30 Jun

ON IP TI SC R SU B

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Arab-Israeli imam faces deportation from Britain

France air drops arms to Libya rebels

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RAJAB 28, 1432 AH

Greek police battle rioters as austerity bill passed

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Federer stunned by inspired Tsonga

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Assembly closes term by approving ‘crazy’ budget Projected spending highest in Kuwait’s history

Max 42º Min 33º Low Tide 04:35 & 18:12 High Tide 00:08: 10:03

By B Izzak

Iraq-Kuwait ties strained by two ports BASRA: Sitting in a traditional black funeral tent near Iraq’s only outlet to the sea, businessman Sadiq Jaafar is mourning the “death” of his country’s biggest port - even before it is built. For Jaafar and many other Iraqis, the long-delayed Grand Faw port project near the southern oil hub of Basra risks being killed off by a rival megaport already being constructed across the water by neighbouring Kuwait.

The Gulf ports dispute is straining ties because Baghdad fears Kuwait’s Mubarak port not only threatens competition that will crowd it out of trade from Europe and the Middle East but may also infringe on Iraqi territory, a charge Kuwait denies.

The neighbours share more than just a narrow sea lane access to the Gulf, but also a long, bitter history of disputes over oil, water and land rights where the region’s two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, sweep into the sea. “This port won’t only cause Iraq losses, but it is killing us off and launching an economic war,” Jaafar, a board member of the Iraqi Business Federation’s Basra branch, said at the tent he has set up in the southern city in imitation of those used by Arab families to accept condolences during mourning rites.

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KUWAIT: Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah (right) and Speaker Jassem Mohammad AlKhorafi wave as they leave the National Assembly yesterday following a parliament session where MPs voted on the deficit budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

in the

news

Kuwait to order nine oil tankers

HAVANA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (right) and former Cuban President Fidel Castro read Tuesday’s edition of the Communist Party newspaper Granma on Tuesday. — AFP

Chavez counters health rumours CARACAS: New video footage released yesterday showed Hugo Chavez back to his chatty self in an encounter with Cuba’s Fidel Castro that may temper rumors Venezuela’s president is seriously ill. There was still no word on when the charismatic but authoritarian socialist leader might return to the OPEC nation following surgery in Havana. Chavez’s absence has convulsed politics at home and spawned a frenzy of speculation over the future of his “revolution”. Unlike brief extracts shown before, Chavez was heard talking this time, discussing regional politics and stories in Tuesday’s edition of Cuban Communist Party daily Granma.

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Bahrain students pay for protests MANAMA: As the summer heat sets in, most university students in Bahrain are eagerly looking forward to getting out of class. But 19-year-old Mohammed and his friends are struggling to get back in. Local rights groups say over 400 mostly Shiite students have been expelled from Bahraini universities in recent months, charged with participating in the “unauthorised protests” which shook the Gulf island kingdom earlier this year.

Mohammed, a second year student at Bahrain University, described a string of student dismissals since March, in which officials used protesters’ own Facebook postings and YouTube videos against them to identify students who joined demonstrations or criticised the government online. “There is an aggressive with-us-or-against-us mentality,” he said, declining to give his full name for fear of further government reprisals. “If you went out to the streets to ask for your rights, now you must be punished.”

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KUWAIT: Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) plans to contract ship builders for nine new tankers in the third phase of its fleet improvement plan, a local newspaper reported KOTC chairman as saying yesterday. “Currently, there are preparations to sign contracts to build nine new tankers ... that are expected to be delivered during the years 2013 and 2014,” Nabeel Burisli, KOTC chairman and managing director was quoted as saying by Al-Rai newspaper. The company is aiming to upgrade and increase the size of its fleet to match OPEC member Kuwait’s plans to increase crude oil production to 4 million barrels per day by 2020 from the 2.6 million bpd now, Burisli said. KOTC currently has a fleet of 25 vessels, including crude carriers, oil product tankers and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, according to its website.

KUWAIT: The National Assembly closed its current term after approving a record budget that exceeded KD 19 billion for the first time in the country’s history and projecting a KD 6 billion deficit. The closing ceremony did not escape the drama that prevailed throughout the term that opened in October last year when seven MPs walked out of the session when Speaker Jassem AlKhorafi refused a request to debate a law calling for writing off interest on loans. MPs strongly protested Khorafi’s rejection and tried to obstruct the proceedings but Khorafi ignored their attempts by beginning to ready his statement. At this point, the seven MPs walked out.

Before that, Khorafi rejected appeals by MP Musallam Al-Barrak that a report on the development plan must be debated before approving the state budget. The 2011/2012 state budget projects spending at KD 19.44 billion after the Assembly’s budgets committee cut KD 270 million from the draft budget prepared by the government. This is the highest ever spending projection in Kuwait’s history with the previous highest recorded in the 2008/2009 fiscal year at KD 18.7 billion, and which included a onetime payment of KD 5.5 billion to the Public Institution For Social Security. Spending is 11.3 percent higher than the projected expenditure in last fiscal year of KD 17.45 billion.

Revenues are estimated at KD 13.45 billion, almost 40 percent higher than projected income in the last fiscal year mainly because the price of oil in the budget was raised from $43 to $60 a barrel.

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Bloody clashes in Tahrir Square More than 1,000 hurt

Panel to probe Bahrain unrest DUBAI: Bahrain said yesterday it was setting up an independent fact-finding commission to investigate weeks of protests that rocked the Gulf Arab island after international criticism of its handling of the unrest. King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, in a speech to his cabinet, ordered the commission to investigate issues ranging from the use of violence by police and protesters to allegations of Shiite mosque destruction by security forces during the crackdown. The commission will also probe the legality of mass arrests and the dismissal of around 2,000 workers. “We still need to look at what happened to know all the details of February and March and evaluate those events as they really were,” King Hamad said. The king said in a statement aired on Bahrain Television the kingdom had consulted with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on establishing the committee. The team will have five members, Bahrain News Agency reported, most of them from Western countries and with a background in international and human rights law.

5 Saudi women held for driving DUBAI: At least five Saudi women have been taken into custody accused of defying the men-only driving rule in the ultraconservative Arab kingdom, an activist said yesterday. The detentions mark the first major backlash by authorities since a campaign was launched by Saudi women nearly two weeks ago to challenge the driving restrictions. Dozens of women have since driven through the capital Riyadh and other cities. Saudibased rights activist Eman Al-Nafjan told AP that police detained one woman on Tuesday while driving in Jeddah on the Red Sea coast. Four other women accused of driving were later detained in the city, Nafjan also said, adding that there has been no new information on the status of the detainees. “This is the first big pushback from authorities, it seems,” Nafjan said. “We aren’t sure what it means at this point and whether this is the start of a harder line by the government against the campaign.”

CAIRO: An Egyptian protester kicks a tear gas canister during clashes with security forces at Tahrir Square early yesterday. — AP CAIRO: Bloody clashes between protesters and anti-riot police that raged overnight in Cairo’s Tahrir Square erupted in new scuffles yesterday amid mounting frustration with Egypt’s military rulers over the pace of reform. The health ministry said there were 1,036 injured in the clashes. Those included 120 who were hospitalised and most of whom were later released. By yesterday evening, calm had been restored in central Cairo as protesters made their way to Tahrir Square - the epicentre of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak - in response to calls for an open-ended sit-in to push for reforms. Dozens were arrested in connection with the clashes, including an American and a Briton, state media reported. A military source said the two were not among 50 protesters who had been referred to the military prosecution earlier yesterday.

Meanwhile, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns called for an “open and inclusive” process in Egypt after talks with Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council. Burns said that during talks with officials, he emphasised “American support for an open and inclusive political process in Egypt, the importance of following through on their commitment to lift the emergency law before the elections, the importance of protecting freedom of

expression and freedom of assembly.”

Hours after bloody overnight clashes, hundreds of angry protesters gathered in front of the interior ministry headquarters in central Cairo, burning tyres and pelting police with stones, a security official said.

Egyptian stocks fell yesterday as the clashes raised fears of widespread unrest, with main EGX-30 index closing down 2.03 percent at 5,283.81 points. Witnesses said the overnight disturbances were some of the most violent in months in the square, which was the focal point of protests that forced veteran president Hosni Mubarak from power in February.

Police fired tear gas and protesters threw stones, amid scenes reminiscent of demonstrations during the uprising. Protesters accused loyalists of the ousted leader of stirring up the violence after municipal councils they dominated across the country were dissolved by court order on Tuesday. Activists have called for an open-ended sit-in in the square. The ruling military council warned of a plot to destabilise the country. The April 6 Movement said a protest to push for democratic reforms that was scheduled for July 8 “will begin today and a sit-in will carry on until there are clear signs that the demands are met.”

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Years

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

local Local Spotlight

Plight of our housemaids

Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

A

ccording to a recent statement by Gen Sief AlSief, Head of the public administration for the service centers in Kuwait in the Ministry of Interior, 576, 296 is the exact number of maids in Kuwait (male and female). All those people are registered under Article 20 in the state of Kuwait . Do you believe this number is an accurate representation of the actual number of maids working in our country?

What about those who are employed illegally? Are they counted, or do they simply fade into the unknown... like dust?

I do not believe that having a maid is a problem or a worrying concern. I believe that maltreatment is the actual issue at hand. Employers need to be responsible for their welfare and make sure their employment is stable and meeting all fair work requirements.

The issue of regulation and restricting the number of maids eligible for employment in Kuwait is something that needs to be addressed. Why should our government put such restrictions on this kind of employment as, I am certain that no Kuwaiti would undertake such a labor intensive and low paid job.

Being a maid in someone’s home isn’t a career that we all dream of, nor could ever imagine. When these people travel thousands of miles away from their home and family because they want to make some money to support their families, they deserve appreciation, recognition and respect for the work they do.

Most importantly, they need to be treated like a human being.

The worrying part of the figure is only for those who bring workers under article 20 for money. They are severely restricting the rights and freedoms of the maid. This is the real issue as this leads to human enslavement. Maids are open to all forms of abuse including non-payment for their services and pushing them to extreme acts of fleeing the country, or at the worst, suicide.

I sympathize with all calls to give maids and other domestic workers the same rights and civil liberties as their citizen employers and counterparts.

To sweep someone’s floor, to wash their clothes, or disinfect their toilets are not activities that anyone enjoys. These poor men and women who came to our country with a dream, deserve to achieve it with the least amount of hassle and we citizens need to help them achieve this. For failure to do so would be completely against the very beliefs of equality and humanity the State of Kuwait was built upon.

Minister vows to protect local markets KUWAIT: Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Amani Buresli affirmed the Ministry’s commitment to the regulatory role assigned to it in order to protect local markets, as well as consumers’ interest.

Buresli told the press yesterday that the main role of the Ministry is to protect the consumer from any fraud or manipulation, or any abnormal conditions that may exist in the local markets, adding that the most important tasks of the ministry is to maintain the natural conditions of the market and fight against any fraud exercised to ensure fair competition.

She said that the cooperation between the ministry and other government agencies contributed significantly to the maintenance of the price levels of basic goods, to be less than in neighboring countries, where it was allowed for non-dealers to import without constraints as long as they do not violate local trade rules. Kuwait imports most of its goods from abroad, making them vulnerable to any event or emergencies in the exporting countries, Buresli said, noting that the ministry is following up vigorously for the conditions in these countries to be prepared for any upcoming emergencies and to develop alternative plans in case of suspension of imports from these countries to cooperate with Kuwaiti companies to substitute the imports.

She explained that the Ministry of Commerce is not ignorant of global rise of the rates which are identified by specialized indexes such as the the index of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). She confirmed that the ministry is working to mitigate the effects of such increases and to ensure real prices in the local markets.

She also confirmed supervision teams are distributed all over Kuwait to combat fraud and the increase of prices.— KUNA

KUWAIT: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah votes along with MPs on the deficit budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year during a parliament session at the National Assembly yesterday. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

PM hopes executive, legislative bodies forge fresh cooperation Al-Khorafi defends democracy as key to stability KUWAIT: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah hoped yesterday that both legislative and executive bodies would usher in a fresh stage of constructive cooperation, where the public interest should be given a top priority and the people’s expectations and aspirations be fulfilled. Speaking at the final sitting of the third session of the 13th legislative term, Sheikh Nasser spoke highly of the democratic practice in Kuwait under the directives of H.H. the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

He also hailed cooperation between the assembly and the government for employing energies and harnessing efforts to push forward the reform march.

Sheikh Nasser noted the assembly had witnessed several achievements during the current legislative term, adding that in spite of heated debates, deliberations and discussions were held within a spirit of brotherliness and responsibility. To conclude he vowed that he and his Cabinet would live up to responsibili-

ty by defending public freedoms, interest and funds, and working sincerely to meet the Kuwaiti people’s hopes.

Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi said yesterday democracy is the optimum option for Kuwait to ensure stability, progress and development.

Addressing the final sitting of the third session of the 13th legislative term, Al-Khorafi said “Democracy is the best possible solution to formulate social and intellectual diversity into a framework of unity, and to convert political diversity into a form of harmony and integration.”

“It is our national option to achieve stability, progress and development. The national interest requires all of us to ensure that our democratic practice is going on within this framework,” he added.” Thus, we can settle our differences as per the constitutional institutional framework and democratic procedures and on the basis of mutual respect. We, further, should be keen on establishing constructive democratic future traditions and

norms,” he continued.

During the third ordinary session of the 13th legislative term, which wound up yesterday, the National Assembly (parliament) discussed a total of 117 proposed laws submitted by members of parliament and 42 draft laws referred by the government. Out of this figure, 27 bills were passed by the assembly, thus contributing to resolving several issues, he said.

The assembly, further, debated a total of 662 parliamentary queries, 385 of which were answered by cabinet ministers, he said. It also created 22 probe committees, and considered nine interpellations, including four against His Highness the Prime Minister, while the remaining motions were made against the deputy prime minister for economic affairs and minister of state for development and housing, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, minister of oil and minister of information, AlKhorafi added.

This showed a quantum shift in the use of this supervisory tool, which is a means for

reform and remedy, rather than a political agenda that could disrupt the relationship between the assembly and the government, he said. But, he regretted that the government had failed to respond to parliamentary questions within the set time or even completely, hoping that this would not recur in the future.

He also urged the government to be tolerant with the use of parliamentary supervisory tools provided that this take place as per constitution. Although Al-Khorafi was proud of his country’s democracy, he regretted that there were some unacceptable exercises and supervisory tools were abused.

In this context, he quoted His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah as having expressed, in his recent speech, much concern about this situation and its risks to the country’s democratic march. He concluded by wishing that during the next parliamentary session there would be better democratic practices so as to regain the Kuwaiti people’s confidence in the national democratic experiment. — KUNA

News

in brief

Night duty allowances suspended KUWAIT: A directive has been issued to suspend nightduty allowance of primary health care doctors who have been deputized or transferred to other departments. Dr Ibrahim Al-Abdul Hadi, Undersecretary of Ministry of Health made the announcement, reported Aljarida. In order to contribute towards power conservation efforts, Al-Abdul Hadi also issued a directive urging all hospital and clinics to switch off unnecessary lights and air conditioning units after official working hours.

British Ambassador Frank Baker and Waleed Al Shurian, the Deputy General Manager of Mabanee Company. (Right) The exhibition of photographs at The Avenues.

History of Kuwaiti-British relationship on display KUWAIT: The Avenues is currently hosting an exhibition of photographs held by the British Embassy in Kuwait to celebrate 50 20. The exhibition reflects the State of Kuwait’s 50th Anniversary of the end of the British mandate on 19th June 1961 and the 20th Anniversary of Liberation from the Iraqi forces on 26th Februar y 1991. His Excellency the British Ambassador to Kuwait Frank Baker inaugurated the exhibition on the morning of June 28, 2011 in the presence of Waleed Al Shurian, the Deputy General Manager of Mabanee Company.

The photo collection reflects the strong and symbiotic bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the State of Kuwait.

Each picture symbolizes one of the fifty years since independence, individually capturing the uniqueness of the relationship across its full spectrum - political, economic, defence, commercial, educational, cultural, social, sporting and personal. The ambassador said that “the historical relationship between Britain and Kuwait goes back centuries. In 1899 the two countries signed a Treaty of Friendship.

This was followed by the major role that the United Kingdom played during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 to ensure liberating the country. And this exhibition is providing a valuable opportunity to acquaint the public with the depth of this relationship.”

The Deputy General Manger of Mabanee Co. Waleed Al Shurian welcomed hosting the exhibition in The Avenues within a series of exhibitions held in cooperation with a number of embassies in the State of Kuwait, and he emphasized that the mall management is keen to host such cultural events.

Underground metro planned KUWAIT: The Kuwait Municipality rejected a proposal to connect the Failaka Island with the state’s capital through a causeway, saying that it isn’t necessar y given the already available sea transportation methods.

Acting director of the municipality Abdullah Amady explains in a recent statement that studies including those carried out as per the island’s renovation plans have concluded that the regular sea transportation methods are enough to fulfill the needs. In addition, this took into consideration

the forecasted visitors to the island after the renovations are finished.

The Municipal Council’s Jahra governorate committee approved a request to allocate a 1,400 million square meters location at the camping zone of Jahra governorate, to set up the country’s grand zoo project.

The request presented by the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources points up an area near the sixth ring road for the project, which would be approved after the council’s public

KUWAIT: The Martyrs Hall at Saad Al-Abdullah Academy for Security Science has begun receiving applications since Sunday, to register for class 41 of officer cadets and class 23 of specialist officers.

Its sister concern has also begun receiving applications from female cadets for class 4. The Academyís Admission and Registration Department has exerted efforts to facilitate applicantsí entry through Gate 3 along with parents. Applicants will be screened and medical examination to test physical fitness will be held. A personal interview will be held to gauge applicants general knowledge.

facilities and services committee.

The technical committee of the Municipal Council approved a KD5.5 billion project for a public transportation structural plan in Kuwait, announced chairman Abdullah AlEnizy. The proposal, which is one of six that were being studied, spans over a zone ex tending between Jahra and Fahaheel, and contains routes for an underground metro, buses, as well as means of transportation connecting stations with the metro. — Al Qabas

Panel to review port construction KUWAIT: A joint committee between international and local experts has been formed to obtain exact information on the repercussions of building the Mubarak AlKabeer port, Iraq’s parliamentary foreign relations committee announced. It will submit a report on July 7.

5 vehicles for official KUWAIT: Well-informed sources recently told Aljarida that, with the help and knowledge of the transport manager, an assistant undersecretary at the ministry of information had allocated five ministry vehicles to serve his own family. The sources added that the official had exploited his authorities in allocating two modern Suburban vehicles, a GMC Acadia, a Maxima and a fifth one in addition to a driver to serve his family. Further, the sources highlighted that the official had been officially contacted and asked to return the vehicles, that are rented for ministry use, to the transport department and that he neither replied to the letter nor returned the vehicles. The sources also said that a report would be submitted to minister Al-Nisf about these violations very soon.

5972 divorces, 14,000 marriages KUWAIT: According to the official registers of the justice ministry, 14103 marriages were registered in 2010 compared to 5972 divorces. Statistics also showed that 9212 marriages had been conducted through a ‘marriage official’ ( Ma’zoun) while 3062 were done and endorsed at the legal documentation department. Statistics also showed that 936 marriages took place abroad and had to be endorsed in Kuwait. Statistics also showed that 8435 marriages were between Kuwaiti spouses (448 of them later on divorced), 1865 marriage between Kuwaiti men and non-Kuwaiti ladies ( 141 divorced) and 624 marriages between Kuwaiti women and non-Kuwaiti men (38 divorced).

‘US human rights report on Kuwait unfair’ KUWAIT: Kuwait is disappointed at being listed again by the US Department of State as one of the countries that has failed to tackle human trafficking. It has termed the recent annual report as ‘unfair’ and ‘inaccurate.’

A senior official from Kuwait’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) made the statement on condition of anonymity because the government is yet to address the matter officially.

Anti-human trafficking draft law and another one that addresses domestic workers are already in the works, “The anti trafficking draft law is ready to be voted. The draft law on domestic workers is currently being discussed by the Parliament’s human rights committee,” said the official, reported Al-Qabas.

Kuwait has been placed in ‘ Tier 3’ in the 2011 US Department of State, the same position it was placed in last year’s report. It categorizes countries that fail to fully comply with the minimum standards to eliminate the trans-national issue. It further explained that the delay in enforcing the rights of domestic workers and other trafficked people was the main factor behind why Kuwait enjoyed this rank.

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

LOCAL

Demand for new nurses tied to expansion, retirement Kuwaitis reluctant to join

By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Kim Kyungsik visited the Kuwait Times, and discussed issues of mutual concern with Editor-in-Chief Abd AlRahman Al-Alyan. —photo by Joseph Shaqra

Sheikh Nasser visits Amricani Cultural Centre KUWAIT: Amiri Diwan Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah paid a visit to the Amricani Cultural Centre located in the historic American Mission Hospital yesterday.

Accompanying the minister were members of the Kuwaiti Fine Arts Society and the Kuwait Pharmaceutical Association, both of which Sheikh Nasser is honorary chairman.

During the visit, Sheikh Nasser took a

tour of the Treasury of the World exhibition, which returns to Kuwait after a 10year journey around the world, including 12 countries.

This was followed by a documentary viewing on the history of the American Mission Hospital, which was founded in 1895. The hospital was recently transformed into a cultural centre by the Kuwaiti private cultural organization, Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah. — KUNA

E-employment deadline extended KUWAIT: The Civil Ser vice Commission(CSC) has extended its current registration period for employment application till July 8. The previous deadline was set to expire on Friday.

Faisal Al-Bassam, Direc tor of Manpower Registration Department explained in a press statement that the extension allows prospective employees who are still awaiting college cer-

tificates to apply for jobs, reported AlQabas. According to Al-Bassam, 3,500 (2,662 females and 1,164 males) have already registered, reported Al-Qabas.

Al-Bassam expects the number to touch 5,000 following the extension. As 1,500 fresh Kuwait University graduates and 1,800 Public Authority for Applied Education and Training(PAAET) graduates are in line to receive certificates before the deadline expires.

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s booming healthcare sector and the construction of new hospitals and clinics have created an insatiable demand for more personnel. The recruitment of nurses has been pivotal in the proper functioning of any healthcare centre. The reported dearth in Kuwait poses a question mark on the viable options available. Currently there is a demand for at least 1,300 nurses. The recruitment of foreign nurses is done almost every quarter in Kuwait. The Ministry of Health hired nurses in March-April this year when a team from the Ministry visited the Philippines and India to recruit about 800 new nurses.

The Kuwait Times reported last week that Kuwait suffers from a shortage of 1,300 nurses. New recruits will be hired from the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, the latter being a new manpower market for Kuwait. Since signing the MoU in 2010, Kuwait has recruited about 36 Sri Lankan nurses.

Sri Lankan Embassy Charge de Affaires Noor Muhammad Anas said that the recruitment process has been extended, “As we speak, we are currently in the process of employing eight more nurses. In all, when these new nurses arrive we will have a total of 44 (Sri Lankan) nurses in Kuwait.

Our cooperation in this matter continues,” Anas revealed.

The recruitment of foreign nurses has been a staple event as fewer Kuwaitis choose to embark on a nursing career.

On a slightly different note, better benefits and pay accorded to nurses in western countries have created a void in the Gulf region, Kuwait included. However, that status quo has changed after the ministry upgraded the salary of nurses employed in the public sector. An insider from the public healthcare sector who spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not authorized to speak to the media said that the recruitment of nurses is akin to a ‘normal cyclical process’ of resignation and retirement. “ The usual resignations came

GCC civil defense chiefs meet in Kuwait KUWAIT: Twenty second four-day meeting of the Directors General of the Civil Defense Departments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab states started here yesterday in the presence of Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for operational affairs Maj Gen Abdullah Youssef Al-Muhanna.

Al-Muhanna welcomed, at his opening address of the meeting, the participating delegations from other sisterly countries, and conveyed to them the greetings and appreciation of Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Jaber AlSabah as well as greetings of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior Lt Gen Ghazi Abdulrahman Al-Omar, Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior Lt Gen Sulaiman Fahad Al-Fahad, and their best wishes.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Civil Defense General Department, and head of the Kuwaiti delegation Maj Gen Youssef Al-Roudhan delivered an address in which he expressed Kuwait’s welcome to host such meeting, hailing the efforts made by GCC general secretariat for making preparations for the current meeting.

Al-Roudhan asserted that GCC ministers of interior attach great importance to the necessity of providing all means for civil defense along with supporting the systems and structures of civil protection in light of the accelerating variables, and the complicated conditions in the region and the world as a whole.

The meeting includes three working session covering the discussions held by specialized committees on safety, preventive supervision, training and rehabilitation in the domain of civil defense, and there will be visits paid by meeting’s participants to the headquarters of the Civil

Defense General Department in order to inspect systems and operational room there.

The Emirati delegation to the meeting is led by Maj Gen Rashed Thani Rashed Al-Matroushi with the membership of Brig Jassem Abdullah Hamid, Lt Col Hassan Ali Bin Saram, Lt Col Sultan Saqr Al-Suwaidi and Maj Yasser Eissa.

The Bahraini delegation to the meeting is led by Brig. Abdullah Nasser AlFadel with the membership of Col Mohammad Abdulkarim Shuwaitar, Col Hamad Abdullah Al-Meraj, Lt Bader Abdulaziz Al-Amer.

The Saudi delegation to the meeting is led by Lt Gen Saad Bin Abdullah AlTuwaijri with the membership of Maj Gen Mohammad Bin Abdullah, Maj Gen Ismail Bin Mohammad Badawi, Brig Ghaleb Bin Ghazi Al-Jahni, Col Saleh Bin Ali Al-Ayed, Capt Mubarab Bin Ayad Al-Osaimi, and researcher Saad Bin Abdulrahman AlZayadi.

The Omani delegation to the meeting is led by Brig. Suleiman Bin Mohammad Al-Harithi with the membership of Lt. Col. Hamad Bin Rashed Al-Wahibi, Maj. Abdullah Bin Saleh, Fisrt Lt. Hani Bin Rashed.

The Qatari delegtion to the meeting is led by Brig. Abdullah Mohammad AlSuwaidi with the membership of Col. Fahad Hamad, First Lt. Basaam Yakoub AlKhaledi, Ahmad Khaled Al-Ghanem, and Abdulaziz Sultan Al-Hajeri.

The delegation of the State of Kuwait to the meeting is led by Maj Gen AlRoudhan, Col Mohammad Ali, Col Saad Mohammad, Abdulaziz Ahmad, and from the Civil Defense General Department there are Brig Youssef Abdullah Al-Ansari, Col Ibrahim Eissa, Col Jamal Bader, Lt Col Ahmad Hassan Al-Jazzaf, and Ahmad

Fawzan Al-Fawzan. The GCC general secretariat is participating with a delegation led by Col Ahmad Bohendi, Ali Hassan AlNahwi, Sami Faraj Al-Otaibi, and liasion officer from the State of Kuwait Abdullah Eid Al-Mekhyal, and Maj Abdullah Ali Rashed from the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Capt Majed Eissa Al-Ghanem from the State of Qatar. On his part, Lt. Gen. Sulaiman Fahad Al-Fahad, Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, stressed the constant communication in the domain of security among the GCC Arab states in what embodies the spirit of fraternity and solidarity, and standardizes visions, strategies, plans, and programs for protecting the countries and citizens of GCC against various dangers.

Further, Al-Fahad conveyed to the participants the greetigns and appreciation of Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud AlJaber Al-Sabah, and his best wishes for them to achieve through this meeting the GCC aspirations, pointing out the quantum leap made in the domain of civil defense in order to cement the national security capabilities in the face of the security developments in the GCC Arab region.

Al-Fahad also extended thanks to GCC Civil Defense Directors General for their efforts, while reiterating the importance of making further efforts in order to protect the security of their countries, and the safety of their citizens.

On their part, the GCC Civil Defense Directors General extended their thanks to Deputy Prime Minister, and the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and Lt Gen Sulaiman Fahad Al-Fahad for the support lent to the meeting, and the hospitality. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Directors General of the Civil Defense Departments in the Gulf Cooperation Council states pose for a group photograph.

about when nurses pursued better opportunities in the US, UK, Canada, Australia or Japan. This is no longer the big issue. Mostly, the resignations take place in relation to family problems,” she said citing the example of nurses who work for two years or staying away from families and husbands. “And there are many senior nurses [old age] that need to be replaced. So the process of recruitment continues,” she added.

According to the official, the ongoing process of recruitment of new nurses is tied to a political decision. “Once we experience shortage of nurses in Kuwait it becomes a big story; it’s a big deal for the country.

Probably it may cost the [MoH] minister his position,” she alarmed.

Stressing that the expansion plans of hospitals and the increase in hospital beds require diligence on the part of the government, “I hope they have studied all the facts carefully like expansions are conducted in many hospitals/clinics, plus the new hospital projects are about to finish.

So they need new nurses to fill-in new hospitals,” the official said. The official who is well-versed on the MoH’s internal and management policies admitted that the dearth of nurses is evident in a few hospitals in Kuwait. “Many new nurses in the ministry have to work overtime,” she says.

“We are supposed to have night duty only five times per month but some of us have to come or report for the night shift eight or nine times per month. The ministry will pay us only five times and the overtime remains unpaid. Should we have enough staff members, I think that the circumstances would have been different,” she said.

CV alterations The minimum two years experience pre-requisite has now been increased to three years. In addition, a nurse must be healthy and clinically knowledgeable. He/she should have attended training and seminars while working or studying in nursing school.

The current basic salary of new nurses is KD 450. However, often new recruits fork home heftier amounts

KUWAIT: File photos of local hiring of nurses at the Human Resource Department at Sabah Hospital.— Photos by Ben Garcia when salaries are paid commensu- receive a minimum pay of KD 250 to rate to experiences, specialties, sen- 400 when compared to a minimum iority, “The basic salary is small but KD 700 or more that nurses working we get more than KD 700 a month for public hospitals receive.

In early 2000, Kuwait had a total of because of the allowances, specialization and categorization,” the official about 200 local nurses, now the numsaid. “For us (BSN registered nurses), ber has increased to 700. There is a if we have extra knowledge the min- lack of interest on the part of istry will pay us more, plus we are Kuwaitis to join the ranks of nurses. paid KD 100 for performing night The official said, “Those citizens that duties. If we perform five night enroll into nursing courses are those duties, it means we get paid KD 500,” that really like the job or maybe have she revealed. Nurses employed with a passion for it. Otherwise, they preprivate clinics/hospitals however fer a managerial position.”

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Years

LOCAL

Souq.com offers enhanced shopping experience Better services to customers, entrepreneurs

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait awarded winners of the second and final raffle draw in the ‘Twitter iPad 2’ competition held between June 9 and 22.

Members of the CBK’s Advertisement and Public Relations Department presented the iPad 2 to Yousuf Al-Rasheed, Haroun Ashraf and Hmoud Al-Shemmary.

They were invited to the bank’s headquarters to receive the award.

Amiri Diwan Minister thanks Poland for culture award KUWAIT: Amiri Diwan Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday paid a visit to the Polish Embassy to express gratitude after he was awarded a Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture.

Upon his visit, the Kuwaiti minister met the Ambassador of Poland to Kuwait, Yanosh Eshfeido.

The decoration handed out by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, is given to persons and organizations which have made distinguished contributions to the protection of Polish culture and heritage.

Sheikh Nasser was given a gold medal, the highest of three categories; gold, silver and bronze. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Many internet users avoid making purchases online as they are wary of being duped or are afraid that their bank accounts will be compromised with. However, with Souq.com customers now have the opportunity to pay cash on delivery at no extra cost.

The buyer can easily find hundreds of items at the online store. The seller displays his wares for a percentage that is paid after the item is sold to the customer. Also, the customer can enjoy a refund within 48 hours.

“We aim to provide the best services. I know the warranty can be quite a headache.

Therefore, we aim to build trust with both buyers and sellers. In case the buyer sells bad items, he will be blocked from dealing through Souq.com. On the other hand, if the buyer is not serious and refuses to purchase the orders placed, he or she will also lose the chance to pay cash on delivery and will only have the opportunity to make online payment,” Omar Al-Natour, Business Development Manager, Kuwait told the Kuwait Times.

“The buyers also have the right to post feedbacks on the website, and in this way the seller, if he offers substandard services or goods will lose reputation. We are keen to

choose serious and good buyers,” he added.

Souq.com was first launched in 2005 in the United Arab Emirates and then expanded to include Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. It finally launched a branch in Kuwait in May 2011.

Currently people can make purchases from the site only from local retailers, “It’s a platform between the buyer and seller. There are large and medium-sized companies that operate, in addition to individuals. It is an ideal place when business companies can be begun. In Kuwait there are 1,100,000 online registrations. The average is about 100 registrations per day. It is the only website in the Arab world where a sales transaction is made every 30 seconds,” noted Al-Natour. “ We have a plan and we are working toward building a complete network that connects all the portals where Souq.com is available. This is so that easier transactions can be made. Also, we have expansion plans to cover the rest of GCC countries and the Middle East.

This will also include Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, where the website will be in Arabic and French languages,” he stressed.

According to Omar, the percentage of complaints amount to less than one percent, “It’s really very rare to deal with a complaint by customers on items bought from Souq.com. This is also owing to the small

Plans for Kuwait-Malta direct flights VALLETTA: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Malta Faisal Sulaiman Al-Musaileem and Malta’s Minister of Tourism Mario De Marco affirmed yesterday the importance of launching a direct flight line between Kuwait and Malta in order to promote tourism. The Kuwaiti ambassador met with the Maltese minister at the headquarters of the Ministry of

Tourism, in the capital Valletta, where they reviewed means of mutual cooperation in all sectors, especially in tourism, culture and environment.

The two officials shed light on the importance of launching a direct flight line between the State of Kuwait and Malta, in order to create deeper connection between

in my view

countries that share many cultural and educational agreements.

The Kuwaiti ambassador had discussed, in the past few weeks, with Maltese ministers of education, finance, health and commerce and industry means of enhancing and widening the scope of cooperation in all domains to serve the best interests of both countries. — KUNA

High price of being healthy

By Elizabeth Pickworth

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intelligence hired me: terror suspect KUWAIT: In continuation of interrogating the seven members of the Arab espionage and terrorism cell; security sources said that the lead to the cell was when one of the members confided to a close friend who had been hired by the intelligence of his country and asked to collect information about significant places around Kuwait.

The sources also said that the suspect informed his friend that he was asked to photograph the offices of some news networks operating in Kuwait and that the friend informed the authorities that traced the cell members and arrested them. Although in their defense they did not know each other and only operated through a liaison officer who administered the tasks to each member.

The sources added that security forces were

still interrogating the cell members to decide whether to refer them to prosecution or to deport them. MPs’ reactions to the news about the cell varied between expressing gratitude to the interior ministry for its alertness and demanding to reveal more information to the public. MP Musallam Al-Barrak said he refused to turn Kuwait into an arena for espionage cells.

MP Mohammed Hayef said that the cell was directed and guided by the Syrian embassy and that the incident verified his previous warnings about Iranian cells and Hezbollah.

‘Interrogations have led to the involvement of the Syrian embassy and Hezbollah in the cell that targeted Kuwait because of locals supporting the Syrian people against the oppression of the Syrian regime’, he said. — Aljarida

KOC awarded for health and safety standards KUWAIT: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) revealed on Sunday that it had won an international safety award from the British Safety Council, regarded leading specialists in the field of health and safety worldwide.

The award was received during a ceremony in London by KOC’s chief of its health, safety and environment squad in western Kuwait, Ismail Mataqi, the KOC said in a statement.

The achievement is a clear indication of the company’s commitment to the highest level of health and safety standards for all of its employees, Mataqi said.

The award was presented to the Kuwaiti body from among 600 candidates around the world. — KUNA

Wataniya Telecom reduces roaming call rates

Shaikha Khalid Al Bahar

NBK Lebanon Branches stand ready to receive Kuwaitis during Summer KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announced that it had taken all necessary measures throughout its network of 10 branches distributed in the most important locations in preparation for receiving tourists and visitors during this summer.

NBK CEO - Kuwait, Shaikha

Khalid Al Bahar said that NBK’s network of 10 full-fledged branches are currently fully-operational and ready to welcome clients as well as Kuwaiti tourists and visitors and provide them with a full spectrum of banking services and facilities. Al Bahar also expected a remarkable surge in the number

of clients calling upon NBK branches in Lebanon during this summer as Lebanon has always been a favorite destination for Kuwaitis during summer and holiday season, par ticularly Bhamdoun and, Aley branches that attract most of NBK customers.

Six injured in traffic accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A 29-year-old citizen sustained lacerations to the forehead and a bruised right foot, while a 27-year-old suffered a fractured leg in a car accident. They were admitted to Adan Hospital. In another case, a 54-year-old Bangladeshi was admitted to Far waniya hospital’s Intensive Care Unit with a broken pelvis in a car accident that took place in Kabd.

In another incident, a 19-year-old citizen fractured his arm in a car accident that took place in Jabriya. He was admitted to Mubarak Hospital. Also, two Iranians and a citizen were admitted to Amiri Hospital in a car accident that took place along the Fourth Ring Road near Adaliya.

Street fight A 34-year-old Egyptian was injured in a street fight that took place in Farwaniya.

He was admitted to the nearest hospital.

Physical abuse An elderly person filed a case with Jahra police accusing his 22-year-old son of physically abusing him. The police arrested the young man and after performing a background check they learned that he has been convicted in a drug related case.

Illicit relationship The Ahmadi police arrested a Moroccan expatriate and a citizen in a compromising position in Ahmadi.

Prisoner misbehaves In another case, an Iraqi prisoner jailed at the Central Prison was accused of vandalizing state property after setting fire to his mattress. The Iraqi inmate has been serving a sentence in connection with a drug smuggling case.

number of shoppers when compared to others that are heavily populated. Usually the orders arrive within 24 hours, and we offer a 48 hours refund. The most popular items sold on Souq.com are fashion and high technology items,” he pointed out.

The main reason why people shop online is to avail of cheaper prices, “Definitely the price differs. It may reach up to 30 percent less. This is due to less expenses. They do not need to pay employees, on rent, advertising and so on,” concluded Al-Natour.

Some businesses have transformed their stores to online business. Rania Harara, the owner of Java Perfume is an example of a company that transformed into a virtual store.

“In 2009 I had a store in Salmiya and an office in Hawally with four employees. I depended on the ‘season’ and demand in my sales. In 2010, I entered the online business and increased my sales. When I joined Souq.com, I sold the store and now depend on Souq.com,” relayed Harara. “We only offer genuine perfumes. Our prices are between 20 to 50 percent cheaper than the market due to reduced expenses. I really enjoy peace of mind as Souq.com also does the listing, advertising and delivering,” Harara added. Al-Natour also mentioned an example of a buyer who began a business online.

KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom has announced a reduction in the roaming call rates for GCC countries based on the (GCC) Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Ministers Committee’s decision taken recently.

Emphasizing on this point, Scott Gegenheimer, General Manager and CEO of Wataniya Telecom said, “We are committed to the decision which was issued based on a recommendation made by the Ministerial Committee of Mail, Telecommunications and Information Technology.

At Wataniya, we pay close attention to the needs and interests of our customers. We want to offer them the best value and experience therefore we have decided to implement this pronouncement as soon as possible. This is to ensure that our customers can benefit from lower call rates when traveling to GCC countries.”

Wataniya will continue to innovate on its roaming offers to differentiate from the competitors and provide customers with alternatives to reduce their costs while roaming.

Academic circle dissatisfied KUWAIT: Academics in Kuwait are not thrilled with the performance of the new education minister. According to reports, they plan to lodge a complaint against senior government officials.

A news report quoting academics indicates that directors from the Kuwait University (KU) and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) as well as senior officials from several education institutions plan to meet government figures to explain their disappointment with Ahmad Al-Mulaifi Minister of Education and Higher Education.

Speaking anonymously, officials say that most complaints focus on the minister’s interference with academic affairs, being uninformed in many aspects pertinent with the country’s higher education sector, reported Al-

Qabas. Furthermore, officials argue that a belief prevails in Kuwait’s academic scene that interventions of the new minister do not focus on the public’s benefit.

They rather serve a personal agenda, “You cannot help but to notice that his performance has a popular hint as if to serve electoral interests,” one official said. They noted that this has led academic facilities to separate themselves from the minister, “The KU and PAAET exclusively sponsored a ceremony to honor former minister Dr Moudhi Al-Hmoud.”

One of the issues of contention between Al-Mulaifi and the KU is the maximum cap of new students that are set for the next academic year. The KU demands that the cap be set only after reviewing 6,850 studies.

pproximately 75 percent of Kuwaitis are overweight, and more than 15 percent suffer from Type 2 diabetes with the number on the rise.

This obesity epidemic is taking Kuwait by storm, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report issued last year.

Beneath the pearly white veneer of an oil rich Gulf state lies the decay of a chronically ill society.

Ailments relating to high cholesterol, heart disease, type II diabetes and an ever increasing waistline plague the nation.

Everywhere you look, posters, billboards and television commercials advertise the latest artery clogging, waist extending but ever so delicious fast food meals your Kuwaiti dinar can buy.

Eating, eating and more eating - teasing your taste buds is a national past time. Restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets line every street corner, mall and everywhere you turn. The allure of the next hamburger, donut or ice cream seductively tangles you into the web of over indulging - constantly.

From a glance, it would seem that the lifestyle of Kuwait is one of excesses, a culture of hedonism.

Portions are big, cars are big, houses are big, the bigger the better it would appear. However, there is one thing that most people can agree on and that is when it comes to your waistline, big is not better. With most days too hot to exercise outdoors, going to the gym seems to be the only option. However, staying fit and shedding kilos is an expensive exercise for many.

Hefty membership prices are unaffordable to the average consumer. In addition to this, if you are female, you are most likely to pay prices up to twice the amount than for a male. To empty your pockets even more, most gyms will only accept 6 to 12 months payment in advance. A local dietician (who would prefer to remain nameless) at a private clinic in Salmiya attributed the Kuwaiti lifestyle for the ailments our society are facing. “I have many clients who visit my clinic that are extremely obese. Most of my clients have waistlines that exceed the 150 cm mark on a standard measuring tape.”

Despite the risk associated with obesity, many people seem unaware or unwilling to change their lifestyle according to the health expert. “Most people come and seek help at weight loss clinics when their obesity has come to the life threatening stage.” She attributed weight gain to the typical Kuwaiti lifestyle and also the traditional wearing of the Dishdasha and the Abaya. “These types of garments hide a multitude of sins and most people don’t really realize how big they are till they slip into a t shirt and jeans.”

A local blog posted a pricelist online of gyms and health clubs in Kuwait with the cheapest costing KD 35 per month. If you convert this to dollars this is approximately $100 per month for basic gym membership. The costs increase if you want additional extras such as a spa or swimming pool. One blogger posted, “I think health clubs in Kuwait are way over priced. That is probably why we have so many fat, unhealthy citizens! LOWER THE PRICES!” All one has to do is visit Entertainment City, water park or any shopping mall in Kuwait to see that people seem more content eating at restaurants and fast food outlets than actually being active. On four separate occasions, Kuwait Times staff visited parklands across the State and saw more people barbequing and picnicking than playing with their children or engaging in any kind of outdoor activity.

Since the introduction of fast food outlets, obesity and type 2 diabetes rates have skyrocketed. So what’s the solution? I believe the promotion of a healthier lifestyle needs to take place, fewer billboards with fast food advertisements, more promotions for outdoor sports and activities, and yes, lower gym prices.

If gyms were more affordable for the average citizen and expat, I am certain more people would use them. Once you start exercising, you feel good and more inclined to have a bowl of salad rather than a cheeseburger for dinner.

To the many health aficionados around Kuwait if you are listening, lower the prices of gyms and I will see you there!

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Years

local kuwait DIGEST

‘Productive national manpower’

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

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ccording to reports, the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) has approved the fourth oil refinery and clean fuel projects at an estimated cost of more than KD 8 billion. I do not know when the projects will be finalized or if they can overcome obstacles. It remains important that their potential be utilized fully.

We have a major problem here in Kuwait. I am not afraid to say that most Kuwaiti laborers are underproductive. Most of them perform no work to earn the pay that collectively consumes half of the state’s budget. They just check in and out of offices.

Of course, the main reason behind this sad reality is human nature; one does not like to make much of an effort to give, but is eager to receive. Neither the government nor lawmakers do anything to stop it.

The reason I am bringing this up is the fact that building a fourth refinery in Kuwait will create thousands of jobs. This will require thousands of nonKuwaiti personnel to be hired, should there be no plans to train Kuwaiti labor forces that are capable of taking these jobs.

Yes, honestly, I do not think that officials at the refinery would approve of hiring a citizen who is not willing to take up field tasks or anything besides an administrative job.

Kuwait should begin to prepare Kuwaiti technicians and labor forces who are able to operate the fourth refinery and take up field tasks. Lawmakers need to legislate regulations that oblige the government to train citizens for these jobs, and set aside good pay and allowances. These are usually paid to recruit foreign labor forces to perform the same job.

Hiring citizens along with foreign technicians not only helps create productive national manpower, but also helps Kuwait gain control over increasing foreign work force. — Al-Qabas

Supreme council passes 4th refinery KUWAIT: The Supreme Petroleum Council approved projects of building a new oil refinery in Kuwait and producing clean fuel, and the subject became in the hands of the government to make a final decision. The approval is based on recommendations of the Fatwa and Legislation Department as well as the State Audit Bureau, which say that the best way for the projects to be implanted is via the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), after finding no economic feasibility in having them carried out by the private sector, while basing their opinion on the fact that the privatization law clearly excludes oil production and refinement.

Deloitte: Voluntary work makes employees more loyal, satisfied Volunteering motivates corporate environment

By Nisreen Zahreddine KUWAIT: Employees who frequently participate in workplace volunteer-driven activities are more likely to be proud, loyal, satisfied employees when compared to those who rarely do, a survey found. The results were revealed in the latest survey conducted by Deloitte and Touche to measure the impact of volunteering in the Middle East. “Deloitte employees volunteered in Kuwait to impart leadership skills and perform volunteer work at the Kuwait Red Crescent Society(KRCS),” said Rana Salhab, a par tner with the Talent Management and Communications Division at Deloitte.

Injaz Kuwait participated in a leadership training program where Deloitte employees volunteered. It is a global partner to Deloitte in the field of Corporate Social responsibility.

According to the sur vey, employees in Kuwait are more interested in volunteering for Corporate Social Responsibility-related or human resource oriented work with the same level of interest.

The employees who frequently participated in their company’s employee volunteer activities are twice as likely to rate their corporate culture to exceed 50 percent in positive. They feel more proud to work for their company and more loyal to it.

Moreover, they are nearly twice as likely to be very satisfied with the progression of their career and more satisfied with their employer to an extent that they are more likely to recommend their company to a friend.

Excerpts According to the sur vey, some 70 percent of millennial graduates and employees strongly favor joining compa-

KUWAIT: Employees who volunteer tend to be more motivated at work. This image is used for illustration purposes only. — Photo by Joseph Shagra nies that are committed to the community. The survey findings reveal that, compared to those who rarely or never volunteer, graduates who frequently par ticipate in their company ’s employee volunteering activities are twice as likely to rate their corporate culture as very positive (56 percent vs 28 percent). They are also more likely to be ver y proud to work for their company (55 percent versus 36 percent). They are also more likely to feel very loyal towards their company (52 percent versus 33 percent). The survey found that those who volunteer are twice as likely to be very satisfied with the progression of their career (37 percent versus 21 percent). The survey found that they are more likely to be very satisfied with their employer (51 percent versus 32 percent).

They are more likely to recommend their company to a friend (57 percent versus 46

Al-Busairi hopes executive, legislative powers to benefit from past stage KUWAIT: Minister of Oil, and State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Dr Mohammad Al-Busairi expressed hope that both executive and legislative powers will benefit from, “negatives and positives of the past stage,” hoping that work will be up to, “a running start,” in the coming parliamentary session.

Asked by the press about his appraisal of the National Assembly’s performance following the conclusion of the third ordinary session of the thirteenth parliamentary term, Al-Busairi said that the past session, “was stormy with the monitoring role reigning supreme over the legislative one.”

He added that, “we hope that will make use of the negatives and positives of the past stage, and that work will be up to running start in the coming parliamentary session.”

Al-Busairi said that there are some legislations which are considered obligations, though they did not reach their due turn yet in order to be discussed and endorsed, “though these topics are listed on the Assembly’s agenda, and the government asked for accelerated review,” in a reference to the second annual plan, “which has been put on the agenda, but it was not discussed because the Assembly’s latest ordinary sessions have been turned into special ones.”

Asked about two coming interpellation motions for grilling His

Highness the Prime Minister in his own capacity in the beginning of the coming parliamentary session, and whether the government is ready to counter such grilling, AlBusairi merely said that, “we hope to have a calm beginning, and that the new parliamentary session will see a kind of cooperation between the two powers as well as a kind of achievement.”

He also said that the government, “is not disturbed,” by many interpellation motions, “if they are objective, and in accordance with the Assembly’s bylaws, and constitution, and not out of personal reasons,” making clear that the government is ready to tackle all interpellation motions if they are within the constitutional, bylaw, and legal framework.

Al-Busairi also recalled how the government dealt over the past parliamentary session with many interpellation motions, “though most of them were unconstitutional, and the personal reasons dominated over them, but the government handled them out of cooperation, and to make the picture clearer to the Kuwaiti public opinion.”

Asked whether the government will invest the summer recess in thrashing out solutions to three issues postponed to the coming parliamentary session, namely the teachers’ fiscal hierarchical structure, the students’ incentives, and

the loans issue, Al-Busairi said that, “we do not consider such issues as postponed crises, but they are legislative issues, and laws which we handled according to the Assembly’s bylaw, and the constitution, and provided alternatives to them.”

He added that the government will handle these laws during the parliamentary summer recess, and will offer the successful and persuasive alternative to the members of parliament during the coming parliamentary session.

Asked about the threats made by some MPs on lodging an interpellation motion against him against the backdrop of the issues relevant to the oil sector, Al-Busairi asserted that he is ready to cooperate with MPs in this respect, “and I’m very happy of what MPs raised of remarks.”

In the same vein, Al-Busairi recalled his pledge before the National Assembly on carrying out the 26th recommendation embedded in the report made by the National Assembly’s budget and final account committee on the budget of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and its subsidiar y firms, noting that these recommendations will be “a roadmap,” for him, calling on the MPs to hold him responsible on what he achieved, “after a year of the budget’s endorsement.” — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Coastguard raided jet skis and boats that violated regulations in Dohat Al-Salimai and AlHaishan respectively. The operation was conducted under the supervision and presence of Lt General Sheikh Mohammad Al-Yousuf. The campaign began on Monday as it took off from Sabah Al-Ahmad base in Al-Fintas. It advised youths to abide by rules and follow the speed limit. They were asked to maintain a two mile distance and obey the age limit which is 18 years. Colonel Adel Al-Hashash, Public Relations Director said that the campaign will continue until the law is fully enforced.

percent) . “Our own experience has demonstrated the positive outcomes of a strategic corporate volunteer program,” said Omar Fahoum, Chairman and Chief Executive at Deloitte in the Middle East. “It is very exciting to have research that more broadly quantifies the connection between workplace volunteerism and several drivers of positive organizational culture among millennial graduates.”

Satisfied at work In the Middle East, Deloitte volunteers who were part of the sample targeted for the study are active in education and skill-building corporate responsibility initiatives. At the global 2011 Deloitte Annual meeting held in Washington DC, Injaz Al-Arab, a MENA region youth skills building NGO, was awarded $250,000 as grant for a new project with Deloitte Middle East around entrepreneurship.

The study also showed that more than one-third (37 percent) of those who frequently volunteer are more likely to be very satisfied with the progression of their career. These and other findings from the Deloitte 2011 Volunteer IMPACT Survey suggest a link between volunteerism and the quality of employee engagement as well as favorable employee perceptions of organizational culture.

At a time when one-third of millennial employees are considering other career options, these findings may offer new insights about a powerful way to engage workers among this age group. “ The data shows that, on many levels, employees who regularly volunteer are much more connected than those who do not volunteer,” said Salhab. “This is a strong argument for making volunteerism a business priority. This is because employee engage-

ment and organizational culture are inextricably linked to organizational performance. What is more, engagement and a sense of ownership are essential to leadership, and we recognize the need to cultivate leadership qualities in all our people, and celebrate responsible leadership.”

The concept of volunteering is diversified nowadays, it is not dependent on simple activities like environment cleaning. It involves skilled workers and professional people to put their expertise to the benefit of the community in a more sophisticated kind of volunteering. That could be mutually beneficial for the society on one hand and for the professional skilled volunteers who will certainly enhance and develop their career life due to their voluntary activities.

Deloitte survey findings also suggest that the benefits of creating a culture of service extend well beyond active volunteers.

As expected, millennial employees strongly favor (70 percent) companies that are committed to the community. However, even among those surveyed who rarely or never volunteer, more than half (61 percent) say they are likely to factor a company’s commitment to the community into their decision if choosing between two jobs with the same location, responsibilities, pay and benefits.

Millennial employees, who are often characterized by their passion to change the world, are also motivated to volunteer by more than altruism. All those surveyed want to benefit professionally from their volunteerism.

Skilled volunteers, who use their business acumen to help nonprofit organizations, are more likely to seek a professional return on investment for their volunteer effor ts than ‘hands-on’ volunteers.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

LOCAL UN official praises Kuwait’s role in support of Palestinian cause

Man leaps from Sabahiya Bridge to busy highway 15 citizens inpolice custody KUWAIT: A man reportedly committed suicide by leaping from a bridge to a busy highway.

Police and paramedical staff rushed to the scene near Sabahiya Bridge where a man - later identified as an Indian national - run over by several cars on the street. Traffic police cordoned off the road temporarily so that paramedical staff could gather parts of the victim’s dismembered body.

Road dispute More than fifteen citizens were apprehended following a vicious fight that was triggered by a road dispute between two motorists.

According to an official, a citizen driving with two female relatives along the Chalet entered into an altercation with another motorist who was accompanied by three passengers. He sought help from relatives who lived in nearby chalets. He continued to drive while the other followed. Eventually, the two cars halted at the Nuwaiseeb border checkpoint. A noisy quarrel followed soon after their arrival. Police who were patrolling the vicinity placed the situation under control. The detainees held at the Abdullah Port police station face multiple charges including property damage.

Family dispute Jahra police are on the hunt for a citizen who stabbed his brother during a spat. After being informed of the incident, police accompanied by an ambulance headed to the scene.

The victim was hospitalized while a search is underway for his brother who disappeared before police arrived.

Suicide attempt A high school student was hospitalized after attempting suicide. Her failure in final exams motivated her to end her life. An ambulance rushed to a Jahra home where the

girl’s family reportedly found their daughter writhing in extreme pain in her room. The girl was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Jahra hospital. She consumed toxic cleaning liquid after falling into a depression ever since high school results were announced.

Corpse in a car The corpse of a senior citizen was found dead in his car that was parked along the Gulf Road opposite to Bnaid Al-Gar. Police and paramedical staff headed to the scene where a passerby reported that man was in an unconscious state.

The man was identified as a 58-yearold citizen. No evidence of foul play was detected. The body was removed for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Forged passport Two officers from the Salmi border checkpoint were referred to higher authorities along with a Syrian man for their involvement in a forgery case. It pertains with assisting a man living outside the country renew his residence permit illegally. Investigations went underway after officials from the Immigration Department received information about the alleged incident. Police eventually arrested a Syrian man who renewed the residence permit of a relative. During interrogation, he explained that he offered to help his relative who was

unable to visit Kuwait to complete a task. He also confessed to receiving assistance from two checkpoint officers who stamped the passport. The officers denied involvement, explaining that they were duped by the suspect’s likeness to his relative.

Young man raped A search is underway to nab three suspects who kidnapped a friend and sexually assaulted him at a remote location. Investigations went underway after a young man placed an emergency call and explained that three of his friends reached his home in Jleeb AlShuyoukh and asked him to come out for a brief chat. They bundled him into the vehicle and drove off to Subbiya desert. They took turns to rape him and abandoned him at a street.

