14 Jul

ON IP TI SC R SU B

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

Kuwaiti media delegation visits Hebron, Bethlehem

Amir launches campaign to preserve marine environment

150 FILS

Bollywood hit ‘Delhi Belly’ causes upset

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www.kuwaittimes.net

SHAABAN 13, 1432 AH

Japan beat Sweden to reach World Cup final

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Triple explosions kill 21 in Mumbai

Max 50º Min 34º Low Tide 04:33 & 18:08 High Tide 10:07

No Kuwaitis harmed in serial blasts: Ambassador

MP calls to expel Iraqi ambassador

By A Saleh KUWAIT: MP Falah Al-Sawwagh yesterday condemned the attack on Kuwait’s embassy in Baghdad and slammed some Iraqi parliamentary calls to expel Kuwait’s ambassador from the country. “That’s typical of Iraq,” he said, noting that such an offense can only be countered by expelling the Iraqi ambassador from Kuwait. Sawwagh also blasted what he described as Iraqi MPs’ interference in Kuwaiti business and the procedures of building the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port. “We did not interfere in their recent crisis - contrarily we gave them aid,” he said, urging the Kuwaiti government to insist on building the port.

MP Jamaan Al-Harbash stressed that the Mubarak port was a “practical preservation of Kuwait’s borders”, and altering its plans means giving away part of Kuwait’s sovereignty, “which is unacceptable”. On the attack on Kuwait’s embassy Harbash hailed the embassy staff for promoting Kuwait’s views and urged the foreign ministry to act immediately.

Continued on Page 13

MUMBAI: Injured victims of a bomb explosion are loaded onto a truck to be taken to hospital at Zaveri Bazaar yesterday. — AP

MUMBAI: Three coordinated bombings tore through the heart of India’s busy financial capital during rush hour yesterday, killing 21 people in the worst terror attack in the country since the 2008 Mumbai siege. The attacks came just months after peace talks resumed between India and Pakistan, which New Delhi has blamed for past attacks. Blood-covered bodies lay on Mumbai streets and people hugged and wept. Others carried the wounded to taxis. Crowds gathered in the blast areas as police questioned witnesses, and bomb squads inspected the undercarriages of vehicles searching for clues and other explosives. Motorcycles were charred, shopfronts shattered and a bus stop ripped apart. Bleeding victims crowded into the back of a cargo truck to be taken to a hospital.

Preliminary information collected from the Kuwait embassy’s consulate office in Mumbai have indicated that no Kuwaiti nationals were injured or dead in the blasts, confirmed Kuwaiti Ambassador to India Sami AlSulaiman. Speaking to KUNA, the ambassador pointed out that only preliminary information could be gathered, and final information would be collected gradually. “I have been told that no Kuwaiti national was injured or dead in the Mumbai blasts this evening. I condemn the serial bomb blasts, and offer condolences to the families of those injured or dead. I am confident that the Indian government is capable enough to overcome this terror attack,” added the Kuwaiti envoy.

The first blast struck the Zaveri Bazaar at 6:54 pm, tearing through the famed jewelry market. A minute later, a blast hit the busy business district of Opera House, several kilometers away in southern Mumbai.

Continued on Page 13

Murdoch pulls BSkyB bid

LONDON: A demonstrator from Avaaz, a global campaigning group, wearing a Rupert Murdoch mask, holds banners in front of parliament yesterday. — AP

Arab League chides US on Syria remarks BEIRUT: The Arab League said yesterday that Washington overstepped its bounds by saying Syrian President Bashar Assad had lost the legitimacy to lead his country. Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby said Assad assured him that

“Syria has entered a new era and is now moving on the road of a genuine reform”. Syria came under withering international criticism Tuesday as the White House said Assad has “lost legitimacy” and the UN Security Council Continued on Page 13

LONDON: Rupert Murdoch dramatically dropped his bid for control of pay-TV giant BSkyB yesterday, bowing to pressure from the British government over the phone-hacking firestorm at his newspaper empire.

Hours before Britain’s three main parties were set to back an extraordinary parliamentary vote calling for the withdrawal of the bid, Murdoch’s US-based News Corp said it was now “too difficult to progress in this climate”.

Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the news, saying the Australian-born tycoon should focus on cleaning up his business after the scandal which forced the closure of the News of the World tabloid on Sunday.

After decades as Britain’s political kingmaker, Murdoch has seen his empire threatened by a wave of public outrage over the hacking of voicemails belonging to people including a murdered girl and the families of dead troops. “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate,” said News Corp. deputy chairman Chase Carey. Carey said News Corp, which wanted to purchase the 61 percent of shares in BSkyB it did not own for £7.8 billion ($12.5 billion), would remain a “committed long-term shareholder” in BSkyB. Continued on Page 13

FAIRFORD, England: The Saudi Hawks Display Team rehearse yesterday ahead of the forthcoming Royal International Air Tattoo. The team was formed in 1997, and are on their first visit to Britain. — AP

UAE sweats to stay cool DUBAI: Ali’s air conditioning quietly cools his spacious Dubai apartment around the clock and all year round, even when he is away on holiday.

With outside temperatures soaring towards 50 degrees in summer, he likes to come home to his chilled oasis in this skyscraper city sprouting from the desert. “When I go outside I feel that a gigantic hairdryer is blowing in my

face,” the 36-year old marketing manager said. “If I turn off the air-conditioning when I leave the house, I will spend even more energy to cool down the house when I’m back. So I leave it.”

Ali, whose name has been changed for privacy, is not unusual in this high-rise city that has rapidly transformed from a sleepy fishing village to an international financial center.

Many of Dubai’s estimated 2 million inhabitants leave their air - conditioning running 24/7, shrugging off tips from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) for electricity and water conservation. Dubai’s non-stop running air-conditioners help drive the emirate’s summer peak demand per person to more than three times that of Spain - where cooling

in the

news

Riyadh dismantles Qaeda-linked group

Bahrain frees jailed ‘poetess’

JEDDAH: Saudi authorities have dismantled an AlQaeda-linked group of 16 people plotting to overthrow the regime, the Saudi-funded Asharq Alawsat daily reported yesterday. The “secret organisation” aimed to “gain power with the aid of foreign intelligence services,” Asharq Alawsat quoted a spokesman for the justice ministry as saying, without specifying the country of origin of the intelligence ser vices in question.

According to the spokesman, Abdullah al-Saadan, the group had contacts with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. A number of its members were arrested during a February 2007 meeting in the western port city of Jeddah, he said. The group, which called itself the “project of the generation,” also engaged in collecting funds under the guise of charitable activities.

MANAMA: A Bahraini woman, jailed for reciting poems critical of Gulf kingdom’s rulers during a wave of protests earlier this year, was released from prison yesterday, her brother said. Ayat Al-Qurmezi, 20, became a minor celebrity among protesters after reciting poems critical of Bahrain’s king and prime minister in the capital’s Pearl Square, which was the hub for Shiite-led demonstrations that broke out in February. One verse, addressed to King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, included the lines: “We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery.

Don’t you hear their cries? Don’t you hear their screams?”

Al-Qurmezi was detained in March during a raid on her family house. Last month she was convicted of anti-state crimes in a special security tribunal and sentenced to a year in prison.

Thais find smuggled meth shaped as art BANGKOK: Thai authorities have arrested an Iranian man who allegedly tried to smuggle more than 50 million baht ($1.6 million) worth of crystal methamphetamine into the country disguised as handicraft art. The Customs Department said 28-year-old Safi Zadeh Hossein was carrying two plaque-shaped sculptures when he was arrested Tuesday on arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport from Damascus, Syria. Customs officials demonstrated to reporters yesterday how the sculptures were pressed and molded from the illegal stimulant. One 10-kg object was the image of a yellow rose, while another 5-kg piece looked like a framed cameo. Official Vorapat Jaovisidha says it’s the first time his agency had seen this method.

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THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

LOCAL

Kuwait University’s dilemma: An explanation

By Hussain Al-Qatari KUWAIT: Newly appointed Minister of Education Ahmad Al-Mulaifi told the press on Tuesday that a temporary campus must be allocated to contain the 8,000 freshmen set to enroll this upcoming September.

Al-Mulaifi met with the Kuwait University council earlier this month and gave them a stark ultimatum: increase the number of freshmen enrolling this academic year to 8,000 or submit their [council members’] resignations.

A senior Kuwait University official announced yesterday that the minister’s demand to increase the number of students has been met.

Nada Al-Motlaq, the head of the university’s admissions and registration department, said: “The number of students who applied online has reached 8,000 and we are awaiting the completion of their paper work before they begin selecting courses for the first semester, which commences this September.” Al-Motlaq noted that the number of applicants includes Kuwaiti nationals and non-Kuwaiti nationals with Kuwaiti mothers.

This comes despite criticism and protests by faculty staff at Kuwait University over the numbers. In recent months, KU officials have stressed the university’s urgent need for more teachers, especially given the numerous obstacles currently facing the institution. These include: UNQUALIFIED STUDENTS The aptitude tests and foundation courses set for students are not on a par with the content they study in their major, said one KU lecturer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Students come to us unprepared, and they go through a

year of studying foundation English and mathematics, but that is still not enough. The university should have strict criteria for admitting students in certain fields, by giving challenging aptitude tests in order to control the quality of education.

In many cases we have to dumb things down to explain to those students who have had a very low quality education in school,” he said.

comparable with the level of education provided.

GENDER SEGREGATION Another insider at Kuwait University said that the university’s gender segregation policy only stalls the workflow for both faculty members and students. “Let me give you an example: let’s say you have a department with five professors; each one of them must give

KUWAIT: One of the buildings of the Kuwait University.

The KU insider added that the poor educational standards at public schools reflect negatively on the students’ performance at university.

“They are used to getting excellent grades for doing very little work.

When we have a class of 30 full of students who don’t speak proper English, how can we have classroom discussion for the course if the curriculumis in English?” he exclaimed. The lecturer added that by introducing stricter admission criteria, students would have to work harder and apply when they were ready and their aptitude was

[the same] course twice ever y semester: once for boys and once for girls. The boys’ classes are most of the time smaller in number, so you have around fifteen students.

In the girls’ classes you have thirty or more. Each of the professors is therefore forced to give the same class, the same content, at three different timings,” she explained.

The academic added that the timings usually delay students as they clash with other courses they have.

“Because girls outnumber boys, the boys can’t choose which timing they want for their classes. They are

stuck with one time slot, and if it doesn’t suit their schedule they come back the next semester. If Kuwait University was co-ed, students would have the freedom to time classes more conveniently, and instructors could have a balanced number of students in each of the classes,” she said. By having 8,000 freshmen at Kuwait University without any increase in the number of instructors, the minister of education is only asking for the failure of the university, the insider warned.

BUILDINGS Kuwait University’s campuses are scattered across five different areas: Shuwaikh, Khaldiya, Kaifan, Jabriya and Adailiya. According to statements made by the education minister, it is necessary to provide temporary buildings soon until work on a new university at Sabah Al-Salem University City near Shedadiyyah is completed. Last week, the head of Kuwait University’s construction department, Dr Rana Al-Fares, announced that missiles left over from the 1990-91 invasion and occupation had been found at the site of the new university and were destroyed by the relevant authorities. “The University City will take years until it is completed. It doesn’t appear that the minister put any thought into the decision to increase the number of students, and the same thing goes for his decision for makeshift buildings,” said another faculty member. Until the academic year begins in September, things might change for the better, he added. “The last thing Kuwait needs is more crises in the field of education,” he concluded.

• The speakers requested to remain anonymous so as to protect their identity.

KUWAIT: A group of youngsters, children of Ministry of Interior employees past and present and of martyrs, yesterday morning enjoyed a guided tour of the Kuwait Airways Corporation headquarters. The trip was part of the annual summer program of activities organized by the ministry’s social care division for children in these groups.

Poetry as a reflection of life

By Mafaz Al-Suwaidan KUWAIT: A middle school Arabic teacher by day and an award-winning poet by night, 23-year-old Dalal Al-Baroud has made language her life. “Poetry to me is an expression of myself and my feelings,” she says. “It is my own special voice among the sea of voices.” Al-Baroud will be representing Kuwait at a youth poetry symposium next week, which is being held as part of the annual Asila International Cultural Festival in Morocco. The festival, now in its 33rd year, is featuring Kuwait as its guest of honor this year in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Gulf country’s independence. As one of two young poets chosen by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), Al-Baroud feels that her responsibility is immense. “I’m excited and scared at the same time,” she says. “I’m taking it very seriously and preparing new poems. I feel a great responsibility in repreDalal Al-Baroud senting my country.”

Al-Baroud first became interested in some discuss heavy social issues in politics, poetry when she was six years old. “My old- violence and revolution, others are humorer sister would take part in poetry recital ous, concerning life’s lighthearted competitions and I would get jealous,” she moments. “My inspiration comes from varijokes. “So I began memorizing what she ous sources; stories I’ve heard, books I’ve says and reciting it back to my parents for read and ideas that just pop into my mind,” she says. “Ideas lie at the sides of the roads, attention.”

Al-Baroud’s parents sought to instill a you just have to be the smart person who love for reading in their children from a pick them up.” Al-Baroud smiles as she very young age. Her father owned a chil- recalls one occasion when a simple cup of dren’s bookstore and would constantly tea became her muse. “I like to give it a perbring books home for Dalal and her five sonality, as though this cup is a witness to siblings. When they noticed her talent and all that is happening around it, and then I love for words, her parents brought it to write a poem about it,” she says.

Growing up, Althe attention of the Baroud recalls spending teaching staff at her much of her time playschool. “My mother ing with boys and enjoywould come to my ‘As a female poet I feel ing soccer more than school and ask my teachers to include me responsible for being the Barbie dolls, yet in many of her poems men in competitions, plays voice of all the women become the victims of and school radio broadcasts to foster my talent,” who are voiceless... I feel her wrath. “I am not she says. “My family was it is other women’s right against men,” she laughs.

“The men who surround always very supportive.” upon me’ me in my life are very In 2001, when Alsupportive. I am simply Baroud was in the ninth against the oppression grade, she won first and violence practiced place in a competition for public speaking and linguistic elo- by men against women.” Al-Baroud quence in Egypt where she competed believes there is an unfair assumption against students from across the Arab about women in the Arabic poetry world world. It was around that time that her that they are not as good as their male interest in writing her own poetry was first counterparts, and she is seeking to prove sparked. “It was amateur and followed no this wrong. “As a female poet I feel responmeters, but I would still write,” she says. “It sible for being the voice of all the women was not until I learned the different meters who are voiceless,” she says. “I feel it is other in university that I began to write well.” Her women’s right upon me.” The rising poetry launch in the poetry world went slowly. Al- star also hopes to bring importance back to Baroud’s various activities during her uni- the classical Arabic language and its art versity years kept her busy with no time to forms through her poetic pursuits. She spend on enhancing her writing skills. In hopes that her passion will inspire other 2008 she decided to take up poetry profes- young people to recognize that classical sionally. She increased her reading, Arabic still has relevance in our world brushed up her writing and even delved today. “Poetry to me is a reflection of life,” into philosophy. “I wanted to find my says Al-Baroud. “It mirrors psychology, phidepth and voice,” she explains. “So I began losophy and so on. It is my identity card.”

Al-Baroud aspires to continue on the poetto explore.”

Al-Baroud’s poems touch on different ry path and to release her first published topics and take on various forms. While collection within the next two years.

Desperate mom pleas for help for leukemia-stricken children KUWAIT: A desperate Kuwaiti mother has appealed to the country’s administration for immediate medical assistance for her five children, all of whom have been stricken by leukemia. This comes after administrative technicalities prevented five of her and her husband’s other children, who also suffered the cruel childhood cancer, from receiving the necessary lifesaving treatment since her husband is bedoon (stateless).

Shakha Al-Mutairi, whose children were diagnosed with the devastating disease at birth, has been struggling to find any way to secure treatment for them, with many means of assistance to save their lives

denied to her due to her husband’s stateless status.

“Half of my ten children passed away while the Supreme Council for the Disabled continues to turn down financial support applications,” said the devastated mother.

Under Kuwaiti law, Kuwaiti women married to Bedoons should receive monthly payments for medical treatment for children.

The condition of one of Al-Mutairi’s remaining daughters, eight-year-old Anfal, is already deteriorating alarmingly, the anxious parent revealed, with the child suffering the same daily heavy bleeding that affected her five deceased siblings before their tragically premature deaths. — Al-Rai

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THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

LOCAL

Kuwait University’s dilemma: An explanation

By Hussain Al-Qatari KUWAIT: Newly appointed Minister of Education Ahmad Al-Mulaifi told the press on Tuesday that a temporary campus must be allocated to contain the 8,000 freshmen set to enroll this upcoming September.

Al-Mulaifi met with the Kuwait University council earlier this month and gave them a stark ultimatum: increase the number of freshmen enrolling this academic year to 8,000 or submit their [council members’] resignations.

A senior Kuwait University official announced yesterday that the minister’s demand to increase the number of students has been met.

Nada Al-Motlaq, the head of the university’s admissions and registration department, said: “The number of students who applied online has reached 8,000 and we are awaiting the completion of their paper work before they begin selecting courses for the first semester, which commences this September.” Al-Motlaq noted that the number of applicants includes Kuwaiti nationals and non-Kuwaiti nationals with Kuwaiti mothers.

This comes despite criticism and protests by faculty staff at Kuwait University over the numbers. In recent months, KU officials have stressed the university’s urgent need for more teachers, especially given the numerous obstacles currently facing the institution. These include: UNQUALIFIED STUDENTS The aptitude tests and foundation courses set for students are not on a par with the content they study in their major, said one KU lecturer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Students come to us unprepared, and they go through a

year of studying foundation English and mathematics, but that is still not enough. The university should have strict criteria for admitting students in certain fields, by giving challenging aptitude tests in order to control the quality of education.

In many cases we have to dumb things down to explain to those students who have had a very low quality education in school,” he said.

comparable with the level of education provided.

GENDER SEGREGATION Another insider at Kuwait University said that the university’s gender segregation policy only stalls the workflow for both faculty members and students. “Let me give you an example: let’s say you have a department with five professors; each one of them must give

KUWAIT: One of the buildings of the Kuwait University.

The KU insider added that the poor educational standards at public schools reflect negatively on the students’ performance at university.

“They are used to getting excellent grades for doing very little work.

When we have a class of 30 full of students who don’t speak proper English, how can we have classroom discussion for the course if the curriculumis in English?” he exclaimed. The lecturer added that by introducing stricter admission criteria, students would have to work harder and apply when they were ready and their aptitude was

[the same] course twice ever y semester: once for boys and once for girls. The boys’ classes are most of the time smaller in number, so you have around fifteen students.

In the girls’ classes you have thirty or more. Each of the professors is therefore forced to give the same class, the same content, at three different timings,” she explained.

The academic added that the timings usually delay students as they clash with other courses they have.

“Because girls outnumber boys, the boys can’t choose which timing they want for their classes. They are

stuck with one time slot, and if it doesn’t suit their schedule they come back the next semester. If Kuwait University was co-ed, students would have the freedom to time classes more conveniently, and instructors could have a balanced number of students in each of the classes,” she said. By having 8,000 freshmen at Kuwait University without any increase in the number of instructors, the minister of education is only asking for the failure of the university, the insider warned.

BUILDINGS Kuwait University’s campuses are scattered across five different areas: Shuwaikh, Khaldiya, Kaifan, Jabriya and Adailiya. According to statements made by the education minister, it is necessary to provide temporary buildings soon until work on a new university at Sabah Al-Salem University City near Shedadiyyah is completed. Last week, the head of Kuwait University’s construction department, Dr Rana Al-Fares, announced that missiles left over from the 1990-91 invasion and occupation had been found at the site of the new university and were destroyed by the relevant authorities. “The University City will take years until it is completed. It doesn’t appear that the minister put any thought into the decision to increase the number of students, and the same thing goes for his decision for makeshift buildings,” said another faculty member. Until the academic year begins in September, things might change for the better, he added. “The last thing Kuwait needs is more crises in the field of education,” he concluded.

• The speakers requested to remain anonymous so as to protect their identity.

KUWAIT: A group of youngsters, children of Ministry of Interior employees past and present and of martyrs, yesterday morning enjoyed a guided tour of the Kuwait Airways Corporation headquarters. The trip was part of the annual summer program of activities organized by the ministry’s social care division for children in these groups.

Poetry as a reflection of life

By Mafaz Al-Suwaidan KUWAIT: A middle school Arabic teacher by day and an award-winning poet by night, 23-year-old Dalal Al-Baroud has made language her life. “Poetry to me is an expression of myself and my feelings,” she says. “It is my own special voice among the sea of voices.” Al-Baroud will be representing Kuwait at a youth poetry symposium next week, which is being held as part of the annual Asila International Cultural Festival in Morocco. The festival, now in its 33rd year, is featuring Kuwait as its guest of honor this year in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Gulf country’s independence. As one of two young poets chosen by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), Al-Baroud feels that her responsibility is immense. “I’m excited and scared at the same time,” she says. “I’m taking it very seriously and preparing new poems. I feel a great responsibility in repreDalal Al-Baroud senting my country.”

Al-Baroud first became interested in some discuss heavy social issues in politics, poetry when she was six years old. “My old- violence and revolution, others are humorer sister would take part in poetry recital ous, concerning life’s lighthearted competitions and I would get jealous,” she moments. “My inspiration comes from varijokes. “So I began memorizing what she ous sources; stories I’ve heard, books I’ve says and reciting it back to my parents for read and ideas that just pop into my mind,” she says. “Ideas lie at the sides of the roads, attention.”

Al-Baroud’s parents sought to instill a you just have to be the smart person who love for reading in their children from a pick them up.” Al-Baroud smiles as she very young age. Her father owned a chil- recalls one occasion when a simple cup of dren’s bookstore and would constantly tea became her muse. “I like to give it a perbring books home for Dalal and her five sonality, as though this cup is a witness to siblings. When they noticed her talent and all that is happening around it, and then I love for words, her parents brought it to write a poem about it,” she says.

Growing up, Althe attention of the Baroud recalls spending teaching staff at her much of her time playschool. “My mother ing with boys and enjoywould come to my ‘As a female poet I feel ing soccer more than school and ask my teachers to include me responsible for being the Barbie dolls, yet in many of her poems men in competitions, plays voice of all the women become the victims of and school radio broadcasts to foster my talent,” who are voiceless... I feel her wrath. “I am not she says. “My family was it is other women’s right against men,” she laughs.

“The men who surround always very supportive.” upon me’ me in my life are very In 2001, when Alsupportive. I am simply Baroud was in the ninth against the oppression grade, she won first and violence practiced place in a competition for public speaking and linguistic elo- by men against women.” Al-Baroud quence in Egypt where she competed believes there is an unfair assumption against students from across the Arab about women in the Arabic poetry world world. It was around that time that her that they are not as good as their male interest in writing her own poetry was first counterparts, and she is seeking to prove sparked. “It was amateur and followed no this wrong. “As a female poet I feel responmeters, but I would still write,” she says. “It sible for being the voice of all the women was not until I learned the different meters who are voiceless,” she says. “I feel it is other in university that I began to write well.” Her women’s right upon me.” The rising poetry launch in the poetry world went slowly. Al- star also hopes to bring importance back to Baroud’s various activities during her uni- the classical Arabic language and its art versity years kept her busy with no time to forms through her poetic pursuits. She spend on enhancing her writing skills. In hopes that her passion will inspire other 2008 she decided to take up poetry profes- young people to recognize that classical sionally. She increased her reading, Arabic still has relevance in our world brushed up her writing and even delved today. “Poetry to me is a reflection of life,” into philosophy. “I wanted to find my says Al-Baroud. “It mirrors psychology, phidepth and voice,” she explains. “So I began losophy and so on. It is my identity card.”

Al-Baroud aspires to continue on the poetto explore.”

Al-Baroud’s poems touch on different ry path and to release her first published topics and take on various forms. While collection within the next two years.

Desperate mom pleas for help for leukemia-stricken children KUWAIT: A desperate Kuwaiti mother has appealed to the country’s administration for immediate medical assistance for her five children, all of whom have been stricken by leukemia. This comes after administrative technicalities prevented five of her and her husband’s other children, who also suffered the cruel childhood cancer, from receiving the necessary lifesaving treatment since her husband is bedoon (stateless).

Shakha Al-Mutairi, whose children were diagnosed with the devastating disease at birth, has been struggling to find any way to secure treatment for them, with many means of assistance to save their lives

denied to her due to her husband’s stateless status.

“Half of my ten children passed away while the Supreme Council for the Disabled continues to turn down financial support applications,” said the devastated mother.

Under Kuwaiti law, Kuwaiti women married to Bedoons should receive monthly payments for medical treatment for children.

The condition of one of Al-Mutairi’s remaining daughters, eight-year-old Anfal, is already deteriorating alarmingly, the anxious parent revealed, with the child suffering the same daily heavy bleeding that affected her five deceased siblings before their tragically premature deaths. — Al-Rai

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

LOCAL

Kuwaiti media delegation visits Hebron, Bethlehem Members of the Kuwaiti delegation with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Kuwait media delegation hands President Mahmoud Abbas a memento during their visit.

Kuwait media delegation during their visit to Hebron City, south of West Bank while meeting with Hebron governor Kamil Hamid.

RAMALLAH: A Kuwaiti media delegation on Tuesday visited the city of Hebron in the West Bank, learning more about the suffering of its people from the practices of the Israeli settlers in the old town. Members of the Kuwaiti delegation met the Governor of Hebron Kamil Hamid, who accompanied them on a tour of the ancient town and explained the details of the humanitarian, political and economic situation in the city, the largest and most populous in the West Bank.

Hamid told the visitors about the uniqueness of Hebron, which has been the target of the Israeli settlers and army, who regularly expel Palestinians from their homes, seize and occupy schools and shut down entire streets in the city.

Israel is seeking to take over the ancient city after emptying it of its inhabitants, he said, referring to the confiscation of thousands of dunums of land there.

He stressed the depth of historical relations between the Palestinian and Kuwaiti peoples, voicing gratitude for the role played by Kuwait in support of Palestinians and its contribution in building a number of Palestinian institutions.

Later, after performing the Asr prayers at Hebron’s AlIbrahimi Mosque, the delegates travelled to Bethlehem (Beit Lahm in Arabic), where they were taken on a guided tour, inspecting the controversial ‘apartheid wall’ built by Israel which surrounds and in certain locations divides the millennia-old city. During their trip, the delegates also visited the Church of the Nativity, as well as Al-Quds University in the Abu Dis area. They were also given a guided tour of the Abu Jihad Museum for the Prisoners’ Movement by the museum curator Fahad Abu Al-Hajj, who provided a detailed explanation of the handicrafts on display there, which were made by Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

The delegation, headed by KJA chairman Ahmad Yousef Behbehani, also included association director Adnan AlRashid, Kuwait Times Director Badriya Darwish, Al-Anba Editor-in-Chief Yousef Al-Marzouq, photographer Majid AlSabej, singer Abdullah Al-Ruwaished and economist Bader AlMutawa, amongst others. The delegates arrived in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) last Monday on a weeklong visit, meeting on Tuesday with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Kuwait media delegation during their visit to Abu Jihad Museum for prisoners affairs in Al-Quds University and Abu Dees village.

Kuwait media delegation in front of the separation wall built by the Israelis on the Palestinian territory.

Too hot to handle: Life minus water and electricity in Jleeb

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: For the past week, several buildings in the Hasawi area of Jleeb AlShuyoukh have been plunged into darkness by planned power cuts which disconnect the AC and electricity utilities at scheduled times. Malik, a resident of Block 2, Street 153 said the power cuts began last Thursday and have continued to date. Another local resident insisted, however, the the power cuts went back even further, beginning at the end of June. Malik’s neighbors were forced to find another accommodation in Salmiya to spare their kids from the scorching heat. “I cannot sleep well,” started Malik, explaining, “The problem is I work at night and sleep until midafternoon. So it’s a burning hell, terrible conditions, and it’s been going on for five days now.”

Ironically, next to Malik’s building there is a flat that is excluded from the power cuts. Another two buildings close to Malik’s flat have also been part of the scheduled blackouts, however. “I don’t know why it’s happening only to us [referring to his building],” he protested. Another unhappy resident, who introduced himself as Fervez, had a similar story: “We informed the owner and they told us to wait until the power is restored. Of course, we cannot do anything except wait for nothing.” He continued, “Sometimes the power will come only for ten, fifteen minutes, then it will be cut off again. The power comes and goes and I don’t know why.”

Like others in the area, Fervez pointed out that the frequent power outages are a seasonal certainty, taking place every summer. “The ministry personnel said the power cuts are connected to [electrical] overloads,” said Fervez. “I don’t really understand what it’s all about.” He voiced suspicion, however, that the ministry’s indifference to power cuts in Hasawi is related to the residents’ nationality.

“What I know is that because the majority of the residents here are

KUWAIT: The Jleeb street where residents have been complaining of power outages and water problems. — Photo by Ben Garcia

Bangladeshi, they don’t really care about us,” he said, appealing to Kuwait’s government to do something about their situation. “Give me some peace while asleep,” he pleaded. “I also want to rest after 12 hours of work, just like all of you, but how can I do that when its exceedingly hot?!”

In Block 1, according to some residents, the scheduled power cuts are just something they’ve had to adjust to.

“The power cut happens almost every day from 11 pm-5 am. It started in the last week of June. At first I struggled to fall asleep, but now I have got used to this condition; so my adjustment was tied to falling asleep before the air-conditioning went dead... regardless I’d lay wide awake in the middle of the night sweating,” Ahmed quipped.

Throughout Malik’s apartment block there are similar stories, not just of power cuts but of water shortages. “We have been experiencing this water shortage for some time now,” said one resident. “They used to fill our tanks with water, but it’s too little for all of us in this building so almost every day, we experience water shortages. Some of us would go to work without having a shower.”

Demand for electricity and water, vital and basic human necessities, has

been rising since the beginning of summer. Having identified the problem of shortages, the government has taken proactive measures to change the current supply system. According to experts, the level of demand in Kuwait is growing at approximately seven to ten percent per year. By 2025, the national peak load demand is expected to reach 25,000MW per year. In March 2011, Kuwait inaugurated the first phase of the Sabbiya power plant, set to be Kuwait’s largest such facility. The plant’s six gas turbine generators are expected to produce nearly 1,400MW of power adding nearly 10 percent of additional power to the existing network and helping the country meet peak demand for electricity during the hot summer months.

The state-owned plant is expected to enter a combined-cycle operation by 2012, with a total output exceeding more than 2,000MW. Former Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan was quoted by the local press in March as saying that the “programmed power cuts” in Kuwait would finally end after the inauguration of the first stage of the AlSabiya power plant. But the residents of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh know better than to believe that.

Singer Abdullah Al-Ruwaihed talking to a special needs girl during the visit.

Kuwait media delegation during their visit to the Church of Cradle at Bethlehem.

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kuwait digest

kuwait digest

The real change

Getting to the root of the problem

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

By Iqbal Al-Ahmad rof Dr Abdulwahab Al-Essa from Kuwait University's Faculty of Medicine made a comment on an article I previously wrote about inequality of enrollment rates between male and female students at the faculty. In his response to why female students usually avoid surgical specialties and instead specialize in dermatology, medical radiography and laboratory medicine, Dr Al-Essa mentioned sentry duties and the hard schedule as the reason which deters women from studying surgery.

Based on that probability, the KU administration set regulations which gave priority admission to male students at complex medical specialties in the faculty. This happened instead of attempting to find the root cause of the problem that keeps female students away from these courses.

To better illustrate the point I'm trying to make in this article, I will talk about a subject I became aware of from a documentary I watched, which discusses par t of a book titled 'Freakonomics' written by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner; two activists who attempt to find root causes of a general problem by analysing information and trying to find a hidden connection that most people usually miss.

In their book, the authors mentioned the sudden drop in crime rates in the US after it reached 65 percent in some states between 1987 and 1989. In their analysis, while trying to find the reason behind this drop, they cited several aspects such as tougher laws and stricter penal-

uwaiti youths demanding to see change in their country should don a different approach than the one that has been employed by other Arab countries whose outbursts came as a result of poverty and lack of freedom; things that we don’t suffer from here in Kuwait.

To quote a column written by political activist Dr Ahmad Al-Khateeb a while ago: “Kuwait’s young people must realize the peculiarity of Kuwait, which is distinguished from its surroundings by what I believe is the fact that the road to reform here is a lot smoother to take compared to other countries”.

Kuwait’s peculiarity is characterized by the fact that the move isn’t targeting the ruling system, but rather demands the enforcement of laws and commitment to the constitution which we already possess. Kuwait’s democratic system entitles peo-

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'Psychologists say that children who grow up in environments lacking love and appreciation are more prone to crime, not only for psychological reasons, but also for biological ones since it leaves a negative impact on the growth of the human brain. To set the record straight, I am pro life and strongly oppose abor tions unless they are medically required' ties. However, they reached a conclusion that all these aspects only helped the crime rates plunge substantially.

Eventually, the authors found out that the real reason behind the decrease in crime rates was the enforcement of the abortion law. In their study, they pointed out that the crimes rates dropped faster in states that enforced the abortion law three years before other states.

How did they reach this conclusion? The authors say in their book that 15 to 20 years after abortion was permitted, a new generation children appeared who were accepted and loved by their mothers. During the abortion ban years, mothers were forced to raise children they never wanted, which left a negative impact on the upbringing process and eventually left those kids more vulnerable to crime. On the other hand, children whose mothers chose to raise them were less prone to delinquency because they found love and appreciation while growing up.

Psychologists say that children who grow up in environments lacking love and appreciation are more prone to crime, not only for psychological reasons, but also for biological ones since it leaves a negative impact on the growth of the human brain. To set the record straight, I am pro life and strongly oppose abortions unless they are medically required. I had to make this point clear so that my opinion on the matter isn't misinterpreted based on the example I mentioned in the article which was chosen solely for illustrative purposes.

Back to the article's main topic, there might be cultural and social reasons behind aiding female students at the Faculty of Medicine avoid complicated medical tasks. However, the root cause of this problem could be something that is completely different. We can't find this cause unless we find the hidden connection between details about the subject - a process that can also be effective in solving all negative aspects in Kuwait. After writing their book, Levitt and Dubner founded a company that includes an elite team of experts in different fields, who carry out such studies. We guess and we speculate, but we never put enough effort to find the real reasons behind a problem in Kuwait - which is what makes it last for years. —Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

The fruitless change

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij he Arab man, the ancestor gave bir th to militar y coups, movement that paved the way of most citizens of Kuwait, which led to military rules that for the Arab man to return back has toppled many rulers, fol- failed to maintain their strength to religion.

This is a summary of the politilowed many faiths and changed when they were held accountalmost everything throughout able for the Arabian loss in 1967. cal history of the Arab World, which also underlines the histor y. Yet, he failed to progress of the Arab social change the most significant thing without which improve- ‘This is a summary of the politi- movement that always focused on changing appearment cannot be achieved: cal history of the Arab World, ances of underdevelopment himself.

Since the early days of the which also underlines the instead of tackling its root Caliphate era, changes have progress of the Arab social cause. Current revolutions in the Arab World are making a taken place successively in either a smooth or a troubled movement that always focused lot of changes, but history tells way. The Caliph Ali Ibn Abi on changing appearances of us that their end results won’t Talib succeeded Uthman Ibn underdevelopment instead of be as bright as they hope it will be. Because the Arab man Affan, after which the Caliphate’s rule changed tackling its root cause. Current himself isn’t subjected to this between the Umayyads, the revolutions in the Arab World wave of change, the best case Abbasids, Fatimids and then are making a lot of changes, but scenario would be for a tyrant to be replaced by another one. the Ottomans, before western In Kuwait, change which is colonization took over - which history tells us that their end began after Arabs sought results won’t be as bright as they currently in demand will be fruitless as long as these help from France and England hope it will be’ demands continue to focus on to achieve independence. changing the prime minister, Following that era, the the Cabinet, the parliament Bourgeois movement appeared but later disappeared That era was soon replaced with and the constitution, while when it was touted as the reason the introduction of the labor ignoring favoritism, ‘wasta’ for the loss of Palestinian territo- movement, which didn’t make (unlawful mediation), imbalries. The Middle Class movements much difference until it was put anced spending and sectarian which started after the Nakba away in favor of the Proletariat fundamentalism. —Al-Qabas

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ple to be the source of all authority, as the parliament which the people elects has the power to keep the government on the right course and even determine its fate if necessary.

Our problem stems from the fact that the people aren’t fully aware of their responsibilities and all the options and authority they’re entitled to through the state’s democratic system. Therefore, the change we must aspire to achieve is the one that targets people’s state of mind and makes them more aware of the democratic powers which give them clout to be the prime decision makers in the state.

Changing the prime minister or the cabinet’s formation isn’t going to achieve progress if people’s mindsets remain the same. The parliament which is elected by the Kuwaiti people has the power to legislate, as well as monitor and direct the government’s performance. Lack of economic or social improvement for example would as a result be the outcome of the parliament’s incapability to keep the government on the right track.

The change that we need is the one that makes Kuwaiti citizens solely responsible for whatever that the country goes through. —Al-Qabas

kuwait digest kuwait digest

Political divorce

Breaking the rules

By Yousif Abdullah Al-Enezi he government and the tion, which is again favored by audience seats as they watch a parliament are going the minority who would like to multi-act play while some of them do play minor roles. The through an irreversible make political bargains.

The three scenarios show that funny thing is that this play has ‘divorce’ since tension and conflicts have become an every day the minority is controlling politi- no script or lines. Each actor has full freedom to choose his own routine bet ween them in lines and they can also choose Kuwait. We have been witnessing problems between ‘The people are satisfied with their own ‘weapons’ inside the MPs themselves and between the audience seats as they watch parliament house: ogals, turbans, sticks or punches.

MPs and the government.

What is even more funny is Well, this is democracy where a multi-act play while some of there are neither eternal them do play minor roles. The that the play has more than friends nor enemies. I t ’s funny thing is that this play has just one director and it has no end or final curtain; it is conrather a matter of calculations and equations that no script or lines. Each actor has tinuous as long as interests, form the political life. full freedom to choose his own agendas and aspirations meet However, I believe current lines and they can also choose and match. But, what about the nation’s and citizens’ interpolitical situations will lead their own ‘weapons’ inside the est? Well, the answer is that to one of the following: Dissolution of the parlia- parliament house: ogals, tur- each actor introduces himself as the sole defender of public ment and calls for new parlia- bans, sticks or punches’ interests. The recent scuffle mentary elections, which is inside the parliament house favored by a minority that wishes to restructure the current cal life in some way or another where ogals flew by, batons whereas the majority is cornered clashed and punches were parliamentary formula.

Changing the PM and the into the defense zone because it exchanged while some jumped government, which is against lacks a skilled maestro who is over benches and others rolled the wish of HH the Amir and, capable of distributing roles and on the ground was pathetic and which is also favored by the tasks. This makes one wonder made us wonder ‘Are these the representatives of the nation?’ minority so that they could con- where the people are in all this.

The answer to that is simple. Tragically the answer is a trol political life.

Maintaining the current situa- The people are satisfied with the resounding ‘Yes!’ —Al-Jarida

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Partners in crime Ps of tension obstruct the development process due to their extensive watch, successive interpellation and addressing cases of corruption publicly’: This is a statement usually heard in Kuwait, and often used as a justification by people responsible for corruption and breaking laws.

If a lawmaker doesn’t want to be accused of causing tension, people agree that they should ignore violations taking place against the constitution and public funds, and praise authoritative figures often. I was once

‘Our problem stems from the fact that the people aren’t fully aware of their responsibilities and all the options and authority they’re entitled to through the state’s democratic system. The change we must aspire to achieve is the one that targets people’s state of mind and makes them more aware of the democratic powers which give them clout to be the prime decision makers in the state’

asked by a non-Kuwaiti friend of mine about whether Kuwaiti lawmakers are truly committed to fulfilling their legislative and monitoring duties, or only focus on using their posts to gain easy benefits.

I couldn’t defend lawmakers whose sudden growth of wealth is a wellknown secret. I couldn’t also find an answer to why some people have no issue with politicians making money by illegal means. It’s only when this ‘disease’ spreads through people’s minds that we realize that the situation has reached a critical level.

I wasn’t surprised when MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun stated that “interpellations will continue because (MPs) want to practice their role”. Monitoring and accountability must not stop as long as there is corruption. Addressing these problems until they’re gone is the duty that each lawmaker swore to abide by when they were elected. Citizens who fail to vote for dedicated candidates are regarded as accomplices in this ‘crime’ and while it’s sad to see these malpractices in Kuwait, it’s even more depressing to see that there are not enough measures to stop them. —Al-Rai

kuwait digest

Dr Mubarak Al-Therwa

‘MPs of tension obstruct the development process due to their extensive watch, successive interpellation and addressing cases of corruption publicly’: This is a statement usually heard in Kuwait, and often used as a justification by people responsible for corruption and breaking laws.

By Faisal Al-Zamel he basic rule of political parties is to abide by the party’s decisions. Here in Kuwait, we have “proposed political parties” and all of them do not abide by the group decision. This form of behavior can be found in Islamic as well as other groups where you may find two MPs in one group; one with the opposition and the other pro-government - usually at the same time and regarding the same subject. Whenever any of them accept the ministerial post, strange enough, every one in his group will try to show that they have nothing to do with him, because he was chosen only since he was close to them. This raises a question about the validity of political parties in Kuwait, knowing that the propose of political party system is to

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‘In Kuwait it is very difficult to have members of different religious sectors in one par ty thanks to continuous hostility among the sects. The voter goes to polls simply because one nominee from his tribe or sect needs his support’ form a majority which could rule through one single party or through a coalition of a group of parties. Adding to what we see in the “political markets” where opinions are sold and bought, there might some parties formed especially for this “market”.

In Britain, they do not classify members of Labor and Conservative party according to the tribe or religion. In Kuwait it is very difficult to have members of different religious sectors in one party thanks to continuous hostility among the sects. A very simple thing like color of head cover ‘Vashmagh’ or number of rings on the fingers might cause an issue in the coalition. The voter goes to polls simply because one nominee from his tribe or sect needs his support. If he does not support him, another nominee from different tribe or sect will win. Such a thing has been in practice in elections since 1964. —Al-Anba

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local

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

News

in brief

MoI eyes Ramadan ads KUWAIT: The Ministry of Information (MoI) is currently assessing locally made advertisements for TV shows which are set to be broadcast on local and satellite stations during Ramadan in order to verify whether the producers have obtained permission to broadcast them. In cases where the local production company behind an advertisement has failed to obtain this clearance, it can be sued by the ministry under the article of the audiovisual law, which obliges advertisement producers to obtain permission before shooting, recording, or broadcasting media material. Meanwhile, a ministry insider indicated that works produced outside the country aren’t subjected to the same regulations so long as they are broadcast by satellite TV stations.

New charity groups KUWAIT: Deputy PM and Minster of Social Affairs and Labor, Dr Mohammed Al-Afasi ordered suspending new charity organizations for a year. AlAfasi said that that new rules and regulations would be formed during the suspension to organize credible charity practices in Kuwait to prevent any untoward incidents that could affect its noble image.

MEW allowances suspended KUWAIT: Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) personnel waiting to receive allowances for their work at power plants over the past two summers, will have to wait a little longer due to complications that delayed the payments from being made on time. According to ministry insiders, the MEW’s legal department has discovered that there are discrepancies between the budget allocated for the allowances and the number of names registered as being entitled to payments while preparing to pay the allowances as ordered by former minister Badr Al-Shuraian. This prompted the department’s officials to suspend the process in order to review the lists and remove those names believed to be added unlawfully.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah pictured with members of the Voluntary Work Center.

Amir receives Sinyar 5 team KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, in the presence of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, launched yesterday the national campaign to preserve the marine environment Sinyar 5 at Bayan Palace.

His Highness the Amir received President of the Voluntary Work Center Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah accompanied by the voluntary diving team members of the Sinyar 5 campaign.

The Amir praised their effective national efforts to protect the marine environment, forming thus a model and example for their brothers of young people, wishing them to continue their efforts to reach national goals and aspirations.

His Highness stressed the importance of protecting the marine environment and to encourage and educate everyone to do so through the efforts of

Solution for Internet problem KUWAIT: Well-informed sources at the ministry of communications said that ministry-relevant sectors have started coordinating with local Internet Service Providing Companies(ISPs) on surveying market prices over the past five years and the changes that took place so far. The sources added that the main suggestions made by the committee included reducing the prices of international circuits provided by the ministry and surveying service prices in other GCC states taking into consideration the capacities the ministry could provide in the future. Further, they also said that the committee urged ISPs to cancel the ‘Fair Usage Policy’.

Plan to identify ‘fake’ bedoons completed KUWAIT: Kuwait’s security and immigration services have reportedly completed work on a new joint security plan to identify and trace ‘infiltrators’ posing as bedoon (stateless) people who have allegedly been living illegally in Kuwait for some years, in order to prosecute and deport them.

A State Security department insider revealed that the plan, which was called for by Major General Abdulhamid AlAwadhi, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) Assistant Undersecretary for State Security Affairs, will be submitted to the interior minister for approval as soon as

he returns from his summer holiday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the security insider revealed that under the new plan the alleged bedoon infiltrators would be divided into two categories. The first category would comprise those who entered the country illegally by boat or by illicitly crossing the land borders, who he said are mainly Iraqis, Iranians and Afghanis.

The second category, meanwhile, comprises those who allegedly came to Kuwait using family or commercial visit visas after the 1991 liberation and never left, subsequently claiming falsely to be

bedoons, said the security insider, adding that this category consists principally of Syrians and Iranians.

The insider added that the new plan would focus on ensuring that all security officers, police and customs officers are aware of the need to closely scrutinize stateless people’s security ID, the only form of official ID allowed for members of Kuwait’s bedoon population. The success of the plan will depend largely on informants and undercover agents reporting individuals in either of the aforementioned categories, the insider added.— Al-Jarida

Baby still imprisoned after mom’s death KUWAIT: A baby boy not yet a year old whose mother gave birth to him whilst incarcerated in Central Prison on adultery charges has been left orphaned and imprisoned after she passed away whilst still in detention.

The ‘youngest prisoner in Kuwait,’ whose mother tragically died of as-yet unidentified causes following her latest court appearance, was born following a relationship between his mother and a Bangladeshi man who refused to acknowledge paternity, insisting that he was not the father and even that he had never had a relationship with the baby’s mother.

According to an insider with the Public Prosecution Service, although prison administration officials attempted to transfer custody of the infant to the nursing home for abandoned children born to unidentified parents, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) rejected their application on the grounds that the children’s parents are not technically unidentified. After the Ministry of Health also rejected a plea to provide protection for the infant since he is not suffering from any medical condition, authorities had no choice but to return the innocent baby to the cell where his mother was held, where other female inmates are hopefully taking care of him. — Al-Qabas

youngsters and expertise of professionals, wishing them further progress and success.

For her part, Sheikha Amthal and her team then gave an explanation to the Amir about a group of paintings that embodied the role of the diving team youth and their contributions, expressing at the same time her sincere thanks and appreciation to His Highness the Amir for his keen interest on the marine environment. The team then presented a commemorative gift to His Highness the Amir and His Highness the Crown Prince on the occasion. The meeting was attended by acting National Assembly Speaker Abdullah Yousef Al-Roumi, acting Prime Minister, Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak AlHamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah and senior officials at the Amiri Diwan and Diwan of His Highness the Crown Prince. —- KUNA

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Duo in police custody for rat poison killing Smoker stubbed out at airport Fawzy Al-Thunayan

Gulf Bank main sponsor of Pearl Diving voyage KUWAIT: Gulf Bank announced yesterday it will be the main sponsor of the 23rd Memorial Journey for Pearl Diving. The journey, which begins from today to July 16, is organized each year by the Committee of the Marine Heritage of the Kuwait Sea Sport Club, under the patronage of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager of Board Affairs at Gulf Bank said: “Gulf Bank is a firm believer in the importance of reviving heritage and preserving the traditions of Kuwait’s unique past. The Pearl Diving Festival allows us to reminisce the ancient ways of our forefathers and value our tradition. We, at Gulf Bank, are proud to support this important event and we want to remind our young generation of the ways of our forefathers.”

During the yearly memorial journey, young participants are reminded of the difficulties Kuwaiti sailors faced before oil had been discovered, along with the traditions and values their ancestors developed during these times.

Gulf Bank continues to maintain and strengthen its position as an integral part of the Kuwaiti society. The Bank supports and emphasizes the true Kuwaiti identity and the importance of the Kuwaiti traditions and customs, through sponsoring different events.

KUWAIT: Police investigating the death of an elderly Kuwaiti man last month have apprehended two men - an Egyptian and an Asian - who cold-bloodedly murdered the victim by forcing him to drink rat poison before ransacking his home. The victim was initially believed to have died of natural causes, but police became suspicious after relatives noted that cash and valuables were missing from his home in Surra. Amongst the items stolen were the man’s cell phone, with detectives managing to track its signal, eventually tracing it to an Egyptian man. Under questioning, the thief admitted that he had been working as a contractor at the victim’s home and that he and an Asian friend working at the Amghara scrapyard had hatched a plot to kill their victim and steal his valuables.

The accomplice was arrested shortly afterwards and both men face charges of murder.

warning of a bomb planted in the building. A large number of female guests were ushered from the building before bomb squad officers with sniffer dogs searched it, determining that the call had been a cruel ‘prank.’ An investigation has been launched to find the hoax caller.

Suspected murder Police have opened an investigation into a suspected murder after the body of a 32-year-old bedoon (stateless) man was discovered in Block No. 9 of Sulaibiya, with evidence at the scene suggesting foul play. Heavy bruising on the victims’ body led detectives to believe he had been murdered and his body was removed for autopsy.

