spill of radioactive water into the environment.

More than 100,000 tons of con-

HONG KONG: An undated picture shows pink dolphins playing in the waters off Lantau in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s ambitious plans to expand its airport to meet soaring demand have sparked protests from environmentalists who say it would further endanger the city’s rare white dolphins. —AFP bounced 2 percent. Minerals took a beating on several exchanges.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.7 percent to 22,794.47.

China Shenhua Energy Co, the state-owned coal miner, plunged 4.1 percent in Hong Kong trading.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7 percent, with BHP Billiton, the

midsize liquid crystal display panels for mobile and tablet devices sent their shares in opposite directions. Toshiba gained 1.5 percent while Sony slipped 2.1 percent. Tokyo Electric Power Co, the Japanese utility battling to bring a crippled nuclear power plant under control, rose 6.7 percent. Its

Cash-strapped Belarus to sell top potash firm MINSK: Cash-strapped Belarus is negotiating the sale of its most prized asset, the potash producer Belaruskali, under the terms of a loan agreed this month with Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Responsible for one-third of the world’s potash fertilizer production, Belaruskali could be worth $20 billion, the report said, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

Potential buyers include investors from China and Russia, whose billionaire owner of the Uralkali producer has already held talks with the Belarussian firm, the Wall Street Journal said. Officials at the ex-Soviet Union’s largest potash producer and Belneftekhim, the state corporation that holds its shares, declined to comment.

The importance of potash fertilizer has soared in recent years owing to mounting demand for food in the world, particularly China, with the market led by Potash Corp of Canada. Uralkali’s Russian owner Suleiman Kerimov is in the process of merging the country’s two main potash suppliers, and his partial ownership of the Belarusian firm would secure his global lead in fertilizer production. The Wall Street Journal, however, said Belarus has refused an initial offer from the Russian buyer, with little progress also reported on the sale of a 25-percent stake in Belaruskali to Chinese investors.

The talks were reported after Belarus agreed to privatize $7.5 billion worth of state assets within three years under the terms of a $3-billion bailout loan it received on Saturday from a group of ex-Soviet states led by Russia.

Russia has also confirmed interest in a 50-percent stake it does not yet own in the Belarusian natural gas transport operator, Beltransgaz. —AFP

taminated water have pooled beneath the plant in northeastern Japan since it was hobbled by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The US economy’s failure to thrive despite two rounds of so called “quantitative easing” by the Federal Reserve - involving massive injections of cash to keep

the economy chugging - has led to speculation that a third round may be on the way. “Would it help? Would it hurt? On the first question, our sense is that it won’t ultimately prove necessary and that it’s certainly too early for Fed officials to be make any hints in that direction,” analysts at DBS Bank in Singapore wrote in a report.

On Wall Street on Monday, investors remained focused on last week’s grim employment report. The Labor Department reported that employers added only 54,000 new workers in May. The unemployment rate inched up to 9.1 percent from 9 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.5 percent to 12,089.96. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 1.1 percent to 1,286.17, the first S&P closing below 1,300 since March 23. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.1 percent to 2,047.39.

Benchmark crude for July delivery dropped 43 cents to $98.58 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had settled at $99.01 per barrel on the Nymex on Monday. Analysts are looking for clues on what OPEC will do about oil production when the cartel meets today in Vienna.

OPEC ministers could decide to try to lower oil prices by increasing production. OPEC officials have said that they believe oil prices are too high and threaten global economic recovery. In currencies, the euro slipped to $1.4580 from $1.4587 late Friday in New York. The dollar strengthened to 80.19 yen from 80.13 yen.—AP

GM eyes rapid growth Brazil DETROIT: General Motors expects five to seven percent growth through 2015 in the South America market, centered around their operations in Brazil, according to a top GM executive. South American economies “will continue to grow at five percent and what that means is that Brazil will be a market of five million units and South America will be reaching seven million (units),” Jaime Ardila, GM president for South America told reporters on Monday. “We’re expecting growth of five to seven percent over the next five years,” said Ardila, noting that GM DETROIT: General Motors CEO Dan Akerson addresses the and other automakers had media before the company’s shareholders meeting in Detroit benefited from the region’s yesterday. —AP steadily increasing economic largest country-wide automotive market in the and political stability.

“These are large commodity exporters and world, just behind Japan and ahead of Germany. they’ve all benefited from the demand from GM’s market share in Brazil was 19.9 percent last China,” said Ardila ahead of a meeting with GM’s year, leaving it in third behind Volkswagen and board of directors. GM sold more than one mil- FIAT. “We sold 650,000 vehicles in Brazil last year lion vehicles in South America last year and and our expectation is to sell 700,000 this year,” expects the total will grow to 1.5 million units Ardila said.

Brazil is home to one of GM five major techniover the next five years,” Ardila said. The Detroit automaker’s outreach into Brazil first began in cal centers, but the company has no plans to 1925 - one of GM’s first operations outside the build new assembly and manufacturing plants as United States. But among the main challenges it has in China. Instead, GM plans to meet the risthat GM faces in Brazil in the 21st century, is the ing demand by adding shifts at its existing three currency value of the real compared to the dollar, manufacturing plants and complete a new which, he said, “makes it very tough for manufac- engine plant, Ardila said. The company generated turing to remain competitive... It is no longer a an $800 million profit on $16 billion in revenues in South America in 2010, with Brazil accounting low cost country.”

The next biting issue is infrastructure to sus- for 65 percent of the activity. Worldwide net profit tain rapid growth, he said. Brazil is the fourth for the group was $4.7 billion. —AFP

NEW YORK: Alan Mulally (center) President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, gestures as he prepares to ring the New York Stock Exchange opening bell yesterday. —AP

Ford, GM and Honda see mixed China sales SHANGHAI: Foreign automakers are seeing mixed sales trends in China as the world’s biggest market for new vehicles cools after years of torrid growth.

General Motors Co said yesterday that its total sales in China fell 3 percent in May from a year earlier to 190,674 vehicles.

Its sales in the first five months of the year edged up nearly 5 percent to 1.08 million. GM’s flagship joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp fared well. Its sales climbed 11 percent to 92,519 on robust demand both for fuel-efficient Chevrolet models and for pricier Buicks and Cadillacs. Ford Motor Co said its sales in China climbed 14 percent from a year earlier to 45,162 vehicles in May. Sales in Januar y-May climbed 15 percent to 230,068, helped by strong demand for the Ford Focus and Mondeo models.

Japan’s Honda Motor Co reported its sales fell about 32 percent to 27,204 vehicles in May and about 9 percent in the first five months of the year, to 236,264. Auto sales edged lower in China in April, the first such decline in over two years, as dealers were hit by both weakening demand and the spillover from Japan’s earthquake disaster. Industrywide sales for May are due later in the week. But reports in state media suggest growth, if any, will be modest. Domestic automakers are meanwhile trying to beat the heat of intense

competition at home by focusing on overseas investments and exports.

The government-affiliated China Automotive Technology & Research Center has forecast that sales could fall 10 percent this year, sapped by rising fuel prices, traffic curbs and the end of government subsidies for some vehicle purchases. But the market is still expected to see strong and steady growth in the long run, albeit at a slower pace, and major automakers continue to expand capacity. Ford recently announced that its joint venture Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Ltd. will spend $350 million to build the company’s first transmission plant in Chongqing in southwest China, an area that saw rapid sales growth before the current lull.

Surging sales following the global financial crisis made China the world’s biggest market for new vehicles as of 2009, and sales jumped 32 percent last year to over 18 million vehicles. In the first quarter of 2011, sales rose just 8 percent. Supply chain disruptions following the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan are still hindering Japanese automakers. Honda reported that sales of its joint venture with central-China based Dongfeng Motors held steady in January-May, edging up 1.6 percent from the same period a year earlier, to 105,722. —AP

Markets dive as divided Peru digests poll victory LIMA: Peru’s stock market posted a record loss and world silver prices spiked, as markets gave a negative reaction to leftist Ollanta Humala’s win in a presidency runoff.

The ex-lieutenant colonel claimed victory after Sunday’s poll against right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, raising fears of a Venezuela-style upheaval in a country that is a vital supplier of precious metals to the global market.

Humala had campaigned on promises to share out Peru’s mineral wealth-including gold, silver and copper-while playing down his former ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. With more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Humala, 48, slightly extended his lead Monday, with 51.37 percent, against 48.63 percent for Fujimori, daughter of a jailed ex-strongman, official figures showed. “I recognize his triumph,” Fujimori said in a brief message to the media Monday. “I salute his victory and I wish him luck.”

Peru’s stock market tumbled, posting a record 12.5 percent loss despite a mid-session halt to trading and early close to try to limit the damage. Peruvian mining companies were among the biggest losers. The picture was scarcely more positive outside Peru. In London, silver prices rose, by 2.1 percent to $36.99 per troy ounce. “The concerns associated with a Humala victory focus mainly on the possibility of increased government intervention in the economy, including the nationalization of ‘strategic

economic sectors,’ a key feature of Mr Humala’s original government plan,” said analysts at Barclays Capital.

Humala’s victory over Fujimori turns a new page in Peruvian politics, in the first return of the left to power since the 19681975 military regime of Juan Velasco Alvaredo. Humala moved toward the political center after a failed bid at the presidency in 2006 backed by Chavez. He now looks to Brazil’s more moderate left for advice.

Chavez, who was in Brazil Monday, congratulated Humala and said the result was part of “a full dawn of another era.” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff rapidly telephoned Humala to wish him “a lot of luck” and invite him to visit Brazil, a spokesman said.

Washington’s top diplomat for Latin America, Arturo Valenzuela, said in El Salvador that the United States was “very willing” to work with Humala. Fujimori campaigned in the shadow of her father, Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year jail term for corruption and rights abuses during a 1990s crackdown on extreme leftist guerrillas. Although she courted the business community and most of the media with promises of keeping the free-market model, the former 19-year-old “first lady,” also provoked fears of following her father’s authoritarian path. Even though some voters backed Humala to block Fujimori or vice versa, the vote was also seen as a rebuke of the current economic model. —AFP

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TECHNOLOGY

EU Internet chief regrets lack of Netflix-type sites BRUSSELS: Europe is falling behind the United States in online entertainment services such as the popular US on-demand film website Netflix due to stringent copyright rules, the EU’s Internet chief said yesterday.

Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s digital agenda commissioner, said current rules mean that the music and video industry in

the 27-nation bloc is fragmented with no pan-European version of Netflix.

“In short, while US companies compete to provide attractive online content experience to millions of consumers, Europe can boast several regional players at best. This has to change,” Kroes told the World Copyright Summit. The European

Commission says there are four times more music downloads in the United States than in Europe because of barriers and the lack of websites offering content legally.

The copyright system in the EU works on a national basis even though the bloc boasts a single market of half a billion people. “We therefore need a copyright system

which boosts our creative industries instead of holding them back. We need a copyright system fit for the digital era,” Kroes said.

European internal market commissioner Michel Barnier announced last month plans to develop a system of multinational copyright licenses that would be valid in several nations. Kroes pointed to the success of

Netflix, which allows customers to order films and T V shows on demand, and lamented that European websites such as Sweden’s Spotify are still unable to offer an EU-wide service. “Netflix is the largest single source of Internet traffic in North America.

But we have no pan-European equivalent,” she said. — AFP

Sony unveils next-gen portable device ‘Vita’ ‘The whole world is really in play’

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller talks about new Lion operation sytem at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. — AP

Apple takes a giant leap into the ‘iCloud’ cloud SAN FRANCISCO: Apple chief executive Steve Jobs interrupted his medical leave to unveil a free service called iCloud that stores music, photos and other content on the Web and shares it across multiple devices.

“We’re going to move the digital hub to the cloud,” the 56-year-old Jobs told software developers at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC) at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Jobs and other top Apple executives also gave developers a preview of the next generation of Lion, the software that powers Macintosh computers, and iOS 5, the latest mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

But the highlight of the event was Apple’s long-awaited iCloud service, which eliminates the need to hook up a cable to transfer files between Apple devices.

“Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy,” Jobs said to cheers from the audience of more than 5,000 software developers. “We think the solution is our next big insight. “iCloud stores your content in the cloud and automatically pushes it to all your devices,” he said.

Apple said iCloud wirelessly synchronizes mail, contacts, calendars, photos, applications, e-books, music and other files across devices.

Apple’s “iTunes in the Cloud” shares music bought through iTunes across Apple devices while a Photo Stream service does the same with pictures.

For music not bought through iTunes, Apple is offering a service called “iTunes Match” for $24.99 a year that matches music ripped from CDs in a subscriber’s personal music collection and makes it available online.

“Chances are awfully good that we’ve got the songs in the store that you’ve ripped,” Jobs said in a reference to the 18 million songs in iTunes.

“The other guys, you’ve got to upload your whole music library,” he added in a jab at rival cloud music services introduced by Amazon and Google. “That’s gonna take weeks.”

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at technology research company Gartner, said iCloud represents a “pretty big shift for Jobs.”

“Where 10 years ago he talked about the Mac as the hub for your digital life today he said the cloud is now the hub

for your digital life,” Gartenberg said.

“Apple’s talking about an entire ecosystem,” he said. “What they presented today was from a software platform perspective an entire vision of the future of the digital consumer all tied together by cloud service offerings.”

Jobs, dressed in his trademark black pullover and blue jeans, took the stage to a standing ovation shortly after the music sound system blared out the James Brown hit “I Feel Good.”

Jobs appeared frail but relatively healthy in his first public appearance since March, when he unveiled the iPad 2.

Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant two years ago and has fought pancreatic cancer, was making just his second public appearance since going on medical leave in January with an unspecified illness.

Jobs and other Apple executives took potshots at the personal computer during Monday’s event, promoting Apple’s ecosystem of mobile devices over the PC. “We’re going to demote the PC to just being a device,” Jobs said, instead of the center of a user’s life.

With the new version of iOS 5, for example, a personal computer would no longer be needed to set up and activate an iPad and software updates will be delivered wirelessly.

“With the new iPad we’re ushering in the post-PC world,” said Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone software.

“Now if you want to cut the cord, you can.”

Besides iCloud, Apple also unveiled a new iMessage service that lets users send text messages, photos and videos between Apple devices and Newsstand, a bookshelf for newspaper and magazine subscriptions that updates automatically with the latest issue.

A camera icon on the iPad now lets users open the camera directly from the lock screen and the volume-up button can be used to take a picture.

Apple said iCloud will be available this fall with the release of iOS 5 and will provide five gigabytes of free cloud storage for mail, document storage and backup.

Music, applications, books and photos do not count against the storage limit.

Lion will be available as a download in July for $29.99, considerably cheaper than the $129 charged for previous upgrades. Apple shares lost 1.57 percent on Monday to close at $338.04. — AFP

RSA Security offers to replace SecurID tokens WASHINGTON: US computer security titan RSA Security is offering to replace the SecurID tokens used by millions of corporate workers to securely log on to their computers, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

RSA Security chairman Art Coviello told the newspaper in an interview that the company, which was the target of a sophisticated hacking attack in March, was ready to replace the tokens for “virtually every customer we have.”

The Journal also said that RSA’s parent company, EMC Corp., had acknowledged in a letter to customers on Monday that intruders had breached its security systems at defense contractor Lockheed Martin using data stolen from RSA. SecurID tokens, which involve constantly changing passwords, are used by thousands of companies to allow employees to securely log on to computers or sensitive software systems.

Coviello did not provide details of the Lockheed incident but the Journal said intruders did not take any Lockheed customer or employee data.

“Their modus operandi led us to believe this perpetrator was likely to attack defense secrets and related intellectual property,” Coviello said.

“We believe and still believe that the customers are protected,” he said, but as a precaution RSA will offer to replace nearly all of the millions of tokens used by government agencies and businesses.

“I’m not suggesting we won’t see some other attacks in the interim given the scale of the Lockheed attack, but it is the only confirmed attack we have using the (stolen) information,” he said.

A Lockheed spokeswoman told the Journal that the defense contractor would be replacing all of its SecurID tokens. —AFP

LOS ANGELES: Sony Corp. took the wraps off its next generation portable gaming machine, PlayStation Vita, a touch-inter face and motion-sensitive handheld that outdoes its workhorse PlayStation Portable and will go on sale before the winter holidays. Company executives have called the device Sony’s biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 five years ago.

The device will allow gamers to be connected with one another over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-tracking technology. In the US, Sony is partnering exclusively with AT&T Inc. for cellphone service.

The device, available for $249 for its Wi-Fionly version, was unveiled Monday at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry’s annual convention known as E3. A version that will also have cellphone service will retail for $299, and buyers will have to subscribe to a cellular data plan.

The handheld has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a touch pad on the back and two knob-like joysticks. It will enable gamers to play against people using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internetbased PlayStation Network, a system that was recently restored after being shut down due to a massive hacking attack. Sony apologized again for the outage and said since the network was restored, activity is back to 90 percent of the pre-attack level.