Home burglaries Criminal investigators are on the lookout for a thief who stole cash and valuable items worth an estimated total of KD 250,000. Eleven home robberies were carried out at the Capital and Hawally areas. There was a steak of familiarity to the robberies conducted, including targeting vacant houses and stealing contents from safes while avoiding cell phones or items that could be tracked. Officials have arrived at the conclusion that the acts were committed by one individual.

—Al-Rai, Al-Qabas, Al-Anba

BRUSSELS: Abdou Salam Diallo, Chairman of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, has praised the role of Kuwait and the other Arab Gulf countries to the Palestinian cause as very effective .

“The role of Kuwait and the other Gulf countries is very effective and very strong. They are doing well in the United Nations working very closely with the committee” he said in an interview.

“They are also voting all the resolutions that we propose in the UN for the sake of the Palestinian cause,” he noted. Diallo is in Brussels to attend an international conference on Palestine.

He said the EU is also playing a key role. The EU has stated that there should be two states, Israel and Palestine, he noted.

“They are also helping much in financing of projects in Palestine. The only problem now is that they are saying that it is too early for Palestinians for the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state and they say that Palestinians must negotiate with Israel first,” he said.

“But they are negotiating for 20 years now with Israel so they are obliged to find another way and the other way is to have recognition by the UN,” said the UN official.

Asked if the Palestinians will declare their independent state in September, he said “It is the matter for the Palestinians.”

“They are strategizing and they don’t want to tell how they will handle this matter. They will wait till September. It is a matter of strategy. Maybe they don’t want the Israeli government to know what they want to do,” added Diallo who is a Senegalese diplomat.

Meanwhile, the International Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process sponsored by the UN began in Brussels on Tuesday.

The two-day meeting is being held under the theme “The role of Europe in advancing Palestinian statehood and achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was established in 1975 by the UN General Assembly. —KUNA

kuwait digest

Outstanding expatriate children!

By Saud Al-Sabaie ongratulations to the students who passed high school examinations with flying colors!

Notably, every year most of the outstanding students are expatriate children. Also, children enrolled into ordinary private schools put up an exemplary performance.

I do not know the reason behind the dismal performance of government schools despite bringing about marked changes to administration and faculty members. It appears as if teaching is taken for granted. It is only considered just another job that pays a salary at the end of the month.

Teachers also benefit from long vacations.

Some traditional families impose this job on their daughters simply because gender segregation is practiced.

Men enroll into the education college because low grades are accepted. So, we rarely find a Kuwaiti teacher who teaches a scientific subject.

Further the teaching profession is the most rewarding profession that does not require much effort.

It is enough to know how to ‘write and read.’

Therefore, there are many teachers who do not believe in the nobility of the profession. It is just another nice job!

The above mentioned do not amount to all the reasons behind students’ low grades. I might add one more observation - despite the comforts that a Kuwaiti family provides to their children, the school exams results are always disappointing. Students are intensively coached so much so that even ordinary laborers have begun giving lessons at the cost of KD 10 per hour. The children of expats, despite their difficult living conditions and high cost of education incurred, turn out to be academically excellent. Children from rich families, however, gape at their level of success. —Al-Anba

C

Al-Numas to inaugurate Sports Center in Thailand KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwait Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Mohammad AlNumas arrives tomorrow in Bangkok to inaugurate His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s Center for Youth and Sport.

This vital project comes in continuation to the activation of cooperation between Kuwait and Thailand. It also defines the Kuwaiti concern to support Islamic projects in Thailand that results in

the development of its civilizations.

The Center benefits the Muslims in Thailand through their focus on the provision of quality education and academic achievements, cultural and sports activities in order to reduce the economic problems suffered by many people there.

The 4,000 meter project includes an arena, a cultural center, and a dormitory for 350 students in the southern Muslim states.

The project is located next to Pan Asia International School, and is an endowment belonging to the Islamic Social Welfare Association in Thailand.

The inauguration of this project comes two years after the opening of the Kuwait’s Mosque that is considered to be second largest in southern Thailand. The center comes as Kuwaiti contributions (from governmental and individuals) to the Islamic society. —KUNA

Embassy urges tourists to obey travel directions in Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR: Kuwaiti Charge d’Affaires in Malaysia Hamad Ali Al-Hazeem urged Kuwaiti citizens planning to spend summer in Malaysia to obey directions and instructions given by the Malaysian government to ensure a pleasant stay in the country.

Al-Hazeem pressed on the importance of abiding to legal and government procedures followed in Malaysia.

He also urged Kuwaiti tourists not to exceed their threemonth visa to Malaysia, noting that the Malaysian authorities can issue instant visas once Kuwaiti travelers get to any of the country’s border ports.

Al-Hazeem stressed that Kuwaiti tourists’ passports should

have a validity of six months or more.

“Travelers carrying cash or traveler’s checks worth more than KD 10,000 should notify customs authorities once they reach any of the country’s exist points,” he added.

He also cautioned against using private transportations and advised to stick to using government’s means of transportations and taxis.

“It is important for travelers to confirm their hotel reservations and the length of their stay, since some of the hotels do not allow visitors to extend stay in the last minute,” the Kuwaiti official pointed out. —KUNA

Khairan Resort hosts award ceremony

Khalid Al-Ghanim

Adnan Zinedine

Ibrahim Al-Baghli

KUWAIT: The Khairan Resort hosted the ‘Al-Baghli’s Ideal Son Award’ for the fourth consecutive year in a recent ceremony that was attended by its official sponsor Ibrahim Al-Baghli.

He also serves as the Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s (MSAL) Senior Citizens’ Department. Ali Hassan, a visiting team member from the Sultanate of Oman as well as members of the Kuwait Boy Scouts Association and a large group of senior citizens and people with special needs were present at the event.

Following a cruise on board the ‘Salsan Yacht,’ Al-Baghli delivered a speech in which he expressed gratitude to CEO and Managing Director Khalid Al-Ghanim and Khairan Resort Director Adnan Zinedine. Ali Hassan explained the annual event’s goal helped integrate senior citizens and people with special needs into mainstream society. The event ended with the elderly and disabled citizens being rewarded. It was followed by a cultural show presentation and a lunch buffet.

Al-Baghli delivers a speech.

Al-Baghli poses with a group of senior citizens.

Al-Baghli poses with members of the visiting Omani delegation.

A female citizen receives award.

Al-Baghli and Hassan pose with boy scouts.

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Experts contest DNA evidence in Knox trial

21 dead as Taleban storm Kabul hotel Page 11

Page10

China rolls out red carpet for Bashir

BEIJING: Sudan’s leader Omar al-Bashir (C) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) review a Chinese military honour guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday.—AFP BEIJING: Sudanese leader Omar AlBashir, who is wanted on genocide charges, was given a red-carpet welcome yesterday by Chinese President Hu Jintao and guarantees of financial support from his key ally. Bashir’s visit to Beijing has sparked the anger of Washington and rights groups, but China-a major military supplier to the regime in Khartoum and the biggest buyer of the country ’s oil-has unflinchingly backed his trip.

The two presidents sat down for talks in the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing after the usual pomp and circumstance of a honourguard welcome not often afforded to Bashir, who is unwelcome in many countries. “Mr Bashir, you are a guest who has travelled from afar, and we welcome you,” Hu said in opening remarks, adding that he hoped the talks would help bolster the “traditionally friendly relations” between the two countries.

The Sudanese leader, who called Hu his “friend and brother”, thanked the Chinese leader for the “warm welcome and treatment” he had received since arriving in Beijing on Tuesday.

The pair later witnessed the signing of an economic and technological cooperation agreement, as well as two loan deals including one for a bridge project in eastern Sudan. No further details were given.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where about 300,000 people

have died since 2003.

China nevertheless remains an unabashed supporter of the Sudanese leader, who was the first sitting head of state to be served an ICC arrest warrant. “The Chinese side will firmly pursue a friendly policy toward Sudan,” Hu said, according to a foreign ministry statement. “No matter what the changes in the international situation and internal situation in Sudan, this policy will remain unchanged.”

The two presidents discussed the ongoing north-south peace process in Sudan, with Hu offering Bashir his support, and the situation in war-torn Darfur. The majority of Sudan’s oil fields are located in the south, which will become independent on July 9, and Beijing has worked to cultivate relations with the authorities in Juba.

In an interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency ahead of the visit, Bashir insisted that southern independence “will not affect the relationship” between Beijing and Khartoum, hailing China as a model “real partner”.

China and Sudan on Tuesday signed an agreement to “deepen” oil and gas cooperation in the presence of Bashir and other ministers, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s top oil producer, said in a statement.

The company did not provide further details. The Sudanese leader’s visit has sparked outrage among rights groups, and earned the reproach of the US State Department. “We continue to oppose invitations, facilitation, support for travel by ICC indictees,” State Department spokeswoman

Victoria Nuland said Monday.

ICC statutes dictate that any member country should arrest Bashir if he visits. China is not a party to those statutes, nor is the United States. “We reserve our opinion on the ICC’s prosecution against President Bashir,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday.

Bashir-who last visited China in 2006 — arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, one day late after his presidential plane was turned back to Iran while flying over Turkmenistan. Hong attributed the delay to “technical reasons”.

New York-based Human Rights Watch described Bashir’s trip as “an affront to victims of heinous crimes committed in Darfur”.

“Charges of widespread murder and rape should be cause for condemnation, not an invitation,” said Balkees Jarrah, international justice counsel at HRW. Amnesty International said earlier this month that China risked becoming a “safe haven for alleged perpetrators of genocide” if it hosted Bashir. Bashir and Hu also likely discussed the problems in Abyei, a disputed border area claimed both by Bashir’s Khartoumbased northern Sudan regime and the rival government in the south.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Monday to send a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Abyei in a bid to douse tensions. The Sudanese leader had been due to stay in China until today, but it was unclear whether his delayed arrival would now prolong his stay.—AFP

Iran tested nuclear-capable missiles LONDON: Iran has carried out secret tests of ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in breach of UN resolutions, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday.

Hague’s comments came a day after Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they had fired 14 missiles in an exercise, one of them a medium-range weapon capable of striking Israel or US targets in the Gulf.

In a statement to lawmakers, Hague said: “Iran has also been carrying out covert ballistic missile tests and rocket launches, including testing missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload in contravention of UN resolution 1929.”

He said Iran had also announced plans to triple its capacity to produce 20 percent enriched uranium, adding: “These are enrichment levels far greater than is needed for peaceful nuclear energy.

“We will maintain and continue to increase pressure on Iran to negotiate an agreement on their nuclear pro-

gram,” including sanctions, he said.

There was no immediate reaction from Tehran, which denies Western claims that it is pursuing nuclear weapons under the guise of its civil atomic program. On Tuesday Iranian state media said the Revolutionary Guards fired nine Zelzal missiles, two Shahab-1s, two Shahab-2s and a single medium-range Ghadr on the second day of their Great Prophet-6 exercise. On the first day of the exercise on Monday, the Guards unveiled an “underground missile silo” which they said was designed for launching their medium-range missiles, state television reported.

The Guards’ aerospace commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh insisted Iran’s missile program posed no threat to European nations but was intended to provide defence against “US targets in the region and the Zionist regime.” Iran has said that its latest exercise is not aimed at any country but carries “a message of peace and

friendship.” On Tuesday US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Iran was “bragging” about its assets, but did not specify whether Washington thought the tested missiles were nuclear-capable.

Iran’s missile program, which is under the control of the powerful Guards along with its space projects, has been a mounting source of concern in the West. Western governments fear Tehran is seeking to develop a ballistic capability to enable it to launch atomic warheads under cover of its civil nuclear program.

Hague meanwhile reiterated accusations that Iran was backing the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in neighboring Syria. Earlier this month the British envoy in Tehran was summoned to the foreign ministry over the claims. “Iran continues to connive in the suppression of legitimate protest in Syria and to suppress protests at home,” Hague said.—AFP

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Years

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South Sudan takes final steps toward statehood JUBA: Stephen Lugga’s office is a converted cargo container. An air conditioner rattles away while the undersecretary for telecommunications does his bit to get South Sudan ready for independence on July 9. With days to go before the south splits from the north, his tasks include registering a domain for websites and securing an international dialing code to differentiate it from the north which will keep Sudan’s existing +249 number.

“We want our domain name to be ‘SS’ for ‘South Sudan’, but people are telling us ‘SS’ has an association in Europe with Nazis,” Lugga told Reuters as dogs chased a monkey round a muddy field outside, which is full of containers and prefabricated buildings like his that house other ministry offices. “Some might prefer us to have a different one,” Lugga said. “We have applied for it anyway, SS, and we are waiting for a reply.”

South Sudanese are racing to create the trappings of state for when the Republic of South Sudan becomes the world’s newest

nation after a January referendum in which more than 98 percent of southerners voted for secession. Some weighty issues have been ticked off, like drafting a new constitution. Others such as when to issue a new currency are being finalized. Challenges such as how to govern a country racked by violence and brimming with guns will not be resolved soon.\ But there is plenty that can be done as the time to the deadline is counted down by a clock set up in the centre of Juba, the scruffy capital with potholed roads where motorbikes swerve between goats and cows, and where fuel shortages mean the power supply is sporadic.

Inhabitants say it is “the world’s biggest village”. “We have been promised a new international dialing code within 48 hours of secession,” Lugga said. “The international body (who allocate these codes) is just waiting for the UN to recognize us (South Sudan), which it will.” On the other side of Juba, at a cultural centre and one of the few buildings that has more than one storey,

southerners practice the new national anthem.

The brick building stands in stark contrast to the shacks on Juba’s outskirts, made of corrugated iron, bits of old wood and sheets of plastic to keep out the seasonal rains. The anthem closes with the lines: “Saluting our martyrs whose blood cemented our national foundation, we vow to protect our nation. Oh God, bless South Sudan.”

Sudanese in the south, where most people are Christians or followers of traditional beliefs, fought for two decades against the mainly Muslim north until 2005 treaty promised them the chance to vote on secession after a six-year interim period.

The war was fuelled by ethnicity, ideology and oil, as well as religion. Juba, neglected as that conflict raged and which has seen little development even with six years of peace with the north, is being tarted up for the independence celebrations. Some makeshift homes have been demolished and an army of street sweepers and tree planters work to re-style the city. “(Given)

the urgency of the situation, some companies have hired hundreds of people so that they can accomplish the work in the course of a few weeks,” said Jok Madut Jok, the south’s undersecretary for culture.

“If there are small things here and there that are uncompleted it will be no matter because our people will still be able to express their excitement,” he said. On the political front, a new draft constitution has been written.

Some changes to the interim constitution involved removing references to a unity government and references to the presidency with its seat of power in Khartoum. Other changes grant the president new powers over states in the south and parliament.

Limits on presidential terms disappear, a move analysts say could end up creating a state dominated by the party of southern President Salva Kiir. The constitution is set to become law during the celebrations a week from Saturday. The new charter also charges the South Sudan Central Bank to launch a new currency. It will be called the South

Sudan Pound. “The government wants a new currency in part for symbolic reasons, as a statement, but it was suggested they leave it for a year or so, which they seem to have agreed to,” one foreign government official said.

Analysts have said that issuing a new currency without close coordination with the north about the timing and exchange rate could lead to a swift devaluation and push up inflation. Elsewhere in Juba, the south’s information minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, describes how the new nation will building up relations independently with the rest of the world.

“As the new republic is born we will be moving into about 34 embassies and consulates ... maybe that would be built up little by little as our relationships (grow),” he said, adding that the number of missions could reach more than 50. “On July 9, we expect to have our passports ready,” he told a news conference. “ Those of you who have Sudanese passports, you can keep them as souvenirs.” —Reuters

S Yemen battles between army, Islamists, 48 killed Battles rage around Al-Wahda stadium

YAYLADAGI: Syrian refugees demonstrate against their country’s regime and its leader Bashar Al-Assad, in a camp in the Turkish border town of Yayladagi in Hatay province, Turkey yesterday. —AP

Syria troops storm villages, kill civilians DAMASCUS: Syrian troops killed seven civilians yesterday when they stormed two villages in the northwest to quash dissent against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a rights activist said. The latest military action came as hundreds of lawyers staged a sit-in in the second city of Aleppo calling for freedom and the release of prisoners and regime loyalists held a counter-protest, activists said.

The Aleppo sit-in came as calls mounted on the Internet for a massive rally to take place Thursday in the northern citythe country’s economic centre. Tanks rolled into Mar-Ayan and Ihsem in the northwestern province of Idleb “opening fire and killing at least seven people,” an activist in the region of Jabal al-Zawiyah, home district of the two villages, told AFP in Nicosia by telephone. “The men are fleeing the villages because they are afraid they will be arrested,” the activist said.

Earlier the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP soldiers were conducting searches in the villages.” Tanks and troop carriers entered the villages of Mar-Ayan and Ihsem. They are currently at the outskirts of Al-Bara,” a hamlet known for its Roman remains, said Rami Abdel Rahman. “The soldiers are deployed in the villages and are conducting searches,” the head of the London-based Observatory said by

phone. The Observatory says 1,342 civilians have been killed since mid-March in a crackdown by President Bashar alAssad’s regime on the reformist movement and that 342 security force personnel have also died.

On Tuesday, tanks rumbled into another Idleb village, Al-Rami, which is just off the the highway leading to Aleppo. Meanwhile some 300 lawyers organised staged a sit-in at the Aleppo courthouse chanting slogans for liberty and the release of political prisoners, activists said.

At the same time other, pro-regime lawyers gathered in a different room in the courthouse to pledge their alliegance to the regime. Pro-democracy activists on Facebook have called for a rally to take place Thursday in Aleppo, where anti-regime protests have been largely muted since the pro-democracy movement broke out in mid-March.

“Revolutionaries, come to Aleppo and Idleb provinces... and go to central Aleppo tomorrow, Thursday, to protest and to light the spark of the Revolution,” said the message posted on the Internet.

Abdel Rahman said a leader of the opposition Socialist Union Party was arrested in Aleppo on Tuesday evening, while a prominent member of Kurdish opposition party was detained in Al-Hasakah in the northeast. — AFP

Iran’s president denounces arrest of allies TEHRAN: Iran’s embattled president fired back yesterday after a wave of arrests against his allies, claiming it’s part of a “politically motivated” campaign to undermine his government and display the power hard-line forces loyal to the country’s ruling clerics. The sharp-edged accusations by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad highlight his stunning transition from favored son of the theocracy to an apparent adversary after seeking to expand the authority of the presidency and challenge the clerics’ grip on shaping politics and policies. Dozens of the president’s allies have been detained over the past months , including four senior government officials last week , in the evolving power struggle. “These moves (arrests) are politically motivated. It’s clear to us that it is aimed at pressuring the government,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

He also warned authorities to keep the political purges from reaching the ministers in his government. “The cabinet is the red line,” he was quoted as saying. “But if my colleagues are accused then I have the legal ... responsibility to stand up and defend my colleagues.” For Ahmadinejad, the showdown has left him politically weakened with nearly two years left on his sec-

ond and final term , suggesting that the Islamic establishment will keep a tight rein on affairs and is unlikely to offer any dramatic shifts in the standoff with the West over Iran’s nuclear program.

It appears that the ruling system will block anyone Ahmadinejad tries to promote as his potential successor. He also faces huge obstacles to bringing more political allies into parliament in elections set for early next year. Hardliners also have called for the arrest of Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. Mashaei has been denounced as the head of a “deviant current” that is perceived as questioning the system of clerical rule brought by the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s hierarchy remains unchallenged with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holding the final word in all important decisions. But Ahmadinejad has been the target of a backlash for trying to impose too much autonomy in how the government is run, including defying Khamenei on his choice for the powerful intelligence minister post and remaining loyal to Mashaei.

Last week, the newly appointed deputy foreign minister was forced to step down under pressure from hardliners who view him as too close to the chief of staff. — AP

ADEN: Forty-eight people, including 30 soldiers and four civilians, were killed during fierce fighting yesterday between the army and Qaeda-linked militants in south Yemen, the military and medics said. The battles raged around Al-Wahda stadium on the outskirts of Zinjibar, most of which has fallen into the grips of the Islamists a month ago.

“A total of 30 soldiers and 14 Al-Qaeda militants” were killed in the confrontation, a military source said. According to the source the violence erupted when “dozens of gunmen attacked the stadium where troops from the 25th Mechanised Brigade were deployed.” The gunmen took control of the stadium, prompting the “air force to go into action,” and attack the Islamists, the source said. The military source said losing the stadium would have deprived the troops of a strategic location since weapons were airlifted by helicopter to the brigade stationed in the arena.

An earlier toll said 16 soldiers, including a colonel, had been killed in the fighting while a medical official reported two militants dead.

The four civilians died in a strike on their fleeing bus. They were travelling in a convoy of vehicles that had taken shelter near the stadium where the fighting was taking place when Yemeni forces launched an air strike, medics and witnesses said. Twelve other civilians were wounded. Yesterday’s violence has raised the army death toll to 130 troops killed since the militants, who call themselves Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), seized control of most of Zinjibar on May 29.

The Sanaa government says they are allied with Al-Qaeda but the opposition accuses the government of playing up a jihadist threat in a desperate attempt to keep embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in power. The military source urged tribes in the Abyan province-of which Zinjibar is the capital-”to join in the fight against Al-Qaeda.”

SANAA: Anti-government protesters, shout slogans during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen yesterday. —AP On Tuesday, the militants held some 40 res- the security services had thwarted an Alidents of Zinjibar whom they accused of Qaeda plot to attack vital installations in Aden “theft” and of “collaborating with the army,” and had arrested six suspects. The country is one of them told AFP after he was released the home of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian along with several others. Fear has mounted Peninsula, or AQAP, an affiliate of the global of a spillover of the violence to the strategic network accused of anti-US plots, including port of Aden where an officer was killed on an attempt to blow up a US-bound aircraft on Tuesday evening when his car was booby- Christmas Day 2009.

President Saleh had been a key US ally the trapped, a police officer said. “Colonel Khaled al-Habishi, commander of a battalion of the US “war on terror” but has faced mass protests army’s 31st Brigade, was killed by a bomb against his rule since January. He is currently planted on his car,” the officer said, asking not receiving treatment in Saudi Arabia for blast wounds he sustained in bomb attack inside be identified.

He was the second officer to be killed in the presidential palace. Protesters have been Aden in a fortnight. A colonel was killed in a camped out in the capital Sanaa demanding similar bombing on June 13. Yemen’s official the formation of an interim ruling council to Saba news agency reported on Monday that prevent his return to power. — AFP

France air drops arms to Libya rebels TRIPOLI: France said yesterday it had air dropped arms to Libyan rebels in mountains south of Tripoli who are eyeing an assault on the capital, a day after antiregime forces captured a network of weapons caches. But the increasingly emboldened rebels suffered a deadly assault from veteran strongman Moamer Kadhafi’s forces in the thirdlargest city Misrata, where rockets killed one civilian and wounded six late Tuesday, residents said.

In London, meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday the cash-strapped rebels had received the first $100 million (70 million euros) from a fund set up by international donors. France’s Le Figaro daily said yesterday it had seen a secret intelligence memo and talked to well-placed officials, saying air drops were designed to help rebels encircle Tripoli and encourage a popular revolt in the city itself.

It said the arms were dropped in the Nafusa mountains region, where Berber tribes have risen to join the revolt against Kadhafi’s

four-decade rule and seized several towns. The crates contained assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said, and also European-made Milan anti-tank missiles, a powerful addition to the rebel arsenal that can destroy a tank or a bunker. “If the rebels can get to the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital will take the chance to rise against Kadhafi,” said an official quoted in the report.

Colonel Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French general staff, later told AFP the shipments were essentially light arms such as assault rifles to help civilian communities protect themselves from regime troops. He said France had become aware in early June that rebel-held Berber villages in the Nafusa mountains region had come under pressure from Kadhafi loyalist forces. “ We began by dropping humanitarian aid: food, water and medical supplies,” he said. “During the operation, the situation for the civilians on the ground worsened. We dropped arms and means of self-defence, mainly

ammunition.” Burkhard described the arms as “light infantry weapons of the rifle type” and said the drops were carried out over several days “so that civilians would not be massacred”.

Following that announcement, Britain’s minister for international security strategy, Gerald Howarth, said London will not follow suit because that would raise “quite a few issues,” including with the UN resolution that authorized military action in Libya. At the United Nations, the Portuguese mission, which is responsible for monitoring the sanctions, said it could not comment on press reports.

However, one UN diplomat said “a reading of the text of the UN resolutions on Libya does not prohibit the air drop of arms over Libya to protect civilians.”

On Tuesday, rebels overcame heavy multiple rocket fire from loyalist troops to seize bunkers in the desert about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the hill town of Zintan, an AFP correspondent said. The capture of rockets, machine guns and other munitions was a major boost for rebel

MISRATA: Libyan mourners attend the funeral a civilian man who was killed in a rocket attack that hit the Ghiryan area on the southern outskirts of Misrata yesterday after forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi pounded the rebel-held third-largest Libyan city with rockets late on June 28. —AFP

hopes of driving on to Tripoli from the front line on the other side of the Nafusa mountains, now just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital.

In Montenegro, meanwhile, visiting NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance has “all resources and assets necessary to continue the operation (in Libya) and bring it to a successful end.”

However, saying European defence investments “are too small,” he suggested more cooperation to “share and pull resources to get more efficient use of resources.” In Misrata, meanwhile, residents said between eight and 10 rockets struck the city, which has come under repeated assault by surrounding loyalist forces and is entirely dependent on resupply by sea.

In London, Hague told lawmakers the National Transitional Council (NTC), the rebel leadership based in the eastern city of Benghazi, had received in the past week the “first $100 million of international funding through the temporary financing mechanism set up by the contact group for vital fuel and salaries.”

The rebels complained earlier this month they were running out of money and had not yet received any of the roughly $1 billion promised by international donors. In other developments, Kadhafi’s health minister, Mohammed Hijazi, was in Egypt yesterday to ask officials for medical supplies to meet shortages in Libya, the official MENA news agency said. — AFP

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Los Alamos scurries to protect lab from fire

IOWA: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin greets supporters during a barbecue after the screening of the film “The Undefeated” in Pella, Iowa, Tuesday. —AP

Palin fuels presidential bid speculation in Iowa PELLA: Republican Sarah Palin said on Tuesday she is still studying a potential 2012 presidential run, though her daughter said she has already made up her mind.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, attended the premiere of a flattering documentary about her, “The Undefeated,” at the opera house in this small Iowa town. Palin has carefully left the door open to a campaign. Her appearance in Iowa was likely to encourage those who think the former Alaska governor still might jump into a wide-open race.

Her visit came a day after Michele Bachmann, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives who is often compared to Palin, launched her own presidential campaign in Iowa, and at a time when many candidates, even President Barack Obama, are touring the early voting state to seek support.

The Midwestern state holds the first contest on the road to the Republican 2012 presidential nomination. Palin’s daughter Bristol, a mini-celebrity in her own right, added to the political buzz by saying on Fox News that her mother had made up her mind already about whether to seek the nomination and that she would like to see Sarah Palin run.

“She definitely knows,” Bristol Palin said when asked whether Sarah Palin had made up her mind. She said the decision would remain within the family for now. Palin brushed aside her daughter’s comments as she arrived for the premiere, saying: “I’m still contemplating.” Palin launched a “One Nation” bus tour in late May of the eastern United States and plans are said to be in the works for another tour at some point.

But Palin has almost no campaign infrastructure, while the race to be the Republican candidate to challenge Obama is now well under way.

If Palin were to run, she and Bachmann would likely be competing for the same social conservative voters who are powerful in Iowa, whose caucuses next February are the first voting contest of the 2012 nomination battle. The biopic premiered in Pella is likely to keep Palin in the spotlight, much as her reality TV show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” did earlier this year. The documentary traces Palin’s rise from mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, the battle she waged to win election as the state governor and then charted her time as John McCain’s 2008 running mate. Palin is a key narrator in the movie, which is based on her “Going Rogue” memoir.

Palin’s visit created an air of excitement in Pella, a town founded by Dutch immigrants in 1847 and boasting a picturesque windmill. Taking in the scene was John Anderson, riding a bicycle with a sign draped around his neck that said, “It’s now or never, Sarah, America is calling you.”

“She’s an inspiration,” said Anderson. “I like her spunk, I like her drive, I like her charisma.” With her massive name recognition, Palin can probably afford to skip the Republicans’ August straw poll in Iowa, said Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa. That poll is a gauge of who will win the Iowa caucuses.

Palin should have made up her mind by Labor Day in early September on whether to run to give her team time to organize for the Iowa votes. “It’s not too late for her to get into the race,” Hagle said.—Reuters

LOS ALAMOS: New Mexico fire managers scrambled on Tuesday to reinforce crews battling a third day against an out-of-control blaze at the edge of one of the top US nuclear weapons production centers. The fire’s leading edge burned to within a few miles of a dump site where some 20,000 barrels of plutonium-contaminated waste, including clothing and equipment, is stored at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, fire officials said.

Officials for the government-run lab said the stored waste is considered low-level radioactive material and remains a safe distance from the fire in an area cleared of trees and other vegetation. Carl Beard, director of operations for the lab, said there has been no release of radioactive or hazardous materials into the environment and there was no immediate threat to public safety, “even in these extreme conditions.” Established during World War Two as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb, the lab remains one of the leading nuclear arms manufacturing facilities in the United States.

Authorities have suspended routine removal of the waste drums for shipment to a permanent underground disposal site in southern New Mexico, said Los Alamos County Fire Chief Douglas Tucker. “Because of the fire, they are not moving any of that. It is safer where it is,” he said. The fire, believed to have been ignited on Sunday by a fallen power line, has consumed nearly 61,000 acres (25,000 hectares) of thick pine woodlands in the Santa Fe National Forest, which surrounds the lab complex and adjacent town of Los Alamos on three sides.

Tucker said he feared the so-called Las Conchas Fire, whipped by high, rapidly shifting winds, could soon double or triple in size.

The blaze remained listed as at zero percent containment and burning largely unchecked in its third day. “I seriously believe it could go to 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares),” Tucker told reporters at a news briefing on Tuesday. “We have fire all around the lab. It’s a road away.”

A small offshoot of the blaze jumped State Highway 4 onto the lab grounds on Monday, burning about an acre (0.4 hectare) of proper-

ty before it was extinguished about two hours later. Between 800 and 1,000 firefighters, backed up by several water-dropping helicopters, were battling the blaze on Tuesday evening. “We’ve been putting in orders to get as many firefighters here as we can,” fire information officer Vanessa Delgado said. “We’re trying to get them in as fast as we can.” Lab officials also called in teams late on Monday to monitor air quality, with high-volume air samplers ready to deploy. Hundreds of

LOS ALAMOS: The Las Conchas fire burns near the Los Alamos Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., Tuesday.—AP National Guard troops have been dispatched to back up law enforcement in the area.

Both the town of Los Alamos, home to about 10,000 residents, and the laboratory, with a work force of about 12,000 people, were evacuated on Monday, and the lab will remain closed at least through Wednesday, officials said. Situated on a hilltop 35 miles (55 km) northwest of Santa Fe, the lab property covers 23,000 acres (9,300 hectares) and includes about 2,000 buildings, none of which

head of the anthropology department at Brown and co-director of the study. “We decided we needed to do this kind of rigorous assessment of what it cost to make those choices to go to war,” she said. “Politicians, we assumed, were not going to do that kind of assessment.”

The report arrives as Congress debates how to cut a USdeficit projected at $1.4 trillion this year, roughly a 10th of which can be attributed to direct war spending. What did the United States gain for its trillions?

Strategically, the results for the United States are mixed. Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are dead, but Iraq and Afghanistan are far from stable democracies. Iran has gained influence in the Gulf and the Taliban, though ousted from government, remain a viable military force in Afghanistan.

“The United States has been extremely successful in protecting the homeland,” said George Friedman, founder of STRATFOR, a US -based intelligence company. “Al Qaeda in Afghanistan was capable of mounting very sophisticated, complex, operations on an intercontinental basis. That organization with that capability has not only been substantially reduced, it seems to have been shattered,” Friedman said.

Economically, the results are also mixed.

War spending may be adding half a percentage point a year to growth in the gross domestic product but that has been more than offset by the negative effects of deficit spending, the report concludes.

Some US government reports have attempted to assess the costs of war, notably a March 2011 Congressional Research Service report that estimated post-Sept. 11 war funding at $1.4 trillion through 2012. The Congressional Budget Office projected war costs through 2021 at $1.8 trillion. A groundbreaking private estimate was published in the 2008 book “The Three Trillion Dollar War,”

by Linda Bilmes, a member of the Watson Institute team, and Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. That work revealed how much cost was added by interest on deficit spending and medical care for veterans.

The report draws on those sources and pieces together many others for a more comprehensive picture. The report also makes special note of Pakistan, a front not generally mentioned along with Iraq and Afghanistan.

War has probably killed more people in Pakistan than in neighboring Afghanistan, the report concludes. Politicians throughout history have underestimated the costs of war, believing they will be shorter and less deadly than reality, said Neta Crawford, the other codirector of the report and a political science professor at Boston University.

The report said former President George W. Bush’s administration was “shamelessly politically driven” in underestimating Iraq war costs before the 2003 invasion. —Reuters

it, Witham said. Lab officials said the storage structures were fire safe.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico said on its website its greatest concern was for the 20,000 55-gallon (200-litre) sealed drums of plutonium-tainted waste stored at one corner of the complex, some stacked in the open on asphalt, some in tents, some buried underground. Fire officials say they would use fireretardant foam to douse the flames if the blaze reached the area. — Reuters

Republican Bachmann claims ‘titanium’ spine

US cost of war at least $3.7 trillion and counting NEW YORK: When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America’s wars. Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the US Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released yesterday.

The final bill will run at least $3.7 trillion and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the research project “Costs of War” by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. (http://www.costsofwar.org) In the 10 years since US troops went into Afghanistan to root out the al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, spending on the conflicts totaled $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion.

Those numbers will continue to soar when considering often overlooked costs such as long-term obligations to wounded veterans and projected war spending from 2012 through 2020. The estimates do not include at least $1 trillion more in interest payments coming due and many billions more in expenses that cannot be counted, according to the study. In human terms, 224,000 to 258,000 people have died directly from warfare, including 125,000 civilians in Iraq. Many more have died indirectly, from the loss of clean drinking water, healthcare, and nutrition. An additional 365,000 have been wounded and 7.8 million people-equal to the combined population of Connecticut and Kentucky-have been displaced.

“Costs of War” brought together more than 20 academics to uncover the expense of war in lives and dollars, a daunting task given the inconsistent recording of lives lost and what the report called opaque and sloppy accounting by the USCongress and the Pentagon. The report underlines the extent to which war will continue to stretch the US federal budget, which is already on an unsustainable course due to an aging American population and skyrocketing healthcare costs. It also raises the question of what the United States gained from its multitrillion-dollar investment. “I hope that when we look back, whenever this ends, something very good has come out of it,” Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, told Reuters in Washington. In one sense, the report measures the cost of 9/11, the American shorthand for the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Nineteen hijackers plus other al Qaeda plotters spent an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 on the plane attacks that killed 2,995 people and caused $50 billion to $100 billion in economic damages. What followed were three wars in which $50 billion amounts to a rounding error. For every person killed on Sept 11, another 73 have been killed since.

Was it worth it? That is a question many people want answered, said Catherine Lutz,

has yet burned.

John Witham, a spokesman for the antinuclear group Nuclear Watch New Mexico, said it is the only place in the country that produces plutonium pits that are carried in the core of nuclear bombs.

Three metric tons of highly radioactive weapons-grade plutonium is stored in concrete and steel vaults in the basement floor of a building near the center of the complex, with an air-containment system surrounding

SAN PEDRO SULA: Honduran former President Manuel Zelaya Rosales (C), his wife Xiomara Castro de Zelaya and leaders of the Popular Resistance Broad Front (FARP), Rassel Tome (L), Rodolfo Padilla Sunsery (2nd L) and Rafael Alegria (R), attend a rally in San Pedro Sula, 240 km north of Tegucigalpa on Tuesday.—AP

Zelaya rallies Hondurans ahead of ‘free elections’ SAN PEDRO SULA: Former president Manuel Zelaya has begun calling for “free elections” and rallying Hondurans ahead of 2013 polls exactly two years after being overthrown in a coup. “(President) Porfirio Lobo has offered free elections and we comply,” he told thousands of supporters in the northern city of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday, weeks af ter returning to the country under a Latin American diplomatic accord.

“Here is the social and political movement that will govern the country with transparency and justice,” he said, referring to the Broad Popular Resistance Front (FARP), a new political par ty launched on Sunday. The party is an outgrowth of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), a movement formed after the June 2009 coup to challenge the two-par ty system that has dominated Honduran politics since the early 20th century.

Zelaya, 58, made a triumphal return to

Honduras on May 28 nearly two years after he was overthrown in a military coup sanctioned by the legislature and the supreme court after calling for a referendum to rewrite the constitution. He was a conservative rancher when he was elected in 2006 but turned to the left once in office, and opponents feared he would use the referendum to extend his term in office as his ally Hugo Chavez had done in Venezuela.

Zelaya was able to return to the country under a deal brokered by several Latin American governments that will end Honduras’s diplomatic isolation and give the Lobo government access to foreign investment and aid. Despite enjoying broad popular support, Zelaya cannot run in the 2013 presidential elections because the constitution limits presidents to a single term in office.

Supporters want Zelaya’s 51-year-old wife Xiomara Castro to run for president.—AFP

MYRTLE BEACH: Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann opened her bus tour Tuesday in this sweltering coastal resort city, trying to shake off a gaffeprone start to her campaign. Her bus pulled up before a crowd of some 1,000 people, horn honking amid roars of approval.” This is the first stop with the Bachmann for president campaign bus,” the 55-year old lawmaker told reporters in front of her blue campaign vehicle. “We’ll be here all day tomorrow making numerous stops across South Carolina.”

Bachmann earlier traveled to the northeastern town of Raymond, New Hampshire, where she told a small but media-packed gathering that she had a “titanium spine.”

“We need a bold president,” said Bachmann. “We need to do big things, not small things.” The 55-year-old lawmaker has enjoyed a surge of support in recent weeks, and is running nearly even in the polls in Iowa-where she was born-with Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts.

But with her success has come added scrutiny highlighting some recent misstatements, prompting some to compare her to Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who has been skewered for her historical and geographical errors. In Waterloo, Iowa on Monday, Bachmann erroneously said the late actor John Wayne was from the town, mixing him up with mass murderer John Wayne Gacy.

On Tuesday, she called John Quincy Adams, the sixth US president, a founding father, in an apparent mix-up with his father, second president John Adams.

Explaining the mistakes, she told journalists in Myrtle Beach: “I think that it just goes with the territory. I think you need to be ready for what the media bring.”

Bachmann, the only woman in the race thus far, has won solid reviews for her performance in the first main televised debate earlier this month and has brought in some Republican campaign veterans to shore up her presidential run.

She has a history of blunt, fiery and sometimes inaccurate comments that have drawn some unflattering media coverage, including her suggestion that some of her colleagues in the House of Representatives were “anti-America.” Bachmann said she would ban teleprompters from the White House. Presidents rely on the machines for speeches, and Obama has been criticized for using it too much. She joins a crowded Republican field that already includes Romney, libertarian-leaning Representative Ron Paul, former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, ex-Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, businessman Herman Cain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. A Gallup survey published earlier showed Bachmann is known by 69 percent of respondents, up from 52 percent in February. But polls found her preferred by just 7.3 percent of Republicans surveyed nationally this month, compared with 25 percent for Romney, according to an average calculated by RealClearPolitics.—AFP

First Atlantic storm powers toward Mexico MEXICO CITY: Arlene, the first tropical storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, churned through the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday but looked set to spare Mexico’s oilfields from a direct hit. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (65 kph) and was located about 215 miles (345 km) east of Tuxpan in Mexico on Tuesday evening, the US National Hurricane Center said.

“The center of Arlene is expected to reach the coast ... late Wednesday night or Thursday,” the center said in a statement, adding that the storm could turn to the southwest, taking it closer to Mexico’s oil

installations. Mexico is a top oil exporter to the United States and almost all of its crude oil exports are shipped to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States from the three Gulf of Mexico ports, Dos Bocas, Cayo Arcas and Coatzacoalcos.

Outer bands of rain could cause brief closures of those ports, but the center’s model showed Arlene hitting further north, possibly grazing one coastal oil well near the city of Tampico but avoiding offshore platforms.

The storm could also affect the Madero refinery in Tamaulipas near Tampico, which produces 190,000 bpd. Mexico’s Pemex is the world’s No 7 oil producer. The area, prone to

flooding, is popular with local tourists for its beaches and many poor coastal towns lack flood defenses. The Miami-based center said Arlene could bring up to 15 inches (38 cms) of rain and warned of life-threatening flash floods and dangerous waves.

The rain could bring some relief to sorghum and fruit farms in the area, however, after a long dry spell that has reached critical levels in some areas of Tamaulipas and in neighboring Nuevo Leon.

Mexico was hit by Hurricane Beatriz, the second tropical storm of the Pacific season, last week but the weather system did no major damage.—Reuters

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INTERNATIONAL

Hardline Arab-Israeli imam held in Britain LONDON: Controversial Arab-Israeli Islamist leader Sheikh Raed Saleh has been arrested in London after entering Britain in defiance of a government ban, Home Secretary Theresa May said yesterday. The British authorities have begun arrangements to deport Saleh, who is the head of the radical northern wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and have launched an investigation into how he managed to enter the country, she said.

Saleh reportedly flew into London Heathrow airport on Saturday and had been due to speak at an event at the House of Commons yesterday evening, organized by the

Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC). “I can confirm he was excluded and that he managed to enter the UK. He has now been detained and the UK Border Agency is now making arrangements to remove him,” May said in a statement.

“A full investigation is now taking place into how he was able to enter.”

It is rare that ministers comment on individual immigration cases, but May said “in this case I think it is important to do so”. According to sources quoted in The Times newspaper, she was “furious” that Saleh had managed to get into Britain. The Home Office refused to confirm press reports that Saleh was excluded only

last week, nor would it say why he had been banned from Britain.

Sheik h K amal K hatib, a spokesman for the Islamic Movement, told AFP that Saleh was arrested on Tuesday night in London. He said it was not clear exac tly why Saleh had been detained, but he blamed “the Zionist lobby in Britain” for pushing police into arresting him. Saleh has had multiple run-ins with the law in Israel, including most recently being arrested at the Israeli border with Jordan after allegedly striking an interrogator.

In 2010, he spent five months behind bars for spitting at an Israeli

policeman, and he has been detained on a number of other occasions, including in connection with an alleged arson incident. He was also held after taking par t in a Gazabound aid flotilla that Israeli naval commandos stormed on May 31, 2010 in a botched operation that left nine Turkish activists dead. The Islamic Movement is tolerated in Israel but is under constant surveillance due to its perceived links with the militant Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip, as well as with other Islamist groups worldwide.

The PSC defended asking Saleh to speak in London. Director Sarah Colborne said his movement was a

“legitimate organization which Israel has never moved to ban” and said he regularly speaks in public in Israel. “Before coming to Britain, he faced horrific allegations of anti-Semitism, which he completely refuted,” she added. “He has clarified his position of being opposed to all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism against his own people, the Palestinians.” Israel’s Arab community numbers 1.3 million, about 20 percent of the population. It is made up of 160,000 Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state, and their descendants. —AFP

Lightning kills 18 kids, teacher in Uganda Lawmakers demandgovernmentaction KAMPALA: A lightning strike has killed 18 children and their teacher in Uganda, police said. Uganda has one of the highest rates of lightning strike deaths in the world and its capital Kampala has more days of lightning per year than any other city, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The lightning hit the victims in a classroom at a school in Kiryandongo, 210 km (130 miles) north of Kampala, police said. Another 38 children were admitted to hospital.

The East African country has suffered a wave of fatal lightning strikes in recent weeks during unseasonably heavy rains. The deaths were debated in parliament on Monday, with MPs calling on the government to come up with strategy to deal with what several termed “a crisis”. “I don’t know which minister is in charge of the lightning but let the government come up with a statement to inform the country on what is going on and how we can manage it,” Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said.

Local meteorologists have criticized the government for not providing enough lightning conductors for buildings in storm hotspots. “The 19 were killed in single lightning strike on Monday,” a police spokesman said. “They were ready to leave school but there was a heavy downpour and so they sheltered in the classroom and then, all of a sudden, it struck.”

Police said 15 of the 38 injured on Monday were still in hospital being treated for burns. Local media quoted medical offi-

cials in Kiryandongo predicting the death toll could rise. The state-owned New Vision newspaper said on Tuesday that at least 40 people had been killed by lightning strikes in recent weeks. The police did not give an official death toll.

Many of the strikes have killed children.

Three siblings aged four, six and eight were killed while sheltering under a tree on their way home from school last week and another two children were killed the week before, police said. —Reuters

Senegal deploys troops to quell fresh electricity protests

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting on 2012-2014 politics budget in Gorki’s residence outside Moscow yesterday. —AFP

Crowd scatters as Medvedev’s jeep lurches MOSCOW: Scenes of a jeep being driven

by President Dmitry Medvedev nearly ploughing into a crowd went viral in Russia yesterday, sparking political debates among giggling Internet users.

The video of last week’s incident-which concluded with the 45-year-old walking out of the car sporting dark sunglassescame just two months after another web clip showed him somewhat unsuccessfully trying to dance at a party.

And like most things in Russia these days, it was read most closely for signs of what this said about Medvedev ’s chances of keeping his post in March elections that may be challenged by his senior partner Vladimir Putin. “Who is this guy to hold the reins of a country if he cannot even drive a car,” said one typical YouTube message from a user named BalticStatesAcademy.

“It seems that the president simply forgot to put the car into ‘park’,” the Kazan-Times newspaper that first reported the incident sniped. The black vehicle had come to a stop when it suddenly lurched in the direction of hundreds of onlookers as the president tried to get out. A member of his security team managed to help Medvedev stop the vehicle

after opening the driver’s door through an open window.

“Careful!” someone could be heard shouting as women screamed and hundreds of people backpedalled in the face of the president’s quickly advancing car.

Medvedev could later be seen getting out of the vehicle and stiffly waving to the crowd before being led away by security. The power ful Putin-a man famous for being a judo black belt who was once photographed stripped to his waist while on a fishing trip-himself has not been immune from gaffes making the rounds of amused Russian Internet users.

Last month, even state television ended up showing footage of the former KGB chief repeatedly failing to start the engine of Russia’s latest Lada car model, which had just rolled off the production line. Most recent appearances by either Putin or Medvedev have been read for signs on whether either has taken the decision to be the person to represent the ruling regime at presidential elections next year. Both men have vowed not to run against each other and are promising to take the final decision in private between themselves. —AFP

DAKAR: Senegal deployed extra troops and warned against fresh violence after fury over crippling power cuts led to riots across the country that saw government buildings torched and widespread looting. “Defense and security forces have been instructed to deploy wherever there is need to re-establish order and to put down with all energy and all necessary means these acts of pillage and vandalism,” Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom said late Tuesday.

He said investigations “have been already launched to identify” the perpetrators and stressed the government had taken “all necessary measures to guarantee the security of people and goods and to maintain public order.” At least four people were injured in the overnight violence, RTS public television said. Life returned to normal Tuesday morning, but a deafening hum of generators continued in Dakar amid another extended blackout, and post-protest debris-including burnt tyres-littered the streets for the second time in less than a week.

The spontaneous protest came just days after President Abdoulaye Wade’s regime experienced its worst-ever riots on June 23 as angry Senegalese protested against the 85year-old’s efforts to change election laws. From Ouakam in the north-west of the capital to Guediawaye in the east, offices of state electricity company Senelec were pillaged and burned by the protesters, with vehicles set on fire and windows shattered.

Senegal regularly faces protests over its unreliable electricity supply, which severely hampers small businesses.

The state power company apologized for the blackouts, saying it “has been faced with a significant deficit in electricity production resulting in many power cuts.”

Already struggling financially to buy fuel and maintain outdated and dilapidated equipment, the company said it has recently experienced new breakdowns in some of its machinery. A Senelec official told AFP that since June 23, ten of its offices had been destroyed in Dakar and Keur Massar, Mbour and Thies to the east of the capital as power cuts steadily worsen, lasting up to two days in some areas. “It is OK now, but during the night the youth were lighting fires everywhere,” said Marie-Jeanne, a mother from the sprawling suburb of Pikine. Protesters erected barricades and blocked traffic with burning tyres and tree branches. The public anger against mounting power cuts first erupted in the coastal town of Mbour, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Dakar, where police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. “Everything is broken in the Senelec” officescomputers and cars-a witness from Mbour said. —AFP

tional parental child abduction,” said Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne. “The latest figures suggest the problem affects people from all walks of life and not just certain types of families or particular countries,” he added.

Many cases occur around school holidays when a parent refuses to return a child following a visit to the parent’s home country.

Mothers are more likely to be responsible, the figures showed. Although Pakistan, Thailand and India featured most prominently, there were cases in another 94 countries that are outside the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. —AFP

Experts contest DNA evidence in Knox trial ROME: Experts dispute much of the forensic evidence collected against Amanda Knox, saying in a report yesterday that testing of DNA traces used to convict the American student and her co - defendant in the murder of her roommate was below international standards and evidence may have been contaminated. The review by two courtappointed independent experts was requested by the defense and had been eagerly awaited. Its conclusions will undoubtedly boost Knox’s chances of overturning her murder conviction.

Knox was convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering British student Meredith Kercher _ with whom she shared an apartment while both were exchange students in Perugia _ and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Her co-defendant and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. Both have denied wrongdoing and are appealing.

Prosecutors maintained in the first trial that Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of a kitchen knife they believe to be the murder weapon, and that Kercher’s DNA was found on the blade. They say Sollecito’s DNA was found on the clasp of Kercher’s bra.

Those findings were disputed by the defense, and the appeals court granted an independent review. A similar request had been turned down in the first trial. The experts say in the report filed to the Perugia court yesterday that the genetic profile attributed to Kercher is “unreliable” and cannot be attributed with certainty. They said results may have been contaminated on both the blade and bra clasp.

Regarding the blade, the experts said: “We believe that the technical tests are not reliable.” The experts also said the original testing did not follow any of

the recommendations of the international scientific community for dealing vwith “low-copy number” DNA testing, which requires fewer human cells than traditional genetic testing methods.

They also said that “international procedures for inspection and international protocols for gathering and sampling exhibits have not been followed.” “It cannot be ruled out that the result obtained ... may stem from contamination,” said the repor t’s conclusions, obtained by The Associated Press.

The experts reached similar conclusions regarding the bra clasp. The bra was recovered at the crime scene only several weeks after the Nov 1, 2007 fatal stabbing of the 21-year-old Kercher.

However, the review concurred with the original testing in saying that the genetic profile on the knife’s handle could be attributed to Knox. The knife was found at Sollecito’s apartment. The findings are likely to please the defense, which had long maintained DNA traces were inconclusive and that they might have been contaminated when they were collected and analyzed. The two experts _ Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti from Rome’s Sapienza University _ are to present their review in court on July 25.

The experts had been mandated to either conduct a retest or, if not possible, assess the accuracy of the original testing. They found that DNA traces were too small for a retest and so moved on to reviewing the original analyses to assess whether they were reliable and up to standard. They sought an extension of about 40 days.

“It was a very complex job,” Conti told the ANSA news agency in Perugia, minutes after submitting the report. “A huge amount of data has been examined and we have reached clear conclusions.” — AP

Ukraine’s ex-PM Tymoshenko goes on trial

Britain sees surge in parental child abduction abroad LONDON: Britain said yesterday there had been an upsurge in the number of British children abducted by their parents and taken abroad, with Pakistan, Thailand and India the most common destinations. The Foreign Office said that 161 children were taken over the past 12 months to countries that are outside an international treaty designed to ensure the return of wrongfully removed minors.

This compares to 146 in 2009/10 and 105 in 2008/9, said the foreign ministry. It added that the true figures are likely to be much higher as many cases go unreported. “We are very concerned that we continue to see an increase in the number of cases of interna-

PERUGIA: In this Dec. 11, 2010 file photo, 23-year-old American student Amanda Knox, foreground, sits next to her lawyer Maria del Grosso during a hearing in her appeals trial, at Perugia’s courthouse. Independent forensic experts at the trial, in Perugia yesterday.—AP

KIEV: Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko greets supporters as she leaves a district court in Kiev yesterday. A Ukrainian judge adjourned until July 4 the trial of Tymoshenko, who is accused of abuse of power, after she asked for more time to read the evidence. —AFP

KIEV: Ukraine’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko went on trial yesterday charged with abuse of power in a case that has raised Western concerns over President Viktor Yanukovich’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law. After about an hour of wrangling, the hearing was adjourned until Monday, July 4.

Tymoshenko, 50, who says the action against her is part of a vendetta against her by Yanukovich, was in combative mood, refusing to cooperate with court formalities. Asked by judge Rodion Kireyev to identify herself to the court, she curtly refused, saying: “I gave you my passport.

Read it yourself. Everything that is happening today is political revenge,” she said, denouncing the court as a “department of the presidential administration”.

The prosecution alleges that Tymoshenko, who was twice prime minister, abused her power in the signing of a 2009 gas import agreement with Russia. The prosecution says that, without consulting her government, she forced the then head of state-owned Naftogaz to sign the gas deal with Russia’s Gazprom . She denies this. The 2009 agreement ended a gas pricing dispute with Russia which had led to cuts in supplies of gas to parts of Western Europe along pipelines which pass through Ukraine.

The current administration, which took over after Tymoshenko lost an electoral battle for the presidency against Yanukovich in February 2010, says the agreement was a sell-out of national interests, though it is abiding by its terms.

Tymoshenko said at the weekend that she faced a jail term of between 7 and 10 years. Some of her political associates expect her to be given a suspended sentence, which would still limit her ability to be politically active in opposition.

Though Western governments have not come down publicly on her side, visiting politicians from the European Union have told the Yanukovich leadership they are concerned over the possible use of “selective justice” in the former Soviet republic. Tymoshenko became known as the “gas princess” in the late 1990s as owner of a company which bought and sold Russian gas.

With her trademark peasant-style hair braid, she became an international figure in 2004 when she led the “Orange Revolution” street demonstrations that ultimately doomed Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency. She went on to serve two terms as prime minister. But early last year, with many people disillusioned that the Orange Revolution leaders had failed to deliver on their promises, she lost to Yanukovich in a bitter fight for the presidency. —Reuters

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

Grim tales of Bangladesh’s accidental hangman NETROKONA: As a teenager, Babul Miah was sent to prison for a murder he says he never committed. By the time of his release two decades later, he’d sent 17 fellow prisoners to their deaths. Miah was a hangmanone of around 15 specially trained convicts who continue to carry out executions in prisons across Bangladesh. While neighboring India is struggling to find an executioner to enforce its first death sentence since 2004, Bangladesh has always used a ready supply of willing recruits from its huge prison population.

“I don’t know why the guards selected me,” said Miah, who was sentenced as a teenager to 31-years in jail after pleading guilty to a murder he says his elder brother committed. “The prison chief told me that if I became a hangman they would take two months off my sentence for every execution. He said it would be an easy job so I accepted the offer gladly,” he told AFP. Bangladesh inherited capital punishment from its British colonial rulers and has executed around 420 people since independence from Pakistan in 1971. More than

1,000 prisoners are on death row. It is one of a handful of countries-others include Singapore, Japan and Iran-which still use hanging and all executioners are, like Miah, long-serving prisoners who have been selected and trained. “You can’t do the job if you show emotions or are frail. And you can’t make mistakes, the jailers will be extremely angry,” Miah, who is now 40 and was released last year, told AFP at his home in northern Bangladesh.

Miah was 14 years into his sentence when he was asked to take up the role. He

learned how to prepare the gallows inside the jail, tie a noose and, crucially, never to look the condemned man in the eye. “I would take the prisoner to the gallows, put the noose around his neck and press the key to remove the planks. The prisoner would be confirmed dead in fifteen minutes,” he said.

Under Bangladesh jail traditions, hangings are carried out at exactly one minute past midnight, with the convict and their relatives informed just a day or two ahead.