Mid-air emergency A Kuwait Airways (KAC) aircraft made an emergency landing at the Lahore Airport in Pakistan whilst en route to Bangkok, Thailand in order to allow a passenger to receive immediate medical attention after he suffered a heart attack.

The Airbus 340 plane, carrying 250 passengers, left KIA at 11:55 on Monday night bound for Bangkok, but the pilot was forced to make an unscheduled stop midway through the flight to allow the ill passenger to be rushed for urgent medical treatment. The plane was delayed for two hours at the airport until it was able

Hoax call A wedding hall in Jahra was evacuated after police received a phone call, which subsequently turned out to be a hoax,

Smoker arrested A Kuwaiti man is facing a number of charges after launching a torrent of verbal abuse at a police officer in Kuwait International Airport (KIA) who instructed him to put out his cigarette. When the officer approached the determined smoker and asked him to put out his cigarette, pointing out that the airport is a wholly non-smoking facility, the irate smoker lost his temper and began shouting and swearing at the officer. He was quickly taken into custody, with the police pressing charges including verbal abuse of an officer performing his duties.

Amir issues directives to mark constitution’s anniversary KUWAIT: The Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ali Fahad Al-Rashid announced yesterday that the Cabinet had been notified of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s wish to mark the passing of 50 years since the drafting of the Kuwaiti Constitution at a special ceremony. The

Cabinet has accordingly charged AlRashid to cooperate with all relevant bodies to prepare for a fitting celebration to mark this momentous national occasion, he explained. The minister stressed that this gesture further reflects HH the Amir’s strong belief in democracy as the state’s policy and mode of governance. This is

yet another occasion on which the Kuwaiti monarch is demonstrating his leadership in standing for the constitution and opposing any breach of its guiding principles, said Al-Rashid, adding that HH the Amir sees the constitution as the first line of Kuwait’s defense and a great source of stability and security. —KUNA

to take off again, arriving in Bangkok at 10:25 AM. Prison justice A Central Prison inmate was taken to the prison’s hospital wing after picking the wrong fellow prisoner to start a row with. A fight broke out after the prisoner began verbally insulting a cellmate. Two other prisoners came to the insulted cellmate’s aid, with the three taking on their one fellow convict in a fight with inevitable results. Warders broke the brawl up, with the injured prisoner being taken to the hospital wing whilst his attackers were put in solitary confinement as punishment. None of the trio apparently expressed remorse at the attack, telling prison staff who interviewed them about the incident that they had simply become fed up of the other prisoner’s constant abuse and bullying.

Failed abduction Police are searching for two young Arab men accused of attempting to forcibly abduct a woman in Salmiya. The victim, a Filipina expatriate, was leaving the beauty salon where she works when the two men grabbed her and tried to force her into a car parked nearby.

Thankfully, the woman’s screams forced the men to abandon their plan and, fearful of being spotted by passersby, they let her go, leapt into the vehicle and drove away. The woman immediately went to the local police station to report the incident and provided officers there with descriptions of her would-be abductors.

Naval smuggler A Kuwaiti naval officer is being held in police custody after he was caught attempting to smuggle alcohol into the country whilst returning from an overseas mission. The suspect, a warrant officer, was among the Kuwaiti forces which returned from the recent mission in Bahrain to the Muhammad Al-Ahmad Naval Base. His awkward behavior led customs officers to covertly monitor his movements, and he was spotted shortly after disembarking removing a number of boxes from the boat to put them in his car. Officers who stopped him as he was about to drive away discovered 80 bottles of alcohol in the vehicle and he was quickly arrested. On questioning, he told detectives that he and two other naval officers were involved in smuggling the alcohol into the country. He is currently being held in the naval intelligence facility whilst an investigation into the smuggling ring continues.

Explosives found Bomb disposal officers detonated a shell that was found in a deserted area near Sabriya Bridge at the northern border. The bomb squad officers headed to the location along with police after a Kuwaiti man reported finding a suspicious-looking foreign object half buried in the sand near his livestock farm in the area. The device is believed to have been abandoned there following the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

— Al-Watan, Al-Rai, Al-Anba

Egypt, Kuwait eye stronger judicial cooperation CAIRO: Egyptian Minister of Justice Mohamed Al-Jundi asserted here yesterday the strong relations between Kuwait and Egypt in all fields, particularly the judicial field and expressed his hope to improve these relationships in the future. Al-Jundi said following a meeting with a delegation from the Kuwait Fatwa and Legislation Department headed by Deputy Adviser Faisal Al-Saraawi that cooperation is strong between the Egyptian Ministry of Justice and its counterpart in Kuwait, describing the bilateral relations in the judicial and legal domains as “deep-rooted”.

He expressed hope to see more bilateral meetings that bring together officials of the two countries in various fields so as to reflect positively on relations between the two countries and to achieve integration in the judiciar y and the legal ties between Egypt and Kuwait.

And on claims about speeding up the trials of former Egyptian figures, Al-Jundi said that the Egyptian judicial system ensures speedy trials and disposition of cases.

CAIRO: Egyptian Justice Minister Mohammed Al-Gendi receiving a delegation from Kuwait’s Fatwa and Legislation Department headed by Deputy Chairman Faisal Al-Sarawi this week.

He also pointed to publicity of such hearings and trials, stressing that the integrity of the Egyptian judiciar y is recognized in the whole world. For his part, Al-Sarawi hailed cooperation and exchange of expertise between Kuwait and Egypt in the areas of judicial and legal cooperation, pointing out that such cooperation is embodied in the holding of

conferences and seminars as well as the use of Egyptian expertise.

He added that Kuwait is keen on strengthening relations with Egypt especially in the areas of legal and judicial cooperation, pointing out that his visit and the delegation accompanying him was part of the consolidation of these relations at all levels. — KUNA

Investors urged to focus ventures in Arab region KUWAIT: The Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation urged Arab investors to focus their activities and ventures in the Arab region in all sectors in need of development, and stressed its keenness to provide best possible guarantees for its clients.

The corporation’s Director General Fahad bin Rashid Al-Ibrahim said, in the institution’s quarterly bulletin, that there is a wave of recovery in Arab bourses and hoped the losses of the first quarter of 2011 caused by political instability and uncertainty in the region would be reversed.

Al-Ibrahim also urged official bodies across the Arab world to provide complete and updated information in a timely manner to enable accurate analysis, forecasts, and appropriate planning. The data should cover geographic distribution of bourse investments, he said.

The official remarked there is an increase in the sensitivity and importance of the role and influence of international stock exchanges, which goes hand in hand with developments in speed of and means for communication and exchange of information, and most specifically in proportion to increased openness and interconnectedness among markets in different parts of the world. World Federation of Stock Exchanges data suggests current value of 52 markets at USD 61 trillion, compared to 57 trillion in December 2010 at a growth of 7 percent in the first quarter of 2011. These markets include those of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.

There is an increase in importance of foreign investments in all markets of the world, and this applies to Arab world markets as well, Al-Ibrahim remarked. This increase in allure reflects upon both direct and in-direct foreign investments.

The combined off-shore investments of Egypt, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Kuwait alone come to USD 78.3 billion at the end of 2009, he pointed out.

Balance sheets of 12 Arab countries accessible so far indicate an increase in foreign investments in the states’ monetary portfolios in 2010. The increase was an average of 62 percent, the sum going up from USD 12.5 billion in 2009 to USD 20.2 billion. —- KUNA

KUWAIT: In a bid to crack down on the residency violators in the country Kuwait’s police has enforced a campaign. Daily inspections are conducted across the country. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

Egypt shakes up police after protests

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Gaddafi troops retake village Britain says some NATO members not pulling their weight

TRIPOLI: In this photo taken on a governmentorganized tour, a Libyan girl dressed in a traditional bridal outfit stands for her country’s national anthem during a children’s protest against NATO airstrikes in Tripoli, Libya, yesterday. — AP

ZINTAN: Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi retook yesterday a village south of the capital seized by rebels a week ago, delivering a setback to rebel plans for a march on Tripoli. The loss of the village of AlQawalish, about 100 km (60 miles) from Tripoli, underlined the faltering pattern of the rebels’ advances that has led some of their Western backers to push for a political solution to the conflict.

Gaddafi’s forces then pushed beyond Al-Qawalish to the outskirts of Al Qalaa and Kikla, two nearby villages to the north. A Reuters reporter said he saw four or five ambulances speeding away from the front line in the direction of Zintan, where the rebels have a hospital.

Doctors at Zintan hospital said two rebels had died and 12 were wounded in the fighting. Hundreds of rebels fanned out into the hills about 10 km (6 miles) north of Al-Qawalish as they began a counterattack. Puffs of black smoke rose from the hillside where mortars fired by government troops were landing.

A fighter for the rebels said they would use the same tactics to retake Al-Qawalish as they did a week ago when they seized control of the town.

“It’s the same battle,” he said. Scores of rebels in about a dozen pickup trucks with heavy weapons mounted on the back shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Greatest” as they drove in a convoy back towards Al-Qawalish.

“The rebels intend to reach the village by nightfall,” said Moktar Lakdar,

a rebel commander. A Reuters team had been in Al-Qawalish yesterday morning when pro-Gaddafi forces began their assault on the village.

Small arms fire broke out in the east of the village and shells landed nearby.

Soon after, several truckloads of rebel fighters sped away from the attacking government forces, with one shouting, “Go, go, it is not safe here!”

Rebel forces had been planning to use Al-Qawalish as a staging post to take the nearby town of Gar yan, which controls access to the main highway heading north to Tripoli. The conflict in Libya started out as a rebellion against Gaddafi’s 41-year-rule. It has now turned into the bloodiest of the “Arab Spring” uprisings convulsing the region and has embroiled Western powers in a prolonged conflict they had hoped would swiftly force Gaddafi out of power.

The Libyan leader is refusing to quit and the rebels have been unable to make a decisive breakthrough towards the capital despite support from Western warplanes.

France said on Tuesday a political way out of the conflict was being looked at and that Gaddafi’s emissaries had been in contact with NATO members to say he was ready to leave power. “A political solution is more than ever indispensable and is beginning to take shape,” French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in Paris.

But it was not obvious how negotiations could persuade Gaddafi to quit, especially at a time when the Western alliance ranged against him is show-

ing signs of wavering. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is under pressure to find a quick solution. He gambled by taking a personal role in supporting the rebels, but is now anxious to avoid costly military operations running into the start of campaigning for the April 2012 presidential election. Washington expressed doubts about peace overtures from Gaddafi emissaries. A State Department spokeswoman said the “messages are contradictory” and there is no clear evidence “Gaddafi is prepared to understand that its time for him to go.”

Revealing fresh strains inside NATO about the cost and duration of the Libyan operation, British Defence Minister Liam Fox said other alliance members were not pulling their weight and described some states’ contributions as “pathetic.”

“The United States is willing to spend on defence, Britain is willing to spend on defence and deploy. Far too (many) of our European partners inside NATO are still trying to get a free ride, and they should regard Libya as a wake-up call,” Fox said in London.

The rebel National Transitional Council, based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, received a diplomatic boost yesterday when Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands recognised the council as Libyans’ legitimate representative. The Benelux countries joined more than 20 nations that have already granted the council recognition. — Reuters

SANAA: Female anti-government protestors display their hands with markings that read in Arabic, “Get out”, during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen, yesterday. —AP

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HRW blasts Iraq draft law on demonstrations BAGHDAD: Human Rights Watch called on the Iraqi government yesterday to revise a draft law it said contained provisions that violate international law. The New Yorkbased watchdog said it had obtained a copy of the draft law, saying it curtailed freedom of assembly and expression, and contravened Iraq’s own constitution.

“The draft law would allow authorities to curtail rights to protect the ‘public interest’ or for the ‘general order or public morals,’ without limiting or defining what

those terms encompass,” HRW said in a statement. “The draft law offers no meaningful guidance in how to interpret such broad restrictions and is silent on what penalties protest organisers and demonstrators would face if they gathered without government approval,” it added.

It said the draft requires advance permission for protests, but does not specify what criteria would be used to approve or deny such requests. “This law will undermine Iraqis’ right to demonstrate and

express themselves freely,” the watchdog’s deputy Middle East director, Joe Stork, said. “The draft law fails to meet the narrow criteria international law allows for limits on the right to assembly,” Human Rights Watch said, adding Baghdad “should revise its draft law on freedom of expression and assembly to remove provisions that restrict those freedoms.”

Since the start of the year, there have been frequent demonstrations in cities across Iraq, most of them calling for jobs,

better services and tougher measures to rein in corruption. The protests had begun to taper off as temperatures soared with the onset of summer.

But on June 10, hundreds took to the streets to denounce what they said was a lack of progress in improving services despite the expiry of a 100-day deadline set by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for ministers to shape up.

That demonstration was overshadowed by a larger rally of some 3,000 people,

apparently organised by the government, and reports that protesters were beaten, intimidated or arrested by plainclothes police and others. “Rather than creating restrictive laws, the government needs to stop attacks on critics by security forces and their proxies,” Stork said.

“The government is pushing for this legislation in a period when physical attacks on peaceful demonstrators and restrictions on journalists have been increasing.” — AFP

Egypt shakes up police after protests Army rulers have faced rising criticism

NABLUS: Palestinians carry the body of Ibrahim Sarhan, killed by Israeli military, during his funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of El Fara, north of Nablus, yesterday. Sarhan was killed in an Israeli military raid on a West Bank refugee camp. — AP

Israel boycott ban law sets MPs against judges JERUSALEM: Right-wing Israeli MPs warned judges yesterday not to overturn a controversial new ban on the boycott of Israel and its settlements, saying it was supported by Israel’s parliament and the public. The lawmakers were responding angrily after activists said they would challenge the law before Israel’s courts and legal experts warned the law would be unlikely to survive judicial scrutiny.

Two members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said in response that they were proposing legislation to make future court appointments subject to confirmation by the Knesset. At present nominations to the bench are made by consensus within the judiciary.

“The bill will break the hold of the radical left-wing elite on the judicial system,” public radio’s website quoted Zeev Elkin, one of the bill’s sponsors, as saying. “This law will end the practice of Supreme Court judges bringing their friends (onto the bench).” In an interview with public radio, Arieh Eldad, of the far-right National Union party, went further still, warning the court to “watch out.” “It needs to remember at all times that if it tries to go over the heads of the Knesset, over the heads of the majority of the Israeli people we shall seek legislation limiting its authority,” he said.

On Tuesday, Israeli anti-settlement lobby group Gush Shalom petitioned the court to strike down the so-called “boycott law” as “unconstitutional and undemocratic.” Other groups are expected to follow suit. “It violates the right to freedom of expression and to equality, which are fundamental rights of citizens of Israel,” a Gush Shalom statement quoted the petition as saying.

“The parliamentary majority seeks, through the boycott law as by other pieces of legislation, to silence any criticism of government policy in general and of government policy in the occupied (Palestinian) territories in particular.”

Championed by supporters of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, the law passed despite the opposition of the Knesset’s

own legal adviser, who warned the bill “collided directly with freedom of expression in Israel” and was likely to be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, British Ambassador Matthew Gould told the mass-circulation daily Maariv that his country was uneasy with the new law. “We are concerned about the passing of this law, which damages the legitimate right to freedom of speech and which conflicts with the strong Israeli tradition of lively and vigorous political debate,” he told the paper.

Netanyahu defended the law yesterday, saying it was a proper response to those who questioned Israel’s legitimacy and that he had supported it and helped it reach the Knesset floor. “This law was born from a democratic process in a democratic country and it is not this law which is staining Israel’s image in the world,” he told parliament in remarks broadcast by public radio. “ What is besmirching Israel’s image is unre strained and irresponsible attacks against a legitimate attempt by a democracy seeking to defend itself, to draw a line between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable,” he said amid heckling from opposition members.

Despite his vocal support for the bill after its passage, Netanyahu and much of his cabinet were absent from the Monday night Knesset vote. Londonbased rights organisation Amnesty International said the law, which allows civil suits against those calling for the boycott of Israel or its settlements, would have “a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Israel.”

“Despite proponents’ claims to the contrary, this law is a blatant attempt to stifle peaceful dissent and campaigning by attacking the right to freedom of expression, which all governments must uphold,” a statement said. “The broad definition of boycott could apply to anyone seeking to use this non-violent means of dissent to criticise any individual or institution involved in human rights violations or violations of international law in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories,” it added. — AFP

CAIRO: Egypt said yesterday more than 650 senior officers would end their police service, an unprecedented shake up after protesters demanded reform of a force blamed for killing protesters who ousted Hosni Mubarak.

The announcement by the Interior Ministry follows six days of protests in Cairo and other cities that have included demands for speedier change and faster trials of those behind the deaths of more than 840 demonstrators.

Egypt’s ruling military council has been increasingly targeted by protesters accusing it of failing to purge the system of Mubarak’s allies or those behind police brutality.

In another apparent bid to placate critics, an army source said a parliamentary election could take place in November. It will still start “procedures” for the election in September, as stipulated by a constitutional agenda, but pushing voting itself back will placate liberal political groups who argued a vote held in September would mainly benefit Islamists.

The army had indicated it could hold voting later but had not said when. The official state news agency, citing a security source, said the vote could happen in October or November.

The Interior Ministry statement said 505 generals and more than 160 other senior officers would end their service. It was not immediately clear if they were being fired or retiring.

“This movement (of people) is probably the biggest in the history of the police,” Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawy said, adding that 18 of the generals were involved in trials ove the killing of protesters.

Ministry spokesman General Marwan Mostafa said: “The police force shares with the people feelings of pain and hope. People involved in security are ... keen to do their role in protecting the revolution and look forward to a future of democracy.”

Police were hated for the way they quashed even the smallest protest during Mubarak’s rule and were reviled for using live ammunition, rubber bullets, batons and water cannon in the 18day uprising that led to the president quitting on Feb. 11.

Activists welcomed the shake up. “This is a major step but still more procedures need to be done. Officers who had a role in torturing protesters during the revolution are still in their position,” said Ahmed Maher from April Six Youth movement.

“We also need to have a real restructuring

process in the military,” he added. After a mass protest on Friday demanded swifter reforms, a core of demonstrators have remained camped out in tents and under canopies in the sweltering heat in Tahrir Square demanding swifter reforms and criticising the military’s rule. In a bid to assuage public anger, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said the cabinet would be reshuffled in a week. The government has also pledged to raise the minimum wage.

On the election timing, an army source told Reuters “procedures” for a parliamentary election would start in September with the registration of candidates. “Then there will be a campaigning period, after which an election will be held,” he said. “This could take the voting till after September, possibly November.”

Hassan Nafaa, a political analyst, said the army had little room to manoeuvre because of the constitutional requirement to start the process by the end of September. “But they

agreed that procedures will start (in September) and it will be a little bit slow so as to respond positively to those who have asked to postpone the election, so the election itself will take place in November,” he said.

Sharaf said earlier in July the election would be in late September, although in June he had said he backed a delay to allow more groups to organise.

“Having elections in November would certainly offer nascent parties more time to prepare for the election race. At least now we have more time to compete with already established groups” said Mohamed Anis, a founding member of the new Justice Party.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most organised group, is widely seen as best prepared to benefit from a swifter vote. Asked about the November voting date, senior Brotherhood member Essam el-Erian said: “This was expected ... We will all get to have more time before actual voting.” —Reuters

CAIRO: An Egyptian protester carries a placard that reads in Arabic “Violence does not gain the police respect, you started this war” during the ongoing protests at Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt. Months after toppling Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians are back in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to press a long list of demands that have not been met. —AP

France says Quartet meeting was ‘missed opportunity’ PARIS: France said yesterday that the failure by the Middle East Quartet to adopt a declaration at Monday’s meeting in the United States was “a missed” opportunity, even if its noted consultations are continuing. A statement from the Foreign Ministry here stressed that France had wanted “a precise and balanced” statement from the Quartet that would have urged the Israelis and Palestinians to come back to the negotiating table.

“France has deployed intense efforts with its partners in favour of the adoption of such a declaration by the Quartet. The European positions are strong,” the French state-

ment said. The French government remains “mobilised with its European partners to support the resumption of negotiations on the basis that takes into account the legitimate aspirations of the two parties,” it was added.

The resumption of talks is needed to “preserve the implementation of the two-State solution, in the best conditions and in the spirit of our initiative, “ the Foreign Ministry said, noting that “the French proposals for restarting dialogue remain on the table.”

France had proposed an international conference here in July that would have addressed the

Palestinian Aid issue, but also would have tackled “political issues” linked with the stalled talks between the conflicting parties. The United States did not support the timing of the conference and Israel did not respond to an invitation. Last week, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that France now planned to hold the conference in the first half of September, but a failure to resume direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians would scupper this plan. At the same time, France is anxious to avoid a diplomatic confrontation in the UN General Assembly in September, when the Palestinians say they will submit a

recognition motion for their statehood. The US says it will seek to block such a move and the European countries are divided on the issue. The Quartet meeting was aimed at forestalling the Palestinian demand by getting a resumption of talks. The Quartet is composed of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

Media sources said Thursday that the failure to adopt a statement Monday was due to Palestinian refusal to withdraw the recognition bid in the UN and renounce other conditions and demands against Israel. — KUNA

‘Flytilla’ activist says mistreated by Israel

NEW YORK: Guido Westerwelle (C), Foreign Mnister of Germany, presides over a United Nations Security Council meeting that unanimously recommended to admit the newly formed nation of South Sudan to the UN yesterday at UN headquarters in New York. UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon (L), listens. — AFP

VIENNA: An Austrian pro-Palestinian activist deported from Israel has complained of ill treatment at the hands of aggressive Israeli forces. Julia Hurnaus, 25, was one of about 40 socalled “flytilla” activists expelled on Tuesday from Israel, where they had flown for a protest action over the weekend.

“People were injured, people were hit in the face for no reason,” Hurnaus told the Austria Press Agency upon her return to Vienna late Tuesday. “It was all so aggressive, we were treated badly,” she added. The activists were constantly shouted at and any communication with the outside world was blocked during their detention.

Arrested as they flew into Israel as part of the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign to visit the Palestinian territories and Palestinian families, the activists were taken to a detention centre in an airless bus by high temperatures and with no water during the three-hour drive, Hurnaus said.

Some with health problems were refused treatment, she also claimed, insisting the protest was a peaceful one and was never meant as a provocation to the Israeli authorities. “The point was to travel to Palestine because we have the right to” and to visit people there, she said.

Hundreds of people from Europe and the United States were prevented from flying to Israel or denied entry and taken into custody over the weekend as they sought to join the “Welcome to Palestine” campaign. The timing of the action, just as a flotilla of ships trying to break a blockade on the Gaza Strip was prevented from leaving Greece, led some to dub it a “flytilla,” although organisers denied their mission was linked to the attempt to run the blockade. — AFP

SADR CITY: An Iraqi man is treated at a hospital in Baghdad’s impoverished district of Sadr City yesterday as hundreds of Baghdad residents were admitted to hospital after a chlorine gas leak at a water purification plant. — AFP

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French left revs up for election battle without DSK PARIS: Two months after the shock arrest of former frontrunner Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French Socialists looked split between two stalwarts seeking their party’s presidential nod as the window for contenders shut yesterday.

Strauss-Kahn, battling sex assault charges in New York, had been the left’s best hope of winning power and his exit has left Socialist veterans Francois Hollande and Martine Aubry neck and neck for the party’s October selection contest. Opinion polls suggest Strauss-Kahn’s downfall has not ruined the Socialists’ chances of unseating Nicolas Sarkozy and ending 17 years of conservative presidents, but that poll edge could evaporate if the primary fails to produce a clear-cut winner. “If there’s a clear victory, that would clearly benefit the winner. But if there’s low participation or if it’s a very close race, that could be pretty disastrous,” said JeanFrancois Doridot, head of the Ipsos polling firm. Yesterday was the last day for Socialist hopefuls to declare themselves candidates in a pre-selection contest, where former IMF chief Strauss-Kahn is now considered out of play.

Aubry and Hollande have none of the international stature Strauss-Kahn enjoyed, and Hollande has never played a

PARIS: French Prime Minister Francois Fillon (L) and Parliamentary Relations Minister Patrick Ollier leave the Elysee palace after the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday in Paris. — AFP

role in national government, but both score higher than Sarkozy in most polls of presidential voting intentions.

Several others, including Segolene Royal, the Socialist loser to Sarkozy in 2007, and former private-life partner of Hollande, have thrown their names in the hat for the primary but lag the two front-runners by a considerable distance. Younger outsiders include the more economically liberal Manuel Valls and Arnaud Montebourg, whose main battle cry is that it is time to “deglobalise” the world.

The winner of the Socialist selection test will be declared in October after a ballot open to any voter who pays one euro, and some Socialists hope a million or more will do so-about five times as many as the number of party cardholders. The victor of that contest looks set to be either Hollande, who is campaigning as “Mr Normal,” or Aubry, pursuing a campaign as a “Ms Reliable,” both in hope of enticing voters weary of the more ostentatious leadership of Sarkozy.

Strauss-Kahn, a star finance minister when the left last held power in the economic boomtime of 1997-2002, was the best-placed Socialist in the polls before his arrest in May on charges of trying to rape a New York hotel maid. He is fighting the charges and also a new sex assault complaint in France.

While the Socialists have been thrown into turmoil by the scandal, Aubry and Hollande appear to have filled the gap left by Strauss-Kahn, and Sarkozy limps behind either of them in most of the opinion polls conducted since midMay. One poll this week bucked the trend, showing Sarkozy had closed the gap with Hollande and Aubry.

While Aubry and Hollande are seen as relatively traditional social democrats who espouse what some consider oldschool policies such as heavily state-aided job creation, neither is associated with the hard-core left of the party.

The presidential contest takes place in two rounds, with the first vote April 22 deciding which two contenders go to a runoff on May 6. Parliamentary elections occur in the following weeks. Sarkozy is not expected to confirm until late November that he will run for a second term, but tensions are already rising. Hollande said on Monday he expected a fierce presidential fight and the left and right have been exchanging blows since Aubry suggested that right-wing groups were behind a spate of Internet slurs that alleged she had a drinking problem.

Sarkozy ’s rock-bottom popularity ratings have improved by a few points since Strauss-Kahn’s downfall and he has shown a more low-profile, austere manner in recent weeks. He may also get a boost from the fact his former supermodel-turned-singer wife, Carla Bruni, is expecting a baby. — Reuters

Corruption plague former power Russia Medvedev vows punishment for transport violations MOSCOW: A sunken riverboat at the bottom of the Volga River is a deadly illustration of Russia’s failure to shake off its Soviet legacy of corruption and systematic neglect. The circumstances that led to the disaster that likely killed 129 people last Sunday-decrepit infrastructure, regulatory corner-cutting and an obsession with turning a quick profit at the expense of human life-are all too familiar as the former superpower struggles to modernise.

“Our institutions basically don’t work,” said Mikhail Blinkin of the Moscow-based Institute of Transport and Road Engineering. “It is a question of the absolute ineffectiveness of the basic state institutions ensuring safety.”

Listing to one side and experiencing engine trouble when it set out from a Volga River port on Sunday overcrowded with passengers it had no licence to carry, the 56-year-old Bulgaria was a tragedy waiting to happen. Corruption and negligence have killed nursing home residents clawing at locked fire doors, coal miners in pits where owners flouted safety rules to maximise profits, and passengers on airlanes brought down by bombers who bribed their way through the gate. It is also a problem the Kremlin has been unable to fix since the 1991 Soviet collapse, despite an oilfuelled boom that has transformed Russia’s cities, restored its pride and could make it the world’s fifth-largest

economy by 2016. Early in his 20002008 presidency, current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia would be a “dictatorship of law”-a country that runs smoothly and safely because officials and ordinary citizens obey the rules.

Following the riverboat tragedy, President Dmitry Medvedev vowed “harsh measures” against violators of safety rules, saying it was “completely obvious that we cannot tolerate this any more.”

The words of the leader who has based his legacy on promises to modernise society and the economy rang hollow to many Russians. Business daily Vedomosti criticised Medvedev’s suggestion to ban certain types of Sovietera passenger jets and watercraft, calling his call “inadequate.”

“Such a response is completely inadequate when we are faced with ... the catastrophic scale of the deterioration of infrastructure and transport,” the paper wrote. One-quarter of the cruise ships plying Russia’s waterways are over 40 years old and 9 percent over 50, Vedomosti said, citing official statistics.

The Bulgaria was built in 1955 in the former Czechoslovakia, then a Soviet satellite. Anti-corruption campaigner Yelena Panfilova, who runs the Russian branch of Transparency International, said licences for decrepit vessels were obtained through bribes or nepotism.

The country’s foremost religious

leader, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, lamented the frequency of disasters he suggested were caused by mechanical problems and human greed. “If only it was an exceptional event. But it isn’t,” Kirill said on Tuesday. “If machinery has grown old, how can we use it, risking human lives only to get money?”

On Monday, a vintage passenger jet caught fire and crashed in Siberia, killing five people, weeks after a similar crash that killed 45 in northwestern Russia.

The riverboat sinking brought back memories of a disaster that struck months into Putin’s presidency when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea in August 2000, killing all 118 aboard and prompting criticism of the sluggish response.

Lax enforcement of safety regulations contributes to 15,000 fire deaths a year in Russia, almost five times more than in the United States, which has a far larger population. Owners of a nightclub in the Urals city of Perm were accused of paying off safety inspectors for an operating permit before a blaze set off by fireworks killed 156 people in December 2009, the highest fire death toll worldwide since 2004. A fire exit was sealed shut. Officials in Russia’s North Caucasus region have repeatedly accused corrupt police of taking bribes from Islamist militants to let them through checkpoints in order to stage attacks. — Reuters

Belfast police, Catholics clash at end of parades BELFAST: Police firing plastic bullets and powerful water cannons forced Catholic militants away from a disputed Belfast road Tuesday as Northern Ireland’s annual day of Protestant marches reached a fiery climax.

Catholic youths lashed out at police both before and after the marches by the Orange Order, a Protestant brotherhood whose yearly July 12 demonstrations celebrate 17th-century military triumphs over Catholics - and often inspire a violent response from the province’s minority. Hundreds of mostly teenage Catholics, who covered their faces with masks and hoods, waged running street battles with heavily girded police on the narrow streets of Ardoyne, a hard-line Irish nationalist enclave of red-brick rowhouses in north Belfast.

Police reported standoffs, smaller riots and the sporadic burning of hijacked cars in several other Catholic parts of this British territory. The confrontations, which continued for several hours into the night, underscored how Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord has failed to heal communal wounds that run decades deep. Each year “The Twelfth,” an official state

holiday despised by most Catholics, lays bare the depths of Northern Ireland’s divisions.

Ardoyne community worker Joe Marley said locals were retaliating for what he described as heavy-handed police tactics and the Orangemen’s annual “muscle-flexing exercise.” The area’s member of British Parliament, Protestant lawmaker Nigel Dodds, said most Catholic leaders in the area had toiled hard to keep the peace.

Dodds, an Orangeman who took part in the Ardoyne march, blamed a small band of Irish Republican Army dissidents for arming and directing the youths. The IRA die-hards, he said, “were always intent on creating havoc on our streets and attacking the police as part of a wider agenda that has nothing to do with parades.”

About 150 Ardoyne rioters, cheered by much larger crowds of Catholic spectators, tried to force their way on to the major local road in protest at a peaceful Protestant parade that police had just permitted to pass. British authorities had imposed strict conditions - including a requirement that the Protestants march to the beat of a lone snare

drum. Determined to prevent direct Protestant-Catholic street fighting, the police held their ground backed by three massive mobile water cannons that doused street fighters, journalists and spectators alike.

As darkness fell, the rioters reinforced their salvos of firecrackers, rocks, bricks and bottles with gasoline-filled Molotov cocktails. Some burst harmlessly on the sides of police armored vehicles or more alarmingly amid rows of police, who wore helmets and flame-retardant boiler suits.

Some rioters shouted “Burn! Burn!” as officers frantically batted out the flames. Officers responded with dozens of single, targeted shots from plastic-bullet guns designed to knock down individual rioters without seriously wounding them. One rioter was about to throw a Molotov cocktail, only to drop it harmlessly at his feet when struck in the leg by one of the blunt-nosed cylinders.

It appeared certain that the casualty list would surge far higher than Tuesday’s earlier total of 24 police officers and an unknown number of rioters. —Reuters

ANKARA: Ministers applaud as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, foreground, walks to address the Parliament after his new government has won a confidence vote, kicking off a third straight term in office, in Ankara, Turkey, yesterday. — AP

Kurds boycott as Turkey’s govt wins confidence vote ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government won a confidence vote yesterday to push ahead with plans for a new constitution, but a parliament boycott by Kurdish lawmakers has soured his calls for cross-party consensus.

Erdogan’s AK Party won a third consecutive term in a June 12 election with 50 percent of the vote, short of the two-thirds majority he needed to change the constitution at will.

He has since pledged to work with the opposition to draft a new charter to replace one drafted after a military coup in 1980. The issue of greater rights for Turkey’s minority Kurds is likely to dominate the debate on a new constitution, but deputies from the main pro-Kurdish party have boycotted parliament in protest at court rulings that barred some of its jailed elected candidates from taking their seats. Analysts say

drafting a new charter without input from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the largest party representing the Kurds, would undermine efforts to end a 27-year conflict with Kurdish rebels that has cost more than 40,000 lives.

Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which won 135 seats, ended its boycott of parliament this week after reaching an agreement with AK on two elected CHP candidates who have also been barred for being in jail. The agreement called for joint legal efforts to allow the jailed MPs a way of taking their oaths.

AK Party officials have tried to convince BDP officials to end the deadlock and take their oath before parliament reconvenes on Oct. 1, after the summer recess.

While Erdogan has said reforming the constitution is his number

one goal, markets hope the government will prioritise the need to cool an economy that surged 11 percent in the first quarter of 2011, and could rack up a current account deficit of up to 10 percent of GDP this year.

Erdogan’s has retained Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek to manage the economy and has created a new ministry to press Ankara’s flagging EU membership bid. Under Erdogan, Turkey has been transformed from serial basket case to one of the world’s fastest growing economies, but there are worries that it could be set for a hard landing unless the new government tightens fiscal and monetary policy fast. Erdogan’s new government received 322 votes in the confidence vote in the 550-seat parliament, a routine procedure at the start of every new parliament. — Reuters

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

US probes underreporting of child abuse deaths WASHINGTON: Two years ago, a 13year-old American boy from Indiana, Christian Choate, died after years of abuse, allegedly at the hands of his father, that authorities discovered only after it was too late. “After his death, police found letters he had written about how he wondered when anyone would check on him or give him any food or water,” US Congressman Geoff Davis said Tuesday as he convened a hearing on Capitol Hill into the underreporting of deaths of US children from abuse and neglect.

“It is hard to know which child deaths are more tragic-those we know about, or those we do not. “But our job today is to make sure that all deaths of

children due to maltreatment are recorded, so we can learn from all of them and use that knowledge to work with state and local partners to prevent more of these tragedies from occurring in the future,” Davis said.

Actress Tamara Tunie, who plays a medical examiner in the television series “Law and Order,” said the number of children who die from abuse or neglect is under-reported, even as such deaths increasingly grab the headlines. “On ‘Law and Order’ we investigate fictionalized crimes and often have to deal with difficult story lines, but nothing compares to the real and tragic cases that we hear about with increasing regularity,”

Tunie said.

She cited the widely televised case of toddler Caylee Anthony, whose badly decomposed body was found six months after she disappeared-a disappearance that her mother did not report until a month after it happened. Anthony’s mother was found not guilty last week of the murder of her two-year-old.

“An estimated 2,500 children die each year from abuse and neglect” in the United States, Tunie said, adding: “ That’s seven children a day.” But according to official records compiled by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), 1,770 children in the United States died

from abuse or maltreatment in 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, Kay Brown of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.

“Some experts believe that more children have died from maltreatment than are captured in this estimate and that there are inconsistencies and limitations in the data that states collect,” she said. Many states only report as deaths from abuse fatalities of children who were known to the state’s Child Protective Services (CPS), Brown said, citing a report compiled by the GAO and released at the hearing. “Yet not all children who die from maltreatment were previously

brought to the attention of CPS,” Brown said.

Davis said he hoped the hearing would encourage better documentation of such deaths in order to prevent them from happening.

“Our role is to be the voice for the voiceless,” he said. In letters left behind by Choate, the boy from Indiana asked “‘why nobody liked him and how he just wanted to be liked by his family,’” Davis said in his opening statement. “It’s hard to fully comprehend the depth of the sadness this boy must have experienced during his too-short life,” he said, vowing to do better for children who die at the hands of abusive guardians. —AFP

Obama blasts Assad as ties dive after embassy attacks ‘Nobody can be messing with our embassy’ DAMASCUS: President Barack Obama said Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad had lost legitimacy, as ties with Damascus nosedived after pro-regime protesters attacked the US and French embassies. US rhetoric against Assad mounted after the attacks, also condemned by the UN Security Council and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, and a senior US official said Washington was mulling fresh sanctions against Assad and his inner circle.

Obama told CBS television Tuesday that Assad had “missed opportunity after opportunity to present a genuine reform agenda.

“More broadly, I think that increasingly you’re seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people,” Obama said.

Washington had made it clear “that what we’ve seen on the part of the Syrian regime has been an unacceptable degree of brutality directed at its people,” the US president said. Mobs attacked the US and French embassies on Monday after the ambassadors of the two Western countries last week travelled to the flashpoint protest city of Hama, north of the capital.

Obama also scolded Syria, saying Washington had “sent a clear message that nobody can be messing with our embassy and that we will take whatever actions necessary in order to protect our embassy.”

Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Michael Posner told US lawmakers at a hearing on Capitol Hill that there could be further sanctions than those signed by Obama in an executive order in May. Those sanctions

allow Washington to freeze any assets owned in the United States

by Assad and his top aides and ban any individuals or US companies from dealing with them.

“We’ve done quite a bit already and we’re exploring other sanctions,” Posner said, adding that the situation in Syria “remains grim,” with “numerous reports of attacks on civilians, including children.”

Syria meanwhile accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of “incitement” after she maintained Assad had lost legitimacy and the right to remain in power.

“Syria vigorously condemns the remarks of the US secretary of state that amount to further proof of the flagrant interference of the United States in the internal affairs of Syria,” said its foreign ministry.

“These remarks are an act of incitement aimed at continuing the internal crisis and for objectives which do not serve the interests of the Syrian people or their legitimate ambitions.” In Damascus, a regime-backed “national dialogue” on reforms wrapped up a three-day meeting with calls for the release of all political detainees. It was attend-

ed by about 200 delegates but boycotted by the opposition.

Independent MPs and members of Assad’s Baath party, which has been in power since 1963, took part in the talks. Activists said Tuesday on their Facebook page they opposed any Libyastyle military intervention and called for greater economic and political pressure on Damascus.

They also called for Assad to be referred to the International Criminal Court, on their Syrian Revolution 2011 page which has been an engine of the popular revolt. Activists say 1,300 civilians have been killed and 12,000 arrested since mid-March.

Germany said Tuesday it would push for a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria over the crackdown, after France renewed its demand that the council take a stance. “What has happened in the last days and hours shows us that the common language of the international community is necessary, is decisive, is crucial,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told journalists in New York.

Earlier, French Prime Minister

Francois Fillon said: “France and other European countries have submitted a proposed resolution to the UN Security Council, which has been blocked by Russia and China. “This is no longer acceptable,” he said, branding the attack on his government’s Damascus embassy “extremely violent” and warning Assad’s regime was losing its grip.

On Monday, three staff were injured in the attack on the French embassy, forcing guards to fire three warning shots. As Syrian security forces looked on, Assad supporters smashed their way into the embassy compound with a battering ram, broke windows and destroyed the ambassador’s car, according to a foreign ministry spokesman in Paris.

At the US embassy, several demonstrators scaled the complex’s high outer wall and others draped a large Syrian flag over the main entrance. The chancery was not breached but some of the crowd of about 300 climbed up on the roof and reached ambassador Robert Ford’s residence before being chased away

by US Marines. No one was injured. —AFP

Mexico court rules soldiers can face trials MEXICO CITY: Mexican soldiers accused of rights abuses in the army-backed fight against drug cartels can face civil trials instead of closed-door military tribunals, the nation’s highest court ruled on Tuesday. Human rights groups say some Mexican soldiers battling traffickers have arbitrarily detained suspects, subjected them to beatings or torture and even mistakenly shot innocent civilians.

Military courts handle the cases in a process activists say limits transparency, but Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision could change that. “If a civilian’s rights have been violated by the armed forces, the jurisdiction will be in civil courts not military courts,” Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldivar said.

President Felipe Calderon deployed tens of thousands of troops to the streets to take on powerful traffickers shortly after taking office in late 2006. Violence has spiraled since then, with more than 40,000 people killed across Mexico. Calderon’s government, in joint statement from the marines, the armed forces and the interior ministry, said it would work to implement the court’s ruling while also strengthening military courts.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered Mexico to reform the military justice system last year based on a 1970s-era case of left-wing activist Rosendo Radilla, detained by the army in southern Mexico and never heard from again. —Reuters

TEXAS: Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, Marine General James E. Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Army Brig. Gen. Leodis T. Jennings during the dignified transfer of Army Sgt. Steven L. Talamantez of Laredo Texas, upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del. yesterday. —AP

WASHINGTON: The Rev. Jesse Jackson (2nd L) joins members of Congress, including Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) (R) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) (L), for a news conference to voice opposition to state photo identification voter laws at the US Capitol yesterday in Washington, DC. —AFP

Woman, 3 children shot dead in Orleans suburb KENNER: A 29-year-old mother and her three daughters - the youngest 6 months old - were found shot to death Tuesday in their home in a quiet New Orleans suburb. The bodies of Nadia Braxton and her children, Kayla Peters, 12; Nayax Peters, 11/2, and Nyla Peters, 6 months, were on one bed. The children’s were lengthwise, Brax ton’s across theirs, and a gun was at the foot of the bed, Kenner Police Chief Steve Caraway said. Unless an autopsy changes the evidence, it looks as though the case is a murder-suicide, said police spokesman Lt. Wayne McInnis.

Caraway said police were questioning the father, who called authorities about 5 p.m. to report he went upstairs and found the bodies after nobody greeted him when he got home from work or answered when he called out.

Caraway said the father’s last name is Peters; he did not know the first. An online phone directory lists Ronald J. Peters at that address.

Seven family members huddled, crying, in the street as the bodies were

brought out. “They were loved.

They were so loved,” said one, who would identify herself only as an aunt.

She was weeping so hard she could hardly talk. Police said they had no record of any calls or disturbances at the neatly kept two-story brick and white weatherboard house with red shutters.

Neighbors said they only learned something was wrong when police cars pulled up Tuesday. They didn’t know the family, but said they were always polite. “They kept to themselves. We never heard from them, let alone had any trouble with them.

They’re the kind of people you’d be glad to have for a neighbor,” said George Windstein.

The family moved in sometime before Hurricane K atrina struck in 2005, said Maureen Callero, who lives across the street in a generally wellkept middle -class neighborhood of one- and two-story houses. Callero said she never saw the couple fighting.

Peters worked in construction and had a second job, she said. —Reuters

NEW YORK: New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly (L) speaks as Chief of Police Joseph Esposito looks on during a press conference about Leibby Kletzky, a murdered eight-year-old boy who went missing from the Hasidic neighborhood of Borough Park, Brooklyn, yesterday in New York City. —AFP

Police: NYC boy’s remains found in fridge, trash NEW YORK: A two-day search for an 8year-old boy who vanished while walking home from a Brooklyn day camp ended yesterday morning with the gruesome discovery of pieces of his dismembered body inside the home of a man who had been seen with the child around the time he disappeared, police said.

Additional body parts were found inside a red suitcase that had been tossed into a trash bin in another Brooklyn neighborhood.

The 35-year-old man who lived in the apartment was being questioned by detectives, but had not yet been arrested on any formal charges, said police department spokesman Paul Browne.

Police and volunteers had been looking since late Monday afternoon for Leiby Kletzky, who disappeared while on his way to meet his mother in one of the safest parts of the city, the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park.

The break in the case came when investigators focused on a grainy surveillance video that showed the boy, wearing his backpack, walking down the street, while a man walked nearby.

Detectives noticed the man on the video going into a nearby dentist’s office, Browne said. The dentist, located later in New Jersey, said he remembered someone coming by to pay a bill for a patient, and police were able to track down the man using records from the office. When they went to his home, they made the gruesome discovery.

The man made statements implicating himself in the crime, Browne said, but would not go into detail. He said the man lives alone in the apartment, in a building shared with his parents. The man, who police have not publicly identified, once had a summons for urinating in public but otherwise did not have a criminal record.

Outside the family’s apartment building Wednesday morning, men and women from the community clustered in separate groups. Many of the mothers gathered there said the streets are safe enough for a child Leiby’s age to walk home alone.

“This is a no-crime area,” said State

Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose district includes the area. He said the boy was the only son of the Kletzky family. The couple has four daughters, and the husband works as a driver for a private car service.

“Everybody is absolutely horrified,” he said. “Everyone is in total shock, beyond belief, beyond comprehension ... to suddenly disappear and then the details ... and the fact someone in the extended community ... it’s awful,” he said.

He said the parents did not know the 35-year-old man, who lived about a mile away from the boy.

At about 6:45 a.m., an NYPD crime unit carted away the trash bin where some of the body parts had been found and put it in a truck, and police officers walked in a line looking for evidence under cars and on sidewalks.

The medical examiner’s office will determine a cause of death and positive identification.

Leiby was one of the neighborhood’s many Hasidic Jews, an ultra-Orthodox people who live in tight-knit, somewhat insular communities and abide by strict religious rules that require men to wear dark clothing that includes a long coat and a fedora-type hat. Men often have long beards and ear locks.

Most of the 165,000 members in the New York City the area live in neighborhoods in Brooklyn and are part of three different sects. Hasidism traces its roots to 18th-century Eastern Europe.

The man in custody at a Brooklyn precinct was Jewish but it’s not clear if he’s Hasidic. A $100,000 reward had been offered, Hikind said the outpouring of support has been tremendous with people from all over the state volunteering their time to scour the neighborhood and hand out flyers.

Adel Erps, who lives two blocks from the family, said she was very upset because the state of the body means it will be more difficult to do a proper burial. Like other neighborhood residents congregating near the boy’s home yesterday, she expressed shock that the suspect was Jewish.

“He’s a sick person obviously, but it hurts so much more,” she said. —AP

ATLANTA: In this Nov. 18, 2010 photo, passengers move through the line at a security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta. US airports are still vulnerable to terror attacks, despite billions of dollars invested in security enhancements since 9/11, a Republican congressman said yesterday. —AP

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Harsh welcome for Indian PM’s reshuffle NEW DELHI: Indian Premier Manmohan Singh faced near-universal criticism of his cabinet reshuffle yesterday, with his attempt to reinvigorate the government dismissed as “another dud” by one newspaper. Commentators, newspaper editorials and television panelists described changes to the Congress-led administration line-up as limited and predictable when Singh needed to impose a radical

overhaul. The Hindustan Times said Tuesday’s reshuffle was a missed opportunity in which “fogies and laggards” remained in place, blocking younger talent from pushing through necessary reform in the rapidly-advancing country.

The Times of India said in its editorial Singh had the chance to “inject fresh blood into the cabinet, pack it with performers and revamp the government”

but instead had chosen “routine shuffling of the deck”. Singh’s most notable move was to take the high-profile environment post away from maverick Jairam Ramesh, who was promoted to the cabinet as rural development minister. The prime minister’s second term in office has been hit by corruption scandals, high inflation and slowing economic growth, but any hopes he had that the

long-waited reshuffle would be seen as a fresh start were soon dashed.

The Mail Today said the changes “proved to be yet another dud”, while its lead commentator Manoj Joshi depicted the government “as a rudderless hulk that has been floating on the high skies”.

There is something epic in the hubris that the (Congress) party displayed in the face of repeated instances of malfeasance

and corruption that came to light in the last two years,” he said.

Even some members of government failed to hide their unhappiness, with the Times reporting “sulking silence” among aggrieved ministers at the oath-taking ceremony. Gurudas Kamat, who was tipped to become civil aviation minister, offered to resign hours after being given the drinking water and sanitation portfolio. — AFP

Pakistan’s ISI chief heads to US as ties founder Visit follows deteriorating ties after bin Laden’s death

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai (C) attends the last memorial services of his slain brother Ahmad Wali Karzai in Dand district of Kandahar province yesterday. A weeping Afghan President Hamid Karzai led thousands of mourners yesterday in burying his brother, assassinated by his own head of security in the southern city of Kandahar. — AFP

Afghan president buries assassinated brother KANDAHAR: A weeping Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday led thousands of mourners at the funeral of his brother, whose assassination could fling southern Afghanistan into renewed instability.

Ahmed Wali Karzai may have been dogged by allegations of links to the drugs trade and corruption, but his shock killing at home by his own head of security deprives NATO and the government of their main ally in the volatile south.

Analysts have warned that his death creates a dangerous power vacuum in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taleban militia, where rivals are expected to jockey for influence as the US-led NATO mission starts to withdraw troops. Underlining fears of increased insecurity, two bombs were found along the path of the funeral cortege from Kandahar city to Dand district, where the younger Karzai was buried in the family plot.

NATO troops detonated both in controlled explosions, police said. The governor of neighbouring Helmand province, another bitter battleground against the Taleban, escaped unhurt with his provincial intelligence chief when a bomb attack targeted their convoy en route to the funeral.

At the end of the funeral Karzai renewed his call on the Taliban to make peace, despite the militia’s claim to have recruited the assassin. “Even if the Taliban say they have killed my brother, I call on them, brothers, come make peace,” the president told a crowd of tribal elders and politicians in Kandahar.