The hardware comes with an accelerometer, which means it will also react to being held at different angles and being moved through the air. “PlayStation Vita will revolutionize the portable entertainment experience,” Kazuo Hirai, group chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., told a crowd of 6,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

“The whole world is really in play.”

The Vita is slightly bigger than the PlayStation Portable, which has sold more than 70 million units worldwide since its launch in 2004. The PSP will continue to be sold along with new games.

But the Vita — code-named “NGP,” or next generation portable, until Monday — will enable gamers to do more.

A Sony staffer demonstrated a version of “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception,” in which he used the familiar buttons and knobs but also touched

LOS ANGELES: Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, introduces the company’s next generation portable gaming machine, PlayStation Vita, during a news conference at the E3 Gaming Convention in Los Angeles. — AP the screen to move the Drake avatar across ledges and attack opponents in close combat.

Another game called “Reality Fighters” will allow users to take a picture and have fighting characters battle each other using objects from the real world. Along with social games and email, Sony also unveiled a communication service it called “Party” that will enable voice and text chat during games or when using the Web browser.

Users will also be able to sense when other gamers are nearby, what games they have played recently, and enable in-game gifting of virtual items.

Sony was the latest technology company to make a big bet on connected-everywhere services, following Apple Inc.’s presentation Monday in San Francisco of its iCloud storage service, which will allow consumers to access their photos, music and documents on distant servers. “Cloud is where everything is headed,” said Ricardo Torres, editor-in-chief of GameSpot.com. “This is certainly the attempt

by Sony to make sure they’re not left behind.”

Sony also introduced a range of new 3-D

games such as “Resistance 3,” a traditional shooter game, in a big push to make it a leader in the format. It is bundling the PS3 game with a pair of 3-D glasses and a 24-inch 3-D monitor for $499, a price far lower than most 3-D displays on the market.

Sony’s array of new 3-D games and the Vita itself are directed at so-called core gamers, who are focused on serious action and effects.

But in a reflection of the growing popularity of games that make use of iPad and iPhone touch screens and Apple’s iOS operating system, like the addictive “Angry Birds,” Sony also said Monday it would put PlayStation games onto smartphones that run on Google Inc.’s competing Android operating system.

It called the service focused on such casual gamers “PlayStation Suite” and said further details would be announced in the coming months.

“Smartphones and tablets have really created a large market for casual gaming,” Hirai said in an interview after Sony’s presentation. “We want to make sure we’re in both areas.” — AP

Xbox 360 with Kinect shows off new tricks

LOS ANGELES: In this photo taken by AP Images for Microsoft Xbox, guests get a first look at Dance Central 2 for Kinect on Xbox 360 at the E3 Best of Xbox Showcase on Monday, in Los Angeles. — AP

Murdoch introduces paywall for Australian SYDNEY: Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd said yesterday it would start charging for online access to national broadsheet The Australian from October, although some content will remain free.

The newspaper’s paywall will be modelled on the media mogul’s Wall Street Journal, offering a mix of free and subscription-only material.

It will charge Aus$2.95 (US$3.17) a week for its Monday to Friday editions, giving access to its entire website, iPad and Android apps as well as a new “msite” specifically designed for mobile phones.

The cost will rise to Aus$4.95 to include The Weekend Australian.

Non-subscribers will still be able view breaking news, general news and stock market reports without paying, said Richard Freudenstein, chief executive of News Limited’s digital business and The

Australian. “ We believe that The Australian journalism has real value online as well as in print, and extensive research suggests our readers agree,” he said. “The introduction of subscription packages will not only open up a new and important revenue stream, but also give us a much closer, more valuable, relationship with our most loyal and engaged readers.”

Since Murdoch’s News Corp. announced its intention to launch digital subscriptions in 2009 to counter shrinking newspaper circulation and eroding print advertising revenue, at least 50 papers around the world have begun charging for online journalism.

The Australian said a similar “freemium” model is expected to be extended to its sister tabloid papers-Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s Herald-Sunat a later date. — AFP

LOS ANGELES: Microsoft on Monday added YouTube, voice commands, television shows and more to its Xbox 360 with Kinect as the hot-selling videogame console matures into an entertainment center for all.

Studios joined Microsoft on the eve of a premier Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles to unveil blockbusters such as “Mass Effect 3” that let players use body motion or voice to execute tactics once the exclusive duty of toggles or buttons in controllers.

“Kinect is a natural way to converse with characters,” said BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka, whose studio is behind hit videogame franchise “Mass Effect.”

“In a game that already reacts to every decision you make, you will feel even more connected.”

Microsoft was intent on broadening the array of Kinect titles to appeal to the traditional “hard core gamers” devoted to shooter games as well as the “casual” audience happy with virtual darts or bowling.

Microsoft ramped up voice capabilities in Kinect to allow Xbox users not only to give commands to ingame characters but to speak Bing searches for games, movies, television shows, music and other entertainment content.

“This is an incredible time of growth and innovation for our business leveraging technologies that see us, hear us and connect us all together,” said Microsoft president of the Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick. “This year by bringing together the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 and the intelligence of Bing, we are transforming how people enjoy entertainment.”

Microsoft has sold more than 10 million of the gesture-sensing Kinect accessories for the Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since they hit the market in November of last year. Kinect uses a 3D camera and motion recognition software to let people play videogames on the Xbox 360 using natural body movements and voice commands instead of hand-held controllers.

More than 50 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. Microsoft has teamed with television operators in Britain, France and Australia in the past two years to bring television shows to local audiences through an Xbox Live online entertainment service.

Executives from the Seattle, Washington-based company said Monday they are making alliances to do the same in the United States and other countries.

Microsoft was also adding Google-owned online videosharing service YouTube to an Xbox Live line-up that includes Hulu Plus, Netflix, and Zune.

“We feel that we have all the great momentum,” said Dennis Durkin, chief operating officer of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business. “With our hardware, Kinect sensor, and Live services we feel we can go from being Number One in North America to being Number One worldwide.” — AFP

28

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

health & science

US teens more likely to smoke, drink: Study ATLANTA: Gay, lesbian and bisexual US high school students are more likely than heterosexual students to engage in such risky behavior as smoking, drinking alcohol and carrying guns, a new report shows.

The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which surveyed 156,000 high school students and was released on Monday, is the largest of its kind by the federal government.

“This report should be a wake-up call for families, schools and communities that we need to do a much better job of supporting these young people,” said Howell Wechsler, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Heath.

“We are very concerned that these students face such dramatic disparities for so many different health risks.”

Researchers analyzed data from student surveys conducted from 2001-2009 in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, and also in the Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, San Diego and San Francisco school districts.

When asked if they had driven a car while drinking alcohol within the last 30 days, 15.4 percent of gay and lesbian students said they had, compared to 7.8 percent of heterosexual students.

When asked about guns 12 percent of gay and lesbian students said they had carried a gun at least

one day during the previous month, almost four times more than heterosexual students.

There also was a large disparity with cigarette smoking, with 27.8 percent of gay and lesbian students reporting they had smoked more than 10 cigarettes in a day during the previous month compared to 9.1 percent of heterosexual students.

Gay and lesbian students were also much more likely to have seriously contemplated suicide.

Nearly 30 percent of those students said they had considered suicide compared to 11.7 percent of heterosexual students. The study results quantify what advocates say they have long known anecdotally. Gay, lesbian and bisexual youths are often driven to risky behavior because they are rejected

by their families and other support groups, said Laura McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Trevor Project, a national organization that provides crisis counseling and suicide prevention programs for youths.

“We’ve known this for years but the research hasn’t been there to back it up,” she said. She said the new data should help increase the awareness of policymakers and lead to more training for school staff members. Wechsler said efforts to promote adolescent health and safety should take into account the “additional stressors these youth experience because of their sexual orientation, such as stigma, discrimination, and victimization.” — Reuters

Germans fail to find smoking gun in killer bacteria chase Sales of vegetables plunging across Europe BERLIN: Germany redoubled efforts yesterday to trace the source of a bacteria outbreak that has killed 23 amid warnings it might never be found, while the EU met to discuss aid for farmers hit hard by the crisis.

Hopes that the source of contamination had finally been located suffered a setback on Monday when initial probes carried out on a farm growing a variety of sprouts in the northern state of Lower Saxony proved negative. Authorities were expected to release the results from 17 more samples of seeds, water, and work surfaces taken from the farm on Tuesday. This followed tests carried out last month on cucumbers imported from Spain that also proved negative. German authorities nevertheless have maintained their warning to consumers against eating raw tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and sprouts until the cause of the E. coli outbreak can be explained.

The bacteria has killed 22 people in Germany and one in Sweden and left more than 2,000 ill, with symptoms ranging from

bloody diarrhoea to, in full-blown cases, kidney failure. The rare and virulent bacteria strain is found in the digestive track of humans rather than of cattle, according to Lothar Beutin, an expert at Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. He told the Tagesspiegel newspaper he believes it unlikely the bacteria could have been passed on by liquid manure from animals.

Meanwhile German officials defended their decision to issue warnings on vegetables to the public even before full testing results were known. Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister Gerd Lindermann, who Sunday had said there were “clear indications” of a connection between a local sprout farm and areas contaminated, on Tuesday admitted a smoking gun might never be found.

“It’s quite possible that we’ll never find the active contaminant,” Lindermann told Bild newspaper. “But this doesn’t take away from statements warning about sprouts.

“The warning goes for as long as investiga-

OLDENBURG: An employee of the consumer protection authority of Lower Saxony examines samples of sprouts from a farm in the Uelzen area in Oldenburg, northern Germany yesterday. — AP

tions are underway and suspicions have not been laid to rest,” he added.

Andreas Hensel, head of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, has also warned that “it is possible we shall never be able to identify the source” of the contamination.

Similar outbreaks in Japan between 1996 and 2003 infected more than 10,000 people and left 22 dead, according to the Japanese health ministry. Radish sprouts were widely suspected, but scientists were never able to prove the connection and farmers successfully sued for compensation.

With sales of vegetables now plunging across Europe, EU agriculture ministers were meeting in Luxembourg to discuss emergency aid to farmers.

Spanish farmers have been especially badly hit by an initial warning against their cucumbers, but other European countries have also suffered as consumers shun greens and countries such as Russia ban vegetable imports. Madrid has said it will demand full compensation from Germany for the losses which Spain’s fruit and vegetables exporters association, FEPEX, estimated at 225 million euros ($328 million) per week since the crisis began. The German farmers’ union has said for its part that its members are losing some five million euros a day. “We have told Germany that it must reimburse us for the loss. If it covers 100 percent, which is what we are demanding, the affair will be closed.

Otherwise we reserve the right (to take) legal action,” Spanish Agriculture Minister Rosa Aguilar said on Monday.

“We are not going to allow our producers to lose one cent, because they are not to blame,” she added. EU health commissioner John Dalli said the ministers would also review the bloc’s food safety alert system to ensure that warnings have “scientific basis and proof” before becoming public.

In Germany, opposition party members have criticized the slow pace of the investigation, suggesting that the country’s federal system was partly to blame because as matters such as health are dealt with by both national and regional authorities. — AFP

India health costs a crisis impoverishing millions ALIGARH: When Nasir Khan cried out at night from the searing pain of kidney stones, the entire slum could hear him.

A magic healer promised an inexpensive cure through chanting while pinching his side where the kidney stones were lodged, but it only made it worse. His condition became life-threatening, and doctors said he would need surgery for a fourth time.

The operation cost him, and his extended family, their home.

Without insurance and unable to get a loan, they sold the broken brick shack in the industrial north Indian city of Aligarh for 250,000 rupees, or about $5,500. It had been home to the 35-year-old Khan, his four brothers, three wives and 11 children.

“There is no choice. It is my life,” Khan said in gasps, writhing atop a crude wooden cot as his relatives hovered helplessly nearby. He screamed for his mother. He screamed for Allah. He screamed for anyone to deliver him from the pain.

His story is repeated so often across India it evokes little sympathy, yet it represents one of the biggest threats to India’s battle to lift its poor up from squalor. Each year, the cost of health care pushes some 39 million people back into poverty, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal. Patients shoulder up to 80 percent of India’s medical costs. Their share averages about $66 (3,000 rupees) annually per person — a crippling sum for the 800 million or so Indians living on less than $2 a day.

A diagnosis of asthma, a broken leg or a complicated childbirth can mean having to choose between medicine or food, spending on treatment or relying on prayer. “We are too poor,” Khan’s uncle Bhuere Khan said. His aunt Rafiquan Mohammed offered another justification for selling the house, as if one were needed: “He has to live. He has small children.”

While India boasts an economic growth rate near 9 percent, the wealth has done little to help millions burdened by poverty

and disease. The poor, aside from struggling to afford care, also face extreme shortages of doctors and medicines.

The situation is particularly dire in rural areas, where more than 70 percent of the country’s 1.2 billion people live. Some desperate patients resort to seeing quacks.

Others pay bribes. Many simply do not seek help until it is too late.

The World Bank and other experts have warned that failure to address the country’s health care shortcomings could take a toll on long-term growth, especially as twothirds of the population is under 35 years old and would form the backbone of India’s work force for decades. Yet India’s government spends comparatively little on health care: just 1.1 percent of the country’s GDP, a figure that has not changed much since 2006 when China was spending 1.9 percent; Russia, 3.3 percent and Brazil, 3.5 percent, according to World Health Organization figures. “The political will is simply not there yet. We have to help realign the country’s priorities,” said Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India and part of a government-commissioned committee recommending changes.

Statistics that might highlight areas of need are scarce, thanks to erratic case reporting, few autopsies and a tradition of quick cremation that destroys evidence of disease. WHO reports often leave India out for lack of data. A recent study in the Lancet suggests malaria deaths could be 10 times higher than estimated. India, which says hospital costs impoverish a quarter of all patients, has vowed to raise spending on health to 3 percent of GDP by 2015 and provide universal primary health care, but it is an unfilled promise that has been made before.

The Lancet, in a series on India in January, urged the government to double its pledge to 6 percent by 2020 or jeopardize its ability to shake off poverty. “What is the point of economic success if there is

nothing in it for the population?” Lancet editor Richard Horton said. “In a short amount of time you can do a lot — if you have the right leadership, the right administration and the public will. India has the people and it has the funds. We’ll see if they can do it.” Meanwhile, India boasts a thriving medical tourism industry with shiny private clinics luring tens of thousands of foreigners for everything from bargain tummy tucks to experimental stem-cell treatments in an industry estimated to be worth nearly 100 billion rupees ($2.3 billion). The pharmaceutical industry is making lifesaving drugs at cut-rate costs, private hospitals are pioneering advances in open-heart surgery and medical schools are churning out physicians eager to work in the West. For most Indians, however, this is happening in another world. Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states and home to the padlockmanufacturing city of Aligarh, is a land of barren rural landscapes pocked by crumbling mud huts, wandering cattle and roadside shacks selling potato chips and curry.

Its infant mortality rate — 96 of every 1,000 newborns die — makes it one of the worst places on Earth to be born. The average Indian rate is better at 63 but still grim compared with China’s 15 deaths out of every 1,000 births. The state’s leader, Mayawati, who uses only one name, rose from India’s lowest caste to power and prominence. She calls health care a top priority. Yet since taking office in 2007 she has spent just $224 million on medicines for the state’s 195 million people, while spending $569 million to build memorial parks and statues of leading dalits, also known as untouchables, such as herself. In rural India, the poor often have to walk kilometers (miles) to reach a clinic, with no guarantee of finding a doctor or the medicine they need. On any given day, at least 40 percent of government doctors are absent, often busy moonlighting for higher pay at private clinics. —AP

HYDERABAD: Indian people wait to receive ‘Fish Medicine’ at The Nampally Exhibition Grounds in Hyderabad yesterday. Hundreds of thousands of sufferers of asthma gather annually in Hyderabad in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh to gulp down small live fish and a special herb paste to be dispensed on June 8 and 9, the auspicious day of ‘Mrigasira Karti’ which falls in June with the onset of the annual monsoon. — AFP

British PM vows reforms will protect health service LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron vowed yesterday to protect Britain’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) and ensure it remains accessible to everyone in his latest defence of plans for radical reform. Addressing criticism from trade unions, patient groups, medics and opposition politicians, Cameron will warn in a speech in London that modernisation is the only way to prepare the NHS for future challenges.

“Changing the NHS today is the only way to protect the NHS for tomorrow,” he said in pre-released excerpts, warning that the pressures of an ageing population and rising treatment costs will severely strain the service.

Last week, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley warned the NHS faces a £20 billion-a-year ($32.8 billion, 22.4 billion euro) funding gap over the next four years without major reform.

In a bid to move past rows over the detail of the changes proposed by his Conservative-Liberal Democrat government, Cameron will issue five guarantees to seek to persuade voters that he has the NHS’ best interests at heart.

He insists it will remain free to access and will not become a US-style private

system, the reforms will not affect the delivery of efficient and integrated care or low waiting lists, and spending will continue to increase.

“I will make sure at all times that any of the changes we make to the NHS will always be consistent with upholding these five guarantees. There can be no compromise on this,” Cameron said.