‘Horrific scene’ of decapitation Usually,

hangings go smoothly, but Miah said he had witnessed some gruesome cases when the length of the noose had not been precisely calibrated with the height and weight of the condemned man. One such incident involved Siddiqur Rahman, the deputy head of a militant group which carried out a series of bombings across the Muslimmajority country in 2005 killing at least 28 people. “Rahman was a huge man. His head was ripped off by the noose a few minutes after we removed the planks. It was a horrific scene,” Miah said. — AFP

21 dead as Taleban storm Kabul hotel Gunmen killed during night-time raid

LAHORE: Pakistani men ride on a horse-cart through flooded streets after heavy monsoon rain in Lahore yesterday. Pakistan warned that floods triggered by monsoon rains could affect millions more people this year, but claimed it was better prepared after a massive humanitarian crisis in 2010. —AFP

Pakistan woefully unprepared for new floods KASHMORE: It took farmer Ghulam Hussain almost a year to start re-building his house, destroyed last year in floods that left vast swathes of Pakistan underwater, and disrupted the lives of more than 18 million people.

Now, his small, two-room mud and brick house-just a few hundred metres from the Indus River-is almost complete, but he is worried as to how long it will survive.

“It took me a long time to rebuild my house, as no one gave me any help,” Hussain said as he along with five of his relatives put the final touches to his house in the southern province of Sindh. “I am praying to God that this year the waters be kind to us,” he said. Pakistan remains woefully unprepared for floods this year which a UN official said could affect up to 5 million people in a worse-case scenario.

While a repeat of last year’s epic deluge is unlikely, even smaller floods could cause millions in damages, set back reconstruction efforts and further unsettle the government, already wracked by a shaky relationship with the United States, a stagnant economy, a deadly Taleban insurgency and tense relations with its neighbors. All along the Indus, dikes and embankments are incomplete, while international donations for preparedness have fallen short. Sindh, home to the commercial and industrial hub Karachi and one of last year’s most hard-hit provinces, is especially vulnerable to new flooding.

A visit by a Reuters correspondent in rural Sindh revealed that most preparations the government says are complete still need weeks of work-and the rains have already started. “I don’t think the government has done enough,” Hussain said. “It is only up to God to save us.” As he spoke, he glanced at the Tori bund (embankment), just a few hundred metres away in one of the worst-hit areas of last year’s floods. It was a poor defense against the rage of the swollen Indus last year.

Last year’s floods began in late July after heavierthan-usual monsoon rains swelled the headwaters of the Indus River basin, sending flash floods through the northwest and inundating great swaths of the country.

Some 2,000 people died, 11 million left homeless and another 7 million people were affected. The country suffered more than $10 billion in damages to infrastructure, irrigation systems, bridges, houses and roads. Onefifth of Pakistan was submerged.

Aid organizations and the government were criticized for being too slow to respond while the military, widely seen as a far more efficient institution, took the lead in relief operations. But the United Nations says it working hard to stockpile food, water and tents in the event of more floods this year.

“Since the beginning of March, we have been in close contact with the government to make sure response is up and running and that we are better prepared this year,” Manuel Bessler, head of the UN emergencies office (OCHA) in Pakistan, said in a recent interview with AlertNet, a free humanitarian news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation 0He said the most likely scenario is two million people affected, but it could reach five million if the monsoons are heavier than expected. The seasonal rainsexpected to start July 1 — started four days early. At the Tori bund near Hussain’s house, labourers slowly stacked stones and mud in an attempt to strengthen the embankment, where two major breaches last year swept away hundreds of houses and flooded acres of land.

“I can tell you that 80 percent to 95 percent work has been completed at most of the places and by the 30th (of June), all will be completed,” Pir Buksh Jamali, the director-general for the Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority told Reuters. But a visit by a Reuters correspondent to areas Jamali said were ready shows much work remaining to be done. At Tori bund, huge piles of unused mud and heavy stones remained, and workers there seemed to be in no rush. — Reuters

KABUL: Heavily armed Taleban militants stormed a top Kabul hotel, sparking a ferocious battle involving Afghan commandos and a NATO helicopter gunship that left at least 21 dead including the nine attackers. Officials said all of the gunmen were killed during the nighttime raid on the hilltop Intercontinental Hotel, frequented by Westerners and Afghan officials, part of which was left in flames as tracer bullets lit up the sky.

The state-owned 1960s hotel, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain, was hosting delegates attending an Afghan security conference and a large wedding party when the insurgents struck late Tuesday. The interior ministry said nine Afghan civilians-mostly hotel workers-and two police officers were killed in the brazen assault and another 18 people were wounded. It said a ninth dead Taleban militant had been identified.

The ministry and the government in Madrid said a Spanish man-reportedly a pilot working for a Turkish airline-was also killed at the hotel. Interior ministry spokesman Seddiq Seddiqi said the slain hotel workers had been on the first floor and in the lobby at the time of the attack.

Among those staying at the hotel were provincial government officials who were in Kabul for a conference on the

KABUL: Non-Afghan soldiers leave after taking part in a military operation against Taleban militants that attacked the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul yesterday. —AFP handover of power from foreign to Afghan security forces. The process starts next month.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, praised the work of the Afghan troops and reiterated support for the transfer of responsibility for security from foreign to national forces, due to begin next month. “This incident and

Pakistan indicts six troops over filmed killing of civilian KARACHI: A Pakistani court yesterday indicted six paramilitary soldiers and a civilian on murder and terrorism charges after an unarmed man was shot dead on camera in a public park, lawyers said. If convicted, the seven accused could be sentenced to death. Members of Pakistan’s Rangers paramilitary force were caught on film killing Sarfaraz Shah, 22, after a civilian dragged him over to the troops, accusing him of robbery in Karachi on June 8.

The daylight murder was filmed by a cameraman and broadcast round the clock on television, shocking the country with the apparent brutality of trained officers in a country awash with violence blamed on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. “The court has formally framed charges of murder and terrorism against all the accused,” public prosecutor Mohammad Khan Buriro told reporters.

The accused pleaded not guilty and will contest the charges after appearing before judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso yesterday, lawyers said. Buriro said the trial would begin today and that a total of 46 witnesses would be called to the stand. “They are innocent and will contest the charges,” said M R Sayed, one of the lawyers for the defence.”We have asked the court to provide the investigation report compiled by the government joint investigation team,” he added. The formal indictment had been repeatedly delayed to allow the accused time to hire lawyers. Facing down a media tirade, the government has already taken the rare step of removing the provincial chiefs of police and Rangers in Karachi. The widely aired footage of the killing showed a clean-shaven and unarmed Shah, wearing black trousers and a navy shirt, pleading for his life before he was shot twice.

He then begged for help while the soldiers appeared to do nothing but watch him fall slowly and lapse into unconsciousness. Despite no evidence in the video that Shah had a weapon, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, whose ministry is responsible for the Rangers, claimed last week that the victim had been carrying an unlicensed weapon.

The killings last month by security forces of five unarmed Chechens, one of them a pregnant woman, in the city of Quetta are also under investigation. Answerable to the interior ministry, more than 10,000 paramilitary troops patrol Karachi, Pakistan’s financial capital, and its surroundings to combat routine ethnic, political and Islamist violence in the city of 16 million. — AFP

KARACHI: Pakistani policemen escort arrested handcuffed paramilitary soldiers and a civilian to an antiterrorism court in Karachi yesterday. —AFP

ones like this will not stop the transfer of responsibility to (national) security forces,” he added, according to official statements. Two New Zealand special forces troops who had been supporting the Afghan commandos received “moderate injuries”, the country’s defence force said.

An AFP photographer saw half a

dozen of what appeared to be Western special forces soldiers emerging from the Intercontinental compound, one of whom had blood on his right cheek and on his hands. The attackers steered clear of the normally heavily guarded road snaking up to the hotel, instead picking their way through the trees on the northern slope towards the building around 11:00 pm on Tuesday, police said.

Panicked guests were told to stay in their rooms as the attackers, thought to have suicide vests, machine guns and rocketpropelled grenades, roamed through the building for about four hours before the raid was quelled. Major Tim James, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, said ISAF deployed one helicopter at the request of Afghan authorities.

“It flew over the hotel, circled it a few times. They were able to clearly identify a number of insurgents who were armed and wearing suicide vests and then they engaged the individuals with small-arms fire,” James told AFP. “We’ve had reports that there were a number of explosions caused either by the insurgents detonating themselves or the engagement by the helicopter causing that (suicide vests) to explode,” he said. Witnesses identified the NATO aircraft as an Apache attack helicopter. — AFP

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Years

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North Korea vows military measures against S Korea North releases large amount of water from dam

BEIJING: Chinese tourists pose for a group photograph in front of a giant Chinese Communist Party emblem set up to celebrate the July 1 Chinese Communist Party’s 90th anniversary at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China yesterday. —AP

As China Communist Party turns 90, a debate erupts BEIJING: China is marking the 90th birthday of the Communist Party with its typically over-the-top celebrations and an unusually rancorous debate about whether the government needs a major change in direction to sustain the country’s resurgence. Percolating for years among academics and commentators, the debate pits those who want a transition to more democratic government against those who want a more egalitarian, populist authoritarianism, a group known as the “new left.” The discord has gathered steam in recent months, with the approach of Friday’s anniversary and mounting social tensions over corruption and a widening wealth gap. It has become a factor in the jockeying for party leadership and led to heated online exchanges, including calls to charge an octogenarian economist with sedition.

Underlying the debate is a sense that the reforms that mixed capitalism with state control and transformed China from poverty to global power have run their course, entrenching a new elite, while leaving others out. “People see that the reforms have led to all sorts of social problems and costs, and those costs are being borne by farmers, workers and migrant laborers,” said Yang Jisheng, the elderly editor of liberal magazine aimed at retired party members.

“The dissatisfied cut across the left, the right and the middle. The left doesn’t like the market economy. The right dislikes that there’s no liberalization, no democracy. And the middle wavers back and forth.” Whether China veers right or left matters to a world that looks to torrid Chinese growth to buoy the global economy, but has trouble meshing that with its closed, authoritarian political system.

It’s also crucial to the party’s survival.

Protests in recent weeks over minority and migrant worker rights in the northern Inner Mongolia region and southern Guangdong province make party claims to be building a “harmonious society” ring hollow. Much of the discord has played out in media reports and blogosphere comments, though it has also erupted into view among the leadership.

Over the past year, Premier Wen Jiabao has repeatedly cited the need for political reforms to ensure China’s continued growth. The head of the national legislature and the party’s law-and-order czar have both shot back, vowing not to adopt Western-style democracy. “All of a sudden you seem to have left and right going after each other,” said Joseph Fewsmith, a China politics expert at Boston University.

The public dissension is unusual for a leadership that has tried to suppress outward signs of debate in the two decades since Tiananmen Square, when open splits encouraged the pro-democracy demonstrators and delayed the crackdown. In the aftermath, the party marginalized its left and right, morphing into an institution of technocrats and officials bound together more by ambition and connections than ideology.

Official celebrations to mark the party’s founding in 1921 gloss over the divisiveness. Party propagandists have

released a torrent of politically correct entertainment to promote the theme that the communist government has made China prosperous and strong. The public has largely ignored the hoopla. “It is just a short-time campaign, and when July 1 is over, everything will return to where it used to be,” said Jiang Xiaoyu, a cultural critic and film director. A centerpiece is group sing-a-longs of “red” songs from the 1950s, when older Chinese say people were unified in purpose to rebuild the countr y, in contrast to today ’s goal of pursuing wealth.

Songfests have been staged in schools and offices across China.

But the red songs campaign have also become part of the larger debate. The campaign’s most visible champion is Bo Xilai, the party secretary of Chongqing, the megacity that sprawls astride the Yangtze in central China, who is believed to want a top post in next year’s leadership succession. His supporters say the red songs are the cultural component to policies meant to improve people’s lives.

They include an anti-crime crackdown, a splurge to build low-cost housing and incentives to encourage farmers to sell their land and move to the city in exchange for better social benefits.

“It’s similar to the New Deal,” said Cui Zhiyuan, a leading new left scholar who took leave from prestigious Tsinghua University to serve as an adviser to the Chongqing government. Bo, Cui said, wants not only to govern, but “to win the hearts and minds of the common people.” Detractors say Bo and the Chongqing model portend a shift toward more topdown rule, and they worry that the nationwide rollout of the red songs campaign signals Beijing’s tacit endorsement of the new left. He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University and an increasingly vocal critic of the new left, said the events in Chongqing were like a return to the radical, abusive power of Mao’s era. “There’s a sudden sense of going back in time, of seeing a repeat of the Cultural Revolution. The ideals of rule of law are sinking into ruin,” he wrote on his blog in April.

Retorts on websites associated with the new left called He a foreigner in all but looks bent on trying to turn China into America. One branded him a “slave of the West.” Another new left website, Utopia, circulated petitions calling for elderly economist Mao Yushi to be charged with sedition after he wrote in an essay that revolutionary leader Mao Zedong’s legacy, with its policies that led to the deaths of tens of millions, should be reassessed. The party has tried to tamp down the discord. The flagship People’s Daily newspaper published an editorial last month urging party members to heed the official line. A senior party propaganda official denied last week that the red song campaign heralds an ideological shift. One question is whether Bo believes in the new left or if it’s a tactical move to gain entry to the leadership. “It’s very hard to see China embracing full populism,” said Fewsmith, the China expert, “because populism works against the elite too.”— AP

Thai ‘ladyboy’ pictures confuse election officials BANGKOK: Thailand’s community of “ladyboys” complained yesterday they were being marginalized in next week’s general election because their ID card pictures were too confusing for polling officials. It is the latest in a series of gripes among members of the Trans-Female Association of Thailand which groups transgender and transsexuals known collectively as “katoeys” or “ladyboys”.

“We have a big problem when we use our identity cards in banks, schools, hospitals and now when we vote,” said Yollada Suanyoc, president of the 2,500-strong organization. “The picture may show a woman but it says ‘mister’ on the card. Or the picture may show a teenage boy and the person now looks like a woman.” Everyone in

Thailand has to carry a national ID card with them at all times from the age of 15. It is renewed every seven years.

Transgenders and transsexuals are accepted in Thailand more readily than in most other countries, with one new airline hiring only ladyboys as cabin crew. They are especially common in cosmetics shops and health stores and in bars in some of Bangkok’s racier entertainment districts.

But Yollada said the government had been slow to accept them and accused society of grouping transgenders, transsexuals and homosexuals as one and the same when each group had its own issues. “The government says if they change our title and sex, it’s going to make society confused,” she said. — Reuters

SEOUL: North Korea’s military vowed yesterday to retaliate for anti-Pyongyang signs posted at front-line South Korean army units, as rare talks between the rivals on a stalled joint tourism project broke down. North Korea has also been releasing a large amount of water from a dam southward without prior notice since Monday night, Seoul officials said. A similar move caused a surge that killed six South Koreans in 2009. The North’s Korean People’s Army issued its military warning via state media, promising “merciless military retaliatory measures” until South Korea apologizes and removes signs that it says “seriously hurt the dignity of the leadership” of North Korea.

The “hideous provocation” was “perpetrated only by hooligans who go wild like ‘puppies knowing no fear of a tiger,”‘ an unidentified spokesman for the KPA’s Supreme Command said. Earlier yesterday, an unidentified North Korean government spokesman warned of a “sacred war” against South Korea over the signs.

The threats follow a report Tuesday by South Korea’s Hankyoreh newspaper that some South Korean army units near the border had set up anti-North Korea slogans in the wake of two deadly attacks blamed on North Korea last year. The newspaper carried a pho-

to showing a banner reading “Let’s ram guns and swords into the chests of North Korean puppet soldiers!” hanging over the entrance of one army unit in Cheolwon, a town near the central portion of the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea.

The newspaper said the unit also wrote on its walls such signs as “Let’s hack the three Kims into pieces,” a reference to late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, his son and current leader Kim Jong Il, and grandson and heirapparent Kim Jong Un. South Korea’s Defense Ministry confirmed the substance of the report, saying some army units have taken such measures to bolster their soldiers’ mental toughness against North Korea. North Korea’s threats to attack South Korea are the latest in a series of warnings and hostile statements from Pyongyang aimed at the conservative government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

They came as the two Koreas met at North Korea’s scenic Diamond Mountain yesterday for talks on the North’s seizure of South Korean assets there. However, the sides didn’t have substantial discussions on the matter because of procedural differences and didn’t set dates for any future meetings, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry. Joint tours to the mountain were suspended in 2008 follow-

ing the shooting death of a South Korean tourist. North Korea later confiscated or shut down South Korean-owned buildings and other facilities there. South Korea’s Land Ministry said a North Korean dam has been releasing about 1,000 tons of water per second over the past three days into a river flowing to South Korea. The release hasn’t caused any damage in South Korea, it said.

The Unification Ministry said the North didn’t inform South Korea of the water release.

In September 2009, the North discharged a large amount of water into the Imjin River, killing six people. The two Koreas are technically still at war because their 1950s conflict ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

Their animosity has deepened since North Korea allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship in March last year. The North also shelled a South Korean border island in November. A total of 50 South Koreans were killed. Tension spiked again last month when North Korea threatened to attack because of South Korean troops’ use of photos of the three Kims as targets during firing drills.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry later told military units to stop using such photo targets, but it has no immediate plans to ask troops to stop using anti-North Korean signs, a ministry official said. —AP

Flash floods in Philippines kill 25 MANILA: Flash floods triggered by torrential rains swept away dozens of houses in the southern Philippines and killed at least 25 people, mostly children, officials said yesterday. At least 15 other people were missing.

About 20,000 families were affected by floodwaters when heavy rains swamped six villages

in Davao city late Tuesday, overflowing rivers and triggering a deluge that reached 10 feet (3 meters) high in some places, said Liza Bago of the Davao City Social Services and Development Office.

About 1,475 families sought refuge in four emergency shelters, civil military affairs officer Maj. Jake Obligado said. He said

at least 15 people were still missing. Army Lt Marianette Vinluan said troops who responded to calls for help from the villagers were blocked by the deep and raging floodwaters. When they finally reached the affected areas early yesterday, they found toppled vehicles, houses and trees, she said. She said 15 of the dead

were children under age 10, including a 9-month-old infant.

“It is muddy here and it is starting to rain again,” she said by telephone from one village. “The sky is dark and the people are scared again.” Regional civil defense officer Antonio Cloma said at least 50 houses were destroyed and 214 others were damaged. —AP

Suu Kyi warned over plans for tour

UBONRATCHATHANI: Yingluck Shinawatra (L), sister of fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, shakes hands with her supporters during her election campaign in Ubonratchathani province, in northeastern Thailand yesterday. —AFP

Fugitive ex-leader Thaksin dominates Thai election SANKAMPHAENG: With his vast riches and family ties, fugitive former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra may be on the verge of a remarkable comeback, despite being convicted of graft and wanted on terrorism charges. But if his opposition Puea Thai Party wins this weekend’s election, as polls suggest is likely, the controversial expremier will have to savour victory from afar. Ousted in a military coup five years ago, the former tycoon lives in selfimposed exile in Dubai, having fled Thailand in 2008 before a court sentenced him in absentia to two years in prison for corruption. The 61-year-old remains an idol for many rural and working class voters for his populist policies while in power, but is hated by the ruling elite who see him as corrupt and a threat to the revered monarchy.

“People who thought that the coup of 2006 was going to be the flush of the toilet for Thaksin were absolutely wrong,” according to Thailand expert Paul Chambers. Parties linked to Thaksin, the former owner of Manchester City football club, have won the most seats in the past four elections, but the courts reversed the results of the last two polls, angering his supporters. Today he is seen as the driving force behind Puea Thai, whose candidate for premier is none other than his youngest sister Yingluck Shinawatra.

But not all the family is happy with Thaksin’s efforts to return to the political limelight. “His father wouldn’t support him if he were still alive,” Thaksin’s 82-year-old aunt Taowan Shinawatra told AFP in an interview at her home in northern Thailand, saying he should stick to business. “We have enough as it is. We don’t need to go into politics. People who go into politics can’t let go of the prestige. He is obsessed by it.” Many think Thaksin would continue to call the shots if the opposition wins, and its campaign slogan”Thaksin thinks, Puea Thai does”-appears to leave little doubt.

Far from trying to ignore him, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has made his

rival a central theme of his own election battle, urging voters “to get rid of the poison of Thaksin.” The ex-premier remains a hugely divisive figure in Thailand, where he faces a raft of criminal charges including terrorism-an accusation linked to mass opposition protests by his “Red Shirt” supporters last year that turned deadly. If found guilty, he could in theory face the death penalty.

The opposition has proposed an amnesty for convicted politicians if it wins the election-a move apparently aimed at bringing Thaksin home. But many doubt the Bangkok-based elite in government, military and palace circles would allow him to return a free man. “I don’t think Thaksin will be coming back to Thailand any time soon. I think if he does, that would be a green light for a possible coup,” said Chambers, a senior research fellow at Payap University in northern Thailand. Born into one of the most prominent ethnic Chinese families in northern Chiang Mai province, Thaksin, whose father was also a politician, gave up a brief career with the police to study in the United States. He went on to form telecoms giant Shin Corp and in 1998 moved into politics when he started his own political party, Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais).

He was elected as prime minister in 2001 — becoming the country’s first premier to serve a full term-and re-elected four years later to create Thailand’s first single party government in seven decades. In the Shinawatra family’s hometown of Sankamphaeng, famous for its fine silks, the boy who used to sell coffee and ice cream at his father’s shop is still a hero to many. “He was a good boy, very kind,” said 79-year-old market vendor Somjit Suwanthip. “He helped the country.

I want to see him back.”

As well as his sibling, Thaksin also has a niece standing for parliament in northern Thailand and a son at the helm of a media group, Voice TV, which gives prominence to the family’s political activities. — AFP

YANGON: Myanmar’s state media warned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday that her plans to travel outside Yangon to meet supporters could trigger riots. A commentary in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper also drew attention to the status of her National League for Democracy, which was deregistered as a party last year by the government but still operates as a nationwide organization.

The commentary, published in all three state-run daily newspapers, appeared to reflect government anxiety over Suu Kyi’s plans to travel to other areas of the country. The state press serves as a mouthpiece for the government, which otherwise makes few public announcements. No date has been announced for Suu Kyi’s travel.

Suu Kyi drew large crowds when she last made a trip to the countryside in 2003, and her popularity badly rattled the then-military government. Supporters of the junta ambushed her entourage as it toured northern Myanmar, killing several of her followers. She escaped but was detained. There were suspicions that the attack was organized by the army, which denied involvement.

Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last November after Myanmar held general elections that her party boycotted. Its failure to reregister for the polls led to its being officially disbanded as a party.

“We are deeply concerned that if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi makes trips to countryside regions, there may be chaos and riots, as evidenced by previous incidents,” the commentary said. “The government has said that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is just an ordinary public member, so it will not restrict her from traveling and doing things in accordance with the law, but she shall honor the laws for the rule of law.” Daw is an honorific used for older women. Critics of the new nominally civilian government say its commitment to reform will be judged partly on whether it allows her freedom of movement. U.S. Sen. John McCain said earlier this month that he raised the issue of Suu Kyi’s safety during a meeting with senior Myanmar government officials.

The commentary chastised Suu Kyi’s party for not taking part in the elections and accused it of “trying to politically test the patience of the government that shows its benevolent attitude by not taking action against it.” Tin Myint, a member of the National League for Democracy, said the commentary indicates the government is afraid of Suu Kyi’s popularity. — AP

SEOUL: Protesters burn a North Korea flag during an anti-North Korea rally marking the ninth anniversary of a sea skirmish with North Korea, in Seoul, South Korea yesterday. —AP

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Monaco wedding clouded by rumors

MONACO: A yacht enters the Fontvieille port, a district of Monaco, yesterday. — AP

Bahrain students pay for protests Continued from Page 1 School officials say students crossed a red line by calling for the fall of the government on school grounds. Students insist many of them only protested off-campus, and warn the punishments have increased pent-up anger that could erupt again. The Sunni rulers of Bahrain, home port to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, quashed weeks of protests led mostly by the country’s Shiite majority during a March crackdown that also has seen up to 2,000 workers sacked and hundreds arrested.

Bahrain said the protests had a sectarian agenda with backing from Shiite power Iran, which the opposition denies. The education ministry has said students can apply to other schools, but they have complained they were unable to get copies of their transcripts. They were also convinced no other local university would take on students expelled for protests. Some, under a travel ban for political activities, cannot study abroad.

Others are too afraid to leave. “The situation is very bad.

Some of us have parents who were sacked. What if the other parent gets sacked? We have to save everything we have,” said 21-year-old Sayed. Like other students, he met Reuters at a deserted shopping mall out of fear of speaking out. Sayed was less than a semester from graduating when he was dismissed in March.

Mohammed fears arrest if he applies for a job and is discovered to be an expelled student protester. Instead, he spends afternoons driving through Shiite villages looking for protests and networking with activists by mobile phone. “I don’t have class, I don’t have work. So I work for the revolution. They stole my rights, my future, I will fight back,” he said. “I have nothing to lose.”

Tensions have been high since the crackdown and protests have occurred daily since the government lifted an emergency law on June 1. A national dialogue for reforms, planned to start on July 2, has fallen on deaf ears among younger and increasingly hardline Shiite youths. Across town, 20-year-old Asma Darwish, one of some 40 students expelled from Bahrain Polytechnic last week, has devoted her time to looking for scholarships and activism. “They have a bunch of smart young people sitting at home with nothing to do. It will ruin the coun-

try,” said Darwish, her black veil and abaya hanging from a slim frame, frail from finishing a nine-day hunger strike over her brother’s detention. Days after police escorted her off campus, she was briefly arrested for staging a small sit-in at a United Nations office.

Some students face worse sanctions: One woman, who was afraid to give her name, said she was jailed for a month the night after she admitted at a school questioning that she was active at protests. She said she was beaten with sticks and electric rods in detention, and threatened with rape. The government has denied systematic abuse and said any incidents will be investigated. “I had never considered myself an activist, I just wanted a better life,” she said. “I’m stronger now. I learned what politics are, that we have rights and should speak up for them.”

The University of Bahrain’s dean of student affairs defended the dismissals, saying students would be able to appeal, and that those punished clearly broke school rules. “They disrupted the educational environment with unauthorised protests... if they raised slogans against the regime, that’s an additional violation,” said Adnan Al-Tamimi. The University of Bahrain now also requires its students to sign a loyalty pledge to Bahrain and King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa. The pledge says those who do not sign are giving up their right to university study, and those who break the pledge can be expelled. University officials said the pledge was not new, but signatures are now required to ensure students know the rules.

One employee, who defended the dismissals, said even he was disturbed by the mood on campus in recent months, where white stickers with bold black letters have been plastered all over the walls: “God will not pardon what has passed.” Not only Bahraini, but Saudi and UAE flags flutter in doorways - a tribute to the troops from neighbouring Sunni Gulf countries that came in to back Bahrain’s government during its crackdown. “You can’t say anything, or they will accuse you of being against the government,” the employee whispered. “It worries me, they seem to forget: One day you are on top, the next on the bottom. No government lasts forever.” — Reuters

MONACO: The Monaco royal wedding already promised glamour and romance and now, thanks to hotly-denied last minute rumours that the bride has cold feet, it also has suspense and intrigue. Prince Albert II is to wed statuesque South African swimming champ Charlene Wittstock in successive civil then religious ceremonies tomorrow and Saturday in a festival of princely pomp overlooking the Mediterranean. It will be the biggest day in Monaco since his father Rainier III married Hollywood actress Grace Kelly in 1956, but preparations have been clouded by claims that Charlene attempted to call it off.

Press reports suggested that she had learned of some secret from Albert’s private life and decided to head home to South Africa, only to be intercepted by royal aides and persuaded to stay on. The royal house and family friends dismissed the claim. “These rumours have no other goal than to severely damage the reputation of the monarch and thereby that of Miss Wittstock and severely undermine this happy event,” said the palace, which is banking on a wedding tourist boom. “I just spoke to her assistant and whatever the story is, it’s not true. I called her and asked if everything is okay, and they said everything is fine,” said Ryk Neethling, a fellow South African Olympic swimmer.

Albert, 53, has children with two other women but has yet to produce an heir, a matter of some concern to Monaco constitutionalists, who fear instability should the throne revert to his sister Caroline. For nine centuries Monaco has been run by the Grimaldi family, the crown passing through the male line. In 2002, fearing Albert would die without an heir, Monaco changed its constitution to allow a princess to inherit. In the absence of any heir, Monaco would become a French protectorate.

Until Tuesday, all appeared to be going to plan.

Charlene’s blonde locks, high cheekbones and impressively broad shoulders have graced the covers of magazines and celebrity guests are converging on the Mediterranean enclave. The wedding was never going to compete for column inches with Britain’s marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, but the Monaco

brand was looking forward to receiving a rejuvenating shot in the arm. But on Tuesday, reports surfaced of a falling out. Charlene, it was said, had learned a dark secret about her stocky, balding partner and flown the coop.

The 33-year-old was reported by France’s L’Express magazine’s website to have sought a one-way ticket home only to be halted and returned to her gilded cage.

“Charlene Wittstock had learned a few hours earlier that the private life of the man she was about to marry, who publicly acknowledged in 2005 a child from an adulterous relationship, was not as exemplary as she had imagined,” it said.

An outraged palace firmly denied the tale, the royal couple made a sudden inspection visit to the wedding site to be photographed arm-in-arm and their lawyer threatened to sue for defamation - before backing down. Palace advisor and television royal wedding commentator Stephane Bern also tried to dismiss the rumour, but not without adding to the speculation by citing rumours of another love child. “A woman could easily pretend that she’s pregnant by a prince,” he told Le Parisien. “You can’t do a DNA test to check three days before a wedding!”

Meanwhile, other media had joined in dropping hints about the supposed secret, and raking over the details of the prince’s previous liaisons - including his siring of illegitimate children with at least two women. The Monaco royal clan has an unlucky matrimonial history. Albert’s mother, US film star Grace Kelly - turned Princess Grace on her marriage to Rainier III - died in a car crash in 1982. Her daughter Caroline lost her second husband Stephano Casiraghi in a 1990 motorboat accident.

The other royal sister, Princess Stephanie, has also been unlucky in love, in the words of yesterday’s edition of Le Parisien “marrying almost as often as she falls in love” and finding herself betrayed by her bodyguard lover. The clan’s latest experiment in matrimony will begin with a civil ceremony tomorrow, followed by a concert by electropop veteran Jean-Michel Jarre, then on Saturday by a Catholic religious ceremony and grand ball. — AFP

Chavez counters health rumours Continued from Page 1 “Look how Fidel is reading, without spectacles. Me, too, though with a bit of trouble!” an animated-looking Chavez joked with his friend and mentor Castro, 84, after the pair strolled in a garden, presumed to be at Havana’s Cimeq hospital. Chavez, 56, who has become one of the world’s best-known but controversial leaders during 12 years in power, disappeared from public view after surgery in Cuba on June 10.

The government says he is recovering fine after surgery to remove a pelvic abscess.

But his prolonged absence, and the relative silence of a man famous for hogging airwaves and giving hours-long speeches, spawned rumors he may have something worse like cancer. Later in the new 20-minute video, the famously garrulous pair are seen sitting indoors, both dressed in tracksuits, having a detailed conversation about Latin American history. Presenting the images on state TV, Chavez’s vice president, Elias Jaua, said they were proof his boss was on the road to recovery. “They have comforted the

nation and lifted morale.”

Chavez supporters immediately tweeted their joy. “Think of all the people now biting their tongues as they watch the images of President Chavez talking fine, with the same energy and passion as always,” said Eva Golinger, an American lawyer close to the president. The new images do not definitively disprove the most extreme rumor - that Chavez has prostate cancer. And they left plenty of questions unanswered: Why has Chavez still not addressed the nation? If his surgery was straightforward and successful, why is he still in Havana 19 days later? Who is running government?

The affair has highlighted the lack of an obvious successor for Chavez, who has utterly dominated Venezuelan politics while driving forward his “21st Century Socialism” reforms. “Chavez’s absence has led, whether the government admits it or not, to an ongoing crisis of governance and to a vacuum of power,” said Venezuelan analyst Diego Moya-Ocampos. The focus now is on whether he will be back in Venezuela to host a regional summit planned for July 5. The meeting

on Margarita island is timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence from Spain.

Venezuela’s widely-traded debt had rallied this week as some on Wall Street viewed the possibility of a major health problem for Chavez as a positive development for markets. His reappearance could reverse that, analysts said. The saga had been threatening to turn the local political scene on its head before next year’s presidential election. Were Chavez to be incapacitated, there would probably be a fight for power among his closest allies and the opposition might demand immediate elections, analysts said.

Given past violence, especially around a short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez, the potential for more trouble always lurks in a nation brimming with arms and political bitterness. Some Venezuelans think the president has deliberately let the rumors grow over the last two weeks so he can smoke out the opinions and positions of both allies and enemies alike, before making a triumphant return to the rejoicing of supporters. — Reuters

Bloody clashes in Tahrir Square

Iraq-Kuwait ties strained by two ports

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

But the army called on protesters not to give in to “schemes” aimed at sowing chaos. “The regrettable incidents in Tahrir Square... are designed to destabilise the country and pit the revolutionaries against the police,” the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said. The clashes “have no reason behind them except to destabilise Egypt’s security and stability in accordance with a carefully thought out and organised scheme,” the council said. The interior ministry blamed families of victims killed in the uprising saying some of them stormed a theatre where a memorial service was being

held for those who died, which led to clashes with security.

But activists said police beat the families who had been barred from joining the ser vice prompting activists back to the streets. Nearly 850 people were killed during the popular revolt that brought an end to Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Witnesses told AFP that buses unloaded young men armed with sticks and knives, and accused loyalists of the old regime of stirring up the trouble. After protests erupted against Mubarak’s rule on Jan 25, the authorities deploying hired thugs in a bid to quell the unrest.

Tuesday’s clashes broke out just hours after a Cairo court ordered

the dissolution of municipal councils across the country, all of which were dominated by members of Mubarak’s now disbanded National Democratic Party. “I don’t think the timing of these clashes is a coincidence,” one witness told satellite channel ON TV. “It came just after the dissolution of the local councils, a decision which I’m sure will make many people (from the old regime) very angry,” the witness in Tahrir Square said. Protesters who first took to the streets to demand the overthrow of Mubarak, have begun to shift their anger to the ruling military council, accusing it of using Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.— AFP

Assembly closes term by approving ‘crazy’...

Continued from Page 1 That leaves a projected deficit of KD 5.99 billion, but if allocations for the fund for future generations of KD 1.35 billion are added, the gross deficit becomes KD 7.34 billion. Kuwait has projected a deficit in each of the past 12 fiscal years but ended up making a healthy surplus because of underestimating oil revenues which sharply rose in the past few years due to high oil prices.

Kuwait accumulated a total of KD 50 billion in budget surpluses in the past six fiscal years.

During the debate on the budget, many MPs warned the government against its highly expansionist fiscal policy with the head of the budgets committee describing the budget as “crazy” because of the inflated expenditure. Other MPs said the government has no strategy to implement development projects which have been running way behind schedule despite abundant assets topping KD 81 billion. The Assembly also passed the 2011/2012 budget for the state -owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) with projected profits of KD 873 million. Revenues are projected at KD 16.7 billion while expenditure is estimated at KD 15.83 billion.

MP Adel Al-Saraawi, a member of the budgets panel, said 90 percent of the budget is allocated for subsidies,

especially power, and wages. Kuwait adopts a cradle-tograve welfare policy where a majority of citizens are employed by the government, receive handsome salaries, pay no taxes and receive services at low charges or free. Liberal MP Abdulrahman Al-Anjari said the country still almost totally depends on oil income.

“The title of this budget is ‘a nation at risk’... the sharp increase in spending is very alarming,” he said. “The government says it wants to transform Kuwait into a trade and financial hub. This is the biggest joke I have ever heard.”

“A budget that high ... leads to creating a time bomb in ... the economy. All what we do is sell oil, then reap and distribute the harvest,” said Jassim Al-Saadoun, chairman of Kuwait’s Alshall economic consultancy told Reuters. “We are at (an oil price of ) $85 to $90 per barrel to maintain the equilibrium of the state budget. When oil prices fall, will we consume all our reserves and then beg?”

MPs also established a seven-member fact-finding committee to probe allegations of wrongdoing on an $800-million natural gas contract awarded to international oil major Shell. MPs have protested that the contract was awarded directly to Shell without any competition. The next term opens on Oct 25.

Some residents of Basra, from where the bulk of Iraq’s oil exports are shipped, last month staged a demonstration against the Kuwaiti port, carrying banners which read: “Don’t block our sea lanes” and “No blocking of Iraq’s ports”. The harbour quarrel has exacerbated sensitivities between Iraq and Kuwait which have ebbed and flowed since Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of his neighbour. Iraq’s troops were expelled by a US-led force, months after Saddam denounced the colonial-era border and declared Kuwait Iraq’s 19th province.

“The issues are minimum in some ways, but they have taken on outsized proportions because of the principles and history they represent to the parties,” said Ken Pollack, director for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute. Iraq has been planning for more than two decades to build a large new deep-water port on the Khawr Abd Allah waterway - opposite Bubiyan island, where Kuwait is building its port.

Iraq’s Grand Faw megaport scheme has been successively delayed largely because of the wars Iraq has lived through - with Iran in the 1980s, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the war and sectarian conflict that followed the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam, who was hanged in 2006. Iraq has only a sliver of coast, squeezed in between Iran and Kuwait. Umm Qasr, one of four Iraqi commercial ports but its only deep water one, handles 80 percent of Iraq’s imports, including grain for a huge public food ration program.

Umm Qasr is already one of the most expensive ports in the world for shippers, and importing firms complain of being asked for heavy bribes, of poor service and high handling costs. “Mubarak port will block Umm Qasr port and cut the sole maritime artery that Iraq’s ports rely on. It will close the naval maritime channel leading to Umm Qasr and deprive Iraq of its legitimate right,” Captain Kadhim Finjan, a naval expert and a senior official at Iraq’s state-run ports company, said.

Kuwait denies this, saying it has assured its Iraqi neighbours that Mubarak does not encroach on Iraqi territory and will not hinder traffic in the shared, constricted waterway. “Our port is not even in international waters, but is built on Kuwaiti territory, under Kuwaiti sovereignty and far from the navigation path that Iraqi ships use to get to Umm Qasr,” the undersecretary of Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, Khaled Al-Jarallah, told

reporters recently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

But many Iraqis, including former transport minister Amer Abdul Jabar, say the planned 14,000 ships-a-year handling capacity of the Kuwaiti megaport under construction will stifle business and traffic for the Iraqi ports, including Grand Faw. He urged Iraq’s government to respond by denying Kuwait permission to transfer goods by railroad from Mubarak through Iraq northwards to Turkey. Kuwait has said it will not violate an existing UN Security Council resolution that guarantees freedom of navigation in the waterway between the two neighbours. UN officials are closely monitoring the ports dispute.

“The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq encourages both parties to address issues in the framework of the bilateral committee headed by both the Foreign Affairs Ministries of Kuwait and Iraq,” the mission said in a statement. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri AlMaliki’s government has agreed with Kuwait to set up a joint technical committee to study the issue of the potentially competing Mubarak and Grand Faw ports.

The design contract for the Ä2.8 billion (around $4 billion) Iraqi Grand Faw port project has been awarded to an Italian consortium led by engineering company Technital. But progress has lagged, not helped by Iraq’s inconclusive March 2010 election that was followed by months of political wrangling before a coalition headed

by Maliki could be formed. In March, Iraqi Transport Minister Hadi Al-Amiri said a tender for the building of the Grand Faw port would be floated by the end of the year. He has since threatened to resign unless his government immediately finds funding for the port project.

But analysts say that while Iraq, still struggling to emerge from years of war, chaos and sectarian conflict, has dithered and delayed, Kuwait is forging ahead with the construction of its own port, thanks to a more streamlined investment process. “Kuwait implements its projects and programs freely, while in Iraq, red tape kills a lots of projects like the Grand Faw Port,” Abdulrahman Al-Mashhadani, an economist at Baghdad’s AlMustansiriya University, said.

Iraq has some of the world’s biggest oil reserves and has ambitious plans to ramp up its oil production and exports, but experts say that unless it rapidly expands its infrastructure such as ports these plans could remain a mirage. But supporters of Grand Faw see Kuwait’s emerging port obstructing those plans. “It’s provocative and dirty competition,” said former transport minister Jabar. — Reuters

14

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

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Issues

Biya’s reelection bid stokes tensions

By Bate Felix ebate over Cameroon President Paul Biya’s eligibility in an October presidential poll is stoking tensions in the central African state that could boil over into protests like those seen in 2008. Biya’s rivals say the 78-year-old, one of Africa’s longest serving leaders, is bound to a 1996 constitution that would make his current 7-year term his last - despite an amendment he orchestrated in 2008 that removes term limits. Over 40 people were killed and hundreds wounded in 2008 riots after the constitutional rejig.

The debate in Cameroon started after scholar Alain Didier Olinga published an essay in April picked up in Cameroonian newspapers that argued the revised 2008 constitution does not annul legal effects of the previous constitution, according to the legal principle known as non-retroactivity. Many others have backed his argument, warning the country could be plunged into constitutional crisis if Biya insists on running - a charge Biya’s backers reject.

A similar issue in Senegal triggered riots last week, forcing octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade to back down from proposed constitutional changes the opposition said would have eased his win in February polls. “Just like in 2008, violent protests will probably be incited in the Englishspeaking regions of Cameroon, where Biya’s opposition is strongest,” said Oswald Felli, director of security risk assessments at Damina Advisors. “A lot of Cameroonians feel President Paul Biya has outlived his usefulness and there is not much he can do for the country,” Felli said, but added that Biya may eventually manoeuvre his way into getting re-elected if he decides to run.

Biya has not said whether he will run but analysts say he is likely to try to extend his 29-year rule in the oil-producing state, a move that looks set to inflame public frustrations over his slow pace of reforms and tight grip on power. Cameroon’s $22-billion economy is central Africa’s largest, but its 20 million people suffer from shoddy public services - including a lack of potable water and poor roads - and live on an average of around $3 per day. “Cameroon appears especially susceptible to a massive popular uprising against its long-standing president,” Business Monitor International said in recent risk analysis. “We believe the risks of a popular uprising...are still remote, but the government will nonetheless act aggressively to head off any potential ‘spark’ for unrest,” it said.

The ruling CPDM party is planning a congress in July when it is expected that Biya will accept the party’s nomination as the “natural candidate” for the October poll. Joshua Osih, a vice president of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), said his party would ask Cameroon’s highest court to rule on Biya’s eligibility if he eventually decided to seek another mandate. “It is without a shadow of a doubt that we will exploit this possibility,” Osih told the La Nouvelle Expression newspaper.

But Biya’s backers have rejected arguments against his eligibility, saying the adoption of the 2008 constitution repeals the 1996 constitution.

Opposition threats to launch the legal challenge are also likely to go nowhere, as Biya is believed to have strong influence over the courts. Roddy Barclay, London-based analyst at Control Risks said challenges to the legality of Biya’s candidacy are likely to stoke political tensions but they are unlikely to stop Biya. “In the event that the case went to the constitutional court, the ruling would be highly politicised and the judiciary would come under heavy pressure from Biya’s influential allies.” Top brass from the ruling party have also moved to push back on perceived foreign pressure ahead of the election - after US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton wrote to Biya in May urging free and fair elections. “Cameroon has no lesson to learn from outside on how to solve its problems,” ruling CPDM party secretary-general Rene Sadi told a recent rally. —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.

Chavez absence leaves gaping void

By Beatriz Lecumberri resident Hugo Chavez’s three-week absence for medical recovery has highlighted his critical role in Venezuelan politics, not only for his supporters, but the opposition as well, analysts say. Venezuela’s political life has essentially been on hold since news that Chavez, 56, underwent surgery on June 10 in Cuba for a pelvic abscess. “This shows the personal character of the political regime, which rests solely on Chavez,” said Angel Alvarez, a political scientist at the Central University of Venezuela. “His presence and statements mobilize his supporters and his detractors, and his absence leaves politics without a central figure to set the agenda.”

Chavez’s absence also showed there is no clear successor for now to the elected leftist-populist, a former paratrooper who has used the force of his charismatic personality as he governs the South American nation. “Chavez is irreplaceable at this time, and this should serve as a warning,” said Nicmer Evans, a professor at Central University and columnist. “We need to use this time to build a generation that can take over and continue his political efforts.”

With Chavez away, and a date for his return to Venezuela not yet announced, the country’s electricity crisis worsened, a deadly clash erupted in a prison and the

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United States threatened new sanctions.

The government has been caught flat-footed in responding to these events, said Alvarez. “The government was taken by surprise... and is paralyzed,” the analyst said, notably pointing out the uprising at the El Rodeo prison that has left at least 29 dead.

“This situation got out of hand. Chavez would have known how to coordinate this operation and to use his popular support to speak with the families.”

Nonetheless, official actions by the government have been carried out in the name of Chavez and his cabinet has said that they are following the president’s instructions. “You have to have confidence in the team in dealing with the affairs of the country,” said Isis Ochoa, who is minister of people’s power for Communal Councils. Tuesday, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said Chavez is in close touch with his ministers. “A day does not go by without a call,” Ramirez told journalists. “This is a process of recovery that needs to run its course... meanwhile the government is deployed, we are working.”

Ramirez said officials hope Chavez will return by July 5, which is the bicentennial of the nation’s independence and also the date for a major Latin American summit in Venezuela. Yet the medical situation leaves questions about the 2012, when Chavez will seek a third term in office. “Who are the

leaders in the government without Chavez?” said Jose Albornoz, head of the Patria Para Todos (Fatherland for All) party which used to be allied with Chavez.

The Venezuelan government rejected reports Chavez is in critical condition, insisting the firebrand leftist leader was “recovering well”. But Miami’s El Nuevo Herald, citing unnamed US intelligence sources, said his medical condition was more serious than reported.

The newspaper also said the sources refused to comment on rumors in Venezuela that Chavez could be receiving treatment for prostate cancer. The absence of Chavez has also highlighted the internal divisions of the opposition which has been focused on Chavez.

“There is a void in the opposition,” a said Chavez ally in the legislature, Earle Herrera. “They have withdrawal symptoms.” Evans agreed, saying that for years, “the opposition has only responded to what the president did”. Still, Alvarez said the opposition “could now capitalize on the errors for the government and the absence of Chavez” by selecting a single candidate to oppose him in next year’s election, which is widely expected. — AFP

Qatar bets on life after World Cup

By Jason Benham and Praveen Menon s Qatar rushes to prepare for the 2022 World Cup, the tiny Gulf Arab state is spending billions to build stadiums, roads, bridges, apartments and hotels on a patch of desert jutting out into the Gulf’s waters. Like cities hosting the Olympic Games, which face the risk of being left with unused venues after the athletes and spectators leave, Qatar is betting that it can accelerate its transformation as a financial and tourism destination to absorb the extra capacity.

It will have to compete with the emirate of Dubai, just up the coast, which also created a glittering seaside desert city on the “build-andthey-will-come” model over the past decade - only to see a property and asset bubble crash in 2008 and 2009, leaving it with hundreds of empty buildings. “They have to plan what to with it after the event,” said Ziad Makhzoumi, chief financial officer at Dubai builder Arabtec. “They are trying to design what is practical for later.”

On the plus side, Dubai is on the mend, albeit slowly, and both destinations are wealthy enough to invest for the long term. Both are also reachable from nearly every major city on earth via long-haul flights, making them a natural global hub for trade, finance and tourism. Goldman Sachs estimates that Qatar, flush with cash, will spend around $65 billion to prepare for the World Cup, when some 500,000 fans will descend on a

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country of just 1.7 million people, of whom 80 percent are expatriates. Dozens of cranes line the dusty expanse stretching across Doha’s seaside corniche walkway, far fewer than the hundreds that dotted Dubai’s skyline at the peak of its construction boom in 2008.

Doha now boasts architectural designs rivalling that of its flamboyant neighbour, such as the AlBidda Tower - a 215-m-high twisting commercial building. Like Dubai, it is becoming an architect’s playground, thanks to clients with deep pockets and bold ambitions who helped build grand edifices in Dubai such as Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

“They (Qatar) have to differentiate between building infrastructure useful for a city and building white elephants, as we saw in Dubai,” said Majed Azzam, senior real estate analyst at Dubai-based research firm AlembicHC. “At the end of the day the World Cup and the expansion around it is something Qatar is doing for its pride, to put the countr y on the map.

“Definitely there will be excesses.”

Arabtec, one of Burj Khalifa’s builders, is also one of several Gulf Arab contractors who are looking to snap up contracts ahead of the competition - more than a decade away - as Qatar builds $36 billion rail network, an $11 billion new airport and a $5.5 billion new deep water seaport over the next five years. Billions more will be spent on 12 air-conditioned football stadiums, boosting the need for additional power capacity in a country

where temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, when the World Cup is usually held.

Qatar’s expenditure on public projects has more than tripled over the last five years to 58 billion riyals ($16 billion) which the OPEC member plans to spend in the current business year from April. Another Dubai-based construction firm, Al Habtoor Leighton, an affiliate of Australia’s Leighton Holdings, may pitch for tenders on tunnelling, track work and stations for the $35 billion railway and metro project.

The rail network will be one of the first in the region. Hoping to connect their urban centres more efficiently, an ambitious billion-dollar rail system is now being planned to connect the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar is likely to try to claim a share of the millions of tourists flocking to neighbouring Dubai, which markets itself as a tourist heaven in the region and has attracted over 1.8 million visitors in just the first quarter of this year.

Qatar had 9,574 rooms available at the end of 2010 and the number of hotels is expected to increase tenfold over the next decade, leading to likely hotel oversupply, according to Shakeel Sar war, head of asset management at Securities & Investment Co in Bahrain. “Based on the discussion we had with some real estate companies, a portion of hotel supply would be designed in such a way that they

can be used later as serviced apartments once the event is finished,” he said.

The completion of a $3 billion, 40 km causeway linking Qatar to Bahrain ahead of the World Cup would also make it easier to commute between Manama and Doha, enabling tourists to use facilities in Bahrain, he added. The Gulf state is also planning to use a cruise ship as accommodation for the event.

“The government agencies, property developers and the entire business sector is aware that the tournament is an investment,” said Ali bin Abdulatif Al-Misnad, treasurer at the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Another potential opportunity is to turn Doha into a meeting and conference hub, an ambition also held by Dubai. Qatar Tourism Authority is focusing on promoting Qatar as a destination for meetings, conventions and exhibitions in the Gulf Arab region and last year launched its “48 Hours in Qatar” campaign to encourage visitors to extend their stays. Looking to capture the rush of top executives and corporates expected to travel to Doha ahead of the World Cup, St Regis Doha is planning a luxury hotel with 336 rooms that boast a personal butler service for each guest. “We are not just looking at the month of the tournament,” said Tareq Derbas, general manager of St Regis Doha. “What is more important is what comes before and after the World Cup. We will definitely be busy before ... hopefully we will be busy after it too.” — Reuters

15

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

a na ly s i s

Egypt’s Brotherhood faces sterner critics, rifts

By Dina Zayed n the weeks after Hosni Mubarak was ousted, Egyptian television channels revelled in their new freedoms by giving airtime to the formerly banned Muslim Brotherhood, offering them an open platform to speak. Members of the Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organised political group, are still regular guests. But the tone has changed. Soft-ball questioning has given way to rigorous interrogation about their plans and criticism of their public statements. “You are not the guardians of the faith alone. No one gave you such a power,” writer Khaled Montasser told one Brotherhood member and former member of parliament, Sobhi Saleh.

The rebuke on a popular talk show in June followed a statement by Saleh, who was on the drafting committee of constitutional amendements, that it would do well in a September parliamentary election as its members were “God’s guardians.” In spite of such criticism, the well-organised Brotherhood is still expected to do better than rivals in the vote. Although banned under Mubarak, it was left enough space to build up a grassroots networks through its medical and charity work.

But just how well it will do is less clear. It may have a head start on others in postMubarak Egypt but it now faces much deeper scrutiny about its plans and is struggling to control an internal debate about how to compete in upcoming polls.

“They have organisational and financial abilities. But there is a growing sentiment among a wide strata of Egypt’s society fearing the rise of the Brotherhood to power,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah of Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.

The Brotherhood, long used to policymaking behind closed doors, has not always shown a united front since Mubarak was toppled on Feb11. It has sometimes been clumsy in explaining decisions and has alienated alliance partners, analysts say. Critics point to public U-turns or contradictions in policy. Senior Brotherhood officials have long said the Brotherhood was committed to a “civil state” based on Islamic principles. But some Egyptians have been alarmed when Brotherhood officials have referred to an “Islamic state” or “Islamic government” or other terms suggesting the full imposition of sharia law. The Brotherhood has played down such comments, often saying they have

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been taken out of context and saying such criticisms are part of a media campaign to vilify the group. Shortly after Mubarak left office, the group said it would seek one third of the seats in parliament. In April, it said it would contest half without explaining the shift. “I was willing to give the Brotherhood a chance after the revolution, but the more I hear them talking, the more

The group was the most organised during Mubarak’s rule. But now new political parties are springing up each week. A study by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, showed nine out of 10 Egyptians surveyed planned on voting in elections. But the Brotherhood won the support of just 15 percent of respondents. A majority of Egyptians in polls by Gallup and other cen-

In this May 18, 2011 picture, an Egyptian boy wears a headband reading “Muslim Brotherhood” as he sits with other supporters attending a Muslim Brotherhood electoral rally in the Munib neighborhood of Cairo. — AP I decide I will vote for anyone but them,” said Ghadeer Al-Bolkiny, 23, who like many Egyptian women covers her head. The media has become more critical. Some commentators have accused the Brotherhood of putting its agenda above Egypt’s. “ The Brotherhood can only see the Brotherhood and nothing else and their calculations are always first and foremost concerned only with the Brotherhood,” Wahid Hamid, who penned a script for a critical television drama on the group last year, said in a column in the Al-Masry AlYoum newspaper. Under Mubarak, the group’s best election result was in the 2005 parliament polls, when it won 20 percent of seats. While its performance was capped by widespread rigging, it benefited from votes cast in protest at Mubarak’s ruling party. It ran candidates as independents to skirt a ban.

tres show a desire for Islam to play a role in politics. But the polls also show mainstream opinion rejects a theocracy.

Even within the Brotherhood, there are a broad range of views, straining its leadership’s ability to show unity. The Brotherhood has set up the Freedom and Justice party to run in the September election. But some members of the group have lined up with other parties or even formed their own. Responding to this split in the ranks, Brotherhood Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein said in June that members who joined other parties would be forced to leave the Brotherhood, a move that has rankled some particularly among younger members. “ This is not a Brotherhood decision because it was not widely discussed. Such comments are not useful at this time because we need political flexibility and space to function in the new system,”

Mohamed Al-Qassas, a youth Brotherhood member who helped form the so-called Egyptian Current party, said. The group, which has said it will not seek the presidency, has also expelled Abdel Monem Abul Futuh, a senior member who said he would run for president. “This certainly shows the divisions among the Muslim Brotherhood,” said political scientist Mustapha Al-Sayyid.

Beyond such internal squabbles, Brotherhood leaders have irked many among Egypt’s youth movement when they took to the streets to oust Mubarak.

They accuse the Islamist group of trying to hijack the uprising. The Brotherhood, which bore the brunt of Mubarak’s crackdown on the opposition, took a backseat in the early days of the revolt that erupted on Jan 25, wary of being crushed. It was not till a few days later that the group rallied its members. Since then it has annoyed activists for what they say was the group’s effort to undermine a protest on May 27 billed as a “second revolution”. It was called to ensure the ruling army council worked faster to dismantle the old order of Mubarak and moved more swiftly to try former officials for corruption. After telling Brotherhood supporters not to turn up, the group published a picture on its website purportedly showing an empty Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising, on protest day. Yet thousands had packed the area during the day. That story was later removed and the website editor quit. “That is how the Brotherhood worked to destroy the state of unity that engulfed the Egyptian people, raising its sword and striking the revolution with it,” Hamid wrote in his column.