Karzai has long sought to persuade the Taleban and other insurgents battling his government to reconcile in an internationally backed process. The Afghan leader cried openly during the burial in the family village of Karz, at one point climbing inside the grave to help move his brother’s body and kissing his forehead as the corpse was lowered into the ground.

Two trees symbolising patience and strength were planted next to the family plot, where Karzai’s ancestors have also been laid to rest.

The president, still in tears, was helped from the graveyard to his armoured car by former Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai and other officials.

Security-already tight in violent Kandahar province-was stepped up signif-

icantly for the funeral with police and soldiers deployed en masse, with the main thoroughfares closed to traffic and largely free of pedestrians. The venue where Wali Karzai’s body was held overnight was taken over by President Karzai’s personal security force, as well as Afghan and US troops who guarded the area with light and heavy weapons, an AFP reporter said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned the Afghan president to offer her condolences and said Washington remained “committed to supporting the government and people of Afghanistan in their struggle for peace”. Speculation has continued to mount about the motive behind the killing of the younger Karzai, who was 49 and the president’s half-brother, by a seemingly trusted aide.

The Taleban claimed to have recruited the gunman, but there was doubt after the regional police chief and other officials identified the assassin as the long-serving chief of his family’s personal protection force. Kandahar police chief Abdul Razeq named him as Sardar Mohammed, commander of 200 bodyguards who had provided security for the Wali Karzai’s family in the city for seven years. He was killed immediately afterwards.

“An investigation is under way to determine if it was a personal hostility or there were some foreign hands behind it,” Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wesa told reporters. Analysts and security experts said there was no shortage of possible candidates wishing to get rid of the powerful Wali Karzai, who was the provincial council chief.

The killing also raises disturbing questions about infiltration among those closest to the Karzai family. The timing could not be worse for the US-led NATO force as it starts withdrawing troops, handing over to Afghan forces as the leaders of Western states search for a political solution after a decade of war.

Kandahar is a make-or-break battleground in the US-led fight to defeat the insurgency, where Washington has poured in thousands of extra troops to wrest the initiative from the Taleban and bolster the Afghan government.

In April, the provincial police chief was killed in a suicide bombing by one of his own bodyguards, who was believed to have known him for 10 years. — AFP

ISLAMABAD: The head of Pakistan’s powerful spy agency headed for Washington yesterday for unscheduled talks, the military said, days after the United States suspended a third of military aid over deepening tensions in their relationship. Few details were available about LieutenantGeneral Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s one-day trip, but it comes at a time when the Inter-Ser vices Intelligence (ISI), the military’s intelligence wing, is under intense pressure to sever ties with militant groups including those it has long nurtured as assets in Afghanistan and India.

Relations between the intelligence establishments of the two countries have been on a downward spiral since January after a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis with joint operations against militants suspended soon after. Then, in May, the killing of Osama bin Laden in a secret raid

by US special forces further damaged the relationship, with Pakistan branding the operation a violation of its sovereignty.

Pasha was going to Washington to “coordinate intelligence matters”, the military said in a one-line statement and an official said it signalled efforts to patch up ties. “Relations have not broken down. Intelligence sharing is going on... We are talking to each other despite difficulties,” the senior military official said on condition of anonymity. Incensed over the bin Laden raid, Pakistan drastically cut the number of U.S. military trainers allowed in the country and also set clear terms for US intelligence activities in the country.

Washington responded by saying it would hold back $800 million-a third of $2 billion in security assistance-in a show of displeasure over the cutback of military trainers, limits on visa for US personnel and other bilateral irritants. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani expressed concerns over the U.S. suspension of some of the assistance. “It is our military.

We have concerns about (the suspension of ) aid because we are in

the middle of the war on terrorism and extremism,” Gilani told a news conference in the southwestern city of Quetta. “It’s our own war but we are fighting this war for the entire world. For the peace, prosperity and progress of the whole world. The entire world is benefiting from this war.”

Gilani’s concern ran counter to a statement by the Pakistani military which played down the impact of the U.S. aid suspension

QUETTA: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani (R) speaks during a press conference as Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik (L) listens in Quetta yesterday. Pakistan voiced concern for the first time over US aid cuts ahead of top intelligence talks looking to repair a relationship damaged by the US killing of Osama bin Laden. — AFP

Security restrictions close Indian Kashmir SRINAGAR: Businesses shut down and troops patrolled the main city in Indian Kashmir yesterday as separatists protesting Indian rule declared a strike on the anniversary of a bloody 1931 uprising.

“Martyrs’ Day” marks the occasion when 21 Kashmiri Muslims were ordered killed by the army of the state’s Hindu king to quell their revolt.

Police and paramilitary soldiers erected steel barricades across roads in the old parts of Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir.

The Himalayan region is divided between rivals India and Pakistan but both countries claim it in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over it.

People were warned to stay indoors, said resident Ghulam Mohiuddin, adding an undeclared curfew was in force in the city. Traditionally both separatists and proIndia Kashmiri groups commemorate the day. The state government has declared a holiday but key separatist leaders were under house arrest to stop them from leading public rallies.

Top police officer K. Rajendra Kumar said an assembly of more than five people was banned. “ These restrictions are in

place to avoid any law and order situation,” Kumar said. Early yesterday, pro-India leaders including chief minister Omar Abdullah, the top elected official in India’s Kashmir, paid homage to the men slain in 1931 at their graves under tight security.

Those under house arrest included key separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Nayeem Ahmed Khan, said a police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police also detained Shabir Shah, a top separatist leader, and nearly two dozen other activists after they tried to hold a rally, he said. “The mission of the martyrs of 1931 is still incomplete. We reiterate our commitment to the martyrs that our struggle will continue, come what may,” said Farooq, the separatist leader.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where separatist politicians and armed rebels reject Indian sovereignty and want to carve out a separate homeland or merge the region with neighboring Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the more than two decade conflict. — Reuters

Ex-Bangladesh PM leads fresh protests DHAKA: Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia led a six-hour fast in the country ’s capital yesterday to protest against changes in the electoral system that have led to violent demonstrations.

Zia-a bitter rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led nearly 5,000 activists and officials of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and allies in central Dhaka, local police chief Rezaul Karim said.

Karim said the protests were peaceful amid tight security, with Zia and BNP officials sitting on a dais while activists chanted anti-government slogans. In 1996, the Bangladesh constitution was amended to appoint neutral caretaker administrations to oversee elections.

The system delivered four fair elections in a country with a long history of political violence, but it was scrapped last month

after the government said it had allowed the army to take over power in January 2007. The BNP and its allies have enforced a series of recent nationwide strikes since the announcement, claiming that the changes will unfairly favour the incumbent government. Scores of people including BNP’s chief whip in the parliament have been injured and dozens of buses have been torched in clashes between opposition activists and the police during the strikes.

Zia, who was Bangladesh prime minister in 1991-96 and 2001-6, has said her right-ofcentre party would not contest future polls unless the caretaker system is reintroduced.

The next general elections are due in the first quarter of 2014. The government has said they could be held under an independent election commission months before its tenure expires. - AFP

saying that it would fight the militants with its “own resources”.

Relentless missile strikes by US drone aircraft in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border are also a major bone of contention.

Despite protests by Pakistan in public, the United States has continued the strikes, killing at least 48 suspected militants this week, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign. — Reuters

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistani Syed Salahuddin, head of militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahedin, which is fighting Indian rule in the divided Himalayan region attends a gathering in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan’s administered Kashmir yesterday. — AFP

US president to return to Indonesia for Asia summit WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will return to his childhood home of Indonesia for the second time in 12 months to meet with key Asian allies and regional powers, a US official said. Just over a year after he was warmly welcomed in Jakarta where he lived for a time as a young boy, Obama will attend the November meeting of the 18-nation East Asia Summit (EAS) to be held on the tourist resort island of Bali.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Indonesia later this month partly to prepare for “President Obama’s participation for the first time in the EAS in November,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. After having to twice postpone a muchanticipated trip due to domestic crises at home, Obama, or Barry as he was known at school in Jakarta, finally returned to Indonesia in November 2010 on the second stop of an Asia tour.

He said he was “deeply moved” to return to the country of his childhood, and marveled at the transformation of the sleepy city of Jakarta he once knew into a bustling metropolis. He also noted the country’s parallel evolution from authoritarianism to democracy and a burgeoning alliance with Washington. “It’s wonderful to be here although I have to tell you that when you visit a place that you spent time in as a child, as the president it’s a little disorientating,” he said at the time. “The landscape has changed completely, when I first came here it was in 1967 and people were on becaks... a bicycle rickshaw thing.”

Obama said Indonesia’s transformation had been mirrored in his own life, in the 40 years since he left the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, as a youth who was destined to become the president of the United States. “Indonesia is a part of me,” Obama said, recalling how his late mother had married an Indonesian man and brought her son to Jakarta, where he would fly kites, run in rice paddies and catch dragonflies.

Obama spent four years in Indonesia with his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Jakarta also awarded her a posthumous medal for her work in studying microfinance and seeking to empower women. In a twist of fate, Obama’s first homecoming of sorts had to be shortened by several hours due to concerns about ash from the erupting Mount Merapi volcano on central Java island.

News of Obama’s return visit to Indonesia in November had already leaked out, when a local official in Bali said in May that the Indonesian resort island was preparing to welcome the US president on November 19.

Bali provincial government spokesman Ketut Teneng said US Ambassador Scot Marciel had informed the regional authorities of Obama’s intention to attend the regional EAS strategic dialogue, which also includes China and Russia. Indonesia is hosting the dialogue in its capacity as chair of ASEAN, the 10-nation grouping that forms the core of the broader EAS. The United States and Russia were admitted to the 18-nation EAS last year, but Obama did not attend the leaders’ meeting in Hanoi in October, sending Clinton in his place.—AFP

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Indonesian police surround Islamic school MATARAM: Indonesian police were locked in a tense stand off with armed students at an Islamic boarding school for a third day yesterday, after a bomb blast there killed a suspected terrorist. Police say the school is linked to radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who was jailed for 15 years last month for funding a terrorist group that was planning attacks against Westerners and politi-

cal leaders.

Security forces arrived at the school at Bima town, West Nusa Tenggara province, late Monday after a home-made bomb exploded in one of the rooms, killing a man suspected of being a Philippine trained bomb expert. Local media have quoted police as saying the unidentified man was suspected of instructing students how to make bombs

when one of the devices exploded.

After the blast, hundreds of students and teachers armed with k nives and swords blocked the entrance, preventing police and soldiers from investigating the incident.

“We’ve been trying to enter the school to carry out our investigations by being persuasive, but the students are still blocking us,” provincial

police spokesman Sukarman Husein told AFP. “If persuasion doesn’t work we’ll have to enter the school with full force some time later today.” He said about 200 police and troops were deployed around the school but were keeping their distance so as not to aggravate the students, who were armed with traditional swords. Eight people were in custody in con-

nection to the incident, Husein said. Religious Affairs Minister Sur yadharma Ali said the police had to take strong action if the school was linked to extremist groups.

“If anyone related to the bomb blasts is found to be a member of a radical group, then the boarding school must be closed and the students must be re-guided,” the Jak ar ta Globe newspaper

quoted Suryadharma as saying. He said the school had resisted government attempts to moderate its teachings in the past.

Police are understood to be wary of triggering a violent Islamist backlash if they crack down too heavily on the school, despite its apparent involvement in bomb-making activity and religious extremism. —AFP

America seeks release of hostages held in Philippines ‘We are still waiting for their demands’ MANILA: The United States called yesterday for the immediate release of two citizens abducted in the Philippines, and demanded that the authorities go after the kidnappers. Filipino police said unidentified gunmen snatched Gerfa Lunsmann, 50, her 14-year-old son Kevin and her Filipino teenage nephew on Tuesday at a resort near the southern port of Zamboanga.

US embassy spokeswoman Victoria Long said the two allies are cooperating to secure the safety of the captives, as Filipino police said they had yet to hear from the kidnappers. “We are aware of reports that two US citizens have been abducted near Zamboanga, and are working with authorities in the Philippines,” Long told AFP. “We remain concerned about their safety and well-being. The United States condemns kidnappings of any kind, and we call for the immediate release of the victims and the prosecution of those responsible,” Long said.

Meanwhile, the country’s main Muslim rebel group said it was helping efforts to free the hostages and would recover them

if they were taken into their territories.

Von al-Haq, spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said the rebel group, which has a ceasefire and is engaged in peace talks with the Philippine government, was gathering “intelligence” on the abduction.

“When somebody is kidnapped in a place where there is a presence of the MILF, then the MILF will help,” al-Haq said. “If the suspects go to MILF areas with the victims, then the victims will be rescued and turned over to the government,” he added. The Philippines’ police chief, Raul Bacalzo, said the authorities had yet to hear from the kidnappers or what they wanted.

He said the mother was born in

the Philippines, gained US citizenship, married a US-based German man and bore him the son who was abducted along with her. He said the police were cooperating with the Philippine military.

“Our efforts (are) to locate the possible withdrawal areas of the kidnappers and the victims.” He said he could not confirm local speculation that the Abu Sayyaf, a small Islamist militant group blamed for previous abductions of foreigners as well as deadly bombings, could be behind the latest kidnapping.

“We are still waiting for their demands, so that we will know the exact nature of this,” Bacalzo said. Al-Haq said MILF forces in Zamboanga told him the abduction was carried out by the Abu

Sayyaf but he did not give details.

In the past, some military officers have charged that some members of the MILF were involved in kidnappings despite the ceasefire with the government.

National police operations chief Leocadio Santiago meanwhile brushed off speculation that small units of US military advisers in the area would take part in the search and rescue effort. “Any speculation that they will join (the operation) is just speculation,” he said. The US advisers have been training Filipino forces fighting the Abu Sayyaf but are not allowed to engage in combat, though they can return fire if attacked according to the terms of a status-offorces treaty. —AFP

Japan Premier to outline nuclear phase-down plan

BANGKOK: Picture taken on July 5, 2011 shows US ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney (L) with Yingluck Shinawatra (R), set to become Thailand’s first female prime minister, during the July 4 celebrations at a hotel in Bangkok. —AFP

Thai PM elect Yingluck unfazed by election probes BANGKOK: Thailand’s Prime Ministerelect Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday she was confident her par ty would emerge unscathed from a series of probes into alleged violations that have so far delayed the endorsement of a July 3 poll.

The Election Commission (EC) approved 358 of the 500 winning candidates during a marathon meeting on Tuesday but held back on endorsing the remaining 142, including Yingluck, whose Puea Thai Party won the election in a landslide. The EC has until the end of the month to process dozens of complaints and approve 95 percent of the winners, or 475 seats, in order to endorse the poll and allow parliament to convene and start the process of choosing a prime minister.

Yingluck, a 44-year-old businesswoman and political novice aiming to become Thailand’s first woman prime minister, said she was unfazed by the delay in endorsing her. “We are confident that Puea Thai and I will be given justice,” she told reporters. We respect public opinion and the work of the Election Commission.”

Among others awaiting approval were outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and several senior members of his Democrat Party, which will return to the opposition benches after winning 159 seats. The complaints against Yingluck and her par ty centred on alleged campaign violations, including illegal assistance from banned politicians.

Yingluck’s brother, the self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,

has been a dominant force in her campaign and analysts say the revival of his populist policies and use of his name as a political brand helped galvanise her supporters.

But Yingluck’s opponents have cried foul and claim banned allies of Thaksin, who was overthrown in a 2006 coup and jailed in absentia for graft, played a big role in directing her campaign. The EC also said Puea Thai’s slogan “Thaksin thinks, Puea Thai acts” could be deemed a poll violation. Puea Thai won a 265seat majority in the 500-member House of Representatives on July 3 following more than two years in the opposition.

The party’s two predecessors, Thai Rak Thai and People’s Power, were both dissolved by courts for electoral violations, with a combined 148 politicians banned.

Puea Thai has agreed to form a six party coalition controlling 300 seats, pending approval. The second-biggest party, Chart Thai Pattana, won just 19 seats. Yingluck said Puea Thai’s controversial slogan invoking Thaksin’s name had been misinterpreted. “This is only a matter of opinion and advice, not an attempt to manage or make decision for the party,” said Yingluck.

Thaksin, a 61-year-old billionaire, has lived mostly in Dubai to evade serving a two-year prison sentence for abuse of power by a Thai court in 2008. He has been at the centre of a six-year political conflict broadly pitting his mostly rural and urban poor supporters against middle classes, conservatives and army generals who accuse him of corruption, authoritarianism and disloyalty to the country’s monarchy. —Reuters

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan was yesterday due to outline his plan to reduce the country’s reliance on nuclear power and promote renewables in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. The embattled centre-left leader has announced a full review of Japan’s energy plan, under which atomic power had been set to meet over half of demand by 2030, up from about one third before the March 11 quaketsunami disaster.

Kan, who started his political life as an environmental activist, has said he wants to make clean energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal a new “major pillar” of the industrial power’s energy mix. The premier, Japan’s fifth in as many years, is making the speech at a time when he is under intense pressure to step down from political adversaries who accuse him of having bungled Japan’s response to the tsunami.

Since the tectonic catastrophe struck, Kan has butted heads with plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company ( TEPCO) over the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, the world’s worst since Chernobyl 25 years ago. The premier’s scepticism about boosting nuclear power in the quake-prone island nation has also set him on a collision course with pro-nuclear lawmakers, both in the conservative opposition and within his own party.

The earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, which has suffered meltdowns and explosions and leaked radiation into the air, soil and sea. With all but 19 of Japan’s 54 reactors now shut, mostly for regular checks, Japan is going through a power crunch in the sweltering summer months, and there are fears that outages could slow the already limping economy.

Kan, in a press conference scheduled for 6:00 pm (0900 GMT), was expected to present what he terms a “realistic” plan to ease the nation’s reliance on nuclear power, the Nikkei financial daily and other media reported. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Kan said: “We should start over from scratch... We can’t help but lower our reliance on nuclear.”

He also suggested that nuclear power companies may need to be nationalised, calling for debate about the ability of the private sector to run atomic power plants, given TEPCO’s multi-billion-dollar compensation bill.

Anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan has grown since the Fukushima disaster. Thousands have since protested at a string of rallies against TEPCO and nuclear power and for a shift toward alternative energy, while telecom giant Softbank has announced plans to build large-scale solar power plants. The liberal, mass-circulation Asahi Shimbun daily Wednesday called for a shift toward a nuclear-free society within two or three decades.

It pointed at an ongoing energy saving campaign, in which companies in Japan’s northeast are being asked to cut back use by 15 percent, and argued that, if it works, it proves that Japan can live without atomic power. The newspaper suggested in its editorial: “How about setting a target of reducing (atomic power) to zero within 20 years, to urge people to make their utmost efforts, and to review the plan every few years?” —AFP

YANGON: Myanmar’s pensioners wait in a queue to register at Yangon Divisional Military Headquarters yesterday, in Yangon, Myanmar. Now that the government has considerably raised their pensions depending on the current salaries, many pensioners go to their respective mother units (government ministries) to get endorsement, so that they can enjoy their pensions at new rates by end of July. —AP

Rights slam Myanmar use of convict porters BANGKOK: Human Rights Watch yesterday condemned Myanmar’s “brutal” use of convicts as “human pack mules” in conflicts against ethnic rebels, calling for a UN-led inquiry into alleged war crimes.

The military was forcibly recruiting prisoners to serve on the frontlines of battle as porters, where they face abuses including torture, summary execution and use as “human shields”, the rights watchdog said.

“The convict porters are basically the human pack mules for the Burmese army.

They have to lug this very heavy equipment through heavily mined areas,” Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of HRW, told reporters in Bangkok. Speaking at the release of a report on the abuses in eastern Myanmar, entitled “Dead Men Walking”, Pearson said she hoped such evidence of war crimes “really reinforces that there’s an urgent need” for an international inquiry.

“The brutal mistreatment of convict porters on the frontlines is just one of many ongoing war crimes,” she said.

“Others include deliberately attacking civilian villages and towns, extrajudicial killings, forced relocations, torture, rape and the use of child soldiers.”

Myanmar-where power was handed to a nominally civilian government in

March after almost 50 years of military rule-has been plagued by decades of civil war with armed ethnic minority rebels since independence in 1948. The new report was based on 58 interviews with escaped convict porters used in army operations from 2010 to 2011 in the country ’s east, scene of one of the world’s longest-running civil wars.

While Myanmar’s army has a long history of using civilians as porters, so many have fled across the border to Thailand and other safe areas that the military has had to bring in the prisoners instead, Pearson explained. The report also found the use of convict porters was “systematic practice”, with orders coming from “a high level” and inmates taken from a number of prisons across the country, added David Mathieson, HRW’s Myanmar specialist.

The United States said in late June that it was prepared to support a UN-backed human rights probe in Myanmar, after the country’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi called for such an investigation.

Pearson urged the international community to push harder for a UN-led commission of inquiry, saying fighting had intensified in parts of Myanmar since November’s election, despite hopes it would bring gradual improvement. —AFP

MANILA: Roman Catholic bishops take their oaths at a Philippine Senate hearing in Manila Philippines, yesterday. Senators questioned bishops embroiled in a scandal involving allegedly inappropriate donations from the government’s lotto operator, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). —AP

Philippine bishops say sorry, return donated SUVs MANILA: Philippine Roman Catholic bishops embroiled in a scandal involving allegedly inappropriate donations yesterday returned vehicles they received as gifts from the government’s charity funds.

The donations took place during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who sought support of several influential bishops while she faced public protests and fended off several coup attempts on charges of electoral cheating and corruption. She stepped down last year after nine years in power.

She has denied any wrongdoing and did not comment on the latest scandal as she was traveling abroad. The bishops have apologized but maintain they did not break a law prohibiting the use of state funds for religious purposes.

The chairman of the state-run Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Margie Juico, told a Senate hearing last

week that an audit showed that at least 6.9 million pesos ($158,600) in charity funds were used to buy vehicles upon the request of several bishops. The government’s lotto operator also runs charity funds. At the Senate inquiry yesterday, the bishops turned over four vehicles to charity officials and said other vehicles in the southern Philippines were in the process of being returned. The bishops offered their apology for the pain the scandal has caused their followers and the dominant church.

But they maintained the donations were only solicited to help them extend services to their far-flung communities.

“Even if it is not unlawful and even if it is not unconstitutional, we believe that it is important for us to clear everything in the air and return the vehicles,” said Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of the southern Cotabato diocese. —Reuters

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SAO PAULO, Brazil: Veterinarian Livia Pereira kisses paralyzed lion Ariel who she is caring for in her home yesterday. An Internet and Facebook campaign has been launched in Brazil to obtain funds needed to treat the lion that has been paralyzed for the past year. The campaign was launched by Raquel Borges, the owner of Ariel, a three-year-old, 140 kg lion that has been unable to use his four legs due to a degenerative disease affecting his medulla. Borges runs a shelter that cares for sick or abandoned animals. Borges and Pereira say that the money needed to pay for Ariel’s treatment come from donations from people who belong to the Facebook page created for the lion. — AP

MP calls to expel Iraqi ambassador

UAE sweats to stay cool

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

“We have always called for boosting Kuwait’s relations with GCC states so that we can a unified GCC stance on such occasions,” he said Responding to the attack on Kuwait’s embassy, the British embassy in Baghdad considered building the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port a lawful right of Kuwait, provided it did not affect navigation between Basra port and other GCC states. The embassy also stressed that solving both countries’ problems would help finalize the results and resolutions of the UN Charter’s Chapter VII.

The British ambassador to Baghdad Michael Aaron told Iraqi media that Kuwait has been speaking about building the Mubarak port for years and it had every right to build it within its territories. “We hope it will be beneficial for the Iraqi economy as well,” he said, noting that Iraq needed a developed port near its borders to promote economic relations.” There is a mutual misunderstanding between both countries,” he added, hoping that problems between both countries will end soon.

Aaron also refuted accusations that Britain had handed false maps about the borders between both countries to the UN in 1991, noting that his country had document-

Arab League chides US on Syria remarks Continued from Page 1 condemned attacks on the US and French embassies in Damascus.

It was a sharp escalation in pressure on Assad and a sign that the Obama administration could be moving closer to calling for regime change in Syria over the violent crackdown on a four-month-old uprising. Previously, the US position on Assad was that he should lead a transition to democracy or leave. Elaraby said nobody has the right to say that the president of any country has lost his legitimacy. “This issue is exclusively decided by the people,” he said after meeting Assad.

Since the uprising began in mid-March, the Arab League has been mostly silent about the situation in Syria.

Last month, Elaraby’s deputy, Ahmed bin Heli, said Syria was a “main factor of balance and stability in the region.”

Elaraby repeated that position yesterday. Also yesterday, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said he regretted Monday’s attacks by government supporters on the US and French embassies in Damascus. “Whoever did that was wrong,” Al-Moallem said, adding that Syria is responsible for protecting the embassies and their staff “and we bear full responsibility for that.” Hundreds of Syrian government

supporters smashed the embassies’ windows and spray painted walls with graffiti. Three French Embassy workers were injured.

Earlier yesterday, Syria’s Oil Ministry said fire damaged a natural gas pipeline in eastern Syria. It was unclear if the blaze was accidental or sabotage. No casualties were reported. Syria’s state-run news agency said production continued using other pipelines. Syria produces about 350,000 barrels of oil per day as well as natural gas. There were conflicting details about the fire late Tuesday in Deir el-Zour province, near the border with Iraq. Witnesses said they heard an explosion, raising concerns that there had been an attack. But Syria’s Oil Ministry denied any explosion and said a fire erupted on a pipeline that was under maintenance.

Syria’s oil exports are among the main earners of foreign currency to the government, particularly now that the country’s four-month-old uprising has hit the tourism industry. Last year, tourism accounted for roughly 12 percent of GDP and brought in $8 billion in hard currency.

Reports of an explosion at the Al-Furat Oil Company’s pipeline raised concerns of an attack, which would be the first of its kind as the country tries to quell the revolt against President Bashar Assad’s regime. — AP

Triple explosions kill 21 in Mumbai Continued from Page 1 At 7:05 pm, the third bomb exploded in the crowded neighborhood of Dadar in central Mumbai, according to police.

Because of the close timing of the blasts, “we infer that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists,” Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said, adding that Mumbai was put on high alert.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed to the people of Mumbai “to remain calm and show a united face”. Indian officials refused to speculate on who might be behind the blasts. Past attacks have been blamed on Pakistan-based militants, and Indian officials have accused Pakistan’s powerful spy agency of helping coordinate and fund some of those strikes, including the Mumbai siege.

Pakistan’s government expressed distress on the loss of lives and injuries soon after yesterday’s blasts were reported.

A US official said there are no claims of responsibility, or firm indication of which terrorist group might be behind the attack yet. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence. US President Barack Obama also condemned the “outrageous attacks”. “The American people will stand with the Indian people in times of trial, and we will offer support to India’s efforts to bring the perpetrators of these terrible crimes to justice,” he said in a statement. “I have no doubt that India will overcome these deplorable terrorist attacks.”

At the site of the first bombing, Zaveri Bazaar, a witness described two motorcycles exploding in flames and saw at least six bodies. “People were shouting ‘Help me, help me,’” the man told Headlines Today television. Another witness showed cell phone video of several bodies sprawled across the street to the NDTV news station. Fashion photographer Rutavi Metha heard a “massive” explosion and ran towards the site of the bomb in Zaveri Bazaar - one of targets for explosions in 2003 that killed 52 and injured more than 150. “There were bodies on the ground and a lot of blood. Local people were trying to help, picking up the injured and putting them in cars to drive them to hospital,” she said.

Eyewitnesses outside the diamond trader building in south Mumbai said a car bomb had exploded when the area was packed with office workers heading home. Fire brigade floodlights showed the full extent of the damage in a claustrophobic side street in the Opera House area. Sandals were abandoned among the muddy puddles and potholes overflowing with steady monsoon rain; roadside food stalls were overturned in the gutter, and the mangled remains of a car stood with its doors hanging off.

“More than 5,000 people pass through here every minute,” said Jayesh Labdhi, a committee member of the Mumbai Diamond Merchants’ Association near the wreckage of a white car. “There was a huge big blast.

We didn’t know what it was but after a couple of minutes we saw so much

smoke everywhere. There were so many people lying on the ground just crying out and wanting help,” Labdhi told AFP. “We came outside, and the area was filled with black smoke. There were bodies lying all over the street, there was lots of blood... We saw many bodies missing arms and missing legs,” said Aagam Doshi, a local merchant and witness, told Reuters. “We began helping get the wounded on to motorcycles of diamond merchants...There were diamonds lying on the road everywhere.”

“When I heard of the blast, I tried to call because I knew he was in Dadar.

Next thing I know someone picked up the phone and said he was admitted to KEM (hospital) so I came here,” said Rinku Vishwakarma, whose husband carpenter was injured in the Dadar blast. “I have no idea how badly he is injured. I’m looking frantically for someone to help.”

Prithviraj Chavan, the top official in the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, said the blasts killed 21 people and wounded 113 others. “India is not going to cow down,” Cabinet minister Farooq Abdullah said. “Let those perpetrators of this terror remember, we will find them and inshallah (God willing) we will give them the justice that India believes in.” The blasts marked the first major attack on Mumbai since 10 militants laid siege to India’s financial capital for 60 hours in November 2008. That attack, which targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a busy train station, killed 166 people and escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. Peace talks were suspended and resumed only recently. — Agencies

has also surged over the last decade in scorching summers on the Iberian Peninsula.

Such heavy consumption in well-to-do UAE cities like Dubai and federal capital Abu Dhabi mean the wealthy Arab state could see another summer of sporadic power blackouts in the northern emirates. It will also face a ballooning gas bill for the fuel used to generate 85 percent of its electricity with global gas prices having doubled from a year ago. In Dubai, major landmarks such as an indoor ski slope - where snow made at minus 8 degrees Celsius blankets three football pitches worth of pistes - have helped drive power consumption and climate-warming carbon emissions skyward.

The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, uses some 150 megawatts of power, equal to about a tenth of the output of the world’s biggest nuclear reactors in a region that relies almost entirely on fossil fuels. At its base, one of the world’s largest malls houses an Olympic-sized ice rink that helps keep some 150,000 daily visitors cool in the searing heat, desert dust and humidity. Dubai alone used nearly 34,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, with 46 percent being used by the commercial sector and nearly 30 percent in housing. The number of electricity consumers in the UAE’s business and trading hub rose nearly 10 percent in one year to over 580,000 in 2010.

The natural desire to keep cool and entertained in the Gulf’s hostile climate has helped make the United Arab Emirates one of the world’s top five power consumers per capita while emissions of climate-warming carbon from Emiratis are more than twice those of US citizens. Dubai’s power demand alone accounts for nearly half of the UAE’s supplies and its use of precious electricity could leave the northern emirates, which receive supplies after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, in the dark.

The demand is expected to be even higher this year with the holy month of Ramadan falling in August, prompting citizens who traditionally flock abroad in the summer to stay home. Residents of northern emirates such as Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah are no strangers to blackouts. In 2009, residents had to rent hotel rooms or drive to relatives’ homes to escape the suffocating heat after power went off for many hours a day. Authorities have promised a blackout-free summer 2011, for Dubai

at least, despite industry officials expecting power demand to rise at least another 5 percent this year - and severely strain resources. “I can assure you there will be no power shortage for the next five years,” Saeed Mohamed Al-Tayer, the chief executive of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), said in late June.

But a series of mid-June power cuts in Khor Fakkan, which is based in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah and is home to a major container terminal, has raised fears of yet another UAE summer with long, hot hours to endure with no power. “There’s not enough planning in the northern emirates on how they’ll get the power for their industrial development,” Robin Mills, a Dubaibased energy economist said. “Then there’s the problem of gas shortage where, especially in the northern emirates, you have to burn oil instead of gas, which is much more expensive,” he added.

Around 80 to 85 percent of the UAE’s power is generated from burning natural gas and the rest comes from oil - an option of last resort due to the higher cost of crude and the loss of lucrative crude exports. The UAE’s gas reserves are plentiful but have not been developed fast enough to meet the soaring demand for power and industrial gas feeds. In March, the UAE pledged $1.6 billion for infrastructure in less developed northern emirates, seen as more prone to unrest than Dubai, the business hub, or Abu Dhabi, the federal capital.

Peak electricity demand in the UAE is estimated to rise by more than 12 percent annually between 20102020, according to Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC). ADWEC officials, contacted by Reuters, were not immediately for available for comment. In a bid to diversify its energy sources, the country plans to build four 1,400 megawatt nuclear reactors on the coast of Abu Dhabi, with the first expected to open in 2017. Until then, in a region so dependent on cooling, efficient use of the scarce power supplies should be top of the agenda for the UAE, experts say.

“Up to 70 percent of your energy is going to cooling and air con units are running at full capacity,” Dustin Cherniawski, director of GreenWave Capital, which brings energy-saving technologies to the Middle East.

“But they have to be in excellent shape so you don’t waste any energy....The majority of AC units we encounter would benefit from increased frequency and quality of maintenance.” — Reuters

Murdoch pulls BSkyB bid Continued from Page 1 The 80-year-old Murdoch had pushed for the bid as the broadcaster’s portfolio includes live English Premier League football and blockbuster films, and this year reached its target of 10 million household subscribers. Only a few months ago it looked like a sure thing, but the tide of scandal engulfing the News of the World the government put it on ice for at least six months on Monday by referring it to a competition watchdog.

Ed Miliband, the leader of the main opposition Labour party who had proposed the parliamentary motion urging Murdoch to drop the bid, said it was a “victory for the people”. “People thought it was beyond belief that Mr Murdoch could continue with his takeover after these revelations,” he said. A statement from Cameron’s Downing Street office said: “We welcome the news. As the prime minister has said, the business should focus on clearing up the mess and getting its own house in order.”

The scandal has spread out from Murdoch’s newspapers to include the police, members of which

allegedly received payments from the News of the World, to politicians accused of being too cosy with Murdoch. The British premier has himself felt the heat as his media chief from 2007-2010 was former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who was arrested on Thursday over allegations of voice hacking and paying off policemen.

Cameron told parliament earlier yesterday he would support the non-binding motion, and announced the details of a full public inquiry into phone hacking, which he said would also include links between politicians and the press. “ There is a firestorm that is engulfing parts of the media, parts of the police and indeed parts of the political system,” said Cameron.

He said the inquiry would have the power to summon newspaper proprietors, and warned that executives found guilty of wrongdoing could be barred from future roles in British media.

Murdoch, his son James - the chairman of BSkyB and an executive at News Corp - and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, News Corp’s British

newspaper arm, have been called to give evidence to lawmakers next week. It was reported separately yesterday that Tom Crone, News International’s legal manager, had left the company after 26 years.

In the United States, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller called for an investigation to see if the phone-hacking scandal had spread to Murdoch’s US operations, saying there could be “severe” consequences. News Corp’s shares have plummeted in the past week, and the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal reported that the media tycoon was considering selling off his remaining British newspapers, The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun. Shares in BSkyB were trading down 1.0 percent at 685 pence in late London deals after the announcement, but News Corp. shares gained 1.8 percent on the US Nasdaq index. The Australian arm of News Corp. separately announced a review of its editorial expenditure over the last three years in a bid to reassure the public that illegal phone-hacking practices in Britain had not taken place there too. — AFP

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Issues

Obama’s tilt right could sting in 2012

By Kim Dixon, Eric Johnson President Barack Obama’s tilt to the right in US debt talks is denting enthusiasm within the army of volunteers who propelled him to the White House, and could cut into their financial support.

The president, who raised a record $745 million in cash during 2008 is likely to keep his lead in the fund-raising race in 2012, though he may have to rely on fewer small donations than last time around. Obama starts the 2012 race as the cash leader and is seen breaking his goal of raising $60 million in the second quarter alone, dwarfing all the Republican hopefuls combined.

At the same time, liberal groups are speaking out against the his policy positions. Moveon.org, for example, has asked its five million members to call the White House to protest any cuts to the Social Security retirement program or Medicare for the elderly. Giving by labor unions, a traditional pillar of Democratic support, was down in the first quarter.

“The AFL-CIO opposes any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, and there is no question that our members are going to take the position of elected officials on this question very seriously going into 2012,” said Damon Silvers, policy director for the big umbrella union.

Silvers said it is not just about fundraising. “The real political clout of organized labor is not the money, it is the volunteers,” he said. “We didn’t have enough clipboards for them in 2008.” Obama on Monday repeated his willingness to look at changes to Social Security and Medicare as part of a deal to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling. He and congressional Republicans are at an impasse, with an Aug 2 deadline looming by which time the government’s debt ceiling must be raised or the country will default on its obligations. Justin Ruben, executive director of Moveon.org, said the debt ceiling is a “crucial moment,” noting that Obama’s 2008 election was propelled in part by a million people giving small donations and devoting hours to knock on doors.

“I think that is the recipe for re-election, but people need to be inspired,” Ruben said. Another liberal group, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, has gathered almost 180,000 individuals to pledge not to give time or money to Obama if he supports cuts to the big social programs. Obama is due to report second-quarter fundraising figures to federal election regulators by Friday. Obama supporter and fundraiser Alan Solow said the president’s stance has not impacted his ability to raise money with the liberal base. “I don’t believe it will in the long run,” said Solow, a partner at DLA Piper. “The fact that he is showing real leadership will enhance his ability to raise money in the long run.” Part of Obama’s winning strategy in 2008 was to tap thousands of small donations, and his campaign to some extent is renewing that strategy.

Campaign spokeswoman Katie Hogan said on the first day of fundraising, nearly 97 percent of donations came from people who gave less than $200. “We had over 490,000 unique donors at the close of the second quarterwhich is significant because if you look at the end of the second quarter in 2007, the Obama campaign had 180,000 donors,” she said. In 2008, a record four million individuals contributed to Obama’s campaign, about a quarter of them small donors who gave $200 or less, according to the non-partisan Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.

Still, 42 percent - the biggest portion of individual givers to Obama’s general election campaign - were from those who gave $1,000 or more, according to the CFI. Many view Obama’s shift to the right as a bid to court independents, who are more likely to back his efforts to cut spending and who helped him break fund-raising records in 2008. One question is whether Obama’s gain among independents is worth losing some support from labor, and another important constituency, the elderly. “All told, he’d rather get the votes of independents than seniors,” said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University professor. “But you need the elderly in key states like Florida so at the end of the day you wouldn’t want to lose either one.”

It may not be possible to rekindle the same enthusiasm for Obama, the president who has to make tough choices, as it was for Obama, the insurgent candidate, said Neera Tanden, who was domestic policy adviser on Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Tanden also said the White House should not assume independents’ thinking on social programs. “This idea that the independents are going to reward cuts to entitlements is a big risk,” Tanden said. She said when push comes to shove, people say they want deficit reduction but will be angry if their benefits are trimmed. —Reuters

US

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Saudi policy on Yemen, Syria floundering

By Andrew Hammond audi Arabia has helped damp down democracy movements sweeping the Arab world but is waiting now to see how events play out in places like Syria and Yemen for fear of overplaying its hand. After witnessing the sudden collapse of rulers in Egypt and Tunisia this year, the Al Saud family in Saudi Arabia orchestrated Gulf Arab moves to stop the unrest from spreading through the Gulf region. Saudi, United Arab Emirates and Kuwaiti forces went to Bahrain in March to help crush protests threatening to force the ruling family there to make democratic changes. They offered money to Oman and Bahrain for more social spending, and Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV toned down its hard-hitting Gulf coverage after meetings between Saudi and Qatari officials.

Riyadh was the prime mover behind a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) proposal to enhance relations with Jordan and Morocco in an apparent effort to boost other Arab dynastic systems. A Saudi official said Jordan was given $400 million last month. In March and April it also brokered a peace deal in Yemen, a republic different in size and social make-up to the GCC countries, that was to see President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down one month after forming a cabinet.

Yet following that flurry of interventions, Saudi diplomacy has largely gone quiet, most notably on two fronts where Riyadh has major interests - Yemen and Syria. Its response also has been muted in Libya, a more distant

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concern for Riyadh. Analysts and diplomats say there are disputes within the ranks of senior princes and officials on whether to take a back seat, intervene more forcefully to stop democratic changes or, in some cases, to back them.

Turki Al-Rasheed, a Saudi commentator who runs the Saudi In Focus web forum, said the kingdom’s leaders had run out of ideas on how to challenge the movements amid internal disputes and given the lethargy of senior princes holding different briefs. “They are quiet because they did something and it failed. Bahrain is still boiling.

The only card now is to pay the Americans billions for their weapons,” he said, referring to reports that $60 billion in arms purchases from the United States would rise to $90 billion. The ruling Al Khalifa family has instituted a national dialogue in Bahrain, but protests continue in neighbourhoods of the majority Shiite population, who dominated the protest movement. Demonstrations rekindled in Oman last week. Saudi Arabia has seen only a small number of protests in Shiite areas of its Eastern Province.

Stern government warnings and promises of massive social spending have helped hold back a protest movement taking off on its soil. “There is no one single Saudi policy. Each issue is handled from a different point of view,” Rasheed said.

Diplomats in Riyadh often say rigor mortis usually sets in with Saudi policy initiatives during the long summer recess. One Saudi commentator who did not wish to be named said there has been division over how to proceed on Yemen. Interior Minister Prince Nayef backs Saleh while

Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Sultan favour alternatives among tribes paid by the kingdom. However, Sultan, in his 80s, left last month for treatment in New York and Nayef, in his late 70s, also has been abroad for rest and recreation.

Saleh has been convalescing in a Riyadh hospital since early June when he was badly burned in an apparent assassination attempt. A bomb went off as he and government officials were performing Friday prayers in a mosque at his palace. But Riyadh has made no clear effort to enforce the GCC peace initiative, which Arab and Western diplomats say was largely a Saudi proposal from the beginning. Ghanem Nuseibah, London-based analyst at Political Capital, said the Saudi family’s first preference for Saleh to remain in power had given way to promoting Hamid Al-Ahmar, a 44-year-old businessman close to US officials. The Saudi ideal is for Saleh’s system of family rule, balancing Saudi-backed tribal forces, to remain intact. This is exactly what the democracy activists who first took to the streets of Sanaa in January want to avoid. But fighting between tribesmen of Sadeq Al-Ahmar, head of the Hashed tribal confederation, and government forces loyal to Saleh - whose military and security apparatus are headed by his extended family - broke out in May. This confounded Saudi efforts at that stage to engineer cosmetic change. Now Riyadh is holding on to Saleh while it weighs its options on who can be the most effective strongman among the tribes it funded during Saleh’s 33 years of rule, Nuseibah said.—Reuters

North Sudan faces economic challenges

By Ulf Laessing hile southern Sudanese are enjoying their first heady days of independence, people in the north, like Khartoum food vendor Mutasem Suleiman, see hard times ahead. When South Sudan split away last Saturday, the north lost most of its oil reserves and inflation is rising fast. “During the past two weeks there has been a strong increase in prices. You could say they have risen by 10 to 15 percent,” Suleiman said, standing behind a counter lined with canned vegetables, fruit juice and sweets in his small shop in a downtown market. “Buying and selling have visibly dropped in this market,” he told Reuters.

Suleiman expects that ordinary people like him will be the ones who pay the price after the north lost two thirds of the country’s total oil production of 500,000 barrels a day. The loss of the main source of state revenues comes at a time when the north is already grappling with a US trade embargo, a scarcity of foreign currency and annual inflation that hit almost 17 percent in June. As the north controls the only port and refineries to sell the oil, the south will have to share revenues by paying for northern pipelines and other facilities.

But analysts say Khartoum’s share of oil revenues, which have been split equally up till now, could soon fall to 40 percent or less, hitting the budget and cutting the foreign currency inflows needed to buy food and other imports. Food vendor Al-Sadiq Ibrahim said prices have been rising since January when the south voted for independence. “Without doubt, the political changes in the country are causing economic consequences ...

I’m not sure what kind of support the government will chose,” he said.

The central bank said it was sup-

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plying banks with dollars to support the pound and facilitate imports while non-oil exports such as gold were at reassuring levels.

But economic analysts say challenges are mounting. “The secession is serious for the economy,” said Harry Verhoeven, a PhD fellow at Oxford University who focuses on the Sudanese economy, estimating the north will lose some 20 percent of state revenues. In a worst-case scenario, it could be 30 percent.

Khartoum tried to boost liquidity in the financial sector and dry out the black market by effectively devaluing the pound in November.

But this has more than doubled inflation and the pound has been falling on the black market for weeks. At the same time foreign investment has been limited due to

violence, mismanagement and a US embargo in place since 1997, analysts say. For the better or worse, Khartoum is one of the few capitals without a McDonald’s restaurant or credit cards.

“The loss of southern oil production will result in domestic and external imbalances. Preserving macroeconomic stability in the face of this permanent shock could be challenging,” the International Monetary Fund said in April. “Capital inflows ... could decline in the short term, contributing to the emergence of a financing gap that could reach 3-4 percent of GDP in 2012,” the IMF said, adding that real GDP growth for the whole of Sudan will slow to 4.7 percent this year from 5.1 percent last year. Another obstacle will be a debt mountain of

almost $40 billion, which the impoverished south does not want to help shoulder. Some government bond auctions have seen weaker demand compared to last year. Despite north and south trading accusations over violence in the volatile border region, analysts expect both sides to untangle their economies only slowly. The north can play hardball and demand high pipeline usage fees as 98 percent of state revenues in the south come from oil. Analysts say vague southern plans to build alternative pipelines to eastern African countries are years away. But the south is rolling out its own currency next week, which could further devalue the northern pound if introduced without coordination.

“Both economies need that oil.

They’ll will have to cooperate,” said

President Omar Al-Bashir addresses the People’s Assembly in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, following the secession of the south and the inauguration of the new state of South Sudan on July 9. – AFP

Roger Middleton at the Chatham House think-tank in London.

But the government of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir will face the problem of having to cut the budget while trying to contain food inflation and keep a patronage system in place. The import of luxury items such as cars to be distributed among Bashir’s supporters in the military, government or ruling party will be more expensive. “So far, Khartoum has been able to manage the pound’s depreciation,” said Aly Verjee at the Rift Valley Institute.

“But unless state expenditure is reduced or new financing obtained, a growing deficit will be a likely result, putting the Sudanese pound under pressure and eroding savings.” Much will depend on whether Khartoum can establish more nonoil industries and increase food production. In order to reduce its dependency on oil, the north wants to develop minerals such as gold, which helped drive up non-oil exports in the first quarter. Some Gulf investors from Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have arrived, interested mainly in the banking sector or in looking for farmland and other natural resources. China is the main buyer of Sudanese oil and a major trading partner.

But the pace of economic diversification has been slow, for which the government blames mainly the US trade embargo. North Sudan wants develop farmland with the help of investors looking for food supplies, such as the oil-producing states of the Gulf.

But Verhoeven said Sudan’s record was poor, since Khartoum has struggled for years to improve a state farming scheme that dates back to the British colonial era. “The government should focus on building up more local food production and not give cars or other goods to officials,” said Amer Musab, a vegetable trader. —Reuters

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THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

a na ly s i s

Brother’s murder setback for Karzai, US

By Claire Truscott

e may have been an embarrassment to the Americans and his brother the Afghan president, but Ahmed Wali Karzai was the deal-maker on whom they counted to stand against the Taliban in its spiritual home. Analysts said his assassination on Tuesday represents a political as well as personal setback for President Hamid Karzai and could threaten gains made in southern Afghanistan by tens of thousands of US troops. Dogged by allegations of corruption and drugs links and reported to have been on the CIA payroll, Karzai the younger’s reputation was unsavour y, but he was the Americans’ man in Kandahar, perhaps the toughest battlefield in 10 years of war and the focus of a troop surge last year.

The staggering account of his murder at home, at the hands of a man who seemingly used to be responsible for protecting him, and whom the Taliban claim to have turned, also shows that no one is safe in today’s Afghanistan. It exposes security failures just weeks after US President Barack Obama said sending tens of thousands of extra American troops into battle had been successful enough for 33,000 soldiers to come home by the end of next summer.

“He was a paradoxical figure and his death certainly will shake up US perceptions (among the public) of the failure of the surge in Kandahar,” said Candace Rondeaux, Afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis Group.

A man with perhaps more enemies than friends, to his detractors he was an obstacle to progress but to his supporters, an important guarantor of security as Afghanistan prepares to move towards greater responsibility for its own security.

“The fundamental point is that Hamid Karzai has never been more vulnerable,

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never been more exposed, should serve as a warning sign that transition has got to be managed more carefully that it has been right now,” Rondeaux said. “In the long term it certainly will see a real possibility of government forces using this as an opportunity to seek revenge against those responsible which would result in more instability in Kandahar.”

Thomas Ruttig, from the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said his demise was a loss for the Americans, who relied on his support for their counter-insurgency campaign, and warned of a damaging power struggle to replace him.

“Symbolically it’s extremely important because it shows that someone can hit in his own house in the heart of the system

Afghan President Hamid Karzai offer prayers yesterday during the funeral of his half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai who was killed by his close associate in Kandahar. – AP

down there, which is very well protected,” Ruttig told AFP. “Who did it, is a completely different question... Could be personal revenge. Could be revenge for killings done by his fighters. Could be something in the family, could be Taliban... there are too many candidates.”

Afghan political analyst Haroun Mir warned that the assassination could undermine plans to transition seven areas to the control of Afghan security forces, a process which had been due to start this month and finish in 2014. “ We need strong leaders in Afghanistan, at least local leaders, (who) would be able to take responsibility, political responsibility,” Mir said. “Now these people are (being) killed and we will not be able to replace them and it will create an opportunity for Taliban to return and undermine security in Kandahar.”