The government wants to take away control for managing budgets from local boards and hand it to family doctors, and give the private sector a greater role in running health services.

However, the British Medical Association (BMA), the trade union for doctors, is among numerous groups expressing strong concern, particularly the increased role of private firms.

Cameron’s Lib Dem deputy, Nick Clegg, has also warned against introducing too much competition, and the plans have become a test for the coalition.

The government temporarily suspended the legislative process of bringing in the changes, to allow for further consultation, and a decision on where to go next is expected within weeks. It is likely the plans will be significantly changed. —AFP

US sextuplets critical but responding to treatment ABINGTON: US sextuplets born to a couple in Pennsylvania were listed in critical condition but were responding to treatment, doctors said yesterday.

At a press conference the parents of the babies and doctors at Abington Memorial Hospital spoke about the June 1 births for the first time.

“Their conditions are fragile and can change minute to minute,” said Dr. Gerard Clearly, a neonatologist, adding they were expected to remain at the hospital for about three months.

The three girls and three boys, named Emma, Samantha, Olivia, John, Patrick and Connor, were born in less than eight minutes with the help of an enormous medical team, said Stephen Smith, a perinatologist, at a press con-

ference.

Each weighed about 2 pounds (.91 kg), a size that carries with it a high mortality rate, but they have been responding well to ventilators and nutritional support.

The parents, Stacey, 33, and Brendan Carey, 41, live in a four-bedroom home in Feasterville, a Philadelphia suburb. They also have a daughter, Julianna, who is 16 months.

“Our family of nine is now complete,” Stacey Carey said at the press conference. “We were not expecting a family this big.”

Carey, who became pregnant after undergoing fertility treatments, said she was hospitalized about six weeks before the births. —Reuters

FRIEDRICHSKOOG: Seal pups enjoy the water in the pool at the common seal station in Friedrichskoog near to the North Sea, northern Germany, yesterday.

The seal pups left by their mother animals by any reason grow up here before being released to their natural habitat. — AP

A

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Years

he a lt h & s c ie n c e

Young drug users forgotten amid India AIDS success NEW DELHI: Aslam began to smoke marijuana at the age of ten, lured into it by friends. Soon he graduated to other drugs, mostly heroin, stealing mobile phones and snatching gold necklaces from around women’s necks to pay for his habit.

“When I tried it, I really liked it-I had a feeling of stillness all around me, “ said Aslam, now 17, of his drift into drugs and peer pressure-and the threat of HIV. “Yes, I am afraid but when you are under the influence of drugs, you do not realise anything,” he added.

“When we do not have money then we just borrow each other’s syringe and inject it.”

As India applauds a sharp drop in the number of fresh AIDS infections over the past decade, health workers worry about the increasing number of young drug users who are being left out of efforts to reduce the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. With 2.3 million reported cases of AIDS, India-like sub-Saharan Africa-is at the front lines of the fight against the deadly virus.

Progress is being made. A UNAIDS report marking 30 years of the discovery of the disease said India’s rate of new HIV infections fell by more than 50 percent between 2001-2009 - the global rate dropped by 25 percent.

But activists and others warn that an increasing number of substance-addicted children and adolescents who inject drugs are being left out of the fight.

“They are on the fringes of society, they are often

excluded by their families and live on the streets and have no means of support, financial support,” said Charles Gilks, country co-ordinator of UNAIDS for India.”

“They sometimes have to resort to prostitution or petty crime to get enough money to service their habit.”

More than 15 percent of the 200,000 plus injecting drug users (IDUs) in India are HIV positive against a global average of 10 percent, AIDS experts say. In some areas, HIV positive cases among IDUs have been found to be as high as 50 percent.

Within this population, young people are at an especial risk for a wide range of factors, from the economic struggles of poverty to social mores that make it difficult to discuss emotionally fraught issues such as sexuality.

“One of the key challenges for the adolescent population in India - and that is a massive number of people - is to give them effective life skills that truly equip them for growing up, from being a child to becoming an adult and one of the key transitions that children face is starting to become sexually active,” Gilks said.

“It is quite a challenge at the moment because there are strong views by different religious communities around what exactly life skills education, or what we used to call sex education, should consist of.”

In addition, treatment access for children is lower than for adults, with only 28 percent of eligible children receiving anti-retroviral therapy in 2009, com-

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pared to 36 percent coverage for people of all ages.

But at least 420,000 children were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2010, a more than 50 percent increase since 2008.

Rajesh Kumar, founder of India’s first rehabilitation centre for juveniles serving time in a Delhi prison, said this situation meant that young people were extremely vulnerable to the threat of HIV. “This is one group which needs special attention because awareness level is nil. They do not know about HIV, they do not know the problem of drugrelated issues and HIV,” Kumar said.

He added that legal hurdles in screening children for HIV without parental consent meant many juveniles living away from their families were at risk of carrying the virus undetected- and then spreading it.

Through a combination of psychological counselling, meditation, and education, the centre aims to help reform and re-integrate adolescents into society.

Aslam, who is HIV-negative, is now off drugs and working as a peer educator with the centre, hoping he can help them avoid the fate of 36-year-old Ashok, who says that drugs have cost him everything he once held dear.

“Slowly I started taking smack (heroin) and once I started on it, I lost all goodness,” the bleary-eyed Ashok said, injecting himself with a fresh dose.

“I have gained nothing ever since I started using drugs. I lost jobs, I lost work - I lost everything because of drugs.” — Reuters

Global move needed to battle cancer CHICAGO: A broad international effort is needed to halt the rapid spread of cancer in poor and middle-income countries, leaders from world cancer organizations said at a meeting here on Monday.

The call for action came at the 47th annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) held in Chicago. More than 30,000 researchers and representatives of pharmaceutical companies participated in the forum.

The officials called on President Barack Obama and other world leaders to take concrete action at a September meeting at the United Nations scheduled to focus on non-communicable diseases.

The September UN meeting “presents a monumental opportunity to put cancer on the global agenda,” said Allen Lichter, the ASCO’s chief executive officer. “We urge world leaders to help save and improve the lives of millions of people living with cancer or at risk for the disease,”

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Lichter said at a press conference.

The only previous UN meeting of this type was held in 2001 and focused on the spread of HIV/AIDS. Lichter said that ASCO sent a letter co-signed by nearly 300,000 health care professionals to the White House on Monday asking Obama to participate in the UN meeting. Cancer kills 7.6 million people worldwide each year, more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures.

A UN report concluded that the cancer rate will continue and rise and reach more than 20 million annual cases in 2030. Most of these new cases are expected to occur in low and middleincome countries. As people in developing countries increasingly flock to polluted cities, smoke, and eat rich foods like those available in wealthy countries, their cancer rate has risen and is now similar to those in rich countries.—AFP

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W H AT ’ S O N Announcements Building self-esteem A marvelous opportunity for all teenagers from the age group 12-18 to discover themselves afresh and polish their skills that are essential for a balanced life and tap the immense storehouse of potential that they have within them!!! Your child will learn The Art of knowing oneself developing manners, attitudes & traits recognise your own individual causes of stress importance of communication with family, friends and teachers balancing your interests with family background, available resources, opportunities and market trends effective speaking importance of intonations, syllable stress, volume and pitch.

Contact 25618333/25661606 for details.

Cutting of Graduation Cake 2011.

Graduating Class of 2011 with School Director Madame Chantal. nnnnnnn

KNES celebrates secondary graduation ceremony

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he Kuwait National English School successfully celebrated the Secondary Graduation Ceremony on Saturday June 4 in the Al Farabi School Theatre. Students who have completed their Secondary Education at Kuwait National English School received their Diploma. The Guest of Honour was British Ambassador Frank Baker, and Yasuyoshi Komizo, Japanese Ambassador to Kuwait.

One long service members of staff, Mrs Suzanne Neil, received the Chairman’s Award in recognition for her good and loyal service to Kuwait National English School.

Eloquent speeches were given by members of the Kuwait National English School Student Council, the Head of Secondary, the School Director Madame Chantal Al Gharabally and the Guest of Honour Frank Baker. The Head Boy (Abdel Rahman Al Aqqad) spoke of his positive experience and successes at Kuwait National English School, the Head Girls (Dalal Al Enezi and Nour Jaafar) showed their gratitude to the many members of staff who had helped them throughout their life at the school. The Head of Secondary wished

all the graduates the best and commended them on their hard work and dedication throughout the years and stressed on the needs to maintain high academic standard. He emphasized that Kuwait National English School would continue to maintain progress.

To that end, the school would keep on working closely with the Council of International School (CIS), New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and PENTA to improve academic standards.

Ambassador, Frank Baker talked about the benefit of technologies in our everyday life and gave a philosophical approach to a student future journey through life. The School Director, Madame Chantal Al Gharabally, concluded by congratulating class 2011 and thanked them for giving a meaning to her life dedicated to students and education.

Music was performed by the graduating students as well as Year 10 students from the choir of Kuwait National English School.

In addition to the awarding of Diplomas, awards were given in individual subjects for achievement and endeavour; The Prestigious Student of the Year Award

2011 went to Danah Al Ghafeer (Yr 11). The Council of International Schools (CIS) Award for International Understanding was given to Dhary Al Shemeri (Yr 11).

The graduation ceremony concluded with the traditional cutting of the “Class 2011 Graduation Cake” by the Head Boy, Head Girls, the School Director, the Chairman and the Guests of Honour. To end the evening, a delicious meal was served to everybody in a very friendly and chic atmosphere.

The graduation was a very successful event which gave the students and their families a chance to reflect on a successful time at Kuwait National English School, to thank the school’s staff and management for all their hard work and to look to the future.

Kuwait National English School would like to wish the Class of 2011 a happy and prosperous future. It has been our privilege watching you develop over the years and reach your full potential.

BAIA Summer Camp now open for registrations 2011 ON STAGE summer camp from 19 June to 06 July. Last year High School Musical, this year Camp Rock, Tangled, Cars...many more! From Page to Stage in just 3 weeks, through costume design, technicals, acting, singing, dance, music, make-up, film and lighting. Create a fabulous performance ON STAGE. Discounts available if registered before 01 June. Call 60052087 or mail administrator@baia.com.kw. Full details of all events and courses are available on www.baia.com.kw nnnnnnn

AWARE Arabic course The AWARE management is glad to inform you that Summer 2 Arabic language courses will begin on June 12 until July 21, 2011. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. We cater to teachers, travelers and those working in the private business sector. nnnnnnn

Graduating students, Fajer, Dalal, Nour, Khaled and Ali.

British Ambassador, Frank Baker

Archana awarded Kalathilakam

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rchana Jayachandran studying in class 10 of Indian Community School Kuwait Khaithan branch, has been awarded the coveted ‘Kalathilakam’ award by KALA (Kerala Arts Lovers association) Kuwait for securing the highest number of individual points in the recently held inter school cultural competitions, ‘Balakalamela2011’ among the Indian schools in Kuwait. She secured a total of 29 points which consists of five first prizes, a second prize and a third prize for Light music Hindi& Malayalam, Carnatic music, recitaton English & Malayalam, Mappilapattu and mono act. She achieved this feat twice before in 2005 and 2008 Balakalamelas organized by KALA and this is the third time.

She is a popular face among Indians in Kuwait and has enthralled crowds all over Kuwait with her melodious voice. She is a regular singer with ‘Desert Vibes’. She has had many opportunities for her music performance along with famous singers from ‘Asianet Idea’ star singers and Maapillapaattu’ singers. Archana is training under Rajesh Thiruvailla in Carnatic music. She has also learned ‘Hindustani’ lessons from renowned Hindustani musicians in Kuwait and Kerala. She is also one of the toppers in her School and has represented her school in various cultural and educational activities.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

Meshari Al Gharabally with Japanese Ambassador Yasuyoshi Komizo.

‘Mahakte Lamhe’ with Udit Narayan

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ndian Cultural Society (ICS) presents “Mahakte Lamhe” with Udit Narayan (a renowned playback singer from Indian Cinema)) with Deepa Narayan (female singer). Another attraction of the evening will be reality shows fame Neha Chouhan & Nayan Rathod on 10th June 2011 Friday at 7.30 pm sharp. The Chief Guest for the event will be Vidhu P Nair Charge d” Affaires Embassy of India, Kuwait and the guest of honor will be prominent personalities from Kuwait.

Join us for entertainment on 10th June, at 7.30 pm sharp at: Auditorium Kamil Al Rays, American Intern. School, near Police Station Maidan Hawally Kuwait.

For gate passes contact: 97690035, 66568147, 94450833, 97270386, 97286577.

Email ics.kuwait@gmail.com

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Football finals Kuwait Goan Association invites one and all for the finals of the JP D’mello memorial football tournament (KIFF league) 2010-11 between Kuwait Goan Association (KGA) and Goan Overseas Association (Goa Maroons) on Friday, 10th June 2011 at the Kazma Stadium, Adeliya, Kuwait at 6 pm. nnnnnnn

Hoppin’ John String Band

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he Hoppin’ John String Band, a Bluegrass group, will be in Kuwait as part of a US Embassy sponsored visit and they’ll be conducting public performances in several locations. All public performances will open to the public and free of charge. No tickets or seat reservations will be required. Here are the details: The US Embassy Kuwait In cooperation with the National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters presents: The Hoppin’ John String Band Date: June 15, 2011 Time: 7:15pm to 8:30pm Location: National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters’ International Music Festival; Al-Dasma Theatre Date: June 16, 2011

AWARE Arabic courses highlights: Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics; Ccmbine language learning with cultural insights; taught in multinationality group settings ; and provides opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs. For more information and/or registration, call 25335260/80 ext 105 or 0 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

Time: 9:00am to 10:00am Location: Live on Sabah Al-Watan (Al-Watan Television) Date: June 16, 2011 Time: 8:30pm to 9:30pm Location: The Higher Institute for Musical Arts Date: June 18, 2011 Time: 6:00pm to 7:00pm Location: Live on Raykum Shabab (Al-Rai Television) Date: June 19, 2011 Time: 7:15pm to 8:30pm Location: The Al-Babtain Central Library for Arabic Poetry.

Free summer camp Use this summer vacation to learn dance & music with “Nandhanam”.

Free classical dance & music classes for girls. We are conducting a free summer camp at Rhythm Community Hall, opposite to Atlas Jewellery in Abbassiya.

Kindly inform friends and relatives. The brochure is copied here for your information. Age Level: 5 years to 17 years Location: Rhythm Hall, Opposite to Atlas Jewellery, Abbassiya Days: Sunday to Thursday Time: 9 am till 12:30 pm. Registration form will be available at our website www.nandhanam.net Contact: 25649543/ 23721934/ 55652550/ 99129611/ 50502740. nnnnnnn

Greetings

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any happy returns of our beloved leader Dr Kalaingar M. Karunanidhi on his 87th birthday from N.T. Selvam and family.

Viewing one another “Westerners and Arabs: Viewing one another,” by Sharifa Carlo at 7pm.

Sharifa Carlo, American, will highlight differences between the two cultures and demonstrate the views held by each other towards another. Cultural differences do exist between Arabs and Westerners.

For example; Westerners adopt direct communication whereas Arabs prefer indirect communication, Westerners emphasize action whereas Arabs emphasize relationships, Westerners value function while Arabs value form.

Understanding & acknowledging these differences is a step towards positive coexistence and cooperation. Sharifa specialized in Composition and Rhetoric, which emphasizes writing and all forms of conversation in all fields. She took courses in English Education at USC in South Carolina.

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W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA In order to inform that 23rd of October 2011, will be Argentine national election where all Argentinean citizen residents permanently in Kuwait can vote only if they are registered at the Electoral Register of the Argentine Embassy. The procedure of inscription ended on 25 of April 2011. To register it is necessary that Argentinean citizens should come personally at the Argentinean Embassy (Block 6, street 42, villa 57, Mishref) and present the DNI and four personal photos (size 4x4, face should be front on white background). For further information, contact us on 25379211. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Embassy encourages all Australians to register their presence in Kuwait through Smartraveller Online (see link below). Australians who are registered are asked to update their details. The information provided will assist us in contacting you in an emergency. www.smartraveller.gov.au Kuwait citizens can apply for and receive visit visas to Australia online at www.immi.gov.au. This usually takes two working days. All others visa applications are handled by the Australian Visa Application Centre Tel. 22971110.

Witnessing and certifying documents are by appointment only, please contact the Embassy on 2232 2422.

The Australian Embassy is open from 8.00am to 4.00pm, Sunday to Thursday. nnnnnnn

Record performance by GIS

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he 16th batch of class X students of Gulf Indian School had the distinction of being the first batch under CBSE’s continuous and comprehensive evaluation scheme.

It is to the school s credit that all the 73 students opted for the School Conducted CBSE examination and all of them qualified for admission to the next level.

The students, once again added feathers in their caps with their commendable performance.

The maximum CGPA 10 was scored by 12 students: Parthasarathi Kuri, Sher yl Mathew, Tahmina Islam, Dhivyalakshmi, Nithasha Miriam Ninan, Pavithiraa, Rachna Nandakumar, Shubham Mundada, Delysha Rose Dias, Karoline Stephen, Reerna George and Sujith Samuel

Samson. Another 21 recorded CGPA 9 and above.