A Facebook poll after the May 27 protest drew about 21,000 people and showed 53 percent of respondents saying they believed the Brotherhood “betrayed the revolution for personal agendas”. Some Brotherhood members who had joined the Youth Revolution Coalition movement took part on the May 27 protest. But the Brotherhood issued a statement saying it had no representatives in the coalition, apparently seeking to sideline them. “The Muslim Brotherhood faces a huge dilemma,” wrote Ziad El-Elemi from the coalition in Al-Masry Al-Youm daily. “It must either follow those youth and become part of the fabric of the national Egyptian movement or the group can choose to close in on itself and eliminate nationalists from its ranks,” Elemi wrote.— Reuters

Lagarde faces turning status into real power

By Hugh Dent hristine Lagarde comes to the top job at the International Monetary Fund with international stature, a eurozone debt crisis before her and unfinished reforms from the financial crisis at her back.

In fighting the fires of the eurozone-Greece crisis and the dangers it poses to the global financial system, French Finance Minister Lagarde comes well-armed, not least because she is fully fluent in English and at ease in front of the media. But Lagarde, named new IMF chief on Tuesday after winning the crucial suppor t of the United States, must change hats and dissipate concern in certain quarters that she is a lawyer by training, not an economist. Some commentators have also argued that, as French finance minister, she did not have a truly free hand and was monitored carefully under the watchful eye of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

For the past 18 months, latterly as a pivotal figure during France’s G20 presidency, she has been a high-profile and, by all accounts, highly effective architect of financial-political solutions, but in a French-eurozone role. Now she must follow Frenchman

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last month to fight charges of sexual assault, in taking a lead in guiding the world out of crises and towards a new and more robust financial system.

Central facets of this task involve developing a more powerful IMF with a bigger role for the emerging economies, many of whom dropped early objections to help place yet another European in the post.

Lagarde won the job on the back of her successful record as finance minister and also because of her deep inside understanding of the eurozone crisis, which initially will be the new IMF chief’s principal challenge. She played on her international stature and also sought to broaden it during a whirlwind, marathon charm offensive in recent weeks when she crisscrossed the globe to argue why a European and French national should continue to head the fund.

The chairman of the financial commission in the French parliament Gilles Carez, commenting on her four years at the finance ministry, said: “She’s the first minister totally to assume the international dimension to the job... (and in that respect), she did wonders.” Sarkoz y first named Lagarde as agriculture minister in 2007 but,

in a quick cabinet reshuffle, promoted her, in part for her symbolic weight as a French woman who had made it in corporate America. For years, Lagarde was chief executive at Baker & McKenzie, a law firm based in Chicago, a rare high-profile success for a French citizen in the United States which made an impact in French political circles.

Once finance minister, and once the economic crisis began in 2008, she quickly showed herself at ease in international settings such as the Davos Forum. Lagarde was described by Time Magazine in 2009 as one of the most influential women in the world.

However, some observers say that although an astute mover, Lagarde lacks intellectual originality. “She didn’t have a major intellectual impact, unlike a (former French prime minister Edouard) Balladur or Strauss-Kahn before her,” said Christian Saint-Etinnine, professor at Paris-Dauphine University.

Strauss-Kahn, an economics professor and former finance minister, is credited with changing thinking at the IMF and with being quick to see new challenges and new opportunities in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Within France, Lagarde made an impact within the framework of attempts by Sarkoz y to reform the economy, even

though this programme was knocked sideways by the financial crisis. Lagarde was in the finance ministry hot seat when, in Oct 2008, France saved its banks from the ripple effects of the Lehmann Brothers collapse, injecting nearly Ä20 billion ($28.5 billion) in emergency loans.

Two months later, in part to fend off criticisms that Lagarde’s handling of the crisis privileged international finance, France launched a $26-billion domestic spending scheme. But the programs were largely planned at the presidential palace and not in the hallways of Bercy, France’s finance ministry. Lagarde’s role was to promote the programs, in France and internationally. “All the final decisions are made at the Elysee,” said Thomas Piketty, a professor and advisor to France’s opposition Socialists.

Jerome Cahuzac, Socialist chairman of the finance commission in parliament said: “Christine Lagarde was the Elysee’s reliable relay, a little audaciousness would have not done her harm.” But her political reliability, and unique talent in France of handling the world stage, has reaped dividends. This year she became France’s longest running finance minister for decades. Before her, there were seven ministers in seven years. — AFP

Risk of new war in Karabakh rises

By Steve Gutterman, Margarita Antidze he world powers that brought the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan together last week for talks on a thorny territorial dispute hoped they would take a crucial step toward peace. Instead, the failure to agree a blueprint for a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict appears to have brought the Caucasus neighbours one step closer to a new war in a volatile energy corridor linking the Caspian Sea region to the West. An international push for a peace deal, trumped for nearly 20 years by bellicose rhetoric and resistance on both sides to even perceived concessions, could lose steam as elections threaten to change the geopolitical landscape. “With every year, with every month in which the conflict remains unresolved, we have an increasingly shaky situation ... where any number of things could spark an accidental conflict,” said Lawrence Sheets, Caucasus Program Director at the International Crisis Group.

Armenian-backed forces wrested Nagorno-Karabakh from Azeri control in the deadliest war to break out as the Soviet Union collapsed two decades ago. When the conflict ended in a ceasefire in 1994, 30,000 had been killed and about a million had been driven from their homes. Seventeen years later, a de facto government runs the rugged territory and surrounding lands with support from Armenia, but without recognition from any country of its independence claim.

Mediation by UN Security Council powerhouses Russia, France and the United States has produced many meetings between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan but no final agreement on the main elements of a resolution, let alone a peace deal. Skirmishes and sniper fire kill soldiers regularly on both

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sides of the frozen frontline. Azerbaijan, angry over losing control of a chunk of its territory, has persistently threatened to take it back by force if no resolution is reached.

The latest warning came after Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Serzh Sarksyan, meeting in Russia on Friday, dashed hopes for agreement on a framework document, called the Basic Principles, that would

international mediators wary of a new Caucasus war after Russia’s conflict with proWestern Georgia in 2008, and must also satisfy Azeris hungry for assurance their humiliation will be redressed. But analysts say the threats do not mean Azerbaijan is on the verge of restarting hostilities that could draw in its ally Turkey, a NATO member, as well as Russia, which has a military base and strong

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (center), his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian (left) and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev walk during their meeting in Kazan on June 24, 2011. – AFP set the stage for settlement talks. In Baku on Sunday, Aliyev staged Azerbaijan’s biggest military parade since the Soviet collapse, announced an increase in defence spending and vowed to use “any possible means” to restore its territorial integrity.

Aliyev can exploit the leverage he has over

ties with Armenia.

They add the lack of progress in talks stokes tension which could easily spiral out of control, however, and Azerbaijan’s determination could harden as time passes without a deal. “In the long term, Baku’s frustration is real and there is a breaking point where there

will be a move to military means,” said Svante Cornell, research director at the Washingtonbased Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.

In February, the International Crisis Group said escalating skirmishes on the frontline, where 25 people were killed in 2010, combined with a “spiralling arms race” and the lack of progress in talks has increased the threat of war. With tensions high, observers say the chances of success in the internationally mediated talks are shrinking as elections approach in all three mediating nations as well as Armenia, which means several of the key players could be out of office.

Diplomats had cast Friday’s meeting, held in Kazan, Russia, and hosted by President Dmitry Medvedev, as a crucial step. At a G8 summit last month, Presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy joined Medvedev in urging the sides to finalise the Basic Principles and “prepare their populations for peace, not war”. Medvedev, seeking to shed predecessor Vladimir Putin’s shadow and eager to claim success as a peacemaker after the war with Georgia, has hosted Aliyev and Sarksyan nine times for talks on Nagorno-Karabakh since he took office in 2008. “Time is beginning to run out on Medvedev’s personal peace initiative,” said Tom de Waal, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Putin may return to Russia’s presidency in the March 2012 election, and presidential elections in the United States and France also loom next year. “It becomes more difficult in 2012 to make a deal,” he said. Meanwhile, the value of “cosmetic-looking” meetings between the presidents will decline swiftly in the absence of tangible progress, encouraging hawks on both sides, Sheets said. “If it’s only an imitation of a peace process, that’s probably just as counterproductive as no talks at all in some ways.” — Reuters

Focus

Iran car lines keep rolling

By Robin Pomeroy, Sanam Shantyaei n the Iranian summer heat, portable fans cool workers stacking parts in the Middle East’s biggest car factory. But the heavy lifting is unaffected by the soaring temperatures as robots -from South Korea, Germany and Japan - stamp sheets of steel into body panels, shaking the floors at a busy plant which shows no signs of being crippled by international sanctions. “I think the sanctions make us stronger,” said Amirshahab Yarian, one of the 25,000 workers at Iran Khodro’s main plant just outside Tehran, as sparks flew into the air from robot welders on one production line producing 30 car bodies per hour.

Unusually for the Middle East, Iran has developed its domestic car industry for five decades and produced 1.6 million vehicles last year, about half of them made by Iran Khodro which aims to export around 10 percent of its production this year. Even with sanctions, which have scared off some suppliers from exporting to Iran, and a limp economy, Iran Khodro says sales rose 18 percent in 2010 and plans a 13 percent output increase this year to 860,000 vehicles.

“Iran Khodro isn’t under sanctions,” said Abdollah Babaei, Khodro’s international relations director. “It’s the foreign companies that used to work with us that are under sanctions.” It is a familiar refrain in Iran which insists that sanctions - aimed at pressuring Tehran to curb its nuclear work - have not only failed to hurt the economy but have actually made it more robust by forcing manufacturers to rely more on domestic production rather than imports.

“Our strategy to overcome sanctions was to reduce dependence on foreign vehicle parts,” Babaei told Reuters in his office from whose window the still snow-capped Alborz mountains provide a backdrop to the industrial production just outside. “More than 90 percent of our parts are domestically produced.

Over the past 10 years we have managed to reach a stage where we produce our own parts,” he said. In 2000 Khodro was making its own car bodies, by 2005 its own motors and by 2015 it will have its own car platform, no longer relying on foreign-designed basics. “In the last five or six years, we have produced as many cars as we did in the previous 40 years,” he said.

Cars and most of their components are not directly affected by the four rounds of United Nations sanctions which target items related to nuclear and military technology or are considered of possible “dual use”. Tighter sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and some other countries have hit foreign investment in Iran’s oil and gas sectors and hampered access to international financial services but appear to have inflicted no direct harm on the car industry.

Only a few minor foreign component suppliers have stopped doing business and it is their loss, Iran Khodro says. The bigger overseas players have not fled Iran where French and South Korean branded cars - made in Iran - are highly visible in a market where foreign-made vehicles are kept out by a 90 percent import tariff. Khodro’s main brand, the Samand, is a sedan based on the Peugeot 405 which retails, with ABS brakes and airbags, for just under 150 million rials (around $14,000).

Khodro also produces Peugeot branded cars and a version of a Renault model under agreements with the French manufacturers, despite Paris’s support for tighter UN and EU sanctions. Several other foreign companies are present in Iran, most noticeably South Korea’s KIA Motors whose Pride model, built by the other big Iranian producer Saipa, is one of the most popular in Iran. Like the EU, US ally South Korea followed Washington’s lead and last year blacklisted 102 companies and banned investment and construction contracts to develop Iran’s oil industry.

The smart family cars rolling off Iran Khodro’s production lines are a far cry from the rickety model it produced for years - the famously polluting Paykan, based on Britain’s Hillman Hunter, a design from the 1960s which the company was still making until eight years ago and which still makes up a significant proportion of the cars choking Tehran’s streets. “It was an easy car to repair. Everyone was his own or her own mechanic,” said Yarian, with a hint of nostalgia. Unlike the boxy Paykan, Iran Khodro says its current models meet Western pollution and safety standards and are prized by consumers in 30 markets in the Middle East, Africa and the former Soviet republics where it exports. It also has five factories abroad, in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Senegal, Syria and Venezuela. But while foreign analysts are impressed

by Iran’s ability to keep producing cars in the face of sanctions, they say its scope to increase exports or more foreign expansion is limited. “They keep producing cars, and that is surprising,” said analyst Pierluigi Bellini, Middle East and Africa manager at IHS Automotive.

Iran’s Khodro and Saipa share the Iranian market of 78 million people with respective market shares of 49 and 48 percent, Babaei said. Import tariffs make most foreign automobiles the reserve of the wealthiest Iranians. As part of a general privatisation drive, Iran Khodro is now only 20 percent owned by the state, although shareholdings by government-related institutional investors such as pension and social security funds mean the stake is actually much higher. “The Iranian government ... is quite keen on developing the auto industry and when you have a country behind you, you can direct resources to those industries,” Bellini said.

Financial sanctions and Tehran’s policy to maintain a strong currency both impede exports, analysts say, but Bellini said it was the cars themselves that still had a long way to go to appeal to most foreign markets. “The level of technology of Iranian made cars in not enough for Europe, America or Japan, or even for China which are used to cars which are the best in the world,” he said. “They cannot compete in that way. “What they can do is have some share in countries where there is a low purchasing power and compete with used cars.” Iran Khodro’s sights are higher. A new sedan called Dena, to be launched by Aug 2012, will offer higher specifications and continue the drive for a purely Iranian car, Babaei said.

“Whereas we used to have foreign help, the Dena is purely Iranian.” — Reuters

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

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sp orts ‘Haye’s just a loud-mouth’ HAMBURG: World champion Wladimir Klitschko has insisted Britain’s David Haye is just a “loudmouth” ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight unification bout. “He has made a name for himself through his mouth, not through his f i g h t s ,”

Klitschko told German magazine Sport Bild. “He is a would-be heavyweight boxer, actually he belongs in the cruiserweight division.” Klitschko, the IBF and WBO title-holder, takes on Britain’s Haye, the WBA champion, at Hamburg’s Imtech Arena and has dubbed Haye’s recent taunts “disrespectful” and “disgraceful”.

There is no love lost between the pair, who had been scheduled to meet two years ago in Gelsenkirchen before Haye withdrew from the fight with a back injury. He appeared at a press conference in 2009 wearing a T-shirt with an image of him in a boxing ring brandishing the severed heads of both Klitschko and his older brother Vitali, the WBC champion.—AFP

Indian pair fail doping tests

Nobbs to coach India’s hockey team NEW DELHI: Australian Michael Nobbs landed a five-year deal as India’s hockey coach yesterday, emerging as the winner of a three-horse race against a pair of Dutchmen. Nobbs saw off competition from Roelant Oltmans and Jacques Brinkman to seal a contract that runs until the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

“I am very excited and privileged to get this job,” Nobbs told reporters. “What weighed in his favour is the fact that the Australian style of hockey is similar to ours and we have decided to continue with that,” said Dipak

Kumar, who heads the government-run Sports Authority of India.

Nobbs’ immediate goal will be to help India, a shadow of the force that won eight Olympic golds from 1928-1980, qualify for next year’s London Games, a feat that will also entitle him to a 10 percent pay rise.

Harendra Singh coached the team during this year ’s Azlan Shah Cup but India have been on the lookout for a foreign coach since Spaniard Jose Brasa’s contract expired following last year’s Asian Games. — Reuters

MUMBAI: Leading Indian 400 metres pair Mandeep Kaur and Juana Murmu have failed doping tests, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said yesterday. The urine samples of the two

Phillies pound Red Sox with the Angels since coming over in a trade with Toronto. Washington is 0-2 under new manager Davey Johnson after winning 13 of its previous 15 games. Laynce Nix was 4 for 4 with a home run, but the Nationals committed a season-worst five errors after making just 19 in 53 games since May 1.

PHILADELPHIA: Cliff Lee allowed just two hits for his third consecutive shutout as the Philadelphia Phillies beat Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox 5-0 in interleague play Tuesday. In a series hailed as a potential World Series preview, Lee (9-5) and the Phillies dominated the opener. Domonic Brown and Shane Victorino each hit a tworun homer for Philadelphia, which improved its major league-leading record to 50-30.

Lee didn’t allow a hit until Marco Scutaro led off the sixth with a line-drive single to left-center. The left-hander ran his careerbest scoreless streak to 32 innings with his ninth career shutout and fourth this year.

Mets 14, Tigers 3 At Detroit, Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran hit grand slams in consecutive innings _ after the Mets had gone nearly two years without one — as New York moved back above .500. The Mets (40-39) have a winning record for the first time since they were 3-2 in early April.

New York had been without a grand slam since Angel Pagan hit one Aug. 1, 2009, before Bay and Beltran cleared the bases in the four th and fifth innings off Daniel Schlereth. Jose Reyes went 4 for 4 with a double and a triple for the Mets.

Yankees 12, Brewers 2 At New York, Mark Teixeira homered and had four RBIs as the New York Yankees’ Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer to cap a fiverun second inning.

From New York’s first batted ball, when Nyjer Morgan got twisted up in center field and fell trying to catch Curtis Granderson’s fly, the Brewers never appeared to get comfortable in their first trip to Yankee Stadium since 1997. Granderson was credited with a triple on the play that scored Brett Gardner for the first of seven runs against 2009 American League Cy Young pitching award winner Zack Greinke (7-3) in two innings.

Rays 4, Reds 3 At St. Petersburg, Evan Longoria hit a game-ending solo homer in the ninth inning to lift Tampa Bay to the win. Longoria, who has struggled at home this season, sent an 0-1 pitch from Logan Ondrusek (3-3) into the left-field seats for his fifth homer in the last eight games.

The All-Star third baseman has just three homers and four RBIs in 24 games at Tropicana Field in 2011. Johnny Damon homered and drove in three runs for the Rays, who have won nine of 11. David Price tied a career high with 12 strikeouts while yielding two runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings.

Cardinals 6, Orioles 2 At Baltimore, Kyle Lohse pitched five shutout innings and the Cardinals got solo home runs from Colby Rasmus and Matt Holliday. It was only the second win in seven games for St. Louis since three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols was placed on the disabled list with a broken left wrist. The Cardinals were off Monday after being swept at home in a three-game series against Toronto.

Lohse (8-4) gave up four hits and was aided by two double plays. He threw only 69 pitches before a thunderstorm stopped play for 28 minutes with St. Louis ahead 4-0 in the top of the sixth.

J.J. Hardy homered for the Orioles, who

SEATTLE: Mariners catcher Chris Gimenez (right) tags Atlanta Braves’ Jason Heyward out at the plate in the ninth inning of a baseball game. — AP trailed 6-0 before scoring twice in the eighth. Rookie Zach Britton (6-6) gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Twins 6, Dodgers 4 At Minneapolis, Luke Hughes hit a tiebreaking homer in the fifth inning as Minnesota ended a six-game losing streak, rebounding from an embarrassing blowout to beat Los Angeles.

Ben Revere scored twice, stole two bases and drove in a run for the Twins. Brian Duensing (5-7) allowed four runs, four hits and four walks in five innings. One night after giving up 25 hits, a club record for a nine-inning game, in a 15-0 loss to the Dodgers, the Twins jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Ted Lilly (5-8) after two innings. Matt Capps finished for his 12th save in 17 chances.

Pirates 7, Blue Jays 6 At Toronto, Alex Presley hit his first career home run as Pittsburgh held on for its first interleague road win in more than two years.

Kevin Correia (10-6) allowed four runs and five hits in six innings for the Pirates, who have won five of six. Correia is 8-2 with an 2.69 ERA in 10 road starts this season. Joel Hanrahan worked the ninth for his 23rd save in 23 opportunities as the Pirates, who came in having lost 13 straight interleague road games, beat an AL opponent away from home for the first time since June 17, 2009, at Minnesota.

Toronto’s Jose Bautista hit his 24th home run, keeping him level with Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira for the major league lead.

Jo-Jo Reyes (3-7) lost his second straight start, allowing a season-high six runs and nine hits in 3 2-3 innings.

Rangers 7, Astros 3 At Houston, Josh Hamilton homered and pitcher C.J. Wilson tripled for his first major league hit in Texas’ three-run third inning against Houston. The Rangers stretched their road winning streak over the Astros to seven games. Houston has lost four in a row overall and seven of eight.

Wilson (8-3) gave up two runs and seven hits in seven innings to win his four th straight decision. He tipped a line drive with his pitching hand in the fourth, but stayed in the game. Neftali Feliz got one out for his 15th save. Texas also got homers from Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler, who had three hits and three RBIs. Houston manager Brad Mills was ejected in the sixth after the third dou-

ble play against the Astros.

Rockies 3, White Sox 2 At Denver, Troy Tulowitzki scored from first base on Ty Wigginton’s two-out single in the 13th inning to lift Colorado over Chicago. Tulowitzki, who drew a one-out walk from Will Ohman (0-1), took off as Wigginton’s flare dropped in shallow center field among three charging White Sox players. It was the Rockies’ first win in five extrainning games this season.

Rex Brothers (1-0), the Rockies’ seventh pitcher, worked a hitless 13th to earn his first major league win and help Colorado end its three-game losing streak.

D’backs 6, Indians 4 At Phoenix, pinch-hitter Wily Mo Pena hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning as Arizona recovered to beat Cleveland after JJ Putz’s second straight shaky outing.

Arizona appeared to be in control after Daniel Hudson’s eight strong innings and two big hits by Kelly Johnson, only to see a late rally go to waste because of another ninth-inning meltdown by Putz. The Diamondbacks rallied again in the bottom of the ninth against Tony Sipp (3-1), getting a walk and two stolen bases by Ryan Roberts to set up Pena’s line-drive homer over the wall in left and a wild celebration at the plate.

Padres 4, Royals 2 At San Diego, Clayton Richard won for the first time in 12 home starts since August.

The Padres have won six of seven, including series wins against Boston and Atlanta. Jeff Francoeur homered and threw out a runner at the plate for the Royals, who have lost eight of 10.

Richard (4-9) held the Royals to two runs and five hits in seven innings. Heath Bell pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances. Cameron Maybin had three hits and scored twice for the Padres.

Angels 11, Nationals 5 At Anaheim, the Angels’ 11th victory in 16 games put them over the .500 mark for the first time since June 3, and kept them 11/2 games behind first-place Texas in the AL West. It was their 16th straight win when scoring four or more runs, the longest such streak by any team this season. Wells, who came in batting .205, tied a career high with four hits — the most he’s had in 54 games

Braves 5, Mariners 4 At Seattle, Brian McCann tormented Seattle pitching again with a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning, part of a four-hit night by the Atlanta catcher as the Braves rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the Mariners.

The Braves took advantage of late control problems by starter Michael Pineda (7-5) and the Mariners’ inability to come through with a clutch hit early against Tommy Hanson.

Seattle left the bases loaded in the second inning, and runners on second and third in the fourth. The Mariners were limited to one run both times.

Hanson (9-4) settled down in his return from the disabled list and gave his offense time to rally. Dan Uggla hit his 12th homer in the fifth inning, and the Braves added an unearned run in the sixth before scoring three times in the seventh.

Ichiro Suzuki homered on Hanson’s first pitch, snapping a 99-game homerless streak dating to Sept. 11, 2010.

Athletics 1, Marlins 0 At Oakland, Gio Gonzalez allowed one hit over eight innings, pitching Oakland to a rain-delayed victory over Florida.

Hideki Matsui doubled and scored the only run on Kurt Suzuki’s sacrifice fly. Coco Crisp had two hits as the A’s won for the eighth time in 12 games.

After the start was delayed 72 minutes by rain, Gonzalez (7-5) won his second consecutive decision despite getting support of two or fewer runs for the 10th time in 17 starts.

The left-hander gave up a leadoff single to Emilio Bonifacio, then retired 23 of his next 26 batters. He walked three and struck out nine. Andrew Bailey struck out the side in the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.

National League Giants 13, Cubs 7 At Chicago, Barry Zito threw seven strong innings as surging San Francisco swept their day-night doubleheader. Zito (1-1) pitched for the first time since leaving his start on April 16 with a right foot sprain. He allowed four hits and two runs, leading the Giants to their seventh straight win. Brian Wilson got his 24th save.

Nate Schierholtz had three hits and two RBIs to pace the San Francisco offense, and Brandon Crawford added two hits and two RBIs. Rodrigo Lopez (0-2) — pressed into starting duty after throwing out of the bullpen for most of the season — allowed eight hits and four runs in 4 2-3 innings for the Cubs. In the second game, Lou Montanez hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, who were held to five hits. Aramis Ramirez also homered for Chicago.

Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand each had three RBIs as the Giants set a season high for runs in the opener. Ryan Vogelsong (6-1) got the win despite allowing a season-high six runs — three earned — and matching his high for the season with four walks in five innings. Carlos Pena hit a two-run homer for the Cubs. — AP

MLB results/standings Major League Baseball results and standings on Tuesday: San Francisco 13, Chicago Cubs 7 (First Game); San Francisco 6, Chicago Cubs 3 (Second Game); St. Louis 6, Baltimore 2; NY Mets 14, Detroit 3; Philadelphia 5, Boston 0; Pittsburgh 7, Toronto 6; Tampa Bay 4, Cincinnati 3; NY Yankees 12, Milwaukee 2; Texas 7, Houston 3; Minnesota 6, LA Dodgers 4; Colorado 3, Chicago White Sox 2 (13 innings); Arizona 6, Cleveland 4; Oakland 1, Florida 0; San Diego 4, Kansas City 2; LA Angels 11, Washington 5; Atlanta 5, Seattle 4.

ANAHEIM: Los Angeles Angels’ Vernon Wells hits a two-run home run during the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals in an interleague baseball game. — AP

American League Eastern Division W L PCT NY Yankees 46 31 .597 Boston 45 33 .577 Tampa Bay 45 35 .563 Toronto 39 41 .488 Baltimore 35 41 .461 Central Division Detroit 43 37 .538 Cleveland 41 37 .526 Chicago White Sox 38 42 .475 Minnesota 33 45 .423 Kansas City 33 47 .413 Western Division Texas 42 38 .525 LA Angels 41 40 .506 Seattle 39 41 .488 Oakland 36 44 .450

GB 1.5 2.5 8.5 10.5 1 5 9 10 1.5 3 6

National League Eastern Division Philadelphia 50 30 .625 Atlanta 46 35 .568 NY Mets 40 39 .506 Washington 40 40 .500 Florida 34 45 .430 Central Division Milwaukee 44 36 .550 St. Louis 42 38 .525 Pittsburgh 40 38 .513 Cincinnati 41 40 .506 Chicago Cubs 32 48 .400 Houston 28 52 .350 Western Division San Francisco 46 34 .575 Arizona 44 37 .543 Colorado 39 40 .494 San Diego 36 45 .444 LA Dodgers 36 45 .444

4.5 9.5 10 15.5 2 3 3.5 12 16 2.5 6.5 10.5 10.5

women, collected at a training camp last month, tested positive for banned anabolic steroids.

“We received the analysis of the B sample today. Both samples tested positive and the reports have been submitted to the AFI hearing panel,” director ML Dogra told Reuters.

“The samples were collected on May 25 as part of out-of-competition testing.” Kaur, who won the 400 relay gold in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, tested positive for anabolic steroids methandienone and stanozolol while Murmu tested positive for methandienone.

Both athletes, who were part of the Indian contingent for next month’s Asian Championship, have been provisionally suspended. — Reuters

Battle over Dodgers control moves into bankruptcy court WILMINGTON: The owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers won a reprieve in bankruptcy cour t Tuesday to maintain day-to-day operations, while Major League Baseball considered seizing control of the cash-strapped ballclub.

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is squaring off in bankruptcy court against the league in a contentious battle over one of the most storied — and lucrative — franchises in baseball. The ownership fight is linked in part to McCourt’s divorce from his wife and former team CEO Jamie McCourt, who is also claiming half his assets.

The Dodgers have blamed their bankruptcy filing on Commissioner Bud Selig’s refusal to approve a multibillion-dollar TV deal with Fox that McCourt was counting on to keep the franchise afloat.

McCourt gained approval from Judge Kevin Gross to enter into a $150 million bankruptcy financing arrangement to keep the team running.

A person familiar with the league’s plans told The Associated Press that MLB “probably” will file a motion to seize the Dodgers, which has been operating under the oversight of a monitor appointed

by Selig in April. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation. Baseball’s constitution allows Selig to take control of a team that seeks Chapter 11 protection, but the league first must file a motion seeking termination of the franchise. It’s unclear when that motion would be filed, but the judge asked attorneys representing Selig for a copy of the league’s constitution, noting that it “has an impact here.”

Gross granted the Dodgers’ request for debtorin-possession financing after attorneys for both sides huddled behind closed doors for more than an hour, emerging with an agreement to make two modifications to the proposed agreement with hedge fund Highbridge Capital.

One of the modifications reduces the exit fee that would be due to Highbridge from $4.5 million to $250,000. The other removes certain milestones in the financing agreement regarding the sale of the team’s broadcast rights.

Those milestones included weekly updates on the team’s effort to license its broadcast rights, and a July 29 deadline to agree on a process calling for bankruptcy court approval of a sale within six months of Monday’s bankruptcy filing, and a closing within 45 days of the court order. Earlier Tuesday, the league filed an objection to the financing proposal, accusing McCourt of siphoning off more than $100 million in club revenue and driving the Dodgers into a liquidity crisis, also citing his lavish lifestyle with his ex-wife.

The league argued that its own financing offer was superior because it eliminated the $4.5 million exit fee, reduced the interest rate by 3 percent, did not require the team to encumber assets, and did not impose an artificial timeline for disposing of the broadcast rights. The MLB attorneys argued that McCourt’s financing proposal should be rejected because it compels the team to sell the future broadcast rights to meet current expenses and to provide money for his personal use.

In court papers, the Dodgers argued that the league’s objection to the team’s financing proposal revealed Selig’s “overarching desire” to exert a “stranglehold” on the team.

Attorneys for the Dodgers said the league’s proposal would have given Selig sole discretion over the team’s budget, required the team to pay all the league’s legal fees and expenses not just as a lender, but as an adversary in the bankruptcy case, and allowed for a loan default for any violation of MLB rules and regulations.

“The commissioner’s financing proposal is nothing other than a thinly veiled effort to take total control over the debtors and these cases,” team attorneys wrote, adding that it is no secret that Selig wants a change of ownership.

“The commissioner’s efforts seem to be driven by a personal animosity towards Mr. McCourt that unbiased observers have recognized as being ‘unprecedented,”‘ they added, citing media reports.

“The debtors have no obligation to accept financing from such a determined adversary.”

While agreeing to the interim financing, both sides reserved their rights to argue all issues surrounding the bankruptcy filing, including the possibility that the league might seek to have the case dismissed, and whether former Texas Rangers President Thomas Schieffer should remain as monitor of the Dodgers.

Schieffer was appointed to monitor the team on Selig’s behalf after the commissioner took the extraordinary step in April of assuming control of the troubled franchise, saying he was concerned about the team’s finances and how the Dodgers are being run. “I recognize that there is a lot ahead of us,” Gross said before adjourning.

In addition to issuing the interim financing order, Gross granted several routine motions that will allow the team to continue operations, authorized the Dodgers to continue paying vendors, utility providers and employees, and to keep up with tax and insurance obligations. The granting of such motions is routine in first-day hearings in bankruptcy court, but Gross noted that the baseball club’s case is unique in some aspects. “I haven’t seen a wage motion quite like this one,” the judge said, referring to the team’s 44-page motion to continue paying hundreds of full-time and part-time employees, including about 250 players, most of whom are in the minor league ranks.—AP

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Munich challenging for 2018 Winter Olympics MUNICH: After overcoming domestic opposition, winning strong government endorsement and earning praise from the IOC, the Bavarian capital of Munich believes it is in a strong position to secure the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Munich is considered a close second behind the South Korean city of Pyeongchang ahead of the International Olympic Committee vote on July 6 in Durban, South Africa.

Annecy, France, is the third contender.

“We feel that we can win,” said Thomas Bach, an IOC vice president and Germany’s top Olympic official. “But we are sportsmen enough to realize that on the given day someone else might be better.” Munich is seeking to become the first city

to stage both summer and winter games.

Plans call for much of the 1972 Olympic Park to be used in 2018 if the city wins the bid.

German officials stress that Munich would keep the Olympic legacy alive for decades by combining old venues with new facilities.

In one of the quirkier ideas, Munich would turn the 1972 swimming arena into the curling venue by emptying the pool of water and laying a surface of ice. The iconic 1972 Olympic stadium would stage the opening and the closing ceremonies.

The 1972 Games were overshadowed by the attack by Palestinian gunmen on the Israeli team that left 11 Israelis dead. Munich highlights its

concept of “games by athletes for athletes,” and has singled out Germany’s passion for winter sports.

“We haven’t hosted winter games in 80 years,” said Bach, who believes it is time to return the event to its roots.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a 90minute train ride from Munich, hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics. Under Munich’s plans, it would stage Alpine skiing and other snow events in 2018.

Munich would host ice events, while luge and bobsled would be staged at the sliding center at Koenigssee, a lake near Munich.

The Munich bid ran into trouble when a group land owners in GarmischPartenkirchen refused to cede

their properties, which are vital for the downhill course, the glamor event of Alpine skiing.

But the dispute now has been settled with the last holdout reaching a deal with the organizers. Olympic supporters also won a referendum in Garmisch-Partekirchen in favor of the Olympics. Critics say the games would be too big for the area and expressed ecological concerns.

The bid already enjoyed strong support from the federal government, a fact noted highly during the IOC evaluation commission’s visit to the Bavarian capital in March. The three candidates made presentations to the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, in May and Munich officials feel they came out with improved prospects.

“We are very optimistic,” said Katarina Witt, the chairwoman of the bid committee and the former two-time figure skating Olympic champion. “ We are sure that Lausanne has brought us many points.” “Since a couple of weeks we do know also that we might win. In Lausanne we realized how seriously our bid is considered,” Bach said. The Germans believe that the country’s booming economy can also be a factor in their favor.

The Germans have an excellent track record of organizing sports events — including the 2006 World Cup — and the nation as a whole is full of sports enthusiasts. Winter sports enjoy huge support in Germany, where blanket television coverage during winter months can stretch over 12

hours daily. Top athletes in biathlon, luge, bobsled and ski jumping enjoy nationwide star status. Germany hosts dozens of World Cup events in various sports every winter.

Public opinion polls quoted by the bid committee say the games are supported by 75 percent of the population. Munich boasts a number of high-end hotels, a broad entertainment industry and excellent infrastructure, a factor not to be neglected in the IOC voting process.

Many of the IOC members have little experience in winter sports. Munich is one of Germany’s two main air hubs and has numerous high-speed rail links and an autobahn connection to GarmischPartenkirchen.—AP

Indian pace attack strike back against West Indies

LONDON: England’s Jade Dernbach (center) celebrates taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Thilina Kandamby (right) as Suraj Randiv runs (left) during the one-day cricket match between England and Sri Lanka at the Oval cricket ground.—AP

England crush Sri Lanka LONDON: James Anderson inspired England to a 110-run win over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international here at The Oval on Tuesday.

The Lancastrian took 4-18 as Sri Lanka slumped to 121 all out chasing a revised target of 232 in a rain-shortened match.

England made 229 in their 32 overs after a storm halted play for three hours and Sri Lanka’s target was subject to a Duckworth Lewis amendment. England captain Alastair Cook, in his first game in permanent charge of England’s one-day side, was delighted with the performance. “It was an outstanding performance from all the bowlers with Jimmy up front,” he said.

“Full credit to him, he deserved the wickets and he was begging me for one more over so he could get five. “But we batted very well and the way we handled that rain break was very special.” His Sri Lankan counterpart Tillakaratne Dilshan wasn’t too disappointed by the defeat. “The short game can go either way.

They batted very well and we had to take a chance but it didn’t work.” Anderson’s opening spell of 3 for 14 from four overs knocked the stuffing out of the Sri Lankan top order and their innings never recovered.

He had Dilshan caught on the boundary by Tim Bresnan running in, trapped Mahela Jayawardene leg before and induced a return catch from Kumar Sangakkara. Sanath Jayasuriya - in his final one-day international two days before his 42nd birthday was snared by a sharp catch from Eoin Morgan in the gully off Bresnan for just two although he did manage a wicket in England’s innings. Anderson turned fielder to take a superb diving catch at midwicket to remove Angelo Mathews and an easier chance off Graeme Swann to dismiss Jeevan Mendis and Sri Lanka had slumped to 57 for six.

The Lancastrian, closing in on 200 one-day international victims, returned to claim the wicket of Nuwan Kulasekara. From then on there was no way back for the tourists despite Lasith Malinga and Suraj Randiv throwing the bat late on for a record ninth wicket partnership, 52, for Sri Lanka against England. Swann finished off the innings, ending with figures of 3 for 18. Thilina Kandamby hung around for 19, made off 48 balls, but lost patience eventually and skied a ball from Jade Dernbach to Stuart Broad at mid-off to give the Surrey pace bowler a second wicket on his one-day international debut.

Craig Kieswetter was the mainstay of the England total hitting two sixes and four fours as he passed 50 in one-day internationals for the third time before holing out to the first ball of Randiv’s second spell for 61.

Morgan chipped in with 45, Kevin Pietersen 26 and Jonathan Trott 23 with Malinga picking up three wickets including two late on. England were on course for a much bigger total when Kieswetter and Morgan were at the wicket but their scoring rate slowed until a late flurry from Bresnan, who hit Suranga Lakmal for three successive fours in the penultimate over and Broad.

Bresnan, recalled to the squad after a calf injury, gave the innings a much-needed shot in the arm when it looked like petering out with England’s big hitters back in the pavilion.

Pietersen put on 56 for the third wicket with Kieswetter before hitting a Jeevan Mendis long hop, straight to mid-on. Morgan hit

six fours in his 35-ball stay but Ian Bell could not find the golden form he displayed in the recent Test series.

Cook was out caught behind down the leg side for just five before the rain came. The teams now head to Leeds which will stage the second match of the series on Friday.—AFP

SCOREBOARD LONDON: Scoreboard from the first one-day international between England and Sri Lanka, here at The Oval on yesterday: England A.Cook c Sangakkara b Malinga 5 C.Kieswetter c Lakmal b Randiv 61 J.Trott lbw Lakmal 23 K.Pietersen c Dilshan b Mendis 26 E.Morgan c Kandamby b Lakmal 45 I.Bell lbw Jayasuriya 12 T.Bresnan lbw Malinga 23 S.Broad c Kandamby b Malinga 13 G.Swann not out 2 Extras: (1b, 7lb, 10w, 1nb) 19 Total: (8 wkts, 32 overs) 229 Did not bat: J.Anderson, J.Dernbach Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Cook), 2-53 (Trott), 3-109 (Pietersen), 4-142 (Kieswetter), 5-175 (Morgan), 6-179 (Bell), 7-226 (Bresnan), 8229 (Broad) Bowling: Malinga 7-0-40-3 (1nb), Kulasekara 6-1-31-0, Lakmal 7-0-52-2 (4w), Jayasuriya 6-0-46-1 (2w), Randiv 4-0-34-1, Mendis 2-0-18-1.

Sri Lanka S.Jayasuriya c Morgan b Bresnan 2 T.Dilshan c Bresnan b Anderson 1 M.Jayawardene lbw b Anderson 5 K.Sangakkara c&b Anderson 4 T.Kandamby c Broad Dernbach 19 A.Mathews c Anderson b Dernbach 16 J.Mendis c Anderson b Swann 9 N.Kulasekara c Cook b Anderson 5 S.Randiv st Kieswetter b Swann 24 L.Malinga c sub (Bopara) b Swann 26 S.Lakmal not out 0 Extras: (2lb, 8w) 10 Total: (10 wkts, 27 overs) 121 Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Dilshan), 2-6 (Jayasuriya), 3-14 (Jayawardene), 4-15 (Sangakkara), 5-40 (Mathews), 6-57 (Mendis), 7-65 (Kulasekara), 8-69 Kandamby), 9-121 (Malinga), 10-121 (Randiv) Bowling: Anderson 5-0-18-4 (1w), Bresnan 6-0-26-1 (5w), Broad 6-0-32-0 (1w), Dernbach 5-0-25-2 (1w), Swann 5-0-18-3.

Result: England won by 110 runs (D/L method) Man of the Match: James Anderson (ENG) Series: England lead five match series 1-0

Silver Stars down Sky ROSEMONT: Sophia Young had 19 points to lead five San Antonio scorers in double figures as the Silver Stars downed the Chicago Sky 84-74 on Tuesday. Rookie forward Danielle Adams scored 16 points, Becky Hammon had 14, and Ruth Riley and Danielle Robinson added 10 each for the Silver Stars who have won seven of eight games so far.

Epiphanny Prince scored 19 points and Sylvia Fowles had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Chicago (4-5), which has lost four of its last five. Erin Thorn a d d e d 1 4 p o i n t s a n d Ca t h r i n e Kraayeveld added 10 for the Sky. San Antonio trailed much of the game, but went ahead for good at 71-68 on Riley’s 3 pointer with 3:29 left in regulation.

S a n A n to n i o t h e n m a d e a l l 1 0 f re e throws in the final 1:05 to keep Chicago at bay.

Sun 79, Sparks 76 At Uncasville, Connecticut, Tina Charles had 22 points and 23 rebounds to lead Connecticut past short-handed Los Angeles.

Renee Montgomery scored 17 points, and Kara Lawson and Asjha Jones added

16 apiece for Connecticut (5-3). Kristi Toliver had 19 points, DeLisha MiltonJones scored 13 and laToya Pringle 11 for Los Angeles (4-4), which played its first game without Candace Parker. Parker, who tore the lateral meniscus in her right knee in Sunday’s loss to the New York Liberty, will be out for about six weeks.

Montgomer y scored the last four points for the Sun, including two free throws with 12.9 seconds remaining for a three-point lead. Tina Thompson then missed two 3-pointers and Toliver a jumper as the Sparks dropped to 0-4 on the road.

Fever 91, Mercury 86 At Indianapolis, Katie Douglas scored 26 points and Jessica Davenport added a career-high 25 to lead Indiana past Phoenix. Tamika Catchings added 14 points, seven assists, four steals and three blocks for the Fever (7-3), who wo n t h e i r fo u r t h s t r a i g h t . D o u g l a s made six 3-pointers and had six assists, and Davenpor t made 10 of 11 field goals and didn’t miss until the final minute of the game. Diana Taurasi scored 15 points for Phoenix, but she

shot 5 for 14 from the field and had five t u r n ove r s. D e Wa n n a B o n n e r a l s o scored 15 points for the Mercury (44).—AP

BRIDGETOWN: India’s pacemen brought them back into the second Test against West Indies, after they suffered a batting collapse on the first day here on Tuesday.

Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, and Test newcomer Abhimanyu Mithun all collected a wicket apiece to leave West Indies in tatters on 30 for three, in reply to India’s first innings total of 201 at the close.

Sharma made the breakthrough, when he had Adrian Barath caught at gully for three in the fourth over, and next over, Praveen Kumar had Lendl Simmons caught behind for two, leaving West Indies five for two.

Darren Bravo joined Ramnaresh Sarwan, and stemmed the fall of wickets before the left-hander was caught behind for nine from the penultimate ball of the day from Mithun.

Earlier, India were given further cause to usher in the use of the umpire decision review system.

Left-hander Suresh Raina was dubiously dismissed for 53, triggering a batting collapse that saw the Indians lose their last five wickets for 34 runs in the space of 55 balls.

Raina was caught at forward short leg off West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for 53, following a 117-run, fifth-wicket stand with V.V.S. Laxman, whose 85 was the top score, and helped to rescue the visitors from a perilous 38 for four before lunch.

The left-hander was clearly upset by the decision from Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf, which television replays suggested was highly dubious, dropping his bat, staring in anger at the official, and swinging his bat in disgust. Fidel Edwards then ran through the lower half of India’s batting, removing their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for two, Harbhajan Singh for five, and Mithun for a duck, finishing with three for 56 from 19 overs.

Ravi Rampaul was the pick of the West Indies bowlers, with three for 38 from 16 overs, and Bishoo snared three for 46 from 14 overs.

Laxman reached his 50 from 75 balls, glancing Edwards to the fine leg boundary for his eight four, and Raina reached the landmark from 90 deliveries, paddling Bishoo to longleg for a single.

The two batsmen ensured India did not lose a wicket between lunch and tea, after the top order were given a real going over by Rampaul, who exploited helpful conditions in taking three of the wickets to fall.

India suffered an early setback, when left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund was caught at gully for one off Rampaul in the second over of the day. The Indians ran into further trouble, when Rahul Dravid, a century-maker in the first Test, was caught behind for five, playing defensively forward to a delivery from West Indies captain Darren Sammy. Murali Vijay was fortunate on four, when he sliced a drive at a delivery from Sammy, and Bishoo failed to hold onto a low, diving chance at backward point.

India reached 13 for two from 14 overs after the first hour, failing to strike a boundary, but Laxman brought India their first four, when

BARBADOS: India’s Ishant Sharma bowls during the second day of the second cricket Test match against the West Indies in Bridgetown.—AP

he pulled Sammy through wide mid-on. But the Indians were jolted, when Rampaul had opener Murali Vijay caught behind down the leg side for a painstaking 11, and two deliveries later, Virat Kohli caught at second slip for a duck, fending a sharply rising delivery.

India are looking to wrap up their second straight Test series victory over West Indies in the Caribbean.

They will also be looking to create a

piece of history by becoming the first Indian side to win a Test and One-day International series in the Caribbean - but they will also have to overcome their poor history here.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team still have cause for optimism though — following a 10-wicket defeat for Sourav Ganguly’s side nine years ago, West Indies have lost six of the next eight Tests they have played at this venue.—AFP

SCOREBOARD Scoreboard at the close of play on the first day of the second test between West Indies and India at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on yesterday: India first innings A. Mukund c Samuels b Rampaul 1 M. Vijay c Baugh b Rampaul 11 R. Dravid c Baugh b Sammy 5 V. Laxman c Barath b Bishoo 85 V. Kohli c Sammy b Rampaul 0 S. Raina c Barath b Bishoo 53 M. Dhoni c Chanderpaul b Edwards 2 Harbhajan Singh c Barath b Edwards 5 P. Kumar st Baugh b Bishoo 12 A. Mithun b Edwards 0 I. Sharma not out 1 Extras (b-5 lb-4 w-11 nb-6) 26 Total (all out, 68 overs) 201 Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-8 3-38 4-38 5-155 6-167 7-183 8-187 9-189 10-201 Bowling: F. Edwards 19-2-56-3 (nb-4 w-3), R. Rampaul 16-6-38-3, D. Sammy 19-4-521, D. Bishoo 14-1-46-3 (nb-2).

West Indies first innings A. Barath c Kohli b Sharma 3 L. Simmons c Dhoni b Kumar 2 R. Sarwan not out 10 D. Bravo c Dhoni b Mithun 9 D. Bishoo not out 0 Extras (w-5 nb-1) 6 Total (for three wickets, 12 overs) 30 Still to bat: S. Chanderpaul, M. Samuels, C. Baugh, D. Sammy, R. Rampaul, F. Edwards Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-5 3-30 Bowling: P. Kumar 6-0-15-1, I. Sharma 4-2-8-1 (w-1), 2-0-7-1 (nb-1).

Pakistan to host England in UAE

UNCASVILLE: Connecticut Sun’s Asjha Jones (15) and Kara Lawson (20) react in the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Sparks.—AP

KARACHI: Pakistan are to host England in three tests, four one-dayers and three Twenty20 matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January and February.

“The matches will be played at the neutral venues of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and the itinerar y will be announced soon,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed the matches in its own statement and also announced the itinerary for five onedayers and a Twenty20 game during an October tour of India and for two tests in Sri Lanka in March and April.

Pakistan have not hosted an international match on home soil since the 2009 attack by gunmen on visiting Sri

Lankan cricketers in Lahore shattered the myth that athletes in the sub-continent enjoyed immunity of sorts against militancy. Eight people died in the attack and six members of the Sri Lanka squad were injured. The UAE has become a second home for Pakistan who will also host Sri Lanka there for a test series in October and November.—Reuters

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Home is where the edge is for Super semis SYDNEY: It has been more than a decade since any team won a Super rugby playoff match outside their own country, which is good news for the Queensland Reds and the Stormers as they prepare for Saturday’s semi-finals against New Zealand powerhouses. After a week off, the Reds are itching to get into the three-times champion Auckland Blues in the Brisbane clash that precedes the Stormers heavyweight tussle with the seven-times champion Canterbury Crusaders in Cape Town.

After two seasons of scintillating rugby under Ewen McKenzie, it is easy to forget the Reds finished second-bottom in the 2009 season and have not been in a playoff since 2001.

Far from being intimidated by the

prospect, the week off and return of key backs Digby Ioane and Anthony Faingaa as well as flanker Beau Robinson from injury seem only to have sharpened their anticipation. “For lack of experience I think we make up for in enthusiasm,” dreadlocked hooker Saia Faingaa, Anthony’s twin, told ABC radio.

“We’re definitely eager, maybe too eager to get out there and get amongst it. We’re definitely not under-awed about the occasion, but for us it is a matter about us and how we play. “The whole season has been about us.

We’re just taking it one step at a time and we’re nice and fresh and ready to go.”

The Reds beat the Blues 37-31 in Brisbane in May having taken a 24-0 lead at one stage but Auckland flyhalf Stephen Brett said there would be no repeat of that

start on Saturday.

“It was just our missed tackles. We weren’t prepared for the game they brought to us, and hopefully this week we can be ready to go,” he told Fairfax media.

At the heart of that game was the combination of scrumhalf Will Genia and flyhalf Quade Cooper, and Brett suggested they could expect plenty of close attention from the Blues back row.

“They’re such great players, and if they get good gain-line they’re hard to stop,” he added. “Quade has got such jinky feet and Will throws those wide passes. If we can eliminate them, hopefully it’s going to be an even game.”

The Stormers are the only team in the last four never to have won a Super rugby

title-the Reds won it twice in the mid-1990sbut they have the most recent experience of a final having lost to the Bulls in the title game last year.

Hoping to go one better this year, they will be looking to their highly-disciplined defence to stop a Crusaders side who won 19-6 at Newlands earlier this season, but also to add a bit more tactical nous.

“In last year’s semi-final against the Waratahs we simply overpowered them, but the Crusaders aren’t a team that will be outmuscled in the same way,” coach Allister Coetzee told the Times of South Africa. “To beat them, of course, we’ll need physical intensity, but, more importantly, tactically we’ll have to be smarter than them. “When we lost to them earlier this year, physicality

Woods not coming back until he is fully healthy NEWTOWN SQUARE: Tiger Woods is no longer using crutches, a walking boot or a razor. He hasn’t hit a full golf shot in 47 days and has no idea when he will practice, much less play in another tournament. All he could say with certainty Tuesday was that he would not return until he was fully healthy. “Usually I set a timetable when I want to come back and play when I’ve had injuries before,” Woods said at the AT&T National, which benefits his foundation. “This one is different. I’m going to learn my lesson from what I did at The Players and apply it this time and come back when I’m 100 percent. I don’t know when that’s going to be. “ That’s kind of the frustrating thing about it right now is I don’t know.” While he did not rule out the British Open, which starts July 14 at Royal St. George’s, he made it sound as though he would miss another major championship.

“I wouldn’t go over there just to show up,” he said. “I’d go over there to win the golf tournament, so I need to obviously get my body ready so I can practice, and eventually play.”

He’s not doing much of anything at the moment. Woods watched the US Open and was amazed at how Rory McIlroy matched his record by building a six-shot lead after 36 holes, then continued to crush his competition in winning by eight shots.

With shared parenting of his two kids, he has watched more cartoons than he ever did as a child. “What’s actually really tough to watch now all the time is ‘Dora.’ That song is just brutal,” he said.

And for the first time in public, he was sporting a full beard, though nothing that compares with Lucas Glover. Woods has not played since May 12 when he withdrew after nine holes from The Players Championship. That was his first tournament since “minor injuries” to his left knee and Achilles from an awkward stance in the pine straw in the third round at the Masters.

He said it was borderline whether he should have played at the TPC Sawgrass, a decision he now regrets.

Had he skipped The Players, Woods said he would be playing now. So what was he doing at Sawgrass?

“I’ve played in pain before and I’ve played injured, and I’ve played through it, and I’ve been very successful at it,” Woods said. “There has been a number of years where I’ve been hurt more than people could possibly understand, and I’ve played and I’ve won. I just felt that it was good enough to give it a go, and I did. And I hurt myself.”

Woods has gone through four

But there was something about this injury — perhaps the state of his game or the clock ticking on his career — that caused him to stop being so stubborn when it comes to his health. He said this injury wasn’t even as bad as some of the others.

“But I hurt myself again,” he said.

“It’s time to actually have a different approach. It’s time.” Woods still believes he has time on his side,

Tiger Woods of US seen in this file photo knee surgeries since his freshman year at Stanford. He tore knee ligaments while jogging in the summer of 2007, and finished the year winning five of six tournaments, including a major. He won the US Open in 2008 for his 14th major on one good leg. And after injuring his right Achilles in December 2008, he won seven times the next season.

especially when it comes to his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 professional majors. He remains stuck on No. 14, and he can’t get closer if he’s not playing.

“He won when he was 46, right?” said the 35-year-old Woods. “I’ve still got some time. I feel pretty confident of what my future holds and very excited about it. I’m excited about

coming out here and being ready to go, instead of trying to kind of patch it, which I’ve been doing for awhile.”

Woods said he has been able to putt, and that’s about it for his golf.

He said he spends every day in the gym trying to get stronger, not just work on the left knee and Achilles, but his entire body. He said there are as many as three sessions a day, although they rarely last more than an hour. “We’re testing it every day to see what it feels like,” he said. “You try and push it as far as the leg will go, and then if it doesn’t feel any good, then you bring it back. And each day it’s gotten better. We haven’t had any setbacks, which has been good. But still, it’s not as explosive or as strong as I’d like to be.”

And that means no golf — at least for now. Woods is leaving that to everyone else, and there have been some special performances. Luke Donald has risen to No. 1 in the world, McIlroy is up to No. 3 while Woods has tumbled to No. 17, his lowest spot in more than 14 years.

Justin Rose, the defending champion at Aronimink, says Woods’ absence is still noticeable.

“The way he plays the game, he plays it with a lot of intensity,” Rose said. “I think people like to see him win. He seems to win in dramatic style more often than not. So that’s I think what people like to see. He puts on a good show. Everything that goes around him at a golf tournament is a little more high atmosphere, high energy.”

Assuming he misses the British Open, the next tournament Woods typically plays is the Bridgestone Invitational, which starts Aug. 4 and precedes the final major championship of the year. The FedEx Cup playoffs are after that, although only the top 125 qualify and Woods is at No. 114 — and not moving up because he’s not playing.

Woods, however, said he would be surprised if the year ended without him playing again. This isn’t a repeat of 2008, when he missed the last six months of the year after reconstructive knee surgery. He said his knee and Achilles are getting better. “I’d be very surprised because I’m progressing,” he said.—AP

double.

This year’s route will favour the climbers and the Tour is likely to be decided during a tough third week in the Alps, where the race went for the first time 100 years ago.

The Col du Galibier will be climbed twice, with one stage finishing at l’Alpe d’Huez and featuring the famous 21 hairpin bends to the ski resort.

Twenty-three mountain passes are included in the Tour and it looks like only Andy Schleck could be capable of beating Contador.

Contador himself admits his form is something of an unknown quantity after his exertions in the Giro. “As time goes by, I feel more and more rested (after the Giro) but I’m still a bit in the dark because all I did was rest,” Contador, one of only five men with titles in all three grands Tours, said last week.

“I don’t know how I will respond (to the efforts). Undoubtedly, (compared to those who did not ride the Giro), I lack physical but also mental freshness.”

Contador, who was sometimes booed by the fans during the Giro, could also get a cool reception from the French crowd, but the determined Spaniard is used to it, as well to the media grilling he is likely to face.

Last year, the crowd hissed at him after he gained 39 seconds on Schleck following his attack in a mountain stage after the Luxembourg rider’s chain had come off. Schleck, who has finished runnerup to Contador in the last two years, will once again be the champion’s top challenger on the French roads, with a handful of outsiders hoping to make it to the podium.

Jimenez to defend French title VERSAILLES: Spanish veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez defends his French Open title this week at Le National course outside Versailles, which was recently named as host of the 2018 Ryder Cup. A year ago, Jimenez triumphed in a three-man play-off with compatriot Alejandro Canizares and Francesco Molinari of Italy, helping seal his place in the European Ryder Cup team for later in the year. Winless so far this year, 47-year-old Jimenez failed to make the cut at the US Open earlier this month, but is hopeful his return to Paris can re-ignite his season.