Western officials have privately expressed doubt about Afghanistan’s ability to manage security affairs, with question marks hanging over literacy, retention and corruption within the local police and army. “His assassination certainly creates an atmosphere of mistrust and even for president Karzai it becomes very risky because he does not know who to trust and who to rely on his own security,” said Mir. In neighbouring Pakistan, concerns were also rising about the possible implications for a political settlement in Afghanistan at a time when its own relations with the United States are at an alltime low. “Taleban have claimed responsibility for Wali Karzai’s murder and if it is so, it will seriously hamper Hamid Karzai’s peace and reconciliation efforts,” said Afghanistan expert Rahimullah Yusufzai.

“It is also a big loss for NATO, which needs friends and allies in whole of Afghanistan’s southwest. The military alliance had an access to Hamid Karzai through Wali, who was a very influential politician.” — AFP

Panetta unafraid of candor in new role

By Phil Stewart

eon Panetta’s first trip abroad as US defense secretary could have been little more than a photo-opportunity with troops, a chance to say and do what’s expected of a new Pentagon boss just settling into his job. Instead, Panetta has proven himself anything but timid in a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq that has seen him broach sensitive subjects forcefully, giving troops a taste of a blunt leader unafraid of candor - or colorful language - to drive home a point. Take how he publicly aired his frustration over political footdragging in Iraq. “Dammit, make a decision,” he said during remarks to US forces in Baghdad on Monday, referring to Iraq’s political leadership.

The Iraqi government appears unable to decide whether to ask some U.S. troops in the country to stay beyond an end-2011 deadline to withdraw. Diplomatic? Perhaps not. Still, it was probably exactly what a US soldier or Marine in Iraq was thinking: Am I going home by the end of the year or not? Iraq was meant to decide months ago. The delays are an understandable part of

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Iraq’s democratic process, Panetta said, but that doesn’t make them any less vexing.

At 73, Panetta is the oldest person to have been sworn in as US defense secretary. Over the past four decades, Panetta has been a congressman, director of the White House budget office and President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff. Until last month, he ran the CIA, where he helped oversee the May raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He said in Baghdad that developing the plan to “get that son of a bitch” was one of his proudest moments in public service. At the start of the trip, the former spymaster set an objective of strategically defeating Al-Qaeda altogether - an ambitious goal, but one he said was within reach.

Affable even in searing heat, Panetta braved a sun-drenched, dusty militar y base in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Sunday to watch Afghans show him their minesweeping techniques. He talked about his Italian heritage. Shook hands. Asked questions.

Sweated. Panetta, a former Army intelligence officer, tried to connect with US troops by telling

a joke about a priest and a rabbi. “While they were at a boxing match, one of the boxers made the sign of the cross. “And the rabbi nudged the priest, and said: ‘What does that mean?’ “The priest said: ‘It doesn’t mean a damn thing if he can’t fight,’” Panetta said. The troops, he added, knew the importance of fighting for what they believed in. His first trip hasn’t been without hiccups. Some of Panetta’s off-the-cuff comments have prompted clarifications, including comments upon arriving in Afghanistan that characterized the US drawdown plan incorrectly. He also raised eyebrows by appearing to link the Iraq war to the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, when in fact there is no evidence Al-Qaeda had operations in Iraq until after the 2003 US invasion. The defense secretary’s language seemed reminiscent of the Bush administration’s. But Panetta doesn’t seem ready to recede into a defensive crouch. If his predecessor, Robert Gates, was soft-spoken, Panetta is promising to be anything but. Asked about his colorful style in an interview with NBC News, Panetta simply said: “I’m Italian, what can I tell you?” — Reuters

Bravado punctured, Greece has changed

By Jeremy Gaunt atalism is nothing new in the modern Greek psyche, as reflected by two of the most common expressions to be heard - “ Tha doume” and “ Ti na kanoume”. The first literally means “We will see”, but could more usefully be translated as “This probably won’t happen”. The second, “What can we do?”, means in effect “I agree with you, my friend, but this is Greece, so...” Add to this now a degree of desperation. A one-time resident travelling in Greece today is struck by a kind of resignation among the people, a punctured bravado that borders on embarrassment.

The debt crisis and “litotita” (austerity), are taking their toll.

The past decade has seen monumental change in Greece as it has moved from the heady optimism of being a euro zone entrant and Olympic Games host to the reality of steep economic decline, chronic debt and reliance on foreign bailouts. There are evident improvements, despite current traumas. But there remain deepseated problems that may take more than austerity and the threat of default to cure.

Greeks are as proud a nation as any other, perhaps more so than many given the ancient golden era and the invention of democracy. But today, the sometimes aggressive bombast that went with that is muted. With Ä350 billion or so in government debt, Greece has become a financial market pariah after a decade of relative boom. It has gone essentially cap in hand to its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund just to avoid bankruptcy and have it spill over into the financial system.

This has triggered the almost surreal situation in which even

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mighty global institutions such as Wall Street have been gripped by demonstrations, parliamentary votes and otherwise parochial news in Greece, a country about the size of Alabama. It means that among Greeks -students, farmers, cleaners, shop keepers and politicians - the pride they felt at being part of the mainstream, no longer the Europe Union’s economic basket case, has been dashed. “I wish we weren’t in the euro,” said Yiannis Mendrinos, owner of an upmarket shop on the island of

only stopped Greece from devaluing its currency, its traditional method of handling economic crisis, it has also prompted huge price increases over the ensuing period. Greece, pre-euro, was cheap. Today, it is expensive enough to shock a visitor from abroad - and not just because of euro exchange rates that particularly hurt US and UK travellers.

Petrol is at 10 to 20 cents a litre higher than it is in euro zone Belgium and Germany. A cappuccino costs the same or more than

percent of Greece’s 230 billion euro economy - and recently individual lives. Rania Pelekanaki, a cleaner in Crete, implied that a trip to the market for just the basics is a quarter or more of her weekly take home pay. Over the past two years, consumer inflation has risen 7.9 percent, more than three times the 2.3 percent increase in labour costs, although over 10 years salaries rose faster than prices, helping add to Greece’s lack of competitiveness.

Not all of the money that has

A woman stands by a bank in Athens, sprayed with slogans reading “fire to banks” and “live your Greece in myth”, changing the slogan of the Greek tourist office, on Tuesday. – AFP Santorini. Such sentiment would have been heresy back at the turn of 2002 when fireworks burst over the Parthenon and Bank of Greece in Athens and Greeks rushed to see euros, not drachmas, spit out of cash machines.

Being in the euro zone has not

it does in Paris. Payments to taxis and local “taverna” eateries are no longer the afterthoughts that they used to be.

This is not the kind of move to the mainstream that Greeks had envisaged. It has hurt both the crucial tourist industry - about 16

been spent and built up the debt, however, has been wasted.

Infrastructure in and around Athens is vastly improved from a decade or so ago, mainly because of the 2004 Olympics. The roads to the impressive Eleftherios Venizelos Athens Airport would

do any European country proud.

The extended Athens Metro is clean enough and quiet enough to shame the equivalents in London, New York or Paris, even if those three are decades older and more extensive. Around the Acropolis, meanwhile, a new museum and walkway actually makes a trip to Athens, as opposed to the islands, pleasant.

Politicians such as Yiorgos Farmakis, a vice mayor in Corinth, say that Greeks must embrace a new attitude to work and efficiency. “We must change,” he told Reuters, This was reminiscent of comments made by officials a decade ago when Greece qualified to adopt the euro. “We should not forget about real convergence (with other European economies),” Yannis Stournaras, then the Greek finance ministry’s chief economic adviser, told Reuters at the time.

Clearly somebody did. It remains to be seen how much difference the current shock to the system will have. Some of the old problems of Greece have not gone away, particularly what George Drakopoulos, general manager of Greece’s main tourism industry body SETE, calls “the mentality gap” in the public sector.

A customer-facing bus company official launches into an angry tirade against a visitor trying to buy 5.20 worth of tickets with €10. An archeological museum is closed in mid-afternoon with no explanation or signs for tourists when it might be open again.

Roads to what should be popular, money-spinning destinations are badly marked, if they are marked at all. Strikes and demonstrations show the depth of resistance to some of the free market initiatives groups such as the IMF insist are necessary for Greece to get back on track. Will Greece overcome it all? Tha doume. — Reuters

Focus

China’s maritime rise drives new wider naval focus

By Peter Apps ith a new aircraft carrier China is expanding its worldwide reach, and while Beijing stresses a desire for peaceful cooperation its bigger global role is helping fuel a renewed naval focus elsewhere. After centuries largely devoid of maritime ambitions, China now retains a permanent counter-piracy force in the Indian Ocean. Earlier this year, a Chinese warship entered the Mediterranean to help evacuate its nationals from Libya, the furthest any of its fleet has ever ventured.

China is also building commercial ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, and while Chinese officials say they have no intention of turning them into naval bases they have worried potential rivals such as Washington and Delhi. Beijing is keen to stress that while it has global maritime ambitions - and needs, given its dependence on sea trade for resource imports and manufacturing exports - its priority is a peaceful and cooperative rise to keep global sea lanes safe.

“Facing more and more maritime threats and global challenges that go beyond the scope of country or region, no navy can stand against them alone or stand aside,” Vice Admiral Tian Zhong, commander of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) North Sea Fleet, told London’s Royal United Services Institute. “Only through shared awareness, strengthened co-operation and joint efforts can we maintain the common interest.”

But with multiple potential maritime flashpoints in China’s neighbourhood including Taiwan and disputed maritime borders with Vietnam and others, some see the risk of conflict. As the PLAN acquires more sophisticated equipment, including a carrier initially acquired from Ukraine in the late 1990s ostensibly to be used as a floating casino, as well as anti-ship ballistic missiles and submarines, other navies particularly in the immediate region are responding.

Other Asian and Pacific states are building up their fleets and worries over China are also seen as prompting Western states including the United States to focus more on areas such as anti-submarine warfare largely ignored since the end of the Cold War. Analysts say that in practical terms it is likely to take the Chinese navy years to have a credible carrier operation in Asia’s seas, which have largely been the domain of the US navy since World War Two. Nevertheless, the overall worldwide number of warships will likely drop in coming years, analysts say. Increasingly complex, fast changing technology often makes warships more expensive, prompting a drive to fewer, multi-purpose ships.Whilst the US Navy is seen remaining by far the world’s most dominant, it faces a range of other demands including responding to crises such as Libya and piracy as well as a growing demand for “sea basing” of rapid response land forces - all at a time of growing financial pressures.

“We are torn between ... China, the current realities of the new world disorder and the impending need to cut the budget,” said Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College in Rhode Island. “This then leads to the compromise strategy of finding a way to build vessels ... that can do humanitarian intervention today but fight the PLAN tomorrow, if need be.”

Certainly, China’s rise is far from the only driver of Western naval strategy. Many of the same factors that are dragging Beijing’s fleet ever further from home are also driving renewed naval focus even in cash-strapped European states. In several countries, as a decade of focus on Afghan and Iraqi land wars draws to a close, the need for a more flexible naval force able to project influence and respond quickly is driving new purchases and a growing range of missions. The ever-growing menace of Somali piracy has drawn attention to the vulnerability of global sea lanes at the time of rising resource prices, whilst the unexpected “Arab Spring” and Libya conflict required ships quickly for evacuations, embargoes and military strikes against the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

“It is a matter of force of facts,” Vice Admiral Giuseppe de Giorgi, inspector of the Italian naval schools and former chief of staff to the naval commander, told Reuters on the sidelines of a sea-power conference in London organised by the Royal Navy.

“For now, Afghanistan is continuing to take a lot of resources but that will not last forever. After that, there will be inevitable reprioritisation.”

But it was important to be flexible and provide value for money, he said. Italy’s latest aircraft carrier, for example, was also configured as a roll-on/roll-off ferry to transport troops, equipment and aid. It is also giving naval infantry training to sailors to provide on board protection for cargo ships as a cheaper counterpart to escort vessels in the fight against piracy. But not everyone is convinced navies provide the most cost-effective solution to such problems in cash-strapped times. Even Beijing’s emerging fleet faces new competition from private contractors muscling in on some of the same space. In the Indian Ocean, shipping companies are increasingly turning to private security guards for protection as the presence of dozens of sophisticated warships does little more than drive piracy from choke points into deeper waters.

Whilst Beijing made much of sending a frigate to Libya, most of the thousands of Chinese oil workers rescued were in fact lifted out by commercial airliners hired by London-based security firm Control Risks on contract for the government. The bottom line, some quietly say, is that the move in the last 60 years by shipping companies to move to registries like Panama or Liberia should have a cost. Why, they argue, should US or European taxpayers pay to protect firms deliberately avoiding being taxed or regulated in their jurisdictions? The risk, some Western naval officers worry, is that if they simply build a handful of highly sophisticated, often over-budget ships, they may end up looking largely irrelevant and struggling to face either China or other, more disparate threats. “If we want to see our potential greatest enemy, we need only look in the mirror,” said one on condition of anonymity. — Reuters

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THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

sp orts

Riise joins Fulham LONDON: Norway defender John Arne Riise completed his move from AS Roma to Fulham yesterday, saying he was delighted to be back in the Premier League and looking forward to joining his brother Bjorn Helge at Craven Cottage. Fulham said on their website (www.fulhamfc.com) that the 30-year-old had signed a three-year deal for an undisclosed sum.

Riise, who spent seven years at Liverpool and was a member of their 2005 Champions League-winning team, has been at Roma for three years. “I’m delighted to have completed my transfer to Fulham this morning and am looking forward to playing in the Premier League once again,” Riise told the website.

“Fulham is a club that I have been following as my brother, Bjorn, plays here and he speaks very highly of the club and the staff. “Obviously I also played against the club in the Europa League group stage when they went on to reach the final of the competition.”

Riise became new manager Martin Jol’s second signing of the close season, following the arrival of Hungarian goalkeeper Csaba Somogyi. —Reuters

Madrid in Games bid MADRID: Madrid is planning to bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic Games, the city’s mayor said yesterday, in what would be a third attempt after failed efforts to secure the 2012 and 2016 editions.

Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, flanked by spokesmen for the two main political parties, told a news conference he would present a bid proposal to city legislators for a vote on July 20.

The backing of both RuizGallardon’s conservative Partido Popular (PP) and the Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE), which rules at national level, means the vote would be a formality.

“Madrid has finished an extremely

high percentage of the infrastructure needed for the organisation of the Olympics and Paralympics and can count on the experience of the previous two bids and the recognition of the Olympic family,” Gallardon said.

“The completed work means the cost of the bid will be significantly less, following criterion of austerity and efficiency with the highest possible return for the image of Madrid and Spain.” Gallardon’s announcement comes as Spain struggles to cope with an economic crisis gripping the euro zone and the Socialist government strives to trim a public deficit that was almost 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010. —Reuters

Hewitt-Federer showdown LONDON: Australia will host Switzerland in September’s World Group Davis Cup playoffs, setting up a potential clash between Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer.

Switzerland have lost all four previous meetings against the Aussies, including the 2003 World Group semi-finals, where Hewitt sealed the win with a comeback from two sets down against Federer and Australia went on to take the title that year.

Meanwhile Canada, who made a comeback against Ecuador in their Zone Group I tie to reach the play-offs for the first time since 2005, will travel to Israel. South Africa face Croatia for the first time, and Austria will travel to Belgium to extend their current 4-0 lead over their European rivals.

The draw was held at the International Tennis Federation’s headquarters here yesterday. The winning nations in the World Group playoffs qualify for the 2012 World Group, while the losing nations will compete in their respective Zonal Group I competitions in 2012.—AFP

Brady, Manning, Brees: It’s time for NFL deal NEW YORK: Calling the players’ offer “fair for both sides,” star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees plaintiffs in an antitrust suit against the NFL - said yesterday “it is time” to wrap up negotiations on a deal to end the league’s lockout.

Brady, Manning and Brees spoke as a group publicly for the first time with talks in a critical phase, four months into the league’s first work stoppage since 1987.

Players and owners met yesatrday morning at a Manhattan law office for the latest round of discussions.

Deadlines are coming up next week to get training camps and the preseason started on time. Although it seems the sides have agreed on the basic elements of how to split more than $9 billion in annual revenues, among the key sticking points recently have been how to structure a new rookie salary system and what free agency will look like.

In a statement released to The Associated Press via the NFL Players Association, New England’s Brady, Indianapolis’ Manning and New Orleans’ Brees said: “We believe the overall proposal made by the players is fair for both sides and it is time to get this deal done.”

They continued: “This is the time of year we as players turn our attention to the game on the field. We hope the owners feel the same way.”

In response, the NFL issued a statement saying: “We share the view that now is the time to reach an agreement so we can all get back to football and a full 2011 season.

We are working hard with the players’ negotiating team every day to complete an agreement as soon as possible.”

Brady, Manning and Brees are among 10 players who are named plaintiffs in an

antitrust suit that is pending in federal court in Minnesota. That class-action lawsuit was filed March 11, hours after federally mediated negotiations to arrive at a new collective bargaining agreement broke down, and the old labor contract expired.

The NFLPA immediately dissolved itself, meaning players no longer were protected under labor law but instead were allowed to take their chances under antitrust law.

On March 12, the owners imposed a lockout on the players, a right management has to shut down a business when a CBA expires. During the lockout, there can be no communication between the teams and current NFL players; no players including those drafted in April - can be signed; teams won’t pay for players’ health insurance.

A series of court rulings followed, including one last week from an appeals court that said the lockout could continue.

Talks resumed in May, overseen by a court-appointed mediator, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who is on vacation this week. Boylan ordered both sides to speak with him in Minneapolis next Tuesday, and the owners have a special meeting set for July 21 in Atlanta, where they could vote to ratify a new deal if one is reached.

That means there’s intense pressure on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith to keep things moving in a positive direction.

Disruptions to the planned preseason schedule would decrease the overall revenue pie.

Smith was among those arriving Wednesday morning for talks, along with powerful team owners Robert Kraft of the Patriots, John Mara of the New York Giants and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys.—AP

Sparks down Silver Stars SAN ANTONIO: Ticha Penicheiro scored 18 points to help Joe Bryant win his return as coach of the Los Angeles Sparks, who beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 84-74 on Tuesday night.

Bryant, Kobe’s father, took over as coach of the Sparks on Sunday after Jennifer Gillom was fired. Los Angeles had lost the previous five games of their seven-game road trip, which ends Friday at Tulsa.

This is Bryant’s second stint as coach of the Sparks. He previously coached them from August 2005 until the end of the 2006 season. Bryant didn’t waste any time making his presence felt Friday. He drew a technical foul with 2:51 left in the second quarter for arguing a call. Sophia Young scored 22 points for the Silver Stars (7-4), who

have now lost three straight games.

Storm 79, Mystics 71 At Seattle, Sue Bird scored 22 points and Swin Cash added 20 in the Storm’s victory over the Mystics. Seattle has won three of four, a stretch that started with a 73-63 victory at Washington on July 3. The Mystics (2-9) have dropped four in a row. Camille Little had 12 points for Seattle.

Washington was led by Marissa Coleman’s 16 points. Matee Ajavon had 13, and Mystics leading scorer Cr ystal Langhorne added 10 in her return to the lineup after she missed three games because of back pain. Langhorne, who averages 18.1 points, hadn’t played since June 26.—AP

PHOENIX: American League catcher Alex Avila of the Detroit Tigers watches as National League’s Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers hits a three-run home run during the fourth inning of the MLB All-Star baseball game.—AP

Fielder blast lifts NL All Stars to 5-1 win PHOENIX: Prince Fielder smacked a three -run homer to lead the National League to a 5-1 win over the American League in Tuesday’s All Star Game and clinch home field advantage in this year ’s World Series. Milwaukee Brewers slugger Fielder connected off Texas Rangers lefty C.J. Wilson in the bottom of the fourth, sending the ball off the top of the wall in left-center to score Carlos Beltran of the Mets and Matt Kemp of the Dodgers.

The victory gave the National League their first back-to-back AllStar Game wins for 15 years.

Fielder, whose usual game-face scowl turned into a broad grin by the time he got back to the dugout after his homer, was named Most Valuable Player of the game.

“That was a lot of fun,” Fielder said in a mid-game interview. “I’m just glad I could help out.”Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, whose team battle the Brewers in the NL Central, said he was used to seeing Fielder come up with big plays.

“He’s MVP, man,” said Phillips

even before Fielder was officially announced as the award winner.

“He’s MVP of this game and the way he’s been playing he can be the MVP of the National League, period. I’m happy that he came through for us today.”

The game was played in good spirits, with some fine defensive plays and some playful fun punctuating the action.

Blue Jays right-fielder Jose Bautista made a fine sliding catch in foul ground, and Houston Astros left-fielder Hunter Pence threw a strike to home plate to nail Bautista trying to score on an Adrian Beltre single. Relief pitcher Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres provided some levity. Bell plopped down next to some young fans behind the dugout during the game, chatting with them and giving them some mementos of the game.

Later when he was summoned to pitch in the eighth, the beefy Bell sprinted in from the left-field bullpen, going into a slide on the infield grass just before reaching the pitcher’s mound, much amuse-

ment of the infielders awaiting his entrance. The game started on a sombre note, with a moment of silence for the victims of a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, in January that wounded 14 people and killed six. National League starter Roy Halladay and his AL counterpart Jered Weaver kept the bats quiet early, with Phillies hurler Halladay retiring six batters on just 19 pitches. Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez put the first run on the board with a solo homer to right-center off Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee in the third for the American League’s first hit. Fielder answered that with his three -run smash.

Andre Ethier of the Dodgers and San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval also drove in runs to pad the NL’s lead before a crowd of 48,000 that included Muhammad Ali. Nine National League pitchers limited the AL to just six hits with Brian Wilson of World Series champions San Francisco getting the last two outs for the save. Wilson said winning home field advantage for the World Series was worthwhile.

PHOENIX: National League’s Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers holds his MVP award following the MLB All-Star baseball game. —AP “It really is beneficial to have those first two games in front of the home crowd,” said Wilson. “It really helped us last year.”

Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett felt discomfort in his knee as he warmed up to enter the game and sat out as a precaution, and Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera left the game after feeling soreness in his side after an at-bat.—Reuters

Wallabies rest Reds, Elsom returns

SAN ANTONIO: Los Angeles Sparks’ Ticha Penicheiro (21) drives to the basket against San Antonio Silver Stars’ Jia Perkins (right) and Sophia Young (33) in the second half of a WNBA basketball game.—AP

SYDNEY: Australia have rested the halfback pairing of Quade Cooper and Will Genia for their first test of the year against Samoa on Sunday but Rocky Elsom returns from injury to captain the side announced yesterday. Cooper and Genia, an integral part of the Queensland Reds team that won the Super rugby title last weekend, will be replaced by the experienced Matt Giteau at flyhalf and Nick Phipps, who will make his first test start at scrumhalf.

Digby Ioane, who will play on the left wing with James O’Connor on the right, is the only Reds player in the starting Wallabies line-up with four on the bench for the Tri-Nations warm-up.

“It’s not only emotional, it’s also physical, they’ve gone three weeks longer than anyone else and three weeks of high intensity rugby,” coach Robbie Deans told reporters at the team’s training base. “Will and Quade have

played every game and they’re at the heart of the decision making so there’s a lot of demands on them. They’re due for a bit of respite before they re-engage.”

In addition to flanker Elsom playing only his second match of the year, Mark Gerrard at fullback and 55-cap lock Dan Vickerman on the replacements bench return after several years out of test rugby.

Gerrard’s selection is a chance for the 28-year-old to secure a “core role” in the squad, Deans said, and means a spot on the bench for incumbent Kur tley Beale.

“People like to suggest there’s a fifteen that’s best and they should play every week, but that doesn’t happen,” Deans added.

“It doesn’t happen for a reason, because with the demands, per formance ebbs and flows.

And we’re looking for a group to hit the ground this week full of noise and represent Australia.

Period.”

Versatile back-rower Matt Hodgson gets his chance with a star t at openside flanker but Deans said his Western Force team mate David Pocock would be available for the first TriNations test against the Springboks in Sydney on July 23.

“For some of the individuals concerned, it’s an opportunity, and none of them will be presuming there’s more to come,” Deans said. “ The campaign this year is brief, a guaranteed nine fixtures.

Total. So we’ve got to get on with it.” Elsom has been struggling with an ankle injury he sustained in his only outing for the ACT Brumbies this season. “I feel fine,” he said. “It’s only just better so I’ve been limited for while but that’s normal at this stage. I’ll go as hard as I can and see where I am when I’m out there.”

Prop Benn Robinson was ruled out for the season after injuring his knee in training on Tuesday which might see Al

Baxter make his return to the international arena to win his 70th Wallabies cap at Sydney’s Olympic stadium.

With Ben Daley set to miss the Samoa and South Africa matches, New Zealand-born prop Pek Cowan has also been called up to the squad as front row cover.

“Al’s had a big taste, Pek less of one, but when you trail a lifeline, when you thought your days were done, there’s not too many who don’t respond under that situation,” said Deans.

Team - Mark Gerrard, James O’Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Pat McCabe, Digby Ioane, Matt Giteau, Nick Phipps, Ben McCalman, Matt Hodgson, Rocky Elsom (captain), Nathan Sharpe, Sitaleki Timani, Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu.

Replacements: James Hanson, Dan Vickerman, Scott Higginbotham, Beau Robinson, Will Genia, Kur tley Beale (replacement prop to be announced).—Reuters

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sp orts Indian Formula One drivers disappointed by criticism LONDON: Karun Chandhok and Narain Karthikeyan defended their achievements in Formula One yesterday after dismissive recent comments

by Force India team owner Vijay Mallya. “I think it’s a bit sad that in one breath the chairman of our Indian ASN (national sporting authority) is talking about how much he has done for Indian drivers and then in the next breath he is criticising India’s only two Formula One drivers,” Chandhok told Reuters yesterday.

“If you are going to criticise people, at least do it with some facts,” he added. “Having never tested either Narain or myself in one of his cars, he doesn’t have the facts.”

“I understand the need to find the next Indian star, and I use the word next not first, and the need to create more Indian F1 drivers.

“But you are not going to find the next Indian star by running events in single-engined four-stroke rental karts on 400 metre tracks made out of concrete.” Mallya, a liquor and aviation billionaire who also sits on the governing FIA’s world motor sport council, has launched a ‘one in a billion’ driver talent search at kart tracks across India aimed at discovering an Indian Lewis Hamilton.

He said at the weekend that Indians should get behind Force India rather than bemoan the lack of an Indian driver on the starting grid.

“As far as the existing Indian drivers in Formula One are concerned, I can only feel very sorry for them. They are getting drives by the teams who clearly can’t compete,” he had said.

“If that’s what they want to do, drive a Formula One car for the sake of driving a Formula One car and winding up at the back, I can’t do anything about it.”

Chandhok, whose father Vicky is president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, said the JK Tyre

Rotax challenge that he was involved in was a better bet for discovering real talent.

“The Rotax karts are the same as used elsewhere in the world, you send drivers to the world final and that’s where you are going to find the next generation of drivers,” he said.

Karthikeyan, who was backed by Mallya in Formula Three, pointed to the example of Mexico to show how long India might have to wait for the next grand prix driver after them.

No Mexican has won in Formula One since Pedro Rodriguez in 1970 and rookie Sergio Perez is the country’s first driver in 30 years. Mexico also has far more of a motor racing tradition.

Karthikeyan started the season racing for Hispania (HRT ), but he has been moved aside-at least until the inaugural Indian GP in October-for Red Bull-backed Australian debutant Daniel Ricciardo.

“Against all the odds, both of us have made it to Formula one,” Karthikeyan told Reuters. “It doesn’t matter who I drive for in the Indian Grand Prix. It’s just a symbolic and historic moment and one that can show aspiring young drivers what they can do with hard work and effort.

“The Tata Group is very supportive of what I do and that’s all that matters,” he added. Chandhok, who raced for HRT last year, is now the Team Lotus reser ve. Neither team has scored a point but Team Lotus’s Malaysian principal Tony Fernandes is investing heavily and has secured some big backers to help lift the team up the grid.

“I am very happy to be in a team where the shareholders and the CEO are 100 percent supportive, in a team where I feel 100 percent wanted and I feel a long term potential to build a truly Asian team and I am very happy where I am,” said Chandhok. —Reuters

Khan ahead of Pacquiao on pace, says trainer Roach HOLLYWOOD: Britain’s WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan is a superior boxer at 24 than Filipino Manny Pacquiao was at the same age, according to trainer Freddie Roach who works with both fighters.

Khan, like Pacquiao, is a southpaw renowned for his speed and hard work ethic and Roach firmly believes he will emulate the Filipino by becoming the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter within the next two years.

“Amir is little bit more ahead of Manny,” the bespectacled Roach told Reuters at his Wild Card Boxing Club on Tuesday. “It took Manny Pacquiao eight years to get to the point where he became unbeatable and he has dominated every fight.

“Amir has been with me for just three years now and he’s getting closer and closer. “He will become the pound-for-pound king within a couple of years. He is well ahead of schedule and a big win here against Zab (Judah) would be another step towards Manny’s record.”

Khan, who has a career record of 25-1 with 17 knockouts, is scheduled to take on experienced American IBF holder Zab Judah in a unification fight in Las Vegas on July 23.

While the 33-year-old Judah is a highly respected figure in boxing, Roach is confident Khan will triumph in style at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino-and probably inside the 12 scheduled rounds.

“Zab will need to be at his best to survive in this one,” said Roach, who has worked with 31 world champions in his Wild Card gym on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles.

“I am very confident in my guy. We are ready to fight, we know when and where to attack this guy and how to attack him. We will win and walk away.“I do not see this fight going the distance. We will overwhelm him with our speed and power, and I think Zab doesn’t really take to getting hit like he once did.” Khan agreed that a knockout was likely, but he was wary of making any iron-clad prediction.

“I really think I will get a knockout in this fight but I never go into a fight looking for a knockout because that’s when you start making mistakes,” the Englishman told Reuters before beginning a training session in the ring with Roach.

“I’m going to go in there boxing and if the

knockout comes it comes. But we are ready for the full 12-round distance. We have worked very hard for this fight and we know that we’ve got a good game plan that I’m going to be following.”

Khan, who won the WBA title against Andreas Kotelnik of Ukraine two years ago, readily admits he would never have made such quick progress in his boxing career without the influence of Roach and 10-times world champion Pacquiao.

“They’ve brought the best out of me,” he said. “Mentally they have made me a better fighter by thinking about what I need to do and sticking to a game plan whereas before I just used to go in there and fight with my heart.

“Manny is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and if I can even spar with him and do well against him that’s a great confidence boost for me.

“He’s so down-to-earth and he loves to help me. Just a few words from Manny is a big thing for me. We’ve become friends now. I’m 24 and I’ve been training with Manny since I was 22. It’s a great experience and you can’t buy that experience.”

Khan, a former Olympic silver medallist, has clear-cut goals well beyond his July 23 showdown with Judah. “Later this year, I am hoping to fight Erik Morales,” he said. “That would be a big fight for me. He’s a big name over here in

Amir Khan is seen in this file photo “We know we’ve got the heart to go in there and fight with anyone but we need to have the game plan and I need to have the mental strength to stick to that game plan.”

Asked what had been his greatest lesson from Pacquiao, Bolton-born Khan replied: “It’s just good to be in the same camp as him. I work with him and I see what he does and, in a way, I just follow his customs.

the States.

“From there, maybe I will move up to 147 (pounds) and try to take on Floyd Mayweather.

That’s what we are looking at. You need to have ambitions and my main goal is to fight for the pound-for-pound title.

“I’ve still got a long, long way to go and I am learning every day and in every fight. But I am getting there slowly.”— Reuters

‘Tiger vacuum’ filled by flood of new talent LONDON: There will be a huge depth of golfing knowledge amid the galleries of Royal St George’s this week but even the keenest statistician might be hard pressed to name the winners of the last 11 major championships.

What makes it such a tricky challenge is that the 11 tournaments have been won by 11 different players in a stark illustration of how dramatically different golf ’s landscape has become since Tiger Woods slipped from his once-dominant perch.

Rory McIlroy, hot favorite to triumph at the British Open this week, became the 11th when he won the US Open last month. Before him came Charl Schwartzel (Masters), Martin Kaymer (US PGA), Louis Oosthuizen (British Open), Graeme

SANDWICH: Italy’s Matteo Manassero plays a shot on the 4th fairway during a practice round ahead of the British Open Golf Championship.—AP

McDowell (US Open), Phil Mickelson (Masters), Yang Yong-eun (US PGA), Stewart Cink (British Open), Lucas Glover (US Open), Angel Cabrera (Masters) and Padraig Harrington (US PGA).

Harrington also won the British Open in 2008, which coming after Woods’s US Open triumph and Trevor Immelman’s victory in the Masters that year makes it 13 different winners of the last 14 majors.

“The game is in a transition and I would really say a transition from Tiger,” 18-times major champion Jack Nicklaus said after McIlroy swept through the US Open.

“Tiger’s still going to be around and he’s going to play a lot more golf-and going to play well. But he’s going to play against a lot of kids that are 10, 15 years younger than he is who are good.” Woods won the 2008 US Open despite struggling with the knee injury that eventually required surgery and kept him out of the remaining majors of the year.

His subsequent domestic problems kept him off the course for almost five months and on his return he struggled to rediscover his best form.

More injury trouble kept him out of this year’s US and British Opens and his rivals have wasted little time in rushing to fill the vacuum caused by his decline.

Those 11 winners include seven different nationalities; eight of the last nine were winning their first major while the four current major holders - McIlroy, Schwartzel, Kaymer and Oosthuizen - are all in their twenties, the first time that has happened. “There are probably a number of reasons that you could argue (for the variety of winners) but certainly the depth of talent is the first and foremost,” Mickelson said.

“The quality of play now that has come across the international circuit is some of the best I’ve seen. I think the overall level of play throughout the world internationally is what has sparked that and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a first-time winner this week.”

Eight years ago when the Open was last at Sandwich, Ben Curtis was not only a first-time winner but victorious in his very first appearance in a major. A repeat is highly unlikely- he was the first man to do it in 90 years-but the American maintained it was a wide-open tournament.

“There are probably 130 guys (out of 156) who could win this week,” he said. “Maybe 20 or so may not be feeling well or their game is really bad coming in but pretty much anyone in the field can win.

“It’s just a matter of having the right things go your way and making a few putts here and there.” Justin Rose, another player to make a dramatic entrance when he finished tied for fourth as amateur on debut at the 1998 Open, agreed. “It needs patience so it could suit a more experienced player but on the other hand someone who can just come out and go round with clean ball-striking could do well,” the Englishman told Reuters. “Eleven different winners could easily become 12 on Sunday and I hope that 12th will be me.”—Reuters

Hendry primed for Jakarta defence JAKARTA: New Zealand’s multi-talented Michael Hendry has warned he is on the brink of rediscovering top form as he bids to defend his title at the one-million-dollar Indonesia Open starting today. But he faces stiff competition from China’s Liang Wenchong, who topped the OneAsia 2010 Order of Merit, Shigeki Maruyama of Japan, Irishman Paul McGinley, Danny Chia from Malaysia and South Korea’s Han Chang-Won. “My game is not far away from coming together,” said Hendry, 31, who recorded a magnificent seven-stroke victory over Liang last year at Damai Indah Golf Club, in Jakarta.

That was the first-and last-big career victory for Hendry, who is also a talented cricketer, turning out for New Zealand’s under-19 team before he set-

tled on golf. “It is very close-to the point where every part of my game is working in unison,” he said of his timely return to form. “I am driving the ball really well and I feel the rest of my game is not far off. “It certainly was a breakthrough that has allowed me to play with a new level of confidence. The fact that I have not won since then doesn’t worry me.”

Hendry played with Liang in the final group last year, and when the Chinese was asked how he rated the New Zealander’s victory, he joked: “I want to know if Michael will drive as long and straight this week and hole all the putts.”

The Indonesia Open is the seventh event on OneAsia this year. This week marks the first time that Maruyama, nicknamed the “Smiling Assassin”, has competed in Jakarta and the 42-yearold Japanese star is looking forward to

the challenge.

“It feels great to be here. I am recovering from a calf injury I got after playing basketball with my son at home in February. I didn’t play for well over a month so I have gradually been working my way back,” he said.

Local hopes rest on the young shoulders of Rory Hie, who already has a runner-up finish on home soil under his belt this season after he finished second behind Australia’s Andre Stolz in the Indonesia PGA Championship.

“I feel like I am in control of my game. I have been working very hard, particularly on my tempo,” said the 22year-old. “I feel like I can hit all the fairways and greens in regulation. Of course it doesn’t always happen that way, but at least that is how I feel, which is a very positive sign.”—AFP

SANDWICH: England’s Luke Donald hits a shot on the 4th fairway during a practice round ahead of the British Open Golf Championship at Royal St George’s golf course.—AP

Rio chosen for Olympics golf SANDWICH: The golf tournament at the 2016 Olympics will be held on a new site in the southern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, the Royal & Ancient Chief Executive Peter Dawson confirmed here yesterday. The Rio games will see the return of the sport to the Olympic fold for the first time since 1904, but the lack of tournament level golf facilities in and around the Brazilian capital raised some doubts over where the venue would be.

“The situation is that very recently, as recently as within the last three weeks or so, the Rio Organising Committee and the city of Rio confirmed that the Riserva Uno site, which is a site quite close to the Olympic village and quite close to the sea in the Barra area of Rio

will be the site of the Olympic golf event,” Dawson said.

“And commercial negotiations are currently underway by the City of Rio to acquire that site for golf, and a golf course will be designed by an architect yet to be determined and laid out on that site for the Olympic event.

“In order to be in time, we need to get the architect appointed, his designs approved, and start breaking ground in 2012 in order to make the timetable for a 2015 test event of some sort prior to the 2016 games.”

Turning to the question of the format of the Olympic golf tournament, Dawson said that the plan was still to stage one competition involving 60

men and one involving 60 women, both competing in a 72-hole stroke play event. But he said there would be further discussions after next year’s London Olympics whether some changes should be made on the basis that the agreed format might be “a little stereotyped.” “The format was based on our polling some top players as to what they thought it should be and those top players thought the format we use for major chaqmpionships should be the same format used in the Olympic Games. Pressed on what would be under discussion after London, Dawson was reluctant to be drawn but he did mention the possibility of adding a team competition.—AFP

Question now is how good will McIlroy be?

SANDWICH: The strong wind blowing Tuesday across Royal St. George’s was just another sign that the moonscape masquerading as a golf course on the English coast would offer a vastly different test than the one Rory McIlroy solved so easily at the US Open.

The British Open can be a puzzle of its own, as McIlroy found out last year when he followed an opening 63 with a big fat 80 when the wind started howling at St. Andrews. He was too young, it was too early, and someone else got their name on the claret jug.

Then came four days at Congressional Country Club that made people forget Tiger Woods isn’t playing much golf these days. Now comes a week that might tell us as much about McIlroy as he found out about himself at the U.S. Open. A week that could answer the question of the past month: Just how good can McIlroy be? We already know the kid is the real thing. He proved that by taking a victory lap around Congressional on the final Sunday in an eight-shot rout that brought back visions of the way Woods used to toy with fellow competitors.

But will McIlroy win major championships in bunches? Will he dominate over time the way he dominated a few weeks back? History suggests not. Players

who are truly great come along only once every era, and this era already has one.

Sitting in a packed interview room Tuesday, though, McIlroy suggested yes.

“All I need to do is focus on my game, and, if I can do that, I know my good golf is good enough to win plenty more tournaments,” he said.

That no one doubts. McIlroy’s swing is a beauty reminiscent of other times, and his putting is good enough to carry him if that lets him down. Whether it will happen this week is another matter.

Although British bookmakers have made McIlroy a prohibitive favorite, only six players have won both the US Open and British Open in the same year in the long history of both championships. Erasing the inevitable hangover that comes from victory might be the hardest part for McIlroy. “It will be interesting to see,” said Graeme McDowell, a fellow Northern Irishman who won the US Open last year, then promptly went into a slump. “It’s going to be overwhelming for him. That’s how it was for me last year.” Unlike McDowell, though, McIlroy seemed to be building for his big win long before it happened.

He was in contention at three majors before finally breaking through, learning some painful lessons that served him well

when he was poised to win his first major title at the US Open.

He has led seven of the eight rounds of the two major championships so far this year, and managed to come back from a final round collapse at the Masters to lap the field at Congressional.

Like a fighter who gets better after he wins a title, McIlroy believes he will be better now that no one’s asking when he will win his first major.

“It has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said. “Now I can talk about winning my second one after having won the first.” It’s hard to find anyone rooting against McIlroy adding that second major. The unassuming 22-year-old with a mop of curls has a connection with fans that even Woods would envy, and he brings excitement to a sport that has been badly missing it ever since Woods crashed his SUV one fateful Thanksgiving night. “The thing about Rory is that he plays golf with a real flair and a real charisma, and I think fans are drawn to that,” Phil Mickelson said.

McIlroy did the kind of things you’d expect after winning the US Open, watching some tennis courtside at Wimbledon and watching ringside as Wladimir Klitschko beat David Haye in a heavyweight title fight in Germany. —AP

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Qatar coach eyes World Cup history FRIBOURG: Milovan Rajevac wants to create football history as the first man to lead Qatar to the World Cup. The Serbian coach has a difficult mission, though, in trying to give the wealthy 2022 World Cup host credibility on the field to match its status as a player in football politics.

Hired in February, Rajevac’s task truly begins next week when the 94th ranked Qataris start their qualification road to Brazil 2014 with an tricky preliminary round tie against Vietnam.

Rajevac will be richly rewarded for success - although his 3 1/2-year contract could mean little if Qatar is eliminated in the two-leg series before the main draw is even made on July 30 in Rio de Janeiro. However, he told The Associated Press he is motivated by making history, not money.

“That is the most important thing, the greatest satisfaction. This is something that you cannot buy,” Rajavec said through a translator, after his team’s final match of a brief European

training camp on Tuesday.

“This is an excellent challenge to leave a mark in this country and help them achieve their dreams. It would be just confirmation for everything I did with Ghana.”

Last year, Rajevac’s Ghana team eliminated the United States in the second round before coming within touching distance of being the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal.

In a notorious act of gamesmanship, Uruguay forward Luis Suarez saved a goalbound header in the final minute of extra-time with his hand and denied what should have been Ghana’s winning goal. Asamoah Gyan’s penalty struck the crossbar, as the red-carded Suarez danced a jig of delight near the tunnel, and Uruguay won the ensuing shootout 4-2.

Despite the injustice, Rajevac’s reputation was enhanced just five years after he was an assistant at Doha club Al Sadd when the Qatari league was an outpost sprinkled with

aging stars seeking one last payday.

Rajevac said he was “thrilled” to come back to Qatar because of its special place in football’s new world order. “That is why we’re trying to build a team for the future. You try to do everything according to a plan.”

That plan includes Qatar reaching a World Cup on merit, in its 10th attempt since first entering for the 1978 event. It qualifies automatically for the 2022 tournament as host.

Qatar has two chances left, but the relaxed coach said he’s not under stress. “There’s no additional pressure,” Rajevac said. “Football is like that, everything is pressure. You need to be very calm to do your work properly. We try to channel that pressure into a positive performance.”

In Europe this month, Qatar lost 30 to Swiss top-division side Lausanne, and 4-2 against Bayern Munich in Italy, before returning to Switzerland to draw 2-2 with Neuchatel Xamax.

An ironic twist is that Rajevac now looks for goals from a Uruguayan for-

ward - Sebastian Soria, a naturalized Qatari who has played seven seasons there. “The results are not very important during this period of preparation but it’s obvious the team is improving and we’re happy for that,” said Rajevac, who has a final warmup on Sunday, against India in Doha.

He dismissed Qatar’s links to corruption allegations, and suggestions it “bought” the World Cup, that have tarnished the image of FIFA and its leaders.

“I have heard something but really I’m not thinking about that,” Rajevac said. “I don’t have enough information and I’m not so interested in that part, because I’m thinking about my team.” On July 23, Rajevac’s men begin their 2014 World Cup quest, in the home leg at Al Sadd Stadium, at the same time as FIFA’s ethics committee in Zurich is set to rule on election bribery charges leveled against Mohamed bin Hammam, the longtime public face of Qatar football worldwide.

A further irony is that Qatar’s brief tour was organized by a Swiss match agency owned by Michel ZenRuffinen, the former FIFA official who lost a power struggle with Sepp Blatter around the FIFA president’s first re-election in 2002, and whose comments about the 2022 bid to British undercover reporters last year fueled the corruption scandal that eventually saw two FIFA voters banned from football.

Neither Zen-Ruffinen, who was declared “persona non grata” by FIFA last November, nor Blatter, who is Neuchatel’s honorary president, attended Tuesday’s match.

Rajevac said he has never met bin Hammam but has been congratulated by Blatter after Ghana matches at the World Cup and African Cup of nations, and smiles at the memories.

He’s also untroubled by Qatar’s searing heat, having worked there before. His previous two jobs were also in Ghana and Saudi Arabia.

“We already have one stadium

that’s air conditioned and the Aspire academy is a fantastic facility for training,” Rajevac said. “So heat doesn’t disturb us at all.”

Qatar, he believes, “definitely deserves respect” for trying to learn by hosting “a lot of important competitions in different sports.” Like his employer, Rajevac describes a philosophy of “creating and leaving something behind me.”

“Qatar is really investing a lot, this is the target - to build an excellent team for Qatar so it can represent the country at the highest level.

“I came here for a long time to build a team and qualify for the World Cup,” he said. And how many bonus dollars are written into his contract for accomplishing that mission?

The translator laughs, asks the question, and Rajevac smiles broadly.

“There is no money that can give you that satisfaction when you qualify this country for the first time in their history.” —AP

Arsenal sweep aside Malaysia

GUANGZHOU: Liverpool’s Joe Cole (right) is tackled by Awal of Guangdong Sunray Cave FC during their friendly match. —AP

Liverpool win in China GUANGZHOU: Liverpool were rocked by two late goals from lowly Guangdong Sunray Cave yesterday but survived to win 4-3 at the start of their Asian tour.

The 18-time English champions, boosted by new signing Charlie Adam’s first appearance and a goal-scoring debut from Conor Coady, had looked set for an emphatic victory until the Chinese team’s last-gasp double.

Lu Lin and Yin Hongbo both took advantage of slack defending to lift the home crowd and give coach Kenny Dalglish something to think about as Liverpool head to Malaysia.

Liverpool, fielding an unfamiliar line-up, scored first through Christian Poulsen’s sweet volley on 19 minutes before David Ngog doubled their lead two minutes later.

But Guangdong’s Ricardo powered

home a header on the stroke of half-time to make it 2-1 in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou.

After a quiet start to the second half, former England under-17 captain Coady, 18, ran onto a through-ball from striker Andy Carroll and lashed home a strong finish to make it 3-1. And when Carroll finished from close range with five minutes to go, with substitute Adam patrolling the middle of the park, it looked like game over for Guangdong.

But Lu easily rounded defender Andre Wisdom and buried his shot before Yin embarrassed Daniel Agger as Guangdong threatened to make the latest of comebacks.

Liverpool now travel to Kuala Lumpur, where they have a large following, to play a Malaysian XI on Saturday. —AFP

Turkey match-fix probe turns on Besiktas ISTANBUL: The Turkish football matchfixing probe on Tuesday widened to league giants Besiktas, with the arrest of two club officials, Anatolia news agency reported.

Besiktas vice-president Serdar Adali and technical director Tayfur Havutcu were summoned to appear at Istanbul police headquarters for questioning before being taken into custody.

Besiktas, who finished fifth in the Turkish league last season, are one of Istanbul’s three big clubs along with Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.

Since July 3, Turkish police have arrested more than 80 footballers and club officials as part of a far-reaching match-fixing probe into 19 first division matches, with 26 suspects placed in provisional detention.

Among the biggest names taken in are Aziz Yildirim and Sadri Sener, respective presidents of current champions Fenerbahce and Champions League hopefuls Trabzonspor.

Sener was released on Tuesday on

the condition that he remained in Turkey. The latest wave of arrests also included Mehmet Levent Kizil, the former executive committe member of the national football federation, and Ankaragucu goalkeeper Serdar Kulbilge.

National football federation head Mehmet Ali Aydinlar insisted on Monday, however, that the league would start on August 5 as planned, adding that the federation would not take any disciplinary action against the clubs concerned until the prosecutors’ indictment was ready. The federation has until Friday to notify UEFA of which teams will play in European competitions. Police are investigating the outcome of 19 matches in Turkey’s top two divisions last season which ended with Fenerbahce clinching the title on the final day by goal difference from Trabzonspor.

The inquiry and arrests have created shock waves among football supporters amid the prospect that Fenerbahce could be stripped of the title. —AFP

Blackburn to be first EPL team in India NEW DELHI: Indian-owned Blackburn Rovers are set to become the first English Premier League side to play in India, taking part in an exhibition match in the western city of Pune later this month.

Blackburn, bought by Indian poultry giant Venky’s in November, will meet Pune Football Club on July 22 during a pre-season tour of Asia.

“The game is a landmark encounter for Indian football fans and we are happy to be part of this treat (that) both Rovers and we have lined up,” Pune FC director Nandan Piramal said.

“The match provides a golden opportunity for fans.” The English club also recently announced they were planning to establish a youth academy near Pune,

100 kilometres (60 miles) from Mumbai.

Blackburn manager Steve Kean said in April that the club would visit India as par t of an Asian tour. From India, Blackburn will head to Hong Kong to play in the Premier League Asia Trophy at the end of July.

Venky’s takeover of the club, which won the Premier League title in 1995, provoked protest among fans, who criticised the new owners’ lack of financial muscle and football experience.

The sacking of manager Sam Allardyce further antagonised critics and the club struggled on the pitch last season, finishing three positions off the relegation zone. Kean has said that the new owners are committed to the longterm future of the club. —AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Arsenal started their pre-season Asian tour with a resounding 4-0 victory over a spirited Malaysia side at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium yesterday.