The result underlines the fact that G1S provides a conducive and stress free environment to acquire the various skills essential for facing life challenges in future.

Congratulations to all the young achievers!

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Award winning artist lectures at AUK

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ward winning painter David Hewitt presented a lecture at AUK’s Multipurpose room titled “Urban Remains and Other Detritus” along with a slide show overview of his work to more than 100 AUK students on May 30th. Hewitt showed paintings ranging from the near-photo realism of his early work in Ecuador through his current body of work exploring “refigured” ruins of ancient civilizations. Centering on large-scale landscapes painted primarily in the Middle East, the work features heritage sites such as Baalbeck in Lebanon and Petra in Jordan. Energized and inspired, the audience of mostly ART and GDES students kept the artist, asking questions for a half-hour after the lecture.

Hewitt, a graduate of Cornell University and Associate Professor of Design at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE, is an internationally exhibited, award-winning painter. Most recently, his work has been exhibited in solo shows in New York at First Street Gallery (2009) and at Cuadro Fine Art in Dubai (2010).

Assistant professor of Studio Arts Sharon Lawrence introduces Hewitt.

Award winning painter David Hewitt

Dr Sam Richards speaks to GUST Students

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) Ruwwad Business Club welcomed Dr Sam Richards, one of the 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, along with Dr. Laurie Mulvey to the university to discuss diversity in the US, how people identify themselves and how Muslims in general and Arabs in particular fit into the American society fabric.

Dr Sam Richards and Dr Laurie Mulvey are both professors at Penn State University. Dr Sam Richards is a sociologist and award-winning teacher who has been inspiring undergraduate students at Penn State since 1990. Both are heavily into the subject of Race Relations and started the Race Relations Project, where Dr Mulvey is the Co-Director.

The debate of race relations often comes down to how a person identifies themselves. When the Professors are asked how they identify themselves, Dr. Richards states: “I’m an iconoclast from Toledo, Ohio.

That’s what I generally say to people who ask.” Dr Mulvey on the other hand goes into more detail,

“Mostly, I identify myself as “white” because that is the category most significant to [the American] culture and to my work with race relations. But if I’m traveling abroad, I identify myself as American. And, if I’m with white people and we’re discussing our heritage, I say I’m half Irish, a quarter Polish and a quarter mostly unknown.”

The discussion went on to several aspects of the race relations subject including how American people see Muslims and Arabs in particular especially in light of the events of 9/11 and the impact it made on the American mindset of Muslims and Arabs. But, they explain intriguingly that after a century, Americans have started to understand the truth about Islam and how that terrorism really has nothing to do with it.

Their interests in race relations have led them to develop the World in Conversation Project, where they hold 90-minute conversations between a group of eight students - four from the US and four from the Middle East. They include two facilitators in the conversations

EMBASSY OF BRITAIN The Visa Application Centre (VAC) will be closed on the same dates above. The opening hours of the Visa Application Centre are 0930 - 1630 Application forms remain available online from the UKBAs’ website: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk or from the Visa Application Centre’s website: www.vfs-ukkw.com. And also, from the UK Visa Application Centre located at: 4B, First Floor, Al Banwan Building (Burgan Bank Branch Office Building), Al Qibla area, opposite Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City. For any further inquiries, please contact the Visa Application Centre: Website: www.vfs-uk-kw.com E-mail:info@vfs-uk-kw.com Telephone:22971170. The Consular Section will also be closed on the same dates.

For information on the British Embassy services, visit the British Embassy website: www.ukinkuwait.fco.gov.uk

who apply the Socratic Method of questioning using video conferences to compare and contrast the lives of the students in all aspects, so they can really understand each other. “ The idea for the World in Conversation Project actually came from TAs who, over the years, asked us to find ways for them to stay involved with both the issues and the dialogue. From time to time I sent them in my stead to facilitate conversations in residence halls and with student groups. Their successes led me to realize that we were missing an opportunity to tap into this remarkable resource of students talking to students.”

The students and faculty in attendance enjoyed the conversation with the Penn State Professors and benefited from their insight and thought process which can be applied to their daily lives.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form. All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF GERMANY The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application. Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (Al-Babtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to request all Kenyans resident in or training through Kuwait to register with the Embassy. We are updating our database. This information is necessary in order to facilitate quick assistance and advise in times of emergency. Kindly visit in person or register through our website www.kenyaembkuwait.com. The Embassy is located in: Surra Area - Block 6 - Street 9 - Villa 3 Tel: 25353362 - 25353314; Fax: 25353316. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has moved its office to Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk nnnnnnn

Russian Federation Day

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une 12 is the national day of the Russian Federation - the Day of Russia. It has been celebrated every year since 1994. The First Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration on Russia’s National Sovereignty on June 12, 1990. The National Sovereignty Declaration set the wheels in motion for the creation of what is now known as the Russian Federation or more commonly Russia.

The declaration views sovereignty as a natural and indispensable condition of the Russian state with its centuries-long history, culture and traditions. The adoption of the declaration paved the way for the development of Russian statehood based on the principles of constitutional federalism, equality and partnership.

Russian people choose to use Day of Russia to celebrate the history of their individual communities with-

in Russia. Representatives from various regions show off the distinctive dress and dance styles of their respective communities, highlighting Russia s cultural and ethnic diversity.

On this day, we honor our motherland, our Russia.

We honor the country of a thousand years history and unique heritage, the country which united on a huge space many peoples, territories and cultures.

EMBASSY OF PERU With the growing interest shown by Kuwaiti citizens and/or foreign residents in Kuwait for going for vacation and tourism to Peru and/or with the purpose of doing business over there, The Embassy of Peru in Kuwait did the effort and obtained as a temporary and immediate solution - till the opening of the consular section of Diplomatic Mission of Peru in Kuwait City - that the consular section of the Embassy of Peru in Qatar will attend those requests of granting such visas. Working hours: 9 am till 2 pm or call +9744491-5944, Fax: +974-4491-5940 E-mail: info@peruembassy.com.qa nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF RUSSIA The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Kuwait will be closed 12th June, 2011 on the occasion of the National Day of the Russian Federation.

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Years

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 01:40 02:35 03:30 04:25 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 08:40 09:10 10:05 11:00 11:55 12:20 12:50 13:45 14:40 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:25 17:50 18:20 18:45 19:15 20:10 21:05 22:00 22:55 23:50

Dogs 101 Untamed And Uncut Life Of Mammals Last Chance Highway Lions Of Crocodile River Animal Cops Phoenix Dogs vs. Cats Meerkat Manor The Really Wild Show Jeff Corwin Unleashed Natural Born Hunters Breed All About It America’s Cutest...

Dogs 101 Animal Cops Houston Vet On The Loose Wildlife SOS Last Chance Highway Animal Cops Phoenix Chimp Family Fortunes Animal Battlegrounds The Really Wild Show The Planet’s Funniest Animals Extraordinary Dogs Project Puppy Breed All About It Planet Wild Chimp Family Fortunes Dogs 101 Austin Stevens Adventures Speed Of Life Buggin’ With Ruud Chimp Family Fortunes

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Last Of The Summer Wine The Weakest Link Holby City Unforgiven Eastenders Doctors Last Of The Summer Wine Fimbles Tweenies Teletubbies Bobinogs Fimbles Tweenies Teletubbies Fimbles Tweenies Teletubbies Bobinogs Fimbles Tweenies Teletubbies Bobinogs Last Of The Summer Wine The Weakest Link Michael Palin’s New Europe Doctors Eastenders Holby City Last Of The Summer Wine Michael Palin’s New Europe The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Holby City Michael Palin’s New Europe The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty

00:00 Cash In The Attic USA 00:45 Come Dine With Me 01:35 Home For Life 02:25 Cash In The Attic USA 04:10 New Scandinavian Cooking 05:05 Daily Cooks Challenge 06:30 Cash In The Attic USA 07:10 Daily Cooks Challenge 08:40 New Scandinavian Cooking 09:05 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 09:30 Antiques Roadshow 10:20 Cash In The Attic USA 12:00 New Scandinavian Cooking 12:25 Cash In The Attic USA 12:50 Antiques Roadshow

13:35 Cash In The Attic 14:25 Bargain Hunt 15:10 Come Dine With Me 16:00 Cash In The Attic USA 17:45 Sweet Baby James 18:10 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 18:35 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 19:00 Antiques Roadshow 19:50 Cash In The Attic 20:35 Bargain Hunt 21:20 Come Dine With Me 22:10 Home For Life 23:00 Design Star 23:45 Design Star

00:00 BBC World News 00:30 World Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 BBC World News America 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Asia Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Asia Today 03:00 BBC World News 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Asia Today 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Asia Today 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Asia Today 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:00 00:30 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00

Backstory World Sport World Report World Business Today Piers Morgan Tonight Anderson Cooper 360 World Sport Inside Africa World Report Backstory World Report World Sport News Special World Business Today World One World Sport Talk Asia Piers Morgan Tonight News Stream World Business Today

00:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 01:00 Think Green 02:00 Journey Into Wine-Spain & Portugal 02:30 Travel Today 03:00 Working Holiday 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 Julian and Camilla’s World Odyssey 06:00 Travel Today 06:30 Distant Shores 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Travel 360 09:00 Working Holiday 10:00 Four Men and a Lady 10:30 Tall Ship Explorers 11:30 Riding Route 66 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Distant Shores 13:30 Sophie Grigson In The Home Counties 14:00 Destination Art 14:30 Travel 360 15:30 48 Hours In

00:05 Cow And Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 George Of The Jungle 01:20 Courage The Cowardly Dog 01:45 Eliot Kid 02:10 Ed, Edd N Eddy 02:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 03:00 The Powerpuff Girls 03:15 Chowder 03:40 The Secret Saturdays 04:05 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 04:30 Ben 10: Alien Force 04:55 Best Ed 05:20 Skunk Fu! 05:45 Cramp Twins 06:10 Eliot Kid 06:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 07:25 Cow And Chicken 07:50 Angelo Rules 08:05 Cartoon Network Dance Club 08:15 Adventure Time 08:40 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 09:05 The Secret Saturdays 09:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 09:55 The Powerpuff Girls 10:20 Robotboy 10:30 Hero 108 10:55 Ben 10 11:20 Chowder 11:45 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 12:10 Camp Lazlo 12:35 George Of The Jungle 13:00 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 13:25 Codename: Kids Next Door 13:50 Ben 10 14:15 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:40 Squirrel Boy 15:05 Eliot Kid 15:35 Ed, Edd N Eddy 16:00 Cow And Chicken 16:25 Chop Socky Chooks 16:50 Skunk Fu! 17:15 Chowder 17:40 Best Ed 18:05 Hero 108 18:30 Cartoon Network Dance Club 18:45 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 18:55 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 19:20 Ben 10: Alien Force 19:45 The Secret Saturdays 20:10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 20:35 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 21:00 The Powerpuff Girls 21:25 Ed, Edd N Eddy 21:50 Robotboy 22:00 Adventure Time 22:25 Hero 108 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 23:40 Chowder

HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE ON OSN ACTION HD

00:40 Dirty Jobs 01:35 The Next Great Baker 02:30 Ultimate Survival 03:25 Motor City Motors 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How It’s Made 05:40 How Machines Work 06:05 Dirty Jobs 07:00 Motor City Motors 07:50 American Chopper: Senior vs Junior 08:45 How It’s Made 09:10 Mythbusters 10:05 Cake Boss 10:30 Border Security 10:55 Time Warp 11:25 The Next Great Baker 12:20 LA Ink 13:15 Ultimate Survival 14:10 LA Ink 15:05 Dirty Jobs 16:00 Motor City Motors 16:55 Mythbusters 17:50 Extreme Fishing With Robson Green 18:45 Cake Boss 19:10 Border Security 19:40 Time Warp 20:05 How Machines Work 20:35 How It’s Made 21:00 Science Of The Movies 21:55 Mythbusters 22:50 The Future Of...

23:45 Extreme Fishing With Robson Green

00:30 The Gadget Show 00:55 Kings Of Construction 01:45 Nasa’s Greatest Missions 02:35 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 03:25 How Stuff’s Made 03:50 Thunder Races 04:45 What’s That About?

05:40 One Step Beyond 06:10 Superships 07:00 Punkin Chunkin 2010 07:55 Head Rush 07:58 Sci-Fi Science 08:25 Weird Connections 08:55 Cosmic Collisions 09:45 The Gadget Show 10:35 Engineered 11:25 Green Wheels 11:50 Punkin Chunkin 2010 12:40 One Step Beyond 13:05 Sci-Fi Science 13:55 Space Pioneer 14:45 Kings Of Construction 15:35 The Gadget Show 16:00 Head Rush 16:03 Sci-Fi Science 16:30 Weird Connections 17:00 Brainiac 17:50 Space Pioneer 18:40 How It’s Made 19:30 How Stuff Works 20:20 Weird Connections 20:45 Cool Stuff And How It Works 21:10 The Gadget Show 22:00 How It’s Made 22:50 How Stuff Works 23:40 Powering The Future

00:05 Unwrapped 00:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 00:55 Guy’s Big Bite 01:45 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 02:35 Food Network Challenge 03:25 Barefoot Contessa 03:50 Barefoot Contessa 04:15 Good Eats - Special 04:40 Unwrapped 05:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 05:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 05:50 Paula’s Party 06:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:00 Chopped 07:50 Guy’s Big Bite 08:15 Boy Meets Grill 08:40 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 09:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:20 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 10:45 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Paula’s Party 12:25 Good Eats - Special 12:50 Paula’s Best Dishes 13:15 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 13:40 Ultimate Recipe Showdown 14:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 14:55 Unwrapped 15:20 Boy Meets Grill 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Guy’s Big Bite 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To

00:20 00:45 01:10 01:30 01:55 02:20 02:45 03:10 03:30 03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:25 06:50 07:15 07:40 08:00 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:55 10:05 10:25 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:10 12:35

Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Timmy Time Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Little Mermaid Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Lazytown Imagination Movers

13:00 13:25 13:40 14:05 14:15 14:25 14:50 15:15 16:05 16:30 16:40 16:55 17:20 17:45 17:55 18:05 18:15 18:35 19:00 19:20 19:45 19:55 20:05

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction Timmy Time The Hive Little Einsteins The Little Mermaid Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny The Hive Jake & The Neverland Pirates Imagination Movers Lazytown Jungle Junction Special Agent Oso The Hive Little Einsteins Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Little Mermaid Handy Manny Timmy Time Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:20 Kick Buttowski 06:40 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 07:05 Phineas And Ferb 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Kick Buttowski 08:50 Cars Toons 08:55 Cars Toons 09:00 Zeke And Luther 09:50 I’m In The Band 10:15 The Super Hero Squad Show 10:40 Suite Life On Deck 11:30 Pair Of Kings 11:55 Phineas And Ferb 12:45 Kid vs Kat 13:50 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 14:40 Zeke And Luther 15:05 Kick Buttowski 15:25 Cars Toons 15:35 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 16:00 I’m In The Band 16:25 Suite Life On Deck 16:50 Zeke And Luther 17:40 Phineas And Ferb 18:30 Escape From Scorpion Island 18:55 Kick Buttowski 19:20 American Dragon 19:45 Aaron Stone 20:10 Phineas And Ferb 20:15 Kid vs Kat 20:40 Phineas And Ferb 21:05 I’m In The Band 21:30 Zeke And Luther 21:50 Cars Toons 21:55 Cars Toons 22:00 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 22:20 The Super Hero Squad Show 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am

8 MILE ON OSN MOVIES ACTION 18:40 19:30 19:55 20:20 Jones 21:10 22:00 23:40

Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Real Emergency Calls True Crime With Aphrodite Solved I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner

00:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 01:30 Don’t Tell My Mother 02:30 Banged Up Abroad 03:30 Treks In A Wild World 04:00 Bondi Rescue 00:25 Kendra 04:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 00:55 Style Star 05:00 Exploring The Vine 01:25 40 Smokin’ On Set Hookups 05:30 Long Way Down 03:15 25 Most Stylish 06:30 Lonely Planet: Roads Less 04:10 Sexiest Travelled 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 07:30 Don’t Tell My Mother 06:00 THS 08:30 Banged Up Abroad 07:50 Behind The Scenes 09:30 Treks In A Wild World 08:20 E! News 09:15 Kourtney And Kim Take New 10:00 Bondi Rescue York 11:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 10:15 THS 12:30 Banged Up Abroad 12:05 E! News 13:30 Madventures 13:05 Holly’s World 14:30 Banged Up Abroad 14:05 Kourtney And Kim Take New 15:30 Treks In A Wild World York 16:00 Bondi Rescue 14:35 E! Investigates 17:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 16:25 Behind The Scenes 18:30 Banged Up Abroad 16:55 E!es 19:30 Madventures 17:55 E! News 20:00 Madventures 18:55 Kourtney And Kim Take New 20:30 Banged Up Abroad York 21:30 Treks In A Wild World 19:25 Khloe And Lamar 22:00 Bondi Rescue 19:55 E!es 23:30 Cruise Ship Diaries 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The 00:00 Outpost-18 Kardashians 02:00 Blood: The Last Vampire-18 04:00 Legion-18 06:00 Hollywood Homicide-PG15 08:00 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life-PG15 00:15 Untracked 10:00 The Order-PG15 00:40 BMX Megatour 01:30 World Combat League 12:00 Enemy Of The State-PG15 02:20 Untracked 14:15 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The 03:10 Man’s Work Cradle Of Life-PG15 04:00 Final Fu 16:15 Ghost Town (TV Movie)-18 04:50 BMX Megatour 18:00 Enemy Of The State-PG15 05:40 World Combat League 20:15 The Gene Generation-18 06:30 FIA European Drag Racing 22:00 The Killer Inside Me-PG15 2008 08:00 Quattro Events 2009 08:25 X Games Heroes 09:15 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross...