“It was important to get that win because it helped me qualify for the Ryder Cup team,” said Jimenez. “The tournament has a great history and I feel very privileged to have my name on the trophy and I would like to see it there another time.

“My game is not far away from being very good. Sometimes you just need a good break and I haven’t had many recently. Maybe that can change in France.”

With players gearing up for the year’s third major, the British Open, which takes places at Royal St George’s in south-east England from July 14-17, the links-like course that stages the tournament has once again attracted a topclass field. Germany’s Martin Kaymer is the top-ranked player in action. He is currently world number four, but held the prestigious top spot for a few weeks earlier this year before first Lee Westwood and then Luke Donald moved ahead.

The 26-year-old Kaymer, who won here in 2009, has not been in the best of form since

tinkering with his swing at the Masters in April, but is confident Le National can bring out his best form.

“I won in 2009 here and obviously before that I’ve done well here already (he also won a Challenge Tour event at this venue). I think it’s one of the best golf courses we play on the European Tour,” he said.

“I consider it a golf course that I really like, and it suits my eye.” There is a strong Italian flavour to the field with the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, alongside the 18year-old prodigy Matteo Manassero, while Alvaro Quiros joins Jimenez as strong Spanish threats. Leading the US challenge and playing in France for the first time will be world number 12 Bubba Watson, who has won twice already this year on the US circuit.

Past winners other than Jimenez and Kaymer taking part include Pablo Larrazabal of Spain, who won in 2008 and also won last week at the BMW International in Munich, Graeme Storm of England (2007) and last year’s Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie (2000).

French hopes will mainly rest with Thomas Levet and Raphael Jaquelin, both of whom were instrumental in helping the French Golf Federation’s bid win the race to host the 2018 Ryder Cup. Jacquelin admitted that there was a sense of elation in France following the Ryder Cup decision last month.

“It’s really good news and a nice surprise for France,” he said. “It’s going to be great for the country. It’s the best that I could imagine for golf in France. —AFP

Joe Nieuwendyk in action in this file photo

Nieuwendyk headlines 2011 Hall of Fame class

Doping cloud hangs over Contador’s Tour PARIS: Much to the dismay of Tour de France organisers, a cloud of doping suspicion will hang over their race, and in particular over triple champion Alberto Contador, when the 2011 edition begins on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Contador will start the race from Passage du Gois in the Vendee region still waiting for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to rule on an appeal concerning a failed dope test in last year’s race.

Contador was cleared of wrongdoing by the Spanish federation but the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed. The CAS will not hear the appeal until August, meaning that Contador, the overwhelming favourite, could end up losing two Tour titles if the decision goes against him.

Last year, the Tour was rocked by Floyd Landis’s doping allegations against seven-times champion and fellow American Lance Armstrong.

Contador’s presence on the Tour, while his case remains unresolved, is another embarrassment this year. “We wanted a quick resolution, before the Tour, but it looks like it was too much to ask,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme told Reuters. On the road, the slender Spaniard has been his brilliant and dominant self this season, snatching nine victories and winning the Giro d’Italia in merciless fashion, putting his rivals in the shade.

Contador, whom Armstrong described as “the most talented guy to ever throw a leg over a bike”, used his outstanding climbing abilities to destroy the field in Italy and could become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve a Giro/Tour

wasn’t an issue but we made some mistakes that cost us. The Crusaders have class all over the field and with (Dan) Carter operating at flyhalf they’re going to be formidable.”

The Crusaders, who are likely to welcome flanker and captain Richie McCaw back from injury, were the last team to win a playoff outside their home country when they triumphed in the 2000 final against the Brumbies in Canberra.

After the deadly February earthquake damaged their stadium, they have been forced to make a virtue out of being on the road this season.

If disgruntled locals cheer them on as they did in their April victory at Newlands, however, the Crusaders may feel right at home in the Cape.—Reuters

Alberto Contador Schleck left Saxo Bank to launch his own outfit, Leopard Trek with several others, including his brother Frank and Olympic and world time-trial world champion Fabian Cancellara.

In the absence of last year’s thirdplaced Denis Menchov, whose team were not invited, the battle for the podium is likely to involve Bradley Wiggins, who is looking to become the first Briton to finish in the top three.

The Team Sky leader won the Criterium du Dauphine earlier this month and looks in great form, having changed his preparations for the Tour.

Australian Cadel Evans, the 2009 world champion, is still looking for a maiden grand Tour title after repeatedly being

tipped for glory.

Spain’s Samuel Sanchez, backed by an Euskaltel team of Basque climbers, finished fourth last year after being leapfrogged by Menchov following the final time trial.

Belgian Jurgen van den Broeck and Dutchman Robert Gesink also have the climbing abilities to handle a tough Tour, while Slovenian Janez Brajkovic is filling the big shoes left empty by Armstrong after the American retired.

Italian Ivan Basso skipped his beloved Giro to concentrate on the Tour but a crash during training hampered his preparations and his form is under question.—Reuters

TORONTO: Joe Nieuwendyk, an elegant forward who hoisted the Stanley Cup with three different teams, headlined the list of Hockey Hall of Fame inductees announced on Tuesday along with goalie and former team mate Ed Belfour.

Defenceman Mark Howe, a four-time All-Star and son of Hall of Famer Gordie Howe, and gutsy forward Doug Gilmour rounded out the foursome elected to the Class of 2011, which will be inducted Nov. 14.

Nieuwendyk, who had a knack for scoring and winning key faceoffs and was one of the most respected players of his generation, had 564 goals and 562 assists until back and knee pain forced him to retire in 2006 after an NHL career that spanned 20 seasons.

“Every player does their best year after year and strives to play at a very high level,” Nieuwendyk, who was passed over in his first year of eligibility last year, told reporters.

“We go through careers and we don’t think about the Hall of Fame, we play the game because we love it and we compete hard and a few years later you get recognition like this. It really is overwhelming ... I’m very humbled.”

The four-times All-Star won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1988, the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs in 1999 and an Olympic gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Nieuwendyk, who won Stanley Cups with the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils, is currently the general manager with the Stars organisation. Belfour, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s top goalie and five-time All-Star who sits third all-time on the goalie wins list with 484, gained entry into the Hall in his first year of eligibility.

The undrafted goalie broke into the league with the Chicago Blackhawks and was named rookie of the year in 1991 when he led the league in wins (43), goals-against average (2.47) and save percentage (.910).

Belfour won a Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Stars and was also part of Canada’s Olympic gold medal winning team at Salt Lake City. He and Nieuwendyk are the second and third members

of that Dallas team to be inducted into the Hall following Brett Hull, who gained entry in 2009.

“It is hard to put into words what this means to me,” said Belfour. “I would like to thank all of my team mates and people along the way who helped me achieve my hockey dreams.”

A six time All-Star, Howe is the only one of the inductees not to have his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup but will take his place in the hockey shrine alongside his father Gordie, who is considered one of the game’s all-time greats.

Howe began his professional career in the now defunct World Hockey Association with the Houston Aeros, winning rookie of the year honours in 1973 while playing on the same team as his father and brother Marty.

He went on to play 16 seasons in the NHL with three teams where championships and individual honours eluded him. He lost in the Stanley Cup final twice and finished runner-up in Norris Trophy voting as the league’s best defenceman three times.

“I was elated to have this dream come true given that it is a tremendous honour just to have my name mentioned with the upper echelon of hockey,” said Howe. “To actually have my name in the Hall of Fame with my dad will mean so much to my family.

“Dad is as proud as any father can be I’m sure.” Gilmour won a Stanley cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and played 20 years in the NHL with seven teams, registering 450 goals and 964 assists.

He was nominated for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player in 1993 after scoring a career-high 127 points in the regular season for the Toronto Maple Leafs and won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward that same season.

Gilmour had a reputation for playing his best games when the most was on the line and averaged more points per game during the playoffs than the regular season.

“This is an overwhelming honor and one that makes me reflect back on the teammates and coaches I have had over years,” said Gilmour.—Reuters

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S P ORT S Preview

LEVERKUSEN: German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer saves a ball during training of Germany on the eve of the Group A match between Germany and Nigeria. —AP

Nigerians ready to defy champions Germany FRANKFURT: Nigeria coach Eucharia Uche says her side intend on taking the fight for a quarter-final place at the women’s World Cup to Germany when the Super Eagles tackle the defending champions today.

The hosts are bidding for a hat-trick of titles having won the 2003 and 2007 editions and lead Group A after their 2-1 win over Canada in Berlin on Sunday, the same day Nigeria lost 1-0 to France in Sinsheim.

A further defeat here would all but rule Nigeria out of the last eight, but Uche insists her side will not surrender to the Germans without a fight.

“We can’t give into the Germans, we intend to give it a good fight,” said Uche. “I always say, football is a game.

It’s never won or lost until it’s played. “ We respect Germany, but I still believe in the game of football anything can happen. “ They are a good side but that doesn’t mean they can’t be beaten.”

But Uche said she has to boost her players confidence before the Germany clash. “We will try to install confidence in them and encourage the players to finish well,” said Uche.

Germany look set to stick with the side which beat Canada with rising star Celia Okoyino da Mbabi set to continue partnering captain Birgit Prinz up front as a centre forward and

record goalscorer Inka Grings - 62 goals in 91 appearances - on the bench.

“It was the right decision to start with Celia and Birgit, they proved themselves,” said Germany assistant coach Ulrike Ballweg on Tuesday.

Former midfielder Okoyino da Mbabi, whose relatives hail from Cameroon, scored Germany’s second goal on Sunday to cap an impressive display.

A second victor y for Germany would put them in the last eight with the final group game against France on July 5 in Moenchengladbach. There will be added bite to the match owing to Uche’s remarks last weekend when she branded homosexuality as ‘dirty’.

Germany reserve goalkeeper Ursula Holl is married to a woman and firstchoice shot-stopper Nadine Angerer is openly bisexual.

The German players have not responded to remarks made by the Nigerian coach, while FIFA have said they will talk to Uche about the issue.

“Yes, the lesbians in our team were really a big problem,” Uche said having taken over as Nigeria’s coach in 2009.

“But since I’m coach of the Super Falcons, that has been cleared up.

“There are no more lesbian players on my team. “I cannot tolerate this dirty life.” —AFP

Rijkaard to coach Saudi Arabia RIYADH: Former Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard is set to sign a contract to lead Saudi Arabia, according to an official from the team yesterday. Rijkaard is expected to a sign a three-year deal

Frank Rijkaard worth euro 11 million (15.9 million) in London today, said Saudi Arabia official Mohamed al-Mesael.

The former Netherlands midfielder was fired as Barcelona coach in 2008 after five years at the club, leading the team to two Spanish championships

and the Champions League title in 2006. His last coaching assignment was with Turkish club Galatasaray.

Once among the top teams in Asia, Saudi Arabia has been without a coach since crashing out of the Asian Cup in January. A deal was signed with Ricardo Gomes but it was canceled after Saudi Arabia rejected his demands for taking over.

Saudi Arabia has appeared in four World Cups, but its for tunes have declined since reaching the 2006 tournament. The team missed out on the 2010 event and has fallen to 92nd in the FIFA world rankings after reaching a high of 23rd in 2004.

Saudi Arabia’s low point came earlier this year after being knocked out of the Asian Cup, a tournament it has won three times, in the group stage after an opening loss to Syria. The team’s Portuguese coach was fired after the loss.

His successor, Nassir al-Johar, was sacked after the campaign ended with a 5-0 loss to Japan. After the tournament, King Abdullah removed Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as football federation president.—AP

Korean match-fixing scandal deepens after Choi admission SEOUL: Korean international Choi Sung-kuk has become the latest player to confess to involvement in the country ’s growing match-fixing scandal, local media reported yesterday.

Th e S u won S a m s ung Bl u ew ing s player admitted his association with the worst scandal to hit the country’s professional league since it was established in 1983 and Korean prosecutors were now looking into the case, the Yonhap news agency reported.

An unidentified former national team goalkeeper had confessed to his involvement in fixing last season’s KLeague matches at the weekend.

The report quoted a K-League official as saying that Choi, part of Korea’s 2004 Olympic and 2007 AFC Asian Cup teams, was lured into attempts to throw matches by another player, who is among the 11 already indicted in the scandal.

I nc i d e n t a ll y, Ch o i denied any wrongdoing in a press conference last

month. “If I had done anything wrong, I would’ve been summoned to the prosecution, and not here talk ing with you,” he said.

League authorities have slapped life bans on 10 players- eight from the Daejeon Citizen team alone. A player was found dead in a hotel room last month and media reports claimed a suicide note was found with reference to a match-fixing ring.

Three members of the top-flight military side Sangmu Phoenix have b een question ed on suspicion of match-fixing, providing further evidence of how deep-rooted the problem was.

Players have until the end of this month to confess to their role and exp ec t a len ien t punish men t. Th e st ate -run spor ts book maker h as stopped taking bets on games, while the government has threatened to stop funding any sports leagues found to be corrupt in any way. —Reuters

Chelsea demands instant success from Villas-Boas LONDON: Andre Villas-Boas expects to be fired by Chelsea if he fails to engineer instant success in his first year as manager of the English Premier League club.

The 33-year-old Portuguese was hired last week as Chelsea’s seventh manager in eight years under the club’s trigger-happy Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, after quitting Porto following a successful season with the Europa League champions.

Rejecting the “Special One” tag adopted by one-time mentor Jose Mourinho in his first news conference as Chelsea manager, VillasBoas instead styled himself as the “Group One” — embracing the collective as he attempts to guide the team to immediate silverware, both in England and the Champions League.

If that doesn’t materialize, Villas-Boas acknowledged Wednesday that his tenure at Stamford Bridge could be brief.

“What you expect from this club is to be successful straight away,” Villas-Boas said at his official presentation as manager. “I will be surprised to be kept on the job if I don’t win.

“The expectations of the club are at the maximum. No doubt we have a compromise with a certain amount of trophies. There’s nothing that the owner told me that I didn’t know, to challenge for the trophies in every area. It’s pretty clear for a club of this dimension — who expects to stay as Chelsea manager if they don’t win anything?”

Villas-Boas established himself as one of Europe’s most highly rated coaches by winning three trophies with Porto last season, including the Portuguese league, in his one year in charge.

His contract was terminated after Porto received payment of §15 million ($21.5 million) to trigger his release clause, turning Villas-Boas into something of a villain at the club and city where he brought so much success in the previous 12 months.

“It was a difficult separation. It’s something that was felt hard in Portugal. My commitment was 100 percent to Porto and it will always be my club,” said VillasBoas, who revealed he received offers from other leading clubs in Europe. “I always felt well in Porto

LONDON: Chelsea’s new manager, Andre Villas-Boas poses for photographers during a press conference, at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas was quick to dismiss comparisons with Jose Mourinho as he used his official introduction at Stamford Bridge to insist he is not the new ‘Special One’. —AP ... but everyone feels the need for a new challenge. “ The move to Chelsea was based on a very lucrative move ...

Porto was able to beat their offer.

Porto made an extremely competitive offer to stay ... But this was a bigger challenge. I’m not running away from the fear of another successful year at Porto — their objective is the same as here. If you’re not (successful), it’s end of story.”

Villas-Boas, who said his family had been reluctant to leave Portugal, is often compared to Mourinho, a compatriot who he worked under as a scout at Chelsea from 2004-07 and then with Italian side Inter Milan.

Their opinion of themselves appears to differ, though. VillasBoas was far too modest to repeat the “Special One” mantra that Mourinho famously took on during his time at Chelsea.

“The title, I will wait for you guys to give it me. I hope I am successful and you give me a good title in the end. This is not a oneman show — it’s about creating empathy and raising ambitions with everyone around me.

Maybe I should be the ‘Group

Merritt cleared for worlds RALEIGH: Disgraced Olympic and world 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt has been cleared to compete in August’s world championships, USA Track & Field (USATF) said on Tuesday.

Merritt was granted an exception to USATF team policy so he could claim a wild-card berth in the world championships as the reigning champion.

US team policy requires athletes to compete in its trials, which were held last weekend, to be eligible for world championships but Merritt was unable to because his 21-month doping suspension does not expire until July 27.

“He’ll be ready,” M erritt law yer Howard Jacobs told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The Virginia native has been working out and “is really looking forward to coming back,” added Jacobs.

USATF’s board granted Merritt his waiver on the recommendation of its chief of sports performance and the chairman of the USATF men’s track and field committee.

His addition will not cost another athlete a spot on the US team. “That fact, as well as the clear message sent by the AAA (arbitration panel) regarding his intent and conduct, resulted in our recommendation to place him on the roster,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, USATF’s Chief of Sports Performance, said in a statement.

Merritt was suspended last October after testing positive in 2009 and 2010 for a banned substance he said was found in a male enhancement product he had taken.

An arbitration panel reduced his suspension from t wo years to 21 months because it believed Merritt’s use had been inadvertent and he had not intended to gain a competitive advantage.

Still to be determined is whether Merritt can compete in the 2012 London Olympics since an IOC rule bans athletes who have served a doping suspension greater than six months from the next Olympics.

But at the request of the international and U.S. Olympic committees, sport’s highest court will rule on its validity. A decision is expected by late September.

“We are hopeful the decision will be favorable and LaShawn and others that are similarly situation will be able to compete in London,” Jacobs said. —Reuters

One.” ‘Villas-Boas said he wouldn’t necessarily make drastic changes to Chelsea’s aging squad, rejecting opinions it was short of quality after failing to land a trophy last season. That led to the sacking of Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti, who won the league-FA Cup double the previous year.

“I agree that minor changes can be done and we can put some input here or there in certain sectors, but my confidence in the players is for them to return to me and judge from there,” Villas-Boas said. “ These are players who deserve this respect for me. They have won a lot but still have hunger for success.”

Villas-Boas also hopes to have autonomy in the transfer market, something that hasn’t happened at the club recently and which was a key factor behind the departure of Mourinho four years ago.

Chelsea has been heavily linked with Porto stars Joao Moutinho, Hulk and Radamel Falcao, as well as Tottenham playmaker Luka Modric, as the club tries to land its first Champions League title.

“There are no players imposed on me. With the top quality you can get at this club, you can move

for the best players in the world.

That’s what we do if we have the necessity. The main thing first is to consider and value what we have at the club,” Villas-Boas said.

Chelsea announced Wednesday that former Italy midfielder Roberto Di Matteo will be Villas-Boas’ assistant coach. Di Matteo, who played for Chelsea from 1996 to 2002, was sacked as West Bromwich Albion manager in February and preaches the same attacking and expansive approach as Villas-Boas.

It’s a good indication of the style the London club is set to adopt next season. “We are proud defenders of the beauty of the game,” Villas-Boas said. “It makes no sense for us to get into a club like Chelsea and play dreadful football. This is why this technical staff was picked, based on a philosophy of playing well and as a team.”

Villas-Boas has already raided Porto to appoint Jose Mario Rocha as fitness coach and Daniel Sousa as opposition scout in the backroom staff. Steve Holland, who worked as reserve-team coach at Chelsea last season, was promoted to the senior setup. —AP

Preview

Lemaitre eyes Jamaican scalps LAUSANNE: French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre goes up against three top Jamaicans at the Diamond League meeting here today with a good chance of a morale-boosting victory ahead of the world championships.

Lemaitre is fresh from having set successive French 100m records in his last two outings over the 100m, the most recent clocked at 9.95 seconds in Stockholm.

Newly-crowned Jamaican champion over the blue ribbon event - in the absence of world and Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt - is former world record holder Asafa Powell, who has a

Christophe Lemaitre season’s best of 9.90sec and a track record of 9.72 in Lausanne, the fifth fastest time ever.

B ol t w a s not on t he c a rd for Lausanne while American Tyson Gay was but has pulled out because of the hip injur y that saw him also withdraw from the U S national c ha m p s a nd cons e q ue nt l y t he August 27-September 4 worlds in

Daegu, South Korea.

Powell’s compatriots Nesta Carter and Michael Frater, with season’s bests of 9.92 and 9.94sec respectively, and the Dutch Antilles’ Churandy Martina will certainly also provide tough opposition for Lemaitre.

After winning the Jamaican champs, Powell admitted he was not back to full fitness from a hamstring injury, but also confidently predicted a top-four Jamaican whitewash at the Daegu worlds.

“I hope we can take it 1-2-3-4,” said Powell, who clocked 10.08sec into a headwind in winning the Jamaican crown. “Hopefully I can be 100 percent (for Lausanne), because I was not training properly for the past couple of weeks.”

The other main draw card event is the men’s 800m, which features Kenyan world record holder David Rudisha in his second race since returning from a foot injury which has seen him sidelined for three months.

Rudisha, who returned to action with a world-leading 1:43.46 at a meet in Nanc y last week, will be pushed by world champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa.

“After my injury, I was anxious to start my summer season. I wanted to check if I was okay, and (in Nancy) I ran a good race and a good time,” Rudisha said.

“The goal is to get my first major title and I hope it will happen in Daegu,” added the 22-year-old, who will also have to compete in the Kenyan trials before the South Korean adventure.

The men’s 5000m also features a high-class field with 11 entries having gone under 13 minutes in the discipline, a battle royale between strong Kenyan and Ethiopian contigents possibly producing a stadium record.

Elsewhere, world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba goes in the men’s 110m hurdles, while French tyro Teddy Tamgho is in a face-off with Briton Phillips Idowu in the triple jump. —AFP

Woods not coming back until fully healthy

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Rijkaard to coach Saudi Arabia

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Munich challenging for 2018 Winter Olympics Page 17

WIMBLEDON: France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dives across the court to reach for a shot during his match against Switzerland’s Roger Federer at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships.—AP

Federer crashes out of Wimbledon Nadal reels in Fish WIMBLEDON: Roger Federer was eliminated in the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the second straight year yesterday, squandering a two-set lead for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament and losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

The six-time Wimbledon champion barely looked challenged while winning the first two sets against the 12th-seeded Frenchman. But Federer, who had been 178-0 in matches in which he had won the opening two sets at a major tournament, was broken one time in each of the last three sets.

“It’s kind of hard going out of the tournament that way, but unfortunately it does happen sometimes,” said Federer, who was playing in his 29th straight major quarterfinal. “At least it took him sort of a special performance to beat me, which is somewhat nice.”

Federer may be right. The 16-time Grand Slam champion finished the match with only 11 unforced errors, half as many as Tsonga, but it didn’t help him get close to breaking Tsonga’s serve when he needed it. “I was two sets down and I break. I did a good game of

return and after that it was just amazing,” said Tsonga, who had 63 winners, five more than Federer.

“I just played unbelievable, served unbelievable and now I’m here, I’m in semifinal and I can’t believe it.” In the next round, Tsonga will face secondseeded Novak Djokovic, who defeated 18-year-old Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal also advanced, beating Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. The two-time champion will face fourth-seeded Andy Murray in the semifinals. Murray defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Federer was seeking a record-equaling seventh Wimbledon title this year.

He breezed through his opening four matches, losing only one set, and played his usual elegant game against Tsonga. In the first set, Federer earned his one and only break point of the match in Tsonga’s first service game, and converted it. He held the rest of the way, and then won the second set in the tiebreaker.

But Tsonga finally got his first break in the third set, and another in the

fourth and another in the fifth. Those were the Frenchman’s only three breaks.

“He can come up with some good stuff and some poor things at times,” Federer said. “He had basically good return games along the way in the third, fourth, and fifth. I think especially the third set, the break I get is very unusual.

He chips back a couple, they stay in.”

Federer has won six titles at the All England Club, including five in a row from 2003-07. He lost to Nadal in the 2008 final in what is considered by many to be one of the greatest matches ever, and then beat Andy Roddick for the championship a year later, winning 16-14 in the fifth set.

Last year, he lost to eventual runnerup Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

“It’s the biggest champion in my sport,” Tsonga said. “He achieved a lot of things and he’s just the best player in the world and I’m just so happy to win against him, especially on grass because it’s maybe one of his favorite surface and I’m just so happy today.” Instead of Federer improving on his record haul of major titles, 10-time Grand Slam champion Nadal can add to his own.

Brazil see off Aussies GERMANY: Brazil’s Samba Queens got their bid for a first women’s World Cup title off to a winning start here yesterday with a 1-0 victory over Australia in their Group D opener.

A second half goal from midfielder Rosana secured all three points for the Brazilians who are bidding for their first title after being runners-up four years ago to Germany in China.

“It was frustrating but I think we achieved a lot today. We nearly did something there,” said Australia coach Tom Sermanni. “We were up against one of the tournament favourites with some

quality players. I’m disappointed but very proud of the effort and the performance.

We just need to focus on the next game now.” The goal brightened spirits at the Borussia Park stadium after days of sunshine in western Germany had given way to chilly conditions.

And the much-anticipated clash had failed to warm the crowd early on with Brazil superstar Marta far from her inspirational form in a drab first half which saw the young Matildas prove more than a match for the world number three team. Collette McCallum missed Australia’s first chance after six minutes

GERMANY: Brazil’s Cristiane falls during the Group D match between Australia and Brazil at the Women’s Soccer World Cup.—AP

when she sent a freekick, awarded following a Daiane foul on Lisa De Vanna, over the bar. And Kyah Simon could have opened the scoring after 23 minutes but for a tremendous save from veteran Brazil goalie Andreia.

Three minutes later Rosana lost control of the ball and sent her effort flying over the bar with Cristiane also seeing her chance off target.

Brazil came out firing after the break with Rosana finally lifting spirits as she took advantage of some confusion in front of the Australian goal to pick up a short pass from Cristiane after 54 minutes to fire past Melissa Barbieri.

The momentum swung Australia’s way in the final 15 minutes but efforts from Tameka Butt and Heather Garriock were held by Santos goalie Andreia.

Lisa De Vanna missed Australia’s last chance for a point when she broke free three minutes from time but saw her effort miss the target.

The victory gives Brazil a 6-3 record over Australia. The five-time South American champions’ are bidding for their first major title having settled for silver at the last World Cup and the last two Olympic Games.

The Australia Matildas reached a career-best quarter-final four years ago where they fell 3-2 to the Brazilians. Brazil next play former champions Norway who earlier beat Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Augsburg while Australia will take on the Africans debutantes on July 3.—AFP

The top-seeded Spaniard lost one set but did not appear to be bothered by the left foot injury he sustained in his previous match against Juan Martin del Potro. “Today it was better. The treatment worked and I’m fine. I’m here,” Nadal said.

“The previous match was tough for me because for a moment I didn’t know if I had a serious injury but since (it’s) nothing important (it’s) probably going to work.” On Court 1, Djokovic overcame a tough match against his protege, holding on to reach the semifinals for the third time in his career.

Djokovic has been practicing with Tomic on-and-off since the two became friends last year in Australia, but this was the first meeting between the two in a competitive match. After Tomic put a forehand into the net on match point, the pair had a brief chat at the net. Then, with the crowd applauding, Djokovic did the same while motioning toward Tomic. “It was a very even match. In the first set I felt I played quite well,” said Djokovic, who finished the match with fewer winners than Tomic, 43-39. “Then I played one really bad service game and

he got back into the match. And from that moment on, he was the better player.” At the start, Djokovic appeared to have little to worry about, rolling through the first set and on his way to a fifth straight major semifinal. But Tomic didn’t quit, instead breaking Djokovic to take a 3-1 lead in the second set and eventually evening the match. “I definitely think I belong with these guys,” Tomic said.

“I mean, sooner or later I’ll play a player like Novak or Rafa and Roger where I’ll have a win, but until then I’ve got to improve.” Tomic again went up a break in the third, but that’s when Djokovic got going.

The two-time Grand Slam champion won five straight games to take the third set, and then won the first two games in the fourth. Although Tomic got back on serve at 2-2 and was two points from winning the set at 5-4, Djokovic soon broke to take a 6-5 lead and held for victory.

“It was really hard to predict where he’s going to go. He was not making a lot of unforced errors from the baseline, and that made my life really difficult,”

Djokovic said. “I tried to change the pace, but he was better at that. We were playing cat and mouse, I think. But in the end, I’m just happy to get through.”

Djokovic started the 2011 season by winning 41 straight matches, but that came to an end with a loss to Federer in the French Open semifinals. If the Serb reaches the final at the All England Club for the first time this year, he will guarantee himself the No. 1 ranking. He can also claim the top ranking if Nadal fails to defend his title.

Tomic was the youngest man to start in the men’s draw this year, and he’s the youngest to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Boris Becker defended his title in 1986.

Murray is trying to become the first British man to win the Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936. And against Lopez, he was never really bothered.

He saved the two break points he faced, both in the third set, and finished off the match by winning the final game at love. “I’ve played a little bit better every year I’ve come here,” said Murray, who is in the semifinals for the third straight year. “I want to go further.”—AP

Norway edge Equatorial Guinea AUGSBURG: The 1995 champions Norway survived a battle with debutantes Equatorial Guinea in Group D action at the Women’s World Cup here yesterday, winning 1-0 thanks to Emelie Haavi’s late goal.

The back-and-forth encounter saw Norway hit the woodwork on three occasions before Haavi’s match winner in the 84th minute. The 2000 Olympic champions Norway have three points in Group D while Equatorial Guinea are empty handed despite a strong showing. Equatorial Guinea’s next game is against Australia on July 3 in Bochum while Norway face Brazil in Wolfsburg.

“I had a feeling it would be a tough game. The main thing is that was have three points. And now we can focus on getting three more points,” said Norway coach Eli Landsem. “We had a lot of chances and actually we were hoping to score even more goals.”

Guinean handler Marcello Frigerio said he could see his side getting something out of their remaining two group matches on the evidence of what he saw against Norway. “Guinea is an entirely new participant and an entirely new adventure,” he said.

“It would have been a great success for Equatorial Guinea. We could have beaten Norway and we will have our chances against the other teams too,” he added. In front of 12,928 spectators at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Stadium in Augsburg, the Norwegians just missed grabbing the lead in the

AUGSBURG: Norway’s Emilie Haavi is congratulated by Elise Thorsnes after scoring the goal during the Group D match between Norway and Equatorial Guinea at the Women’s Soccer World Cup.—AP second minute as a clearance by the Africans landed at Haavi, but the midfielder blasted her shot off the far left upright. Equatorial Guinea needed some time to get into the match and relied on long-range efforts, like Anonman’s 40 yard blast and Jurama’s attempt from just a bit closer after 17 minutes. The Africans began to dominate and Dulcia was through for a run at keeper and woman of the match Ingrid Hjelmseth but Haavi got in the

way in the last second at the 20minute mark. Hjelmseth faced a barrage of shots — most of them of the longer distance variety - and successfully cleared them all away, though just barely on Anonman’s attempt in the 22nd minute.

Norway finally made a push forward after 35 minutes with Isabell Herlovsen and Madeleine Giske passing to one another before Herlovsen shot over the bar.—AFP

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Britain faces mass strikes as civil servants feel sting Page 25 THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Islamic finance eyes Thailand’s infrastructure funding Page 25

Chevrolet Camaro Bumblebee: The buzz is back Page 22

Greek MPs pass first austerity bill Rioters, police battle in Athens ATHENS: Protesters take cover from tear gas at Syntagma square in front of the Greek Parliament in central Athens yesterday. — AP

ATHENS: Greek lawmakers yesterday passed the first of two austerity bills demanded by international lenders while on the streets police fired tear gas to drive back protesters who attacked the finance ministry. The bill on tax hikes, spending targets and privatizations was passed by 155 votes for to 138 against, clearing the way for a second vote today on a separate bill enabling individual budget measures and the privatization of specific state assets. Five MPs abstained and two were absent.

Both bills must be passed for the European Union and International Monetary Fund to release a vital 12billion-euro loan tranche that the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou needs to remain in funds.

“Now is the time to rise to the his-

torical challenge, look to the future and secure it for the next generations,” he told parliament ahead of the vote. Swallowing her doubts, opposition deputy Elsa Papadimitriou defied her New Democracy party, which opposed the plan, and voted for the package, making up for Panagiotis Kouroublis, a rebel from the ruling PASOK party who voted against and was immediately expelled from the party.

“It is the most important decision and challenge of my political life,” Papadimitriou said ahead of the vote. “(I will vote) yes, and I hope the government does not disappoint me.” As deputies debated the measures, police battled thousands of demonstrators in the street just yards away after protesters massed in front of parliament pushed over the metal

UAE developers see market boost from new visa rules DUBAI: A decision to extend visa tenures for real estate investors will “significantly” boost investor confidence in the United Arab Emirates’ struggling property sector, the head of the country’s largest developer said. The UAE government said that it has extended visas for foreign property buyers to three years from the existing six months, as the Gulf state looks to boost investment in its struggling property market.

“The UAE federal cabinet decision ... will significantly enhance investor confidence and drive the growth of the country’s property sector,” Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of Dubai’s Emaar Properties, said in a statement yesterday.

Property stocks rose as a result of Tuesday’s announcement with Emaar rising 1.7 percent by 0930 GMT and builder Arabtec’s shares gaining 1.6 percent. In neighboring Abu Dhabi, Aldar Properties, the emirate’s largest developer by market value increased 0.8 percent. Currently, foreign owners of property worth more than 1 million dirhams ($272,300) in the UAE have to renew their visa every six months.

In a research note, Citigroup said the decision could significantly boost demand in Dubai’s residential real estate sector, where the promise of a long-term residency visa was a major driver of second-home purchases during the boom prior to mid-2008. “However, the overall impact on the property market will likely be somewhat muted by oversupply issues that are being exacerbated by the ongoing completion of new properties,” analyst Farouk Soussa said in the note. Dubai’s property sector has been hit hard in recent years with billions of dollars worth of projects put on hold or cancelled, while prices slumped as much as 60 percent largely due to lack of buyers in the market.

The emirate’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) said earlier this year it cancelled as many as 217 registered property projects over the past two years. RERA has been taken a number of steps to improve regulation and transparency of Dubai’s property sector, such as laws for property maintenance, but more needs to be done to tempt overseas investors back to Dubai after the collapse. More clarity on the mortgage law and visa regulations are among further steps that need to be introduced, analysts have said.—Reuters

barriers set up in front of the colonnaded building. “Cops, pigs, murderers,” chanted the crowd at a line of helmeted riot police as tear gas projectiles filled the square outside parliament with stinging white smoke.

Protesters waved Greek flags and dozens joined hands in a traditional Greek dance in front of police lines as a tense standoff continued for much of the afternoon.

As violence flared, a group of protesters attacked the nearby finance ministry before being driven back by police. Doctors working with the demonstrators said they had treated at least 25 people for minor injuries and 192 people with respirator y problems at the adjacent Syntagma metro station. The measures demanded by international lenders as the price for continuing to support

Athens have caused bitter resentment among Greeks coping with the deepest recession since the 1970s and now facing years of grim austerity.

SECOND VOTE RISK Even with approval yesterday, there remains a risk that lawmakers may reject detailed austerity bills in votes today on the implementation of different elements of the plan, such as tax rises and the sale of state assets.

Mihalis Tzelepis, a deputy in Papandreou’s PASOK party, said that although he would back the basic austerity package, he still had serious reservations and was not sure of how he would vote on the second bill.

“Will there be a way to compensate households for the heating fuel increase? Will there be exemptions

for agriculture to help it be competitive? I am waiting for answers to see what I will do in the implementation law,” he told parliament.

In a heated debate in parliament, opponents of the package said it merely delayed the inevitable and would do nothing to solve Greece’s underlying problems.

“In three months, when we will see more of the same taking place, what will be your arguments then?” asked Alexis Tsipras, leader of the leftist SRIZA coalition. “Greeks are saying no to these catastrophic measures ... you cannot go far with all the people against you.” The prospect of a messy second vote could complicate any decision on releasing the 12-billion-euro tranche, part of a 110-billion-euro bailout package agreed by the EU and IMF

Oman targets 5 percent growth, no bond plans

CAIRO: Blood runs down the head of an Egyptian protester injured during clashes with riot police in Tahrir square in Cairo yesterday. — AFP

Egypt stock market tumbles on clashes CAIRO: The Egyptian stock exchange’s benchmark index tumbled 2 percent yesterday, dragged down by new clashes in the iconic Cairo square that served as the epicenter of the protest movement that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak. The benchmark EGX30 index closed at 5,283 points, shedding 2.03 percent from its previous day’s settlement as overnight fighting between security forces and hundreds of protesters in Tahrir Square highlighted the continuing tension in the Arab world’s most populous nation. Egypt is struggling to rebuild its economy, which was battered by the 18-day uprising that began Jan 25 and ended with Mubarak handing over power to the military.

“To be honest, we were expecting worse than this,” Khaled Naga, a broker with Mega Investments, said, referring to the drop in the market. The past week has seen some weakness in the market, but “the Tahrir situation made things worse.” The protests that erupted Tuesday night rekindled memories of the fighting that surfaced in the first few days of the initial uprising. Security forces clashed with hundreds of protesters in the downtown Cairo square, firing tear gas as the demonstrators lobbed rocks. The protesters were demanding the acceleration of the prosecution of police accused of brutality in the uprising. The clashes continued into yesterday, albeit on a smaller scale. Since the

last year.

Greece’s euro zone partners have insisted that both bills must be passed for the loan to be released bu t the pros pec t of the g lobal financial crisis that would probably follow a Greek default may prompt some flexibility.

I f the second vote does pass, euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve the tranche at a meeting in Brussels on Sunday, with the IMF following on July 5.

Attention will then switch to a second bailout package, expected to be around the same size as the first, which would include some 30 billion euros in private sector participation through a voluntary rollover of existing debt.— Reuters

revolution, Egyptian officials have been struggling to revive the economy amid continued labor strikes that had initially battered exports and manufacturing at the same time as two of the country’s chief cash cows, tourism and foreign direct investment, were taking a drubbing. Losses were spread throughout the various sectors on the market.

Shares of investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding slumped 3.02 percent while Ezz Steel, the country’s largest steel maker, fell 5 percent. The Egyptian Exchange had remained shuttered for about two months after the start of the uprising, and reopened in late March to losses far lower than the collapse many had anticipated. — AP

JEDDAH: Oman’s economy is expected to grow by 5 percent this year if oil prices stay at current levels and the Gulf sultanate has no plans to issue sovereign bonds at present, its finance minister said yesterday. The small non-OPEC oil exporter has been hit by protesters demanding jobs, higher salaries and an end to graft in recent months as unrest spread through the Arab world. It plans to heavily invest in infrastructure projects in the coming years. “We are looking at 5 percent (growth) as long as oil prices stay at current levels,” Darwish AlBalushi told reporters on the sidelines of a financial conference in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. Analysts polled by Reuters in June expected the sultanate’s economy to expand by 4.1 percent in 2011, unchanged from March forecasts.

Oil prices have been hovering between $84 and $115 per barrel since the beginning of the year. A Reuters poll in May showed analysts expected US benchmark crude to trade around $100 per barrel this year. When asked if the government planned any sovereign bond issue this year, Balushi said: “No, not at present. When we prepare next year’s budget ... we might be able to talk about any sovereign financing.” Oman, which issued only small development bonds in the past, has the lowest government debt among Gulf Arab oil exporters at a mere 5.1 percent of its annual economic output in 2010.

In December, Oman projected a record expenditure of 8.1 billion rials ($21.1 billion) in its 2011 deficit budget, up 13.2 percent from the previous year’s plan. However, protests prompted Sultan Qaboos bin Said, a US ally who has ruled Oman for 40 years, to promise a $2.6 billion spending package in April. He also announced plans to create 50,000 new jobs among other measures. A finance ministry official told Reuters in June that Oman expected 2011 spending to be about 20 percent higher than previously planned due to extra spending on social programs, but planned to reach a balanced budget.

When asked about next year’s budget, Balushi said: “This year’s budget is expansionary. The next year will depend on how we forecast the oil price.” Oman’s wealthier Gulf Arab neighbors unveiled a $20 billion aid package in March for the sultanate and unrest-hit Bahrain to help ease social tensions threatening stability in their own countries. Balushi did not offer details on how the money was going to be spent or whether it was already received, saying the process was at early stages.— Reuters

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Chevrolet Camaro Bumblebee: The buzz is back Camaroreturns inTransformers: Darkofthe Moon KUWAIT: The Chevrolet Camaro returns as the Autobot “Bumblebee” in Transformers: Dark of the Moon opened yesterday in 3D across the region.

In the Middle East, Chevrolet celebrated the launch of the third Transformers movie with a special 3D premiere held across cinemas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah attended by regional media, Chevrolet customers and selected fans from Chevrolet’s Facebook page for the Middle East (www.facebook.com/ChevroletArabia).

“The Transformers franchise has helped

introduce the Camaro - and Chevrolet - to a whole new generation of fans,” said Luay Alshurafa, Chevrolet regional brand manager at General Motors Middle East Operations.

“Its role in the films helped make the Camaro one of the best-known cars of any kind around the world.” The fifth-generation Camaro previously played Bumblebee in the 2007 film Transformers and in the 2009 film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The films generated $1.5 billion in global box-office sales, and helped reintro-

Australian mining industry 83% foreign-owned: Study

Fitch affirms NBK’s AA- rating KUWAIT: NBK maintained sound profitability ratios and is expected to generate sound profits throughout 2011.

NBK has a strong and stable deposit base and benefited from a “flight to safety” during crises. Fitch Ratings, the international credit rating agency, affirmed yesterday the National Bank of Kuwait’s (NBK) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘AA-’ with a Stable Outlook, Short-term IDR at ‘F1+’, Support Rating at ‘1’ and Support Rating Floor at ‘AA-’.

The Individual Rating is affirmed at ‘B’. Fitch said that NBK’s Individual Rating reflects the bank’s leading domestic franchise, consistent profitability, sound asset quality, conservative risk profile and low funding costs.

Fitch added that NBK’s IDRs reflect the extremely high probability of support from the government of Kuwait, should it be required, considering NBK’s importance to the Kuwaiti banking system, and the consistent support local banks have received from the authorities during past systemic crises.

NBK’s IDRs have a Stable Outlook, reflecting the Kuwaiti sovereign’s ratings.

The rating agency stressed that NBK maintained sound profitability ratios in 2010, with net income 13.6% higher, assisted by a marked reduction in impairment charges, which represented a modest 5.9% of pre-impairment

duce the Camaro to consumers after a seven-year hiatus from dealerships.

In 2009, the Camaro was the mostsearched-for car on the web, according to Yahoo!Autos, even though the first models didn’t arrive at dealers until late that year.

This year, the Camaro continues to lead the sports car segment, fueled by the introduction of the Camaro Convertible that was launched in the Middle East in March 2011.

That momentum is expected to accelerate early next year with the introduction of the 550 horsepower 2012 Camaro ZL1.

operating profit. Net income continued to grow in Q111 and the bank is expected to generate sound profits throughout 2011, despite the more difficult conditions in certain Middle East markets. Fitch highlighted that NBK’s asset quality ratios remain sound, a reflection of the bank’s conservative attitude to credit risk. NBK reported a slight improvement in loan quality ratios during 2010, with nonperforming loans at 1.7% of the total and coverage at 209% at end-2010.

Past due but not impaired loans continued to fall in 2010.

Fitch added that NBK has a strong and stable deposit base, both retail and corporate, and has benefited from a “flight to safety ” during crises.

Capitalization improved in 2010, following a rights issue which raised KWD163.5m including share premium.

Equity consists almost entirely of Tier I capital. The Fitch core capital ratio stood at a strong 24.8% at end-2010.

The Tier I ratio stood at 18.2% (end2009: 14.5%). The rating agency pointed out that NBK is the largest bank in Kuwait, with a market share of around 30% of loans and deposits. It offers retail, private and corporate banking via an extensive domestic network of 71 branches. It also has an extensive international network in major financial centers worldwide and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Profits from miningoperations toflowoffshore SYDNEY: Australia’s mining industry-the main driver of its booming economy-is 83 percent foreign-owned and huge profits go overseas, according to a study released yesterday by the Greens party. The report, produced by a private consultant commissioned by the Greens, said that in the next five years Aus$50 billion (US$53 billion) in profits from Australian mining operations would flow offshore. Greens leader Bob Brown used the report to argue that more of the money should remain in Australia, pushing the case for a super profits tax on miners, rather than the government’s less onerous Mineral Resources Rent Tax. He also wants a sovereign wealth fund set up to help sectors of the economy suffering because of Australia’s commodities rush. “Amid a mining boom, while the federal government faces budget pressures and as the Reserve Bank of Australia prepares to raise interest rates, parts of the economy are wallowing,” Brown said.

“The mining boom is creating massive problems for other parts of the Australian economy. “If the country’s minerals wealth is not properly managed, many Australians will actually be worse off and Australia’s prosperity

will be put at risk.”

The Mineral Resources Rent Tax-set to apply to iron ore and coal from July next year at a rate of 30 percent-replaces Canberra’s original “super profits tax”, which applied at 40 percent across the entire resources sector. It is expected to raise an estimated Aus$40 billion over 10 years, with the cash to be used to fund infrastructure, pensions and tax cuts for small businesses. But Brown wants it expanded to include gold and uranium and for the corporate tax cuts to be scrapped, with the money instead put into a sovereign fund.

“I think Australians simply have been left in the dark about the rapid takeover of ownership offshore of Australia’s minerals,” he said. “I don’t think Australians have any idea that Australia’s mining industry is 83 percent foreign owned.” The three biggest miners in Australia-BHP, Rio Tinto and Xstrata-all have significant foreign ownership at 76 percent, 83 percent and 100 percent respectively, according to the research. Other iconic “Aussie” miners are also partly foreign-owned with Fortescue at 40 percent and Gloucester Coal at 63 percent, it said.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson played

down the report, saying “foreign investment is welcome in Australia”.

“I think we as a community have to understand that our economic prosperity historically is built of the back of foreign investment,” he told reporters. “It’s been good for Australia in the past and it will be good for Australia in the future.” Minerals Council of Australia Chief Mitch Hooke called the report “xenophobic”, saying it relied on flawed projections “to make a crude case for punitive new taxes on the minerals sector”.

“The Greens leader Senator Brown is campaigning to close down the coal industry and ban uranium mining. Now he wants to tax the industry out of existence,” he said in a statement. “The projections in the Greens’ report are irreconcilable with the facts.”

He claimed that in the last decade, 98 percent of the cash flow from Australian mining operations was paid to the state in the form of taxes and royalties or reinvested. “The companies repeatedly targeted by the Greens are all on record demonstrating they have reinvested in Australia either all, or most, of the revenue they generated from their Australian operations, over the past decade.” — AFP

X-Cite announces the 3rd winner of new Audi R8

Agility named ‘Best Client’ DUBAI: At a recent awards ceremony, Agility, a leading global logistics provider, was named “Best Client” in the supply chain and logistics company category by the Dubai Customs Department. Agility was selected based on its outstanding commitment to deliver high-quality customer service and customized solutions that facilitate and foster interaction between clients and authorities. HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates Group and Head of Dubai Financial Committee presented the award during a ceremony held in Zabeel Saray, Palm Jumierah, under his patronage HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of UAE and Ruler of Dubai and in the presence of His Excellency Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zones and Director General of Customs.

Accepting the award, Ramzi Al Zarouni,

KUWAIT: X-Cite by Alghanim Electronics announced the third winner of its grand summer raffle draw for a brand new Audi R8 on June 27, 2011 at Al Rai Store.

The lucky winner was Syed Najib Allah Mohammad Shah who purchased a Nokia mobile from Beitak showroom on June 24th, 2011. X-Cite is giving its customers the chance of a lifetime to win an Audi R8, Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, Corvette, Mercedes-Benz SLS and the amazing Lamborghini Gallardo.

For every purchase of 50KD, one can enter into the weekly draw and win a dream car. Three lucky individuals have already won the Corvette, Cadillac and the Audi R8. Final weeks of the promotion now remain for the MercedesBenz SLS and the grand prize ‘Lamborghini Gallardo’.

Agility’s General Manager, Government and Business Affairs, said, “It is an honor to receive this award and to be recognized

by Dubai Customs for the contribution we make in facilitating exchange between our clients and authorities. We are committed to continuously developing innovative solutions that are both efficient for our clients and the UAE government.”

From its roots in emerging markets, Agility brings efficiency to supply chains in some of the globe’s most challenging environments, offering unmatched personal service, a global footprint and customized capabilities in developed countries and emerging economies alike. A publicly traded company, Agility is one of the world’s leading providers of integrated logistics with close to $6 billion in annual revenue and more than 22,000 employees in 550 offices across 100 countries.

EXCHANGE RATES CommercialBankofKuwait 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 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

.2700000 .4360000 .3910000 .3270000 .2770000 .2860000 .0040000 .0020000 .0743610 .7244760 .3810000 .0700000 .7102170 .0040000 .0430000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2739000 .4383220 .3937040 .3298810 .2794040 .0527850 .0424850 .2888690 .0351930 .2211720 .0033790 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0746020 .7267180 .0000000 .0730590 .7116130 .0000000

Al-MuzainiExchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.437 6.121 3.207 2.511 3.835 222.850 35.451

.2765000 .4460000 .4000000 .3380000 .2860000 .2960000 .0072500 .0035000 .0751080 .7317570 .4010000 .0770000 .7173540 .0072000 .0530000 .2760000 .4416830 .3967220 .3324100 .2815460 .0531900 .0428100 .2910830 .0354630 .2228680 .0034050 .0061740 .0025260 .0032210 .0037420 .0751740 .7322900 .3903820 .0736200 .7170690 .0063820

Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

3.700 6.329 8.939 0.271 0.273

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

GCC COUNTRIES 73.629 75.866 717.160 733.360 75.184

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 48.350 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.281 Yemen Riyal 1.263 Tunisian Dinar 201.900 Jordanian Dinar 389.910 Lebanese Lira 183.100 Syrian Lier 5.961 Morocco Dirham 35.385 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 276.000 Euro 392.470 Sterling Pound 442.290 Canadian dollar 280.770 Turkish lire 168.400 Swiss Franc 331.530 Australian dollar 288.250 US Dollar Buying 274.800 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL CASH 293.600 732.790 3.930 284.000 540.500 36.600 54.000 167.800 48.260 399.100 36.410 6.300

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 442.200 275.100

Sterling Pound US Dollar

DollarcoExchange Co. Ltd

BahrainExchange 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

GOLD 1,552.720

10 Tola

GOLD 277.000 140.000 72.000

0.033 0.240 0.240 3.490 390.510 0.186 93.230 47.400 4.320 226.900 1.866 52.000 714.700 3.300 6.520 76.120 73.470 223.400 42.880 2.646 444.200 43.600 334.900 5.500 9.330 198.263 75.020 275.500 1.200

SELL DRAFT 292.100 731.790 3.688 282.500

223.400 46.171 397.600 36.260 6.125

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 275.050 283.814 441.195 397.805 3231.385 728.544 74.862 75.499 73.310 387.165 46.124 2.506 6.131

0.032

388.900 0.185 93.230 3.840 225.400

Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

3.202 3.693 6.324 674.672 3.491 9.011 5.783 3.913 91.361

KuwaitBahrainIntlExchange Co. 714.520 3.210 6.320 75.690 73.470 223.400 42.880 2.507 442.200 333.400 5.500 9.120 74.920 275.100

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) 275.100 3.210 6.135 2.520 3.700 6.360 75.000 73.565 731.400 46.115 445.600 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 390.900 5.750 401.000 286.300

AlMulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 274.800 Euro 397.500 Pound Sterling 441.500 Canadian Dollar 282.500 Japanese Yen 3.425 Indian Rupee 6.130 Egyptian Pound 46.065 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.506 Bangladesh Taka 3.675 Philippines Peso 6.330 Pakistan Rupee 3.205 Bahraini Dinar 731.700 UAE Dirham 74.900 Saudi Riyal 73.460 *Rates are subject to change

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business

Asia looks to ‘friend’ Lagarde to honor IMF pledges Emerging economies look for key appointments SINGAPORE: Asia’s fast-rising economies set their sights on securing key IMF appointments under newly named chief Christine Lagarde yesterday, hopeful she would be the one to make good on oft-heard pledges to swing more power to emerging markets. Lagarde said all the right things on her recent campaign-trail tour of Asia. She acknowledged that countries such as China and India deserve increased IMF voting power commensurate with their growing economic clout, and a fair shot at the emergency lending institution’s top decision-making posts.

“Lagarde is a friend of India,” a senior Indian government source said. “We can’t get the IMF managing director’s chair for now but at least India can get some high-level appointments in the IMF during her tenure and we will work

towards that.” Lagarde begins her five-year term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund on July 5, and will find herself immediately immersed in efforts to head off a Greek debt default that could spark an international crisis.

High on her to-do list within the Fund will be appointing a top leadership which fairly reflects global economic influence, and shepherding through an already agreed process to reallocate IMF voting rights to give emerging markets greater say. China’s central bank said in a brief statement that it hoped Lagarde would push for reform, and wanted to see the IMF play a positive role in promoting global financial stability “and to increase the representation of emerging economies in the IMF governance structure.”

Lagarde received support from many major Asian economies even though she perpetuates a pattern they despise of Europeans holding the top IMF job. No Asian candidate stepped forward to challenge Lagarde and Mexico’s Agustin Carstens. “Lagarde has been more successful in consensus building to bridge relationships between advanced countries and emerging markets,” Indonesia’s central bank deputy governor Hartadi A Sarwono said.

She will need those skills for the difficult personnel decisions. The United States is already considering putting for ward a Treasur y Department official for the No 2 role, which has traditionally been filled by an American. Breaking with that tradition might help convince Asian countries that Lagarde is serious about reforming

the IMF, although there was no indication that she had made any promises to award the secondin- command role to someone from Asia.

Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who also chairs the IMF’s steering committee, said he had spoken to Lagarde about the importance of IMF reforms that “reflect the evolving balance in the global economy and financial system.” Even countries that had backed Lagarde’s challenger, Carstens, pledged their support. Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said he had worked with Lagarde through the Group of 20 club of rich and emerging countries, and welcomed her appointment. “We’re very happy to see the process concluded so this important institution can continue its work,” Swan said through a spokesman.— Reuters

KAMCO Research on ‘Mabanee Company’ KUWAIT: An Initiating Coverage report prepared by KAMCO Research on “Mabanee Company”, the real estate developer that is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, which includes a detailed analysis of the Company’s financial performance and standing, overview of the current and future expansion plans for ‘The Avenues’ mall and a valuation of fair value per share.

YOKOHAMA: Cars for export are parked at a port in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Japan’s industrial production posted the sharpest rise in nearly six decades in May but was still below pre-quake levels as factories toiled to reverse the sharp downturn triggered by the March 11 disaster. — AP

Japan’s output sees second-biggest rise TOKYO: Japan’s industrial output rose at the second fastest pace on record in May, signaling a continuing recovery for the economy from the impact of the March quake and tsunami, data showed yesterday. Factory output soared 5.7 percent from the previous month, beating market expectations of a 5.5percent increase and following a revised 1.6percent monthly rise in April as auto sector supply chains continued to recover.

“Industrial production is on a recovery trend after the Great East Japan Earthquake,” a government statement said, referring to the March disaster that triggered a nuclear accident, plunging Japan into its worst post-war crisis.

The data show the biggest jump in production since a 7.9 percent increase logged in March 1953, which heralded the start of a period of extremely sharp growth in Japan that propelled it to the status of global economic powerhouse. “Shortly after the earthquake, production in the transport equipment (automobile) sector dropped sharply.

We are seeing a rebound from that,” said an economy, trade and industry ministry official.

The regions directly affected by the March disasters, including the northern Pacific coastline that is dotted with strategic parts production hubs, collectively logged an 18.8percent jump in production. The rest of the nation marked a 4.5-percent rise.

Meanwhile, shipments in May jumped 5.3 percent, rising for the first time in three months. Inventories rose 5.1 percent, marking a second straight monthly increase. The latest data indicate Japan is on its way to an early Vshaped recovery as supply chains and production continue to be restored at a fast pace, noted Hidehiko Fujii, chief economist at Japan Research Institute. He said overall production in June will likely return to the levels seen before the disasters. However, manufacturers might have rushed to produce in May ahead of a government order to reduce energy consumption in the peak summer months when general electricity demand will likely spike, the ministry official added.

The Japanese government has ordered major firms to cut electricity use by 15 percent, as most of the nation’s nuclear reactors remain offline in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant caused by the tsunami. However, the ministry said prospects for Japanese output were brightening a more optimistic assessment than a month ago, when it said output was “expected to recover gradually”. The government expects continued production increases, forecasting a 5.3 percent rise for June and 0.5 percent in July.