The Gunners, who last played in Malaysia 12 years ago, will next play in China on Saturday.

All eyes were on leftback Kieran Gibbs, keen to make an impression on boss Arsene Wenger following the sale of Gael Glichy, but the performance of reserve rightback Carl Jenkinson would have left the Frenchman shaking his head.

The youngster was time and again left for dead by speedy Malaysian winger S. Kunalan, who carved out numerous opportunities for his side. Fortunately for the Gunners, their defence stood firm.

Wenger started with a young side and teenagers Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey dominated the centre of the park.

Wilshere caused panic in the Malaysian defence after just five minutes and was poised to shoot before Mahalli Jasuli brought him down, leaving referee Mohamad Yussof Mat Karim no choice but to point to the spot.

Up stepped Ramsey to convert the penalty, coolly sending Mohamad Nasril Mat Nourdin the wrong way, tucking his penalty to the right.

Malaysia’s best chance came when skipper Safiq Rahim’s freekick from more than 35 yards out was tipped over for a corner by Wojciech Szczesny.

With Wilshere and Ramsey dictating the pace, Arsenal went further ahead in the 37th minute when Ramsey ’s through ball released Theo Walcott down the right. The England international kept his head to lob an onrushing Mohamad Yussoff to make it 2-0.

Arsenal made seven changes

KUALA LUMPUR: Arsenal’s Samir Nasri (center) is challenged by Malaysia’s Mohamad Fadhli Mohd Shas and Helmi Remeli during their friendly soccer match. —AP at half-time with the likes of Tomas Rosicky, Carlos Vela, Denilson and goalkeeper Vito Mannone all coming on.

In the 58th minute, Mexican hotshot Vela chipped Malaysia’s substitute keeper Khairul Fahmie Che Mat. The changes everyone in the stadium wanted came in the 67th minute when Arsenal brought on Samir Nasri, who is being chased by Manchester United and Manchester City, Robin Van Persie, Andrey Arsharvin and Barcary Sagna.

Rosicky made it 4-0 in the 90th minute, nodding home from

close range. Wenger, who still hopes to hold on to Nasri, said he was delighted to see him turn on the style and help the Gunners to a convincing victory.

“Samir (Nasri) has always been committed to the team and we saw that today,” Wenger said.

“He did very well coming off the bench. I’m willing to keep him for another year, even if it means we risk losing him for nothing in a year’s time.” “I think the board agrees with me as it is a technical decision,” he said. “Our goal is to win the championship and we need good players to do that.”

Asked about captain Cesc

Fabregas, who is wanted by Barcelona, the French boss responded: “I don’t want to comment on what some Barcelona players are saying, about how Fabgregas wants to leave, but all I can say is, we want to keep him.”

Malaysian manager, K. Ragagobal, said: “The early penalty killed off the match. They were simply too good, but we didn’t play our usual game.”

Arsenal will play their next match in China on Saturday.

Malaysia play Liverpool on Saturday before taking on Singapore in a World Cup qualifier in two weeks’ time. —AFP

Leonardo confirmed as PSG sporting director PARIS: Leonardo was yesterday officially presented as the new sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain, ending weeks of speculation about the management structure at the newly rich French giants.

Leonardo’s arrival was made possible by the departure of Robin Leproux, who revealed earlier in the day that he had been removed from his position as club president.

Former PSG financial director Benoit Rousseau was named as an intermediary successor to Leproux.

“It’s been a bit mad recently,” said Leonardo, who spoke in flawless French during his introductory press conference at Parc des Princes. “Lots of things have happened.” The former Brazil international, a World Cup-winner in 1994, returns to PSG having starred for the club during the 1996-97 season but admitting that leaving his position as coach of Inter Milan had been a wrench.

“It wasn’t easy to leave Italy. There was a bit of confusion,” he said. “I’m really happy because I was chosen by people who really want to do something special. I’m happy to be a part of this project.”

Speaking about his previous time at the club, he said: “It was 14 very intense months and it was very difficult to leave Paris. I didn’t expect to come back like this. Today, being here makes me really happy.”

The 41-year-old will reportedly work as a director of football with sweeping powers over player recruitment. His imminent arrival had prompted speculation in recent weeks that head coach Antoine Kombouare would have to leave the club, but the club’s new owners said Kombouare would remain in place.

“I thought I’d been very clear in my previous statements: the coach is Antoine Kombouare,” said Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of majority shareholders Qatar Sports Investment (QSI). Senior club official Simon Taher said Leonardo would work as an “English-style general manager” and QSI clarified his role in a statement. “(Leonardo) joins PSG as a sporting director,” they said. “His role encompasses all the sporting activities of the club. He will co-ordinate with the shareholders at the club and assist with the identification and implementation of their strategies.”

Al-Khelaifi said: “We are very happy to confirm the

PARIS: New owner of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Nasser Al-Khelaifi (left) shake hands and introduces new general manager Leonardo of Brazil at the end of press conference. —AP signature of Leonardo today as sporting director of PSG. “His arrival guarantees good conditions to start the season for the teams and for QSI. We have every confidence in his vision and his ability to continue to develop the club and make PSG a great team.”

Leonardo’s appointment came hours after the decision to remove Leproux from his functions. Leonardo is believed to have held out for Leproux’s departure as a condition of his arrival, as his desire to have complete power over transfers would have intruded into Leproux’s remit.

Leproux announced earlier on Wednesday that he had been removed from his position less than a month after QSI took over as majority shareholders.

“I have been removed as president,” said Leproux.

“My first thought is for the future of PSG. I tried with all of the teams that I directed to develop this club and work as seriously as possible. “From the bottom of my heart, I hope that the management team will have tremendous success.” QSI completed a deal on June 30 that gave them 70 percent of the shares of the club.

Leonardo met four days ago with Al-Khelaifi and the Qatar Crown Prince Tamim Al-Thani in London, telling them he would not come to Paris until the question of Leproux’s future had been resolved.

PSG finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season, earning them a place in next season’s Europa League, and lost 1-0 to Lille in the French Cup final. —AFP

Arsenal sweep aside Malaysia

Cavendish wins Tour stage

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Qatar coach eyes World Cup history Page 19

LA PLATA: Mexico’s Miguel Ponce (left) dribbles past Uruguay’s Abel Hernandez during a Group C Copa America soccer match.—AP

Own goal sinks Peru as Chile top group Uruguay edge Mexico in Copa America MENDOZA: An own goal in injury time gave Chile a dramatic 1-0 victory over Peru on Tuesday to leave them top of their group ahead of the Copa America quarter-finals. Chile centre back Waldo Ponce was initially credited following a goalmouth scramble in the 92nd minute, but the official Copa America website (www.ca2011.com) later marked the score as an own goal by Peru’s Andre Carrillo.

The result left Chile with an unassailable seven points at the top of Group C. They will play Group B’s second-place getters in the quarter-finals-either Brazil, Paraguay or Venezuela-in San Juan.

Peru, on four points, will have to wait for the outcome of the late match between Uruguay and Mexico in La Plata to find out their next opponents. Having booked their places in the quarter-finals before kick-off, neither Chile nor Peru looked particularly interested in winning their clash in Mendoza. Peru coach Sergio Markarian rested nine players from their previous match while Claudio Borghi made six changes to the Chile’s starting line-up. Roared on by around 30,000 fans in the Malvinas Argentinas stadium, Chile created the first real chance of the match in the 14th minute when Jean Beausejour

fired in a low cross from the left which Esteban Paredes just failed to reach.

Peru almost scored from a similar move in the 38th minute. Right back Giancarlo Carmona provided the cross and Josepmir Ballon, stealing in at the back post, stretched out a leg but failed to direct the ball goalwards.

Tempers frayed in the second half and both sides ended the match with 10 men after Beausejour and Carmona were sent off after an hour for their part in a melee that drew in all 22 players.

The match appeared to be heading for a goalless and increasingly tetchy stale-

mate until the scrappy late strike sealed the win for Chile. Meanwhile, in La Plata, World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay beat a young Mexico side 1-0 in the Copa America on Tuesday to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final clash with their River Plate rivals Argentina. Alvaro Pereira scored the only goal of the match after 14 minutes, taking advantage of a deflection from a Diego Forlan free kick to bury the loose ball from close range. The result means Uruguay leapfrog Peru to finish second in Group C behind Chile, and will face hosts Argentina in Santa Fe on Saturday. Peru finish third in the group

and also qualify for the quarter-finals, although they will have to wait until Wednesday to find out who they face next. Mexico, who fielded an understrength team at the Copa, exit the competition after losing all three group matches. Uruguay dominated much of the match and could have easily added to their early lead. Forlan hit the inside of the right hand post with a low shot in the 30th minute and five minutes later his striking partner Luis Suarez forced a fine save from Luis Michel, who tipped the ball over his crossbar for a corner kick. The Mexicans, who were appearing at the

Japan slay Sweden to book final berth FRANKFURT: Japan booked their place in the women’s World Cup final against the United States with a emphatic 3-1 victory over Sweden in yesterday’s semi-final after claiming another European scalp with an historic win. Despite their nickname Nadeshiko-a pink flower symbolising grace and beauty-the Japanese are proving no pushovers at Germany 2011 and having beaten the hosts 1-0 in the quarter-final, they dominated Sweden in the semi.

Japan are in a World Cup final for the first time in their history as striker Nahomi Kawasumi netted goals either side of half-time while captain Homare Sawa capped another impressive display with her fourth goal in five games. There was no hint of the Japanese domination to come when Sweden striker Josefine Oqvist opened the scoring when she drilled home her shot after 10 minutes past Japan goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori.

Her strike took a deflection off the boot of Japan defender Saki Kumagai, which lifted the ball out of Kaihori’s reach, but the Asians were level soon after having noticeably raised their game in front of the 45,434 crowd. Midfielder Aya Miyama drilled in a cross and Kawasumi wove her way through several Swedish defenders to scramble the ball home on 19 minutes. Japan finished the first half with 62 percent of ball possesion and never reliquished their strangehold over the Swedes. They dominated the first-half-managing six shots on goal, with three on target, compared to Sweden’s one of each-and nearly scored in the opening minute of the second-half. Right wing Shinobu Ohno unleashed a long-range shot from well outside the penalty area, which beat Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, but clipped the crossbar as it went out. With Sweden failing to put any consistent pressure on the Japan goal, the Nadeshiko put the game beyond their reach with two goals in four minutes. Sawa, one of the stars of this tournament, headed home after a goal-mouth scramble on the hour mark, her fourth in five games here.

With the Swedish defence all at sea, the Japanese capitalised when midfielder Kozue Ando forced Hedvig into a hasty clearance kick and Kawasumi scored her second of the game when she lobbed her shot into an empty goal from 40 yards on 64 minutes. It was no more than Japan deserved having dominated the game, nullifying Sweden’s attack into just four shots on goal all game compared to the Japanese’s 14. In Sunday’s final in Frankfurt, Japan will face the Stars and Stripes following their 3-1 win over France earlier in Moenchengladbach.—AFP

Copa by invitation, were limited to a few counter-attacks, with Giovani Dos Santos their main threat in attack. The pattern was repeated in the second half and it was only in the final 20 minutes that Mexico turned up the heat.

They appeared to have equalized in the 89th minute through Rafael Marquez but his effort was ruled out for offside. The Uruguay-Argentina quarter-final pits the two most successful teams in the Copa America against one another. Both teams have won South America’s most prestigious competition 14 times apiece. —Reuters

US crush France 3-1

GERMANY: Japan goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori grabs the ball from Sweden’s Lotta Schelin (left) anJapan’s Saki Kumagai (center) during the semifinal match.—AP

GERMANY: Favorites the United States crushed France 3-1 to advance to the women’s World Cup final here yesterday.

Lauren Cheney (9), Abby Wambach (79), and Alex Morgan (82) kept the Americans’ bid for an unprecedented third World Cup title after 1991 and 1999 on track with Sonia Bompastor getting a goal back for France after 55 minutes. The reigning Olympic champions will next play Japan for the title in Frankfurt next Sunday. “I think France played very well. We lost our legs in the second half but then we picked it up,” said US coach Pia Sundhage. “Abby, she’s just the best. I’m very happy to have her in our team.” Wambach added: “I’m just so proud of this team.

Everyone believes in this team and we’re all working for each other. We had to play nearly perfect, they got a goal back on us but in the end we’re in the finals and that’s all that matters.”

France coach Bruno Bini lamented their missed chances. “We had a lot of chances and played a very good game except the first ten minutes,” said Bini. “We were as good as we could have been. It was very physical and we stood up to this. But they have a lot of experience. They know how to play at this level and that told today. I thought we could get back to 2-2 but at 3-1 it’s over.”

Despite the French having most chances at goal in the first half it was the United States who went into the locker room with the half-time advantage after Cheney picked up a Heather O’Reilly cross to tap effortlessly into goal after nine minutes.

France’s Louisa Necib had a minute earlier seen her strike go over the bar. A header from Carli Lloyd went over after 24 minutes, but thereafter France dominated but had little to show for their efforts. Camille Abily missed a chance to level on 28 minutes from a Bompastor cross but the Lyon midfielder’s half volley lacked power and was held by US goalie Hope Solo.

Solo, playing her 100th international, proved solid again a minute later as she caught a Necib effort, and it was then the turn of Bompastor to miss after 33 minutes when she picked up a Necib cross but her left footed shot rattled the crossbar. The US could have pulled further ahead five minutes before the break when Christie Rampone pushed forward to cross to Wambach at the far post with Wambach’s header across the goal just grazing the crossbar. But Bompastor grabbed the equaliser after 55 minutes as her pass flew past a waiting Gaetane Thiney in the box to curl in off the far post and into the net. But Wambach claimed the second after 79 minutes as she headed in a Cheney corner past Berangere Sapowicz, with the French goalkeeper left helpless again three minutes later as Rapinoe plays a little ball behind the defense for Morgan to send over the goalie.—AFP

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IMF names China’s Zhu as deputy MD

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BRUSSELS: Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos (right) is seen prior an ECOFIN Council at the European Union Headquarters in Brussels. Eurozone finance ministers vow to beef up a rescue mattress for troubled economies such as Greece as they battle to contain debt crisis contagion threatening to engulf Italy and Spain. — AFP

Moody’s cuts Ireland to junk Debt-laden country may need a second bailout NEW YORK: Moody’s has cut Ireland’s credit rating to junk, warning that the debt-laden country would likely need a second bailout-just the latest move amid heightening concerns about Europe’s ability to address its debt crisis and prevent it from spreading.

Moody’s move comes a week after it slashed Portugal to junk status with a similar warning about the need for a second round of rescue funds. It reflects the credit rating agency’s view that any further financial assistance from Brussels will require private investors to share part of the pain, possibly through a debt rollover or swap.

European finance ministers have acknowledged for the first time that some form of Greek default may be needed to cut Athens’ debts, and if that materializes, Ireland’s rating, never before in junk territory, could be set for a fur ther round of cuts.

Investors fear a Greece default could ripple through Europe’s banking system, putting pressure on stretched public finances in other euro zone

countries. Italy, the euro zone’s third largest economy, looks especially vulnerable with a debt-to-output ratio second only to Greece, and markets fear political bickering may derail a plan to slash spending and rein in the deficit. Moody’s one-notch downgrade on Ireland weighed on stocks and the euro, which hit its lowest level against the dollar in four months.

The Irish government, which wants to return to debt markets in 2013 when its current EU-IMF bailout runs out, offered a vexed response.

“This is a disappointing development and it is completely at odds with the recent views of other rating agencies,” the finance ministry said in a statement. “We are doing all that we can to put our house in order and the progress that we are making is there for all to see.”

Moody’s now rates Ireland Ba1, one notch below former financial market pariah Colombia and two notches below Brazil, and has kept a negative outlook, meaning further downgrades are likely in the next 12

to 18 months. Ireland’s rating is still one notch above Portugal and six above Greece. Both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings have Ireland at BBBplus, three notches above junk status, with S&P’s outlook stable and Fitch on outlook negative meaning it does not expect a downgrade in the shortterm. Moody’s move, however, will likely put pressure on the other ratings as the downgrade forces some investors to dump Irish bonds because they no longer enjoy a clean investment-grade sweep of the three major ratings agencies.

“It’s amazing to me that Ireland was still investment grade,” said Suvrat Prakash, interest rate strategist at BNP Paribas in New York. “A lot of people assume that these rating agencies tend to move with a lag so there could be more downgrades to come.” Ireland’s borrowing costs are already at levels once thought unimaginable, with five-year paper yielding over 15 percent on the secondary market and 10-year paper close to euro-era highs of 13.86 per-

cent. When Ireland agreed an 85 billion euros bailout package with the European Union and the International Monetar y Fund last November-a move designed to soothe market fears-its 10-year paper was yielding around 9.5 percent, a level viewed as shocking at the time.

Economic growth in the European region as a whole has been sluggish, as a number of nations have struggled with mounting debt costs and have had to pass harsh austerity plans that have slowed economic growth further, creating a vicious cycle where tax revenues drop, reducing their chances of repaying the debt even more. But the more investors fear that heavily indebted euro zone governments will be unable to repay their debts, the more the yields on their bonds rise, dragging down their value in banks’ balance sheets, erasing their capital, and increasing the need for yet more bank bailout’s by stronger euro zone governments. Unlike Greece, Ireland is meeting its bailout targets and Irish

News

tional rounds of liquidity support here, private-sector creditors participation will be required,” he said.

Ireland’s debt management agency said on Tuesday the country was fully funded until the end of 2013. Ireland has a financing requirement of nearly 34 billion euros over 2014 and 2015, based on estimated deficits and maturing debts.

Even before Moody’s downgrade, Finance Minister Michael Noonan admitted Dublin was at the mercy of the markets. “Ireland is a cork bobbing on a very turbulent ocean at present,” he told state broadcaster RTE on Tuesday.

Officials from the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank are expected to confirm Dublin is meeting all its bailout targets in their latest quarterly review, expected today. But Ireland’s weak domestic economy is hitting spending-related tax revenues, and Moody ’s warned that another downgrade would be considered if the government can’t meet its fiscal consolidation goals.— Reuters

Gold hits record high

in brief

Etihad revenues up 28% ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said yesterday that it posted $1.72 billion in revenues for the first half of 2011, up 28 percent on the same period of 2010, although it is not yet breaking even. Its revenues for the first half of last year were $1.342 billion, Etihad said in a statement, attributing the increase this year to “solid performances in both passenger and cargo activities.” “The results mark continued progress towards the airline’s goal of breaking even this year and moving into sustainable profitability in 2012,” the statement said. An Etihad spokesman declined to provide specific figures about the airline’s losses in the first half of 2011, saying that “that information is not available.” .

Zimbabwe banks to clean dirty dollars HARARE: Banks in Zimbabwe have urged the public to deposit money in their accounts, so that soiled, torn and defaced dollar bills can be exchanged for clean, new notes, a state daily reported yesterday. “Old notes continue to be in circulation because people are not banking money so that old notes can be repatriated and new ones are brought into circulation,” Bankers Association of Zimbabwe chairman John Mushayavanhu said, according to The Herald newspaper. “The notes can be exchanged free of charge.” The association’s call came following public complaints that some shops, buses and cell phone airtime vendors were refusing to accept torn or defaced US bills.

officials have felt frustrated at how their efforts have been swept aside by events in Athens. An agreement by the euro zone finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, late on Monday to cut the interest rate for countries borrowing from their rescue fund and an agreement to make the fund more flexible and extend its loan maturities was hailed by Dublin as helping it return to debt markets.

The finance ministry said Moody’s move appeared not to reflect the Eurogroup developments, but Moody’s analyst Dietmar Hornung said the risk of private sector participation in any future bailout meant investors would be put off lending fresh funds to Ireland.

Hornung, in an inter view with Reuters, warned over the risks even though Moody’s is confident the euro zone is “willing to continue to provide liquidity support for peripheral countries and give them time to achieve a sustainable financial position. “But at the same time we see a growing possibility that, as a precondition of addi-

HAVANA: A Cuban man transports a passenger on a ‘bike taxi’ in Havana. Farmers and urban private workers were the ones that earned the most in 2010 in Cuba, as their corresponding sectors grow due to Cuban President Raul Castro’s reforms. — AFP

LONDON: The price of gold surged to a record close to $1,580 an ounce yesterday, as investors switched into the metal for safety from the eurozone debt crisis, traders said. The price of gold reached $1,578.72 an ounce by mid-day on the London Bullion Market, beating the previous record of $1,577.57 set on May 1. It later stood at $1,573 an ounce in afternoon London trade. “Gold hit a new alltime high today as investors continue to fret over the European sovereign debt situation,” said analyst Ian O’Sullivan at trading firm Spread Co, noting that the metal has risen for eight days in a row. “With Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal worries intensifying and now the Fed minutes suggesting some members were thinking about the need for additional easing, investors have just hit the panic buy buttons this week.

“We think that gold may top out here for a while and pull back to $1,520-1,540, before an assault on the $1,600 level,” he added. EU governments are scrambling to fight debt contagion choking Italy and Spain, amid mounting sentiment that Greece could default on its debt despite a massive EU-IMF rescue. “The heightening of sovereign debt uncertainty in Europe has provided a boost to gold prices despite the seasonal weakness in demand,” said Barclays Capital analyst

Suki Cooper. Added to the mix, Moody’s rating agency unexpectedly slashed Irish government bonds to junk status on Tuesday, which sent borrowing costs to the highest levels since Ireland joined the eurozone. The International Monetary Fund and European Union rescued Ireland last year with an enormous emergency loan. Since then, fellow debt-laden eurozone nation Portugal has also been forced to seek an EU-IMF bailout, while Greece’s rescue has been deemed insufficient. “After Greece and Portugal, Ireland is now the third eurozone country whose government bonds have been assigned a “junk” rating by at least one rating agency,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note to clients. Gold won further support from better-than-expected second-quarter economic growth for Asian powerhouse China, which is a major consumer of commodities.

China said yesterday that its economy expanded at a slower but still robust pace in the second quarter as Beijing battles to bring politically sensitive inflation under control. Gross domestic product in the world’s number two economy grew 9.5 percent year-on-year in the April-June period, the National Bureau of Statistics said, as policymakers clamped down on bank lending to tame soaring prices. —AFP

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Agility launches freighter service from China to Lithuania HONG KONG: Agility, a leading global logistics provider, has introduced a scheduled freighter service that will directly connect key origins in China via Shanghai to Kaunas, Lithuania. With few freight options that cover this routing, the new service delivers stable and faster access, helping customers move goods from China into the rapidly growing markets of Northern Europe, the Nordics, Russia and the Baltics.

The freighter has a capacity of 107 tons and will initially operate on a weekly basis. Space is guaranteed. The new service allows Agility’s customers faster access to these markets with its Air Freight “Expedited” and “Premier” products on the route with reduced transit times of between one and four days, depending on destination.

The service forms part of a compre-

hensive logistics offering featuring additional supply chain solutions: pick-up

and warehousing in China, customs clearance in Kaunas and warehousing in

Lithuania. Together with its partner in Lithuania, Hoptrans, Agility provides freight for warding over land from Kaunas to a wide range of onward destinations including all major cities in the region. At the destination, customer options will include customs clearance, warehousing in bonded and non-bonded facilities. With a departure on Saturday morning from Shanghai and customs cut-off on Friday morning, this new service allows customers to load their cargo for delivery over the weekend, with many destinations receiving cargo on Monday. “Northern Europe, the Nordics, Russia and the Baltics all show increasing demand for air freight,” said Michael Blaufuss, Agility’s Senior Vice President of Air Freight. “With our own freighter ser vice, we are now uniquely positioned to offer end-to-end

supply chain solutions that offer reliability and speed on these important trade routes.”

John Klompers, Agility ’s Chief Commercial Officer added, “This new service underlines Agility’s commitment to our customers in fast developing markets. This service will help them build robust and reliable transportation links that in turn connect their customers and operations around the world.” As part of the service and for the first time, Agility is offering its Air Freight Expedited product to countries where it was previously unavailable, as well as its Air Freight Premier product. Air Freight Expedited is available to Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Finland, and the Air Freight Premier is available to Hungary, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine.

IMF names China’s Zhu as deputy MD Long-awaited recognition to China’s huge power WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund has named Chinese economist Zhu Min to a new deputy managing director’s position, giving longawaited recognition to China’s huge power in the global economy. The IMF also named White House aide David Lipton to the Fund’s number-two position, replacing outgoing first deputy managing director John Lipsky. They were the first appointments made by new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, who arrived last week promising a greater role for the world’s large emerging economies, currently underrepresented on the IMF board and management.

Zhu, 58, has been a special adviser to the IMF managing director since 2010. While the new deputy managing director position was created generally for an emerging economy representative, it was widely expected that someone from China, the world’s second-largest economy, would fill it. The former Chinese central banker “brings a wealth of experience in government, international policy making and financial markets, strong managerial and communi-

cation skills as well as an institutional understanding of the Fund, and I look forward to his counsel,” Lagarde said in a statement.

“He will play an important role in working with me and the rest of my management team in meeting the challenges facing our global membership in the period ahead, and in strengthening the Fund’s understanding of Asia and emerging markets more generally,” she added. Zhu was a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, and previous served in various positions at the Bank of China. The economist also worked six years at the World Bank, and has taught at Fudan University in China and Johns Hopkins in the United States.

Lipton, 57, President Barack Obama’s adviser on international economic affairs and a former IMF staffer, was named as first deputy managing director.

A gentleman’s agreement has allowed Europeans to keep the top position in the Fund since 1946, while an American has always been number two. Lagarde praised Lipton for his “international expertise, public sector policy making and private sector experience,

and a proven track record in economic crisis management.” He will start at the Fund at the end of this month, while Lipsky, who has been deeply involved in Europe’s debt talks as the IMF representative, will remain as a special adviser to Lagarde through November.

Both Lipton and Zhu have to be approved by the IMF board of directors, but that is seen as a formality.

Zhu’s appointment is likely to assuage some of the complaints that the IMF’s management team-the managing director and her now-four deputies-are overly dominated by the old and mature economiesthe United States, Europe, and Japan. There are two other deputy managing directors: Japan’s national Naoyuki Shinohara, and US-Britain-Egypt triplenational Nemat Shafik, appointed on April 11. The IMF is already implementing a plan to elevate the power of the largest emerging economies on the board-China, India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa, especially. Lagarde has pledged to pursue that plan, even though it will mean a reduction of the powerful voting power held by her European backers. — AFP

Gulf Bank credit card holders enjoy a rewarding vacation KUWAIT: Gulf Bank customers continue to make use of their cards to benefit from the Bank’s special summer promotion for credit card holders.

During this summer, all Gulf Bank credit card holders are eligible to enter a draw to win from an exciting range of prizes, and tens of thousands of customers have already taken advantage of the offer by using their credit cards rather than cash. Customers can earn up to 5% cash back on minimum purchases of KD500 when travelling abroad using their Gulf Bank credit card. They also get to win a month’s salary up to KD1,000, which will be credited to their card account, if they use their credit card 30 times between 1st June and 31st August.

Aly Shalaby, General Manager, Consumer Banking Group at Gulf Bank said: “At Gulf Bank, we believe that customer service is not only about excellent banking but also about providing our customers with opportunities. During

summer holidays abroad, and over the Holy Month of Ramadan, customers use their credit cards more than at any other time of the year and we want to reward them for this. Our unique summer promotion means customers benefit immediately by earning cash back on their international transactions, as well as getting a chance to win a month’s salar y.

Thousands of our customers have taken advantage of this great promotion and we hope they will continue to do so. It is good for customers and, of course, the increased business is very good and welcome news for retailers too.”

“At Gulf Bank, keeping our customers happy is our main priority and we hope this promotion will help to add further pleasure for all our customers during the holiday season.” he added. To find out more about Gulf Bank’s latest promotions, customers can visit the Bank’s bilingual website www.e-gulfbank.com. Customers can

KUWAIT: Haneen Al Rumaihi, head of marketing presenting the award to the winner.

Burgan Bank announces Al Thuraya Prize Winner Yawmi account to increase the chances of winning the Yawmi daily prize as well.” Burgan Bank’s Al Thuraya Account is the only salary account that offers chances to win cash prizes up to KD120,000 on a bi-annual basis, KD60,000 each. Opening an Al Thuraya account is simple, just visit your nearest Burgan Bank branch and get all the details. Or simply call our Call Center 1804080 and our executive will be more than happy to assist you. For further information visit www.burgan.com

KUWAIT: Burgan Bank yesterday announced Anil Kumar Balakrishna Pillai, a system engineer at Wataniya Telecoms, as the lucky winner of the bi-annual Al Thuraya Account draw. The winner proudly took home a handsome cashprize of KD60,000. Haneen Al Rumaihi, Head of marketing presented the award to the winner.

On this occasion, Anil Pillai said: “This is a very exciting moment for me. I have held the Al Thuraya account since 2004, and now, with KD60,000, I will invest them in the bank’s

Bank Muscat profit up 30%

also visit one of Gulf Bank’s 54 branches, or call the Customer Contact Center on 1805805 for assistance and guidance.

with 47 million rials for the same period last year, a statement posted on the Muscat bourse showed.

Impairment for credit losses in the first six months of the year rose to 25.7 million rials, compared with 20.7 million rials in the same period last year. In May, BofA Merrill Lynch upgraded Bank Muscat to “buy” from “neutral” and said loan growth will likely gain momentum this year and reach a sustainable 13 percent from 2012 onwards, driven by a pick-up in corporate credit activity. Loans and advances increased 11.5 percent during the first half, the lender said. Bank Muscat shares have fallen 11.6 percent year-to-date. — Reuters

DUBAI: Bank Muscat , Oman’s largest lender by market value, reported a 30-percent-increase in second-quarter net profit yesterday, beating analysts estimates. The lender made a net profit of 29.4 million rials ($76.36 million) for the three month period ending June 30, according to Reuters calculations. That compares with 22.6 million rials the lender reported in the prior-year period.

Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated an average second quarter profit of 28.7 million rials.

Reuters calculated the net profit figure based on the bank’s previous financial results. It posted a net profit of 57.2 million rials for the first half of the year, compared

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds 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

.2728710 .4350660 .3839020 .3287210 .2837230 .2910580 .0061660 .0024990 .0743210 .7240840 .3859560 .0727850 .7090320 .0063830 .0462500

.2781320 .4434530 .3913030 .3350580 .2891930 .2966690 .0062850 .0025470 .0757540 .7380430 .3933970 .0741880 .7227010 .0065060 .0471410

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2735500 .2771500 .4361480 .4418880 .3848570 .3899220 .3295390 .3338750 .2844290 .2881730 .0516030 .0522830 .0417750 .0423250 .2917820 .2956220 .0351110 .0355730 .2235800 .2265220 .0034520 .0034970 .0000000 .0062630 .0000000 .0025380 .0000000 .0032420 .0000000 .0037350 .0745060 .0754870 .7258860 .7354390 .0000000 .3920080 .0729660 .0739260 .7107960 .7201510 .0000000 .0064830

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.483 6.175 3.208 2.515 3.879 225.530 35.426 3.687

Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

6.390 9.080 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 73.643 75.880 717.290 733.490 75.197

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 48.800 46.344 1.264 199.170 389.980 184.000 5.962 35.166

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 275.050 Euro 387.570 Sterling Pound 439.470 Canadian dollar 286.510 Turkish lire 167.100 Swiss Franc 332.430 Australian dollar 292.810 US Dollar Buying 273.650 GOLD 286.000 145.000 75.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL CASH 296.400 732.850 3.930 289.500 541.300 36.600 54.600 167.800 48.330 390.000 36.100 6.440

0.033 0.240 0.240 3.560 391.210 0.186 94.590 47.500 4.320 230.400 1.868 52.800 715.740 3.310 6.600 76.230 73.570 226.910 43.000 2.650 443.000 45.200 335.200 5.600 9.470 198.263 75.130 275.900 1.200

10 Tola

GOLD 1,616.780

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees

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

SELL DRAFT 294.900 732.850 3.690 288.000

226.900 46.355 386.500 35.950 6.180

0.033

389.470 0.185 94.590 3.880 228.900 715.560 3.220 6.405 75.800 73.570 226.910 43.000 2.512 441.000 333.700 5.600 9.290 75.030 275.500

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 441.000 275.500

6.206 3.208 3.691 6.427 674.303 3.508 9.183 5.780 3.959 91.311

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 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) 275.500 3.220 6.190 2.530 3.690 6.435 75.095 73.670 732.400 46.285 443.600 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 391.400 5.750 391.300 292.900

Al Mulla Exchange

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees

Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Selling Rate 274.900 288.830 442.735 394.710 328.760 728.146 74.821 75.458 73.270 386.953 46.176 2.503

Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 275.150 389.300 441.800 287.900 3.490 6.182 46.185 2.511 3.675 6.386 3.209 732.850 74.950 73.500

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BUSINESS

S Africa manufacturing sector ‘needs help’ Inflows likely to remain volatile; Rand in check JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s government needs to do more to support the country’s vital manufacturing sector, which is only “coping” with the pressures it is under, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said yesterday.

Manufacturing accounts for 16 percent of output in Africa’s largest economy and its weakness does not augur well for second quarter growth figures, backing the case for the Reserve Bank to delay monetary tightening into 2012. “Over the past 6-9 months it (manufacturing) has risen, but it faces many pressures,” Gordhan told reporters in Johannesburg. “ They seem to be coping but government

needs to do more to support it.”

Output growth quickened less than expected in May in volume terms to 0.6 percent year-on-year from 0.2 percent in April, suggesting economic growth may have slowed in the second quarter from 4.8 percent in the first quarter. The Reserve Bank has left interest rates at 30-year lows this year, loathe to raise them and strangle a weak recovery after 2009’s recession.

Gordhan said the main challenges for the sector stemmed from the strength of the rand and the impact of the eurozone debt crisis on European economic growth.

One third of South Africa’s exports

are to Europe and policymakers have said the uncertainty of that region’s growth is the main risk to the government’s growth forecast of 3.4 percent this year. With about a quarter of the labor force jobless, South Africa’s high unemployment rate has contributed to an increased number of violent protests and strikes this year. The government has said the economy needs to grow by 7 percent a year to make a meaningful dent on unemployment and any delay to double growth rates will fuel instability, putting pressure on the ruling African National Congress to adopt populist economic policies.

So far, the government has not

buckled to leftists demands, which include strong intervention to weaken the rand, which they say will support the manufacturing sector. The government has undertaken a range of interventions, including buying dollars and relaxing exchange control regulations, as it has sought to rein in its volatile rand, one of the most traded emerging market currencies. Gordhan has previously dismissed stronger intervention to weaken the currency and yesterday said government measures have worked.

“Since the start of 2011, the rand has weakened by 6.4 percent against a trade-weighted basket of currencies

and by 2.6 percent versus the dollar,” Gordhan said in response to written questions in parliament. “This suggests policy measures implemented thus far have helped to prevent further nominal appreciation,” Gordhan said. He added capital inflows, the main driver of the rand in the past two years, were likely to remain volatile given Greece’s debt crisis and the uncertain outlook for the United States. The rand has firmed by more than seven percent against the dollar and the euro since the beginning of last year. Many analyst expect it to remain resilient, softening to about 6.9750 in the next six months. —Reuters

Philippines to export 200,000 tons of sugar US quota allocation raised by 18,824 tons

Qatar Airways increases Kuwait-Doha services KUWAIT: In a move to provide passengers with more flexible travel options, Qatar Airways has launched an additional daily flight between Kuwait and Doha. Qatar Airways, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, now operates five flights daily between Kuwait City and the airline’s Doha hub taking it up to 35 weekly services. The new daily flight QR135 departs Kuwait at 1745 hrs (local), arriving in Doha at 1900 hours (local) every day.

The additional capacity has been introduced to provide added convenience for both business and leisure travelers.

Passengers now have better connections across key business and leisure destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “We are committed to offering our customers the best travel experience and now customers in Kuwait have even more convenient access to our network of over 100 global destinations. We have experienced spectacular customer response in the past year in Kuwait and thanks to our excellent connections, our passenger growth crossing through our Doha hub has seen exponential growth annually.

“Similarly, passengers from across our international network now have a greater choice of flights to Kuwait via our Doha

hub.” “As part of our growth strategy, we will continue to step up frequency on existing routes, which is a strong lever to facilitate development in the business and tourism sectors,” added Al Baker. Over the last six months, Qatar Airways has added eight new routes to its burgeoning global network - Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium), Stuttgart (Germany), Aleppo (Syria), Shiraz (Iran), Venice (Italy) and Montreal (Canada).

During the second half of 2011, Qatar Airways expands in Saudi Arabia with its fourth gateway to the holy city of Medina, operating four weekly flights starting from July 14; daily to Kolkata (Calcutta) from July 27; Bulgarian capital Sofia on September 14; Norwegian capital Oslo from October 5; Entebbe in Uganda from November 2; Azerbaijan capital, Baku on November 30; and the Georgian capital Tbilisi, also on November 30. Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 98 aircraft from its Doha hub to over 100 key business and leisure cities across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, North America and South America and Australia. In June 2011, Qatar Airways achieved a remarkable feat, just 14 years after its relaunch, being named Airline of the Year 2011 in the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards with over 18 million travelers worldwide casting their votes.

Joyalukkas awarded ‘Superbrand’ again DUBAI: Joyalukkas, the world’s favorite jeweler has yet again been awarded the distinction of being a ‘Superbrand’ in the UAE. The jewelry retailer was also awarded this status in the year 2010. The announcement was made at the prestigious Superbrands Tribute Event, a high profile, premier marketing occasion attended by the media and peers alike. The award was accepted jointly by Joy Alukkas, Chairman & John Paul Joy Alukkas, Executive Director of the Joyalukkas Group. The brand will also once again be featured in the 2011 edition of the Superbrands UAE book.

The Superbrands organization is acclaimed worldwide as being an independent authority and arbiter of branding excellence and is committed to paying tribute to exceptional brands and promoting the discipline of branding. Only brands that achieve the level of recognition set by the independent Superbrands Council are eligible for inclusion in the Superbrands UAE book, which traces the history and achievements of each of the brands. “‘It’s an honor to receive Superbrand status two years in a row. This means all our efforts to delight our customers and to build the image of Brand Joyalukkas is working. I would like to dedicate this award to our valued customers and the Joyalukkas team.

Our customer for their loyalty, support and blessings and the Joyalukkas team for their sincere and hard work in making Joyalukkas one of the most preferred destination for jewelry,” said Joy Alukkas, Chairman, Joyalukkas Group. From its inception with a single jewelry showroom to its current stature of a $1 billion plus

global conglomerate, Joyalukkas has revolutionized the jewelr y retail industr y through innovative schemes as well as a unique business model. In the short span of 2 decades, Joyalukkas has transformed the way the world looks at jewelry and made itself a household name.

For years, Joyalukkas has set the benchmark in jewelry, by offering the customers a wide range of contemporary and ethnic jewelry, as well as a variety of gold, diamond, precious stone, platinum and pearl jewelry under the Joyalukkas umbrella.

John Paul Joy Alukkas, Executive Director of Joyalukkas Group said “We are a customer focused brand, because our existence and success is completely based on our valued customers. At Joyalukkas we spend every moment exploring new and innovative ways to delight our customers in every aspect of jewelry shopping.

We have been voted Superbrand for 2 years in a row thanks to our customers trust and support. We also take this opportunity to thank the Superbrand Council and the judges for this powerful endorsement for Brand Joyalukkas.” The global retail jewelry chain has showrooms across 8 countries around the world. Joyalukkas recently opened their first showroom in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia which has received a phenomenal response for jewelry customers there. Joyalukkas is also the first jeweler to be awarded the ISO 9001: 2008 and 140001:2004 certifications. Other than this Joyalukkas has won the Retailer of the year from Retail ME and has been recognized under the Dubai Quality Appreciations Program.

MANILA: The Philippines says it can export up to 200,000 tons of raw sugar this year on top of its US quota commitments, but it may not have a lasting impact on global prices as the shipments will only partly offset expected crop losses in Brazil.

The Southeast Asian country would start selling raw sugar this month to Japan and Indonesia, with committed shipments of 35,892 tons, Rosemarie Gumera, manager at the policy and planning unit of the state agency Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said.

The exports will be the Philippines’ first to markets other than the United States since the 2007/2008 crop year, made possible by an expected three-year high in domestic output. The initial reaction was to dampen strong Asian prices, with premiums for J-spec Thai raw sugar dropping to 180 points above New York futures from 500 points last week after the Philippines began selling its sweetener, dealers said. But the Philippines’ exports alone may not have much of a global impact, as the market is worried about the magnitude of output decline in Brazil, the world’s No.1 sugar producer. “(The volume) certainly is not to be sneezed at-a couple of hundred thousand tons-but it’s not, in my view, going to be something that will fundamentally change the course of the market,” said Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “It’s likely to be

dwarfed by the production and export losses that are being experienced in Brazil.” The international sugar market is awaiting a forecast on centre-south output from Brazilian cane industry group Unica, due for release yesterday and looks certain to be cut from the previous estimate in March.

For the Philippines, sugar exports will also prevent domestic prices from further declining, easing the pain of local producers still reeling from the dramatic drop in prices from record highs hit in late 2010. “A total of 35,892 tons are ready for shipment and the destinations are Japan and Indonesia.

That’s already a commitment,” Gumera said. “But most probably we can sell as much as 200,000 tons this year.” Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest sugar consumer. On Tuesday, the Philippine government announced the country’s quota allocation to the US in the current crop year ending August was raised by 18,824 tons

to 212,509 tons, the second increase in the quota this year.

“Certainly the announcement by the Philippines of more than 35,000 tons of exports does signal that the market is at levels which are attractive for sellers,” Mathews said.

BUMPER HARVEST The Philippines’ sugar output in 2010/11 (Sept-Aug) has outpaced annual demand of 2.2 million tons, with production at 2.36 million tons as of June 26, SRA data showed. “We estimate total output this crop year to reach 2.4 million tons,” said Archimedes Amarra, executive director of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association and SRA board director. That would be the highest since crop year 2007/08 when the Philippines’ output reached 2.455 million tons. Amarra said producers wanted deals with other potential buyers such as China-the world’s third-largest sugar consumer — Malaysia, and

South Korea, and big buyers outside Asia. SRA officials said there was a chance the Philippines may sell sugar to countries in the Middle East. The Philippines had in the past exported sugar to the United Arab Emirates.

Amarra said it was “a little difficult to find a market” for Philippine sugar these days given the huge supplies available from major exporters. “We are competing with Thailand which has a bumper harvest and is aggressive in marketing,” Amarra said. Thailand, the world’s second-biggest exporter after Brazil, has a record 9.62 million tons of sugar in the current 2010/11 crop, of which around 7.0 million tons were expected to be available for export in 2011, also a record high. Brazil is expected to add new sugar milling capacity slowly, in part due to high costs, signaling tightness in the sugar market in the medium term, a senior Rabobank analyst said on Tuesday. —Reuters

Nokia showcases new products KUWAIT: Nokia yesterday hosted an event in Kuwait to share with the assembled Kuwaiti media its overall business and product strategy for the coming 12 months, as well as showcasing some of its latest handsets including N9, E6 and C2 series and discussing their individual features and relevance to Nokia’s differing customers types.

Heralding a new strategy From smartphones to mobile phones, from services to user inter face design, and from improved device experiences to developer tools, Nokia has concrete actions for growth and taking leadership across the board.

Innovation is at the heart of our strategy, particularly with our recent par tnership with Microsoft that will create marketleading mobile products and services designed to offer consumers, operators and developers unrivalled choice and opportunity.

Tom Farrell, General Manager, Nokia Lower Gulf who spoke at the event, said; “The purpose of today’s event is to underline our commitment and dedication to the Kuwaiti market by discussing our new strategy and introducing our latest products that are at the cutting edge of handset technology and usability. We are very grateful to our distributor in Kuwait, Future Communications Company who ensure that our customers are able to experience

all that Nokia has to offer in the best way possible.”

Swipe launches on N9 The N9, Nokia’s latest smartphone announced in Singapore late last month, introduces an innovative new design where

the home key is replaced by a simple gesture: a swipe. With this innovation, there is no need for a home button, meaning the screen is all-encompassing. The three home views of the user interface are designed to give fast access to the most important things people do with a phone: using apps, staying up to date with notifications and social networks, and switching

between activities. The Nokia N9 also packs the latest in camera, navigation and audio technology for a great all-round experience while the details that make the Nokia N9 unique - the industrial design, the all-screen user experience, and the expressive

Qt framework for developers will evolve in future Nokia products. The Nokia N9 will be on sale in Lower Gulf in early 4th quarter of 2011.

Touch and Type with E6 Nokia have developed the E6 to become the essential smart device for anyone looking for seamless on the go social connectivity and engagement. The

Nokia E6 also brings a unique touch and type user experience that was designed to help satisfy the different interactivity demands of the most social users, while the new Symbian Anna platform offers a host of usability enhancements, including fresh, new icons, improved text input, easier and faster internet browsing experience. The Nokia E6 is now available throughout the Lower Gulf.

Affordability without compromise Nokia also added to its affordable phone portfolio with the launch of three new devices - the Nokia C2-02, Nokia C2-03 and Nokia C2-06. All three offer a web, maps and messaging experience second to none in the market. Combined with the choice of a touch screen or a keypad, Nokia has really made everything available and easy to use in an affordable phone that comes in both Dual or single SIM options. Salah Al Awadhi, CEO of Futire Communications Company said:” We are very proud to be joined by Tom Farrell and Nokia here in Kuwait. Our partnership with Nokia is a great example of how the right products and the right strategy can help benefit our consumers’ right here in Kuwait. We are extremely confident that working closely together with Nokia will help generate great results in Kuwait and the wider Lower Gulf as a whole.”

Toyota to merge units in face of strong yen TOKYO: Japanese automaker Toyota said yesterday it would merge car making subsidiaries in northeast Japan to boost productivity in the face of a strong yen that is eroding its profitability. Toyota said it would turn subsidiaries Toyota Auto Body and Kanto Auto works into 100 percent-owned units through share exchanges by January 2012, with both becoming more involved in vehicle development and production.

In addition, Kanto Auto, Central Motor and Toyota Motor Tohoku will begin discussions with Toyota for the units to be converted into wholly-owned subsidiaries by July 2012. By integrating the three, Toyota will create a large manufacturing centre for

the Tohuku region in Japan’s northeast, its third in Japan following bases in central Chubu and Kyushu in the southwest. “The environment surrounding the Japanese manufacturing sector is tough,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda told a press conference.

“We would like to implement what we can now for the future. Toyota believes the latest move will raise the company’s global competitiveness”. The recent strength of the yen has raised fears that more Japanese manufacturing will be shifted abroad. The strong domestic unit erodes the overseas earnings of Japan’s exporters when repatriated. However, Toyoda pledged: “Toyota is determined to maintain (annual) domestic production of three million automobiles,”

or roughly half of the automaker’s total. Last month Toyota said it expected net profit in this fiscal year to drop 31 percent on-year on a strong yen and the effect on production of the March 11 disasters.

The Japanese unit is currently trading below 80 to the dollar, having hit a post-War high of 76.25 in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake. Recent sessions have seen it surge on safe-haven demand as a deepening debt crisis sweeps through eurozone nations. “Toyota finds it very hard at the current currency levels. We can manage up to levels at 85 yen for the dollar. Toyota is making utmost efforts to compete at 80 yen for the dollar,” vice president Atsushi Niimi said. —AFP

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BUSINESS

KSE rebounds strongly KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange rebounded strongly yesterday, ending the day in a positive note, and staging a session of broad-based advance. Seven out of the eight sectors indices managed to eke out some gains and all market indices posted some gains during the session. Investor sentiments were fueled by optimism on corporate earnings for the 1H2011.

GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT

Market Indices Global General Index (GGI) ended the day up by 0.63 percent, at 191.59 point. Market Capitalization was also up for the day reaching KD31.32bn. On the other hand, KSE Price Index closed at 6,175.9 point, adding 10.90 points (0.18 percent) from its previous close.

Market Breadth During the session, 86 companies were traded.

Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 31 equities advanced versus 21 that retreated.

Daily Trading Activity Trading activity was mixed this session. Total volume traded was up by 0.90 percent with 60.36mn shares changing hands at a total value of KD11.65mn (27.83 percent lower compared to the day before). The real estate sector was the volume leader yesterday, accounting for 51.33 percent of total shares. The same sector was the value leader, with 42.23 percent of total traded value. Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co was the most active in terms of values traded during yesterday session, with 10.80mn shares exchanged at an aggregate value of KD3.69mn.

Top Gainers and Biggest Decliners In terms of top gainers, Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co. took the top spot for the day, adding 7.35 percent and closed at KD0.730. On the other hand, Munshaat Real Estate Projects Co shed 33.33 percent and closed at KD0.030, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sectors- Wise Global Food Index was the biggest gainer among other indices by rising 1.07 percent. On the other hand, Global Investment Index, the only loser in the session, shed slightly by 0.04 percent. Global Banking Index had two advancers and one decliner. After NBK announcing KD146.6mn 1H2011 profits, the bank stock price rose to KD1.160, that is 1.75 percent. This increase came despite the bank’s announcement of a below expectation 2Q11 results. The second advanced bank was Ahli United Bank that went up by 2.27 percent with a stock price of KD0.900. The only decliner was Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait, it went down by 1.49 percent to settle on KD0.660. In our snapshot on NBK results; the bank posted a negative surprise in 2Q11 missing our KD82.2mn expectations on account of high provisions. Since NPL ratio declined (by 8bps), coverage increased (by 188bps) and loans

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

declined (by 60bps) in 2Q11 from the previous quarter, it is safe to assume that absolute NPLs saw reduction during the quarter over 1Q11. This leads us to the next conclusion that provisions taken are voluntary in nature. This was confirmed by our short discussion with the management which stated that these provisions were mostly from the corporate segment and belonged to accounts that had shown certain weakness but were still performing.