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon 10:55 X-Traordinary Stewart 11:45 Fantasy Factory 01:00 The Colbert Report 12:35 Untracked 01:30 South Park 13:25 BMX Megatour 02:00 The Cleveland Show 14:15 World Combat League 02:30 Weeds 15:05 X-Traordinary 03:00 Rita Rocks 15:55 Fantasy Factory 03:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 16:45 Quattro Events 2009 03:30 Weeds 17:10 X Games Heroes 04:00 South Park 18:00 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross...

04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay 19:40 BMX Megatour Leno 20:30 Untracked 05:30 Will And Grace 21:20 I’ll Do Anything 06:00 According To Jim 22:10 World Combat League 06:30 Family Biz 23:00 Man’s Work 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 23:25 Aiya TV 08:00 Seinfeld 23:50 Untracked 08:30 Dharma And Greg 09:00 Rita Rocks 09:30 Will And Grace 10:00 According To Jim 00:30 The Haunted 10:30 Seinfeld 01:20 A Haunting 11:00 Family Biz 02:10 Deadly Women 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay 03:00 The Prosecutors Leno 03:50 Dr G: Medical Examiner 12:30 Dharma And Greg 04:45 Ghosthunters 13:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 05:15 The Haunted 13:30 Will And Grace 06:10 Diagnosis: Unknown 14:00 According To Jim 07:00 Forensic Detectives 14:30 Raising Hope 07:50 Murder Shift 15:00 Seinfeld 08:40 Mystery Diagnosis 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon 09:30 Real Emergency Calls Stewart 10:20 Fugitive Strike Force 16:00 The Colbert Report 11:10 FBI Files 16:30 Family Biz 12:00 True Crime With Aphrodite 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Jones 18:00 Rita Rocks 12:50 Solved 18:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 13:40 Mystery Diagnosis 19:00 Parks And Recreation 14:30 Real Emergency Calls 19:30 The Simpsons 15:20 Fugitive Strike Force 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay 16:10 Forensic Detectives Leno 17:00 Murder Shift 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon 17:50 FBI Files Stewart

01:00 Freight-PG15 03:00 Legion-18 05:00 Knife Edge-18 07:00 Signs-PG15 09:00 Stonehenge ApocalypsePG15 11:00 Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen-PG15 13:30 Deceit-PG15 15:15 Stonehenge ApocalypsePG15 17:15 The Italian Job (2003)-PG15 19:15 Ballistica-PG15 21:00 8 Mile-18

19:30 Futbol Mundial 20:00 European Tour Weekly 20:30 Ladies European PGA Tour Highlights 21:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 22:30 Futbol Mundial 23:00 Trans World Sport

00:00 NRL Full Time 00:30 AFL Highlights 01:30 AFL Premiership 04:00 European Senior Tour Highlights 05:00 NRL Premiership 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 ATP Tennis 10:00 ATP Tennis 12:00 FEI Equestrain World 00:00 The Good Girl-PG15 12:30 European PGA Tour 02:00 Marci X-PG15 Highlights 04:00 Night At The Museum: Battle Of 13:30 Golfing World The Smithsonian-PG15 14:30 Live ATP Tennis 06:00 Mafia!-PG15 20:30 Live ATP Tennis 08:00 Ace Ventura : Pet Detective Jr.- 22:30 FEI Equestrain World PG15 23:00 NRL Premiership 10:00 My Father The Hero-PG15 12:00 Four Christmases-PG15 14:00 The Wedding Singer-PG15 16:00 The Good Girl-PG15 18:00 Down And Out In Beverly Hills- 00:00 WWE SmackDown 02:00 UFC 131 Countdown PG15 03:00 V8 Supercars Championship 20:00 Fools Rush In-PG15 05:00 UFC Unleashed 22:00 Man About Town-18 07:00 WWE Vintage Collection 08:00 City Centre Races 09:00 Full Throttle 09:30 Aquabike World 01:00 Miss March-18 10:00 UAE National Race Day Series 03:00 The Ramen Girl-PG15 11:00 Le Mans Series 05:00 The Informant!-PG15 11:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 07:00 Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past12:00 WWE NXT PG15 13:00 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 09:00 Someone Like You-PG15 14:00 City Centre Races 11:00 Frequently Asked Questions 15:00 Full Throttle About Time Travel-PG15 15:30 Le Mans Series 13:00 Morning Light-PG 16:00 V8 Supercars Championship 15:00 Head Of State-PG15 18:00 WWE NXT 17:00 Someone Like You-PG15 19:00 You Don’t Know Jack-PG15 21:15 Calvin Marshall-PG15 23:00 Fools Rush In-PG15

02:00 Tom And Jerry: Blast Off To Mars-FAM 03:30 Homeward Bound II: Lost In San Francisco-FAM 05:45 Free Willy 3: The Rescue-FAM 08:00 Globehunters-FAM 10:00 Scooby-Doo And The Ghoul School-FAM 12:00 Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs Wakko’s Wakko-PG 14:00 Free Willy 3: The Rescue-FAM 16:00 Pete’s Dragon-PG 18:15 Scooby-Doo! Summer Camp Scare-FAM 20:00 Winx: Secret Of The Lost Kingdom-PG

00:00 The Art Of War III: RetributionPG15 02:00 Fanboys-PG15 03:30 Avatar-PG 06:15 Secret Origin: The Story Of DC Comics-PG 08:00 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 10:00 Maneater: Part I-PG15 12:00 Avatar-PG 14:45 Emotional Arithmetic-PG15 16:30 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 18:00 Alice In Wonderland-PG 20:00 The Wolfman-18 22:00 Post Grad-PG15

00:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 01:00 ATP Tennis 03:00 ATP Tennis 05:00 Trans World Sport 06:00 Weber Cup Bowling 07:00 NRL Premiership 09:00 Super Rugby Highlights 10:00 ICC Cricket World 10:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 11:00 Trans World Sport 12:00 NRL Full Time 12:30 AFL Highlights 13:30 Super Rugby Highlights 14:30 Weber Cup Bowling 15:30 Super League 17:30 Golfing World 18:30 Trans World Sport

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:25 03:20 05:10 05:35 06:05 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:25 09:55 10:50 11:50 12:50 13:45 14:15 14:45 15:40 16:35 17:30 18:25 19:25 19:50 20:20 21:15 22:10 23:05

Jerseylicious Fashion Avenue Big Boutique How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Homes With Style Area Clean House Big Boutique Homes With Style Fashion Avenue Fashion Avenue How Do I Look?

Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

Clean House Clean House Clean House Comes Clean Mel B: It’s A Scary World Jerseylicious Ruby Giuliana & Bill Giuliana & Bill Clean House Top 10 Top 10 Clean House Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

How Do I Look?

Ruby

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00

Tales Of The Gun Ice Road Truckers Scots At War American Pickers Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Nostradamus Effect Tales Of The Gun Ice Road Truckers Scots At War American Pickers Pawn Stars Nostradamus Effect Tales Of The Gun Ice Road Truckers Scots At War American Pickers Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Nostradamus Effect Tales Of The Gun

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Furnished 1 bed, 1 hall, flat near German Clinic Abbasiya. From end of June, Indian or Sri Lankan family. Contact: 99430379.

(C 3427) Sharing accommodation available in Khaitan behind petrol pump and opp.

Jamiya in a Studio flat with a Mangalorean R.C bachelor. Rent KD 25. Contact: 66036893. (C 3428) 8-6-2011 Sharing accommodation available in Shara Amman opposite Al-Rashid Hospital for bachelors. Contact: 65515717. (C 3424) 7-6-2011 Accommodation available in Salmiya near Ceaser’s for a working lady in a 2 bedroom C-A/C flat. Call after 3 pm. Tel: 25643718. (C 3419) Sharing accommodation available in New Reggai with fully furnished flat up to 4 months June - September.

Contact: 99729608. (C 3422) 6-6-2011 Sharing accommodation available in Abbasiya near

German Clinic for couples or bachelors, South Indians or Sri Lankans preferred, can stay from July 1st. Contact: 66529575.

(C 3416) 5-6-2011 Sharing or rent a fully furnished 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, CA/C flat for 2 months July & August, specially for families on visit, nice location on main road in Khaitan.

Contact: 67797042 / 66674242.

(C 3411) Sharing accommodation available for families/two working ladies in a new building with two rooms and two toilets, behind United Indian School, Abbasiya from June 1st onwards. Please contact: 66772421 / 66552412.

(C 3412)

1424888. Email: pillaisurendran56@yahoo.com or bio_sumi@yahoo.co.in (C 3420) 8-6-2011 Marriage proposal for R.C.S.C boy 30yrs, 178cm, 79kg, Masters in Network Computing & Digital Communications. Resident in Australia and working in Govt. as an IT Infrastructure Officer. Proposals invited from god-fearing girls.

Prefer professionals. Please contact: jpmatt2011@gmail.com (C 3425)

For sale full house furniture, bedroom, children’s bedroom, sofa bed, living room, fridge, washing machine, dining table, curtains, TV. For more information call: 99495795.

(C 3406)

Proposals invited for a Keralite Pentecostal girl B Sc Nurse 271/2 years working in Kuwait. Contact: thomgm@gmail.com 7-6-2011

Laptop Acer Aspire, RAM 1GB, HD 160GB, DVDWriter, Bluetooth, wireless, Price KD 75 and PC Compaq Pentium4 with 15” LCD Neovo, Price KD 40. All in excellent condition. Call: 99322585. (C 3410)

Pakistani, Punjabi male 49, working in Civil Engineering department, needs life partner. E-mail: veridical90@yahoo.com (C 3418)

MATRIMONIAL Nair girl Ph.D, Kollam (08.07.79), Moolam, MSc Biotechnology, currently working as Post Doctoral Fellow, Trivandrum, seeks alliance from professionally qualified, well placed boys below 38 years. KMID E

Toyota Corolla model 2009, color maroon, price KD 3400 only.

Contact: 60951195. (C 3423) 7-6-2011

FOR SALE Toyota Corolla model 2009, white colour, 1.8 Engine, installment possible, cash price KD 3,350. Contact: 66507741. (C 3430) 8-6-2011

Brand new Samsung Galaxy Tab for sale, call for good price, made in Korea, 16 GB, BlackBerry Curve 3G. Contact: 94427488.

(C 3408)

SITUATION WANTED Indian male, B.Com, 25 years Gulf experience (Kuwait & UAE) in management, procurement, sales, seeks senior position, experience in oil filed materials, hard wares, power and hand tools, timber, steel, building materials etc.

Contact: 66889375.

(C 3417)

SITUATION VACANT European Asian small family looking for an English speaking Filipino maid, Visa + transferable. Please call: 66004505. (C 3429) 8-6-2011 A Kuwaiti family is looking to hire a part time cook (all kinds of cooking). Contact: 99070066. (C 3421) 6-6-2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines JZR THY ETH UAE DHX FDB GFA QTR JZR JZR FCX JZR KAC BAW BBC KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY IRA ETD GFA FCX MEA JZR IRM JZR RBG KAC MSR IRC UAL RJA MSR FDB KAC SVA KAC KNE

Flt 267 772 620 853 370 67 211 138 529 503 201 555 412 157 45 206 382 302 53 352 284 362 344 855 132 125 603 301 213 203 404 165 5066 561 3557 672 610 6791 982 640 621 57 802 500 552 745

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 8/6/2011 Route BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA ASSIUT LUXOR DUBAI ALEXANDRIA MANILA / BANGKOK LONDON DHAKA ISLAMABAD DELHI MUMBAI DUBAI COCHIN DHAKA COLOMBO CHENNAI DUBAI DOHA SHARJAH SHIRAZ ABU DHABI BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT DUBAI MASHAD SOHAG ALEXANDRIA DUBAI CAIRO MASHAD WASHINGTON DC DULLES AMMAN ASSIUT DUBAI CAIRO JEDDAH DAMASCUS JEDDAH

Time 0:35 1:15 1:45 2:25 2:55 3:10 3:15 3:20 3:35 5:15 5:25 6:10 6:15 6:30 6:45 7:15 7:20 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:20 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:25 9:30 9:35 10:30 10:55 11:10 11:50 12:30 12:55 13:15 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:00 14:30 14:35 14:45

QTR KAC JZR KNE SYR ETD UAE GFA SVA JZR JZR ABY KAC JZR JZR ALK KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC AIC JAI FDB JZR OMA VOS MEA DHX UAE GFA QTR UAL JZR KAC JZR MSR DLH SAI AXB JZR KLM PIA

134 546 201 701 341 303 857 215 510 777 239 127 550 481 177 227 166 502 542 618 786 774 102 674 575 572 61 787 647 81 402 372 859 217 136 981 135 1550 185 612 636 441 393 539 447 215

DOHA ALEXANDRIA DAMASCUS RIYADH DAMASCUS ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH AMMAN SHARJAH SHARM EL SHEIKH / SOHAG SABIHA DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI PARIS / ROME BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH RIYADH NEW YORK / LONDON DUBAI CHENNAI / GOA MUMBAI DUBAI RIYADH MUSCAT BAGHDAD BEIRUT BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN SHARM EL SHEIKH DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT LAHORE / KARACHI KOZHIKODE / COCHIN CAIRO AMSTERDAM / BAHRAIN KARACHI

15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:30 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:25 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:50 18:00 18:00 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:00 19:25 19:25 19:25 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:15 21:00 21:15 21:25 21:35 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:35 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:15 23:30 23:35 23:55

Departur AXB DLH AIC PIA THY ETH UAE FDB DHX QTR JZR JZR GFA KAC BBC VOS BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY KAC QTR JZR ETD GFA JZR IRA FCX MEA KAC JZR JZR KAC KAC IRM KAC RBG JZR MSR IRC

Depurture Flights on Wednesday 8/6/2011 Flt Route 390 KOZHIKODE 637 FRANKFURT 982 AHMEDABAD / CHENNAI 206 LAHORE 773 ISTANBUL 620 BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 139 DOHA 560 SOHAG 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 801 CAIRO 46 DHAKA 94 DUBAI / KANDAHAR 156 LONDON 545 ALEXANDRIA 54 DUBAI 177 FRANKFURT / GENEVA 671 DUBAI 117 NEW YORK 551 DAMASCUS 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 549 SHARM EL SHEIKH / SOHAG 133 DOHA 480 SABIHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 602 SHIRAZ 204 DUBAI 405 BEIRUT 541 CAIRO 776 JEDDAH 238 AMMAN 103 LONDON 501 BEIRUT 5065 MASHAD 785 JEDDAH 3558 SOHAG / ALEXANDRIA 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 6792 MASHAD

Time 0:25 0:40 1:05 1:10 2:15 2:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 5:00 5:55 6:55 7:10 7:20 8:00 8:00 8:25 8:35 8:40 8:55 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:40 9:50 9:55 10:00 10:05 10:15 10:20 10:20 10:25 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:10 12:30 13:00 13:20 13:30 13:35 13:40 14:20 14:25

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

RJA FDB MSR UAL KAC KNE KAC SVA KAC QTR KAC JZR JZR KNE SYR ETD UAE GFA ABY JZR JZR SVA JZR JZR ALK KAC KAC JAI FDB KAC KAC OMA MEA DHX UAE GFA KAC FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR UAL MSR KAC SAI

641 58 622 982 673 746 617 503 773 135 1549 786 538 704 342 304 858 216 128 184 266 511 204 134 228 283 361 571 62 331 351 648 403 373 860 218 381 102 137 301 205 502 554 981 613 415 442

AMMAN DUBAI ASSIUT BAHRAIN DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA MEDINAH / JEDDAH RIYADH DOHA SHARM EL SHEIKH RIYADH CAIRO MEDINAH DAMASCUS ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH DUBAI BEIRUT RIYADH DAMASCUS BAHRAIN DUBAI / COLOMBO DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI TRIVANDRUM COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DELHI BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD LUXOR ALEXANDRIA WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA LAHORE

14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 15:10 15:30 15:35 15:45 16:05 16:15 16:30 16:35 16:40 16:45 17:30 17:35 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:55 19:10 19:10 20:00 20:20 20:35 20:40 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 22:00 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:05 23:10 23:40 23:50 23:50 23:59

34

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

s ta rs CROSSWORD 342

CALVIN & HOBBES

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) You could be taking the initiative today, but you will benefit best by letting others take the lead, especially if you have been experiencing a lot of overtime lately. You may enjoy group sports or working with children or animals this afternoon. Creativity and its expression are very important for your mental health and this afternoon is a good time to enjoy creative expression—yours or others’. There will be some discussion today about ways in which to increase the finances. This could be a creative and prosperous adventure. When you have breakthroughs, they often come as insights into your immediate surroundings, home and environment—your support system. You have new ideas to add to your unusual environment this evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. Rate of revolution of a motor.