The moderate July forecast suggests “companies are offering a conservative estimate” to balance production plans and the requirement to save energy, Fujii said.— AFP

Nissan CEO’s $12 million pay gets shareholders’ scrutiny YOKOHAMA: Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn fielded some tough questions from shareholders about his 982 million yen ($12 million) paycheck yesterday, but won approval with no problems for another two-year stint as head of the Japanese automaker. Ghosn, who is also head of Nissan Motor Co’s alliance partner Renault SA of France, told an annual shareholders meeting that his pay was based on global standards. He said the average compensation for comparable auto industry chief executives is $15.3 million. “Nissan is a Japanese company with global management,” he said at a hotel in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. Brazilian-born Ghosn, who has French citizenship, noted that talented multicultural management could easily find jobs elsewhere, and that rivals were looking to recruit from Nissan’s ranks.

Ghosn came from Renault to steer a recovery at near-bankrupt Nissan in 1999 and oversaw painful cost cuts that have now put Japan’s No 2 automaker on a solid growth track. It is targeting an 8 percent share of the global auto market under a six-year strategy announced last week. Nissan now has 5.8 percent global market share. Americans may be used to hearing about the high pay of their country’s executives but individual compensation began to be disclosed more regularly in Japan only last year, under a new rule requiring disclosure of pay for executives receiving 100 million yen ($1 million) or more. Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally is paid $26.5 million.

Ghosn earned 891 million yen last year already among the top salaries for a head of a Japanese company. Most Japanese top executives are paid far lower salaries, partly because their roles tend to be different, especially in the past. They don’t wield the managerial power of a US or European corporate chief, acting more like what is known as a “salaryman president” in Japan, rising up in the ranks gradually to become a symbolic cheerleader, while key decisions are still made by a larger team.

Nissan Motor Co Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn Nissan, which makes the Leaf electric vehicle, the March subcompact and Infiniti luxury model, is among the handful of Japanese companies that has a foreigner at the top.

Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp disclosed Tuesday that Chief Executive Howard Stringer, a Welshborn American, received 345 million yen ($4.3 million), along with stock options worth 518 million yen ($6.4 million). Ghosn has emerged as a rare example of charismatic management in a nation that favors team work over individuals standing out.

At yesterday’s meeting, one investor, who did not give his name, asked about Ghosn’s riches, noting Ghosn also owns 3 million Nissan shares. “It should be reassuring for shareholders that I have a lot of shares,” Ghosn replied, stressing that meant he has a stake in the automaker’s success.

Other shareholders were impressed with Ghosn’s leadership. One woman said she had no questions, but wanted to give Ghosn a book as a gift. He accepted, shaking her hand by the stage. Yoshinobu Ota, 74, a retired trust banker, said he is invigorated by the momentum that Ghosn has found for Nissan.

“I could feel the passion from Nissan under Ghnosn. I am so grateful to him,” he said after the shareholders’ meeting. “Some may argue that his pay is too much, but he has that kind of ability,” he said.— AP

Company Background Mabanee Co is a public shareholding real estate company that is widely recognized for owning ‘The Avenues’ mall. It was listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange during November 1999 and is currently the largest real estate company in its sector representing around 26% of the total real estate sector market capitalization. The Avenues, which is also the largest mall in Kuwait in terms of Gross Leasable Area (GLA), is currently expanding as the company is working on adding its latest extension to the mall.

Business Model Mabanee operates as a mall developerowner-operator and therefore exhibits properties similar to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). The mall rental income accounts for over 90% of the company’s revenues, while the remainder is driven by advertising services for tenants. Mabanee has significant exposure to the local retail market, which makes up 98% of the company’s gross leasable area (GLA), while an office building (Mabanee Office building) accounts for the rest.

Mabanee’s great success depends on its strategic partnerships with local and international retailers, which helps attract other major tenants and local consumers alike. The company’s largest shareholder, Al Shaya Group, which owns a 35.8% stake in the company, owns franchise rights in the region for 65 international retail brands. According to Mabanee, a significant portion of their stores are currently occupied by Al Shaya Group.

Kuwait Retail Industry The retail sector in the State of Kuwait has been underdeveloped for some years in comparison with other GCC and MENA countries without any major high quality mega malls or large scale shopping facilities. Over the past few years, however, the introduction of large scale malls such as The Avenues, Al Kout, Marina and other similar retail facilities has put Kuwait on the region’s retail map and signaled a significant period of growth witnessed by this segment with total GLA going from roughly 345,000 sqm in 2006 to a projected 918,000 over the next few years. This has represented a remarkable shift from old and traditional retail marketplaces towards large-scale mega malls.

The Avenues The Avenues mall is the largest mall in the State of Kuwait in terms of GLA and soon to be, upon the completion of phase III, one of the largest retail malls in the Middle East.

Even though Mabanee has plans to expand in other Middle East cities, such as Cairo, Doha and Abu Dhabi; the current performance of the company revolves around the performance of one mall that it is still working on expanding in separate phases Phase I & II Phases I and II were initially inaugurated during April 2007 and 2008, and occupy an area of 142,337 sqm and 63,700 sqm, respectively, at a total estimated cost of KD 164 million ($580 million). Given that the first two phases include a number of large scale anchor stores which typically sign longer term lease agreements in order to get a discounted rental rate, the average annual rent is around KD 204 ($736) per sqm which is considerably lower than Mabanee’s expected average for phase III. According to the Company, both phase I and II have more than 400 stores operating at a 96% occupancy rate.

The mall is currently occupied by a diverse group of tenants bringing to Kuwait some of the biggest names in the retail business and medium to high end brand names.

Accordingly, major retail groups occupy around 79% of the total leasable area represented by Al Shaya Group among other large regional and international groups. The large presence of major retail groups increases the robustness of Mabanee’s quality of income where such tenants have the ability to withstand temporary economic shocks or weak

consumer spending and therefore are less likely to close their stores in comparison with other small retailers that might not have the same financial capacity.

Phase III The total cost of phase III is estimated at KD 150 million ($525 million) and is being constructed adjacent to the first two phases with an expected opening in April 2012. The new phase will be targeted at the high-end segment which is still considered significantly underserved in Kuwait as most nationals do the majority of their high-end shopping in Europe and the US. It is estimated to encompass around 450 stores with a similar approach to phase II in that it would include smaller stores and luxury retailers. The design for phase III includes six defined districts, each with its own unique character. Districts will include the Prestige, The Grand Avenue, the Mall, SOKU, the Souk and the Bazaar.

Phase IV The last phase of The Avenues mall is phase IV and is currently still in design stage awaiting appropriate authorities approvals and licensing. According to Mabanee, the total GLA for this phase will reach an estimated 95,000 sqm with a completion date towards the end of 2013 assuming authority approval was granted within the timeframe set. The Avenues mall, including all phases, is estimated to have a total GLA of around 371,897 sqm making it one of the largest malls in the world and a few thousand square meters larger than Dubai Mall which has a total GLA of 344,000 sqm according to Colliers International.

Asset Structure and Funding Base The growth in total assets for Mabanee has stemmed mainly from the development of The Avenues mall which has a total construction cost of around KD 314 million. Total assets registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.3% between 2005 and 2010 mainly on the back of a whopping 102% CAGR for investment properties from KD 6.4 million to reach KD 211.3 million by the end of 2010.

The majority of investment properties is constituted by The Avenues mall, or around 98% of the total, which includes phases I & II along with the proportion of phase III that had been completed by the end of 2010 estimated at around 40% of the total project cost.

By the end of March 2011, the completed portion of phase III project was estimated at around 59%. In addition, the company also owns a commercial building in Salhiya that is valued at an estimated KD 5.3 million which is currently fully rented.

Mabanee’s financial leverage ratio (Debt/Equity) stood at 0.86x by the end of 2010 in comparison with 1.19x and 0.82x by the end of 2008 and 2009, respectively. The financial leverage ratio is considered well within a healthy range due in large part to its solid equity base backed by a large amount of retained earnings that stem from the mall’s successful operations. We believe that Mabanee is well positioned to service its debt obligations in the foreseeable future and has the capacity to borrow more funds in order to finance its expansion plans without jeopardizing neither the company’s current operations nor its healthy capital structure.

Debt Serviceability Before the star t of operations of ‘ The Avenues’ during 2007, income from investment properties for Mabanee represented less than 8% of total income while a significant part of revenues was generated from the sale of lands and securities investments. Since April 2007, Mabanee’s operations and revenues structure has changed significantly as it became more strategically centered around its new mega mall operations.

Income from mall operations reached around KD 18.9 million during the first nine month of operations in 2007 alone and KD 36.3 million during 2008 with KD 12.4 million coming from the arrangement and advertising fees for tenants. Out of total income, an estimated KD 32 million is considered recurring income from The Avenues and this number is projected to increase significantly as operations for phase III are expected to start during 2012.

The Company has managed over the course of the last three years to shift its major source of income from market speculations to

core operating and sustainable recurring income. This venture is strengthening Mabanee’s footing in the real estate sector in Kuwait and the region as well as enabling the company to use The Avenues as a cash cow to finance its strategy for growth and help the company by maintaining a healthy asset structure and reducing its cost of capital.

Valuation Driven by its phase III expansion for The Avenues, Mabanee’s net income is projected to grow at a 21% CAGR from 2010 through 2015. During this period, we expect the operating profit margin to expand from 57.2% to around 66% by the end of 2015. This is due to the significant increase in rental income flowing from its phase III operations that is expected to start during April 2012. In order to be conservative in our projections, we estimated that phase III operations would not start until the beginning of the third quarter of 2012.

Accordingly, Mabanee’s ROAE is expected to increase from 15.7% in 2010 to 17.6% in 2013 while ROAA is also expected to increase from 7.8% to around 12.2% over the same period.

We have established the valuation of Mabanee’s fair value per share on the basis of two valuation methodologies. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method using the estimated intrinsic value of Mabanee’s stock from the view point of strategic/long term investors, and the Direct Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate) method. Cap Rate is a method used to convert a property’s annual income, into an estimate of the property’s value through using its net operating income as a measure of payback on the property’s cost or market value.

Discounted Cash Flow Valuation (DCF) The DCF model calculates the free cash flow available to the firm (FCFF) by adjusting the forecasted net income figures for noncash charges, expected capital expenditures, working capital, and interest charges. From the forecasted free cash flow figures, we add the total present value of free cash flows to the firm with the discounted terminal value in order to arrive at the enterprise value. We then subtract the market value of debt outstanding as of the end of 2010 in order to arrive at the Equity Value available to the shareholders of the company. As a result, our DCF model gave a fair value of KD 0.955 per share while the closing price is currently KD 0.860, indicating that the company is currently trading at a discount of 11.1% to its DCF fair value. This is based on a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 10.86% and a perpetual growth rate of 3.5%.

Direct Capitalization Rate Valuation Since Mabanee represents to a great extent a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), we used the cap rate method in order to value the cash generating ability of its operations (mainly, The Avenues). Capitalization rate (or cap rate) is the ratio between the net cash flow produced by a property and its capital cost (the original price paid for acquiring the asset) or alternatively its current market value.

The rate is calculated through dividing the net annual operating income by its cost or market value. The capitalization rate is a measure for the capacity of an income generating property to pay for itself on annual basis and is used for valuing such properties in a real estate appraisal.

We used a capitalization rate of 6.75% for the valuation which is higher than what the company estimates (6% - 6.5%) and slightly lower than industry average of 7%. On the other hand, and as a measure for Net Operating Income (NOI), we used the discounted value of EBITDA projections for the year 2015 using the weighted average cost of capital in order to reflect the value of phase III operations.

Valuation Conclusion We used a weighted average of the above valuation methodologies, assigning a 70% weight to the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method and a 30% weight for the Direct Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate) method in order to arrive at an estimated fair value of KD 0.964 per share. In addition, the greater weight assigned to the DCF method is due to the fact that it takes into effect the underlying fundamentals of the company. Based on our valuation, the company is currently trading at a 12.1% discount to our fair value estimate indicating a Buy rating following KAMCO’s recommendation scale.

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KSE Price Index sheds 15.10 points Global Daily Market Report KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended yesterday’s session on a mixed note, on a day where trading was moderate. Both large cap stocks and small cap stocks ended the day in the positive territory. In economy front, Kuwait’s parliament approved yesterday a state budget of KD19.435bn ($70.7bn) for the 2011/12 fiscal year, slightly less than recently proposed by the Gulf Arab oil exporter’s government. Budget revenue was set at KD13.445bn, unchanged from the government plan announced in January. The budget proposal was supported by 39 votes, while 20 lawmakers opposed it.

Market Indices Global General Index (GGI), market weighted, ended the day up by 0.24 percent, at 192.19 point. Market Capitalization was up for the day at KD31.39bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 6,211.70 point, shedding 15.10 points (0.24 percent) to its previous close.

Market Breadth During the session, 99 companies were traded. Market breadth was skewed towards decliners as 46 equities retreated versus 19 that advanced.

Daily Trading Activity Trading activity was mixed this session.

Total volume traded was up by 8.97 percent with 84.63mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD16.12mn (37.44 percent lower compared to the day before).

The real estate sector was the volume leader today, accounting for 29.28 percent of total shares. The banking sector was the value leader, with 31.01 percent of total traded value. Zain Company was the most active in terms of values traded during Tuesday session, with 1.59mn shares exchanged at an aggregate.

Top Gainers and Biggest Decliners In terms of top gainers, Real Estate Trade Center Co. took the top spot for the day, adding 7.46 percent and closed at KD0.072. On the other hand, Gulf Finance

House shed 8.33 percent and closed at KD0.055, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors Wise Sector-wise, five out of the eight sectors tumbled yesterday. Non Kuwaiti stocks spearheaded losers, down 1.55 percent, on the back of Gulf Finance House loss. All UAE Cement companies, closed in negative territory. Sharjah Cement & Industrial Development Co. was the biggest loser in the sector, shedding 5.17 percent. Meanwhile, a 1.14 percent drop in the equity price of Mabanee Company sent the Global Real Estate Index down by 0.65 percent. National Real Estate Company too slipped 1.18 percent. On the other side of the spectrum, Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Company and Al- Massaleh Real Estate Company reported climbs of 4.08 percent and 3.85 percent respectively.

In sector-related news, Alargan International Real Estate Co agreed with its Saudi partners to restructure its affiliates Alargan Homes Co LLC - KSA and Alargan Projects. This step will be taken through a buyout by its 48.43 percent -owned Alargan Projects - KSA of Alargan Homes.

The acquisition was effected at the book value of sold stakes at SAR181.99mn as on

April 01, 2011. Accordingly, no profit or loss was generated from the deal. In addition, the KSE-listed company also stated that the earnings generated from selling two projects by its 48.34 percent -owned affiliate Alargan Homes will be recorded in Alargan International’s profit share. The scrip closed flat at KD0.160.

Industrial groups too performed poorly. As measured by the Global Industrial Index, the sector as a whole recoiled by 0.61 percent. Kuwait Portland Cement Co dropped 3.28 percent. On the flip side, Banking sector managed to reduce losses during yesterday session. s measured by the Global Banking Index, the sector as a whole rose by 1.03 percent. Burgan Bank was the top gainer within the sector adding 3.03 percent and closed at KD0.510.

Oil News The price of Kuwaiti crude oil increased $1.80 to reach $101.15 per barrel on Tuesday, said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation yesterday. The crude was trading at $99.35pb on Monday, therefore, recording the first increase since the announcement of the IEA last Thursday of distributing 60 million barrels of its reserves in the market.

World stocks rise as slowdown fears ease BANGKOK: Hopes that Greece will enact an unpopular set of austerity measures to prevent the country from defaulting on its massive debts sent world stocks higher yesterday. Oil prices bounded above $93 a barrel after a report showed US crude supplies dropped more than expected last week, suggesting demand is improving. In currencies, the dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

European shares rose sharply in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 was 1.2 percent higher at 2,834.26 and Germany’s DAX rose 1.3 percent to 7,265.34. France’s CAC-40 was up 1.1 percent at 3,895.66.

Wall Street was also headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures gaining 0.2 percent to 12,169 and S&P 500 futures rising 0.3 percent to 1,298.40. The Greek parliament was due to vote later yesterday on a slew of measures, including tax and spending cuts and sales of state enterprises, that must be approved for the country to secure the next installment of emergency loans from international lenders. The government has said its funds will dry up by mid-July, after which it will be unable to pay salaries and pensions, or service its debts.

Asian shares were higher earlier in the day, carrying over the momentum from an upswing on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.5 percent to close at 9,797.26 after the government said the country’s industrial production rose 5.7 percent in May. While the number was lower than the government’s rosier forecast of 8 percent, the improvement adds to signs that the world’s No. 3 economy is rebuilding after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami

decimated the country’s industrial northwest.

Automakers gained sharply a day after releasing production figures that indicated improving conditions, with Nissan Motor Co posting year-on-year output gains in Japan and overseas. Nissan rose 2.7 percent. Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s top automaker, was 1.7 percent higher. Rival Honda Motor Corp. gained 1.8 percent. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.5 percent to 2,094.42, pushed up by automakers. Hyundai Motor Co, the country’s largest automaker, gained 3.5 percent. Kia Motors Corp was 2.7 percent higher.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed flat at 22,061.18, although gains in oil-related companies helped mute losses. China National Offshore Oil Corp, known as CNOOC, rose 1.7 percent.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2 percent to 4,529.50. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand were also higher while those in the Philippines and New Zealand fell. Mainland Chinese shares sank in response to an announcement

by China’s National Audit Office on Monday that local governments have piled up debts of $1.6 trillion - raising concerns that Chinese banks might be hurt if borrowers cannot repay loans.

“All of a sudden, they have discovered that local governments have mountains of debt that they cannot repay. So the central government has to step in and save them,” said Hong Kong-based analyst Francis Lun. “That came as quite a shock - to the banks at least.” Hong Kong-listed Bank of China Ltd., one of the country’s four major state-owned commercial lenders, fell 1.6 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., its

largest rural lender, fell 1.2 percent.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.1 percent to 2,728.48, and the Shenzhen Composite Index also fell 1.1 percent to 1,139.86.

Shares in cement, banks, real estate and nonferrous metals weakened as investors cashed in on recent gains. Fujian Cement tumbled 5.5 percent while China Minsheng Banking Corp was 4.2 percent down. In New York on Tuesday, the Dow gained 1.2 percent to 12,188.69. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.3 percent to 1,296.67. The Nasdaq composite index added 1.5 percent to 2,729.31.

Signs that the housing market is improving helped lift shares.

Home prices rose in April in 13 of the 20 US cities tracked by the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index - the first time in eight months. Quarterly results from Nike Inc. bested analyst expectations, helping lead to a rally in stocks of clothing stores, restaurants and jewelers. Such companies tend to do well when consumers are less worried about things like high gas prices and are willing to spend on themselves.

In energy trading, benchmark crude for August delivery was up 50 cents to $93.39 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2.28 to settle at $92.89 per barrel Tuesday. Prices were on the upswing, with the American Petroleum Institute noting late Tuesday that crude inventories fell 2.7 million barrels last week, suggesting that demand was improving. The euro bounced to $1.4394 from $1.4364 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 81.07 yen from 81.10 yen. — AP

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Compromise unblocks US trade deals WASHINGTON: The White House and top lawmakers have finally reached a deal to allow long-stalled trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to move ahead in Congress, officials said Tuesday. The deal will allow a Senate panel to start work this week on the pacts, worth billions of dollars, which slash tariffs and are designed to boost exports and speed up slow US jobs growth, Capitol Hill officials said. The White House said the breakthrough resulted from an agreement with lawmakers to fund Trade Adjustment Assistance ( TAA), which offers health care and retraining for US workers who lose jobs to overseas markets through 2014.

The White House had insisted on renewing TAA as a condition for moving forward on the deals, drawing Republican fire that it was loading down the pacts with unrelated legislation and blocking vital trade deals. “As a result of extensive negotiations, we now have an agreement on the underlying terms for a meaningful renewal of a strengthened TAA,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

“President Obama has fought for an ambitious trade agenda that doubles exports in five years, levels the playing field for American workers, and reflects American values,” he said. Trade organizations and free trade advocates had been cranking up pressure on the White

House to move on the deals before campaigning for the 2012 election further poisons the political atmosphere. The deals may offer a boost to Obama’s efforts to double US exports and create jobs in a sluggish economy with unemployment pegged at 9.1 percent, a perilous political reality for the president.

Trade groups, which have mounted a vocal campaign for action on the pacts, welcomed the breakthrough. “With our economic recovery stalling, the time is now for Congress to act on these deals,” said Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce. “For members of Congress who care about American jobs, this is a moment of truth,” he said. Mitch McConnell, who leads the Republican minority in the Senate, however, suggested the ratification of the deals remained in doubt, saying the expansion of TAA in the South Korea pact was opposed by his party.

“I would strongly urge the Administration to re -think this action, and urge them to send up all three pending trade agreements without delay and without extraneous poison pills included,” he said.

But Democratic Senator Max Baucus said the TAA deal had been put together in talks which included top House of Representatives Republicans, adding his finance committee would begin to consider the deals today. And a senior

Obama administration official said on condition of anonymity that the White House was confident there was sufficient support in Congress to ratify the three deals and pass the extension of TAA. Lori Wallach, Director of the global trade watch for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, warned though that ratifying the deals could come at a political price.

“Given that polls show most Americans oppose more... trade pacts because they are job-killers, announcing that three more such agreements are ready to move... sure will make them mad.” The Colombia trade pact, a fulcrum of US policy towards Latin America, was signed with Washington in 2006, but has languished in Congress ever since amid fierce debate among pro and -anti free traders.

In April, US President Barack Obama said the United States and Colombia had agreed a plan to boost labor rights in the Latin American nation and unblock a free trade agreement between their countries. The International Trade Commission (ITC) estimates that the tariff cuts in the deal will boost US exports by $1.1 billion and increase US gross domestic product by $2.5 billion. The US-South Korea deal was signed in 2007, and advocates have warned that the delay in ratifying the pact could mean a loss of market share as a similar European

Union agreement with the Asian giant goes into force on July 1.

The US-South Korea deal abolishes tariffs on more than 95 percent of industrial and consumer goods within five years and is forecast to

increase exports of US goods to up to $11 billion, which will support 70,000 US jobs. The US-Panama free trade pact was signed by both countries in 2007, and has also been awaiting ratification ever since. Over

87 percent of US exports of consumer and industrial products to Panama will become duty free immediately and remaining tariffs will be phased out over 10 years, the White House said. —Reuters

CALIFORNIA: Photo shows a home for sale in Glendale. Pending home sales rose in May, a hopeful sign for the beleaguered US housing market, according to a monthly report released yesterday. The Pending Home Sales Index rose 8.2 percent from April to May, and was up 13.4 percent from its level in May 2010, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a trade association. —AFP

Islamic finance eyes Thai infrastructure funding Regulationmostly inplace, butretailmarketsmall BANGKOK: The Islamic finance industry is interested in tapping Middle Eastern oil money to help fund Thai infrastructure projects, which could help it gain a foothold in a market with only a small Muslim population, bankers said yesterday. The fledgling Islamic finance industry was propelled into the global spotlight in the aftermath of the financial crisis as it was seen as a more ethical, less leveraged way of banking.

LONDON: Members of Britain’s University and College Union (UCU) pose for members of the media as they prepare for their union strike and march scheduled for today. —AP

Britain faces mass strikes as civil servants feel sting LONDON: Thousands of British schools will close and travelers will face long lines at airport immigration this week when three quarters of a million workers go on strike the first blast in what unions hope will be a summer of discontent against the cost-cutting government’s austerity plans. The government hopes it will fizzle into a summer of hardheaded acceptance. The first test comes today, when 750,000 public-sector workers from teachers to driving examiners to customs officials - walk out for the day, part of a growing wave of opposition to the Conservative-led government’s deficit-cutting regime of tax hikes, benefit curbs and spending cuts.

The UK Border Agency has warned travelers could face delays at British ports and airports when passport officers walk out, and said “passengers who can do so may wish to travel on other dates.” The agency says there is no risk to Britain’s security. The unions say the strike is just the start of a campaign of labor action on a scale unseen in Britain for three decades. “Today we will see hundreds of thousands of civil and public servants on strike,” said Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union.

“We fully expect to be joined by millions more in the autumn.” The government insists everyone must share the pain as it cuts 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending to reduce the huge deficit, swollen after Britain spent billions bailing out foundering banks. It is cutting civil service jobs and benefits, raising the state pension age from 65 to 66, hiking the amount public sector employees contribute to pensions and reducing the payouts they get on retirement.

The government says the measures are tough but fair, and is gambling that the public will blame unions for any inconvenience caused by the strikes. “The public have a very low tolerance for anything that disrupts their hardworking lifestyles,” said Education Secretary Michael Gove. He said the strike would hurt “the respect in which teachers should be held.” That’s not entirely the case at school gates, where some parents are sympathetic to the teachers. “I think this ‘all in it together’ is a nonsense line,” said Bertie Miller, an advertising executive dropping off his daughter at a London primary school.

“We’re patently not all in it together. Start with the bankers. Start at the top, and then take it out of teachers’ pensions if we need to.” While some British trade unions - such as those representing London subway drivers have a reputation for frequent strikes, their public sector counterparts are traditionally

moderate. There has not been a national strike by teachers since the 1980s, and one of the unions, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, has never been on strike in its 127year history.

Their leaders say they have no choice.

They say their members work many years for modest pay, on the promise of a solid pension, and accuse the government of reneging on that deal. In many ways, conditions are not favorable for the unions.

Britain is not Greece, shocked into outrage by financial crisis. The economy remains week as it emerges from recession, but the general mood is one of apprehension rather than anger.

Even the opposition Labor Party, the union movement’s ostensible ally, is advising against strikes. Labor leader Ed Miliband wrote on his blog Tuesday that the walkouts were “a mistake” and “a sign of failure on both sides.” Craig Phelan, a professor of modern history at Kingston University, says attitudes have changed dramatically since the 1980s, when unions took on Thatcher’s government in grinding conflicts like a yearlong miners’ strike and lost. Then, more than 13 million Britons were union members.

Now the figure is about 7 million. Now, he said, when people think of unions they think of London subway drivers, “holding a city hostage for what seem like insignificant demands.” “People see unions as something other, someone who wants to take their money, someone who wants to inconvenience them, someone who doesn’t want to work as hard as they do,” Phelan said. It’s a hard attitude for unions to overturn, and they are moving with caution. Today’s strike - a single day, near the end of the school year - will cause only limited disruption.

Unions and the government are still trying to resolve their differences. They met for talks on Monday, and plan more next month.

But union leaders sense a mood of anger among their members. Dave Prentis, general secretary of the million-strong Unison union, has predicted more strikes in the autumn, as workers react to a “perfect storm” of pay freezes and lower pensions. And the unions are making new allies in the anti-capitalist and anti-cuts movements that have sprung up over the last year. UK Uncut, a group that has staged sit-ins at banks and companies it accuses of tax-dodging, has held talks with union leaders about joining protests today.

Students - who have held their own demonstrations over fee hikes - are expected to join picket lines, as well as holding their own sitins and occupations. —AP

But the Gulf’s real estate crash, a series of defaults on Islamic bonds, or sukuk, and its own corporate scandals have taken the shine off the industry and it needs to find new growth markets outside its traditional centers, Malaysia and the Gulf Arab region. “A lot of money has been received by the rise in petrol and that needs to be reinvested. Not many sukuk have been recently issued so it’s an opportunity to grab that liquid market,” Dheerasak Suwannayos, president of the stateowned Islamic Bank of Thailand, told an industry event in Bangkok.

Yesterday, Malaysia issued a $2 billion sukuk, almost 30 percent of which was mopped up by Middle Eastern investors. Infrastructure investment is expected to jump in Thailand as well as other Southeast Asian countries. Dheerasak cited plans to expand Bangkok’s public transport and the city’s main airport as projects the industry could help by finding finance abroad.

So far Thailand has been able to use the abundant liquidity in local markets to finance infrastructure projects.

Dheerasak said companies such as Thailand’s top energy firm, PTT , were increasingly diversifying from their home market and needed to raise finance in dollar markets. A PTT unit issued a local-currency Islamic bond in Malaysia last year, seen as the first time a Thai company had tapped Islamic capital markets abroad. Dheerasak also said Thai Airways was considering offers from Middle Eastern providers of airplane lease financing. Islamic finance needs to underpin its transactions with physical assets, from which returns to investors are derived to account for Islam’s prohibition of interest.

LACK OF AWARENESS Thailand has been planning for some time to issue a 5 billion baht ($161 million) sover-

eign sukuk to help the sector get off the ground and Dheerasak said the issue could come to the market this year after necessary tax legislation was passed in May. Thailand has a Muslim population of about 9.5 million, many of whom live in rural areas not well served with banking products. “Islamic Bank of Thailand is pushing a lot of products into the retail market.

The Muslims in the past did not have any alternatives,” Konthee Prasertwongse, senior vice president at CIMB Thai Bank, told Reuters.

Islamic Bank of Thailand, set up in 2003, has turned buses into mobile branches to reach communities. But bankers caution that more local banks need to offer Islamic products to raise awareness of the industry. “We need more marketing here in Thailand, we need to clarify what a sukuk is and that it is comparable to a conventional bond,” said Konthee. —Reuters

Iraq’s rice farmers get extra power allocation

TOKYO: A passer-by watches the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, yesterday.

The Nikkei Stock Average rose 148.28 points, or 1.54 percent, from Tuesday to 9,797.26. —AP

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE seek EU approval for merger BRUSSELS: Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext yesterday requested the European Union’s approval of their merger, kicking off what is expected to be a lengthy probe of the potential threats to competition from the combination of the two stock exchanges. Deutsche Boerse AG said in February that it would buy the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange for $10 billion, creating the world’s largest exchange operator.

Deutsche Boerse runs the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, while NYSE Euronext owns bourses in Paris, Lisbon, Brussels and Amsterdam, in addition to the flagship New York trading platform. The takeover would create the “premier global exchange, allowing Europe to strengthen and solidify its role as one of the world’s most important financial centers,” the two companies said in a statement. However, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has already indicated that approval may take longer than the regular 25 working days and might require the companies to address competition concerns.

The Commission can extend its examination of mergers to three months, giving it more time to check for threats from potential market dominance and offering the companies the opportunity to offer remedies,

such as selling off certain assets or restricting some business practices. In addition to their trading platforms for regular shares, Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext are also very active in the trading of derivatives, complex financial products that grown more prominent in recent years.

Regulators around the world have been pushing to move derivative trading onto regular trading platforms to increase transparency over ownership and their potential threats to market stability. On top of that, Deutsche Boerse may face extra scrutiny from the EU for integrating its trading and clearing activities. Clearing is a process that adds extra security for buyers and sellers, but EU regulators fear that integrating it with an exchange that holds a dominant position could squeeze competing clearing houses out of the market.

However, the two companies argue that a combination of their businesses will create more profits for shareholders and better service for customer at a time when traditional exchanges are facing increased competition from smaller alternative trading platforms such as Chi-X and Turquoise. NYSE shareholders are expected to approve the takeover at a meeting next week, after the company’s board backed the offer. —AP

BAGHDAD: Authorities have ordered an extra allocation of electricity to rice farmers in central Iraq to help them irrigate their fields and rescue drought-threatened crops, a spokesman said.

“The ministry of electricity has ordered power supplies from 3 am to 11 am from mid-June to October 10 in the areas of Najaf and Diwaniya where rice is cultivated to support the national economy,” ministry spokesman Musab al-Madar said in a statement. Iraq has suffered repeated years of low rainfall for the past decade and a half, leaving the third of the population that lives from farming dependent on irrigation to water their crops. Madar said the extra hours would be in addition to the eight hours of power a day the areas already get.

The successive years of drought have led to a sharp fall in the acreage of rice planted. “In Najaf province... it used to account for 50,000 hectares under cultivation, but in recent years only 17,250 hectares have been cultivated,” provincial agriculture official Zuhair Abdel Razzaq Ali said recently. The decline in production has carried a heavy price in import costs. In 2008, Iraq produced 120,000 tons of rice and imported 10 times that amount, at a cost of $600 million, according to agriculture ministry figures. Iraq suffers from an acute shortage of electricity, with demand outstripping supply two-fold, resulting in heavy rationing. —AFP

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business

In Europe, late bill payments add to the squeeze LONDON: Christopher Richardson is used to solving his own problems. It’s when he’s forced to rely on his customers that his troubles really start. The 49-yearold runs a freelance timber frame design and engineering business from his home in Suffolk, south eastern England. He’s proud of his work, but says his customers are increasingly using underhand methods to delay or avoid paying their bills.

It’s a headache across Europe. European companies wrote off a staggering 312 billion euros ($448 billion) for unpaid bills last year, according to Swedish-based credit management services group Intrum Justitia. That is more than the Greek, Irish and Portuguese EU/IMF bailouts combined, and an increase of 4 percent from 300 billion euros in 2010.

“Most customers push their luck,” says Richardson by telephone. “They wait until you’re absolutely desperate for the money and then say they have to knock something off the bill because of some gripe-and you’re in no position to argue. “You’ll take a 25 percent hit because some money is better than none.

That is very common.”

Late or non-payment for services has long been a problem for Europe’s smaller companies-especially in businesses such as the cut-throat world of supermarkets, which are renowned for driving hard bargains and squeezing suppliers. But the economic crisis has brought the situation to a head as small firms-the supposed motor of economic recovery-falter, and highlight a widening rift between powerhouse Germany, which is seeing written-off debt decline, and large economies such as Britain, where debt write-offs have surged.

Experts worry that the mountain of unpaid bills, coupled with the euro zone crisis, surging food and energy prices and stringent terms for bank credit, will drive up insolvencies and job losses, hamper cross-border trade and snuff out any recovery. “It suggests that there is another wave of illiquidity which is about to crash upon us,” said Stephen Lewis, chief economist at Monument Securities. “If there’s a downturn or a shock-maybe that a generalized debt crisis in Europe might provoke-then it would crystallize a lot of these difficulties and send the whole credit structure toppling.”

COUNTING THE COST Intrum Justitia says 28 percent of 6,000 companies across 25 countries quizzed for its respected

2011 European Payment Index (EPI) believe late payments pose a threat to their survival. Almost half said they prohibited growth. Debt-crippled euro zone countries such as Greece and Portugal, as well as Spain and Italy, have seen late payments rocket.

Greek public authorities, dealing with huge budget cuts, take around 108 days to pay a bill compared to 65 last year. But among the big European economies, Britain stands out as one of the worst offenders. While some payment times have edged down slightly in the past three years, the amounts involved seem to be bigger. British companies now

being unable to get paid are that they are unable to expand or even keep staff.”

Yet few smaller firms dare complain. The UKbased Forum of Private Business (FBP), which advises small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in 2010 exposed Molson Coors-the brewer of brands such as Carling and Grolsch - on its “Hall of Shame” for stretching payment terms to over 90 days. Since then, it says, there has been a surge in complaints about late payments crippling small businesses already battling surging inflation, rising taxes, the deepest public sector spending cuts in 60 years and

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she speaks to members of her Christian Union coalition yesterday in Berlin. Merkel called on bankers to help rescue debt-ridden Greece, saying they “should lend a hand” to governments trying to hammer out a new rescue package. — AFP lose 3.2 percent of all the money they are owed, up from 1.9 percent in 2008.

More than half the British companies surveyed fear for their survival because of late payments; 65 percent say the problem is hampering expansion.

Bacs, a not-for-profit organization behind the clearing and settlement of UK automated payments, says smaller firms are owed a hefty 26 billion pounds ($43 billion) after the number of overdue payments soared by almost 40 percent last year. “Around 25 percent of all bankruptcies in Europe are due to late payments,” says Intrum Justitia spokeswoman Annika Billberg. “The consequences of companies

a flagging economy.

“Since the last entry, we have been approached by numerous small business owners reporting latepaying companies,” says Chris Gorman, a spokesman for the FBP. “But they’ve either been unable or unwilling to provide proof.” Small companies shy away from providing the email chains and documentary evidence needed to name culprits for fear of losing clients or being labeled industry troublemakers, he said: that risks further undermining already stretched businesses. “They won’t even anonymously provide evidence because they are terrified that the trail will lead back to them,” says

Gorman. “It’s really a tricky one.”

SQUANDERING GOODWILL Nobody doubts the value of smaller businesses.

In Britain alone, they provide almost 60 percent of jobs and account for half the country’s economic output. Prime Minister David Cameron said in March he hoped they could provide the spark to light a sustainable economic recovery. In an effort to combat late payments, the European Parliament last year approved a 30-day deadline to pay bills in the public sector and a 60-day deadline in the private one. But there are get-out clauses. Deadlines can be extended if “expressly agreed” and provided it is not “grossly unfair” to the creditor.

In the UK, organisations such as the FBP, business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the company director standard-bearer, the Institute of Directors (IoD), are urging corporates to sign up to a so-called Prompt Payment Code. Under the code, companies agree to pay suppliers within the terms agreed, without attempting to retrospectively change terms on “unreasonable grounds”, and are expected to encourage lead suppliers to adopt the code throughout their own supply chains.

But as it is not legally binding and relies heavily on goodwill, it is often ignored by big businessespecially those that are hoarding cash. Many companies are stockpiling reserves-sometimes using smaller suppliers as their creditors — to help cushion against another downturn. According to Thomson Reuters data, European companies outside the financial sector, where cash is often held as a regulatory requirement, are stashing cash and short-term investments worth $1.44 trillion-a 20year record. “Everyone is trying to conserve liquidity at present and those who are strong can do this more effectively than those who are weak,” notes Monument Securities’ Lewis.

HALL OF SHAME Molson Coors shares its Hall of Shame listing with the likes of Dell Inc, the information technology giant, Danish brewer Carlsberg, double-offender Argos, the retailer, and beverages group Diageo. The most common complaint is about abrupt extensions of payment terms, although some firms also stand accused of simply not paying up in full and expecting creditors to swallow the difference. —Reuters

Investors slow to count cost of UK bank reforms Ring-fence plan could cost UK banks billions

SEOUL: South Korean college students and farmers sit on a street as police officers stand guard during a rally against the government’s economy policy in Seoul, South Korea yesterday. About 10,000 protesters opposed Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and the US and demanded halved tuitions, which President Lee Myung-bak had promised during his election campaign. — AP

Russia cuts power supplies to Belarus MOSCOW: Russia yesterday cut power sup- similar payment dispute, briefly interrupting plies to cash-strapped Belarus after it failed to European supplies. Its economy has been make a debt payment due to its severe eco- stuck in the doldrums for years, with the nomic crisis in the latest energy spat between country’s strongman leader Alexander the two uneasy neighbors. Belarus pledged Lukashenko refusing to conduct market to pay the bill but indicated it had enough reforms and relying on Russian energy subsienergy to meet domestic demand and may dies. A high-ranking Russian official said last stop buying Russian energy in the future. “We month Minsk had lived at Russia’s expense will pay for the electricity we imported and long enough and would now need “to pull consumed,” Belarussian Economy Minister itself up by the bootstraps.”

Russia has been using a carrot and stick Nikolai Snopkov told a news conference withapproach to urge Lukashenko to engage in out providing a timeframe.

“But will we continue to import in the state sell-offs that could see stakes in top Belarusian enterprises future?” he asked. end up in Russia’s “This will depend on hands. Prime Minister the price of the elecVladimir Putin’s powtricity being produced erful deputy in charge on the domestic marof energy, Igor Sechin, ket and the cost of the said on Tuesday the electricity we can spat was not politicalobtain on the foreign ly motivated. “Energy market. We have suffishould be paid for,” he cient capacity to meet said. Just before the all our electricity energy cutoff deadneeds.” After repeated line, Russia’s statewarnings to pay the controlled NTV chandebt, Russian power nel aired a documenproducer Inter RAO UES halted supplies to MINSK: Photo shows a man hold- tary cuttingly named Belarus at midnight ing a candle in front of the window “A Belarussian miracle” Moscow time (2000 of his house in the village of in which it derided the country’s economic GMT Tuesday), promis- Konotop.— AFP model. “The collapse ing to restore deliveries within 24 hours of when the payment is of socialism in one particular country. Who is to blame and what happens next?” the televimade.

As of 0800 GMT, the payment has not sion channel said in a teaser for its latest been received, company spokesman said. expose.

Led by the wayward Lukashenko for the Company officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Belarus owed Russia some last 17 years, the politically isolated state has 1.2 billion rubles ($42.5 million) for April and retained elements of the Soviet command May supplies. Belarus receives only about a economy, dominated by state-owned compatenth of its electricity from Russia and the nies. A harsh crackdown by Minsk on opposipower cutoff is not expected to significantly tion supporters after Lukashenko won disputaffect households. The spat comes amid a ed elections last December has prompted the severe economic downturn plaguing Russia’s European Union to impose economic sancneighbor. Moscow earlier this month signed tions and travel bans on people close to the off on a $3 billion three-year loan to Belarus president.

The country’s sidelined opposition was that included involvement from other former hoping to stage a rally in the capital Minsk to Soviet republics.

In recent years Russia and Belarus have protest against Lukashenko’s policies yesteroften been at loggerheads over energy prices day evening. Lukashenko has previously and customs duties. Last June, Russia signifi- vowed to “whack” organisers of such protests cantly reduced gas flows to Belarus over a called on Internet social networks.— AFP

LONDON: British bank executives will be casting a wary eye across the room at their regulators during the industry’s annual get-together - fearful hardline reforms will end up costing them far more than overseas rivals. Britain is keen to lead the charge on protecting taxpayers to ensure the public is not called on for future bank rescues. More than 66 billion pounds ($106 billion) was pumped in during the last rescue effort, and the risks are still there with bank assets still four times the size of the domestic economy. But there will be a price to pay. So while investor concerns about the cost of this package have risen in recent weeks, with some predicting a cost to the banks of well over 10 billion pounds a year, some may still be underestimating the impact.

There was some good news for the UK banks last weekend when global regulators imposed a surcharge on big, interconnected lenders. This means they will have to hold almost as much capital as the planned UK standard, potentially leveling the playing field for British banks. The bad news for UK banks is that this capital standard was only one plank of a batch of reforms put forward by an independent panel tasked with overhauling the industry.

John Vickers, head of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), wants to bring about a series of moderate steps that will in combination radically change the banking industry, rather than a single, fix-all solution.

Central to the plan is the ring fencing of UK retail banking operations. Details of that are still being thrashed out, but the coalition gov-

ernment has backed the plan.

Investors are now starting to fret more about what that may cost.

“People have got more worried about it in the last few weeks,” said Thomas Moore, investment director at Standard Life Investments, which holds shares in all the banks. And Peter Toeman, analyst at HSBC, said equity and credit markets had treated the ICB ring-fencing proposal with “remarkable equanimity,” but warned of pain ahead.

“We are not so sanguine. It is clear that the proposals have significant political support. And our analysis

Greece and the euro zone, but falling more sharply than an 8 percent drop in the European bank index as UK regulatory worries have kicked in too.

Costs for insuring senior bank debt against possible default have also widened this month. “Now that other pressures are being applied investors are starting to look again at the regulatory risk,” said Chris Bowie, head of credit portfolio management at Ignis Asset Management, who has an underweight position in senior banks.

suggests the cost of the ring-fence will be both significant and, understandably given likely time scales, not in forecasts.” Indeed, Toeman estimated in a note last week the cost to Barclays , Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds could total as much as 10 billion pounds. Add in HSBC and to a lesser degree Standard Chartered , and costs will be higher and profits and returns far lower. One senior banking industry source agreed that investors are underestimating the cost of the reforms.

Shares in Lloyds, RBS and Barclays have each fallen 12 percent or more this month, hurt by worries about

week to respond to interim proposals from the ICB, before a final report is released on Sept. 12. Plans then need to be implemented by lawmakers.

The key elements could see banks separate UK retail banking operations, such as key retail and payment process operations, which would benefit from a government guarantee; force the “ring-fenced” unit to hold core Tier 1 capital of at least 10 percent of their risk-weighted assets; make bondholders take losses when a bank hits trouble and be able to easily wind up a failing bank.

The series of moderate steps has two key advantages. Firstly, regulators

FUNDING ON THE RISE Banks have until the end of this

are wary the next crisis may come from left field-maybe from China or the spread of the euro-zone sovereign crisis, rather than the US housing market-so spreading the shield wider would help. Secondly, it shouldn’t leave UK banks at a competitive disadvantage in one particular area, such as if a hefty capital level was applied, thereby limiting any scope for socalled regulatory arbitrage.

Most focus has been on the ringfence. While the aim is to protect the taxpayer, authorities also want to remove the implicit guarantee provided to investment banking operations, which allows them to get cheaper funding. The value of this implicit guarantee is hard to estimate, but is likely to be worth more than 10 billion pounds. The ringfence plan should mean far higher funding costs for HSBC, RBS and Barclays. Activities outside the ringfence without the implicit state guarantee could result in a downgrade of up to five notches in credit ratings, analysts reckon.

HSBC analyst Toeman estimated that could lead to a 100 basis point increase in term funding for the likes of Barclays and RBS and lengthen the maturity of funding. To offset that, they could need to hold a core Tier 1 capital of 13-15 percent, he said. Banks are likely to resist parts of the proposals in this week ’s responses, while critics of the industry have slammed the ICB for being too soft. Britain is not alone in acting-tougher capital rules are in the pipeline in Switzerland and Swedenand industry observers said it’s no surprise that where the taxpayer bill could be bigger, costs are likely to be too. — Reuters

Boeing labor dispute headache for Obama WASHINGTON: The government’s labor dispute with Boeing Co is turning into a political headache for President Barack Obama, giving his Republican rivals a fresh opening to bash the administration’s economic policies. From congressional hearings to presidential debates, outraged Republicans are keeping up a steady drumbeat of criticism over the National Labor Relations Board’s lawsuit against the aerospace giant.

The NLRB says Boeing retaliated against its unionized workforce in Washington State by opening a new production line for its 787 airplane in South Carolina, a conservative state with more restrictions on union rights. The agency wants a judge to order Boeing to return all 787 assembly work to Washington state, even though the company has already built a new $750 million South Carolina plant and hired 1,000 new workers there.

The case, which could drag on for years - has become an unwanted distraction for Obama as he tries to mend relations with the business community and contend with polls that show growing public disapproval over his handling of the economy. It makes an easy target for Republicans, who call it a case of government overreaching at a time when the private sector is struggling to create new jobs. And it’s a major story in South Carolina a bellwether early primary state in the Republican

presidential race. Candidates are lining up to impress voters and the state’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley, a favorite of the anti-tax, small government tea party movement. “Obama’s NLRB has united the Republican Party and turned this government agency into a political pinata,” said Republican consultant Scott Reed.

“Boeing spent a billion dollars building a plant to create thousands of jobs and it looks like the NLRB stuck their nose in and tried to pull the rug out.” Business groups and their Republican allies say the government is interfering with the right of company managers to choose where and how to expand business operations. Boeing claims it opened the plant for a variety of economic reasons, but NLRB officials say Boeing executives made public comments showing the move was meant to punish union workers for a series of costly strikes.

For Haley, the case has been a litmus test for every Republican presidential candidate visiting the state. And they have not disappointed her.

Former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney, visiting New Hampshire on Monday, said Obama had appointed “union stooges into the NLRB and then they come up with decisions that are really quite extraordinary,” like the Boeing lawsuit that he and others have said will drive companies to seek

workers overseas.

Another Republican presidential hopeful, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for defunding the agency during a recent New Hampshire debate, saying the case could threaten the viability of the nation’s 22 right-to-work states, where labor unions can’t force employees to be members. And during a tour of South Carolina last week, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who recently stepped down as ambassador to China, called on Obama to step in and end the lawsuit to prevent it from scaring other businesses away from the state.

Haley says the only way to make things right “is for the president to tell the NLRB to back off. And until that happens, it is my job to be loud and annoying and in his face until he realizes that what they have done is wrong.” Even South Carolina’s Democrats have piled on, focusing on the complaint’s effect on business less than the politics of the board.

“Clearly it’s an independent agency and is taking an action that I know was not directed by the president,” said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., a Democrat. “But in this case, I think it was a very, very bad decision and a huge mistake that is not good policy for the country.”—AP

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TECHNOLOGY

Google targets Facebook with new social service Google betting privacy features will set it apart

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI spreads incense as he celebrates a mass and bestows the pallium on 34 new metropolitan archbishops yesterday. The pope tweeted for the first time on Tuesday and announced the new Vatican news portal. — AFP

Pope tweeting for the first time VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI has tweeted for the first time, announcing the launch of a Vatican news information portal. Benedict’s tweet on Tuesday read: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ!

With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”. The portal www.news.va for the first time aggregates information from the Vatican’s various print, online, radio and television media. It’s the latest effort by the Vatican to bring its evangelizing message to a greater, Internet-savvy audience and follows forays into Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Benedict put the site online himself by tapping an iPad, said Thaddeus Jones, project coordinator and an official with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Moments later the pope sent the tweet. The 84year-old pontiff was then shown the portal and its features in greater

detail. Jones described him as “interested and impressed,” and “clearly enjoying it.” “He was clearly in awe at the new technology,” said Jones. “It’s a lighter moment but also an important one, it marks a new way of communicating.”

Benedict has been bedeviled by communications woes during much of his six-year papacy, much of it the fault of a large Vatican bureaucracy that doesn’t always communicate well internally.

Officials hope the new portal, while mostly designed to provide Vatican news in an easy-to-use setting to the outside world, might also improve the Vatican’s own internal communications by sharing information.

The portal was launched for the feast day of St. Peter and Paul, which falls on June 29 but officially begins with a vesper service June 28. Yesterday also marked the 60th anniversary of Benedict’s ordination as a priest. — AP

CHICAGO: This file photo shows the Groupon logo engraved in a glass office partition in the company’s international headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. Yesterday, the Indian subsidiary of online deals giant Groupon has accidentally published email addresses and passwords from its subscriber database, the company and reports said. — AFP

Groupon India suffers massive security breach NEW DELHI: The Indian subsidiary of online deals giant Groupon has accidentally published email addresses and passwords of its 300,000-strong subscriber database, reports and the company said.

Daniel Grzelak, founder of the Internet security website shouldichangemypassword.com, found the security breach of sosasta.com while running a Google search for publicly available databases. “A few hours and tweaks later, this database came up,” he told the Internet security site risky.biz. “I started scrolling, and scrolling, and I couldn’t get to the bottom of the file. Then I realized how big it actually was.”

Sosasta.com, an online discount portal acquired by Groupon in January 2011, alerted its subscribers Tuesday and posted a message on its Facebook page asking users to “change your Sosasta password immediately”. “Over this weekend, we have been alerted to a security issue potentially affecting subscribers of Sosasta. We wanted to let you know that the issue has been brought under control and your accounts are secure,” the message said.

Grzelak’s website shouldichangemypassword.com

holds a database of 1.3 million compromised email addresses, allowing users to check if their own email address is among those deemed unsafe.

“There are thousands of these databases indexed by Google,” he told Risky.biz. “This just happened to be by far the biggest I found.”

Groupon said it would review Sosasta’s security procedures and put in place “measures designed to prevent this kind of issue from recurring,” risky.biz reported.” Groupon takes security and privacy very seriously. Our users’ trust is of paramount importance to us and we deeply regret this incident,” it quoted the firm as saying. “This issue does not affect data from any other country or region.”

Groupon, based in Chicago, announced plans to go public earlier this month, after turning down a $6 billion takeover offer from Google last year. It currently has 83.1 million subscribers and operates in 43 countries. The company operates on the principle of collective buying, negotiating with businesses to offer discounted purchases which come into effect when a minimum number of subscribers agree to pay for the same deal. — AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc is making its boldest move to take on Facebook in the fast-growing social networking market and to maintain its dominance on the Web. Google, which has been frustrated by a string of failed attempts to crack the social networking market, introduced a full-fledged social network on Tuesday dubbed Google+. It is the company’s biggest foray into social networking since co-founder Larry Page took over as chief executive in April.

Page has made social networking a top priority at the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine, whose position as the main gateway to online information could be at risk as people spend more time on sites like Facebook and Twitter. “They had the luxury of making mistakes in the past with their social initiatives. They don’t really have that luxury now,” said Ray Valdes, an analyst at research firm Gartner, referring to Google.

“Companies that are successful with the social web will get the page views, they’ll get the engagement and they’ll eventually get the advertising dollars that are so important to Google,” he said. Google+, now available for testing, is structured in remarkably similar fashion to Facebook, with profile pictures and newsfeeds forming a central core. However, a user’s friends or contacts are grouped into very specific circles of their choosing, versus the common pool of friends typical on Facebook.

Enticing consumers to join another social networking service will not be easy, said Rory Maher, an analyst with Hudson Square Research. “They’re going to have an uphill battle due to Facebook’s network effects,” said Maher, citing the 700 million users that some research firms say are currently on Facebook’s service. “The more users they (Facebook) get, the harder it gets for Google to steal those,” he said. But he added that Google’s popularity in Web search and email could help it gain a following.

To set its service apart from Facebook, Google is betting on what it says is a better approach to privacy-a hotbutton issue that has burned Facebook, as well as Google, in the past. Central to Google+ are the “circles” of friends

HP to develop cloud products in China BEIJING: Hewlett-Packard Co , the world’s No.1 PC maker, is investing heavily in China and plans to develop cloud-computing products here to sell globally, Chief Executive Leo Apotheker said. This week, HP opened a cloud computing centre in the port city of Tianjin, announced a server computer networking and development center in Beijing and said its Personal Systems Group will establish a China headquarters in Shanghai to develop hardware and Internet products.

“China is not only a huge market, it’s also a great place to develop produc ts and develop R&D,” Apotheker said at a news conference in Beijing.

“Ultimately, we intend for HP to become the centre of the cloud and connectivity,” he said. Cloud computing refers to users of computers, smartphones and other devices accessing programs and files kept on server computers rather than installed on individual PCs. The concept is gaining attention as PC makers contemplate making PCs and other linked devices portals to information and content stored elsewhere.

Apotheker is leading a group of some 20 senior HP executives on a visit to China after a recent management reorganisation that put emphasis on developing market share in China and India. Both countries are crucial to HP, as it duels with Dell Inc in North America and Lenovo Group Ltd and Taiwan’s Acer Inc in China. Apotheker said a dispute with Oracle Corp over Intel Corp’s Itanium microprocessor for servers would not have any impact on its partnerships. HP and Oracle became intense rivals after Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems pushed it firmly into the server hardware market, in which it previously cooperated with HP. Oracle said it will end development of database software for Itanium systems, and HP filed a lawsuit to try to force Oracle to continue developing such products. Both Intel and HP have insisted they are committed to customers who have invested in HP-Itanium systems, a position Apotheker repeated yesterday.

“They have a 10-year roadmap,” Apotheker said, referring to Intel’s commitment to Itanium. “And HP is committed to keep our promises to our customers.”

NO LAYOFFS With the management reshuffling in recent weeks, some senior HP executives left the company while others were reassigned or took on added responsibilities. The reorganisation will not entail any layoffs, Apotheker said. “The answer is no,” he told Reuters, “and you can quote me on it.” Todd Bradley, head of HP’s Personal Systems Group which includes personal computers, was put in charge of developing HP’s China strategy. Bradley told reporters that he wants to accelerate HP’s growth in both major Chinese cities and in rural areas.

“Many of our products, PCs, and printers etc will be focused on accessing content that’s on the clouds,” he said. HP is set to introduce its tablet computer in the United States tomorrow, and is developing a Chineselanguage version for Chinese customers, Bradley said.

The tablet will run on the webOS operating system and will have multitasking capabilities and industrialstrength security that Bradley said would set it apart from rivals in the hotly contested market.

WebOS “is the only OS designed to always connect seamlessly and safely to the cloud. There is never a need for a white cable to get your information,” Bradley said, an apparent reference to Apple Inc’s iPods, iPads and computers, which use white cables to synchronize data with each other. Apotheker denied HP had any interest in acquiring SAP, the enterprise software maker of which Apotheker himself was chief executive before joining HP last November. “SAP and HP are good partners and will stay good partners,” he said. “There’s nothing I want to add to that.” — Reuters

and acquaintances. Users can organize contacts into different customized circles-family members, coworkers, college friends — and share photos, videos or other information only within those groups.