Our doubts whether these provisions belonged to Egypt operations were assuaged when segmental NOI and profits from International Operations did not show any supporting evidence. Noteworthy, profits from corporate banking and Group Centre (treasury, investments and associates in Kuwait) dropped by KD5mn and KD12mn, respectively as compared to 1Q11, which could hint at where the excessive provisions emanate from. The bank managed to maintain net interest income growth by further reducing its cost of funds, while overall pre-provision performance (total income) remained healthy driven by higher investment income.

NBK seems to have shed-off (customer withdrawal is another possibility) a large portion of the deposits that were collated in 1Q11 (12%YTD growth on account of the Amiri grant) which has toned down deposit growth to just 1.7%YTD. We await further management discussion to shed some light on what

to expect in upcoming quarters. In the service sector, companies had mixed performances but the overall sector index went up supported by the incline of Zain.

The company’s scrip went up by 2 percent and closed at KD1.020. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that although Oula Fuel Marketing announced semi-annual profits of KD0.870mn, the company’s share went down by 1.59 percent. The share price settled at KD0.310. Volume and value leader of the session, the real estate sector, ended the session with a positive performance. The real estate companies varied between advancers and decliners, but the domination was for the advanced companies. Mabanee Company affected the sector by rising 1.18 percent to close at KD0.860. Also Pearl of Kuwait had a notable positive performance of 6.67 percent. On the other hand, Munshaat Real Estate Projects Company was the biggest decliner in the market with its share price shedding 33.33 percent to close at KD0.030.

Oil News The price of Kuwaiti crude oil decreased $0.85 to reach $108.46pb on Tuesday, compared to $109.04pb the day before, said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) yesterday. The decrease of crude prices for the second day are due to the increasing fears of debt crisis in Europe, which might be effecting Italy, the third largest economy in Europe.

Oil slips on debt worry LONDON: Brent crude retreated yesterday, as European debt concerns kept investors cautious, though supportive data from China and a forecast of strong demand growth from the I nternational Energy Agency kept losses slim.

Brent for August delivery was down 73 cents at $117.02 a barrel by 1222 GMT after falling as much as 86 cents to $116.89, under pressure from an industry report showing a surprise gain in US crude inventories and a downgrade of Ireland’s credit rating.

It is still around $15 higher than a low since February it reached soon after the IEA’s announcement on June 23 that it would release 60 million barrels of oil. US crude fell 37 cents to $97.06, after touching a low of $96.53 earlier in the day.

European debt worries also kept energy prices in check. Moody’s cut Ireland’s credit rating to junk on Tuesday, warning that the debtladen country would likely need a second bailout. There are growing concerns about Europe’s ability to address its debt crisis and stop it from spreading. Euro zone plans for a leaders’ summit on a second Greek rescue were thrown into doubt by Germany yesterday, raising fears markets may exploit the policy vacuum with a new onslaught on the bloc’s high debtors.

The IEA, the West’s energy watchdog, predicted global oil demand would rise next year to a hefty 91 million barrels per day (bpd), outpacing a more conservative prediction by OPEC. China’s second-quarter gross domestic product rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier, exceeding economists’ forecasts for 9.4 percent growth. The country’s implied oil demand in June rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier, the slowest growth rate since April 2009. “There was no big surprise from the IEA data, that was why the reaction was muted, and the data from China has decreased anxiety that there might

be a sharp slowdown there which is supporting prices where they are,” Helen Henton, head of commodity research at Standard Chartered said.

In its first 2012 forecast in a monthly report, the IEA said demand would grow by 1.47 million bpd, slightly lower than a forecast from the United States Energy Information Administration, but more than expected by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Government statistics from the Energy Information Administration will follow on Wednesday at 1430 GMT. Technical analysts think there is scope for crude to retreat fairly sharply in the next week or two. “I think that (Brent) will peak around $120, the highs in March and June, this week or next and retreat back down to increasingly important support around $106.00,” Nicole Elliott, technical analyst at Mizuho Corporate Bank said.

MIXED BAG Unlike the IEA, which forecast increased demand growth in 2012, the US Energy Information Administration saw a deepening European debt crisis and slowing economic growth in China prompting reductions in forecasts for growth in global oil consumption.

Demand will grow less than previously forecast this year and in 2012 due to a more moderate economic recovery and higher fuel prices, the top U.S. energy forecasting agency said on Tuesday. In its new monthly outlook, the EIA cut its forecast for 2011 world oil demand growth by 270,000 bpd to a 1.43 million-bpd increase this year. Oil demand in 2012 will rise 1.58 million bpd, about 10,000 bpd lower than it forecast last month. The forecast came after OPEC also said world oil demand would grow more slowly in 2012 because of a fragile global economy and deepening decline in consumption in Europe. — Reuters

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BUSINESS

Italy rushes belt-tightening after IMF pressure ROME: Italy scrambled to shore up sagging confidence on financial markets yesterday with the economy minister promising a reinforced budget austerity plan would be adopted in parliament this week. After rushing back to Rome from crucial talks with his EU counterparts in Brussels, Giulio Tremonti said a draft four-year plan of 40 billion euros (56 billion dollars) adopted last month would be expanded further. “The decree for budget balance will be reinforced over all four years. It will be approved by tomorrow,” Tremonti said in a speech, after the International Monetary Fund added further pressure by calling for its rapid adoption.

“We have to do more and we will do more in the coming hours,” he said. The Milan stock exchange was up 1.29 percent after Tremonti’s comments. Italy, which has one of the highest public debt levels in the world and one of the lowest growth rates in Europe, has become a new pressure point in the eurozone debt crisis in recent days with sharp falls in stocks and bonds.

Tremonti also promised incentives for local administrations to sell off their stakes in public utilities to drum up revenue and said regulation would be eased in order to allow privatizations to proceed “much more quickly.”

The upper house of parliament is expected to adopt the austerity budget on Thursday and the lower house is to give its go-ahead tomorrow-a remarkably quick turnaround time for Italy that underscores the gravity of the crisis. The final vote is expected at 1700 GMT tomorrow, parliament chiefs said. The austerity plan includes a drastic reduction in government subsidies for regional administrations, a reform of the pension system as well as the continuation of a freeze on public sector salaries and hirings from last year.

The IMF on Tuesday urged Rome to be decisive on cutting its deficit. It said Italy needs to “rationalize” expenditures-to set better priorities and make cuts-even as growth has plummeted to a stagnant 0.1 percent per quarter on the

back of low domestic demand and rising unemployment. In its periodic review of the Italian economy, the IMF board called the government’s recent medium-term fiscal plan “an important step” toward cutting its deficit to below 3 percent of GDP by 2012 and almost zero by 2014. But it suggested there was little room for error given the testiness of markets for eurozone debt. “The main downside risk comes from market turmoil in the euro area periphery,” the IMF said. “Another decade of stagnation also poses a major risk,” it added.

Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore warned that only “radical and credible” budget austerity measures would be acceptable by the markets.

“Draconian interventions are needed to revive growth and to change the resignation in which the country is living,” the paper said in an editorial, adding: “The best young people go abroad because they see no future in Italy.” Central bank governor Mario Draghi, who is set to take over at the European Central Bank later this year, mean-

while called for more spending cuts in the austerity plan warning that failure to do so could increase taxes. “If more spending is not reduced... it means tax will have to be increased,” Draghi said, emphasizing that the measures had to be outlined “very rapidly.”

The future ECB chief also said that the solvency of eurozone states “is no longer to be taken for granted” but has to be earned through economic growth. “The cost of credit now reflects this new condition: it is higher for countries with low growth and weaker public finances,” he said. “The credibility credit given by stronger eurozone countries has expired. We have to grow without relying on it. Those structural reforms we have been calling for years are now even more essential,” he added. Draghi also emphasized there was “no alternative to credible fiscal consolidation in any country” and said it was “essential” that bailed-out Greece, Ireland and Portugal continue their programs of reform. — AFP

Marks & Spencer bucks UK retail gloom with sales rise Shares down 2.8 percent

BEIJING: Workers move piping at a construction site in Beijing yesterday. China’s rapid economic growth slowed in the latest quarter to a still robust 9.5 percent, easing fears of an abrupt slowdown and giving Beijing room to tighten controls to fight surging inflation. — AP

Wall Street rises on China growth Equities rebound after three days of losses NEW YORK: Wall Street rose after three days of losses yesterday on stronger-thanexpected growth in China, but investors closely watched developments in Europe’s debt crisis that has weighed stocks recently. Testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shortly after the market opens will also be scrutinized for hints of possible new stimulus measures after June’s dismal US employment report.

The testimony to the House Financial Services Committee will begin at 10 am.

Optimism about the global economy gathered pace after data showed China’s economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, easing fears about a hard landing in the world’s second-largest economy.

John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston, said the Chinese data was a “Goldilocks scenario where it’s slowing but not slowing enough to cause a crash.” But he said sovereign debt issues in Europe and the debate over the US budget were wild cards for markets. “We are positioned defensively but not bearishly,” he

said. “We have more cash than we would have otherwise. We have hedges on against the S&P’s declining. We have a short euro bet on.” The Dow Jones industrial average gained 63.42 points, or 0.51 percent, to 12,510.30. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 7.53 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,321.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 22.19 points, or 0.80 percent, to 2,804.10.

Investors remained cautious over developments in Europe. Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s debt to junk on Tuesday and said Ireland was likely to follow Greece in needing a second bailout. Irish bond yields jumped to record highs. US stocks closed lower for a third straight day on Tuesday as Europe’s fiscal woes and a weak start to tech earnings gave investors little reason to buy. Electronic Arts Inc, the video game publisher, is buying PopCap Games in a deal worth up to $1.3 billion as it tries to ramp up its social and casual games portfolio and better compete with Zynga Inc. The company’s shares fell 2.8 percent to $23.49. — Reuters

LONDON: Marks & Spencer bucked the gloom in British retail, posting a seventh consecutive quarterly rise in underlying sales as its older and more affluent customers, coping better with a squeeze in disposable incomes, warmed to new products. Marc Bolland, chief executive of Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket foods, said yesterday British consumer confidence, although low, had not deteriorated over the past two months.

“What we are seeing is that people are keen to protect their summer holidays and therefore are reducing their spend in some areas, they are cutting back on dining out,” he said.

This was playing to M&S’s strengths in premium food, where 500 new products were launched during its fiscal first quarter, including a new Italian range and more healthy eating options. M&S said in a trading update ahead of its annual shareholder meeting that sales at British stores open over a year, excluding VAT sales tax, rose 1.7 percent in the 13 weeks to July 2. That compared with forecasts for a rise of 1-2 percent, according to a company poll and a fourth-quarter rise of 0.1 percent. Like-for-like general merchandise sales, spanning clothing, footwear and homewares, were flat, while food sales were up 3.3 percent.

“M&S has delivered a good performance in challenging conditions,” said Bolland, whose strategy is focused on product innovation, as

well as expanding online and abroad. He is also working to improve stores, marketing, logistics and technology. “For us, we bring out new things but we bring innovation out with a very strong price as well, the combination of those works very well for us,” he said. M&S said it had won 0.2 percentage point of market share in clothing, marking 17 consecutive months of gains, and 0.1 point in food.

The 127-year-old group, which serves 21 million Britons a week from around 700 stores and has over 350, mainly franchised, stores overseas, said its guidance for 2011/12 was unchanged, even though it, like rivals such as Debenhams , started its summer sale early. “We just followed the market but we were certainly not the first one in (a sale), we were one of the last ones in,” said Bolland. The first quarter included a strong April when trade was boosted by warm Easter weather and spending ahead of the Royal Wedding, a more subdued May and a June boosted by the sale, which started two weeks earlier than last year.

M&S shares were down 2.8 percent at 362.5 pence at 1120 GMT, valuing the business at about 5.7 billion pounds ($9 billion). They are below the 400 pence level of British retail billionaire Philip Green’s indicative takeover proposal in 2004. Yesterday’s fall followed a strong performance by the stock on Tuesday and reflected disappointment the company had not per-

UK’s jobless claims show biggest jump

Eurozone mulls crisis summit amid contagion and confusion BRUSSELS: Eurozone leaders mulled convening a crisis summit in coming days as global pressure mounted for a swift and solid response from Europe to stop debt contagion devastating prime economies Italy and Spain. Ratings agency Moody’s meanwhile cut Ireland’s bonds to junk status and warned of further downgrades as the eurozone economy struggles to pull out of a financial crisis. As the debt crisis blazed a trail of market damage worldwide, sapping confidence in the euro, finance ministers from the 17-nation eurozone had a sharp wakeup call from former colleague Christine Lagarde, new head of the IMF. She welcomed their vows the previous day to shore up eurozone stability, but added “we look forward to the prompt implementation of the important measures outlined.”

Ministers pledged after marathon eighthour talks late Monday to strengthen the size and scope of a multi-billion-euro fund set up in the aftermath of Greece’s May 2010 rescue. The fund could help buy back Greece’s mountain of debt, enabling the country to borrow at better rates on the markets, EU officials said. It could also buy debt on the secondary market, relieving Greece’s debt mountain. But a pledge to speed up efforts to craft a bailout for Athens expected to be almost as big as a 110-billioneuro rescue last year failed to hold the line on financial markets, with stocks and the euro tumbling and borrowing costs for Italy and Spain at euro-era peaks.

In Brussels, diplomats said “a meeting of eurozone leaders is under consideration,” while European Union president Herman Van Rompuy said in Madrid that a summit “has not been excluded”. Meanwhile, splits remained over the critical issue of private investors shouldering part of the cost of a second rescue, which rating agencies say would trigger a default rating, and which the European Central Bank says would lead it to cut off Greek banks.

Greece said it would not accept any form of default, and Spain strongly attacked the way the whole issue had been raised, saying it was

not settled yet, despite reassuring statements from the eurozone overnight on Monday. “We want total coverage of our borrowing requirements and for the stability of the Greek financial system,” said Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos. There is concern too about the impact of any default rating on European banks which hold sovereign debt, and the European Commission said it would support any EU banks failing stress tests on Friday.

As market turmoil continued for a second day, Van Rompuy told a news conference: “Let me be very clear that there is a very strong commitment at the highest level to do whatever is necessary to safeguard the financial stability of the euro area.” But Moody’s Investors Service said it had reduced Ireland’s government debt ratings by one notch, to Ba1 from Baa3, saying there was a “growing possibility” that the country will need more bailout aid in late 2013 when the current European Union-International Monetary Fund support program ends.

Moody’s also cited the “increasing possibility” that private sector holders of Irish debt will have to take part in any talks on a second rescue program “in line with recent European Union government proposals.”“The outlook on the ratings remains negative,” the US-based international firm said. The row over bringing banks and other private creditors to bear a share in a Greek bailout to ease the European taxpayer’s burden has rumbled for week. This approach, opposed by the ECB, is favored by northern governments such as Germany, The Netherlands and Finland.

Europe’s member states “must start speaking with one voice,” said analyst Sony Kapoor, managing director of think-tank Re-Define. “Every new crisis headline fuels a further deterioration of the crisis and triggers more contagion.” Among proposals released by the ministers overnight on Monday was a strengthening of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), the safety net which has a current lending capacity of 440 billion euros ($609 billion). This would be hard put to fly to the rescue of Italy and Spain. —AFP

formed even better in the first quarter. “Given how good April was, plus the earlier summer sale, we had hoped for more like 2 percent likefor-like (growth) in general merchandise in Q1, ... but the outcome is only flat (ex-VAT), which is a bit disappointing,” said Arden Partners analyst Nick Bubb.

Liberum Capital analyst Simon Irwin, who cut his 2011/12 earnings forecast 5 percent, said apparel markets were likely to remain overstocked, making it harder to pass on the full impact of higher input prices. M&S, whose average selling prices were 7 percent higher in the first quarter, said trading conditions would stay tough due to pressure on consumers’ incomes and high commodity prices.

British shoppers are grappling with rising prices, subdued wages growth, a lack of credit, job insecurity, a stagnant housing market, government austerity measures and fears of interest rate rises. This has led to a recent spate of retail failures and more are expected. Retail sales showed sluggish year-on-year growth of 1.5 percent last month with demand for big-ticket items remaining weak, an industry survey found yesterday, adding to worries about second-quarter GDP growth. Elsewhere in the retail sector, luxury group Burberry beat forecasts for firstquarter sales, while fast-growing British fashion chain SuperGroup posted an 89 percent rise in full-year profit. — Reuters

ATHENS: A woman stands by a bank in Athens, sprayed with slogans reading ‘fire to banks’ and ‘live your Greece in myth’ changing the slogan of the Greek tourist office. Greece has rejected any form of partial default on its debt, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said. — AFP

German bank chief wary of bond buy-back plan FRANKFURT: German central bank chief Jens Weidmann feels buying Greek bonds to relieve Athens’ debt burden could have dangerous side effects, although the finance ministry says such a move is possible. “That would have high costs, a low benefit and dangerous side effects as a consequence,” Weidmann, who is also a member of the European Central Bank governing council, told the weekly Die Zeit yesterday in an interview.

His remarks were released in advance of the interview’s publication today. Finance ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus told a news conference in Berlin meanwhile that “it is already now theoretically possible for a state to receive financial aid and then to use some of this to buy back its debt.” That idea has been floated again as a way of helping Greece cut debt of around 350 billion euros ($490 billion), a millstone that is dragging the 17-nation eurozone deeper into crisis.

The idea would be for the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) to lend Athens money to be used to buy bonds it had previously issued, at a discount, and then cancel them, thus cutting its debt burden.

Weidmann also told Die Zeit that “the concert of voices that has expressed opinions in recent weeks, and not only about the private sector involvement (in a Greek bailout) - has

not helped instill confidence in politician’s ability to resolve their problems.”

Germany has been one of the countries criticized by investors in the past for releasing seemingly contradictory comments. “To lift any uncertainty, eurozone member states must now, urgently, show they are able to act,” the Bundesbank chief told Die Zeit. He took over at the central bank on May 1. Weidmann said that seeking ways for the private sector to bear some of the cost of a second Greek bailout, estimated at at least 110 billion euros, carried “more risks than opportunities.”

Private sector involvement has been repeatedly called for by German politicians concerned about a possible public backlash against a second financial rescue package for Greece. Widespread discussion of such involvement led last week to a sharp downgrade of Portugal’s debt by the international ratings agency Moody’s, provoking a contagion effect that has now snared Italy, a much bigger eurozone economy, as well. Weidmann warned that eurozone “”needs to have a plan to contain the threatening contagion effects should the Greek program collapse.” Germany is already the biggest single donor to an initial rescue plan set up by the European Union and International Monetary Fund worth 110 billion euros. —AFP

LONDON: The number of Britons claiming unemployment benefit saw its biggest jump in two years last month, taking the total to the highest since March 2010 and raising concerns about the pace of economic recovery.

However, as in past months the broader ILO measure of employment painted a more encouraging picture, supporting the government’s contention that private sector job creation will offset the effect of public spending cuts. The number of people without a job on this internationally comparable measure fell by 26,000 in the three months to May to 2.452 million, the Office for National Statistics said. The jobless rate held at 7.7 percent as expected, and has not been lower in the past 2 years. Sterling fell briefly on the claimant count data, but recovered as economists digested the broader picture.

“It’s still difficult to assess where the labor market is overall,” said Investec economist Victoria Cadman. “There is some reassurance from the employment side of the story.” Numbers of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 24,500 last month, well above economists’ forecasts of an increase of 15,000 and the fourth consecutive monthly rise.

Combined with an upward revision to May’s benefits figures, this took the total above 1.5 million for the first time in over a year. British unemployment rose less than in many other developed countries during the financial crisis, but economists are worried about the outlook due to public sector job cuts and a sluggish recovery.

The statistics office said that part of the disparity was due to changes to the benefits available to lone parents, which meant more women were moving on to the jobless claimant count measure.

However, opposition politicians may still seize on the rise in the count as evidence that the government is moving too fast in trying to largely eliminate Britain’s budget deficit over the next 4 years. Average weekly earnings growth remained low, at around half the rate of inflation. The headline measure including bonuses showed an annual rise of 2.3 percent in the three months to May. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2.1 percent. — Reuters

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business

EasyJet founder wants investor vote on Airbus deal LONDON: EasyJet’s largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, wants to force a shareholder vote over the airline’s plans to by new aircraft from Airbus, resuming a long-running dispute with the company he founded. In January, easyJet confirmed an order with EADS unit Airbus for 15 A320 aircraft with options on further 33. Haji-Ioannou yesterday said the terms of the Airbus order, initially agreed in 2006, had changed sufficiently to push the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) to force easyJet to obtain shareholder consent to press ahead with the deal.

“My lawyers are in touch with the UKLA-it will be good to see if the regulators have got any teeth in this country,” Haji-Ioannou said. “The price of Airbus planes is rising by around 5 percent a year at present and an A320 now costs at least $85 million at list prices, which is far greater than the price of $51 million which was given in an easyJet circular in 2006.” In an 11page letter sent to Chairman Michael

Rake this week, Haji-Ioannou, who with his family has a 38 percent stake and wants easyJet to cut its fleet, said the board should have sought shareholder approval for the order and investors should vote on the deal before any further payments are made to Airbus.

Asked to comment on the situation, an Airbus spokeswoman would only say: “This is an internal easyJet matter”. If the board does not seek shareholder consent, Haji-Ioannou said he would call a general meeting and seek the removal of a randomly selected non-executive director from the board in a show of shareholder power. The carrier has a fleet of 186 aircraft-all but two made by Airbus-and has orders for a further 43 Airbus planes, including the A320s. Earlier this year, easyJet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said the new orders would help deliver its growth strategy.

“I’m not micro-managing or criticizing management but I do feel that the

company is seriously underperforming,” said Haji-Ioannou. “It’s a tough environment-that’s why you shouldn’t be buying planes.” EasyJet shares, which have fallen a quarter in value in 2011, were down 1.3 percent at 319.75 pence by 1135 GMT, valuing the business at around 1.4 billion pounds ($2.2 billion). Haji-Ioannou also urged easyJet to consider other plane manufacturers, including Boeing and Bombardier, which he claims offer better value than Airbus.

“This incestuous relationship with Airbus developed by the directors has to come to an end and proper and transparent tenders have to be issued giving the opportunity to other aircraft manufacturers to compete for the company’s business,” he said in the letter sent to Rake. The tycoon’s relationship with easyJet’s board has deteriorated in recent years and he voted against a resolution to approve directors’ pay earlier this year. EasyJet said yesterday in response to the let-

ORLY: An EasyJet charter airline plane waits on the tarmac at Orly airport near Paris. — AFP ter: “The commercial value of the deal based carrier said it intended to hold reflected substantially less than the the size of its fleet at a maximum of current Airbus list prices for the air- 204 aircraft until at least the end of craft.” The Luton, southern England- next year.— Reuters

Burberry not seeking HK listing as it beats targets Q1 total revenue 367 million pounds

SYDNEY: Office buildings and residential towers line the foreshore of Sydney Harbor yesterday. The rental property vacancy rate in inner Sydney has fallen below one percent to a one-year low, according to the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales. — AFP

Australia consumers ‘disturbingly’ grim SYDNEY: Consumer confidence in Australia plunged to “disturbingly low” levels this month, with the kind of slide usually associated with major economic shocks, a survey found yesterday. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index dropped 8.3 percent from June to a reading of 92.8, a “surprisingly weak result” given Australia was experiencing a mining boom with nearfull employment, low inflation and solid growth.

“It appears that a combination of concerns over the European financial crisis, the ongoing impact of the seven interest rate hikes between October 2009 and November 2010, and uncertainty about the introduction of a price on carbon are now really undermining the confidence of consumers,” said Westpac chief economist Bill Evans.

The monthly index is compiled from a survey of 1,200 Australians. Scores below 100 indicate pessimists outweigh optimists. The latest survey was taken just ahead of Canberra’s unveiling of its pollution tax package, which will see the nation’s top 500 polluters levied Aus$23 (US$24.44) per ton of carbon they spew into the atmosphere from mid-2012.

Evans said sentiment was at its lowest since May 2009 when the uncertainty from the global financial crisis was still being strongly felt. The only other time Australians had been so pessimistic was after the former conservative government introduced a 10 percent goods and services tax in 2000, which also coincided with the bursting of the dot com bubble, he said. “Not only is the level of the index disturbingly low but the sheer

magnitude of the fall is also remarkable,” said Evans. “Such large falls have typically been associated with a major event such as an interest rate increase; a spike in petrol prices; the collapse of Lehmans; or recession fears,” he added.

The slump was sharpest among higher-income earners, who will benefit least from the raft of household compensation measures which will accompany the pollution tax, with their confidence diving 11.1 percent. Sentiment was also grim among mortgage holders, down 16.5 percent, as the Reserve Bank persisted with hawkish rhetoric about interest rates, which have been held at the relatively high level of 4.75 percent since November. “This is continuing to undermine confidence amongst households who it would appear are incredulous that such a policy is favored given the current circumstances,” said Evans.

All the index’s major indicators fell in the month, including the economic outlook for the year, the next five years, and whether now was a good time to make a major purchase. The “most disturbing aspect” of the survey was that householders’ outlook on their own finances was lower than almost every reading taken during the global downturn and at levels not seen since Australia’s last recession 20 years ago. Evans said the muted confidence meant it was unlikely the Reserve Bank would lift rates from their current levels before next year. The Australian dollar was little changed by the data, down to $1.0627 from an earlier reading of $1.0638. It dropped as low as $1.0580 before bouncing to $1.0633 on stronger than expected Chinese growth.— AFP

World Bank lends Uganda $120m for power sector KAMPALA: The World Bank lent Uganda $120 million to be used to improve the national electricity grid and connect more customers to it, a senior bank official said yesterday.

East Africa’s third largest economy often suffers power shortages and available electricity is frequently rationed, forcing businesses to resort to expensive diesel-powered generators. Steven Shalita, World Bank Uganda’s Senior Communications Specialist said the loan would fund a five-year project to benefit existing grid customers afflicted by the power cuts. The project would involve the construction of a 137 km transmission line and substations, providing technical assistance and relocation of people moved to make way for the power line.

About 6,500 new customers in southwestern Uganda will be con-

nected, Shalita said. “Among the key beneficiaries of the new project will be over 50,000 people living in the peri-urban areas along the transmission line,” he said. Uganda will be generating an estimated 747 megawatts (MW) by the end of 2011 from last year’s 576 MW, according to the sector regulator, Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA).

The minister for energy told parliament recently more water would now be released through the country’s main hydropower dam, the Owen Falls, to generate an additional 40MW. The extra hydropower is expected to plug the deficit created after the government decommissioned one thermal power plant at Jinja in eastern Uganda. Shalita said the bank had so far invested $319 million in other ongoing power projects. — Reuters

PARIS: Luxury group Burberry said it was not seeking a listing in Hong Kong, dismissing recent speculation such a move was afoot, as it posted fiscal first-quarter sales above forecasts. The British maker of raincoats and leather goods, identifiable by their camel, red and black check pattern, said it did not need extra funds even though it was stepping up investment in new shops and refurbishments this year.

“There is no need to raise capital, there is no catalyst for us to be considering that (a Hong Kong listing),” Finance Director Stacey Cartwright told reporters in a conference call yesterday. Luxury brand Prada last month floated successfully in Hong Kong in a move aimed at raising its profile in the region and cashing in on China’s voracious appetite for luxury goods. Burberry said it planned to open 20-25 shops this year, slightly more than last year, while refurbishing a number of flagship stores, including two in London.

Sales generated by Burberry’s retail network, which contributes 66 percent of turnover, rose near-

ly 50 percent in its first quarter to June, a performance that puts it at the top of the luxury sector.

Cartwright said the brand had benefited from strong growth in Asia and solid trading in France and Germany. Burberry shares rose sharply yesterday, having reached a fresh high last week together with other luxury stocks such as Hermes and LVMH , driven by investors’ anticipation of strong first-half results. By 1015 GMT, Burberry shares were up 3.27 percent at 1481 pence after climbing more than 5 percent and touching a high of 1545 pence in early trade. In contrast, shares in French cosmetics maker L’Oreal , which makes Lancome lipstick, Biotherm creams and Garnier shampoos, were down 4 percent after it posted disappointing second-quarter sales, hurt by a slowdown in North America, Latin America and eastern Europe. L’Oreal’s core business is mass consumer goods, priced at between 5 and 100 euros, while Burberry’s main products are 1,000 euros ($1,425) handbags and raincoats, for which demand is strong, particu-

larly in emerging markets. The 155-year-old Burberry group has seen its shares rise fourfold over the past two years on the back of a successful turnaround, and recurring speculation it could be acquired.

Investors have been piling money into luxury stocks, attracted by fast-growing demand from Asia and luxury companies’ ability to raise prices to pass on higher raw material prices without affecting demand. Analysts said the share price increase was also due to the British brand’s raised expectations for its wholesale operations, bolstered by the Americas, emerging markets and travel retail. Thanks to higherthan-planned in-season orders, Burberry said it expected wholesale revenue excluding China to increase by a high-teens percentage at constant exchange rates in the first half, up from its previous forecast of mid-teens growth.

“The US has performed very strongly within that wholesale guidance number. We believe we continue to outperform versus many of our luxury peers there,” Cartwright said. Burberry added it

expected a percentage gain for licensing revenue in the current year to March in the mid-single digits. The Pictet Premium Brands fund, which manages assets worth around 1 billion euros, has reduced its stake in Burberry on the back of the strong share price performance but the stock remains one of its top five holdings, fund manager Laurent Belloni said.

“We will definitely keep it. We like the retail strategy-expansion of the brand in Asia, buyout of the license in China. Again the results have been above expectations, again the stock is up,” he told Reuters. Some analysts said they did not expect to raise their earnings expectations for the year significantly on the back of the company’s upbeat trading update. “With expectations of high cost inflation in the business, we could expect only modest earnings upgrades for the current year,” Citi said in a note.

Overall, Burberry revenue rose 34 percent on a comparable basis to 367 million pounds ($588 million), above expectations for 345 million. — Reuters

PhosAgro raises $538 million in London IPO

WASHINGTON: The Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke testifies before the US House Financial Services Committee yesterday. — AFP

Bernanke faces grilling on jobs, debt, Europe WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went to Capitol Hill yesterday to testify about the sputtering US recovery, but may have to spend much of his time convincing a stubborn Congress to raise the debt ceiling. Minutes to the central bank’s June meeting on Tuesday suggested that, while some members were pondering the possible need for additional easing amid a weak economy, the Fed is not yet ready to take any further action.

Congressional leaders, themselves paralyzed by an acrimonious fight over the nation’s debt ceiling, will likely press Bernanke on how much further growth would have to slow in order for the Fed to step in.

“The consensus will continue to be for the Fed to keep the policy rate unchanged as the economy navigates through the current headwinds,” said Millan Mulraine, economist at TD Securities. Dismal employment data last week suggested the economic recovery is faltering despite unprecedented monetary stimulus from the Fed, including a controversial $600 billion bond buying program completed at the end of last month.

Bernanke, who will testify before the

US House of Representatives and the US Senate today, will likely be asked why the policy has not been more effective at bringing down unemployment, which rose again in June to 9.2 percent. Adding to the sense of urgency in the testimony, Europe’s worsening debt crisis should be expected to feature prominently in the debate. Fed officials had said the US faced little exposure from the continent’s financial woes, but sounded a bit more worried in the June meeting. “An escalation of the fiscal difficulties in Greece and spreading concerns about other peripheral European countries could cause significant financial strains in the United States,” the meeting minutes said.

As Washington ties itself in a knot over the debt ceiling, Bernanke will almost certainly reiterate his message that the consequences of not lifting the statutory limit and causing the Treasury to default would be disastrous. He will also urge Congress against steep nearterm cuts in spending at a time when the recovery already looks tepid. Analysts will be combing his remarks for any hints that the Fed’s forecasts for economic growth, revised down at the June meeting, might be again headed to the chopping block in coming months. —Reuters

MOSCOW: Russian fertilizer group PhosAgro priced its initial public offering at the bottom of an indicated range, shrugging off stock market volatility to raise $538 million for shareholder Andrei Guryev.

Yesterday’s listing in London saw PhosAgro became the seventh Russian company to float on overseas markets this year as private business owners seek to tap capital markets that have rebounded following the financial crisis. The offer valued PhosAgro, whose chairman and 10 percent shareholder Vladmir Litvinenko supervised Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s PhD thesis, at $5.2 billion.

“I think that the price met market expectations.

The shares have good potential, taking into account the good state of the fertilizer market,” Otkritie bank analyst Denis Gabrielik said. Fertilizer has been a hot sector in 2011 due to growing demand for food supplies and biofuels. PhosAgro priced its IPO at $14 per global depositary receipt, or $420 per share, compared with a GDR price range indicated at $14.00$14.50. The original range was $13.00$16.50.Proceeds from the IPO could increase to $594 million if an overallotment option is exercised in full, taking the size of the stake sold to 11.4 percent. The GDRs were trading at $14.01 at 0900 GMT. VOLATILE MARKETS More than 20 European IPOs have been pulled this year amid volatile equity markets, and investors have lost money on almost all the floats which have gone ahead. Yesterday, Ukrainian sunflower oil producer ViOil shelved plans for a $330 million Warsaw listing due to weak market conditions. Russian firms, in particular, have struggled to convince potential investors to part with their cash, and many have had to cancel their plans after buyers baulked at valuations.

While investors have been especially reluctant to buy existing shares sold by wealthy businessmen, rather than new shares to fund growth, PhosAgro boosted its attraction by promising to be a dividend payer. PhosAgro said management bought around $3 million worth of shares in the IPO, and that chief executive Maxim Volkov planned to purchase shares worth about $2 million after the IPO. It also said petrochemical company Sibur bought shares but did not disclose the size of the purchase.

Guryev and his family own a 70.9 percent stake after the IPO. Citi, Renaissance Capital, Troika Dialog, Credit Suisse and BMO Capital Markets acted as joint bookrunners for the offering, and Raiffeisen acted as co-lead manager.— Reuters

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TECHNOLOGY

Google social net eyes preserving leadership Google+ still in restricted, test phase NEW YORK: Google didn’t build its new Plus service simply to have an online hangout like Facebook. Rather, Google’s new social-networking endeavor is about trying to gain valuable insights into people’s lives and relationships. This could help the company do a better job of targeting ads so that advertisers would pay more and have less reason to spend their money on Facebook. If it succeeds, Plus represents Google’s best shot yet at muscling into a market that has threatened to topple the Internet search and advertising leader, as Facebook leads the way in making the online world social.

EA to pay $750m for PopCap Games SAN FRANCISCO: Electronic Arts Inc. said Tuesday that it will buy PopCap Games for at least $750 million in a bid to snag a larger piece of the rapidly growing market for games on cell phones and social networks. The video game publisher also said that its fiscal first-quarter results will be better than it anticipated but issued a second-quarter forecast below analyst estimates, saying expenses from the purchase will weigh down its results for the July-September period. Its shares fell more than 3 percent in extended trading.

Redwood City-based EA will pay PopCap $650 million in cash and $100 million in common shares. PopCap, which makes the popular “Bejeweled” series and “Plants vs. Zombies” games, will get up to $550 million more if it reaches certain financial milestones. EA plans to offer PopCap employees $50 million more during the next four years in order to entice them to stay, too. The deal is expected to be completed in August. If all the payouts are made, the acquisition would be EA’s largest to date. PopCap will be the latest addition to EA’s digital business, which includes games on Facebook, the iPhone and other gadgets, as well as downloadable add-on content for games sold on discs. EA is building up this side of its business as consumers increasingly play games on smartphones, tablet computers and Facebook, and grow less interested in expensive, packaged video games.

EA CEO John Riccitiello said in an interview that about a quarter of video games are now played on mobile devices and social networks - a figure he expects to climb to 50 percent in the next five years. “PopCap is a leader on all of those platforms,” Riccitiello said.

PopCap CEO David Roberts said the company had been mulling a public offering of its stock, and was also approached by multiple companies interested in buying it. “It was kind of intense for us,” he said.

“At the end of the day, EA prevailed.” EA’s other recent purchases in the digital space include PlayFish, a maker of social

network games, for which it paid $275 million in 2009 and Chillingo, the publisher - but not creator - of “Angry Birds” and other mobile games, for about $20 million last October. Until now, the largest of these types of deals was Jamdat Mobile Inc., which EA bought for $684 million in 2006.

The announcement was not much of a surprise, as rumors circulated last month that EA was in talks to buy the company. The technology blog TechCrunch, citing multiple unnamed sources, reported in late June that EA was in the process of buying PopCap for more than $1 billion. Seattle -based PopCap was founded in 2000 and began offering downloadable PC games that people could try before buying in 2001, the first of which was “Bejeweled Deluxe.”

The company went on to release dozens of games for all sorts of platforms, including consoles like Sony Corp.’s PlayStation3, cell phones, Apple Inc.’s iPad and Facebook. Today, PopCap has 500 employees, and it doesn’t expect any staff changes due to the acquisition.

Both companies said the PopCap brand name will live on under EA’s ownership.

ThinkEquity LLC analyst Atul Bagga said he feels positive about the deal, and that the price seems fair.

“I’d say it’s a pretty good deal for EA and for PopCap too,” he said. Also Tuesday, EA, citing preliminary results, said it now expects fiscal first-quarter revenue of $975 million to $1 billion and an adjusted loss of 37 cents to 40 cents per share - better than it had previously predicted. Riccitiello said the change was due to lighter expenses during the quarter. And the company forecast an adjusted second-quarter loss of 5 cents to 15 cents per share, which Riccitiello attributed to expenses related to the PopCap purchase, as well as increased marketing costs. Analysts had been expecting a profit of 12 cents per share. EA shares declined 79 cents to $23.27 in extended trading. The stock finished regular trading down 22 cents at $24.17. —AP

Plus is Google’s carefully scripted venture into a territory where its previous effor ts have been duds. On the surface, Plus is reminiscent of Facebook - with a Google touch. It lets people share photos and status messages, chat with friends and acquaintances and follow news updates. A prominent feature called circles allows users to organize the people they interact with into groups, such as family, close friends or fishing buddies. Users can choose to share things only among certain circles. Google Plus is still in a restricted, test phase, and invites to join are highly coveted. Only time will tell if it takes off among the broader public or if it’s too little, too late to face off with Facebook and Twitter on the social front - just as Microsoft has failed to surpass Google in search with latecomer Bing.

Google Inc. has done quite well without its own social network. Its online search engine accounts for two-thirds of queries made in the US, and even more in par ts of Europe. Its revenue is expected to surpass $36 billion this year, the bulk of it from text ads that appear alongside search results and other Web content. Google reports its latest quar terly results today.

Online behaviors are changing, though. People are spending more time on Facebook and other social networks. They are increasingly relying on their friends’ recommendations when deciding where to eat and what movies to watch.

Google, meanwhile, has bungled past social media efforts. A sharing program called Wave was quickly killed off because users didn’t know what to make of it.

Buzz, a later venture, was the center of a privacy fiasco. Google had been too aggressive about automatically creating circle of friends, which inadver tently revealed whom they’ve corresponded with on Gmail. Early response to Google Plus has been positive. But that’s no guarantee for broader success.

As Google botched one social media effor t after another, Facebook grew exponentially.

Today, half of Facebook’s 750 million worldwide users log on to the site every day.

That’s roughly the entire popu-

lation of the US and UK combined.

More than 250 million people engage with Facebook in some form on outside websites each month around the world. They do this by clicking the ubiquitous “like” and “recommend” buttons on news and other sites or by logging on to websites using their Facebook passwords. Google’s chairman and former CEO, Eric Schmidt, has acknowledged that the company failed to respond to Facebook’s threat fast enough. His successor, Google co-founder Larry Page, has made social net-

A screenshot from Google+. —AP working one of his top priorities since he took over in April. “We don’t think it’s a coincidence that (Google Plus) was introduced less than three months after Page returned to the CEO post,” said Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Scott Kessler in a note to clients.

Facebook’s greatest advantage is the immense trove of information that its users have shared about themselves through about 4 billion posts and connections they make collectively ever y day.

Facebook knows what people are reading, eating and watching. It knows who’s friends with whom, and which friends people trust for recommendations on what shoes to buy and which plumbers to hire.

Google can’t index most of this information on its search engine because Facebook doesn’t share it. Instead, Facebook has formed a

Jive crushes down communication barriers SAN JOSE: Tony Zingale is in the corner office at Palo Alto’s Jive software when his phone rings.

It’s the chief marketing officer of a major pharmaceutical corporation, who’s just heard from his counterpart at News Corp. about how Jive’s social-networking software is boosting her company’s bottom line. “You’ve gotta help us,” the executive says, as Zingale recently recounted the stor y.

“Calm down,” Zingale replies.

“How soon do you want to meet?”

“How soon can you get here?” comes the reply. Zingale, who can no longer contain himself, screams into the phone: “I LOVE YOU!” Welcome to life inside one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups, brought to you by perhaps its most outsize character. Zingale, 55, already had won his spurs as a turnaround artist - having resuscitated Mercury Interactive after a stock-backdating scandal and sold it to Hewlett-Packard Co. for $4.5 billion - when Jive named him CEO last year. The startup simultaneously relocated from Oregon. Now the company’s venture backers, which include blue chips Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, are betting Zingale is the guy who can sell the “Facebook for the Enterprise” concept to Wall Street. “ Ver y few executives in the enterprise software world have had the continuous number of successes that Tony Zingale has,” said Kleiner partner Ted Schlein.

His firm and Sequoia teamed last fall on a $30 million investment i n J i ve, ro u g h l y d o u b l i n g t h e company ’s venture war chest.

And earlier this year, Jive bolstered its board with top officials from Google I nc., McAfee I nc. and Facebook Inc. itself. The writing on the whiteboard is clearly “IPO or bust.” With LinkedIn hav-

ing taken off in May, and social stalwarts Zynga and Groupon in the IPO queue, Zingale just as clearly hopes to get off the runway before Facebook, the mother of all social-media firms, goes public and perhaps closes the market window.

“Being a public company establishes legitimacy,” he said.

“Having a ticker symbol, with all of the analyst coverage, is essential to credibility when I’m competing with M icrosof t or Salesforce.” Jive has its roots in

said he was ready to yield to a more seasoned hand.

In came Zingale, who holds degrees in engineering and business from the Universit y of Cincinnati and had sat on Jive’s board for two years. Burly, wellcoiffed and impeccably dressed, he projects Old World for a guy who’s been in Silicon Valley for decades. He’s an investor in Saratoga’s M ichelin-starred Plumed Horse restaurant and on a recent warm afternoon was sporting a black Barcelino suit inside

SAN JOSE: Palo Alto’s Jive Software may be the next hot social media startup to make a run for the IPO gates. CEO Tony Zingale, pictured. —MCT Iowa. That ’s where two young coders in 2001 hit on the idea of using blogs and online forums to help companies better communicate with their customers. With clients like Avon Products Inc. and Intel Corp., Jive was profitable almost from the start. But when the global economy tanked in 2008, founding CEO Dave Hersh had to lay off more than 15 percent of the staff. While that stabilized the company, last year Hersh

Jive’s well-appointed offices.

“People are excited working with him and around him,” said former Cadence Design Systems CEO Joe Costello, who hired Zingale away from a competitor after watching him wow a crowd at a conference.

Zingale ended up running corporate marketing for Cadence.

“He’s able to articulate energy and intensity,” Costello added.

“And he’s extraordinarily good at attracting great talent.” Under

search partnership with Google rival Microsoft Corp. In May, Microsoft’s Bing search engine started to use information from people’s Facebook preferences to tweak its search results. This means Facebook users who search for shoes or concert tickets on Bing might get results that are tailored to the interests they listed on the site. For people who aren’t logged on to Facebook when they search, Microsoft’s search engine might still emphasize links that other Facebook users have recommended.

Zingale’s watch, Jive has grown from five employees in downtown Palo Alto to 100; the company has more than 350 workers worldwide. Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook, joined the Jive board in March. “It was a different enough take on what everybody else in the market was doing that I wanted to get involved,” he said. “It feels like there’s a sea change coming, particularly in helping these bigger enterprises become more productive.”

Of course, Jive is far from the only company trying to translate Facebook’s runaway success to corporate settings. Yammer, a San Francisco star tup led and bankrolled by early employees of PayPal, boasts about 3 million users. Several steps up in weight class is Salesforce.com, which last year introduced a social networking tool called Chatter. Unlike Jive, both offer their products for free, charging a premium for added services.

Jive has been steadily growing revenues as part of its IPO rampup. Its 2009 haul was $30 million, double the previous year. The startup won’t reveal more recent numbers but said it closed nearly three dozen big-brand customers in the first quarter of this year alone. Its clients represent a collective 15 million licensed users.

John Summers, online community manager at NetApp, said his company uses Jive to deploy its employee newsletter and blogs, train customers and even monitor what ’s being said about the Sunnyvale data storage maker in other social networks like Twitter.

“It allows the consolidation of a lot of sites into one,” he said.

“Being a par tner with Jive has been essential to our growth in the social space.” —MCT

That puts Google at a disadvantage. Unless it can get similar data through a social service of its own, Google is left with a formula that sorts through the pattern of Web links and other computer data to determine where a site should rank in its recommendation. The system has become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation by websites looking to rank higher than their rivals. As a result, Google search results might not be as useful as recommendations drawn from an analysis of what they have already signaled that they like by pressing a Facebook button. There’s another key way that social data can help Google.

On Facebook, companies can target their advertising with razorsharp precision given all sorts of information that people willingly share, such as a preference for

Coke over Pepsi or whether they’ve ever been married. For example, they can show a particular Cheetos ad only to single men aged 17 to 41 who live in New York, are Yankee fans and enjoy the “ World of Warcraft ” video game.

“That’s Facebook’s biggest calling card to marketers,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst with eMarketer. Advertisers are typically willing to pay more for such targeting because they’d be pitching to consumers most likely to buy. Google does a good job already of targeting ads based on what people search for, write about in emails and watch on YouTube. Social data could help Google do even better. Danny Sullivan, who follows Google closely as editor-in-chief of the website Search Engine Land, said that if Google Plus succeeds, Google would get “a good insurance policy” amid the rise of social networks. The need for it became apparent when Google’s deal to include Twitter updates in its search results expired recently, Sullivan said. Google has temporarily shut down its “RealTime” search feature, though it told users to stay tuned while it explores how Google Plus will figure into it.

That said, Google Plus doesn’t necessarily need to be a Facebook clone. “Google needs to have a social strategy that is relevant to Google and the way people use Google applications,” said Susan Etlinger, analyst at Altimeter Group. “That’s very different from how people use Facebook.”

Facebook is, for now, an online hangout above all. People go there to scan status updates, chat with a friend or look at the latest photos, without necessarily having something specific in mind. With Google, people usually have an objective, whether that’s searching for a hair stylist or sending an email about an upcoming party.

Google’s task is to make its existing products social as “social” becomes the norm for online activity, she said. “Eventually everything is going to be a social network,” Etlinger said. “Social capabilities will be in everything on the Web.”. —AP

Beijing man makes iPad look-a-like from scratch BEIJING: An enterprising Chinese man has come up with a solution for gadget-crazy people who desperately want Apple’s popular iPad tablet computer but cannot afford it-DIY. In a 20minute video posted on Youku-the Chinese YouTube equivalent- Liu Xinying demonstrates how to assemble an iPad look-a-like using computer parts, a touch screen and a case with a keypad, to the sound of metal music.

At the end of the video dubbed “DIY IPAD 3”, the IT whizz shows off the finished version-an apparently functional tablet computer that looks like a thick iPad but runs on Windows, an operating system made by rival Microsoft.

News of Liu’s apparent feat spread on several foreign and Chinese technology websites, as well as on the nation’s Twitter-like Weibo service.

When contacted by AFP, the 21year-old from the eastern province of Shandong said that since he posted the video online a month ago, he has knocked back requests from a dozen

pepole wanting him to make them a DIY iPad. “I did this for fun,” said Liu, who works at a computer store in Jinan city. “It cost me 2,000 yuan ($309) to make it, so I guess that’s how much it’s worth.” By comparison, the cheapest 16-gigabyte version of the iPad 2 sells for 3,688 yuan in China, while the most expensive 64-gigabyte model costs 5,288 yuan. iPads and iPhones are hugely popular in Chinathe world’s largest Internet market with 457 million online users-and the launch of new models has been known to trigger fights and even crimes.

Last month, a court in the southern province of Guangdong sentenced three people to prison for stealing the design to the iPad 2 and using it to make fake tablet computers. And Apple was forced to compensate a customer who sustained injuries in a fight at its Beijing flagship store in May, when the iPad 2 was launched. —AFP

Chinese websites victim to new controls: Study BEIJING: The number of Chinese websites fell dramatically last year after the government tightened controls on the Internet, according to a new study by a leading state-run research institute.

China has the world’s biggest online population with 457 million Internet users and the web has become a forum to express opinions in a way rarely seen in the official media. But Beijing also operates some of the world’s toughest web censorship, with a system known as the “Great Firewall of China” blocking access to any content deemed unacceptable.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said there were 1.91 million websites operating in China at the end of 2010, 41 percent fewer than

a year earlier, attributing the change to stronger regulation. “Although the Internet is posing some problems for new media, our regulation is becoming stronger, we have taken a very big step in this area,” CASS media expert Liu Ruisheng was quoted as saying on the organization’s website.

Liu said China had “a very high level of freedom of online speech” and there had been few cases in recent years of sites being closed purely to control speech. He said a crackdown launched by the government in 2009 under which thousands of sites were shut down was mainly aimed at putting a stop to online pornography, although critics have said other sites were also closed. —AFP

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health & science

Belief in cold remedies may be enough to help NEW YORK: People who believe a cold remedy will work may indeed feel better sooner-even if they don’t get the real treatment, according to a US study. The findings are evidence that the so-called “placebo effect” is at work in recovery from the common cold, which famously has no cure, researchers wrote in the Annals of Family Medicine. So if the treatment that people believe in-from chicken soup to Vitamin C-does no harm, they might as well stick with it, they added.