4. A member of a Muslim Turkic people of western Asia (especially in Kazakstan).

9. Any of various mostly cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates usually having scales and breathing through gills.

13. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.

14. With rapid movements.

15. Informal or slang terms for mentally irregular.

16. Singing jazz.

18. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

19. Distant in either space or time.

20. A singer of carols.

24. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

27. Any plant of the genus Erica.

31. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

32. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and use of an electronic database.

34. One who works hard at boring tasks.

35. Cattle that are reared for their meat.

38. Fish eggs or egg-filled ovary.

39. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord.

41. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

42. Electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field.

43. A metric unit of volume equal to one tenth of a liter.

45. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

47. Medium-sized penguins occurring in large colonies on the Adelie coast of Antarctica.

50. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

54. Stem of the rattan palm used for making canes and umbrella handles.

56. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

58. An Asian river between China and Russia.

59. Assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing.

61. A river in central Europe that arises in northwestern Czechoslovakia and flows northward through Germany to empty into the North Sea. 62. An indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint.

63. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

64. (computer science) The movement of a read/write head to a specific data track on a disk v 1.

DOWN 1. (computer science) A kind of computer architecture that has a relatively small set of computer instructions that it can perform.

2. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

3. A flat-bottomed volcanic crater that was formed by an explosion.

4. Unknown god.

5. To or from every one of two or more (considered individually).

6. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.

7. (informal) Of the highest quality.

8. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

9. A crystal of snow.

10. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in Iowa and Minnesota and Missouri.

11. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

12. Any plant of the genus Hoya having fleshy leaves and usually nectariferous flowers.

17. An alloy of copper and zinc (and sometimes arsenic) used to imitate gold in cheap jewelry and for gilding.

21. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

22. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively.

23. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.

25. Heal or recover.

26. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

28. (informal) `johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War. 29. (Roman mythology) God of love.

30. One thousandth of a second.

33. (informal) Exceptionally good.

36. A genus of Mustelidae.

37. King of Saudi Arabia since 1982 (born in 1922).

40. Foul with waste matter.

41. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

43. A cigar made with light-colored tobacco.

44. A form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement.

46. Yellow-fever mosquitos.

47. A state in northwestern United States on the Pacific.

48. Fallow deer.

49. The twelfth month of the civil year.

51. A tiny or scarcely detectable amount.

52. A French abbot.

53. A branch of the Tai languages.

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

57. Fermented alcoholic beverage similar to but heavier than beer.

60. The square of a body of any size of type.

Yesterday’s Solution

Your mind is ever on communication, how you present yourself and how you come across with others. You feel confident and outgoing. You could be teaching or helping others make decisions about future goals.

You are never happy unless your day is active and involved. This is an exceptionally busy day and if you have already planned quite a lot, you may find yourself in a tight situation . . . you can only spread yourself so thin. It is amazing to watch you as you solve problems, direct, consult and cheer almost at the same time. You love music and find that it is a good channel for your energy. If you have had music education, you may find yourself conducting an orchestra or a choir. Of course, creating a home movie may be the call for tonight.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You would do well with a career in storytelling, psychology or philosophy—the realms of the imagination. These are the areas you will enjoy pondering today. Perhaps you are performing or reassessing your goals in some way. You work well in these areas and can help or teach others by sharing your understanding and your talents. You can serve as a guide in matters of the mind and psyche—religions, mysticism, etc. Spiritual problems and questions are easy—for you always grasp the unity behind what appears separate. You have a natural appreciation for the past, personal as well as world history and all that is traditional. You find it easy to work with music, color, fabric and the arts—whatever is beautiful. The needy can be found under your umbrella.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

A lot of energy goes into getting things scheduled and organized today. Figuring things out, spotting the fly in the ointment: these things take on a special significance. You have an urge to get things organized into a rational system. There is much mental busywork today. You have the ability and an opportunity to be particularly artistic this afternoon. This could involve cooking, art, redecorating, gardening, meditation, music, etc. Your enthusiasm for mystical and religious experience could make you an excellent teacher in creative matters. Selfcontrol and setting limits are important in love and games of chance just now. Think long-term and be realistic in your approach to these things. A small child needs a pat on the back.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

ZITS

You are most imaginative when it comes to anything spiritual, or psychological—pertaining to the psyche. Others may find you entrancing and always able to draw them into your world of images and dreams. You can easily find solutions to problems in your work area. You keep in touch with ideas and people and you always have resources that you can refer to for help with any project. This is a productive day. You value all the offspring: words, ideas, thoughts, etc. You love to talk. In particular, you appreciate good conversations. Stimulating mental adventures are among the most exciting experiences life offers. Fun and lively interactions with family members are possible this evening. You make self-discoveries that give you insight into new adventures.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) The work you do and the way you take care of health and other obligations are important keys to your best potential, in many respects. There is a need for focus and careful analysis in these areas of your life. Set up systems and schedules and stick to them! You can expect some sort of major reevaluation of your likes and dislikes, how and what you enjoy or appreciate about yourself and life, your value system. You may find that your appreciation for the quality of everything is strong. This is a good reappraisal time. Things you say may place you as a mentor to others. You have a great mental drive and lavish much energy on mental pursuits of all kinds. Ideas, words, books, etc., are pursued with great gusto.

Friends keep you busy tonight.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

You have a high degree of motivation when it comes to achievement and encouraging others to achieve. You have an understanding of difficult situations and you are accepting of decisions in the workplace. A friendly co-worker impresses you with his or her accomplishments. Psychology in all of its forms is a driving force in your day. Your feelings are always out front. You exhibit your proficiency in matters of the heart. Children, animals and all creative work get top billing. You act on instinct, feelings. You are very competitive, even pushy when it comes to partners and other people. You have a great social drive and love to be in groups or with close friends. There is an opening for a closer relationship with loved ones this evening.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are ready for the business meeting or the conference with the boss today. One thing to keep in mind, regardless of whom the one-on-one is with—all will go well. Someone has an agenda and it would be best to just jump in and ask what is expected; or perhaps, be clear in your beginnings. This eliminates a lot of dancing with words and compliments that go nowhere. You enjoy your own accomplishments and may even find a few compliments aimed in your direction. In a volunteer situation with young people, you make a good leader. Young people value the fact that you always manage to unravel even the worst problems.

You are most original when concentrating on areas of home and family this evening.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your mind is ever on communication, how you present yourself and come across with others. It is easy for you to express yourself in a crowd and you can be a real “smoothie.” A task today that is usually very time-consuming can be completed quickly if you set a time limit. See the time on the wall as you complete the work and move forward with that thought in mind. Everything seems to work out for you when you are talking with others. You enjoy working in groups and you tend to pour a lot of energy into those around you. You could be coaching young people today—you are a natural at this as you are always able to motivate and inspire others. With your powerful spirit, you enjoy strong emotions and have an active social life.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Someone could challenge you today on a very sensitive issue, resulting in an argument or, at the least, a very intense discussion. This may be what it takes to find an answer to some quandary—just be sure you stick with the facts and not the emotions. Confusing matters begin to become clear. You may touch upon some very emotional parts of you and find yourself analyzing and psychoanalyzing. You have no trouble putting your feelings into words—you may have to exercise some control over your tongue, for you are quick to say things and everything you communicate packs a wallop. You lavish great energy on mental pursuits of all kinds. Young people will enjoy your guidance—perhaps in a neighborhood party setting.

Yesterday’s Solution Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You can really psyche out a group, always getting to the heart of what is really happening. You could have great political power when it comes to other people and finances. There may be an opportunity today where you could speak up and help others to understand new methods. There is a point you may try to make. Perhaps, there is an importance of some preservation or some method that would help the community prosper. Easy does it—ask and listen to other people’s opinions about what is needed to initiate a positive change in finances and living conditions. Think on these suggestions before making any firm decisions just now. Business and recreational travel is favored. Enjoy bringing in the family to help with suggestions or future plans.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Your inner self and your goals are the most active parts of your personality. There could be an opportunity to communicate with many different personalities today. A variety of subjects could have you feeling that the day is well spent. The talent of guiding others through the hurdles and hassles of life could become taxing, so look for ways to lift your spirit. This could include classes in music, art or physical activity. Maintain a meditative attitude as often as possible in order to regain or boost your energies. You resent probing on the part of others, yet you are fascinated by behind-the-scenes and so-called secret information. Family and security are important to you—healing and bonding can be experienced this evening.

A

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

Years

i n f o r m at i o n FIRE BRIGADE

STATE ST TATE T OF KUW K KUWAIT WA AIT

Tel.: T el.: 161 e

DIRECTORA DIRECTORATE AT TE GENE GENERAL ERAL OF CIVIL A AVIATION V VIA AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP D DEPARTMENT PA ARTMENT

112

DA AY: Y T DAY: Tuesday uesday

WWW .MET.GOV V..KW W WWW.MET.GOV.KW

07/06/2011 07/06/201 1

Ministry of Interior

Ext.: 2627 262 27 - 2630

Fax: 24348714

07:00

Time Issue Time

Expected Weather Weather for the Next 24 4 Hours Very V ery e hot h with light to moderate nor north rth westerly becoming north h easterly wind, with speed of o 08 - 28 km/h

BY Y DA DAY: AY:

website: www.moi.gov.kw Hot with becoming wiith light to moderate becomi ng fresh later on northerly to o north westerly wind, with speed s of 15 - 40 km/h

NIGHT:: BY Y NIGHT

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

No Current Warnings Warnin a gs

WARNING W A ARNING STATION ST TATION T

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

24812000

MAX. EXP EXP. P.

MIN.. REC.

KUW WA AIT CITY KUWAIT

43 °C

35 °C

KUW WA AIT AIRPORT AIRPOR RT KUWAIT

47 °C

30 °C

43 °C C

32 °C C

Amiri Hospital

22450005

NUW WA AISEEB NUWAISEEB

Maternity Hospital

24843100

WAFRA A WAFRA

46 °C

30 °C

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

SALMI

46 °C

33 °C

Chest Hospital

24849400

ABDAL LY ABDALY

49 °C

31 °C

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

ALIY YA AH JAL ALIYAH

47 °C

32 °C

Adan Hospital

23940620

FAILAKA A FAILAKA

44 °C

31 °C

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

POR RT AHMADI PORT

40 °C

35 °C

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

M UMM AL-MARADEM

37 °C

31 °C

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

WARBA A A - BUBYAN BUBY YA AN WARBA

42 °C

31 °C

Clinics

SFC. CHAR CHART T

07/06/201 1 0000 UTC 07/06/2011

4732263

Roudha

22517733

DAY DA AY

DATE DA AT TE

Adhaliya

22517144

Weednesday Wednesday

08/06

Khaldiya

24848075

Thursday

09/06

Keifan

24849807

Friday

10/06

Shamiya

24848913

Saturday

11/06 11/06

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

Temperatures Temperratures WEA WEATHER AT THER

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Wind Direction Direction

Wind Wind Speed

very hot + raising dust

48 °C

32 °C

NW -N NW-N

20 - 40 km/h

very hot + raising dust

48 °C

32 °C

NW

25 - 45 km/h

very hot + raising dust

45 °C

33 °C

NW

25 - 50 km/h

dusty

44 °C

32 °C

NW

25 - 45 km/h

PRAYER PR RA AY YER TIMES

RECORDED D YESTERDAY YESTERDA AY AT AT KUW KUWAIT WA AIT T AIRPORT AIRPORT

Fajr

03:13

MAX. MA AX. Temp.

Temp.

46 °C

22526804

Sunrise S i

04 48 04:48

MIN. Temp.

MI IN T IN. emp.

29 °C

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Zuhr

11:47 11:47

MAX. RH M

14 %

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Asr

15:21

MIN. RH M

05 %

Dasmah

22532265

Sunset

18:46

MAX. Wind MA AX. W ind

Isha

20:17

TOTAL RAINFALL T OT TA AL L RAI INF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Al-Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W.Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Al-Omariya

24719048

N.Kheitan

24710044

Fintas

3900322

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

POLICE STATION

4 DA DAYS AY YS FORECAST

Rabiya

Al-Madena

All times are local time un nless otherwise stated. unless

Al-Madena Police Station Al-Murqab Police Station Al-Daiya Police Station Al-Fayha’a Police Station Al-Qadissiya Police Station Al-Nugra Police Station Al-Salmiya Police Station Al-Dasma Police Station

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry

SE E 28 km/h

about the Civil ID card is 1889988

00 mm

07/06/11 02:22 UTC 07/06/11

V1.00

T1.06

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

22433377 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist 25340300

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581 22641071/2

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Salem soso

22618787

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists

Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291 22666288

Rheumatologists:

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

Dentists

Internists, Chest & Heart

25339330

25655535

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

General Surgeons

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia

00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

lifestyle G O S S I P

Gomez and Bieber ‘weirded people out’ elena Gomez and Justin Bieber “weirded people out” with their public display of affection at the MTV Movie Awards. The ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ actress and her pop star boyfriend couldn’t keep their hands off each other backstage at the event according to witnesses but some people were reportedly uncomfortable with their enthusiastic display. A

S

source told HollywoodLlfe.com: “They made out for about three minutes and kind of weirded people out. They used a lot of tongue and acted like there was no one else in the room.” Selena, 18, and 17-year-old Justin have been inseparable recently with the pop star taking his girlfriend on a trip to his hometown of Stratford, Ontario last week where they were joined at the

Swiss Chalet restaurant by his cousins and aunt and uncle. A source said: “Justin and Selena had lunch with Justin’s cousins and his aunt and uncle. They were really sweet and make an adorable couple. “They looked happy and in love. They acted just like everyday people, very down-to-earth. Justin is part of the community, he’s one of us and is as friendly as can be.”

Green’s mother ‘appalled’ by acting

va Green’s mother is “appalled” by her profession. The 30-yearold star’s mum Marlene Jobert is also an actress but she thinks her daughter has entered a “terrible” profession and can’t understand why the ‘Casino Royale’ beauty gets stressed when looking for work. Asked if she asks her mum for advice, Eva said: “No, she’s kind of appalled by what I do. Sometimes I get so worried [about a part] she’ll say, ‘Don’t stress,’ but there was less competition in her day.

She’ll discuss a role and we run through lines. She thinks acting is a terrible business and it’s true that it’s hard to depend on the judgment of other people all the time. You have to not take it personally, to be strong.” Eva - who has been single since splitting from actor Marton Csokas in 2009 - also insisted she was never interested in following in the footsteps of her father Walter and becoming a dentist. She told The Observer magazine: “Oh God no, that would be so bad. I’d find it so intimate, like a gynaecologist. In fact, this is how he met my mother. It was, ‘Oh hi, shall we go out?’”

Cruise’s

shoe collection is worth £100,000

he five-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes has reportedly had several pairs of high-heeled footwear specially-made for her and already has favorite designers. A source said: “Suri has so many designer shoes. “She’s a massive fan of Marc Jacobs and she’s had several shoes custommade, so if they didn’t come with a heel, Katie had them redesigned for Suri.

She commissioned a pair of Louboutins for her a while back!” Suri is said to insist on only wearing high heels and her famous father is happy to indulge her tastes. The insider added to Britain’s Star magazine: “The older she gets, the less she wants to wear anything but little heels. “Even when she’s going to play dates or walking on the beach, she cries if Katie reaches for anything but a little pair of sandals with some sort of heel. She literally cries, ‘No, Mama, no!’ And then points to whatever pair she feels like wearing - no matter how inappropriate!” “Tom loves seeing his little girl dressed up so girlie and cute. He encourages her to wear frilly dresses and tiny heels. He says Suri is growing up to be as fashionable as her mum. “Everything’s pink. She’s a young girl who knows what she wants.” However, Katie is said to be getting tired of her daughter’s requests particularly as she also insists on selecting outfits for her parents. The source said: “It’s hard keeping up with a growing girl. Suri sometimes picks out the shoes her mum should wear, and then picks out shoes for her dad. “They genuinely seem to value her opinion and want her to make her own decisions.”