“In the online world there’s this ‘share box’ and you type into it and you have no idea who is going to get that, or where it’s going to land, or how it’s going to embarrass you six months from now,” said Google Vice President of Product Management Bradley Horowitz. “For us, privacy isn’t buried six panels deep,” he added. Facebook, which has been criticized for its confusing privacy controls, introduced a feature last year that lets users create smaller groups of friends. Google, without mentioning Facebook by name, said other social networking services’ attempts to create groups have been “bolt-on” efforts that do not work as well. Facebook, in an emailed statement, said “we’re in the early days of making the Web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere.”

Google+ started rolling out to a limited number of users on Tuesday in what the company is calling a field trial. Only those invited to join will initially be able to use the service. Google did not say when it would be more widely available. Google, which generated roughly $29 billion in revenue in 2010, said the new service does not currently feature advertising.

LEARNING FROM BUZZ Google’s stock has been pressured by concerns about rising spending within the company and increasing regulatory scrutiny- not to mention its struggles with social networking. The US Federal Trade Commission, among others, is currently reviewing its business practices. Its shares are down almost 20 percent this year after underperforming the market in 2010.

To create Google+, the company went back to the drawing board in the wake of several notable failures, including Google Wave and Google Buzz, a microblogging service whose launch was marred by privacy snafus.

“We learned a lot in Buzz, and one of the things we learned is that there’s a real market opportunity for a product that addresses people’s concerns around privacy and how their information is shared,” said Horowitz.

Google drew more than 1 billion visitors worldwide to its websites in May, more than any other company, according to Web analytics firm comScore. But people are spending more time on Facebook: The average US visitor spent 375 minutes per month on Facebook in May, compared with 231 minutes for Google. Google+ seems designed to make its online properties a pervasive part of the daily online experience, rather than being spots where Web surfers occasionally check in to search for a website or check email.

As with Facebook’s service, Google Plus has a central Web page that displays an ever-updating stream of the comments, photos and links being shared by friends and contacts. A toolbar across the top of most of Google’s sites-such as its main search page, its Gmail site and its Maps site-allows users to access their personalized data feed. They can then contribute their own information to the stream.

The company has combined the Facebook and Twitter models of social networking in Google+: A person can have friends in their network with whom they share information and they can also follow certain people, say a movie critic, as occurs on Twitter. Google+ will also offer a special video chat feature, in which up to 10 people can jump on a conference call. And Google will automatically store photos taken on cell phones on its Internet servers, allowing a Google+ user to access the photos from any computer and share them.

When asked whether he expected people to switch from Facebook to Google+, Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra said people may decide to use both. “People today use multiple tools. I think what we’re offering here offers some very distinct advantages around some basic needs,” he said. — Reuters

Kodak’s patent push ROCHESTER: Innovation turned Eastman Kodak Co. into one of the world’s most recognizable brands.

Imitation by its rivals might help keep the picture-taking pioneer from fading into history. The 131-year-old company, which popularized photography beginning with the Brownie box camera in 1900, is looking for a lucrative patent-infringement triumph this week over iPhone behemoth Apple Inc. and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. A hoped-for Kodak moment before a trade-dispute arbiter would at least temporarily ease the intensifying pressure on the maker of cameras, film and printers.

Kodak, slow to phase out its 20th-century cash cow of celluloid film, is still trying to redefine itself as a 21stcentury powerhouse in digital imaging. Mining its rich array of inventions has become indispensable in Kodak’s push to reverse four years of losses and return to profitability in 2012. Kodak has a promising array of new inkjet printing, packaging and software businesses, but it needs to tap other sources of revenue before investments in those areas have time to pay off.

Kodak’s patents give the company exclusive rights to sell or license its inventions. Since 2008, Kodak has

generated almost $2 billion in licensing fees and royalties from intellectual-property battles, both in negotiations and through the courts. The company’s dispute with Apple and RIM centers on technology Kodak patented in 2001 for extracting a still image while previewing it in the camera’s LCD screen. Chief Executive Antonio Perez estimates that Kodak could get up to $1 billion from the two companies over the life of the patent if Kodak gets a favorable ruling today before the US International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. Because the federal agency can block imports of patent-infringing products, a Kodak victory could force Apple of Cupertino, Calif., and RIM of Waterloo, Canada, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars apiece in licensing fees to bring in smartphones made overseas. Apple and RIM declined to comment on the case. Kodak’s transition to a new world of photography was hindered by a reluctance to phase out celluloid film. The world’s biggest film manufacturer finally launched a four-year digital makeover in 2004, spending $3.4 billion to close aged factories, chop and change businesses and eliminate 37,000 of its 64,000 jobs.—AP

BUSAN: The Mobile Harbor, a giant barge with a shallow draught and a stabilized crane is shown off the southern port of Busan yesterday. — AFP

South Korea showcases cost-cutting mobile harbor BUSAN: South Korean researchers showcased yesterday an invention which they claim could transform the shipping industry-a harbor which goes out to a ship. The Mobile Harbor, a giant barge with a shallow draught and a stabilized crane, was put through its paces off the southern port of Busan as journalists and diplomats looked on.

The harbor, designed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), is intended to unload big container ships in open waters to eliminate costly delays which shippers face to use crowded ports. Because it only needs a limited depth of water the harbor does not have to unload at a regular container dock. It can ferry containers closer to their final destination, reducing the cost and pollution of road transport.

The mobile harbor can also be used for salvage and rescue operations at sea, for building and maintaining offshore plants and for supplying ships moored in deep waters, KAIST said. “Today’s demonstration of the Mobile Harbor’s core technologies will really change the face of our maritime transportation system,” said Kwak Byung-Man, director of KAIST’s Mobile Harbor Centre.

“It will be able to deliver more goods to global markets and consumers via sea routes, not necessarily building more ports or expanding existing harbors.”

The new system will also significantly cut the high cost of overland cargo transport and reduce carbon emissions, he added. KAIST said the project, initiated in 2009, was a result of “thinking outside the box”-why could a harbor not sail to a ship instead of vice versa?

But this was easier said than done. Researchers from KAIST, companies and other local universities had to overcome daunting technical challenges in the

$32 million project bankrolled by the government.

Connecting two vessels of widely different sizes in heaving seas was one problem, and stabilizing the crane mounted on the mobile harbor was another, said KAIST professor Kim Kyung-Soo. “The Mobile Harbor is a very complicated, integrated system backed by computers and sensors,” Kim told AFP. The system also incorporates a “smart” spreader system to grab containers safely in choppy seas and a multi-stage trolley system for swing-free handling. Kim said the system had attracted interest in Brazil, Indonesia, the Middle East and African countries that need to expand port space, and researchers from the US Navy were to attend a second demonstration scheduled next week.

KAIST says all the Mobile Harbor’s stabilizing operations are computerized, and it has a unique way of linking itself to a large ship and unloading it. It includes flexible robot arms and a crane whose computer-controlled adjustment system can compensate for the rolling of vessels in the open sea. The robot arms, tipped with square vacuum suction pads, reach out and stick to the hull of a container ship. Cables and winches connected to the arms add further stability.

In yesterday’s test run, a regular barge fitted with high steel plates to simulate a ship’s hull played the role of a container ship some 500 meters offshore. The mobile harbor, 45 meters long and 15 meters wide, successfully docked with the “ship” and unloaded several containers from it. “This technology is very good,” said Brazilian ambassador Edmundo Fujita, who attended the demonstration. “I think the important thing is how to customize this technology to meet the needs of each customer,” he told AFP. — AFP

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US bone-growth studies under fire for alleged bias WASHINGTON: A US medical journal on Tuesday published a scathing critique of industry-funded studies on spine research, alleging that they failed to report adverse events to the journals that publish them.

The review study came days after the Senate Finance Committee launched an inquiry into whether doctors being paid by device giant Medtronic failed to report serious side effects from the bone-growth agent Infuse in clinical studies.

The product was introduced in 2002 to help bones heal after spinal surgery and has been used in about 500,000 patients. Since its arrival on the market, it has also been linked to some cases of cancer, male sterility, throat swelling and leg pain. A Loyola University spokesman told AFP that some doctors in the spinal community believe that a “small number, fewer than five” fatalities may have resulted from its use, though

no published data points to any deaths. The review article co-authored by three USbased doctors in The Spine Journal says that in 13 trials involving 780 patients, “industryfunded researchers did not report a single adverse advent involving Medtronic’s Infuse Bone Graft.”

Meanwhile, the authors of “nearly all the trials had financial ties with the manufacturer, with investigators earning as much as $26 million per study,” the journal reported.

The product brings in about $900 million in annual revenues for Medtronic, according to US media. In 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a public health notice about “life-threatening complications” associated with the product, also known as recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein (rhBMP), when used in the upper or cervical spine.

“FDA has received at least 38 reports of

complications during the last four years with the use of rhBMP in cervical spine fusion,” the agency said at the time.

“These complications were associated with swelling of neck and throat tissue, which resulted in compression of the airway and/or neurological structures in the neck.

Some reports describe difficulty swallowing, breathing or speaking.” Last week, Senator Max Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and senior member Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Medtronic asking it to “produce documents related to its controversial bone growth product Infuse.”

The senators “raised concerns over recent media reports that indicate medical researchers in charge of Infuse clinical trials may have been aware of and failed to report evidence that the product may cause sterility in men and potentially harmful bone growth,” the panel said on its website. “The

letter also notes many of these investigators had substantial financial ties to the device manufacturer.” Medtronic said it had received the senators’ inquiry and “intend(s) to respond,” but noted that the side-effects mentioned are already included in its FDAapproved product labeling.

“Patient safety is of the utmost important to Medtronic,” the company statement said.”

Accordingly, we provide PMA (pre-market approval) clinical study adverse event data to the FDA irrespective of any financial relationship between the company and the clinical investigator or study author.”The doctors’ editorial in The Spine Journal said that the potential dangers of the drug-noted by the FDA years after its approval-were never mentioned in early industry-backed studies.

“Serious potential problems, such as the association of rhBMP-2 with sterility or can-

cer risks, which were prominently discussed in Food and Drug Administration documents and hearings, did not receive one line of discussion in the industry-sponsored publication of those trials,” they wrote.

“It harms patients to have biased and corrupted research published. It harms patients to have unaccountable special interests permeate medical research. “We all must do a better job going forward,” the editorial concluded.

The review study was authored by Eugene Carragee of Stanford University, Eric Hurwitz of the University of Hawaii and Bradley Weiner of The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. The editorial was signed by Carragee, Weiner, Alexander Ghanayem of Loyola University, David Rothman of Columbia University and Christopher Bono of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. — AFP

Can the Internet aid weight loss?

Internet programs newest health intervention

IPSWICH: Racks containing seeds inside a warehouse at seed company Thompson and Morgan at their headquarters in Ipswich, England, June 26, 2011. French and British food safety officials are investigating possible contamination of seeds from British company Thompson and Morgan which may be linked to an E. coli outbreak near Bordeaux, France, where eight people have been hospitalized following an E. coli outbreak. — AP

Not so bird-brained after all: Clever crows recognize faces PARIS: Humans who dismiss birds as featherweights may revise their opinion when learning of crows which not only can identify the face of someone who is a danger but also teach others about the threat. Intrigued by the behavior of wild American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) on their campus in Seattle, University of Washington scientists explored whether the birds would recall a face associated with a frightening ordeal.

The researchers donned the rubber mask of a caveman before trapping, banding and releasing seven crows.

Thereafter, researchers wore either this “dangerous” mask or a neutral one that of former US vice president Dick Cheneyand observed, as they walked along the college paths, how the flock of crows reacted. The “crow magnon” mask prompted the birds into a collective response to a threat. They cawed and screeched, angrily flapped their wings and flicked their tail to warn of the danger, a behavior called scolding.

But the Cheney mask elicited no response. The team broadened the experiment to four other sites beyond the university, this time using different masks made in latex by a mask maker.

The faces were ordinary looking, either male or female, Asian or Caucasian.

Forty-one birds were caught and banded. As time passed, the number of birds scolding the “dangerous” face did not decline. Rather, the reverse happened. At the university site, scolding rose from 20 percent of the birds after the banding to an astonishing 60 percent after five years. “At the other sites, we only tested for a half year and there, 20 to 40 percent of crows scolded,” John Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science, said in an email.

What caused the increase in scolding?

Some of the angry birds were the off-

spring of banded crows, who as fledglings had watched as their parents reacted to the perceived danger. But there were also unbanded crows, living up to 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) from the site.

They joined in, apparently learning of the threat through the contagion of mobbing. Facial recognition is essential for the crows, says the study. Some humans in the area put out food for the birds while others shot them.

“Some of our sites were rather rural and the birds there are very wary, having been persecuted by people,” explained Marzluff. “Urban crows are very attentive to people, having to sort the good providers from the dangerous.” The crows are particularly intriguing because they have to juggle three potential sources of information, says the paper, which is published in a British journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The birds acquired information either first hand, through their own experience; “vertically,” from their parents; or “horizontally” from other birds.

Managing this implies the birds have remarkable flexibility in processing information. In evolutionary terms, animals have to make a trade-off when it comes to processing information. Gaining information first-hand-about threats or food, for instance-is the most reliable way but it is also potentially risky.

Acquiring it from trusted individuals is less costly but also potentially less reliable, and even more so when the information comes from more distant sources. The American crow is unlikely to be alone in its multi-tasking data processing. “It has not been demonstrated, but I’m sure jackdaws and rooks (also) use both individual, horizontal and vertical methods of learning,” said Marzluff. — AFP

WELLINGTON: Wellington Zoo resident vet Dr. Baukje Lenting, left, and manager of veterinary science Dr. Lisa Argilla care for an Antarctic penguin that wound up stranded on a New Zealand beach at Wellington Zoo in yetserday. It may be months before the young emperor penguin - affectionately dubbed Happy Feet - fully recovers, and officials are uncertain about when or how it could return home about 2,000 miles away. — AP

NEW YORK: People tend to lose a little more weight with online help than with traditional weight loss programs, a Japanese study saidbut combining the Internet with in-person contact appears to be the most effective in keeping extra kilograms at bay. With obesity on the rise, there have been many attempts to take advantage of the Internet to help people lose weight, mainly because it’s thought to be easier and less expensive.

But while the study, which involved a review of 23 previous studies and was published in the International Journal of Obesity, did find a positive impact from online involvement, the overall effect was small. “Webbased treatment programs are attractive in primary care because of their ability to reach numerous individuals at low cost,” wrote the researchers, headed by Hirohito Sone of the University of Tsukuba Institute of Clinical Medicine in Ibaraki, Japan.

Overall, patients involved in programs with a web component lost an average of 3.3 kg more than participants in traditional weight-

West Africa faces food shortages due to repeated flooding: experts ABUJA: West Africa faces serious food shortages due to repeated floods caused mainly by climate change, experts warned in the Nigerian capital Abuja. The other consequences such as population displacement, conflicts over land and water resources as well as soil infertility can only worsen the situation, they said. Meteorologists, hydrologists and disaster risk managers from 18 countries gathered in Abuja last week to brainstorm. West Africa has seen increasing floods in recent years mainly due to climate change, with 2.2 million people affected in 2010 alone and more than 500 killed, according to the African Centre for Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD).

“Severe flooding due to disruption of rain patterns caused by climate change is greatly threatening agriculture and crop yield, which increasingly put West Africa’s food security at risk,” Youcef Ait Chellouche, a specialist with the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, told AFP. Nigeria is already bracing for impending shortages with the country’s emergency agency NEMA warning that 12 million people in the north, or just under a 10th of the country’s population, might not have enough food. A large number of those affected by the 2010 floods in the region are still grappling with food scarcity created by inundations the previous year.

“Poor households still suffering from the persistent effects of last year’s food crisis and this year’s flooding in northern Nigeria, northwestern and eastern Chad, northeastern Burkina Faso, Niger and Benin, face a threat of food insecurity,” Famine Early Warning Systems Network said in its 2010 report. Floods in the sub-region are increasing “in frequency and occurrence ...leading to widespread human, material and environmental losses” said Andrea Diop of the Economic Community for West African States, a regional bloc.

In recent years, the region has witnessed increasing climate variability. Traditionally dry areas are getting intense rains and the usually wet areas receive scanty rainfall, distorting farming activities and substantially affecting crop yields, Lazreg Benaichat, ACMAD specialist on climate change in Africa told AFP. The displacement of people results in changes in population distribution and “creates conflicts over land and water sources between displaced communities and host communities,” said Benaichat. “This affects the volume of crop production and upsets herding activities.”

Violent clashes between farmers and nomads over grazing land and watering holes are common in West Africa and such clashes disturb agricultural activities, said Chellouche. According to the World Bank, 96 percent of Africa’s cultivated land is rain fed. — AFP

loss programs, the group found. The Internet was used in a variety of ways in the weight control programs, including individualized instruction, communication with lifestyle instructors, counseling and keeping a record of food intake. In addition, the programs varied in the how much the participants used the Internet.

But the researchers found that the most effective approaches were those that combined both Internet and more conventional in-person methods. For instance, when the Internet replaced face-to-face counseling, people actually ended up gaining about 6.6 kg more, on average, than their peers who weren’t getting “help” from the Internet.

However, when the programs combined the Internet and counseling, participants ended up about 4.4 kg lighter than people who did not use the Web. “An in-person contact approach is superior to a technology-based approach,” the authors wrote. “An Internet program needs to include the component of a face-to-face program for

participants to achieve weight loss.” Internetbased programs were more effective when the goal was to lose weight in the first place, and less effective when the goal was weightloss maintenance. Weight-loss experts were divided, with some saying it was still far too early to make generalizations, citing widespread differences in the Internet programs used for weight loss.

But others said the results were promising for patients who have had little success with other programs. Jean Harvey-Berino, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont in Burlington, said that face-to-face meetings are not always “better enough to warrant the extra cost and aggravation.” A good Internet program enables participants to communicate in groups, monitor their eating and exercise habits, and get regular feedback from peers and supervisors, while focusing on behavior change, she added. “This is the next wave of public health intervention, and we can’t stop now,” she said. — Reuters

Obama 2012 campaign to go beyond email CHICAGO: Call him the Digital Candidate: President Barack Obama is asking supporters to use Facebook to declare “I’m In!” for his re -election campaign and is using Twitter to personally blast out messages to his nearly 9 million followers. Emails to supporters seek small-dollar donations in exchange for campaign coffee mugs or a chance to win dinner with the president.

The campaign’s website helps supporters find local events, plan meetings and raise money while its digital team develops the next big thing. If Obama broke new ground in 2008 using email, text messages and the Web to reach voters, Obama version 2.0 aims to take the Web campaign to the next level - harnessing the expansive roles that the Internet and social media are playing in voters’ lives.

The Republican presidential field has also embraced the Web and social media, turning to Facebook and Twitter to launch their campaigns and directing supporters to Facebook sites for videos, messages and online discussions. “The successful campaign is going to be one that integrates all the various elements of the digital channel email, text, website, mobile apps, and social networks - together as one digital program and also mixing the digital program together with the offline reality of field organizations,” said Joe Rospars, the Obama campaign’s chief digital strategist.

“In the end,” Rospars said, “all the digital stuff is in service of the offline reality of knocking on doors, making phone calls and ultimately persuading voters and turning them out.” Obama took advantage of a strong Internet campaign in 2008 to raise an estimated $500 million online while regularly communicating with supporters through text messages, an email list estimated at more than 13 million and content on his www.BarackObama.com website. When Obama was close to announcing his vice presidential selection of Joe Biden, the campaign encouraged supporters to find out by text message, a move that prompted more than 2 million people to sign up.

Three years later, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have exploded, smart phones and apps are more prevalent, tablet computers are on the rise, and most Americans are online. When Obama announced his presidential campaign in 2007, Facebook had fewer than 20 million users worldwide. That number has now surpassed 500 million. “There’s no online and offline organizing. There’s organizing,” said Jeremy Bird, Obama’s national field director, during a session at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis.

Digital strategists say Obama’s campaign has an advantage over the Republican field because of the work his camp conducted in 2008 and the months it will have before Republicans coalesce around a challenger.

The Obama campaign declines to say how

IOWA: President Barack Obama addresses workers at the Alcoa Davenport Works factory in Iowa on Tuesday. Obama is being called the ‘digital candidate’ as he utilizes facebook and twitter for his 2012 presidential campaign. — AP many of its supporters have clicked the “I’m In!” button, but Facebook brings Obama’s campaign to millions of news feeds, allowing supporters to share content, plan events and recruit friends in ways that email couldn’t in 2008.

“If you’re my friend and I see that you’re going out to canvass this weekend for Barack Obama, I’m much more likely to participate because I know my friends are doing it,” said Stephen Geer, a former director of email and online fundraising for Obama for America. He’s now vice president of new media at OMP, a Washington fundraising and communications firm.

Facebook has grown in prominence in political campaigns since 2008 - for example, more than 12 million people clicked the “I Voted” button in 2010, signifying that they had cast ballots, compared with about 5.4 million in 2008. A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that Facebook users are more likely to engage in political activity than someone who browses the Internet or uses other social media services.

Twitter, meanwhile, was still in its infancy when Obama first ran for president and played little role in that campaign. This time, Obama has signaled the value of his (at)barackobama handle, telling supporters he’ll regularly send personal tweets signed “BO.” His campaign has set up separate Twitter accounts for all 50 states to communicate with supporters. By its nature, Twitter allows the campaign to monitor public opinion on a minute-by-minute basis, respond to critics and shape the news. — AP

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Choose bamboo carefully, avoid notorious spreaders ARIZONA: Gardeners often are bamboozled by bamboo, particularly the running kinds that are notorious spreaders. Most of the clumping varieties can be contained, however, as they grow quickly into attractive specimen plants and screens. It is important to know the difference before you buy.

“Bamboo is really nice to look at, and it has a pleasant rustling sound in a breeze that reminds me of white noise,” said Jeff Schalau, an agricultural and natural resources agent with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension at Prescott. “It also is a great barrier plant if you want privacy or want to block something out.” There are more than 1,400 different bamboo species, which range from north of the Arctic Circle in Norway to the steamy tropics of Southeast Asia. It is one of the fastest growing plants in nature.

“In ideal conditions, there’s been bamboo recorded to grow 39 inches (100 centimeters) a day,” said Ted Meredith, author of “Bamboo for Gardens” (Timber Press, 2001). “I had a bamboo

I measured grow 13 inches in one day. That’s pretty neat. You can almost watch it grow.”

Many bamboo varieties can be used as container plants, attractive on a sunny patio or porch, said Meredith, who lives in Edmonds, Washington.

“One of the good things about bamboo is that it’s a vigorous, happy plant, but a downside is that it gets root-bound more quickly,” he said. “It’s easy, though, to take it out, divide and repot it. Most of the stems are hollow, making it light and portable in containers.” Bamboo also offers utility. “Some are very tasty,” Meredith said. “I know of a farmer in Puyallup (Washington) who harvests bamboo shoots and sells it to specialty markets around the area.” Bamboo serves as good building material for fences and borders. “Black bamboo is hard and beautiful, and you can make very colorful yard constructions from it,” Meredith said.

Bamboo’s hardiness often causes problems, though. Many varieties can take over a yard if left untended. “I never recommend planting

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bamboo unless you’re certain about the varieties,” said Morgan Judy, an extension agent at Clemson University’s Orangeburg, South Carolina, office. “Research not only the varieties you’re looking to buy but the best places to put them, and then see how they do over a period of time,” she said. “There are some ornamentals out there that are perfectly good to use, that are not invasive and that look really nice.” Eliminating a spreader if it becomes troublesome may take several seasons, Judy said.

There is no quick fix. “Bamboo is a grass. If you can keep it under cultivation or mow it regularly, it will die out that way,” she said.

“Planting it inside a concrete barrier is a practical option, although cutting it down and using an herbicide is probably more practical.” Bamboo is becoming popular with landscape designers, and a number of nurseries have begun specializing in the plant, Meredith said. “Many of them offer control and maintenance (services) if you need help dealing with it.” —AP

DALLAS: Black Bamboo lines the back fence and provides shade at the Hall home in Dallas, Texas. —MCT

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s - 65561619 TEL: 24734000 6 shifakuwait@gmail.com shifak uwait@g gmail.com www.shifakuwait.com www.shifakuwait.com Workiing Hours: 8.00 am m to to 12:00am Working

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KUWAIT: Holiday Inn Kuwait staff at Children’s House.

Holiday inn kuwait visits Children’s Home

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oliday Inn Kuwait visited the Children’s House in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility. The Marketing and Public Relations Team along with other hotel employees took with them goodie bags and snack boxes for the children, spreading cheer

and joy from the moment of their entry into the place.

The visit began on an enthusiastic note with some simple rhymes for the children, followed by games for the children, where winners got prizes for having played. There were

also fun activities that were conducted by the team, lighting up the faces of the children with smiles, in an ambience of sunshine and excitement. Children’s music continuously played in the background, and the short visit wound up with the distribution of delicious snack boxes,

prepared with love and care, to all the children present. All the little ones left carrying precious goodie bags that were loaded with treasures for them to enjoy and cherish.

This visit was carried out in an effort to involve the orphans in activities that reflect

their needs and integrate them in society from an early age through a variety of programs take into consideration their actual needs and encourage the community to understand the rights of this category that are an integral part of it.

The Japanese Under-22 football team at Crowne Plaza Kuwait.

Crowne plaza kuwait hosts Japanese national football team

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he Crowne Plaza Kuwait had the honor of hosting one of the oldest international football teams the Japanese Football Team Japanese Under-22. Having come to Kuwait as part of the elimination match for the Olympic Games of 2012 to be held in London, the team stayed at the hotel, in accomodations that were specially prepared for their arrival and presence.

Welcomed by the Marketing and PR team, led by Hany Nabil, Director of Marketing, PR and Loyalty Marketing, the team members were escorted to

their rooms by members of the Front Office team under the efficient leadership of Elezi Zekirija, Front Office Manager. The Japanese Team dined at the Sakura Japanese restaurant, where dining is an art with its authentic flavors, and giving the team a feel of taste of home throughout.

A friendly match was played between the Japanese Under-22 and their Kuwaiti counterparts at the Mohammad Al Hamad Stadium (Qadsiya Sports Club, Hawally), where they qualified in the first leg of their second round qualifier for the

Olympics.

The management and team of Crowne Plaza Kuwait made sure that the team had the best of services and facilities available throughout their stay, ensuring they remained in top form for their activities while in the State of Kuwait. With its refurbished rooms and modern amenities, and a bouquet of flavors with the 8 in house restaurants, the Crowne Plaza Kuwait is truly global in its facilities and services, ensuring that guests’ satisfaction is always met and improved upon.

NBK honors outstanding high school graduates

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ational Bank of Kuwait (NBK) honored several high school graduates who achieved outstanding results in their final year at a ceremony at NBK headquarters yesterday. NBK Kuwait CEO Shaikha Al Bahar, NBK Capital CEO Salah Al Fulaij, NBK General Manager Corporate Banking Group Mazin Al-Nahedh, NBK Deputy General Manager Consumer Banking Group Abdulla Al Najran Al Tuwaijri and Assistant General Manager HR Group - Kuwait Emad Ahmed Al Ablani met with the students and urged them to contin-

ue working hard to achieve their dreams.

“NBK sees education as a top priority and is always keen to support ambitious young people as a fundamental part of our social responsibility,” Al Bahar said.

“We are proud of these youth and what they have achieved and wish them every success in their future studies and careers.” NBK supports education and excellence for the youth of Kuwait in a variety of ways, including holding such honoring ceremonies to recognize and reward students striving toward excellence.

LoYAC certified as Best Practice by DIABP, UN Habitat

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Balasamajam members at the Kuwait National museum.

Balasamajam members tour Kuwait National museum and planetarium

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ational Service Society Kuwait’s Vanitha Samajam organised a tour to the Kuwait National museum and planetarium for

the Balasamajam members on 10th June 2011. The visit was a different experience for the children as it gave them an opportunity to see the archeological

discoveries of Failaka and Kuwait’s ancient civilization. The Heritage museum highlighted the old and traditional Kuwaiti society and its rich heritage.

Children and the Parents were thrilled by watching the origin of stars at the Kuwait planetarium and enjoyed its cozy ambiance. Kuwait national

Museum authorities and staff were very co-operative and helpful in directing and explaining each and every exhibits in the museum.

he international Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of Dubai International Award for Best Practices and UN Habitat met in Dubai and reviewed submissions for the 2010 cycle. The committee received 384 submissions from 60 countries and when the shortlisted candidates were classified as promising practices, good practices and best practices, LoYAC was singled out as a Best Practice. The TAC selected Best Practices as those who have made outstanding contributions to improving the quality of life in their cities and communities. LoYAC’s practice will be widely referred to in conferences seminars and training workshops through electronic and print media.

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Embassy

Scientific Center launches summer camp

Information

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he Scientific Center kicks off its summer camp for 2011 on Sunday, July 3, 2011, which will feature many activities held in weekly camps from Sunday to Thursday between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm.

Kids between the ages of eight and twelve are allowed to participate in the camp, as they will engage in educational and artistic workshops, in addition to visits to the aquarium and the Discovery Hall, as well as behind the scene trips and iMAX movie shows.

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.

Salmiya region Malayalam classes

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ala, Kuwait free Malayalam classes began June 25th in the Salmiya zone as informed by Salmiya regional Bhashasamithi.

A bhashasamithi was formed which was inaugurated by General Convenor P.K.Janardhanan. Kala Central Committee members Shinoj Mathew and J.Saji also attended the meeting. Rajesh P.R was selected as the Salmiya regional Convenor followed

by Reji.K.Jacob and Madhusoodhanan as Joint Convenors and Sailesh Kannoth, Suresh Babu, Kunjumon, Manoj Mathew Thomas, Rajan C. Kulakkada, Shinoj Mathew, J.Saji and PR Kiron as other Samithi members.

For registrations and other information kindly contact: 66767297, 66081623 or 97496171.

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.

Al-Baqsami with other artists at the forum.

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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

Aware Arabic courses “The AWARE Management is glad to announce that Ramadan Arabic language courses will begin on August 7th till September 15th, 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 & those working in the private business sector.

AWARE Arabic courses highlight ● Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics ● Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic ● Combine language learning with cultural insights ● Taught in multi-nationality group settings ● Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

For more information, call 25335260 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

Al-Baqsami among artists during a tour around the area.

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Al-Baqsami participates in Turkish arts expo

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uwaiti artist Thuraiya AlBaqsami took part in the 5th International Arts Forum in Antalya, Turkey which was held in an exhibition inside Antalya’s national museum featuring fifty artists from around the world.

Al-Baqsami describes her participation in such events as an opportunity to showcase the Kuwaiti arts as well as a chance for Kuwaiti artists to share their experiences with artists from other countries. In addition to partaking in the arts

forum, Al-Baqsami also joined artists from Azerbaijan, Russia, Italy, Holland, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Bosnia, as well as from various parts of Turkey in tours around Antalya’s archeological sites and museums.

Manikgonj Emigrant Co-operative Society Kuwait function

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anikgonj Emigrant Co-operative Society Kuwait recently organized a discussion of isra Al miraj by maulana masudur rahman in the hotel Rajdhani Kuwait city on last Friday. The program began with recitation

of the holy Quran by Abu Bakar Siddik A.K. Azad Nur President of Manikgonj Emigrant Cooperative Society was present as was Chief Guest K.M. Au Reza first Secretary (Labour) Bangladesh Embassy of Kuwait. Prominent Business

man Al Haz Jubayer Ahmad, Jalal Ahmed Chonno Mulla, Al Amin Sapun, Mainul Islam, Senior Vice President Anamul Haque Khan, Vice President Abul Hasan, General secretary Badul Hossain Khan were also present.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca.

Canada offers a registration service for all Canadians travelling or living abroad. This service is provided so that Consular Officials can contact and assist Canadians in an emergency in a foreign country, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, or inform Canadians of a family emergency at home. The Embassy of Canada encourages all Canadian Citizens to register online through the Government of Canada Travel Website at www.voyage.gc.ca. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.

Effective January 15, 2011, the only Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form that will be accepted by CIC is the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form. All previous Temporary Resident Visa application forms will no longer be accepted by CIC and instead will be returned to applicants. Should old applications be submitted prior to January 15, 2011 they will continue to be processed.

To ensure that the most recent version of the Temporary Resident Visa application form is being utilized, applicants should refer to the CIC website.

As of January 15, 2011, forms are to be filled in electronically. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday.

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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 ■■■■■■■

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.

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igh school graduate Mays Samer Sheikh Al-Jabal celebrated with her family her graduation from the Fajr Al-Sabah high school with a 98.7% GPA (scientific sector). AlJabal dedicates her outstanding result to Kuwait, to her school and to her parents, and plans to study medicine either in Kuwait or her home country; Syria.

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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 ■■■■■■■

The Public Authority for Youth and Sport held a breakfast gathering for its employees recently at its headquarters’ building. The event, which took place as per personal initiation from General Director Sheikh Talal AlFahad, was attended by senior PAYS officials including assistant general director for the youth sector Jassem Yaqoub.

EMBASSY OF SLOVAK REPUBLIC On the occasion of the Day of the Apostles St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the Embassy of the Slovak Republic will be closed on Tuesday, July 05, 2011, and will resume its duties on Wednesday, July 06, 2011, the Business hours of the Consular Section is from Monday to Wednesday from 10:00 till 13:00 hrs.

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Years

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Cats 101 01:40 Untamed And Uncut 02:35 Austin Stevens Adventures 03:30 Planet Earth 04:25 Buggin’ With Ruud 05:20 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 07:00 Lemur Street 07:25 The Really Wild Show 07:50 The Planet’s Funniest Animals 08:40 Breed All About It 09:10 Extraordinary Dogs 09:35 Project Puppy 10:05 Cats 101 11:00 Animal Cops Phoenix 11:55 E-Vets: The Interns 12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Animal ER 13:45 Animal Cops Houston 14:40 Penguin Safari 15:30 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Crocodile Hunter 17:25 Trophy Cats 18:20 Breed All About It 18:45 Planet Wild 19:15 Penguin Safari 20:10 Cats 101 21:05 Escape To Chimp Eden 22:00 World Wild Vet 22:55 I Was Bitten 23:50 Penguin Safari

00:05 Keeping Up Appearances 00:35 The Weakest Link 01:20 Casualty 02:10 Bleak House 03:10 Eastenders 03:40 Doctors 04:05 Keeping Up Appearances 04:35 Fimbles 04:55 Balamory 05:15 Teletubbies 05:40 Gigglebiz 05:55 Fimbles 06:15 Balamory 06:35 Teletubbies 07:00 Fimbles 07:20 Balamory 07:40 Teletubbies 08:05 Gigglebiz 08:20 Fimbles 08:40 Balamory 09:00 Teletubbies 09:25 Gigglebiz 09:40 Keeping Up Appearances 10:40 The Weakest Link 11:25 Doctor Who 12:15 Doctors 12:40 Eastenders 13:10 Casualty 14:00 Keeping Up Appearances 15:30 Doctor Who 16:15 Doctor Who Confidential 16:30 The Weakest Link 17:15 Doctors 17:45 Eastenders 18:15 Casualty 19:00 Doctor Who 19:50 Doctor Who Confidential 20:00 The Weakest Link 20:45 Doctors 21:15 Eastenders 21:45 Casualty 22:40 Ray Mears’ Northern Wilderness 23:30 Keeping Up Appearances

00:30 01:20 02:05 02:50 03:35 07:40 08:05 08:35 09:00 09:30 10:20 11:05 11:50

Come Dine With Me The Home Show Design Star Design Star Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge Daily Cooks Challenge New Scandinavian Cooking New Scandinavian Cooking Antiques Roadshow Design Star Design Star New Scandinavian Cooking

12:15 12:40 13:30 14:15 15:00 15:50 16:35 17:20 18:10 18:35 19:00 19:50 20:35 21:20 22:10 23:00

New Scandinavian Cooking Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Design Star Design Star Rhodes Across China New Scandinavian Cooking New Scandinavian Cooking Antiques Roadshow Cash In The Attic Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me The Home Show Rick Stein’s French Odyssey

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 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 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 14:30 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:05 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

00:00 00:30 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00

Backstory World Sport World Report World Report World Business Today Piers Morgan Tonight Anderson Cooper 360 World Sport Talk Asia World Report Backstory World Report World Report World Sport News Special World Business Today World One World Sport News Special Piers Morgan Tonight News Stream World Business Today International Desk The Brief World Sport Prism International Desk News Special Quest Means Business Piers Morgan Tonight Connect The World

00:40 01:35 02:30 03:25 04:20 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:10 10:05 10:30 10:55

Dirty Jobs Science Of The Movies Ultimate Survival Battle Machine Bros Mythbusters How It’s Made How It’s Made Dirty Jobs Battle Machine Bros Street Customs How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Time Warp

THE ITALIAN JOB OSN ACTION HD

11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 15:05 16:00 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:10 19:40 20:05 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Science Of The Movies The Future Of...

Ultimate Survival LA Ink Dirty Jobs Battle Machine Bros Mythbusters Extreme Fishing Cake Boss Border Security Time Warp How It’s Made Surviving The Cut Sons Of Guns Frontline Battle Machines...

Extreme Fishing

00:30 00:55 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:25 03:50 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 07:58 08:25 08:55 09:45 10:10 10:35 11:25 11:50 12:40 13:05 13:55 14:45 15:35 16:00 16:03 16:30 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:30 20:20 20:45 21:10 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:40

The Gadget Show Kings Of Construction How It’s Made How It’s Made How Stuff Works How Stuff’s Made Scrapheap Challenge What’s That About?

Patent Bending Engineered Da Vinci’s Machines Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Sci-Fi Saved My Life The Gadget Show The Gadget Show What’s That About?

Savage Planet Da Vinci’s Machines Patent Bending How Stuff Works Eco-Tech Kings Of Construction The Gadget Show Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Brainiac Bad Universe Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory The Future Of...

Sci-Fi Science How Does That Work?

The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory The Future Of...

The Colony

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 08:10 08:20 08:30 08:45 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:45 09:55 10:05 10:15 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:10 12:35 13:00 13:25 13:40 13:50 14:05 14:15 14:25 14:50 15:15 15:40 16:05 16:20 16:30 16:40 16:55 17:20 17:45 17:55 18:05 18:15 18:35 19:00 19:10 19:20 19:45 19:55 20:05 20:25 20:50 21:00 21:10 21:20 21:30 21:55 22:20 22:35 22:45 23:00 23:20 23:30 23:55

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 Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Timmy Time Handy Manny Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Handy Manny Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse The Little Mermaid Little Einsteins Jungle Junction Lazytown Imagination Movers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Timmy Time The Hive Little Einsteins The Little Mermaid Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny 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 Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Little Mermaid Handy Manny Timmy Time Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Handy Manny The Little Mermaid Little Einsteins Handy Manny The Hive Jungle Junction The Little Mermaid Timmy Time Jo Jo’s Circus Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:20 Kick Buttowski 06:40 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 07:05 Phineas And Ferb 07:30 Phineas And Ferb 07:40 Phineas And Ferb 08:05 American Dragon 08:30 Kick Buttowski 08:50 Kid vs Kat 09:00 The Super Hero Squad Show 09:25 The Super Hero Squad Show 09:50 The Super Hero Squad Show 10:15 The Super Hero Squad Show

10:40 The Super Hero Squad Show 11:30 Pair Of Kings 11:55 Phineas And Ferb 12:45 Kid vs Kat 13:50 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 14:15 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 14:40 Zeke And Luther 15:05 Kick Buttowski 15:25 Kid vs Kat 15:35 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 16:00 I’m In The Band 16:25 The Super Hero Squad Show 18:55 Kick Buttowski 19:45 Kid vs Kat 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 Phineas And Ferb 22:00 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 22:20 The Super Hero Squad Show 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Then And Now 01:25 20 Most Shocking Unsolved Crimes 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 30 Best And Worst Beach Bodies 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Khloe And Lamar 10:15 THS 12:05 E! News 13:05 Fashion Police 13:35 Extreme Close-Up 14:05 Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami 14:35 THS 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Holly’s World 17:55 E! News 18:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 19:55 THS 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Khloe And Lamar 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Kourtney And Kim Take New York

00:15 Untracked 00:40 Mantracker 01:30 World Combat League 02:20 Untracked 03:10 Fight Girls 04:00 I’ll Do Anything 04:50 Mantracker 05:40 World Combat League 06:30 FIA European Drag Racing 2008 08:00 Quattro Events 2009 08:25 X-Traordinary 09:15 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

10:05 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

10:55 Eds Up 11:45 Fantasy Factory 12:35 Untracked 13:00 Glutton For Punishment 13:25 Mantracker 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Eds Up 15:55 Fantasy Factory 16:45 Quattro Events 2009 17:10 X-Traordinary 18:00 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

18:50 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

19:40 Mantracker 20:30 Untracked 20:55 Glutton For Punishment 21:20 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Fight Girls 23:50 Untracked

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:50 04:45 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 Cases 22:50 23:40

01:05 02:40 04:15 05:55 07:40 10:00 11:35 11:50 13:30 15:20 17:25 19:10 20:40 22:00 23:25

Ghost Lab Psychic Witness I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner Crime Scene Psychics Ghost Lab Mystery ER Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Solved FBI Files On The Case With Paula Zahn Ripped From The Headlines Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Solved Forensic Detectives Murder Shift FBI Files Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls On The Case With Paula Zahn Ripped From The Headlines Autopsy: Most Shocking True Crime Scene Dr G: Medical Examiner

The January Man Dead On Sight Carrie Watch It Avanti Italian Movie Big Screen - 4 Meteor Man The Organization The Missouri Breaks Wuthering Heights (1970) Seven Hours To Judgement A.K.A. Cassius Clay Warm Summer Rain Soldier Boyz

00:30 Banged Up Abroad 01:30 Madventures 02:30 Banged Up Abroad

CHARLIE AND BOOTS ON OSN CINEMA 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:30 07:30 08:30 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:30 19:30 20:30 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

Destination Extreme Bondi Rescue David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Exploring The Vine Cruise Ship Diaries Banged Up Abroad Madventures Banged Up Abroad Destination Extreme Bondi Rescue David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Exploring The Vine Surfer’s Journal Bondi Rescue Nomads Banged Up Abroad Destination Extreme Bondi Rescue David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Exploring The Vine Surfer’s Journal Bondi Rescue Nomads Banged Up Abroad Destination Extreme Bondi Rescue David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Exploring The Vine Surfer’s Journal

22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

The Ricky Gervais Show Party Down Boondocks Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Supernatural Mildred Pierce The Ellen DeGeneres Show Terriers The View Good Morning America Detroit 1-8-7 Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Supernatural Terriers Live Good Morning America Grey’s Anatomy The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Look-A-Like Bones White Collar Burn Notice The Good Guys Detroit 1-8-7

00:00 Knife Edge-18 02:00 Signs-PG15 04:00 The Tripper-18 06:00 The Stepfather-PG15 08:00 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-PG15 10:00 Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen-PG15 12:30 The Italian Job (2003)-PG15 14:30 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-PG15 16:30 The Bodyguard 2-PG15 18:15 The Italian Job (2003)-PG15 20:15 Notorious-18 22:30 Children Of The Corn-18

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:30 13:45 15:30 18:00 PG15 20:15 22:15

Fast Lane-PG15 The Cottage-18 El Orfenato-18 Echelon Conspiracy-PG15 Armageddon-PG15 King Arthur-PG15 Inkheart-PG Armageddon-PG15 The Hunt For Red October-

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

00:00 Flirting Wth Flamenco-PG15 02:00 Unmade Beds-PG15 04:00 Monsters vs. Aliens-PG 06:00 A Low Down Dirty ShamePG15 08:00 Who’s Your Caddy?-PG15 10:00 Mafia!-PG15 12:00 Saved!-PG15 14:00 Straight Talk-PG15 16:00 Flirting Wth Flamenco-PG15 18:00 Down And Out In Beverly Hills-PG15 20:00 Dance Flick-18 22:00 Old Dogs-PG

The Limits Of Control-18 Me And Orson Welles-PG The Nutty Professor-FAM A Christmas Carol-PG Me And Orson Welles-PG Green Lantern: First Flight-PG Leap Year-PG15 Charlie And Boots-PG Preacher’s Kid-PG Crazy Heart-PG15 How To Train Your Dragon-PG She’s Out Of My League-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Boondocks 02:00 Louie 02:30 Party Down 03:00 Rita Rocks 03:30 Hope And Faith 03:30 Party Down 04:00 Boondocks 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Will And Grace 06:00 According To Jim 06:30 Family Biz 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Parks And Recreation 08:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 09:00 Rita Rocks 09:30 Will And Grace 10:00 According To Jim 10:30 Parks And Recreation 11:00 Family Biz 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 13:00 Hope And Faith 13:30 Will And Grace 14:00 According To Jim 14:30 The Simpsons 15:00 Parks And Recreation 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Rita Rocks 18:30 Hope And Faith 19:00 Happy Endings 19:30 Community 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report

Speed-PG15 Wild Things-18

01:00 Katyn-PG15 03:00 The Waterdance-18 04:45 The Informant!-PG15 06:45 Carnera: The Walking Mountain-PG 09:00 Where The Wild Things ArePG 11:00 Finding Forrester-PG 13:15 Beneath The Blue-PG15 15:00 By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama-PG15 17:00 The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond-PG15 19:00 The Damned United-PG15 21:00 Almost Famous-PG15

00:30 Boogie Nights-18 03:15 Good Hair-PG15 05:15 Maneater: Part I-PG15 07:00 Maneater: Part II-PG15 09:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 11:00 The Wronged Man-PG15 13:00 The Perfect Score-PG15 15:00 The Invention Of Lying-PG15 17:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 19:00 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star-PG15 21:00 How To Train Your Dragon-PG 23:00 Greenberg-18

00:00 FAM 02:00 03:45 06:00 08:15 10:00 FAM 12:00

The Princess And The FrogThe Amazing Zorro-PG15 Nativity!-PG The Country Bears-PG15 Time Kid-FAM The Princess And The FrogDennis The Menace: Cruise

Control-FAM 14:00 The Country Bears-PG15 16:00 Monsters Inc-FAM 18:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 20:00 Pete’s Dragon-PG 22:15 Dennis The Menace: Cruise Control-FAM

00:30 Man On Wire-PG15 02:15 Fanboys-PG15 04:00 Winning Time-PG15 06:00 My Son, My Son, What Have You Done?-PG15 08:00 Freestyle-PG15 10:00 End Of The Spear-PG15 12:00 Avatar-PG 14:45 Make It Happen-PG15 16:15 Freestyle-PG15 18:00 Tooth Fairy-PG 20:00 Up In The Air-PG15 22:00 Repo Men-18

00:00 European Tour Weekly 00:30 NRL Premiership 02:30 World Hockey 03:00 Ladies European PGA Tour Highlights 04:00 Futbol Mundial 04:30 AFL Highlights 05:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 06:00 Weber Cup Bowling 07:00 NRL Full Time 07:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 08:00 Trans World Sport 09:00 Ladies European PGA Tour Highlights 10:00 Asian Tour Highlights 11:00 European Tour Weekly 11:30 AFL Highlights 12:30 Super 15 16:30 Trans World Sport 17:30 European Tour Weekly 18:00 Golfing World 19:00 European PGA Tour 23:30 Super Rugby Highlights

00:00 Super 15 04:00 Masters Football 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Rugby Junior World Championship 10:00 Futbol Mundial 10:30 Super Rugby Highlights 11:30 Total Rugby 12:00 Golfing World 13:00 European Tour Weekly 13:30 Live European PGA Tour 17:30 Darts UK Open 21:30 Live RFL Championship 23:30 Masters Football

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 23:00

V8 Supercars Championship Intercontinental Le Mans Cup UFC Unleashed UFC Brown V Anttonito UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UAE National Race Day Series Intercontinental Le Mans Cup WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottom Line WWE SmackDown UFC 131 WWE NXT Intercontinental Le Mans Cup UFC Brown V Anttonito UFC Unleashed

00:55 The Prize 03:05 Victor/Victoria 05:15 A Patch Of Blue 07:00 Boom Town 08:55 The Outriders 10:25 Green Fire 12:05 The Little Hut 13:40 Easter Parade 15:20 Rhapsody 17:15 The Trouble With Girls 18:55 Where Were You When The Lights Went Out? 20:25 The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

Classifieds THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Science Matters

Gene test to rescue a devil Geneticists have decoded the genome of the Tasmanian devil and set up a captive â&#x20AC;&#x153;insuranceâ&#x20AC;? population to save the devils from extinction.

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Š 2011 MCT

Healthy Living

Stone fruit

A relative of the peach and a harbinger of summer, apricots, like other stone fruits, have a sweet yet faintly tart taste with hints of almond.

Healthy and versatile Â&#x2021; $SULFRWV DUH ORZ LQ FDORULHV KLJK LQ ILEHU Â&#x2021; 7KH\ DUH D JRRG VRXUFH RI YLWDPLQV $ DQG & DQG RI SRWDVVLXP EHWD FDURWHQH DQG WU\SWRSKDQ Â&#x2021; ([SHUWV VD\ WKH\ DUH JRRG IRU H\H KHDOWK DQG PD\ UHGXFH ULVN RI VRPH FDQFHUV DUWKULWLV Â&#x2021; 7KH\ SDLU ZHOO ZLWK \RJXUW IRU SDUIDLWV DQG VPRRWKLHV DQG ZLWK EHUULHV IRU VDODGV Š 2011 MCT 6RXUFH :RUOGŇ&#x2039;V +HDOWKLHVW )RRGV 1HZ <RUN 7LPHV 0&7 3KRWR 6HUYLFH *UDSKLF 3DW &DUU

(C 3478) 27-6-2011

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation availab le fo r decent Indian Hindu or Catholic bachelors or family with M angalo rean Cat ho li c family in a window A/C b uilding o f f R ashi d Hospital, Shara Amman, Salmiya.

Co ntac t: 55995437/ 99200186.

(C 3487) 30-6-2011

A spacio us ro o m wi t h separate toilet and kitchen space from a flat in Bneid Al-Ghar area, to let single occupancy KD 75/ - , do ub le K D 90/ - .

Contact: 60914165.

(C 3475) 26-6-2011

Spacious bedroom with separate bathroom available for sharing in a two bedroom two bathroom f lat in A b b asi y a, near United Indian School for Keralite couples from June 5 onwards. Co ntac t: 66846299. (C 3484) 29-6-2011

Pilates Power GYMâ&#x20AC;? with price KD 50/-. A quality t hane f i t ness p ro duc t along with ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manual and 1 ho ur wo r ko ut vi deo.

Visi t www.thane.com to view t he m ac hine. Co nt ac t : 99430379.

(C 3485)

Spacious hall available from July onwards near Edee Stores, Salmiya, suitab le fo r c lasses like Breathing/ Aerobics etc.

Please contact: 55394933.

(C 3479) Sharing accommodation available for RC Goan or Mangalorian bachelor in a flat near Khaitan Jamiya.

R ent K D 40/ - . Co nt ac t : 99453500. (C 3480) 28-6-2011 Separate room in Mulhak at Al-Jabriya near Al-Hadi Hospital for single Muslim b ac helo r, k itc hen & phone, satellite facilities, semi furnish. Rent KD 70 per month from July 2011.

Contact: 99546413.

(C 3476) Separate room with separate bathroom available for single lady or bachelor o r co up le i n C- A / C f lat with drawing kitchen and satellite f ac i lit ies i n Salmiya, Amman Street, new building in very nice location.

Co ntac t: 55230154.

FOR SALE

New i Pad2 32GB, dishwasher, washing machine, oil room heater, pedestal fan, computer table/ chair, indo o r o utdo o r p lant s, I kea book case, garden hose. Contact: 23983631/ 99435795.

(C 3486) 30-6-2011 Pajero Jeep - 2002, silver color, 4 doors (6 Clr) - CC 3000, KD 1,750/-. Contact: 66729295. (C 3481) Honda City 2009, white co lo r, 16,000k m , K D 2,350/ - .

Co nt ac t : 55323839.

(C 3482) 28-6-2011 For sale, dining table, 4 chairs, wooden, all Center Point, iMac computer, 21â&#x20AC;?, JVC hi-fi 5DVD and many other items. Tel: 66603401 27-6-2011

Co n t a c t email: tvmjc@yahoo.com (C 3488)

No: 15135

Proposals invited for RC girl, 29 years MoH staff, from well employed RC b oys i n Ku w a i t o f a g e between 30-33. Boys from Kottayam, Idukki districts a re m o re p re fe r re d.

Co n t a c t : thoompunkals@gmail.com (C 3477) 30-6-2011

MATRIMONIAL Pa re nt s o f B o r n - a g a i n , Baptized girl (ornament wearing) Software Engr. from India 27/166, residing with parents in U.A.E, currently visiting sister in Kuwait, invite proposal from professionally qualified boys of same faith.

TUITION Tutoring available for all subjects including English, Math and Science by certified experienced American teacher with many years of experience. Call: 66616900.

(C 3483) 29-6-2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines

Flt

RJA JZR JZR MEA THY ETH UAE CLX DHX ETD MSR FDB GFA QTR THY RJA JZR FCX JZR KAC BAW JZR KAC KAC IRA KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY ETD GFA MEA JZR MSR JZR SYR KAC MSR UAL SHY RJA MSR FDB OMA JZR

642 205 267 406 772 620 853 792 370 305 614 67 211 138 770 5230 503 201 555 412 157 1541 206 382 605 302 332 53 352 284 362 855 132 125 301 213 404 165 623 561 341 672 610 982 4125 640 621 57 645 357

Arrival Flights on Thursday 30/6/2011 Route AMMAN DAMASCUS BEIRUT BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI LUXEMBOURG BAHRAIN ABU DHABI CAIRO DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA ISTANBUL AMMAN LUXOR DUBAI ALEXANDRIA MANILA / BANGKOK LONDON CAIRO ISLAMABAD DELHI ISFAHAN MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI COCHIN DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI DOHA SHARJAH ABU DHABI BAHRAIN BEIRUT DUBAI SOHAG SOHAG DAMASCUS / DEIREZZOR DUBAI CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES ANTALYA AMMAN ASSIUT DUBAI MUSCAT MASHAD

Time 0:05 0:25 0:35 0:45 1:15 1:45 2:25 2:45 2:55 2:55 3:05 3:10 3:15 3:20 4:10 5:15 5:15 5:25 6:10 6:15 6:30 7:10 7:15 7:20 7:40 7:50 7:55 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:30 9:35 10:55 11:10 12:10 12:30 13:00 13:15 13:20 13:30 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:00 14:10

KAC KAC SVA KAC KAC KAC KNE MSR JZR QTR JZR KNE KAC LMU MLR ETD UAE KAC GFA SVA MSR JZR TAR JZR ABY ALK JZR RBG KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC JAI SIA IRA FDB VOS FDB OMA JZR MEA KAC MSR DHX KLM UAE GFA MSR QTR

562 546 500 552 1790 788 745 2124 257 134 535 789 118 1109 403 303 857 154 215 510 2128 777 327 239 127 227 177 3555 104 502 542 618 786 614 774 674 572 458 617 61 93 8067 647 179 402 178 618 372 445 859 217 2134 136

AMMAN ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH DAMASCUS MEDINAH JEDDAH JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA BEIRUT DOHA CAIRO JEDDAH NEW YORK ALEXANDRIA COLOMBO / DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI ISTANBUL BAHRAIN RIYADH CAIRO JEDDAH TUNIS / DUBAI AMMAN SHARJAH COLOMBO / DUBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LONDON BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH BAHRAIN RIYADH DUBAI MUMBAI SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI AHWAZ DUBAI KANDAHAR / DUBAI DUBAI MUSCAT DUBAI BEIRUT GENEVA / FRANKFURT ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN CAIRO DOHA

14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:40 14:45 14:55 15:10 15:15 15:50 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:15 17:20 17:25 17:25 17:30 17:35 17:40 18:00 18:00 18:05 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:00 19:20 19:25 19:25 19:35 19:35 19:45 20:00 20:00 20:05 20:10 20:10 20:15 20:45 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:15 21:25 21:25 21:35

UAL AIC JZR JZR MSR JZR MSR DLH LZB AXB MEA JZR

981 981 135 513 606 185 612 636 7787 389 408 539

BAHRAIN CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD BAHRAIN SHARM EL SHEIKH LUXOR DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT SOFIA / VARNA KOZHIKODE / MANGALORE BEIRUT CAIRO

22:00 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:30 22:35 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:15 23:30

Airlines AXB JZR DLH AIC KLM PIA MEA THY ETH UAE FDB DHX ETD MSR CLX QTR THY JZR RJA JZR RJA GFA KAC JZR BAW IRA FDB JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC UAE ABY KAC KAC

Departure Flights on Thursday 30/6/2011 Flt Route 394 COCHIN / KOZHIKODE 1540 CAIRO 637 FRANKFURT 576 GOA / CHENNAI 447 AMSTERDAM 216 KARACHI 407 BEIRUT 773 ISTANBUL 620 BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 615 CAIRO 792 HONG KONG 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 560 SOHAG 5231 AMMAN 164 DUBAI 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 545 ALEXANDRIA 356 MASHAD 156 LONDON 606 MASHAD 54 DUBAI 534 CAIRO 787 JEDDAH 153 ISTANBUL 671 DUBAI 551 DAMASCUS 256 BEIRUT 561 AMMAN 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 101 LONDON / NEW YORK 1789 MEDINAH

Time 0:15 0:20 0:40 0:50 0:55 1:10 1:45 2:15 2:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:05 4:15 5:00 5:10 5:55 6:00 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:40 8:20 8:25 8:40 8:40 8:50 8:55 8:55 9:00 9:10 9:10 9:15 9:40 9:50 9:55 10:00

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

QTR ETD GFA KAC MEA KAC JZR JZR KAC MSR KAC JZR SYR MSR SHY RJA FDB MSR UAL OMA KAC KNE KAC MSR SVA JZR KAC JZR QTR KAC JZR KNE VOS LMU KAC ETD MLR UAE GFA TAR ABY MSR JZR JZR SVA RBG ALK JZR KAC KAC JAI FDB IRA

133 302 214 165 405 541 776 238 501 624 785 176 342 611 4126 641 58 622 982 646 673 746 617 2125 505 178 773 512 135 613 538 790 82 1110 1543 304 404 858 216 328 128 2129 184 266 511 3556 228 134 283 361 571 62 616

DOHA ABU DHABI BAHRAIN ROME / PARIS BEIRUT CAIRO JEDDAH AMMAN BEIRUT SOHAG JEDDAH DUBAI DEIREZZOR / DAMASCUS CAIRO ANTALYA AMMAN DUBAI ASSIUT BAHRAIN MUSCAT DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH DUBAI RIYADH SHARM EL SHEIKH DOHA BAHRAIN CAIRO JEDDAH BAGHDAD ALEXANDRIA CAIRO ABU DHABI DUBAI / COLOMBO DUBAI BAHRAIN TUNIS SHARJAH CAIRO DUBAI BEIRUT RIYADH ALEXANDRIA DUBAI / COLOMBO BAHRAIN DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI AHWAZ

10:00 10:15 10:20 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:00 12:10 13:00 13:10 13:30 13:40 14:00 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 15:00 15:10 15:30 15:35 15:55 16:00 16:00 16:05 16:10 16:15 16:20 16:40 16:45 17:00 17:20 17:25 17:35 17:40 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:45 19:10 19:10 20:00 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45

34

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

s ta rs CROSSWORD 364

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) You may want to avoid the trivialities today—you hate small talk anyway. Exercise the talents you have to quietly investigate and explore possibilities for new techniques in business. Uncomplicated explanations of your idea(s) may find others listening to you intently. Your communication skills have improved and others are listening. You are, perhaps, a genius—at least others may think so. Computers, radical methods of thought and communication are for you.