“These findings support the general idea that beliefs and feelings about treatments may be important

and perhaps should be taken into consideration when making medical decisions,” wrote lead researcher Bruce Barrett, of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The placebo effect refers to a phenomenon seen in clinical trials when people given inactive, fake “treatments,” such as a sugar pill or saline-show improvements. It has been observed in a range of conditions, including chronic pain, depression, inflammatory disorders and even cancer. Barrett and his colleagues randomly assigned 719 people with the beginnings of cold symptoms to one of four groups.

In one group, people were given the herbal cold remedy Echinacea and knew they were taking it. Two other groups were given either Echinacea or a placebo, but participants did not know which they were taking. The fourth group received no pills of any kind. Overall, there were no significant differences among the groups when it came to the severity or duration of the participants’ symptoms, which lasted about a week in all cases. But then the researchers focused on the 120 people who, upon entering the study, gave high ratings to Echinacea’s effectiveness.

In that group of Echinacea believ-

ers, those who were given pillsEchinacea or placebo-felt better faster. Placebo users recovered a full 2.5 days sooner than their no-pill counterparts, while Echinacea users were cold-free about 1.5 days sooner. “That’s actually a huge difference.

No treatment out there has ever been shown to reduce the duration of colds,” Barrett said. He added that the findings show more evidence that “what people believe about their medicines matters. As for the Echinacea, studies have come to conflicting findings about whether the popular herb does in fact work.

In an earlier analysis of the same

study group, Barrett’s team found that-as in this analysis-Echinacea users in general fared no better than the placebo or no-pill groups.

But there was also no evidence that the Echinacea group suffered side effects. So if you have used it and believe it eases your cold misery, it would “seem reasonable” to continue, Barrett said. He added that he would like to see more people take simple measures that can make a cold less draining, including getting enough rest, taking plenty of fluids to stay hydrated and eating well-which can include chicken soup. —Reuters

A long road back, one foot at a time MINNEAPOLIS: Chelsea Reynolds’ goggles are at once the vexatious reminder of missed opportunities and the inspiring omen for an optimistic future. They travel with her for every workout. They haven’t touched water for a decade, but these days they symbolize what could have been and what could still be. The 24-year-old planned to sport them in 2004, to peek through the azure lenses on the Athens starting blocks, ready to swim for gold in her Olympic debut. Sitting in her

four-lane Burnsville LA Fitness pool, where conversation from a nearby whirlpool bath reverberates off the walls. Reynolds is oblivious to the noise. She has come here to work. A sign overlooking the pool has the phrase, “Before you can accomplish something, you must expect it of yourself.” For a while, the expectations were low. A burgeoning swimming career that took her to train at elite clubs with Olympic coaches in Washington and Florida seemed over.

“I was watching the Olympics in

trol bothered her the most.

“It was so frustrating,” Reynolds said with a sigh. “I had created this body that did exactly what I wanted it to. One day it didn’t, and it was like someone pulled the rug out from under me.” She had four MRIs, a bone scan - “the most painful thing I’ve ever done” - and was put in a walking boot for 12 weeks.

Nothing changed. Then through a chance encounter in February 2003, Reynolds met Dr. J. Chris Coetzee, who later diagnosed her with

MINNEAPOLIS: Chelsea Reynolds trains for the Life Time Fitness Triathlon. —MCT one-bedroom Burnsville, Minneapolis, apartment, Reynolds wipes away tears as she pulls out the goggles, still in their original View Sniper case. She hasn’t worn them since she was 14, around the same time tumors formed inside a bone in her right foot and the pain took swimming away.

In her mind, Chelsea Reynolds was headed for Olympic glory until her foot - that stupid foot changed everything. The pool is the sanctuary to which she has returned. One week before she races in the sprint event at Saturday’s Life Time Fitness Triathlon, Reynolds wades into the

2004, and that was the one I thought I was going to be at,” Reynolds said. “I love watching swimming, but at the same time it’s incredibly painful to watch.

Everyone wants it to be them. It’s just frustrating that it’s not me.” Her outlook is now brighter. Calm and focused during her hourlong workout, Reynolds at one point does a “no-breath 50,” a down-and-back sans air. After finishing, she pops out of the water with both thumbs up. “We did it!” she said, smiling before reflecting on the task. “A lot of it is knowing you’re in control of what your body is doing.” The pain started in ninth grade. Losing con-

osteoid osteoma. She had two benign tumors in her right foot. “I never thought that I would be able to run. Ever,” she said. “I spent so many years being angry at my foot and at my body because I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do.”

Surgery that March stalled a promising swimming career that once had her ranked in the top 15 in the Pacific Northwest region, and forced Reynolds out of the water for her senior season and throughout college at the University of Minnesota.

After moving to Vermont to study environmental law, Reynolds went swimming at a local college

on a whim. The competitive edge grew back, until she did the swimming leg in the Life Time Triathlon short relay in 2006. She got hooked on the new sport. “I went to the expo the day before, and the people there were asking if I was an athlete. I was like, ‘Yeah. I’m an athlete,’” Reynolds said. “It was so fun. I thought then that if I could ever run, I had to do a whole one.” That day has come.

The T-shirts are glimpses into the past. Her husband, Jake, thinks she should dispose of the disintegrating shirts. But doing so would mean ridding her wardrobe of the memories that give her strength to swim on.

“It would be very easy for someone to steer away and choose something easier,” said Courtney Eronemo, a childhood friend and teammate from Seattle. “But she loves to be active, so she’s choosing to ignore what happened to her.”

But nothing will compare to the moment when Reynolds, buoyed by faith and determination, begins competing once again in front of her family, who will be in attendance.

“We were a swimming family for so long,” she said. “My sisters and I were together swimming for four hours a day, and after swimming went away, so did the time spent together.” Reynolds paused, wiping away the tears. “It’ll just be nice for everyone to be there,” she said. The equipment is for the journey ahead. Driving back from Urban Tri, a triathlon store in Minneapolis, Reynolds looked at her purchases: sunglasses, a triathlon suit, an antichafing stick, energy gel and some electrolyte powder. She has done competitions before, like the 5K earlier this year, but nothing approached what it will mean to race again, to be who she used to be. “It’s part of her nature, and being without competitiveness, she hasn’t been her full self, so I’m seeing her blossom into who she really is,” said Jake, her husband of four years. “She’s an athlete, that’s who she is. It’s just a part of her.”

After surveying the goods, Reynolds leaned back in her seat before turning to Jake, that familiar giggle bubbling over. “Now I have to do it,” she said. “There’s no turning back.” —MCT

PARIS: Studies have found that people who take daily AIDS drugs reduce the risk of being infected. —MCT

Tourists feared exposed to fatal Australian virus SYDNEY: Australian health officials urged tourists who visited a popular adventure ranch west of the Great Barrier Reef at the weekend to come forward after a horse died from the killer Hendra virus. Passed from fruit bats (flying foxes) to horses and highly fatal to humans, Hendra claimed the life of a horse at the Blazing Saddles adventure farm on Monday, west of the Reef gateway city Cairns. At least six people were known to have had contact with the sick animal and Queensland health officials said they were working to determine how many others could have been exposed at the popular tourist site.

“I would like to reassure any tourists or visitors to the property over the weekend that transmission of the virus requires close contact with body fluids of the sick horse,” said Queensland health chief Jeannette Young. “Queensland Health staff will continue to undertake contact tracing work to ensure all people potentially exposed to the sick horse have been identified. Anyone who had visited the ranch

since last Thursday and had concerns were urged to call the public health hotline, she said. “Queensland Health stands ready to provide any assistance, counseling, information, testing or treatment that may be required,” added Young.

At least 48 people have been exposed to Hendra in the past month in an outbreak which has spread from Cairns to within 500 kilometers of Sydney, worrying the city’s thoroughbred race trainers. No humans have yet been infected. Hendra has killed four of the seven people who have contracted it since it was first identified 1994, but Young stressed that infections were rare. “While there is an increase in the number of infections this year, I would stress that this is still a rare disease and these are discrete incidents,” she said.

Named after the Brisbane suburb in which it was discovered, Hendra is thought to be unique to Australia and is spread from infected bats via half-chewed fruit or water and food contaminated by their urine and droppings. —AFP

Dirty socks could help fight malaria: researcher MONTREAL: The odor of dirty socks can be used to lure mosquitoes into a deadly trap before they can spread malaria, a US and Canadian-funded researcher based in Africa said yesterday. Dr. Fredros Okumu, of the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, discovered through an experiment that mosquitoes were more attracted to the odor of filthy feet than to live humans sleeping in the same area. “We had an experimental house with a human being sleeping inside and a second experimental house with a synthetic mixture,” he told AFP by telephone.

“We realized that we were getting four

times more mosquitoes going into the house with (the) synthetic mixture,” which, when doused with insecticide, killed the bugs.”

When mosquitoes are crossing the compound, they sense something that they think it is a human being.

They attempt to bite that person or that device and... instead of getting blood they get killed.” His findings have earned him a $775,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Canadian NGO Grand Challenges to install the devices in a number of Tanzanian villages to measure their effect on public health. —AFP

Nuts instead of carbs may aid diabetes control

Pandemic flu vaccine not linked to disorder PARIS: Vaccines used in the 2009 “swine flu” pandemic caused no perceptible rise in a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome, a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said yesterday. The investigation is part of a safety probe into booster-aided flu vaccines that dates back 35 years. In 1976, immunization against a “swine flu” virus in the United States was halted after doctors found a sevenfold increase in risk from GuillainBarre. Studies on subsequent seasonal virus vaccinations found either no increases or only a modest increase in risk, leaving unresolved a debate whether the flu jab could be dangerous or not.

Guillain-Barre is a disease in which the body’s immune defenses attacks nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometime paralysis. It is very rare, occurring in a range between 0.4 and four per 100,000 “person years,” a measure of risk used in epidemiology. It is fatal in three to 10 percent of cases. The study, funded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was

done among 50 million people in five European countries where doctors had used a flu jab with a booster, also called an adjuvant, to prime the immune system.

The probe matched 104 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome against people who were otherwise healthy.

They found no evidence of risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome from the vaccination. However, they could not rule out a theoretical but still small increased risk, amounting to less than three excess cases of the syndrome for every million individuals protected by the vaccination. “This study provides reassurance that adjuvanted pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 vaccines did not increase the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome substantially, if at all,” says the paper. Swine flu killed at least 18,449 people and affected some 214 countries and territories after it was uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April 2009. The UN’s World Health Organization ( WHO) declared a pandemic on June 11, 2009. The event was formally over on August 10, 2010. —AFP

NEW YORK: Replacing that daily muffin with a handful or two of nuts may help people with diabetes better control their blood sugar and cholesterol levels, according to a study. When people with type 2 diabetes replaced some of their usual carbohydrates with about a half-cup of mixed nuts each day, their blood sugar and “bad” cholesterol levels dipped slightly over three months, researchers wrote in the journal Diabetes Care.

By contrast, no such improvements were seen among people who swapped their normal carbs for a daily whole-wheat muffin.

While the findings don’t mean that nuts are the key to diabetes control, they can be part of a healthy diet, said Cyril Kendall of the University of Toronto in Canada, one of the researchers involved. “We should be focusing on overall diet and lifestyle,” Kendall told Reuters Health. “They (nuts) have a lot of fat, but we now realize that those fats are healthy ones,” he said, referring to the unsaturated fats that have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease and other health benefits.

Still, nuts are high in calories, and people with diabetes should not simply add a handful to their

Studies have suggested that replacing carbs with nuts can aid diabetes control. —MCT usual diet but should use them in place of less healthy snacks, Kendall said. For the study, 117 adults with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group was given unsalted mixed nuts and told to eat them instead of some of their usual carbs, a second group replaced their normal carbs with “healthy” whole-wheat muffins with no added sugar, and the

third group went on a half-nut, half-muffin regimen.

The “full-nut” group ate, on average, about 2 ounces, or a half cup, of nuts per day, totaling roughly 475 calories. After three months, the researchers found, the full-nut group showed a 0.2 percent dip in their average hemoglobin AIC level-a measure of long-term blood sugar control.

The change was small and “just

shy,” Kendall said, of what is considered a clinically significant improvement in blood sugar control. But the people in the study were already on diabetes medication and typically had good blood sugar control. “So we’re seeing a benefit over and above what they were achieving with medication,” he added.

As for cholesterol, the nut group’s average LDL cholesterol the “bad” kind-declined from about 97 milligrams per deciliter to 89 mg/dL. An LDL count below 100 mg/dL is generally considered optimal. No similar improvements were seen in the other two groups. It wasn’t clear why the full-nut group showed better blood sugar and cholesterol levels, but Kendall said he suspects it is largely because of the monounsaturated fats in nuts. For people who aren’t crazy about nuts, there are other sources of monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil and avocados. While the study did not look at those foods, Kendall said it might be a wise move to replace some carbs with those fats. The study was partially funded by the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation and the Peanut Institute, both industry groups. —Reuters

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Gates investing more in innovative medicine SEATTLE: Using microwaves to kill malaria parasites and developing a way to give fetuses immunity to HIV are among the dozen ideas the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation thinks are worth more research dollars, after giving more than 500 scientists seed money to take an initial look at some far-out concepts. A dozen scientists or teams of researchers will each get an additional $1 million over five years to take their ideas to the next level and see if they have the potential to save lives. The foundation initially chose more than 500 scientific ideas out of nearly 20,000 proposals for its Grand Challenges Explorations grants, worth $100,000 each, saying it would be taking a calculated risk by giving money for whatever wacky idea the world’s best minds come up with to combat malaria, HIV and other world health problems.

The ideas remain highly speculative into the $1 million stage. “ They run against conventional wisdom,” said Chris Wilson, director of the foundation’s

Global Health Discovery program. “Of course, more often than not, conventional wisdom is right.” As an example, he points to the idea of using microwaves to kill malaria parasites, from within their hosts - mice for the experiment, but humans eventually.

“That’s probably not going to work,” Wilson said. “But if it did work, it would be pretty stunning.”

The scientist, Jose Stoute, a medical researcher who specializes in infectious diseases at Penn State University, might not appreciate that less-thanenthusiastic endorsement, but Wilson says the same thing about nearly all these grants. “Science is a place where lots of things don’t work,” he said, adding that the foundation remains optimistic about these grants. “I think we’re cautiously optimistic that somewhere along this path, some of these might happen,” he said.

To graduate to a million dollar grant, the scientists have to prove their initial idea has merit as a potential way to save

lives and that it is practical and potentially scalable and affordable, Wilson said. Stoute said he and his co-collaborator, Carmenza Spadafora at Panama’s Institute of Advanced Scientific Investigations and High Technology Services, got the idea for the project from an innovative cancer treatment involving microwaves that uses iron to tag cancer cells. Since the malaria parasite naturally collects iron as a byproduct of its actions within the human body, they thought malaria might be another good target for microwave treatment.

Stoute is working with microwave engineers to design a machine to deliver the treatment in the lab. Collaboration among different kinds of scientists is an attribute of many of the Grand Challenges projects.

Mike McCune, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, said working in multidisciplinary teams has helped a number of researchers from his university get a Gates grant. His project, to fight HIV

infection while a fetus is in the uterus, takes a number of known scientific principals and combines them in a new way.

He is working to utilize what scientists already know about the unique and effective immune system of the human fetus, plus the way vaccines work on newborns and the success so far at decreasing the number of HIV transmissions from mother to child in this country. Considering how much blood passes from mother to baby while an HIV-affected mother is pregnant, McCune says it’s nearly miraculous that most of those babies of those mothers are not born HIV-positive. Most are affected later through breastfeeding or via blood at birth. His goal is to strengthen and prolong a child’s natural immunity.

For now, McCune is testing his theories on non-human primates, by giving vaccines to mothers who hopefully will pass immunity along to their fetuses.

“This is not science fiction. Everything I’ve told you has a longstanding history to it,” McCune said. “The Gates grant

allows me and others to take existing dogmas and paradigms and throw them out the window.” Not all the projects take a high tech approach to fighting disease. Some scientists are looking at more practical considerations such as the way existing disease fighting solutions are applied, like Teun Bousema, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Bousema wants to work toward eliminating malaria in African villages by targeting all the interventions - from spraying insecticides to installing bed nets and killing mosquito larvae - around the people who get bit the most. He learned with his earlier Gates grant that those people can be identified through blood tests.

Up to this point, most malaria prevention and treatment has focused on the most vulnerable populations, such as children, but Bousema said that approach will never lead to elimination of the disease.—AP

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Announcements Art salon Bouhshari Art Gallery Exhibition runs through 15 September. Daily working hours: 10am - 1pm and 5 - 9pm, except on Friday and on Thursday evening.

Kala, Kuwait - one day badminton tournament The sports wing of Kerala Art Lovers Association (Kala, Kuwait) is organizing a Badminton Tournament which will be held at Abu halifa AlSahaheel Indoor Stadium tomorrow, Friday, 15th.

Teams representing the 28 units of Kala will be taking part in the whole one day tournament.

Sports wing committee held a meeting in which they discussed the details regarding the forthcoming tournament. For more information regarding the tournament kindly contact 24317875 or 66522381.

Indian bowling league Indian Bowling League Season 2 would like to invite you and your families to participate in an Indian bowling event where all nationalities, the young and the old can have fun playing an enjoyable game while meeting new people in a healthy competition from July 12th - August 15th For more details contact: Uly 99503348, Amaldo 66052062, and Nasha 99516960. If anyone is looking to assist them in this event with sponsors, they will be really obliged to have your help to make this event a success. Registrations are open.

Bodybuilding competition The Philippine Body Building & Fitness Association in Kuwait will be holding its first Bodybuilding competition for all Filipino Instructors and enthusiasts on July 22nd at AlZumareida Hall, Salwa along the Gulf Road from 5pm - 9pm. The competition will be one of a kind in Kuwait. It will highlight the participation of highly skilled Filipino fitness and aerobics trainers and showcase remarkable presentations during the competition. Three categories for the Bodybuilding competition: Small, Medium, Tall, all of which are based on required height measurements. There will be three winners from each height category and one overall winner. The competition will be covered by Al Watan Daily News, TFC (The Filipino Channel) and GMA 7 from the Philippines. KuwaitBodyBuilding.com will be one of the sponsors for this event and PBBFAK are actively looking for other organizations that may also be interested in becoming a sponsor.

Family conference Home land family conference of KTMCC (Kuwait Town Malalyali Christian Congregation) will be conducted on July 23 at Kumbanadu, Kerala including its ex-members and the present members who are on vacation at that time. Meantime it decided to honor those who completed age of 70 and above. For the registration of conference to visit www.ktmcc.com or to contact HFC (Home land family conference) Kerala Chapter Convener T. John Mathew Mob: - (+91) 94463-68878 or Secretary Roy. K.Yohannan 66570486.

Egyptian Council celebrates outstanding graduates

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he council of Egyptian citizens in Kuwait held a celebration for outstanding high school graduates, commemorating the achievement of several Egyptian, Kuwaiti and Arab students who were invited to the event.

The ceremony was attended by the

Egyptian ambassador to Kuwait, Tahir Faraht, the general consul at the Egyptian Embassy Salah Al-Wusaimi, undersecretary assistant for public education at Kuwait’s Ministry of Education Muna Al-Lughani, and other guests including members from the Egyptian

council and families of the commemorated students.

Thirty one Egyptian students who finished among the top fifty outstanding high school graduates for the school year 2010/2011 with GPAs exceeding 99%, were rewarded during the event.

Among the awarded students was Waleed Abu Al-Fath who graduated from the Balat Al-Shuhada’a High School with a 99.87% record, which put him on top of the outstanding students’ list for high school graduates in the scientific sector.

Rink soccer Don Bosco Oratory is pleased to announce its Major 4-A-Side “Rink Soccer Fiesta” in Kuwait! This event is for the soccer lovers in Kuwait and will be played on a League (round robin) cum knock out basis from August 2nd at the IEAS Quadrangle in Salmiya. Last date to register for participation is on July 28th. Draws will be announced on the July 30th. For details contact Chris: 6651-9627, Alex: 66069282 from 6-9pm.

India medical tourism destination event

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he Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), along with Trident Exhibition Pvt. Ltd., and suppor ted by M inistr y of Tourism, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Commerce, and Government of India, is organizing an event entitled “India-Medical Tourism Destination 2011”. The event will run from 14th 15th September 2011 at the Kuwait I nternational Fair (KIF) Ground, Mishref, Kuwait. The objective of the event would be to highlight the benefits of medical tourism and to emphasize India’s role in providing affordable and quality healthcare to the Kuwaiti people.

Healthcare is an essential needs.

However, quality healthcare facilities are not available everywhere.

And if at all available, the cost is exorbitantly high in most parts of the world. With a large pool of highly trained doctors and affordable treatment cost, the I ndian healthcare sector aims to replicate the success of the Indian software sector. Over the past few years, the medical tourism story has changed dramatically in India. Private enterprises including corporate hospitals, chemists, freelance agents are all working in tandem to build a thriving ecosystem that educates, facilitates and ferries medical tourists from across the world. In the year 2010, this system brought around 600,000 patients from over

30 countries around the globe, mainly from USA, Canada, UK , Russia, the Middle East and Africa to India who spent Rs.4,500 crores (US$1 billion) in treatments.

Advantages for medical tourists in India include reduced costs, availability of the latest medical technologies and growing compliance of international quality standards and absence of language barriers .

The most popular treatments sought in India by medical tourists are transplant surgeries (liver, kidney, heart) cardiac bypass surgery, eye surger y, or thopedic surger y and spinal surgery. India is known in particular for heart surgery, hip and k nee resur facing and other areas of advanced medicine and alternative medicines. As per the latest report, over 10,000 Kuwaiti nationals went to India in 2010 for treatments related to cardiac, spinal, cosmetic and various other surgeries.

An advance team lead by Dr. Narottam Puri, Advisor - Health S er vices, FICCI and Chairman, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, visited Kuwait from 10 - 12 July 2011 for holding preliminary discussions on the event. They called on M r. Vidhu P. Nair, Charge d ’ Affaires of the Indian Embassy who promised to extend all assistance for the successful conduct of the event.

Shoot like a pro In your days you will learn simple tips on how to capture amazing portraits, advices you can use to start taking better pictures, techniques that will help you to shoot wonderful traveling photos, and learn the post-processing to enhance the captured photos. Starting on 17/7/2011 at Tayseera Al-Barram’s Workshop. Limited seats.

Last date to apply 15/7/2011 Hurry up! For more info contact us 00965-99965018 albarramphotography@gmail.com

Vinod V Nair, CONTACT Kuwait chapter coordinator speaks as other CONTACTers Shah, Iqbal, Vijayakrishnan, Satheesh, and Peter look on.

Contact Kuwait chapter holds its first meeting

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onfederation of Television Artistes, Commercial Operators and Technicians (CONTAC T ) Kuwait chapter held its first meeting yesterday in the presence of CONTACT president Vijayakrishnan and the general secretary Mohammad Shah. CONTACT Kuwait chapter coordinator Vinod V Nair detailed the activities the chapter has planned in Kuwait for the current working year. CONTACT, an Indian confederation for T V ar tistes has chapters in Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai other than its Indian metropolitan branches. Founded in 1996, for the bond among the artistes and technicians working in the television field, CONTACT soon achieved its independent status after it grew into a well established organization that promotes visual art, gaining attention from the government level. CONTACT now has over 400 members and conducts short film festivals, and workshops that focus the art of film making and its technology. It also has begun making short films introducing newcomers in the field.

Vijayak rishnan and Mohammad Shah, the president and the general secretary respectively who are in Kuwait urged CONTACT Kuwait members the relentless dedication to the medium of art. Vinod V Nair, CONTACT Kuwait chapter coordinator expressed the chapter’s plan to participate in the next month’s video workshop and short film festival which will be conducted at Chithranjali studio, Thiruvananthapuram. He welcomed any short films to be shown during the festival which will also have an interaction with the team behind the film. About 50 films, from 1 minute to 1 hour length, ranging from animation to documentary will be shown during the festival hosted by CONTACT. About 15 awards are given at the end of the festival covering many categories in the making of a short film. The CONTACT team also includes Jagannathan, KL Srikrishna Das, Vice Presidents, Thaj Basheer, Treasuresr and representatives and volunteers spread all over the world. For any details please contact: 99375975.

Pizza eating championship Pizza Eating Championship is back again. Pizza Inn is organizing a Pizza Eating Championship which will be held at their True Value Branch in AlRai on July 18. The winner will be the person who will eat the maximum number of pizza slices within a stipulated time (for all the rules of this completion, click on read more). Contestants may enroll for this competition online or in their True Value branch. Closing date for registration July 16.

For more info: 2476-0124 or 2476-0141.

BBQ night Get ready for a mid-summer beach BBQ night on one of the most prestigious venues in town. Relax and enjoy the stunning bay view while massaging your ears with the finest electronic music performed by DJ Patrick. A buffet of salads and live cooking grills will be available on Thursday, July 14th at Al-Corniche Club from 8pm.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

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Al-Mulla Exchange- Jeevan Pravasi Puraskara Sandhya enthralls audience

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA In order to inform that 23rd of October 2011, will be Argentine national election where all Argentinean citizen residents permanently in Kuwait can vote only if they are registered at the Electoral Register of the Argentine Embassy. The procedure of inscription ended on 25 of April 2011. To register it is necessary that Argentinean citizens should come personally at the Argentinean Embassy (Block 6, street 42, villa 57, Mishref) and present the DNI and four personal photos (size 4x4, face should be front on white background). For further information, contact us on 25379211.

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The entertainment show arranged by Al Mulla Exchange.

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l Mulla Exchange customers were in for a special treat at the American International School to see their favorite superstar singer and two time India national film award winner, M G Sreekumar perform in front of their own eyes. The singer along with other singing sensations like Renjini Jose, Star singers Srinath and Vidyashankar had the entire crowd tapping to their tunes and singing their favorite songs. The comedian, Aiyappa Baiju had the gathering in splits

with his and team’s antics.

The artists were in Kuwait as part of the first ever Al Mulla Exchange-Jeevan Pravasi Puraskara Sandhya which honored eminent personalities of the Indian community who have made their contribution in the field of social and charitable activities, medical and health care, education, art and culture.

Keeping in view the high demand from their customers, Al Mulla Exchange and Jeevan TV in this novel venture arranged two shows. Both the

shows were fully packed as the community wanted to witness the performance of their popular stars. The award ceremony was during the second program and was (officially) inaugurated by H.E. Vidhu P. Nair, Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of India by the lighting of the lamp along with the officials from Al Mulla Group and Jeevan TV. Selected by an independent jury, the recipients of the awards were Dr. Nazar Al Sane - former Member of Parliament in Kuwait; M Mathews - Owner

Safeena International; Mr. K G Abraham - Managing Director of Naser Al Batha General Trading Company(NBTC);.

Thomas Chandy, MLA; T A Remesh - Country Manager Gulfmart; Dr. Biji BasheerDoctor in German Clinic;.

Babuji Batheri - Social Worker and Dr. Murali Gopal on behalf of Indian Doctors Forum for their invaluable contribution to society. The recipients thanked Al Mulla Exchange and Jeevan TV for honoring them with this award.

The show also coincided

with the launch of server to server on-line credit of remittances by Al Mulla Exchange for their customers and also as part of the commitment for conducting such programs for their loyal customers. This also commemorated the third anniversary of Jeevan TV’s commencement in Kuwait. The program was very well organized by both the partners and had customers fully entertained. The consensus was that they have not seen such a show for years together.

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.

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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 ■■■■■■■

Abbasiya zone Malayalam classes in full bloom

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he free Malayalam classes conducted by Kala, Kuwait is progressing very well in the Abbasiya zone. Usha Sadanandan is taking the classes at Kala Centre. Linda Saji is taking the class at Saji Mathew’s residence near Udupi Restaurant. Malayalam class Abbasiya zone activities are led by Convenor Sasidharan, Vinu Kalleli, Rejeesh, Sudheer, Joji Iyype, Johnson George and Sunny Saijesh.

The Malayalam class teachers’ meeting.

Kala Kuwait conducts Malayalam class teachers’ meeting

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.

Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday.

The forms are available on the internet at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5 257E.PDF. ■■■■■■■

Greetings

EMBASSY OF FRANCE On the occasion of the National Day of France, the French Embassy in Kuwait will be closed tomorrow (Thursday the 14th of July 2011).

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s part of the Malayalam Education Program being conducted by Kerala Art Lovers Association, Kala-Kuwait, the teachers meet allowed the teachers belonging to various Malayalam classes to share their teaching experiences. A total of 210 students are attending the 15 classes in the Fahaheel zone. Participants in the discussion agreed that the children were indeed excited to attend the classes, which gave them a different experience than their normal routine school classes. Apart from the basic letters and history, the ethnic culture of Kerala and poetry is also being taught, says Peethan K.Wayanad.

General Convener P K Janardhanan presided the meeting in which Kala, Kuwait General Secretary R Naganathan delivered the principal address. Babu G Batheri briefed the participants on effective methods on taking classes and how to make the classes more interactive and fun. Mathrubhasha Samithi and regional convener Rahil K Mohandas welcomed all and Samithi member P R Babu rendered the vote of thanks. Central committee members who led the meeting were Sudarshanan, G.SanalKumar, T R Sudhakaran, T V Hikmath, Roy Nelson, Sajeev Abraham, Sunil and Salil Mohammed.

Shabbir Khan and Hajira Sanam

AWARE Centre Diwaniya

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he AWARE Center cordially invites you to its diwaniya presentation entitled, “Developing Global and Ethical leaders through Quality learning,” by Khalid Al-Dowsary on Tuesday July 19, 2011 at 7:00pm.

Are you interested in improving your inter/cross-cultural communication skills, develop dialogue with and respect other cultures, improve your presentation skills, improve leadership skills, improve your teamwork spirit, improve your solving problems skills and critical thinking, build your confidence, improve your discussions skills and improve your creativity?

Khalid Al-Dowsary will share with you the keys to that.

Khalid Al-Dowsary is a Saudi Aramco employee working as Superintendent of Professional Learning Division of the Professional Development Department. He is currently working on his phd in Business Administration with a concentration on Human Resource Development, Malaysia University. He obtained his M.ed Human Resource Development from University of Minnesota, USA. -2007. He also holds Master of Science Degree (M.S.) — For more information, call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw

Kozhikode District Association to hold program

Dr. Shabbir Khan (Lakeshore Hospital Ernakulam) son of Mrs & Mr Rajan Rawther (Senior Manager - ABK -Kuwait), married to Hajira Sanam , Daughter of Mrs & Mr Dr Ahmed Kabir, Reem Mansion (Raiban) Alleppey at Raiban Auditorium on Sunday 3rd July 2011.

Congratulations from well-wishers!

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ozhikode District Association invites you to a cultural program held in connection with the birth centenary celebration of Malayalam poet, Changampuzha Krishna Pillai. The program will have a variety of arts and cultural programs. We look forward to your esteemed presence, blessings and media coverage for our program, scheduled to be held on 15th July 2011 at 5.00pm at Indian Integrated School, Abbassiya.

Adrian De Leon Tamayo

Happy 3rd Birthday Adrian De Leon Tamayo We wish you good health, bright and joy­ ful future. We love you!!! Greetings from: daddy & mommy, lolo & lola, tito & tita, ate Alexis & Aliya, family and friends!!!

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 INDIA Embassy of India, would like to inform that application forms for passport/visa services and labour contracts that are on its website, www.indembkwt.org, have been upgraded to include the facility for online data entry. Affidavit forms on the Embassy website have had this facility since May 6, 2009.

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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

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00:10 00:40 01:25 02:20 02:50 03:20 03:50 04:20 04:30 04:50 05:10 05:40 05:50 06:10 06:30 07:00 07:20 07:40 08:10 08:20 08:40 09:00 09:30 09:40 10:10 10:40 11:25 12:15 12:45 13:15 14:05 15:05 15:40 16:35 17:20 17:45 18:15 19:10 20:00 20:45 21:15 21:45 22:40 23:30

Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Untamed & Uncut Austin Stevens Adventures Planet Earth Human Prey Animal Cops Houston Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Lemur Street The Really Wild Show Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife Breed All About It Dogs 101 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Lemur Street Wildlife SOS Animal ER Animal Cops Houston Animal Precinct RSPCA: On the Frontline The Really Wild Show Crocodile Hunter Must Love Cats Breed All About It Planet Wild Crocodile Hunter Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Escape to Chimp Eden Escape to Chimp Eden Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife I Was Bitten Mutant Planet

Dinnerladies The Weakest Link Casualty Bleak House Bleak House Eastenders Dinnerladies Charlie And Lola Fimbles Balamory Tikkabilla Charlie And Lola Fimbles Balamory Tikkabilla Fimbles Balamory Tikkabilla Charlie And Lola Fimbles Balamory Tikkabilla Charlie And Lola Dinnerladies Dinnerladies The Weakest Link Born And Bred Doctors Eastenders Casualty Dinnerladies Dinnerladies Born And Bred The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Born And Bred The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Ray Mears Goes Walkabout Dinnerladies

00:30 Masterchef: The Professionals 01:15 Come Dine With Me 02:05 New Scandinavian Cooking 02:30 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 02:55 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 03:40 Daily Cooks Challenge 07:05 French Food At Home 07:50 French Food At Home 08:10 New Scandinavian Cooking 08:40 New Scandinavian Cooking

With Andreas Viestad 09:05 Antiques Roadshow 09:55 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 10:20 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 11:10 Ching’s Kitchen 11:35 New Scandinavian Cooking 12:00 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 12:25 Antiques Roadshow 13:15 Cash In The Attic 14:00 Bargain Hunt 14:45 Come Dine With Me 15:35 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 16:00 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 16:50 Ching’s Kitchen 17:15 Indian Food Made Easy 17:45 Indian Food Made Easy 18:10 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 18:35 New Scandinavian Cooking With Andreas Viestad 19:00 Antiques Roadshow 19:50 Cash In The Attic 20:35 Bargain Hunt 21:20 Come Dine With Me 22:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 23:00 Masterchef: The Professionals 23:45 Masterchef: The Professionals

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 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 Newsday 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Sport Today 04:00 Newsday 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Sport Today 05:00 Newsday 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 Newsday 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 Sport Today 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 World Business Report 20:45 Sport Today 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 BBC World News America 23:30 Hardtalk

00:05 Cow And Chicken 00:30 Cramp Twins 00:55 The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

TV PROGRAMS 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 Samurai Jack 04:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 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 Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 09:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 10:00 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:55 Ben 10 11:20 Ben 10 11:45 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 12:35 Samurai Jack 13:25 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 13:50 Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes 14:15 Robotboy 14:40 Robotboy 15:05 The Secret Saturdays 15:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 16:35 Bakugan: New Vestroia 17:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 17:40 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 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 Adventure Time 19:45 The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy 20:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 20:35 Cow And Chicken 21:00 Best Ed 21:25 Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends 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 10:00 10:30 10:45 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 The Situation Room World Report World Business Today Piers Morgan Tonight Anderson Cooper 360 World Sport Talk Asia World Report Backstory World Report World Sport Edit Room Future Cities World Business Today World One World Sport Open Court Piers Morgan Tonight News Stream World Business Today International Desk The Brief World Sport Prism International Desk Open Court 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 11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 15:05 16:00 16:55 17:50 18:45 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Dirty Jobs LA Ink Ultimate Survival Heartland Thunder Mythbusters How It’s Made How Stuff Works Dirty Jobs Heartland Thunder Street Customs 2008 How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Hunters Science Of The Movies The Future Of...

Ultimate Survival LA Ink Dirty Jobs Heartland Thunder Mythbusters Dual Survival Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings How Stuff Works How It’s Made Surviving The Cut Sons Of Guns Frontline Battle Machines...

Dual Survival

00:05 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:25 04:15 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 08:50 09:40 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:15 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Science Of The Movies Mega Builders What’s That About?

Weird Connections Punkin Chunkin 2010 How Stuff’s Made Mega Builders One Step Beyond Engineered Punkin Chunkin 2010 Race To Mars The Gadget Show Weird Connections Brainiac How The Universe Works Sci-Fi Science The Gadget Show Prototype This Bang Goes The Theory Catch It Keep It The Gadget Show Prototype This Bang Goes The Theory The Gadget Show

00:00 Kim Possible 00:25 Fairly Odd Parents 01:15 Stitch 02:00 Replacements 02:50 Emperors New School 03:35 Stitch 04:25 Replacements 05:15 Fairly Odd Parents 06:00 Emperors New School 06:20 Phineas & Ferb 07:05 Suite Life On Deck 07:55 Good Luck Charlie 08:20 Fish Hooks 08:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:10 Jungle Junction 09:25 Handy Manny 09:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:50 Sonny With A Chance 10:10 Fish Hooks 10:35 Phineas And Ferb 10:50 Shake It Up 11:15 Good Luck Charlie 12:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 12:45 Hannah Montana 13:30 High School Musical: El Desafio Argentina 15:20 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 15:45 Fish Hooks 16:10 Shake It Up 16:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place 17:25 Hannah Montana 17:50 Fish Hooks 18:15 Suite Life On Deck 18:45 Shake It Up 19:10 Good Luck Charlie 20:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 20:25 Jake & Blake 20:50 Hannah Montana 21:15 Phineas & Ferb 21:35 Good Luck Charlie 22:00 Shake It Up 22:25 Hannah Montana 22:50 Sonny With A Chance Yr 2 23:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:35 Jonas

06:00 Kid Vs Kat 06:20 Kick Buttowski 06:40 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 07:05 Phineas & Ferb 08:05 Kick Buttowski 08:30 American Dragon 09:00 Kid Vs Kat 11:05 Kid Vs Kat 11:30 Pair Of Kings 11:55 Phineas & Ferb 12:20 Phineas & Ferb 12:45 Kid Vs Kat 13:30 Kid Vs Kat 13:50 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 14:40 Zeke & Luther 15:05 Kick Buttowski 15:35 Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors 16:00 I’m In The Band 16:25 Kid Vs Kat 18:30 Kid Vs Kat 18:55 Kick Buttowski 19:45 Kid Vs Kat 20:15 Kid Vs Kat 20:40 I’m In The Band 21:05 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 21:30 Zeke & Luther 22:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody 22:20 The Super Hero Squad Show

THE LAST AIRBENDER ON OSN CINEMA

00:55 Then And Now 01:25 Cheating Death 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Khloe And Lamar 10:15 15 Unforgettable Hollywood

Tragedies 12:05 E! News 13:05 Extreme Close-Up 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Holly’s World 17:55 E! News 18:55 THS 19:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Khloe And Lamar 22:25 E! News 23:25 Extreme Close-Up 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:15 Glutton For Punishment 00:40 Mantracker 01:30 World Combat League 02:20 Glutton For Punishment 03:10 Aiya TV 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 IFMXF 2010 09:15 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

10:05 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

10:55 Eds Up 11:45 Man’s Work 12:10 Fantasy Factory 12:35 Gumball 3000: 2008 13:25 Mantracker 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Eds Up 15:55 Man’s Work 16:20 Fantasy Factory 16:45 Quattro Events 2009 17:10 IFMXF 2010 18:00 Lucas Oil Ama Motocross Championships...

19:40 Mantracker 20:30 Gumball 3000: 2008 21:20 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

22:10 World Combat League 23:00 Aiya TV 23:50 Gumball 3000: 2008

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:45 05:15 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:05 09:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 Jones 22:50 23:40

The Haunted A Haunting I Almost Got Away With It Crimes That Shook The World Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters The Haunted Mystery Diagnosis Murder Shift Forensic Detectives Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Royal Inquest FBI Files On The Case With Paula Zahn Undercover Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Royal Inquest FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol On The Case With Paula Zahn Undercover True Crime With Aphrodite Deadly Women Dr G: Medical Examiner

01:30 03:01 04:50 06:20 07:55 09:15 11:00 11:15 13:20 14:55 16:30 18:05 20:35 22:00 23:35

Death Wish v Ulee’s Gold-PG Number One Fan-PG Diary Of A Madman Haunted Honeymoon-PG Hornet’s Nest-PG Mgm’s Big Screen-FAM Man Of LA Mancha-PG Love Bites-PG Mystery Date-PG The Aviator-PG The Group-PG Haunted Honeymoon-PG Until September-PG From Noon Till Three-PG

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

World’s Deadliest Hippo Hell Snakezilla Crocodile King Wild Russia The Living Edens Hidden Worlds Hyena Queen Hidden Worlds World’s Deadliest Animals Snakezilla Crocodile King Wild Russia Dam Beavers Big Cat Odyssey Hidden Worlds World’s Deadliest Animals Snakezilla Croc Ganglands I, Predator Big Cat Odyssey Hidden Worlds World’s Deadliest Animals Snakezilla Croc Ganglands

00:15 The Evil Dead-R 02:00 Battlestar Galactica: The Plan18 04:00 Vinyan-18 06:00 The Day After Tomorrow-PG 08:15 Changing Lanes-PG15 10:00 I, Robot-PG15 12:00 Angels And Demons-PG15 14:15 Changing Lanes-PG15 16:00 Stonehenge Apocalypse-PG15 17:45 Angels And Demons-PG15 20:00 John Carpenter’s Ghosts Of Mars-PG15 22:00 The Spirit-PG15

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00

Nine Dead-PG15 Home Run-PG15 The Greatest-PG15 Preacher’s Kid-PG

THE MARINE 2 ON OSN MOVIES ACTION 09:00 At Risk-PG15 11:00 Flying By-PG15 13:00 Echelon Conspiracy-PG15 15:00 Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea-FAM 17:00 My Son, My Son, What Have You Done?-PG15 19:00 When In Rome-PG15 21:00 The Last Airbender-PG15 23:00 Green Zone-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Funny Or Die Presents 02:00 Louie 02:30 Party Down 03:00 Malcolm In The Middle 03:30 Hope And Faith 04:00 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 06:00 According To Jim 06:30 Coach 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 08:30 Malcolm In The Middle 09:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 09:30 The Simpsons 10:00 Parks And Recreation 10:30 According To Jim 11:00 Coach 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 13:00 Hope And Faith 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 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 16:30 Coach 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Malcolm In The Middle 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 22:00 The Ricky Gervais Show 22:30 Party Down 23:00 Funny Or Die Presents 23:30 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 Private Practice Terriers The View Good Morning America Glee Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Supernatural Terriers Live Good Morning America Strong Medicine The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Look-A-Like Bones White Collar Burn Notice The Good Guys Glee

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

Alias Breaking Bad Supernatural Mildred Pierce Terriers The Glades Alias Cougar Town Coronation Street No Ordinary Family The Glades Terriers Supernatural Cougar Town No Ordinary Family Alias Cougar Town

16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Look-A-Like No Ordinary Family Bones White Collar Burn Notice The Good Guys Surface

01:00 03:00 05:15 07:00 09:00 11:00 PG15 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:15 21:30 23:15

Goal III-18 Se7en-18 It’s Alive-R The Marine 2-PG15 The Snow Walker-PG15 Beyond A Reasonable Doubt-

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

Bandslam-PG15 Head Over Heels-PG15 Dirty Work-PG15 Hope Springs-PG15 The Invention Of Lying-PG15 Maneater: Part I-PG15 Maneater: Part II-PG15 Aliens In The Attic-FAM Bandslam-PG15 Coming And Going-PG15 Four Last Songs-PG15 I Love You, Man-18

01:15 03:00 05:15 07:15 09:30 11:15 13:15 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Combien Tu M’aimes-18 Riding In Cars With Boys-PG15 Synecdoche, New York-18 Les Miserables-PG15 Never Cry Wolf-PG15 Make It Funky!-PG15 Born Free-PG Tuck Everlasting-PG Ice Castles-PG15 Cry Baby-PG15 My Own Private Idaho-R Tiptoes-18

Unbreakable-PG15 The Snow Walker-PG15 A Knight’s Tale-PG15 Set It Off-18 The Descent 2-18 Outpost-18

01:15 The Cable Guy-PG15 03:00 The Box-PG15 05:00 Easy Virtue-PG15 07:00 Remember Me-PG15 09:00 Invictus-PG15 11:15 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 13:00 Surrogates-PG15 15:00 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 17:00 Invictus-PG15 19:15 Girl, Positive-PG15 21:00 The Last Airbender-PG15 23:00 The Wolfman-18 00:00 Little Match Girl-PG 02:00 Gold Diggers: The Secret Of Bear Mountain-PG 04:00 Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs Wakko’s Wakko-PG 06:00 Wild Records!-PG 08:00 Globehunters-FAM 10:00 Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home-FAM 12:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 14:00 Dinosaur Island-PG 16:00 Dr. Dolittle 2-PG 18:00 Toy Story 3-FAM 20:00 Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths-PG 22:00 Dinosaur Island-PG 00:00 Dare-18 02:00 American Son-PG15 04:00 One Hot Summer-PG15 06:00 Celine: Through The Eyes Of The World-PG15 08:00 Creation-PG15 10:00 Planet 51-PG 12:00 Post Grad-PG15 14:00 Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming-PG15 16:00 Creation-PG15 18:00 Nowhere Boy-PG15 20:00 Grown Ups-PG15 22:00 The Messenger-18

00:00 The Open Championship Preview 00:30 Trans World Sport 01:30 Speedway

02:30 Super Rugby Highlights 03:30 Powerboats F1 H2O 04:00 The Open Championship Preview 04:30 Le Mans Highlights 05:30 Aquabikes 06:00 WWE Vintage Collection 07:00 The Open Championship Preview 07:30 Super Rugby Highlights 08:30 Trans World Sport 09:30 The Open Championship Official Film 10:30 The Open Championship Preview 11:00 Live The Open Championship 22:00 Trans World Sport 23:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter

00:30 State of Origin 02:30 IRB Pacific Nations Cup 04:30 IRB Pacific Nations Cup 06:30 European Tour Weekly 07:00 The Open Championship Preview 07:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 08:30 Golfing World 09:30 The Open Championship Official Film 10:30 The Open Championship Preview 11:00 Live The Open Championship 22:00 Golfing World 23:00 IRB Pacific Nations Cup

00:00 01:00 01:30 04:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00

Trans World Sport Euro Tour Weekly AFL Premiership Masters Football Golfing World ICC Criket World Futbol Mundial Trans World Sport Mobil 1 The Grid Euro Tour Weekly Live Snooker Futbol Mundial AFL Highlights Total Rugby Mobil 1 The Grid Snooker

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Modern Pentathlon Modern Pentathlon UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line Modern Pentathlon Modern Pentathlon WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars Championship Modern Pentathlon Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Speedway WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 132

01:00 Ice Road Truckers 02:00 Ax Men 03:00 Britain At War 04:00 13 Hours That Saved Britain 05:00 The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours 07:00 Ice Road Truckers 08:00 Ax Men 09:00 Britain At War 10:00 13 Hours That Saved Britain 11:00 Skeletons On The Sahara 13:00 Ice Road Truckers 14:00 Ax Men 15:00 Britain At War 16:00 13 Hours That Saved Britain 17:00 Skeletons On The Sahara 19:00 Ice Road Truckers 20:00 Ax Men 21:00 Sliced 21:30 Sliced 22:00 Modern Marvels 23:00 World War II: Lost Films

Classifieds THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for family or decent Indian Hindu or Catholic bachelors with Mangalorean Catholic family in a window A/C, two bedroom off Rashid Hospital, Shara Amman, Salmiya. Contact: 55995437/ 99200186.

(C 3520) Sharing accommodation, C-A/C, available in Jabriya area 10, near Jabriya Indian School for decent couple or working ladies. Please contact: 99300513. (C 3521) 13-7-2011 Sharing available for family in a double bed room flat + 2 toilet + hall, Abbasiya near opposite Asianet building, opposite Garden, Variety Store. Contact: 50202206/ 97213877.

(C 3513) 12-7-2011 Sharing accommodation available in Hawally, Fourth Ring Road, for Pilipino couple, opposite Royal Hayath Hospital, Jabriya. Contact: 66189873. (C 3511) 11-7-2011 Sharing accommodation available in Abbasiya, fur-

nished 2 bedroom flat, from September 1. Rent KD 35.

One vacancy. Contact: 99162583. (C 3507) 10-7-2011

(C 3517) South Indian Muslim parents seeking suitable match for their divorced daughter 26yrs.

Groom must be educated.

Contact: Email: mohamedshoaib62@yahoo.com

(C 3519) 13-7-2011

FOR SALE I need Japanese car less than KD 700/-. Contact: 67607334. (C 3518) 13-7-2011 Corolla XLi 2002, silver color, KD 1,350/-. Contact: 55323839.

(C 3514) 12-7-2011

MATRIMONIAL Marthomite parents invite marriage proposals, for their daughter, fair 28/164 B.Com, MBA, working in MNC, from parents of professionally qualified boys (Engineers, CA, Doctor etc) preferably from Marthoma, CSI, Evangelical, with good family background.

Contact: Email: advnaithu@yahoo.com (C 3516) Proposal invited for Orthodox boy 29/188cm, BSc (N) working in M.O.H. Prefer nurses working in Kuwait.

Contact: 66704615.

SITUATION VACANT Required house maid for an Indian family in Farwaniya (live in or part time) (Indian, Sri Lankan preferred) salary KD 100/-.

Contact: 97220933.

(C 3510) 10-7-2011 Required a foreign Maths lady teacher to teach grade 4 Maths. Please Contact: 99011855. (C 3504) A family is seeking to hire a houseboy who is fluent in English and is Christian.

Contact: 99199020.