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Portman joins gay marriage equality campaign atalie Portman has signed Freedom to Marry’s Say, “I Do” letter to President Barack Obama asking for marriage equality for gay couples. The Oscar-winning actress and her fiance Benjamin Millepied - with whom she is expecting her first child - believe all US citizens should have the right to wed and have joined more than 100,000 people in supporting the campaign. Evan Wolfson, president of campaign group Freedom to Marry, said: “Natalie Portman and her fiance, Benjamin Millepied, are in love, and believe all loving couples should be able to share in the freedom to marry without discrimination. “That is why they are joining the more than 100,000 people on Freedom to Marry’s Say, “I Do” Open Letter calling on the president to do the right thing and become part of America’s majority for marriage.” A large number of celebrities have previously signed the letter - which asks President Obama to “clarify” the situation about gay marriage in the US - including openly lesbian ‘Glee’ star Jane Lynch, actress Anne Hathaway and Martin Sheen. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have previously indicated they would not get married until gay couples have the right to do so in America.

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Hudson’s

baby shower

ate Hudson’s friends threw her a baby shower in Malibu, California. The ‘Something Borrowed’ star - who is expecting a baby with her fiance, Muse rocker Matt Bellamy - was joined by pals including Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie and Rachel Zoe for a relaxed, family friendly party where guests attempted to guess the name of the baby. A source told US magazine: “It was a family-friendly party with kids of all ages running around. Nicole Richie was there with her kids and they were having a great time playing outside. “Guests played tons of baby shower games. The best one was where people tried to guess what Kate and Matthew should name the baby. It was hilarious and got a lot of laughs out of everyone! It was such a fun party-and people stayed for hours. However, Kate is refusing to reveal the sex of the baby, forcing hostesses Jen Meyer, wife of Tobey Maguire and ‘90210’ actress Sara Foster to decorate the venue with pink, blue and yellow ribbons. Kate, 32 - who already has a seven-year-old son Ryder with her ex-husband Chris Robinson - has previously revealed she hadn’t planned on having a second child before her 33rd birthday next April. She explained: “We just let destiny take its course. I actually didn’t want a second child before my 33rd birthday.”

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Reed loves relaxed fiance

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ikki Reed encourages her fiance to spend all day drinking beer and playing the guitar. The ‘Twilight’ star has just announced her engagement to ‘American Idol’ performer Paul McDonald after a whirlwind three-month romance and Nikki admitted one of the things she loves most about him is his interest in music. She explained to E! “He sings to me when I’m getting ready to go out. Most people would be like, ‘It’s enough. Put down the guitar!’ I’m like, ‘Listen, if you want to sit on the couch and drink a beer and play guitar all day every day, I encourage it.’” While her fiance may be laid back, Nikki - who plays Rosalie Hale in the vampire movie series - revealed she has plans to go to university to study marketing because she is “business-oriented”. She said: “I really want to go back to school. I want to go back for back for business and marketing. I have a business-oriented mind and my brother is taking a marketing class right now and I think it’s something I really want to do.”

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Biel has ride with Butler

essica Biel has been spotted riding on the back of Gerard Butler’s motorbike fuelling speculation they are dating.

The pair have reportedly become close since shooting romantic comedy ‘Playing the Field’ together, and they were seen at the end of last week riding along the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Jessica and Gerard were wearing leather jackets

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and boots paired with sunglasses, and the actress tightly held onto the actor’s waist as they drove around the Topanga Canyon. This is not the first time the pair have been seen out together. The two stars were recently spotted enjoying a cosy dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Louisiana, during which they sat side-byside. Jessica, 29, and Gerard have a histo-

ry of being romantically linked to their costars. The 41-year-old actor was rumored to have dated Jennifer Aniston when they starred alongside one another in ‘ The Bounty Hunter ’, while the 29-year-old actress - who split from Justin Timberlake earlier this year - was previously linked to Edward Norton after they starred in ‘The Illusionist’. —Bang Showbiz

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

lifestyle Music & Movies

ollywood actor Tom Hanks is in London for the world premiere of his new movie “Larry Crowne.”

The Academy Award-winning actor-in London Monday for the world premiere of his new movie “Larry Crowne” — says the film is about not giving up to cynicism. Hanks directed, co-wrote and also stars as the protagonist in the movie, which is about a middle-aged man who reinvents himself by going back to college after he loses his job.

“I think this film is about a battle against cynicism we all have,” said Hanks, 54, on the red carpet. “Larry is not in a hopeful space ... It’s easy to surrender to the cynicism, and a lot of people have to face it, but Larry proves that the forward motion of him going back to

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school gives him the faith that something is going to happen. That is not only an upbeat message, but a very wise one,” he said. Julia Roberts plays his romantic interest-a jaded teacher at a local college. Hanks was joined at a movie theater in a London shopping mall Monday evening by fans and celebrities including fellow actor David Hasselhoff and The Rolling Stones’ guitarist Ronnie Wood. — AP Tom Hanks picks up Tyler Sercombe, 5 months old, as he arrives for the World Premiere of Larry Crowne. —AP

Dr Dre settles lawsuit over ‘Chronic’ sales r Dre won’t be behind the microphone at a federal courthouse after all-the rapper settled a lawsuit over damages from unauthorized online sales of his album “The Chronic” a day before trial. Attorneys for the rap superstar, whose real name is Andre Young, filed a notice of settlement in a Los Angeles federal court late yesterday afternoon. He had been expected to testify during the weeklong trial, which would have decided whether Young was entitled to 100 percent of the profits from online sales of the rap album, which also

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helped launch the career of Snoop Dogg. No details of the settlement, which is not yet finalized, were filed with the court.

In April a judge ruled that WIDEawake Death Row Records didn’t have the proper permission to sell Young’s music online or repackage it on new CD releases. The label purchased the holdings of original Death Row Records, which launched the careers of several rappers, out of bankruptcy. He sued WIDEawake Death Row in 2010 for breach of contract, trademark infringement and misappropriation of his likeness.

Young was a co-founder of the label, but negotiated a deal to leave the company that required Death Row to obtain his permission before selling his music digitally. Yesterday, “The Chronic” was no longer available for download on Apple’s popular music service iTunes. There was no immediate comment from attorneys for either Young or WIDEawake Death Row. — AP

Chili Peppers to release first album in 5 years he Red Hot Chili Peppers are gearing up to release their first album in five years on Aug 30, according to the rock band.”I’m With You” also marks their first album since guitarist John Frusciante quit for a second time in 2009 and was replaced

by Josh Klinghoffer.

As usual, “I’m With You” was produced

by Rick Rubin. Their previous collaboration, the 2006 double album “Stadium Arcadium,” debuted at No 1 in 28 countries,

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including the United States where it went on to sell 2.3 million copies. It also won the Grammy for best rock album. The only concerts currently scheduled are the band’s Hong Kong debut on Aug 9, a pair of festivals in Japan on Aug 13 and 14, and the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro on Sept 24.—Reuters

Daniel Radcliffe to sing at Tony Awards f you want to see Daniel Radcliffe sing, tune in early to the Tony Awards. The “Harry Potter” star says he’ll perform the song “Brotherhood of Man” from his Broadway show “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” early in Sunday’s telecast.

Says Radcliffe: “I think we’re one of the first, if not the first.” Radcliffe revealed the news yesterwhile welcoming hundreds of New York City students as they made their Broadway debuts — performing routines from musicals on the Majestic Theatre stage. Radcliffe was passed over for a Tony nomination, but says he’s pulling for costars John Larroquette and Tammy Blanchard, who are up for awards. “If John won it would be just amazing,” he says.

“Only because I have a lot of scenes with him.” —AP

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Red Hot Chili Peppers

n making family entertainment, some movies pitch a tent high and wide enough to let in the entire family while others set up a tiny tent to include only very small children and a few bored older ones who must accompany their younger siblings. “Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer” definitely pitches the tiny tent. Since the film is based on a popular children’s book series with a reported 13 million copies in print worldwide, the film from Relativity Media may enjoy a prosperous theatrical opening and more extended play as a DVD or download. But woe onto anyone over the age of, say, 10 who wanders into a cinema.

This one is not for you.

The film chronicles the adventures of third grader Judy Moody, who is played with considerable spunk by Australian newcomer Jordana Beatty. Judy is determined to have a “mega-cool” summer with the help of younger brother Stink (Parris Mosteller) and her free -spirit Aunt Opal (Heather Graham). No, you didn’t read that wrong. Graham is definitely a good sport in this movie where she plays an adult who is, let’s say, very much in touch with her inner child.

The quality of Judy’s summer involves something called “thrill points,” which are vaguely defined and even more vaguely acquired.

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Or not acquired in the case of the somewhat moody Judy, who doesn’t think she’s having a great summer at all until it’s all over. There is little story here as such. Mostly the film evolves in a series of slapsticky episodes that feature chases, a tightrope walk, hunts for Big Foot, horror costumes and far too much junk food. There are also gags involving vomit and poo. Although when Aunt Opal drives a car recklessly with her niece and nephew aboard, you do wonder what the joke is meant to be. Occasionally digital cartoons or on-screen graphics briefly take over the narrative.

The film, directed by John Schultz (“Like Mike,” “Aliens in the Attic”) from a script by the author and Kathy Waugh, wants to put on screen the sense of random play and concentrated games that fill a child’s world for a few summers. In this it succeeds, but the film does not welcome others who might still retain memories of those NOT bummer summers. Technical credits are solid. —Reuters

emember the Arctic Monkeys? The indie British rockers were the hottest band on the scene about five years ago when their first two singles topped the UK chart and their debut album set a new record for the fastest selling debut release.

Buoyed by the aforementioned hits “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and “When the Sun Goes Down,” the Arctic Monkeys were hailed as the new Oasis by Britain’s music press.

Critics warmed to their witty lyrics about prostitution, drunkenness and run-ins with the police, and tickets for their shows quickly sold out on both sides of the Atlantic. The Oasis comparison did not quite work out and the hype inevitably faded as other bands moved into the spotlight. But the Sheffield foursome still managed to top the UK album charts with its two follow-up releases, and maintained a respectable foothold in the United States.

Lead singer Alex Turner and drummer Matt Helders, both 25, recently spoke to Reuters about their fourth album, “Suck It and See,” which was released worldwide this week.

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Q. Is this new album more a vintage sound?

Turner: “I suppose you could say that.

The recording techniques were a little bit more traditional. We did a lot of live takes, with the four of us playing and we wanted to get a human feel to it.”

“Humbug”) went down pretty well over here, we seem to get a good response to that. We have never had a bad response to any of our records or new albums, it has grown the more and more we have come back over here.”

Q. Regarding your many initial comparisons to Oasis, are you disappointed to not have had the same success in the US? Turner: “Not really, I mean, it’s like we’re both a British rock and roll band, we’re kind of bound to get compared to Oasis in other countries, we are both from the North, similar haircut a little bit, personally. But musically, it is a little bit different. I mean, we are huge fans of them, growing up and all that, they were a really important band for us and still sort of - more now. So I’m not, I don’t mind being compared to Oasis at all.”

the way to get people to listen to the music.”

Turner: “What we were doing was trying to make something good and play it well and do good shows. And I think regardless of what is going on Internet wise, now or five years ago, that is what people should still try and do. That is all we did. And some people got hold of it and shared it using that tool. That was the time when all that started happening. If it had been ten years before, it would have been a demo cassette where they just said. ‘Come round to my house, I have found this band that I really like the songs and you should hear it.’ It accelerated all of that.”—Reuters

Q. You were one of the first groups to use the Internet to get your name out there. Is it harder now?

Helders: “We never really understood that when it happened to us. It wasn’t a conscious decision we made to use that as

Q. Is it more mellow perhaps than previous albums?

Turner: “In parts, but I think it’s pretty frantic at times as well, you know. It has its moments that are a bit more like the chimey guitar thing, like reverberated out that occurs in quite a lot of the songs and I suppose that does give it quite a mellow aspect. I guess probably compared with the first two, it is not as fast and crazy as they were. But it has moments like that - bit of both.”

Q. Your music has not taken off here in the US as it has in the UK. Is that because you don’t cozy up enough to the right people or?

Helders: I don’t know, maybe that is what is missing (laughs).

Turner: “Our last album (2009’s

Arctic Monkeys

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Death Valley sizzle

Extreme heat is the main attraction S

ummer time in Death Valley.

Breathing hurts a little. The wind blows heavy like a hair dryer, burning our nostrils. The asphalt sizzles through the soles of our shoes. It’s 120 degrees outside, our rented PT Cruiser tells us when we slide back inside. I reach for the air conditioner, a layer of grimy salt covering my arm. “Let’s turn the heat on, just to see what happens,” says Chicago Tribune photographer Chris Sweda, my co-pilot on this mission. We giggle and crank the heat full blast, trapping

proudly enduring their self-imposed torture.

There are other masochists here too.

Tourists. Many of them Europeans on summer holiday. Most are just passing through en route from Yosemite to the Grand Canyon, tickled to spend a few hours midsummer in one of the hottest and driest places on Earth, where landmarks have sweltry names such as Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells and Devil’s Cornfield. “ We wanted to experience the extremes,” says Jason Mellott, of Hagerstown, Md, standing with his wife, Stephanie, on a sand dune glistening with golden flecks under the scorching sun.

During fall, winter and spring, when average high temperatures range from the mid-60s to the high 80s, the stunning 3.4million acre Death Valley National Park draws people for the ample hiking, backcountry road adventures, crystal-clear stargazing and colorful spring wildflowers.

In the summer, the triple-digit heat prevents you from doing much of any of that.

So the heat becomes the main attraction.

Take the young British woman in shorts and a tank top who is lying on her back in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, making a sand angel. “Didn’t you hear me screaming?” she says when asked how that sand felt on her back. “I just thought it would be cool to get back and be like, ‘I’ve done this in Death Valley.’” Death Valley. It got its name when pioneers seeking a shortcut to the California gold mines got lost in the valley in 1849-50, and one of them died.

Just one. But that was winter.

Today, the heat kills three to six people each year, often because they try to hike farther than they should, or their car breaks

A tourist walks on the jagged salt formations of Devils Golf Course inside Death Valley. down on a backcountry road and they don’t have enough water, said Terr y Baldino, chief of interpretation at Death Valley National Park. “No matter how many warnings we put out that you have to drink

water or have to avoid strenuous activities, someone always gets in trouble,” Baldino said. “It’s amazing how little time it takes for the heat to get ahold of you.”

It’s not just that it’s hot. It’s dry. Death

A vehicle winds through Artist Drive inside Death Valley National Park. ourselves in a literal hell on wheels. We drive and sweat, masochistically, maybe deliriously, relishing the outer limits of discomfort until breathing becomes too suffocating to bear.

It’s July in the Mojave Desert in southeastern California. We’re covering the Badwater Ultramarathon, a brutal 135-mile running race from Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, to halfway up Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.

The runners, many swathed in white, huff painfully along the side of the road,

Insurer seeks to void policy for Jackson shows

A lizard makes its way across the landscape at Dante’s View inside of Death Valley National.

Valley sees less than 2 inches of rain annually, while the evaporation rate is 150 inches per year. You don’t even realize you’re losing much water because it evaporates so quickly, Baldino said. Summer visitors are advised to drink at least a gallon of water per day. Visitors also are advised to avoid the backcountry roads in the summer because of the dangers of overheating if you get lost or have car trouble. That’s unfor tunate because it means you shouldn’t visit bizarre sights such as Racetrack Playa, famous for the inexplicable track marks left by boulders that have inexplicably slid across the flat terrain.

Still, a summertime stop in Death Valley is well worth it, and not only for the bragging rights of having survived. The shimmering salt flats, the intricate folds of dusty, bone-dry rock, the otherworldly vistas and the surprising splashes of color give you the feeling on being on another planet, or maybe on this planet some billion years ago. And then there is the absolute silence.

I had never before known the sound of nothing until I stood at the edge of Salt Creek, where a rare stream of water spurts up from the desert and hosts pupfish during late winter and spring (we saw neither water nor fish on this blistering afternoon), and heard-nothing. It was as if a vacuum had sucked the sound out of the world. — MCT

Hong Kong’s

‘tiger parents’

face the pressure

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ince Amy Chua published her “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” it has dominated school-gate conversation in Hong Kong, with parents soul-searching over how much they demand of their children. The American mother’s account of her Chineseinfluenced, high-pressure parenting sounded

File photo: A worn and signed ‘Thriller’ jacket that belonged to Michael Jackson is displayed at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills. — AP

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he insurer of Michael Jackson’s planned series of comeback concerts is asking a Los Angeles judge to nullify a non-appearance policy issued to concert promoters. Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London sued AEG Live and Jackson’s company yesterday, claiming the concert promoter has failed to provide necessary medical information and details about the physician charged with the singer’s death.

The suit states Lloyd’s issued a non-appearance and concert cancellation policy in April 2009 — roughly two months before the pop superstar died.

The insurer states a medical exam of Jackson required by the policy was never conducted, and that they should not have to pay out for the 50 canceled shows scheduled for London’s O2 arena. An A boy eats an ice cream in Hong Kong on June 4, 2011. —AFP

more than a little familiar in the fiercely competitive city, where parents say they are also pushed to perform. Jachinson Chan’s daughters, aged 11 and 13, are ferried to an extracurricular activity every day of the week-from Spanish to guitar, tennis and extra mathematics. “People think we’re crazy,” he said-but not because his children are too busy. “We’re a joke among our friends because we don’t have that many activities.”