Perhaps a computer repair shop is in order. Inventions, electronics and computers are all fantastic voyages for you now. Perhaps some others will go into business with you.

Self-confidence and self-discipline will help you succeed. Soup is a good low calorie way to fill up your tummy.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You are very skilled at working with people and you would make an excellent negotiator. These same skills make it possible for you to work with the public, in politics or wherever handling sensitive or hot issues is routine. You may find yourself representing your company in matters of importance. Communicating with others is positive. You know just when to introduce your ideas or comments. As a natural socialite, you love decorum and etiquette, but relationships are the big thing—friends. You have an urge to be free, to be challenged and tested and would rather travel far than be stuck in routine.

You have a strong drive to be seen and known—to communicate yourself to others. Personal appearance is a motivation.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. (trademark) A tinned luncheon meat.

5. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

10. Light informal conversation for social occasions.

13. Ctenophores lacking tentacles.

14. Jordan's port.

15. A nucleic acid that transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.

16. A Kwa language spoken in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

17. Money extracted as a penalty.

18. (of securities) Not quoted on a stock exchange.

19. A genus of Ploceidae.

21. Pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic.

23. Metal shackles.

26. A unit of power equal to 746 watts.

27. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

28. Lens for correcting defective vision in one eye.

31. 30 to 300 gigahertz.

33. Any member of Athapaskan tribes that migrated to the southwestern desert (from Arizona to Texas and south into Mexico).

37. Having leadership guidance.

38. A strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula.

41. (Norse mythology) One of the Aesir known for his beauty and skill with bow and skis.

42. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.

44. Of or relating to the uvea of the eye.

47. Left-hand page.

50. The Mongol people living the the central and eastern parts of Outer Mongolia.

54. A river in the east central United States.

57. Overgrown with ivy.

58. (Akkadian) Mother and earth goddess in Gilgamish epic.

59. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

62. A master's degree in business.

63. A three-tone Chadic language.

65. Cooking utensil consisting of a wide metal vessel.

66. The cry of a goose (or any sound resembling this) v 1.

67. Cold-water fish caught in Lake Superior and northward.

68. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. The act of catching an object with the hands.

2. South American shrub or small tree having long shining evergreen leaves and panicles of green or yellow flowers.

3. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

4. Cassava with long tuberous edible roots and soft brittle stems.

5. A guided missile fired from shipboard against an airborne target.

6. A Kwa language spoken by the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria.

7. A pale rose-colored variety of the ruby spinel.

8. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

9. Produced from an egg.

10. A small cave (usually with attractive features).

11. Ludicrously odd.

12. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary having one or many seeds within a fleshy wall or pericarp.

20. (of persons) Highest in rank or authority or office.

22. An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure equal to about a bushel.

24. A spread made chiefly from vegetable oils and used as a substitute for butter.

25. A colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum tube.

29. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

30. A quantity of no importance.

32. An acute febrile highly contagious viral disease.

34. Used of a single unit or thing.

35. Being nine more than forty.

36. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

39. Sometimes placed in family Hyacinthaceae.

40. 100 avos equal 1 pataca.

43. Czech composer who combined folk elements with traditional forms (1841-1904).

45. (used of arms and legs) Bent outward with the joint away from the body.

46. A room equipped with toilet facilities.

48. Any of various systems of units for measuring electricity and magnetism.

49. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores.

51. A rye bread made with molasses or brown sugar.

52. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

53. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

55. Chocolate cookie with white cream filling.

56. A circular segment of a curve.

60. A doctor's degree in dental surgery.

61. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States.

64. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

Yesterday’s Solution

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You seem to be born to love and care for others and may tend to worry over much. Your fear of being left out or not being fully used up in this life can be alleviated by much hard work. Jumping in with both feet and putting your thoughts into action is called for today. You have a natural insight and understanding as to what the public wants. Your career gets plenty of support from other people and you feel at home making practical and management decisions. Your career may be built around the way you appear or present yourself—the way you come across to others. Your spontaneous personality and ability to fascinate others are also key elements in being successful. You and your family may decide a shopping expedition is in order this afternoon.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Right now, the key to career moves involves attending to nagging details—whatever you have neglected or delayed.

Attentions to matters of health and efficiency are also important. Opportunities abound and you may find yourself wanting and able to do almost everything.

Things are working with rather than against you—do not hold back. However, do not overdo and try to go too far, too fast. Circumstances may stimulate appreciation of your life situation. Your mind may be very clear now and your thoughts are brought into a sharp focus. Easy to organize your thoughts and communication of all kinds are furthered. Write that book or take that course, etc. Your friends and family support you in just about anything you want to achieve.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Your viewpoint is very important to a special friend this morning. You will be helpful as you penetrate and get to the very heart of most problems. Guard against doing for this person what he or she can do unaided. Continual discovery, persistent search and continual change and transformation keep you on the move. There is an emphasis on the expression of ideas.

What goes on in your mind is the all-important motivation in your life. You tend toward mental pursuits and admire intelligence. This is a good time to reap the benefits of your past efforts. This afternoon, you are feeling good and have the ability for sustained work that allows you to be accomplished like never before. You will want to bring projects to an end very soon.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You could be most persuasive with others today. Your own partiality for routine and the traditional may result in your feeling challenged by anything new. You could find yourself struggling against change and progress, clinging onto the status quo. Although a conformist, you may surround yourself with partners and friends who are themselves unconventional and offbeat.

Given the opportunity, you may choose the path of least resistance, willing to bypass some of the things you always wanted in favor of expediency. Career moves would benefit from your special attention. Tension happens when you ignore your own desires—the things you need and want. A plan or course of action is necessary in your professional life, as well as your personal life now.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

You could find yourself lecturing or teaching young people this day. A well-trained sales person could do well to learn your techniques. You tend to rush in where others fear to tread. Your energy is attention-getting much of the time. Today you may provoke a response from your surroundings and from others—this could mean big business. You are able to make another person or group of people put on their thinking hats. There is something essential that starts or causes something else to happen—a reaction or response when you promote a product, instruct or lecture. The planets in your birth sign indicate the sign of a leader and there will be many that will benefit from your leadership. Find ways to have a relaxing evening.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are gifted and even lucky when it comes to decision making. Things almost always manage to work out for you; today is no different. There are some important facts to acquire before expressing your viewpoints. This could mean political decisions, consulting with religious authorities or meeting and helping out a group. Your theories and mental activities are good; you will find projects ending with the results you want. Good plans and a willingness to be flexible will bring about successful results for whatever you want to accomplish. You have plenty of enthusiasm and warm up to things and people quickly. Enjoy music with your loved one(s) tonight. There is a pleasant surprise at a newly developing talent this evening.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Your career is smooth just now. A career in communications of one kind or another is indicated—you are a kind of living link or channel. You love investigations, reporting, writing, speaking, broadcasting, advertising—any and all networking—and will carry your work into the wee hours of your personal life . . . careful. Forever curious, you enjoy searching for answers and following leads. The good life and all that is fine and luxurious is available but you need to be available to enjoy these afternoons with your wonderful friends and family members.

This is a great time to be with others. Stay in for the evening meal tonight—perhaps a take-out dinner would be fun. Maybe you could show off your cooking and invite a friend. Relax in the hot tub this evening.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

You may deal with education, psychology, spiritual enlightenment or teaching principles and techniques. This time marks a change of direction for you, away from the material and glitter, toward inner needs and security. You will find yourself more concerned with maintaining and strengthening your position, rather than pushing outward. This may be a day you will want to read and update your information so you are more up-to-date with your special skills.

The rest of this year should be easy and filled with opportunities and friendships. More demanding years will be a little further on in the future. If you are looking for a job, this is the time to update your resume and write some type of presentation for yourself. If you are an artist, you will succeed.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) This is a time when support and recognition should be available from public, family and friends. You feel at home in the world and it more than takes care of you. You could have deep insights into your own feelings and inner, spiritual nature. Your surroundings, circumstances and support system are the crucial spots, key links or what-have-you in the chain of your life. When things get hectic, it is in these areas that you can expect pressure and the greatest activity.

You may find yourself being put to good use by your friends this afternoon. This is a great time to be with others and to work together. You may have to work at listening to a special someone today but eventually, you will come to understand, perhaps not agree but understand. Gratitude happens.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Your sense of responsibility is clear. You have an appreciation for education and are willing to become involved in continuing education at this time. You may have decided to tutor a young person, sub-teach or become employed by the institution from which you will learn many things.

You have clarity and competence in practical matters and others pay attention to what you have to say. There is a passion for inventions and electronics as some new equipment is available for your inspection. You are concerned with issues of freedom and independence today. Your privacy and your family unit are very important to you and you find ways to strengthen your relationships in this area.

Consider ways in which you can take on a creative expression.

A

y

e niv rsar n

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Years

i n f o r m at i o n FIRE BRIGADE STATE ST TAT TE OF KUW K KUWAIT WA AIT

112

Tel.: T el.: e 161

DIRECTORA DIRECTORATE AT TE GEN GENERAL NERAL OF CIVIL A AVIATION V VIA AT TION DEPARTMENT METEOROLOGICAL L DEP PA ARTMENT DA AY: Y W DAY: Wednesday eednesday

WWW .MET.GOV V..KW W WWW.MET.GOV.KW

29/06/2011 29/06/201 1

Ministry of Interior

Ext.: 26 2627 627 - 2630

Fax: 24348714

19:00

Time Issue Time

Expected Weather Weather e for the Next 24 2 Hours

website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

BY Y NIGHT: NIGHT:

Relattively hot with moderate to fresh Relatively f north westerly wind, with w speed of 20 - 45 km/h ca causing ausing raising dust over o open areas

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

BY Y DA AY: DAY:

Dusty y with moderate to fresh nor north rth westerly wind, with speed d of 25 - 50 km/h

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

WARNING W A ARNING

No Current Warnings Warnin a ngs

STATION ST TAT TION

MAX. REC.

MIN. MIN N. EXP EXP. P.

Al-Mangaf

23711183

KUWAIT KUW WA AIT CITY

45 °C

3 °C 33

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

KUWAIT KUW WA AIT AIRPORT AIRPOR RT

45 °C

3 °C 33

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

NUWAISEEB NUW WAISEEB A

47 °C

3 °C 30

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

W A AFRA WAFRA

46 °C

3 °C 32

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

SALMI

43 °C

2 °C 28

Chest Hospital

24849400

ABDALY ABDAL LY

46 °C

2 °C 28

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

JAL ALIYAH ALIY YAH A

45 °C

2 °C 29

Adan Hospital

23940620

F A AILAKA FAILAKA

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

45 °C

3 °C 30

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

PORT AHMADI POR RT

44 °C

3 °C 35

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

UMM AL-MARADEM AL-MARAD DEM

39 °C

3 °C 33

W A ARBA A - BUBYAN BUBY YAN A WARBA

45 °C

29 2 °C

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

SFC. CHAR CHART RT

29/06/201 29/06/2011 1 120 1200UTC 00UTC

POLICE STATION

4 DA DAYS AY YS FORECAST Temperatures Temperatures DAY DA AY

DATE DA AT TE

WEA WEATHER AT THER R

Thursday

30/06

Friday Saturday Sunday

Wind Wind Speed

Wind Wind Direction Direction

MAX.

MIN.

dusty

42 °C

33 °C

NW

25 - 50 km/h

01/07

dusty

40 °C

31 °C

NW

25 - 50 km/h

02/07

hot + raising dust d

42 °C

32 °C

NW

20 - 45 km/h

03/07

hot + raising dust d

44 °C

33 °C

NW

20 - 45 km/h

PRAYER P PRA AY YER TIMES

RECORDED RECORDE ED YESTERDAY YESTERDA AY AT AT KUW KUWAIT WA AIT AIRPOR AIRPORT RT

Fajr

03:16

MAX. Temp.

M Temp.

46 °C

Sunrise

04:51

Temp.

MIN. T M emp.

26 °C

Zuhr

11:51 11:51

MAX. RH M

14 %

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Asr

15:25

MIN. RH

03 %

Dasmah

22532265

Sunset

18:51

Wind MAX. W M ind

N 43 km/h

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Isha

20:24

TOTAL RAINFALL T OT TA AL L RA AINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

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

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

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 about the Civil ID card is 1889988

00 mm

29/06/11 14:29 UTC 29/06/11

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

y

A

36

e niv rsar n

Years

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

li fe s t y le G o s s i p

el Gibson and his longtime wife have reached a deal in their two-year-old divorce case, attorneys told a Los Angeles judge on Tuesday. The divorce deal between the “Lethal Weapon” star, who was once estimated to be worth $900 million, and his wife, Robyn, includes a settlement of property they shared. Details of the settlement were not released. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge is expected to finalize the divorce in August, Robyn’s attorney’s Laura Wasser said during the hearing. Robyn Gibson filed for divorce in 2009 after 28 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. The pair had separated days after Gibson’s notorious 2006 arrest for drunk

M

driving when he launched an anti-Semitic tirade. Gibson, 55, was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars winning directing and best picture Oscars for the 1995 film “Braveheart”. He had seven children with his wife Robyn. Gibson also has a 20 month-old daughter from his former relationship with Russian-born musician Oksana Grigorieva. In March, he pleaded no contest to a battery charge stemming from a 2010 altercation with Grigorieva, and was sentenced to three years probation as well as domestic violence and mental health counseling.

‘Ugly Betty’ star Ferrera marries

Bridges revives music career with new album dd Jeff Bridges to the long list of Hollywood actors who fancy themselves rock stars. He convincingly played a washed-up country singer in “Crazy Heart,” winning an Oscar last year. In real life, Bridges is just as credible promoting his first album for a major label. He took the stage at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles on Tuesday to perform an hour-long set of folk-oriented material drawn mostly from his self-titled release, due out Aug 16 through Blue Note Records.

“This is surreal, man,” he said. “This is very rewind.” Indeed, the 61-year-old actor is no newbie on the music scene, and the album is no vanity project. He recalled that the last time he played the hallowed venue was during a “hootenanny” in his early teens. He went on to collaborate with film composer Quincy Jones, who introduced him at Tuesday’s industry showcase and described the young Bridges as “stone HaightAshbury,” a reference to the then-prevailing hippie scene. While

gly Betty” star America Ferrera has married longtime boyfriend Ryan Piers Williams, a representative for the actress said on Tuesday. Ferrera and Williams were married on Monday night in a ceremony attended by Vanessa Williams and Rebecca Romjin, who are former co-stars from the ABC comedy, said the actress’ spokeswoman Carrie Byalick. “Ugly Betty” ran from 2006 to 2010, and since then the 27 year-old Ferrera has played a recurring role on CBS drama “The Good Wife.” Williams is a filmmaker who directed “The Dry Land,” an independent film released last year that starred Ferrera.

“U

A

Jessie J gets death threat J

essie J has received death threats since becoming famous. The ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ hitmaker has revealed both she and her family have been targeted by hate-filled individuals since she achieved pop success, but she refuses to waste her time worrying about what might happen to her. In an interview in Q magazine, she said: “I’ve had people say, ‘I wanna kill you and your family.’ Death threats. I’ve had people say, ‘I hope you get HIV and throat cancer at the same time.’ “I think the world has become obsessed with hating things. But people who wanna spread bad energy, I ain’t got time for them to be in my psyche.”

The 23-year-old star - who is openly bisexual and abstains from drinking alcohol because of health problems she has suffered, including having a minor stroke aged 18 - has also revealed there have been rumors she is a devil worshipper because she makes an OK sign with her hands in her video for single ‘Price Tag’. She said: “This is 666 apparently. And to me it’s saying OK. People have played ‘Do It Like a Dude’ backwards and said they can hear the devil.”

Hollywood beckoned in the form of a breakthrough role in the 1971 film “The Last Picture Show,” Bridges found an outlet for his musical talents in such films as 1989’s “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”

He also recorded an album, “Be Here Soon,” for an independent label in 2001. His turn in “Crazy Heart” as whiskey-swilling Bad Blake brought him a whole new level of musical recognition. The producer of that film’s soundtrack, his long-time friend T-Bone Burnett, also produced the new album. Bridges wrote two of the album’s 10 tracks himself. He appeared to be having fun on stage, at one point treating the crowd to a funny anecdote about filming “Heaven’s Gate” as he tried to tune his guitar before giving up and handing it to his roadie. Backed by a fourman band, and alternating between an acoustic and electric guitar, Bridges played a mix of songs from the new album and from the “Crazy Heart” soundtrack. Some were funereal, like the new “Slow Boat.” Others were more rockabilly like the “Crazy Heart” tune “Somebody Else.” “I wish my mom and dad could be here tonight,” he said, referring to late acting couple Dorothy and Lloyd Bridges. “They would have dug this a lot.”But he had plenty of support from his family, including his wife of 34 years Sue, to whom he dedicated a cover of Bob Dylan’s love song “The Man in Me,” and elder brother Beau. Hollywood stars in the crowd included Pierce Brosnan, Ryan Reynolds and Olivia Wilde.

visit to Iowa by Republican Sarah Palin on Tuesday is either a timely political move to fuel speculation about a potential 2012 presidential run or simply an effort to take advantage of her star power. Or maybe it’s both.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, was to attend the premiere of a flattering documentary about her, “The Undefeated,” in the small Iowa town of Pella on Tuesday night. She is visiting a day after Michele Bachmann, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives who is often compared to Palin, launched her own presidential campaign in Iowa. The Midwestern state holds the first contest on the road to the Republican 2012 presidential nomination. Palin has carefully left the door open to a campaign. Her appear-

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ance in Iowa was likely to encourage those who think the former Alaska governor still might jump into the wide-open race. Palin’s daughter, Bristol Palin, a mini-celebrity in her own right, showed her ability to create political buzz by saying on Fox News that her mother had made up her mind already about whether to seek the nomination and that she would like to see Sarah Palin run. “She definitely knows,” Bristol Palin said when asked whether Sarah Palin had made up her mind. She said the decision would remain within the family for now. Palin launched a “One Nation” bus tour in late May of the eastern United States and plans are said to be in the works for another tour at some point.

The new film is likely to keep Palin in the spotlight, much as her reality T V show, “Sarah

Palin’s Alaska,” did earlier this year. The documentary traces Palin’s rise from working on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska that she coowns with her husband to important political office. It shows her taking on vested interests, said the film’s writer and director, Stephen Bannon. “She’s not part of any social or cultural or political elite,” he said. If Palin were to run, she and Bachmann would likely be competing for the same social conservative voters who are powerful in Iowa, whose caucuses next February are the first voting contest of the 2012 nomination battle.—BangShowbiz

ennifer Aniston’s first tattoo is in “homage” to her recently deceased dog. The hound loving actress - who starred in canine calamity movie ‘Marley and Me’ in 2008 - has had the name of her beloved pet of 15 years, Norman, tattooed on the inside of her right foot. Explaining the inking on T V show Entertainment Tonight Canada, she said: “That’s my dog. My baby who just passed away. “I never thought that would ever happen. It’s just my way to pay homage to him forever.” Norman, a Welsh corgi-terrier mix, accompanied Jennifer, 42, everywhere, including on film location shoots, but he passed away last month due to complications from his old age. The star - who is currently dating actor Justin Theroux, but has been unlucky in love in the past - has previously stated she wished some of the men in her life had shared some of Norman’s characteristics. She said: “It wouldn’t be bad if, when a man comes home, he’d run to his woman with his tail wagging.

This sort of excitement is something I’ve always missed in a man.” Norman is survived

by Jennifer’s other pooch, a white German Shepherd named Dolly.

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merican pop star Lady Gaga is accused of misrepresenting charitable donations from wristbands sold to benefit tsunami and earthquake victims in Japan earlier this year. The complaint, filed in a Michigan court on Friday by 1800lawfirm, says the star as well as her record label, Universal Music Group, and the Bravado International Group, lacked transparency surrounding the amount of money that was raised from sales of the wristbands and whether those funds were 100% allocated to earthquake and tsunami victims. After the earthquake and tsunami disasters in March 2011 that devastated Japan, Lady Gaga created the rubber wristbands and the singer’s website advertised that all proceeds from sales of the wristband would benefit victims.

The white rubber bracelets were sold for $5 and inscribed in red with the phrase, “We pray for Japan,” in English and Japanese.”While we commend Lady

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Gaga for her philanthropic efforts, we want to ensure that claims that “all proceeds will be donated to Japan’s earthquake relief efforts” are in fact true,” said one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, Alyson Oliver, in a press release. The suit alleges that the singer and her partners “added additional “shipping charges” in excess of the amount required to ship the wristbands based on their weight, and retained a portion of the shipping charges,” according to court documents.” This misguided lawsuit is without merit and unfortunately takes attention away from the kind deeds of the fans around the world who are supporting the people of Japan,” said Lady Gaga’s spokeswoman, Holly Shakoor in an email to AFP. “The entire $5 donation made with the purchase of each bracelet is going to support the disaster relief.

No profit is being made on shipping costs. Sales tax charges were made in accordance with local legal

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requirements,” she added. The lawsuit seeks damages, “including a return of all amounts paid for the products,” according to the press release. According to Japanese media, Lady Gaga has so far donated approximately $3 million to disaster zones in the northeast of Japan, most of that from the sale of the wristbands. The star was in Tokyo last weekend for a charity concert organized by MTV Video Music Aid Japan.—AFP

US singer Lady Gaga, with eyes painted on her eyelids, speaks as she meets with the press following her performance at the charity concert MTV Video Music Aid Japan in Chiba City in suburban Tokyo on June 25, 2011. — AFP

ho knew that getting downsized could be such a “laff riot?” Where “Company Men” found stark drama, even tragedy, in losing a job, Tom Hanks, ever the optimist, sees an opportunity for laughs and romance. The title character in “Larry Crowne” has his life go suddenly out of balance-and the film experiences a similar problem. Sure, the film is a romantic comedy starring Hanks and Julia Roberts, but every scene is on the prowl for laughs at the expense of the inherent drama in the lives of its colorful characters.

Fans of the two stars-among the most popular actors in Hollywood over the past two decades-plus-probably won’t mind the light, sitcom approach, but there was a much more meaningful, if somewhat darker, movie in the story Hanks dreamed up with the help of Nia Vardalos.

Positioned perfectly for a July 4th weekend release, the film, which sees Hanks performing multiple duties of director, co-writer, co-producer and star, should be a winner at the box office.

The problematic approach is evident in the film’s first key scene. Hanks’ Larry Crowne, an affable middle-level manager of a big-box store, gets fired when new ownership dislikes the fact that he never went to college. But the scene is played for comedy. Certainly you can see the pain in Larry’s face, but the managers doing the dirty deed are smug, unfeeling caricatures.

This continues throughout the film.

Roberts’ character, Mercedes, a burntout public-speaking teacher, is caught up in a disastrously crumbling marriage. Her husband (Bryan Cranston) has gone from a respected published author to a deadbeat who surfs the Internet for porn. What caused such a profound change in the man-not to mention Mercedes’ sour attitude toward her job and students-is never investigated but rather used as the source for further comedy.

“Larry Crowne” mostly feels like the pilot for a sitcom that needs to set up several comic situations. Underwater with his mortgage and out of work, Larry holds a yard sale, which sets up the first situation: His neighbors (Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson), living off the earnings of a big game-show win, hold daily yard sales, where the comic banter, bargaining and advice-giving fill several of the movie’s scenes.

Larry then decides to go to a community college, where the speech class taught by Mercedes and an Economics 1 course taught by George Takei’s weirdly funny professor set up two more sets of characters. Finally, when Larry trades in his gas-guzzling SUV for a motorbike, he gets recruited

W In a file picture taken on October 9, 2009 Bollywood veteran director Yash Chopra poses during an interview in Busan. — AFP

Returning Bollywood veteran looks to youth eteran Indian movie mogul Yash Chopra is making a return to directing after seven years, hoping that old-fashioned romance and modern day stars will lure new young fans to his work. Chopra said the as-yet untitled film will star Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, as well as the Hong Kong-born, British-raised actress Katrina Kaif, with music from the Oscarwinning “Slumdog Millionaire” composer A.R. Rahman. The 78-year-old, whose last stint in the director’s chair was with “Veer-Zaara” in 2004, says he thought long and hard about returning to the studio floor and admits he has no idea whether it is the right move . “It’s been seven years since I directed ‘Veer-Zaara’ and as I begin work on my new film, I hear my inner voice asking me a lot of questions,” said the award-winning film-maker this week.

“Are you sure you want to direct again, you are nearly 80 years old and the audience is getting younger day by day? Can I really speak from my heart and still expect today’s youth to listen to me?...” The honest answer is I don’t know,” he added. Chopra will be hoping that superstar Khan and Sharma will provide a winning formula. They were last seen in the 2008 hit “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” (Match Made in Heaven), produced by his Yash Raj Films company.

Kaif is also one of Bollywood’s most bankable leading ladies. Chopra’s filmmaking career stretches back to the 1950s when he worked as an assistant to his brother, the director B.R. Chopra.

His first film as a director came in 1959 with “Dhool Ka Phool” (Flowers from Dust).

Among his later credits is the hit film “Deewaar” (Wall) in 1975, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor.

Yash Raj Films was founded in 1970 and quickly became one of the biggest production houses in Bollywood. It now has interests in film distribution, television, the home entertainment sector and music. One film, “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge” (The Braveheart Will Get

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The Bride), directed by Chopra’s mediashy son Aditya, is still running in one Mumbai cinema 16 years after its release. In 2004, the Hollywood Reporter put Yash Raj Films in 27th spot in its survey of biggest film distribution houses in the world. But in recent years the company’s standing has faltered.

In August 2009, the influential Filmfare magazine demoted the studio from third to sixth in its Bollywood power list. “There was a time when Yash Raj Films sneezed and the entire industry caught a cold,” the magazine said at the time. “Not any more. The production house has been losing its premiere position in the last few years.”

Indifferent scripts have largely been blamed for the slump as well as a stonewall approach towards gossip and speculation in India’s increasingly celebrity-obsessed media. “My father and brother (Aditya) are inaccessible,” Chopra’s other son, actor Uday, told the Hindustan Times newspaper in an interview. “So, people write stuff without clarifying. They know that no one will come forward and say, ‘that’s not true’,” he said.

In recent years, though, there have been signs of change, with a more open attitude towards the media and promoting the company’s films.

Chopra said his return to directing was driven by self-belief and promised “a film that is about love and nothing else” combining “an old soul with a young heart... classic in its look but contemporary in its language”. “A film which I’m making on one simple faith... the love that my audiences have given me over the years. They have tolerated my indulgences for the past 50 years. I’m sure they’ll indulge me one more time,” he added.—AFP

into a motorcycle “gang” headed by the vivacious Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and her boyfriend Dell ( Wilmer Valderrama).

Indeed, Talia-a dangerously beautiful young woman who develops a flirtatious relationship with the middleaged Larry right under the wary eyes of her boyfriend-gives Larry a complete make-over: She performs feng shui on his house, redoes his entire wardrobe and threatens to completely distract the romantic comedy away from Hanks and Roberts. Even Mercedes assumes for much of the movie that they’re a couple.

Hanks has a lot of good ideas for a comedy about a man remaking his life, but he might have chosen the wrong writing partner in Vardalos. Her comic writing tends toward on-the-money scenes with her main characters and pure caricatures for all her minor ones.

She got away with this- boy, did she ever! — in the hugely successful “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” which Hanks produced. But here, the determination to go for easy laughs undermines any chance for meaty drama.

This is especially true for Roberts’ Mercedes. If you didn’t cast this role with a star who can bring her own charisma and personality to the role, you might not even like this character.

She’s closer to Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” than the writers no doubt intended-a drunk married to a drunk who seemingly lives to fight with her spouse. Plus, her nastiness toward Larry and her hot-and-cold relationship with him make you won-

der why he’s even interested in her.

But, of course, you do know because she’s Julia Roberts and he’s Tom Hanks.

Somehow, the movie keeps getting distracted from its own story-how a man reinvents himself and in so doing finds the woman of his dreams. The key problem might be the totally passive nature of its protagonist. In the opening scenes, Larry is shown as a proactive employee full of initiative.

Understandably, he loses some of that drive when he gets fired. But from this point on, circumstances and other characters force him to change. He only goes along for the ride when Talia redoes his hair, attire and household or when a drunken Mercedes comes on to him. Even when he does land a job as a short-order cook, it isn’t his idea. How long will it be before Mercedes is ridiculing Larry like she did her husband?

Hanks gets good performances from his cast-and that includes himself. He may, if anything, underplay his scenes to let others, especially those playing the speech students, get a chance to shine individually. Hanks’ crew does a fine if undistinguished job on various locations in the Los Angeles area. The junior-college campus and classrooms, the homes, streets, coffee shop and offices all seem very pleasant, which, again, somewhat undermines the grim reality of joblessness in America.—Reuters

Cast member Tom Hanks arrives at the premiere of ‘Larry Crowne’ in Los Angeles, Monday, June 27, 2011. — AP

CSI: New York and CSI: Crime scene investigation exclusively on OSN he latest seasons of the CSI franchise return to OSN screens with new twists, intricate plots and gruesome murders cementing its reputation as the most watched TV show’s in the world.

With a steadfast determination, Mac Taylor and Jo Danville lead a group of indomitable forensic experts following the evidence as they piece together clues and eliminate doubt, to ultimately crack their cases and bring the evil to justice in the latest seventh season of CSI: New York every Saturday at 20:00 KSA on OSN First and OSN First HD. The original series, CSI: crime scene investigation that birthed a worldwide brand phenomenon CSI kicks off Saturday, 2nd July at 19:00 KSA with a premiere fans have been talking about for months. With the return of Hollywood megastar Lawrence Fishburne as cast regular and tween sensation Justin Bieber making his real-deal acting debut in the season premiere it will definitely be an episode not to be missed. And rounding up the franchise later this year Lt Horatio Caine will return to lead his crime lab in Miami with the latest ninth season of the hot CSI: Miami series. Tune into OSN to watch the number one crime-series on television exclusively on OSN.

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eteran R&B diva Patti LaBelle says in a countersuit filed against a West Point cadet who claims she ordered her bodyguards to beat him up outside a Houston airport terminal that the altercation began after the cadet hurled racial insults at her. But an attorney for the cadet, Richard King, denied his client ever said any racial slurs to LaBelle. King’s attorneys say he was waiting to be picked up by family outside one of the terminals at Bush Intercontinental Airport on March 11 when three of LaBelle’s bodyguards attacked him without provocation. King, who was in his hometown of Houston while on spring break from West Point, filed his lawsuit earlier this month, naming LaBelle, the three body-

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Singer Patti LaBelle performs onstage during the BET Awards.—AFP

guards, one of whom is the singer’s son, and two others as defendants. King’s lawyers say the alleged attacked resulted in a concussion and lingering dizziness and headaches for the cadet.

A surveillance video from the airpor t that was previously released by King’s attorneys shows the 23-year-old cadet being pushed and punched by two men and a woman, all alleged to be LaBelle’s bodyguards. LaBelle filed a countersuit last week, accusing the cadet of attacking her bodyguards after he directed profane and racial slurs toward the singer.—AP

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lifestyle

Europe’s last ‘sherpas’ going strong in

A Slovak sherpa with 100kg loads of supplies.

A Slovak sherpa carries a 100 kg load of supplies.

Slovak sherpas carry 100kg loads of supplies while competing in the annual ‘Sherpa’ contest.

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arely visible under a keg of drink, bottles of water and sacks of heating coke on his back, Slovak Edo Liptak sets out on his grueling daily climb as one of Europe’s last mountain porters. The High Tatras, Europe’s smallest Alpine-type mountain range, are still home to this rugged breed of mountain men-comparable to the famed Himalayan Sherpas. In the Alps and other European mountain ranges, they have long been replaced by helicopters and cable cars.

“The key is not to think too much as you walk up. You have to free your mind and the rest will follow,” chuckled Liptak as he prepared to trek 2.5 kilometers up the mountain from Hrebienok, a ski resort at 1,285 meters altitude and the last outpost of civilization in this wilderness. His loads can weigh far more than his own 82 kilos. “It’s a great job - it gives me freedom, energy and persistence,” he said, deftly hoisting a 106-kilogram load strapped to a wooden frame resembling a short ladder onto his back.

37 years old, Liptak will soon celebrate 20 years as a sherpa-as they are known in these parts — carrying food, drinks, laundry, heating materials and all other essential supplies to remote, high-altitude cabins. These cabins are located in strictly protected nature reserves where cable cars or roads are forbidden. Most of them have very limited storage capacity and there is no power, running water or refrigeration. The Zamkovsky cabin where Liptak was heading was built in 1943 and employs four sherpas year-round. They hike up about three times a day, carrying at least 60 kilograms per trip, owner Jana Kalincikova said.

“It would make more sense to rent a helicopter to transport the supplies but we have only three refrigerators powered by a water turbine so we need sherpas to carry smaller packages more frequently,” she explained. “It’s a tough job for tough men who love nature,” said Kalincikova, whose oldest sherpa is a former professional dancer, aged 58. Besides carrying supplies, sherpas also do the laundry, dishes and cook at the cabins that are open all-year-round. “A helicopter will fly only when the weather is good but my sherpas come no matter the weather,” said Kalincikova.

‘It’s like a drug for me’-Though still back-

breaking, the sherpas’ job has eased up over the years as cabins have been modernized.

“We no longer have to carry coal bricks, and the wooden kegs we used to carry have been replaced with lighter aluminum ones,” said Peter Petras, at 65 one of Slovakia’s oldest sherpas.

“I’m addicted - when I don’t hike for a while I get nervous,” said Petras, who has been in the business for more than 48 years and believes there will still be sherpas in the Tatras 20 years from now. On a windy Saturday morning, he was on hand to supervise the 10th annual sherpa competition hosted by the Zamkovsky cabin, in which about 25 men and a handful of women vie for sherpa glory.

“I don’t compete any more, I’ve just taken up golf to relax instead,” joked Petras. The race commemorates sherpa Juraj Petransky, who died in 2000 at the age of 26 in an avalanche while carrying supplies to the Tery cabin, the country’s highest cabin at 2,012 meters altitude.

Competitors hike up some 200 meters along a stretch that normally takes up to 80 minutes, but 12 of them, carrying 100-kilo loads, race up the hill in less than 45 minutes.

This year’s winner Branislav Karasa set the new record at 39 minutes 18 seconds. “It’s like a drug for me,” university student Matej Fabsik, who works as a sherpa during summer holidays, said relaxing with a beer and a cigarette after clocking 40 minutes and 20 seconds in the race. Unlike senior sherpa Liptak, his trekking strategy doesn’t involve freeing his mind. “It helps me to think about sex while walking,” he said with a sheepish grin. “I usually manage three women before I reach the peak.”— AFP

A Slovak sherpa carries a heavy load of supplies.

A Slovak sherpa arrives with a 100 kg load of supplies.

Slovak sherpas prepare to carry 100kg loads of supplies in the annual ‘Sherpa’ contest In Slovakis High Tatras mountains on June 18, 2011.—AFP

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Wax figures

F e a t u r e

British singer Cheryl Cole’s wax figure at Madame Tussauds London, has been given a make-over in time for her 28th birthday today. The figure, unveiled by the star last year, has swapped a red evening dress for a orange skirt and purple top. Her previous diamond tiara has also been swapped for a sparkling Happy Birthday version which will stay in place over her birthday.

Italian classical singer Cecilia Bartoli, right, reacts as she stands next to her lifesize wax model displayed at Paris’ Grevin Museum Tuesday . — AP photos

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achel Zoe has a beautiful baby boy. To celebrate, husband Rodger Berman gave her a “push present” in the form of a 10-carat diamond ring that cost $250,000. Mariah Carey got a push present, too: a $12,000 pink diamond and sapphire necklace from husband Nick Cannon with the names of their twins, Moroccan and Monroe. Peggy Tanous of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” turned her megamommy gift into a tagline: “Soccer moms drive a minivan, but this girl drives a Bentley.” Back here on Earth, where the rest of us live and spend, can new dads get away with a simple bouquet of flowers, a token bauble with the new arrival’s birthstone or as one father suggested - a kiss and a smile? And what do feminists make of the arguably medieval notion of rewarding a woman for producing an heir?

Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who writes The Feminist Breeder blog, was pregnant with her third child in April when she found herself ruminating on the subject, in response to some doubters on her Facebook page: “As I sit here in my hugely pregnant state, suffering from heartburn, gas, leg pain, hip pain, insomnia, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, heat flashes, gastric upset, swelling, and everything else that comes with having an entirely formed human being kicking around in my womb, who will soon demand on coming OUT of my womb through a relatively small orifice in a not-at-all-pleasant feeling manner, I cannot help but think

Singer Alicia Keys poses with her wax likeness at an unveiling at Madame Tussauds in New York.

Seriously?!?! Seriously.

A freaking diamond is the LEAST he can do.” It was a girl for the 33-year-old prelaw student, women’s rights advocate, doula (a person who helps a new mother and the baby), and former rock chick in a band. She live-blogged the birth, her first at home, and received a tiny diamond (her baby girl’s birthstone) for a pendant she and her husband had begun with the birthstones of their two boys. “I was surprised that people equated push presents to, like, giving a horse a prize at the end of the race,” CrosleyCorcoran said. “I agree the term push present could be changed. Let’s just call them birth presents.”

There is no official history of push presents, a term some object to on the ground that it cheapens the occasion. By some accounts, postpartum bling seems to have made its way to the United States over the last decade or so from England, where a ring was in order, and from India, where gold jewelry was the way to go (boys apparently meant more gold than girls, traditionally speaking). The idea was not lost on jewelers. The retailer Mayors took on the tradition in a 2005 ad campaign for diamond studs: “She delivered your first born, now give her twins.”

Fortunoff thought up a push present registry in 2007.

That was the year BabyCenter.com surveyed 30,000 women and found 38 percent of new moms got push presents and 55 percent of the still-pregnant wanted one. In

fact, it is hard to find a naysayer. “Giving birth is hard work, and I am not going to quibble with anyone piling any kind of gift at any woman’s feet,” said Naomi Wolf, the thirdwave feminist author of “The Beauty Myth” and, more to the point, “Misconceptions.” In that book, she chronicled the not-so-smooth experience of having her first child and her angsty start on motherhood.

“I think women do expect more than flowers because of what our society and media have told them they should expect,” said Jessica LeRoy, founder and clinical director of the Center for the Psychology of Women, a feminist-based psychotherapy practice in Los Angeles. “It is a status symbol, and women feel this need to measure up, their child to measure up and their partner.

This is an actual outward expression of their status and family.” Kristen Burris in Eagle, Idaho, used to be a push present skeptic. The acupuncturist and herbalist thought the idea was “self-indulgent and ridiculous,” yet another way to turn childbirth into an over-the-top outgrowth of a consumer-driven culture. Then she got pregnant. While attempting natural childbirth, Burris pushed for 12 hours without success and was treated to an emergency C-section, done, she said, without adequate anesthesia. After, her husband’s grandmother gave her a pair of diamond studs she had previously borrowed for seven hours to wear at her wedding.

Her second baby came with an upgrade of the center stone in her engagement ring. “In my heart I feel these pieces of jewelry already belong to my two sons, honoring who they are and where they came from,” Burris said. Emily Loen is single without children, but she hopes to become a mother eventually. She also is organizer for the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights in San Francisco. To follow up childbirth with a “trivial trinket” seems “very shallow, stupid and insipid,” Loen said. But, in the end, she added, “Feminism is about choice.

It comes down to whatever floats your boat.” Does Gloria Steinem approve of push presents? “Unfortunately Gloria doesn’t have a comment on this, not having much personal experience with it nor the experiences of friends to go off of,” her office said in an email. Loen is 29. Steinem is 77, so maybe there’s a generational shift. “Marriage is socialism among two people,” women’s rights thinker Barbara Ehrenreich once said. Nearly a decade Steinem’s junior, she, too, had never heard of push presents. “I mean, the baby used to be enough of a reward,” Ehrenreich said.

“But I suppose that if you’re not really into babies, you might need a little more ‘incentivization.’ — AP

A doorman poses next to a painting by British artist Francis Bacon entitled ‘Study of a Portrait’ at Christie’s auction house, in central London, on June 24, 2011.—AFP

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raveling by landau, frigate and seaplane, Prince William and Catherine’s first official foreign trip will be both casual and action-packed with military displays, a cooking class, aboriginal games and a rodeo. But it will also mark a first real test for the newest member of Britain’s royal family, a sort of initiation for the duchess of Cambridge, and training for both a future king and queen of England. The young couple, whose April 29 wedding was watched on television by two billion people around the world, is expected to arrive on Thursday in Ottawa for the start of a nine-day tour of Canada.

Thousands of cameras are expected to follow their every move in the country from June 30 to July 7. Prince William, second in line of succession to the British throne, already has plenty of experience carrying on royal duties.

But his wife, the duchess, is still a rookie in the public eye. William is scheduled to give at least four speeches during his visit, but Catherine is only to be seen, not heard-in accordance with protocol. Modest, the duchess will not be accompanied by a wardrobe assistant on the trip, only a hairdresser, and she will pack nearly

40 gowns for public events, according to British media.

Given the couple’s age — 29 years-the Canadian government tried to organize a schedule that “balances” official events with fun, and of course includes a bit of alone time for the newlyweds, said organizers and their private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton.

Quebec anti-monarchists have also added their own event to the royal itinerary, calling for protests when the couple stops in Quebec City on July 3. William and Catherine are very likable, the anti-monarchists said, but are being used by Ottawa to give the world a false impression that Quebec’s separatist movement has faded away and its members now accept being part of a Canadian federation dominated

by Anglo-Saxons.

But the protesters are unlikely to succeed in disrupting the trip like they did in Montreal in 2009 when William’s father, Prince Charles, last visited, as security has been stepped up for the upcoming royal visit. Rather, officials hope Quebecers will join William and Catherine in “having fun,” starting with a celebration of Canada’s national holiday in Ottawa on July 1 with musical guests, and capping their visit with a rodeo in Calgary. The Canadian military will also be taking part in festivities. After taking a cooking class in Montreal, William and Catherine will travel aboard a navy frigate to Quebec City, and meet with members of the largest regiment in the Canadian Forces, the francophone Royal 22nd Regiment.

William will also take part in coast guard rescue exercises from a Sea King helicopter, which he trained on during his military service in Britain. Finally, the couple will travel to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories for aboriginal sports and traditional dancing, before heading to Calgary for the Stampede rodeo. Just prior to this last stop in Canada, they are also expected to sneak away on a romantic getaway to a secluded (and undisclosed) location in the Rocky Mountains for a day and night. After wrapping up their tour to Canada, where Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is head of state, the couple will travel to California for three days July 8-10 for a visit whose highlight will be a black-tie celebrity reception for British filmmakers in Los Angeles. — AFP

Britain’s Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge arrive at a charity event for Absolute Return for Kids, ARK, in London, in this file photo. — AP

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n oil masterpiece by Irish painter Francis Bacon on Tuesday fetched £18 million ($28.8 million, 20.2 million euros) at a London sale while a portrait of Chairman Mao by Andy Warhol netted £7 million. Bacon’s moody 1953 work “Study for a Portrait” was snapped up by an anonymous bidder at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art auction, which realized £78,817,050 in total. The two meter by 1.4 meter piece, described by the auction house as “an arresting and dark study in the degradation of power”, eventually sold for £17,961,250, almost £7 million more than the pre-sale estimate.

It is the second highest price paid for a work at a Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art auction after Bacon’s Triptych, which sold for £26.3 million in 2008.

Iconic pop artist Andy Warhol’s 1973 acrylic of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong fetched £6,985,250 while “Woman Smiling”, a 1958-59 portrait by Lucian Freud, sold for £4,745,250. Five artist records were set at Tuesday’s sale for Juan Munoz, Ron Mueck, Paula Rego, Domenico Gnoli and Miquel Barcelo, who broke the record for any living Spanish artist. “We are extremely pleased to have established a world record price for a work of art by a living Spanish artist with Barcelo’s sublime bullfight painting,” said Francis Outred, the Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s Europe. — AFP

Newsweek’s ‘Diana’s Ghost’ issue in poor taste?

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he accompanying article is written by Diana biographer and longtime provocateur Tina Brown.

She’s also Newsweek’s editor-in-chief, having taken over after her online publication, the Daily Beast, merged late last year with the decades-old publication.

“What would she have been like?” Brown writes of Diana, who would have turned 50 on Friday, nearly 14 years after her death in a Paris car crash. “Still greatlooking: that’s a given.” The magazine’s new issue also features an imagined Diana Facebook page and a slideshow comparing the fashion styles of Diana and Middleton, who married Diana’s oldest child, Prince William, in April.

About the cover, a Los Angeles Times headline asked, “Shocking, brilliant or just plain cheap?” An Atlantic Wire headline added, “How Creepy Is Princess Diana’s Ghost on the Cover of Newsweek?” Brown’s answer: Not at all.

“We wanted to bring the memory of Diana alive in a vivid image that transcends time and reflects my piece,” she said in a statement Tuesday. — AP

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Lady Gaga accused of fraud in Japan relief efforts

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2011

Lebanese actors perform in the musical play”Don Quixote” during the opening night of Byblos International Festival, north of Beirut, on June 28, 2011. —AFP

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ove over, pole-dancing, kettlebells and Zumba. Drumstick-smashing is the latest rage to hit the Hollywood exercise circuit, offering a workout similar to Pilates or boot camp, but without the serenity of a yoga studio or the bark of a drill instructor. The high-volume group fitness class, called Pound, was devised by Cristina Peerenboom, 25, and Kirsten Potenza, 26, who promote it as a fun and energetic alternative to the usual sweat-inducing routines. Using weighted drumsticks or wooden ones provided in the class, members smack the ground repeatedly to a fast-paced soundtrack of hip-hop and rock songs. Once participants are panting, Peerenboom complements their vigor and makes occasional lewd jokes.

The two fit, bubbly instructors say they came up with the idea last year at a party attended by rock royalty in the Hollywood Hills. Matt Sorum, former drummer for the rock group Guns N’ Roses, had just wrapped up a set on the drums at the rowdy party when the women approached the kit.

Both had played drums in the admittedly nerdy setting of school bands and both had been athletes most of their lives. That night, the two worlds collided. “We were drumming without a drum stool to accompany the kit and we were squatting over it and realized that the movement of the arms was acting to throw the entire body off and in order to counteract that, we were having to squeeze ... our core muscles,” Peerenboom said. From there,

Fitness instructor Cristina Peerenboom, bottom center, uses drumsticks while teaching a fitness class called “Pound: Rockout. Workout.” at Crunch Fitness in West Hollywood, Calif. — AFP

US artist Bart Dorsa rides late on June 28, 2011 in a Duck Flambe, a metal kinetic sculpture also called “Fire-Breathing Duck Bike,” in the center of Moscow. The creation, which has a steering wheel, gears and can spout fire from the top of its head, was brought to the Moscow Museum of Modern Art for an exhibition.—AFP

Peerenboom’s background as a dancer and choreographer helped piece together a sequence of drumming movements that take the body through a broad range of motion. A typical progression could have drummers standing with legs spread, before moving their torsos in a wide arc, bending to pound the ground next to one foot, standing to smack the sticks together overhead to the beat and then bending to pummel the ground next to the other foot, pivoting back and forth.

Another move focuses on abs and back muscles, with pounders sitting on the ground with legs raised, leaning back to form their bodies in a Vshape. They drum the floor alongside their bodies in a move similar to a core Pilates exercise, which requires people to hold the position while swatting their hands up and down 100 times. American College of Sports Medicine spokesman Mike Bracko praised the Pound fitness model, saying “anytime you add music, especially if it’s up-tempo music, people just have a tendency to go with the beat of the music” and work harder than they might without it.

“Bilateral movements like drumming, with left hand up while right hand is down, in a boat or a lunge position would certainly challenge the core muscles,” he added. The class is slated to roll out to nine Equinox gyms across Southern California during the midyear warm season and to New York and other locations nationwide in the next year. After holding classes at a few private studios in January, Pound classes started up at Crunch Fitness in West Hollywood in March. The gym’s new offerings are frequently rolled out to members interested in keeping up with the latest trends in exercise. Every few months, the chain updates or replaces yesteryear’s fitness fads, from the spandex-wearing aerobics of Olivia Newton John to kickboxing classes, with fresh offerings like Afro-Brazilian dance, striptease classes and Skatergie, a workout that mimics movements in ice skating.

Dozens of people filled the Pound class to capacity recently. With the pounding of the drumsticks, “you’re literally hearing if you’re doing the workout correctly,” said Potenza.

But no musical skill is required to break a sweat with drum rolls and fills “Something we worried about in the beginning was ‘are people who don’t have any musical ability going to be able to do this?’ But I think if you can clap your hands you can do Pound,” said Potenza. The instructors warn people who take their class that although the 45-minute class will zoom by, they can expect to feel it the next day. Cindy Hemming was sore for two days after her first class, but now the athletic 55-year-old is hooked.

Though she runs marathons, swims and dances to stay fit, Hemming takes the Pound class three days a week. After a recent class, still breathing heavily and sweating through her clothes, Hemming smiled broadly and said, “it goes by so fast and it works absolutely everything. — AP

Liberating spirit: The essence of Asian cities

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ima Singh, an executive with an Indian outsourcing company, smokes, drinks and dates boyfriends in New Delhi —- but doesn’t tell her parents back home in small-town India. Three years ago, the 24-yearold left what she described as a mundane life full of strict social conventions in the town of Mathura in northern India and headed for the bright lights of New Delhi.

“Back there, falling in love is a big crime and expressing yourself is still labeled as a rebellious streak,” she told AFP. “Wearing skimpy clothes, smoking, drinking, having

still the norm for most people, horrific stories of women being killed by family members over their plans to marry “unsuitable” partners are a regular feature of Indian newspapers. But experts say cities across the world generally serve as a positive melting pot, where different cultures intermingle, encouraging tolerance and the interchange of ideas.”The freedom in a big city comes from diversity,” Jirapa Worasiangsuk, a sociologist at Thammasat University in Bangkok, told AFP. “It’s the choices and the opportunity to choose that make

File photo shows Indian disc-jockeys Nasha and Nucleya watched by a member of the audience as they play music at a nightclub in New Delhi. — AFP boyfriends are all a strict no-no,” added Singh.

In the Indian capital, a mixing pot of 14 million people, she says she feels liberated from some of the traditions that would restrict her freedom when she lived with her wealthy but conservative Hindu family. At home, she was barred from entering the family kitchen and had to sleep on a cotton mat when she was menstruating, during which time she is considered to be impure.

Tired of putting up with these “ridiculous” diktats, she and her cousin moved to Delhi on the pretext of studying computer science. She opted instead to take up a job with a private IT firm.”The decision to move to Delhi was the best thing I have done so far,” says Singh who lives on her own in a small one-room terrace housesomething unthinkable for Indian women of her background in previous generations.”I am my own master here,” she told AFP. Singh’s story reflects deep social changes underway across Asia because of rapid urbanization that will see hundreds of millions move to urban areas in the next decades.

The population of Indian cities alone is forecast to grow from an estimated 340 million people now to 590 million by 2030, according to a report from the McKinsey consultancy published last year.” Cities are the first to embrace many concepts that are a taboo in towns and villages,” says Sandhya Patnaik, a sociology professor at Delhi University, referring to pre-marital sex, live-in relationships or divorces.”Anything new or modern touches cities first. Trends percolate to smaller towns at a very slow pace.”

More freedom in a big city Occasionally in India, the battle between village tradition and liberal city culture can have deadly consequences, such as the “honor killings” seen in Delhi’s migrant areas. In a country where arranged marriage is

Bangkok or other big cities a better place.

“People have more choices to choose how to live, to choose their career, to do whatever they want.” In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, 22-year-old Nani Yuningsih works as a domestic help and says city life has empowered her.

“All my childhood friends got married young, mostly at the age of 15. I am the only one who’s still single,” says Yuningsih, who moved to Jakarata from a village in Brebes district of Central Java province at the age of 13.

Despite the daily grind, Yuningsih says she disapproves of women depending on their husbands for economic support. She is attending evening classes to get her high school certificate.

“People in the village always belittle me for being single at my age. For them, it’s a nightmare and shameful for women to marry late,” she said. “They also laugh at my plan to study at university, saying that I’m already old and have to raise children instead.” Tran Thi Ninh, a 48-year-old from a province outside the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, says her experience of city life has brought more independence, but also a sense of dislocation and a loss of identity.”The community spirit in the countryside is so tight, not here,” Ninh said, explaining that the entire village would try to help out if someone fell sick.

On a recent afternoon, her husband suddenly needed to go to hospital but Ninh could not find anyone to help.” They were busy with their jobs,” she said of her neighbors. Sociologists say the freedom of cities often stems from a feeling of anonymity-but this can often tip over into loneliness. The Indian executive, Rima Singh says she often feels New Delhi is an isolating, cold-hearted sort of place.”I have chosen this life but whenever I feel miserable I go back home to be with my parents,” she said. — AFP