And not just any activity is good enough.

“Piano is no longer considered a big deal,” said Chan. “If your kid is in primary school and he or she can play the piano really well, the schools will yawn. “You need trombone, for examplesomething that not many people want to play.

Parents are encouraging their kids to play the oboe.”

OECD rankings generally place Hong Kong above the international average in education standards, and often near the top worldwide, but local universities only take 18 percent of school students. So as parents climb the ladder in one of the world’s most competitive economies, they and their children must also contend with the academic equivalent. The results? A sur vey by retail group Plaza Hollywood in April said more than two-thirds of Hong Kong parents placed a higher premium on their child’s grades than their health-though the survey was unclear about its methods.

Media reports have said that children as young as three are being taught for 10 hours a day at some kindergartens.

Local charity the KELY support group, which works with young people and parents across the social classes, has launched a campaign simply to encourage parents to spend more time with their children. Executive director Chang Tung said that the charity’s clients face unprecedented stresses, not confined to those in poverty. “Parents are really struggling. They work very long hours,” he said. “The majority of parents we speak to love their children. They really want to do the best for them but it’s hard

for them to find that middle way.” Maria Leung said that when her son, now 14, was in primary school, “I was feeling quite pressured. They have to work really hard so as to guarantee places at secondary school. “I know that affected him, but sometimes I can’t control myself. As a parent I think, somehow, you have to walk very carefully.”

But she points out that the ferociously competitive education system is only part of the story. Another is China’s Confucian parenting values, which place a high value on the roles of parents and children within the community.”Hong Kong children have a very unique style-they may be overpowered by their ‘helicopter parents’,” Leung said. She admits she sometimes hovers, helicopter-like, around her son-but says that this, for Chinese parents, means “really taking care of the child”. Leung recalled taking her son to a playground favored by expats when he was a young child.

“I can see that the Westerners, they like to let the child fall himself. But I am the one who chases him-on the monkey bars, on the swing.

This is a ver y different attitude,” she said.

Professor Qian Wang of Hong Kong’s Chinese University, who has studied differences between Chinese and Western parenting styles, says that “what’s special about Chinese culture in terms of parenting is parents assume a lot of responsibility to make sure their children succeed in the future. “In the west it is-let a child be free, have autonomy and feel good about him or herself no matter what.

“In Chinese culture we think parental love is to really care for the child and make sure the child will succeed in the future in society... (but) in Western culture that could be viewed as intrusive.”

As different cultural influences come into play, for many parents it is a case of adjusting their expectations. Leung said that when her son began secondary school, she was surprised to hear the headteacher ask parents to “let goto sit back a bit and let them do it”. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

Louis Vuitton pitches handbags in China museum

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File photos show visitors looking at items on display at the Louis Vuitton Voyages exhibition. —AFP photos

ouis Vuitton may have lost prime advertising space in China when its giant suitcase was torn down in Shanghai, but it is now wooing customers in the hallowed halls of the national museum in Beijing. The Louis Vuitton Voyages exhibition, marking the French fashion house’s 20th year in China-the world’s fastest growing market for luxury goodsfeatures hundreds of canvas trunks and leather handbags dating back to the 1860s. Louis Vuitton is already the brand of choice for many of China’s increasingly wealthy middle class and analysts said the show in the heart of the capital would help cement its dominance of the country’s high-end market.

The display also reflects a growing trend in China for luxury products to use museums, art galleries and film festivals to promote their brands in the hope of appealing to more sophisticated and welleducated consumers, they said. Earlier this year, US designer Diane von Furstenberg showed off a selection of her creations at an exhibition called Journey of a Dress in Beijing’s trendy 798 art district. The Louis Vuitton show “is quite a clever thing to do because it is a very

premium and prestigious setting”, Sam Mulligan, director of Data Driven Marketing Asia in Shanghai, told AFP. “It suggests history and longevity and being in the business for a long time-all of these things are important in this market.” Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group, agreed. “Louis Vuitton consumers are very interested in buying a brand with long-term heritage... and I think that’s why Louis Vuitton is very smart to partner with the museum,” Rein told AFP. The newly refurbished National Museum located across from Tiananmen Square hopes the exhibition will “inspire the domestic cultural design industry”, the People’s Daily website quoted museum deputy director Chen Lusheng as saying.

The glitzy show of trunks and handbags is in stark contrast to the centuries-old bronze vessels and porcelain vases on display in other parts of the museum. Louis Vuitton, whose products have been promoted by celebrities from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to U2 singer Bono, is no doubt hoping to boost its position in China’s booming luxury sector.

China is forecast to be the world’s top buyer of luxury products such as handbags, watches, shoes and clothes by 2015, according to consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers-but analysts say brand loyalty can be fickle. “Right now Louis Vuitton is the dominant player but they are going to have massive problems in the coming five years” as people start to buy their second or third luxury handbag, said Rein. “After you’ve bought Louis Vuitton or Gucci, do you go back to Louis Vuitton and Gucci or do you try something different?” Despite its popularity among well-heeled consumers, Louis Vuitton has run into problems with the authorities.

Workers began dismantling Louis Vuitton’s 20-metre-high suitcase in a busy shopping district of Shanghai last month after the government ruled it breached size restrictions for outdoor advertising, state media said.

Huang Chen-the proud owner of two Louis Vuitton handbags-said the exhibition in Beijing would help Chinese consumers better understand the history of the luxury designer and boost sales. “Young people

Honors for Fred Hayman, the father of Rodeo Drive G

iorgio Armani. Chanel. Hermes. Dior.

Gucci. Prada. Cartier. Today these luxury boutiques stand side by side on Rodeo Drive, where camera-toting fans come to gawk at the glamour as the world’s best-heeled shoppers indulge in pricey fashions and priceless visibility. But back in 1964, when Fred Hayman started building his Giorgio Beverly Hills shop, Rodeo Drive was just a regular city street, with a grocer, a gas station and a hardware store.

Hayman became its ambassador. He envisioned the street as an elegant home to the finest designers and boutiques, a magnet for starlets and socialites, like an American Champs-Elysees, a sexy, fun, camera-ready intersection of Hollywood and fashion. It’s for his vision-which became reality-that the 86-year-old entrepreneur became the latest inductee to the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style, an award and concept that Hayman helped create to honor designers and retailers for their contributions to fashion and entertainment, and to promote the street and city he loves.

“I can still remember a time when the numbers 90210 were nothing more than just numbers,” veteran Oscar producer Gil Cates said as he presented Hayman with the honor last week. “And as we can see around us today, Fred’s dream of turning Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills into a world-classactually the greatest-shopping district in the world, has come true.” Hayman came to retail by way of the hotel business. After honing his hospitality skills as hotelier at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, he turned west to the then-new Beverly Hilton.

He instilled the swing of swanky hotels and that sense of luxury service from those places into his boutique, then to the rest of the neighborhood. Giorgio Beverly Hills, located at 273 Rodeo Drive, boasted its own oak bar and pool table, where gentlemen could pass the time as the ladies shopped.

Hayman welcomed browsers with a glass of Champagne. He personally invited celebrity contacts he met at the Hilton to experience his latest business venture, creating an air of sophistication among the clientele.

He carried brands and styles that couldn’t be found elsewhere. The shop’s signature yellow-and-white striped awnings represented more than fashion, they represented the Beverly Hills lifestyle: sunny, glamorous and beautiful. By the mid-’70s, Rodeo

Drive’s mystique drew other luxury labels.

Gucci and Tiffany & Co. moved in. Hayman formed a committee of shopkeepers, who chipped in to provide benches, trees and a cleaning crew for the bourgeoning district.

He expanded Giorgio and threw lavish parties to welcome new designers. Newspapers and fashion magazines started writing about this stylish street. Merv Griffin did a TV special on the place.

Things were coming together. “Once Armani started, it was a given,” Hayman recalled. “Then Hermes, and I knew it was going to be THE street.” In 1981, Hayman launched a new global calling card: the Giorgio per fume. Before ever y Kim Kardashian in town had their own fragrance, perfumes were the purview of fine design-

In January 1989, the iconic stripes on Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way went solid, announcing Giorgio Beverly Hills was now Fred Hayman Beverly Hills.

ers and French fragrance houses. It was a bold move for Giorgio to attempt its own proprietary scent. Hayman’s then-wife and business partner Gale insisted, and the pair struck gold. They were among the first to advertise a perfume with newly developed scent-strips in national magazines, and they exported the smell of Beverly Hills across the country through mail and telephone orders.

Giorgio perfume generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales as women everywhere brought the little bottles of West Coast luxury into their lives. Hayman didn’t cease his love of the city when he became a millionaire in a late ‘80s deal with Avon that gave the cosmetics company rights to the per fume -or even when he and Gale divorced. He renamed his shop as Fred Hayman and continued to discover designers, serve shoppers, host parties and boost Beverly Hills.

Mayor Barry Brucker said (last) Tuesday that Hayman is a longtime supporter of the city ’s police and fire departments, the Beverly Hills High School band, the chamber of commerce, community theater and other local programs. “You are truly Mr Rodeo Drive,” he said. Hayman came up with the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style idea in 2003 to further promote the shopping street, which now features more than 100 high-end stores. Hayman is the 15th recipient of the recognition, joining past honorees such as Tom Ford, Manolo Blahnik, and Gianni and Donatella Versace. But Hayman is the only one of those with a Beverly Hills street named after him: Fred Hayman Place is a tiny via near the Giorgio store’s old spot.

Meanwhile, the 273 address of Hayman’s fabled shop has been permanently retired, according to the photo-filled, encyclopediasized book about him released this month, “Fred Hayman: The Extraordinary Difference: The Stor y of Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Glamour and the Showman Who Sold It All,”

by Rose Apodaca. Giorgio’s old address was respectfully absorbed by one-time Hayman tenant Louis Vuitton. Though Hayman downplayed his contributions to Rodeo Drive, saying he was just doing good business, he beamed as he looked out at the famous thoroughfare. “I’m thrilled that they’re successful,” he said, wearing his trademark bright yellow tie. “It’s one of the most beautiful streets in the world. It can compete with Paris, as a matter of fact.—AP

will understand why it became a major brand,” Huang told AFP as she toured the show with her 18-year-old daughter. “The quality is good and they are useful. It is more convenient to use than other bags.”

But the People’s Daily-the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece-has criticized the museum for holding the exhibition, saying it was “too commercial”.

“Shouldn’t the National Museum raise its

threshold and make its selection stricter when introducing an exhibition?” the newspaper said on its website. But student Wang Jing, a confessed Louis Vuitton lover, gave the exhibition a big thumbs-up. “I like the general feel (of the handbags). Even though it is simple on the outside, the inside is detailed. I really want to buy one,” she told AFP. Once she saves the money, that is. — AFP

A new first for

DC Comics and Batman: Back to issue No1

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oly first issues, Batman! DC Comics is taking its flagship “Detective Comics” back to No. 1 at the end of the summer, part of its push to renumber all of its superhero titles and give the characters new looks, new attitudes and a contemporary feel. “Detective Comics” has been published monthly by DC since 1937 and is currently at issue 877.

The title is where Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, made his debut in May 1939 and his eventual sidekick and ward, Robin, in issue 38 in April 1940.

Other key characters in the Batman mythology were introduced to readers in the magazine, including villains Penguin, Two-Face, the Riddler and Clayface. The new series will be written and drawn by Tony Daniel.

DC said yesterday that it also will renumber its ongoing monthly “Batman” comic at No1, and that it will be written

by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo.

One of the changes to that series will be that the only man wearing the cowl will be Bruce Wayne, a change from previous story lines where former Robin Dick Grayson sported the bat suit.

The two titles won’t be the only ones to feature In this comic book image released by DC Comics, the cov- Batman and Gotham City, er of the new Detective Comics either. Also coming is No 1, featuring Batman, is “Batman and Robin,” by writer Peter Tomasi and shown.—AP artist Pat Gleason, which sees him joined by his son, Damian, as Robin; and “The Dark Knight,” by David Finch and Jay Fabok that will see Wayne plumb the twisted depths of the Arkham Asylum. Other Batman-related titles announced by DC include “Batwoman,” ‘’Catwoman,” ‘’Batgirl” and “Birds of Prey.” DC is launching 52 titles at No. 1 in September featuring scores of its characters ranging from Wonder Woman to Green Lantern to the Justice League. —AP

e niv rsar n

y

A

A new first for DC Comics and Batman: Back to issue No 1 Years

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2011

I

t seems the fashion crowd, especially when fully decked out for last night’s Council of Fashion Designers of America awards, can be pretty intimidating: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said so, actress Naomi Watts said so, and even Lady Gaga said so. On stage to accept her award as the year’s top style icon, a soft-spoken, maybe even teary-eyed Gaga said she was nervous.

“All of you made me feel like a star before I was,” she told the audience at Lincoln Center that boasted bold-faced names such as Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan and Michael Kors. She talked about how important fashion was in her life as a pathway to self-discovery, artistry and confidence. As a teenager, she’d save her money to buy vintage Thierry Mugler from a neighborhood thrift shop, checking in with the salesman regularly to make sure her favorite pieces hadn’t sold while she was raising the cash. She planned her outfits for Friday night parties as if she was going to the Oscars, she said.

“As much as this award means to me personally ... I just want you to know how much this means to young Americans,” Gaga said. But the music star and style risk-taker, wearing a corset getup by Mugler, a label now helmed by her friend Nicola Formichetti, got her swagger back as she recalled getting the text message from Wintour that she had been picked for the prize. She said she thought the message was from a friend named Anna and replied with a bleep-worthy response. The text back from the Vogue editor-in-chief said, “How lovely.” That led to laughter-and so did Cooper’s montage of his early days as a preteen model.

Cooper, a longtime friend of CFDA president von Furstenberg, said he decided to show his photos to prove his fashion cred since he was acting as master of ceremonies. (He also is the son of late designer jeans magnate Gloria Vanderbilt and worked as a

Singer Lady Gaga attends the 2011 CFDA Fashion Awards at Alice Tully Hall. — AP

I

talian fashion house Prada plans to raise up to $2.6 billion in a listing on Hong Kong’s stock exchange, according to a person familiar with the deal, joining other foreign companies flocking to cash in on China’s rising fortunes.

Prada plans to sell some 423.3 million shares in range of 36.50 to 48 Hong Kong dollars, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment officially. If the shares are sold at the top of the indica-

39

fit model for both Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, who made his tuxedo.) “There was no way you’d be critical,” he joked, “or that’s what Diane said, anyway.” Watts, dressed in a metallic T-shirt-style gown by Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein, presented the top womenswear honor to Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler. But she seemed to find the awkward walk across a long stage intimidating in her high heels.

“That was easy,” she said as she reached the podium. “Fun doing it in a room full of supermodels.” Top models Doutzen Kroes, Karlie Kloss, Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio and Chanel Iman were indeed in the house, on the arms of their favorite designers. Karolina Kurkova, in a striking hooded jumpsuit made of green sequins, read the names of the winners in the Swarovski emerging-talent categories: Eddie Borgo for accessories, Robert Geller for menswear and Prabal Gurung for womenswear.

Kurkova took a moment to sing for Gaga — “I’m your biggest fan,” she said-and then Gurung asked during his speech if he could pose with Gaga. “That will make me the coolest uncle,” he boasted. But it was the nod from his fellow designers as well as retailers, stylists and editors that the rest of his family would find impressive, Gurung said. “I’m just a guy from Nepal. I will call my mother and say, ‘It’s OK. I turned out fine.”‘ The two standing ovations of the night went to photographer Arthur Elgort and designer Marc Jacobs, who was there for his “half-lifetime achievement award,” according to presenter Sofia Coppola.

“This achievement is born of love, passion, creativity ... and a hell of a lot of hard work,” said Jacobs, who is 48. He added, “I believe we all know and feel the greatest reward is the process itself.” Other highlights: • Kanye West, saying he was a huge fan, handed the international design prize to Phoebe Philo of Celine. He said he’s been known to go into a Celine store and try on the clotheswomenswear, no less _ “knowing that would get me bashed by the hip-hop blogs.”

• Michael Bastian was named best menswear designer, and Alexander Wang as accessories designer.

• Jessica Alba, showing off her baby bump in a coral-and-purple gown by von Furstenberg, gave the CFDA Founders Award to InStyle fashion director Hal Rubenstein.

• Kors said he always enjoys this event because he likes being surrounded with “people who have a passion for fashion.”

“Tonight is about not only people who make the clothes, but also the photographers, writers and the people who wear the clothes.”

Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen

tive price range, Prada would raise HK$20.3 billion ($2.6 billion). The price will be finalized on June 17 and the shares will start trading on June 24, the person said. Swiss commodities trader Glencore and luggage maker Samsonite have also listed in Hong Kong this year.—AP

A man walks past a Prada store in Hong Kong yesterday. — AFP

Model Doutzen Kroes

Actress Amber Heard

Actress Naomi Watts

Actress Jessica Alba

Actress Lucy Liu

Actor Gerard Butler