(C 3506) 9-7-2011

CHANGE OF NAME I, Abdul Quyoom, holder of Indian Passport No. E0372009, hereby change my name to Abdul Quyoom Shaikh. (C 3515)

SITUATION WANTED Accountant - B.Com Graduate passed in First Class knowing Peachtree and Tally accounting having 2 year experience in India and currently working in Kuwait. Seeking suitable job as ACCOUNTANT. Contact: 65179245.

(C 3509) 12-7-2011 A well qualified Nigerian lady, office administrator inter personal skills with several years of experience in Kuwait, visa transferable, seeks suitable placement.

Please contact: 94979702.

Email: hettycharls@yahoo.com (C 3511) A well qualified female executive secretary with several years of experience in Kuwait with US company, Visa transferable, seeks suitable placement. Please Contact: 99907403. Email: david_angel2003@yahoo.com (C 3512) 11-7-2011 Accountant - B.Com Graduate passed in First Class knowing Peachtree and Tally accounting having 2 year experience in India and currently working in Kuwait. Seeking suitable job as Accountant. Contact: 65179245. (C 3508)

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines RJA JZR JZR MEA THY ETH UAE DHX ETD MSR FDB GFA QTR KAC THY JZR FCX JZR KAC BAW JZR KAC KAC IRA KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY ETD GFA UAE MEA JZR MSR JZR SYR KAC MSR UAL SHY RJA MSR FDB OMA JZR QTR KAC KAC SVA KAC KAC

Flt 642 205 267 406 772 620 853 370 305 614 67 211 138 206D 770 503 201 555 412 157 1541 206 382 605 302 332 53 352 284 362 855 132 125 301 213 3853 404 165 623 561 341 672 610 982 4125 640 621 57 645 357 140 562 546 500 552 788

Arrival Flights on Thursday 14/7/2011 Route AMMAN DAMASCUS BEIRUT BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI CAIRO DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA ISLAMABAD ISTANBUL LUXOR DUBAI ALEXANDRIA MANILA / BANGKOK LONDON CAIRO ISLAMABAD DELHI ISFAHAN MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI COCHIN DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI DOHA SHARJAH ABU DHABI BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT DUBAI SOHAG SOHAG DAMASCUS / DEIREZZOR DUBAI CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES ANTALYA AMMAN ASSIUT DUBAI MUSCAT MASHAD DOHA AMMAN ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH DAMASCUS JEDDAH

Time 0:05 0:25 0:35 0:50 1:15 1:45 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:05 3:10 3:15 3:20 3:20 4:10 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 10:25 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 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40

KNE JZR QTR JZR KNE KOR KAC MLR ETD UAE KAC GFA SVA 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 QTR UAL AIC JZR MSR JZR JZR MSR DLH LZB MEA AXB JZR PIA

745 257 134 535 789 161 118 403 303 857 154 215 510 777 327 239 127 227 177 3555 104 502 542 618 786 614 674 774 572 458 617 61 93 8067 647 179 402 178 618 372 445 859 217 136 981 981 135 606 513 185 612 636 7787 408 389 539 205

JEDDAH BEIRUT DOHA CAIRO JEDDAH NORTH KOREA / ISLAMABAD NEW YORK COLOMBO / DUBAI ABU DHABI DUBAI ISTANBUL BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH TUNIS / DUBAI AMMAN SHARJAH COLOMBO / DUBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LONDON BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH MUMBAI SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI AHWAZ DUBAI KANDAHAR / DUBAI DUBAI MUSCAT DUBAI BEIRUT GENEVA / FRANKFURT ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD BAHRAIN LUXOR SHARM EL SHEIKH DUBAI CAIRO FRANKFURT SOFIA / VARNA BEIRUT KOZHIKODE / MANGALORE CAIRO LAHORE

14:45 15:10 15:15 15:50 16:00 16:10 16:15 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:15 17:20 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 21:35 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:15 22:20 22:35 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:05 23:10 23:30 23:55

Airlines AXB JZR DLH AIC KLM PIA THY ETH MEA UAE FDB DHX ETD MSR QTR THY JZR JZR RJA GFA KAC JZR BAW IRA FDB JZR KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC UAE ABY KAC QTR ETD GFA KAC UAE MEA KAC JZR JZR KAC MSR KAC JZR SYR MSR SHY RJA FDB MSR UAL

Departure Flights on Thursday 14/7/2011 Flt Route 394 COCHIN / KOZHIKODE 1540 CAIRO 637 FRANKFURT 576 GOA / CHENNAI 447 AMSTERDAM 216 KARACHI 773 ISTANBUL 620 BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA 407 BEIRUT 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 615 CAIRO 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 560 SOHAG 164 DUBAI 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 545 ALEXANDRIA 356 MASHAD 156 LONDON 606 MASHAD 54 DUBAI 534 CAIRO 153 ISTANBUL 787 JEDDAH 671 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 551 DAMASCUS 561 AMMAN 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 101 LONDON / NEW YORK 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 165 ROME / PARIS 3854 DUBAI 405 BEIRUT 541 CAIRO 776 JEDDAH 238 AMMAN 501 BEIRUT 624 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 342 DEIREZZOR / DAMASCUS 611 CAIRO 4126 ANTALYA 641 AMMAN 58 DUBAI 622 ASSIUT 982 BAHRAIN

Time 0:15 0:20 0:40 0:50 0:55 1:10 2:15 2:30 3:10 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:05 4:05 5:00 5:10 5:55 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 10:15 10:20 11:45 11:55 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

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

OMA KAC KNE KAC SVA JZR KAC JZR QTR KAC JZR KNE VOS ETD MLR QTR UAE GFA TAR ABY JZR JZR SVA RBG ALK JZR KAC KAC JAI FDB IRA FDB KAC KAC OMA MEA SIA MSR KAC DHX KLM KAC JZR UAE GFA FCX QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR MSR UAL KAC MSR KAC

646 673 746 617 505 178 773 512 141 613 538 790 82 304 404 135 858 216 328 128 184 266 511 3556 228 134 283 361 571 62 616 8067 331 351 648 403 457 619 543 373 445 677 206 860 218 102 137 301 205 502 554 607 981 411 613 415

MUSCAT DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI RIYADH SHARM EL SHEIKH DOHA BAHRAIN CAIRO JEDDAH BAGHDAD ABU DHABI DUBAI / COLOMBO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN TUNIS SHARJAH DUBAI BEIRUT RIYADH ALEXANDRIA DUBAI / COLOMBO BAHRAIN DHAKA COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI AHWAZ DUBAI TRIVANDRUM COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM DUBAI / MUSCAT DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD LUXOR ALEXANDRIA LUXOR WASHINGTON DC DULLES BANGKOK / MANILA CAIRO KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA

15:00 15:10 15:30 15:35 16:00 16:00 16:05 16:10 16:15 16:20 16:40 16:45 17:00 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:45 19:10 19:10 19:30 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45 20:50 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:20 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:05 23:10 23:15 23:40 23:40 23:50 23:50

34

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

s ta rs CROSSWORD 378

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) You are very skilled at working with psychology and the hidden recesses of the mind. This is a time for imagination and creativity when it comes to ideas and thinking. This, coupled with the ability to put your thoughts into words, allows you to captivate and spellbind. You would make an excellent psychologist or perhaps a teacher of this subject. These same skills make it possible for you to work with the public, in politics or wherever handling sensitive or hot issues are routine. You value change and transformation and have an almost reckless faith in the life process. You love to be touched at the most personal and vulnerable levels. Your love of job and practical skills makes you a fine businessperson. You bring a great deal of love to your work.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may find yourself making a speech today. You may want to save time after your speech for questions. You will discover which areas are easy to understand and which areas need better explanation. This keeps you from getting too technical. The situation is a natural for selfexpression and lends itself to your particular ideas and thoughts. Working with groups in a spirit of cooperation and communion is a natural. This afternoon you may feel like being different, trying something new and unusual. Enough stress— on with the fun is the general idea. Being appreciated is important, but after today’s work, there is a need for a break. You enjoy being in a career that accents your own personal dreams and ideals.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. A licensed medical practitioner.

4. Roman Emperor who was the adoptive son of Trajan.

10. A long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur.

13. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

14. United States writer of caustic wit (1842-1914).

15. Rate of revolution of a motor.

16. A boy or man.

17. Remove from memory or existence.

19. Lac purified by heating and filtering.

22. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

23. A place of worship that has its own altar.

27. Tall feather palm of northern Brazil with hard-shelled nuts yielding valuable oil and a kind of vegetable ivory.

31. Capital and largest city of Iraq.

34. Disparaging terms for the common people.

35. An associate degree in applied science.

38. (Norse mythology) One of the Aesir known for his beauty and skill with bow and skis.

39. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

43. The biblical name for ancient Syria.

44. A digital display that uses liquid crystal cells that change reflectivity in an applied electric field.

45. (prefix) Opposite or opposing or neutralizing.

48. Someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault.

49. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

53. A four-wheeled wagon that runs on tracks in a mine.

56. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

57. A peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

60. Consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree.

61. A run that is the result of the batter's performance.

62. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

63. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

DOWN 1. Coarse edible red seaweed.

2. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

3. (of a young animal) Abandoned by its mother and raised by hand.

4. Norwegian mathematician (1802-1829).

5. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

6. The limits within which something can be effective.

7. The bureau of the Treasury Department responsible for tax collections.

8. (informal) Of the highest quality.

9. A colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum tube.

10. A very troublesome child.

11. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

12. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

18. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.

20. A soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element.

21. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

24. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

25. (in golf) The standard number of strokes set for each hole on a golf course, or for the entire course.

26. System of measurement based on centimeters and grams and seconds.

28. make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow.

29. United States virologist who developed the Salk vaccine that is injected against poliomyelitis (born 1914).

30. Large sweet juicy hybrid between tangerine and grapefruit having a thick wrinkled skin.

32. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

33. (old-fashioned) At or from or to a great distance.

36. Small buffalo of Mindoro in the Philippines.

37. A heavy odorless colorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances.

40. Injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation.

41. A historical region of southwestern India on the west coast.

42. Tropical starchy tuberous root.

46. Agency of the United States government charged with mediating disputes between management and labor.

47. A sock with a separation for the big toe.

50. Small buffalo of the Celebes having small straight horns.

51. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

52. A town and port in northwestern Israel in the eastern Mediterranean.

54. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

55. Tag the base runner to get him out.

58. A small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun.

59. A state in midwestern United States.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Circumstances can throw you into a position where you must use your mind and deal with productive communication, service or enclosed hidden interests. You like radical approaches and may find yourself looking forward to whatever new breakthrough is next in line. Your sense of honesty and truth is something that others sense in you and support. You enjoy fair, just, frank and broad-minded persons. You tend to be creative in your work and career now and you will bring new ideas and spontaneity to bear. You are gregarious and sports-minded and may enjoy talking about sports with your friends this afternoon. Being a parent today is a difficult job, but so is being a kid. This evening is a good time to spend with the kid(s) in your life.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Hectic emotional energy means that things around you may be a little unorganized. Outwardly, you are intense and passionate and this quality is so essential to your character that all else revolves around it.

Your ability to cut through the external and get to the heart of things comes through loud and clear. There are no secrets with you—you get right down to the basics. Friends, group projects and community concerns could play a key role that molds your career direction. You may go through a lot of changes now because of your life style. Friends, loved ones and the home base may be due for some attention this afternoon. Goodwill and humanitarian efforts can affect your life in very good ways at this time. Create a romantic atmosphere this evening.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You may have to sit in judgment over some situation today, but you will come across as stable and even gentle—your response to most situations is evenhanded and supportive. You will probably take your time with decision making in order to react to a situation fully. You are enthusiastic and have a definite sense of mission. Above all, you are a progressive and enjoy putting into practice that which is good for all. Your professional life moves along at full speed ahead. Opportunities are available for change. Expressing yourself and your relation with others may not always be smooth and may tend to get explosive—careful. You could be preoccupied with job and family for now. Your attention this evening is mostly on an animal—new perhaps.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) There is a yearning to broaden horizons and reach for the ultimate, a kind of spiritual wanderlust—that’s the sort of thing that takes center stage in your life. Law, politics, education, travel and religion are some of the areas where emotionally charged drama could be played. You will have many opportunities to show off some of your talents today. You are a good worker, always thinking and caring for things. You are naturally service-oriented, very discriminating and can sort out the good apples from the bad. You love to communicate and discuss ideas with other people. Your ideas are always fair and impartial, especially when it comes to other people—the social scene. You are at your mental best when called upon to solve problems this day.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Your communication skills are fine-tuned today. You are the eternal patron of just about all who will let you look after them—the original mother hen. You need to feel useful and wanted and are never happier than when you are active and involved. Always the host, you find yourself caring for and taking care of others. In fact, you may tend to worry about others too much. You may not be content to let others judge you on appearance alone—you would rather be judged by your actions—by what you have done or can do. A volunteer service should be considered now. Look into some activity where you could serve others. You can become a success at anything you attempt. Talented people are attracted to you.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) This is a good day for practical ideas and planning about your work or vocation. You may receive some recognition or special attention regarding your particular skills and abilities. Your inner resources and emotions are accented. Expect a sense of support and good will from those around you. Perhaps you feel this is really you—how you feel and are.

You have a quick temper when it comes to questions of independence and autonomy. You may decide it is easier to become involved in politics and work toward changing the laws, instead of bucking them. You will be concerned with issues of freedom and independence far beyond the average person. A passion for inventions, electronics and the like can also be expected.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

Communication, particularly with superiors or influential people, could prove troublesome. You may not think as they do or may find that your thoughts run opposite to theirs. Your thoughts may be more on home and family just now. Keep notes—write down instructions or things you see that might benefit those in a higher position from you. This way you will not forget and then, when you have time, those little extra touches will benefit you at job-review time. At home you may be especially witty. Real estate investments and family planning take on greater importance for you. This is a time of nostalgia, of thinking about security and permanence. Refinement and relationships are the keys to emotional satisfaction this day.

You can see new ways to make use of a difficult situation today. An unconventional approach to working for or with others may require special work requirements. You are unconventional, independent and drawn to whatever is different and original in life. You hate being tied down with the drudgery of routine, preferring instead to keep your options open. You may find yourself involved in causes that go against tradition, revolutions of one kind or another—social or political. Your friends are probably also eccentric, in particular those in authority, older persons and individuals who are nonconformist. Communication, computers, electronics and everything new wave are the subjects in which you excel. Now is a good time to make yourself known.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You have a lot of energy to pour into practical and career decisions now. You may appear unnecessarily commanding and assertive to some, but to others this may be what is needed in order to make yourself understood. You have a basic self-esteem that is plain to all who meet you. Your sense of discrimination and innate good taste means that you know good items from bad and are a connoisseur of all that is fine and beautiful. You are learning not to settle for a lesser quality of merchandise, even if it means you need time to save. A love of well-organized, intelligent people, plus an appreciation for your elders in general, make you welcome at any social scene. You excel as a social being and should make a career out of helping people.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

Circumstances today can throw you into positions where you must use your mind and deal with communications, service or enclosed hidden interests. You may begin to think about work that deals with education, psychology or teaching principles and techniques. The fact is that you like attention and have a real need to be at the center of any group. Your more sensitive style hides a strong, aggressive and quite confident nature. Your needs will be met today. You are at home in a crowd and enjoy the attention of others.

Your mild-mannered smokescreen hides a real tiger. Refinement and relationships are the keys to emotional satisfaction. Harmony and beauty are deeply satisfying—marriage and other partnerships could be a key arena for this.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2011

i n f o r m at i o n

FIRE BRIGADE

112

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

24812000

Al-Jahra

25610011

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

POLICE STATION 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

Clinics Rabiya

4732263

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

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

22434064 22435865 22544200 22547133 22515277 22616662 25714406 22530801

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

PHARMACIES

AIRLINES

ON 24 HRS DUTY GOVERNORATE

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Hawally

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Kuwait Airways Jazeera Airways Jet Airways FlyDubai Qatar Airways KLM Air Slovakia Olympic Airways Royal Jordanian Reservation British Airways Air France Emirates Air India Sri Lanka Airlines Egypt Air Swiss Air Saudia Middle East Airlines Lufthansa PIA Alitalia Balkan Airlines Bangladesh Airlines Czech Airlines Indian Airlines Oman Air Turkish Airlines Aeroflot

22433377 177 22924455 22414400 22423888 22425747 22434940 22420002/9 22418064/5/6 22433388 22425635 22430224 22425566 22438184 22424444 22421578 22421516 22426306 22423073 22422493 22421044 22414427 22416474 22452977/8 22417901/ 2433141 22456700 22958787 22453820/1 22404838/9

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist 25340300

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

Dr Anil Thomas

3729596/3729581 22641071/2

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Salem soso

22618787

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Neurologists

Dr. Adnan Ebil

22639939

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Mousa Khadada

22666300

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists

25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291 22666288

Rheumatologists:

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

Dentists

Internists, Chest & Heart

25339330

25655535

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

General Surgeons

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, Ph.D. 2290-1677 Susannah-Joy Schuilenberg, M.A. 2290-1677

Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antiga Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands

0093 00355 00213 00376 00244 001264 001268 0054 00374 0061 0043 001242 00973 00880 001246 00375 0032 00501 00229 001441 00975 00591 00387 00267 0055 00673 00359 00226 00257 00855 00237 001 00238 001345

Central African Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Cyprus (Northern) Czech Republic Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England (UK) Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia

00236 00235 0056 0086 0057 00269 00242 00682 00506 00385 0053 00357 0090392 00420 0045 00246 00253 001767 001809 00593 0020 00503 0044 00240 00291 00372 00251 00500 00298 00679 00358 0033 00594 00689

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Bank moves to foreclose on R Kelly’s Chicago mansion rammy-award winning singer-songwriter R Kelly has failed to make mortgage payments on his multimillion-dollar Chicago-area home for more than a year and now may lose the property to lenders, court documents show. In a foreclosure action filed in June in Cook County Circuit Court, JP Morgan Chase Bank NA said that the singer, whose full name is Robert S Kelly, had not made a monthly payment on the 11,000-square-foot home in

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Olympia Fields in south suburban Chicago since June 2010. The suit said the current principal balance on the loan was more than $2.9 million, not including unpaid interest, which accrues at rate of $251 a day. The original loan issued in 1999 was for $3.5 million, according to the lawsuit, and the monthly payments were $24,345.12. The property has a number of liens on it, according to the lawsuit, including nearly $2 million from the Department of

the Treasury. The 44-year-old R&B star, who won three Grammy Awards in 1998 for his song “I Believe I Can Fly,” is no stranger to controversy. In 2008 a jury acquitted him of child pornography charges.

Cyrus had a ‘vision’ Miley would bring hope illy Ray Cyrus had a “vision” that his daughter Miley could bring hope to the world. The ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ singer originally christened the star Destiny Hope Cyrus which he felt reflected the way she would go on to live her life.

Asked if he would stop her pursuing fame if he had another chance, he said: “This was Miley’s dream. This was her - I believe to touch people’s lives. Through her music and her life. I still believe that. You know, her name was originally Destiny Hope, I had given her the name before she was born because I had a vision. I felt it was her destiny to bring hope to the world. “When I see her selling out arenas around the world or on her TV show, making people laugh, bringing families into the living room together, we always, you know, try to put positive messages in each episode if we could. And, you know, I do think that she - this is her purpose - her path.” Billy Ray believes his 18-year-old daughter - who got her name Miley from adapting her childhood nickname ‘Smiley’ - is making a positive difference in the world with her “humanitarian” endeavors. In an interview on CNN’s ‘Piers Morgan Tonight’, he said: “I think she’s a natural born singer/songwriter/entertainer. She’s a great actress. And she’s got a lot to offer the world. She’s the real deal. What you see is what you get. I mean, she’s for real. “And, you know, she ain’t perfect and I sure as hell ain’t, you know. I mean, none of us are. But Miley

he ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ star was spotted freaking out as she boarded a Virgin America flight to New York on Monday night.

Luckily for the 35-year-old actress - who is married to Sacha Baron Cohen, with whom she has two daughters Olive, three, and baby Elula -the cabin crew realized she was nervous about the flight and let her speak to the pilot to alleviate her fears. She was given a tour of the cockpit before the plane took off and as a thank you to staff, Isla posed for photographs with various crew members.

According to the New York Post newspaper, Isla was overheard telling a friend on the phone as she sat down on the plane, “I just met the pilots. They’re really nice. I always feel better when I meet the pilots”. Isla isn’t the only actress who is scared of flying. Amy Adams is so frightened of air travel she will only board a plane if she can sit by someone she knows. She previously revealed: “I’ve had some embarrassing episodes at airports. Certain American airlines don’t assign seats and there have been times when I couldn’t sit next to my companion. I’ve had a few meltdowns trying to get someone to change seats with me.”

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really, really has a good heart. And she loves people. She loves music. She loves entertaining. There’s a lot of things that Miley does that I wouldn’t go into right now on a humanitarian basis. But Miley is a great humanitarian. She really cares about her fellow man, and people, and the planet and animals.”

ictoria Beckham wants her baby daughter to grow up to be just like Duchess Catherine. The fashion designer - who gave birth to Harper Seven, her first daughter with husband David Beckham, in Los Angeles on Sunday - is reportedly considering a permanent move back to the UK so the tot can attend a posh school and become a “perfect English rose”. A friend of the former Spice Girl said: “Everyone has fallen in love with Kate Middleton. She’s gorgeous, stylish, speaks well and has perfect manners, all the qualities that Victoria will wish for Harper. “Victoria will want her daughter to grow up to become a perfect English rose, with a gorgeous posh accent and definitely not like some spoilt Hollywood brat. “Victoria is a massive fan of Kate Middleton and now, finally, baby Harper is going to be her very own little princess.” The 37-year-old star - who also has three sons, Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, eight, and six-year-old Cruz, with David - has now cleared her diary for the next two months to devote her time to Harper. The source added to the Daily Star newspaper: “Victoria has always dreamed of having a daughter. Now her dream has come true. Like any proud mum she’s planning ahead and being Victoria she will want the very, very best for her daughter. “Victoria has cleared her diary for the next two months. She wants to spend the summer at home relaxing and being a proper hands-on mum.” Meanwhile, the Beckhams - who attended the royal wedding on April 29

Knowles goes on shopping spree

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eyonce Knowles spent £9,000 in a 90-minute shopping spree. The ‘Run the World (Girls)’ hitmaker - who is married to rapper Jay-Z - stunned onlookers in London’s Oxford Street when she spent £5,000 in the city’s flagship Topshop store before moving on to Selfridges, where she added another £4,000 to her clothing bill. A source told The Sun newspaper: “It was like that shopping scene out of the film ‘Pretty Woman’. “Everyone was gobsmacked by the speed she was choosing clothes. When she hit the shoe section she picked up even more speed.

The woman clearly loves footwear.” Last month, Beyonce splashed out on 25 pairs of designer shoes as a 25th birthday gift for her sister Solange. Beyonce, 29, is known for her generosity towards her loved ones, last year she treated Jay-Z to a $2 million Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport car - the world’s fastest road vehicle - for his 41st birthday on December 4. The ‘99 Problems’ rapper - who already has a vast car collection, was thrilled with the surprise speedy gift, which Beyonce had to order a year in advance.

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- have invited Prince William and Duchess Catherine to come and meet the tot next time they are in the UK. A friend explained: “David and Victoria are so proud of their little daughter. As soon as they are next in Hertfordshire at Beckingham Palace they want the duke and duchess to come and see Harper. “It’ll be a special moment for David and Victoria.” David and William struck up a close friendship after they worked together on England’s failed bid for the 2018 soccer World Cup.

Minaj hit in a hotel icki Minaj was struck in the face during an argument at a hotel. The ‘Check It Out’ rapper - whose cousin was murdered earlier this month - was struck on the lower lip during the heated row with the man she was staying with at the Palomar Hotel in Dallas, Texas, on Monday night, according to TMZ.com. Nicki told an employee at the complex to call the police and she later explained to the authorities the man had hit her when the fight continued inside her hotel room.

But the hip-hop star did not want to press charges against the mystery guy, who she told officers was not her boyfriend. Nicki - who has been in Dallas supporting Britney Spears on her ‘Femme Fatale’ tour - did not appear to be affected by the hotel incident, writing on twitter: “Dallas!!!! U guys were amazing 2nite! Muah! Muah! Mmmuuuaaahhhh!!!!

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Thank u sooooo much!!! See ya tmrw Houston!!! (sic)” Earlier this month, the 26-year-old music star was left devastated after her cousin Nicholas was killed in Brooklyn, New York. She uploaded a picture of him on twitter and wrote: “Lived in Brooklyn his whole life. My precious cousin. My baby. Killed last nite. (sic)” Nicki later added another snap of her relative and tweeted: “My cousin Nicholas. Also goes by Juse... Murdered. Last nite. Near his home.

Brooklyn, NY. (sic)”— Bang Showbiz

Iglesias not ready for kids E

nrique Iglesias doesn’t want to have children - yet.

The ‘Heartbeat’ singer has been in a relationship with former tennis player Anna Kournikova for almost 10 years, but he still isn’t ready to start a family or get married, though he admits his plans may suddenly change at any point. He said: “I don’t feel like I am ready for children at this moment but who knows. Maybe six months from now I will, maybe 16 years from now I won’t. I don’t think that far ahead, I would like to have kids but not right now.” Although the 36-year-old pop heartthrob isn’t quite ready for fatherhood, he insists his lifestyle has calmed down a lot and he now prefers to stay at home than go out partying. He told Britain’s OK! magazine: “I still go out.

But I am the sort of person that can party all day and then I won’t need to go clubbing for another month. I don’t handle drink very well either so I need a week to get over it! “I like to stay at home and chill out on the sofa. I love my house in Malibu. It’s so good to have time there and watch the football sometimes with close friends or sometimes alone. I like being by myself.”

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Bollywood hit ‘Delhi ollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s new film has been a hit at the box office but has also led to protests and even a court case against its dialogue and content, which critics say is vulgar and offensive. The screwball comedy “Delhi Belly”, starring the actor-producer-director’s nephew Imran Khan, revolves around three, scruffy, debtridden room-mates who unwittingly fall into a life of crime with a mafia boss.

The film, which is mainly in English with a profanitypeppered dialogue and toilet humor, had by Monday taken a total of 487.5 million rupees ($10.9 million) since it opened on July 1, the web site bollywoodhungama.com said. But with India as a whole still a conservative place, not everyone is happy. On Monday protesters stormed a cinema in the western city of Kolhapur, forcing a screening of the film to be cancelled. Another theatre was attacked in the central city of Indore following action by a right-wing Hindu organization that called for the movie to be banned for having too much abusive and vulgar language.

Even in India’s more liberal entertainment capital, Mumbai, a complaint was filed in court, accusing Aamir Khan, who has a cameo role, of showing “obscene” acts and outraging and insulting religion or religious beliefs.

Industry analysts, however, have said the film has aroused public interest as it was a reflection of young people in

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Berry wins stay away order against intruder judge on Tuesday granted Oscarwinning actress Halle Berry on a stay away order against a man who she said intruded on her Los Angeles property three times in recent days, before police arrested him. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson issued a temporary order directing Richard A. Franco, 27, to stay 100 yards from Berry and her young daughter. Franco, who has a history of violence, theft and drug offenses, was found to have a book with “nonsensical ramblings” and Berry ’s name in his handwriting, the actress said in court papers posted at TMZ.com.

Franco first approached Berry’s home on Saturday, when she was talking to her manager and saw through a glass door that Franco-whom she does not know-was in the gated back yard, the papers state. Berry’s manager yelled at Franco and he left, she stated. The actress further said that on Sunday, she went to her kitchen to get a Diet Coke and noticed Franco was on the other side of a glass door, less than a foot away. “Panicking and in fear of my life, I turned my body and quickly hit the deadbolt lock on the glass door,” Berry said in the court papers. She said she ran upstairs to call police. That evening, arrangements were made to have armed security officers at Berry’s home, and as a result on Monday, Franco was caught when he returned.

“This person has invaded and trampled upon the most fundamental sense of security I have and I am extremely frightened of him and what he might do to me or those I love,” Berry said in her court papers. Franco was booked on suspicion of stalking, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department said on its website that Franco is being held in jail, and that his bail has been set at $150,000. Berry, 44, won an Oscar for her role in the 2001 drama “Monster’s Ball.” She also starred in the movies “X-Men,” “X2” and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and in 2008 she was named Esquire Magazine’s “sexiest woman alive.”—Reuters

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Belly’ causes upset

modern, urban India. “‘Delhi Belly’ is on its way to becoming a sort of a cult film for the youth because it speaks the language they speak,” said Komal Nahta, who tracks Hindilanguage cinema. Pre-publicity focused on a song whose lyrics suggested a popular expletive in northern India, the scatology and the sex scenes of the protagonists.

“Many people wanted to go and check the film and find out themselves what was so different in it,” said Vinod Mirani, a Bollywood trade analyst.” The curiosity value due to a good marketing plan has worked well.” Also named in the court case, which has been adjourned until later this month, are Khan’s wife, Kiran Rao, who produced the film, UTV Motion Pictures chief Ronnie Screwvala, director Abhinay Deo and the writer Akshat Verma. “Delhi Belly” has an “A” certificate-allowing only viewers above 18 years oldbut some have criticized India’s censor board for allowing it through uncut. One outraged critic, fearing for the collapse of traditional values, suggested they had failed in their duty as “the custodian of (the) censor code” and called for the government to axe funding to the regulatory body.

“Delhi Belly” used foul words that were becoming “the normal lingo or behavior of our young professionals,” Mohan Siroya wrote on the shadowplayindia.com site.

Aamir Khan, whose production company is behind the film, is unperturbed by the criticism and threw a party last

t has been a life lived in the public eye for the “Potter” kids-and one that I note with particular interest, since I met the three of them in England in September 2001, before the first “Harry Potter” film was released. Indeed, for 10 years and eight movies, we’ve watched Harry, Ron and Hermione grow bigger and bolder and more resourceful, while in their offscreen lives we’ve seen none of the childstar meltdowns that seem so prevalent on these shores. In fact, Daniel Radcliffe had to tell us he once had a drinking problem, no one ever caught wind of it.

The release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” brings this era to a close, putting the final touches on a series that has made three young Brits examples of how to do child stardom right. “They’re lovely kids, just lovely, and I don’t think they have any idea how their lives could change,” actor Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) told me earlier that day in 2001. They do now. Here’s what they said back then about subjects ranging from fame and their future to “objects of desire.” And here’s how they answered the same questions on the stump for the last in the series: this weekend’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.”

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Halle Berry attends The Fragrance Foundation’s 2011 FiFi Awards at The Tent at Lincoln Center, in New York. — AP

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Daniel Radcliffe Radcliffe may now be a Broadway star after performing naked in “Equus” and singing and dancing in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” but I remember him as a 12-year-old who talked enthusiastically about the World Wrestling Federation and said he was listening incessantly to the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack.

On recreation Then: “We love practical jokes. I went out shopping with one of the runners and bought all these fake blood capsules,” he said. “And so I got one of the fake blood capsules and put it in my mouth and burst it, and then I smashed my fist down on the steel steps outside makeup, so it sounded like I’d just hit them. Then I rolled into the makeup bus and spat out all this blood.”

Now: “I became so reliant on alcohol to enjoy stuff. There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person’s lifestyle that really isn’t suited to me.”

On fame Then: “I think it’s going to be fun. I think it’s gonna be... just fun.”

Now: “I get constantly mistaken for

week to toast its success. “I am glad the audiences have loved the film and enjoyed it,” he said. Verma wrote the film in 1996 but could not find any interest for it, he added.

Khan’s wife got hold of the script and decided to make it immediately, he said. The 15-year wait indicates how far Hindi-language cinema has come, moving from a time when even kisses between the hero and heroine were censored to one where sexual suggestiveness and even nudity is more accepted.

Film critic Taran Adarsh said the involvement of Aamir Khan had undoubtedly helped in its success but so had its innovative script. “It’s a shift from what people like these days and from what’s been churned out by Bollywood,” he told AFP. “We have to respect the opinion of the censors (and) the fact that they’ve allowed a film like this. It’s not stereotypical but it is a bit bolder in terms of its visual content and speaking. I think it’s beyond the boundaries.” The key test is whether future films with similar content are treated in the same way, he added.—AFP

Indian Bollywood actor Aamir Khan poses with co-star, actress Anushka Dandekar, at a function for the Hindi film “Delhi Belly” in Mumbai. — AFP

Elijah Wood. I was in Japan and someone held out a photo of him for me to sign. I couldn’t say it in Japanese so I wrote, ‘I’m not Elijah Wood but thanks anyway, Daniel Radcliffe.’ If I was a bit more puerile I would have written “The Lord of the Rings’ is rubbish.”“ On his future Then: “I think, well, I might like to be an actor, but there are loads of other things I’m really interested in as well. Like music and writing and sports and things. Loads of things. I want to keep my options open.”

Now: “If I can make a career for myself after ‘Potter,’ and it goes well, and is varied, and with longevity, then that puts to bed the child actors argument. If I can do it, in the biggest film franchise of all time, no other child actor who comes after will ever have to answer those same bloody questions.”

gonna be fun.”

Now: “I do, kind of, spend a lot. And just on stupid things. Because I don’t really know what to do. What are you supposed to do? It just seems like way too much. We don’t deserve it, at all, for what we do.”

Emma Watson While Watson has turned into a stylish fashion plate who goes to premieres in Elie Saab couture and is the new face of

On schooling, from Oxfordshire to the Ivy League Then: “I do miss my school, quite a lot.

My friends, mostly. Although I do have quite a lot of friends on the set as well. I also miss my teachers. That sounds really weird, but I do. And I miss being in the whole class with everyone else, instead of sort of being on my own.

Now: “I was in denial,” she said about

Rupert Grint The oldest of the kids at 13 when the first film was released, Grint had one of the most delightful resumes ever to grace a major Hollywood film. “In ‘Noah’s Ark,’ I was a fish,” he said, detailing his grammar school drama career. “‘The Nativity Play,’ I think I was a donkey. ‘Cinderella,’ I was just a chorus thing. And ‘Rumplestiltskin,’ I was Rumplestiltskin.”

On a useful magical power Then: “I would like to fly on a broom. Be invisible. Have all those magic sweets, that kind of stuff.”

Now: “I do miss it, sometimes, the invisibility. Being able to get ‘round [to the store]. Not meet anyone who wants to take a picture with you. It’s manageable but it’s just, like, constant.”

On school Then: “I do miss my school friends and the school atmosphere and stuff. But I think I’m learning a bit more [in tutoring] than I would if I was in school.” Favorite subject? “Ummm...Probably don’t have one. I guess I like chemistry, because you get to play with potions and things. But other than that... “ Now: “I found it hard to work and study. After I finished school I just kind of watched daytime TV. I love the ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ yeah, or any old antiques program.”

On impending fame Then: “It’s gonna be really brilliant. It’s

Cast members Rupert Grint, left, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson attend the premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” at Avery Fisher Hall . — AP Lancombe, she was a fresh-faced 11-yearold wearing a plaid skirt and yellow dress shirt when I picked her up from her school in Oxfordshire in September, 2001.

On parental influence Then: “My mom and dad, who thought I was going to get overexcited about it, were going, ‘Oh Emma, you do know that there’s millions of girls out there.” And that kind of made me go, oh, “I’ve got no chance, my mom and dad are right, there are probably millions and trillions and billions of girls.” But still, I still really wanted to get it.”

Now: Would you let your child enter show business? “No... I probably wouldn’t.

If she really, really wanted to do it, then I would just make sure I was with her. I would make sure that she had the supportive family around her that I did.”

People look at the coffin of the late Argentine artist Facundo Cabral during his wake at the Teatro Ateneo in Buenos Aires. — AP

going to Brown. “I wanted to pretend I wasn’t as famous as I was. I was trying to seek out normality, but I kind of have to accept who I am, the position I’m in and what happened.”

On objects of desire Now: “I’ve never understood having crushes on people who you don’t know in real life. I only crush on people I meet. I mean, I can appreciate that someone is good-looking, obviously, but I don’t intend to fantasize about people I don’t know!”

Then: “For the next movie, I think they should cast Brad Pitt.” For what role? “Any role!” — Reuters

Police present Elgin Enrique Vargas Hernandez, 35, to the press as a suspect in the slaying of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral in Guatemala City, Tuesday. — AP

Guatemalans arrested for murder of Argentine singer olice arrested two men Tuesday suspected of murdering Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral in Guatemala as part of a plot by organized crime gangs to kill his music promoter. The two Guatemalans, Elgin Vargas and Wilfred Stokes, were accused of opening fire on a car carrying 74-year-old Facundo Cabral, who sang protest songs famous across Latin America, as he headed to the airport Saturday after a concert in Guatemala City.

Cabral’s music promoter Henry Farina, a Nicaraguan businessman who owns a chain of strip clubs, was the tar-

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get of the attack, said Guatemala Interior Minister Carlos Menocal. Farina, who was driving the car at the time of the shooting, was badly injured and is still in critical condition at the hospital. “One (of the killers) is the head of a band of assassins,” Attorney General Claudia Paz told reporters. “He put together this group to commit murders.” The two men were caught on tape by security cameras at Cabral’s hotel and also along the highway on the way to the airport.

President Alvaro Colom has said organized crime gangs were behind the hit. The motive for the attack was not yet

clear, authorities said, although they believe the criminal mastermind is likely a foreigner from elsewhere in Central America. Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in the hemisphere and is a major transshipment point for drug traffickers. Cabral’s body was sent home to his Argentina as fans and Latin American politicians expressed sadness over his death. —Reuters

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One popular store in town is Rheo Thompson Candies, a big chocolate and gift shop. This mask is in the shop. — MCT

Runners like the wide open spaces and paths along the Avon River.

The Avon River runs gently through the town for boaters.

Stratford Festival: The plays are not the only fun tourists can find W hat if the play is not your thing?

Thousands pack this Ontario town every summer for the theater, especially for Shakespeare. But if you’d rather be the star of your own show, Stratford can accommodate.

First, we set the scene-affluent, respectable, upscale, more than a bit English. The lovely Avon River languidly flows through town (cue the chirping birds), and paddle boats and canoes dot the water. The sky is a rather conventional cornflower blue, the grass a soothing emerald. It’s afternoon. Patrons of the town’s theaters crowd in the doors to watch “ The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” or some other new Stratford triumph.

But, hark! I hear the siren song of other attractions: • Swans. They put on their own show right outside the Festival Theatre, preening, squawking, begging, swimming, feeding.

You may even spot one of the two black swans, which have demonic red eyes and ebony feathers, rather like an enjoyably sinister, feathered Richard III. Actually, the swans of Stratford are totally spoiled because people feed them-and not junk food, but healthy, good-for-swans approved grain.

And these birds have been photographed more times than Justin Bieber. Speaking of whom ...

• Justin Bieber. The most famous lad ever to hail from Ontario’s Stratford, the 17-year-old

singer was just named the third-most- influential celebrity by Forbes Magazine-after Lady Gaga and Oprah. He’s also a major tourist attraction in his home town. Pick up a “Justin’s Stratford” map from the tourism bureau and see vitally important Bieber sites, such as the 107.7 MIX-FM Radio station that first played his music, plus his elementary school, Jeanne Sauve Catholic. The self-guided tour is geared to the salt of our youth,

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mostly 9-year-old girls.

Running. Stratford is more of a sit-on-thepark-bench, stroll-and-be-noticed kind of town, but action is eloquence, and Stratford’s safe, scenic streets oblige. Get maps for 3and 6-mile loops along the river at www.run.com. Stratford also is a pleasant bicycling town. And I did notice one couple on the river canoeing so fast it is possible a Justin Bieber fan was chasing them.

Getting there: From Detroit, take the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron across to Sarnia. (Bring passport or enhanced driver’s license and $3 for toll.) Take the 402 to exit 65, route 81. Go north and join County Road 19.

At the village of Ailsa Craig, turn right on Highway 7 to Stratford. (Bring a good map; I got lost.) About 159 miles.

VIA Rail also offers rail service from Windsor, change trains at London.

About $120 round-trip. www.viarail.ca, 888-842-7245.

Money: The Canadian dollar and US dollar equal in value. No more bargain exchange rate.

STAY: If you are a bed-and-breakfast type person, this is the place.

Tons of them of varying amenities (if TV, air conditioning and your own bathroom are important, be sure to ask ahead ). I’d advise staying somewhere walkable to town and the theaters. Check accommodation availability at www.visitstratford.ca. Stratford’s busiest season is July and August.

Arden Park Hotel: 144-room hotel with all amenities; large groups stay here (www.ardenpark.on.ca, 877-788-8818, summer rates $165-up )

• Shopping. Darn it, the Canadian dollar has become mighty while the U.S. greenback has shriveled to parity. However, Stratford isn’t terribly expensive, so enjoy nosing around at dozens of shops, including the strange but fascinating Stratford Antiques Warehouse, the Den of Antiquities, the Samsonite Company Store (attached to Samsonite’s Canadian headquarters) and Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade gift shop.

River Garden House: In town, gracious bed and breakfast backs up to river (www.rivergardenhouse.com, 519-271-1403, summer rates $140up) Mercer Hall Inn, downtown on Ontario Street (www.mercerhallinn.com, 888-816-4011, summer rates $145-up) Eat: Stratford is stepping up in culinary variety. Get a culinary guide from the tourism bureau (www.visitstratford.ca); here are three low-key suggestions: Simple Fish and Chips, a year-old cheerful and casual restaurant, serves only fish harvested in a sustainable manner. Also has a tofu fish and chips meal for vegetarians (118 Downie St).

Let Them Eat Cake: Known for its desserts, it also has basic lunch and dinner fare in a relaxing venue (23 Albert St).

Slow Food Perth County Market, 10 am to 2 pm Sundays, right outside City Hall. The new slow food market has plenty of good-for-you eats tourists can enjoy. — MCT

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Chocolate. Like wine, chocolate may be a bit overrated as a tourist attraction. But Stratford Tourism has a new chocolate trail pass ($20) that gets you yummy samples at any eight of 21 stops on the trail. Or just show up at one of the city’s chocolate shops, such as Rheo Thompson Candies. The whole store smells like minty chocolate, an enveloping cocoon of chocolate heaven for selling sweets to the sweet.

• Tours. Those who can’t sit still for a play still may enjoy the Stratford Festival Costume and Props Warehouse Tour. You walk through the giant warehouse where they keep sets, props and acres of costumes, all sorted by era and style. Yes, costumes are rented to other theaters or sometimes reworked for use again at Stratford.

You can try on capes and plumes and pantaloons. Take a photo of amazing fake food made by a whole department that works just on that.

Get a close-up look at the ingenious set for an old production of “Camelot”-and see how the magic was created with just brown paper, glue and plywood. All in all, it’s a good place for a scene in your own life to play out.

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amp Rapidan is more than a little off the beaten path. The one-time presidential retreat with cabins, a dining hall and a town hall served as the summer White House of President Herbert Hoover and first lady Lou Henry Hoover. The 164-acre tract sits east of the Skyline Drive at the headwaters of the Rapidan River on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It once included 13 cabins, man-made waterfalls, rock gardens, paths and bridges.

It was the first complex specifically designed as a presidential retreat. Today the camp, also dubbed Camp Hoover, is a National Historic Landmark. Only three of the original buildings are still standing. Interpretive signs are also posted.

Hoover, the 31st president, used the camp as an informal setting for planning sessions with his Cabinet and for private meetings with foreign leaders. It was a place for hiking, horseback riding, fishing and conversation.

White House physician Joel Boone called Camp Rapidan “one of the most relaxing places that I have ever known.”

There are two ways to visit Camp Rapidan: You can hike in when Mill Prong, a splashy stream, is not too high, or you can join summer van tours by the National Park Service from the Byrd Visitor Center. On an April visit to Shenandoah, I was too early for a van tour.

So I hiked the Mill Prong Trail from the Milam Gap Trailhead. It was supposed to be a moderately tough 4-mile round trip. I successfully crossed the stream twice on stones, but high water thwarted the third crossing near Big Rock Falls, a 15-foot cascade. I was about a quarter mile from the camp and could not get safely across.

The park service offers current information on visiting Camp R apidan at http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/presidents/hoover(underscore)camp(underscore)rapidan.html.

The land where Mill Prong and Laurel Prong form the Rapidan River was purchased by the Hoovers in early 1929 before the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression. The camp was built and operated

by US Marines. The Hoovers paid for the land and the building materials.

The buildings were simple one-story, gable-roofed, brown-stained frame cabins with lots of windows. They housed only bedrooms, bathrooms and porches. The facilities included the Hoovers’ so-called Brown House, as compared with the White House.

A special cabin-one of the surviving structures-was built for the 1929 weeklong visit of British Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald and

his daughter. The Hoovers were very social and rarely visited Camp Rapidan alone. Guests included Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Mrs Thomas A Edison, the Edsel Fords, Henry Luce and Mr and Mrs Theodore Roosevelt Jr. According to humorist Will Rogers, Lindbergh helped the president build dams along Mill Prong to form trout pools.Hearty country breakfasts and dinners were served in the Mess Hall. Lunches were often served outdoors.

Mail and newspapers were dropped daily from airplanes into the adjoining Marine compound. There were separate nearby facilities for White House staffers and camp workers.

The Hoovers first stayed at what became Camp Rapidan in a tent two months into the presidency. Roughing it was not new to the Hoovers. He was a mining engineer before becoming president and his wife and children accompanied him on foreign trips. In the first 15 years of marriage, the Hoovers had lived in mining camps in 60 countries.

Mrs Hoover worked closely with architect James Y Rippen in designing the camp. She wanted the Brown House close to the streams so her husband could “hear the water murmuring.” The site was within 3 { hours of Washington, DC, and provided relief from summer heat and humidity in DC and first-rate trout fishing for the president.

Shenandoah National Park is 80 miles long and up to 13 miles wide. It includes the twisty Skyline Drive with its 75 scenic overlooks.

The first cabins were canvas tents on wooden platforms. Fireplaces offered the only heat at first. Mrs Hoover, a lifelong conservationist, ordered that only dead trees be cut for firewood. The furnishings were in deep burnt orange, woodsy greens and browns, according to park service research. Some of the initial camp furnishings came from the presidential yacht Mayflower.

The views from Little Stony Cliffs are impressive in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park.

Hoover intended for the camp to be used by future presidents. But his successor, Franklin D Roosevelt, used a wheelchair. He visited Camp Rapidan once and found it too rugged. He built and used Camp David in Maryland instead. Hoover donated Camp Rapidan in 1932 to the state of Virginia to be included in the proposed Shenandoah National Park. It became part of the new park in December 1935. The site was used by the Boy Scouts from 1948-1958.

It served as a VIP retreat from 1975-2000: Jimmy Carter and his family, vice presidents Walter Mondale and Al Gore and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor were among the visitors. The park service has restored what survived from Camp Rapidan to its 1931 look. That includes removing later building additions. Exteriors have been renovated, along with the interior of the Brown House. Rooms are left empty if the park service is unable to document how they were decorated.

A small museum has been added in the Prime Minister’s Cabin. The third cabin still standing is the Creel Cabin that was once occupied by Hoover’s personal secretary. The other buildings, in bad shape, were razed by the park service in 1962. A major ice storm in 1997-1998 and an invasive species that has killed large hemlock trees have dramatically altered the look of Camp Rapidan. There’s a lot more to see at Shenandoah National Park.

The 197,438-acre park straddles a northsouth ridge and provides up-high looks to the east across Virginia’s Piedmont and to the west across the picturesque Shenandoah Valley.

The park is celebrating its 75th anniversary. It was dedicated on July 3, 1936, by President Franklin D Roosevelt. For more information, check out http://www.celebrateshenandoah.org.

The park offers 516 miles of trails, 75 scenic overlooks and a surprising collection of firstrate waterfalls. The most-visited is 70-foot Dark Hollow Falls. Forty percent of the park is a designated federal wilderness. The whiteblazed Appalachian Trail runs 101 miles through it.

The park is 80 miles long and from two to 13 miles wide. It gets 1.2 million visitors a year, said park spokeswoman Karen Beck-Herzog.

There are four visitor entrances, 286 motel rooms and cabins, three visitor centers, four campgrounds and backcountry camping.

The park’s main feature is the 105-milelong Skyline Drive from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap near Waynesboro. Speeds are limited to 35 mph and the curvy, two-lane road rises to an elevation of 3,600 feet.

The road may be closed by winter snows.

Most park facilities are open from April through November. Skyline Drive-also a National Historic Landmark-is popular with bicyclists in early spring. The roadway is numbered by miles from north to south, and that’s how visitors find everything in the park.

Leaves don’t emerge on the ridge tops until late May and peak fall color is generally midOctober. — MCT

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event A child sits in a giant lake of mud.

Children play in a giant lake of mud.

A girl smiles while covered in mud during Wayne County’s 2011 Mud Day event at Nankin Mills Park July 12, 2011 in Westland, Michigan.

The annual event consists of 20,000 gallons of water mixed with 200 tons of topsoil. —AFP

Children run in a giant lake of mud.

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ust a century after Austria repelled Ottoman troops from the gates of Vienna a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, newly arrived in the city, wrote an opera about the feared former foe set in a Pasha’s harem.

Besides the requisite arias and comic duets Mozart also tried to include the piercing timbre of the Ottoman janissary bands, whose ear-splitting drums, cymbals and whining reeds had once accompanied the Sultans on their expansive sweep across south eastern Europe.

The result, his “Abduction from the Seraglio” of 1782, is the most famous example of opera’s long fascination with Turkish culture, in which composers have seized on Turkish characters or settings to invoke passion and melodrama and mimicked Turkish melodies and instruments. In celebration of this trend the Turkish state opera has brought the Ottoman-inspired works of Western classical composers as well as of Turkish opera composers to some of Istanbul’s most famous outdoor settings this month-including the Sultans’ former homes, the Topkapi

palace and Yildiz palace.

The festival sees Turkish opera singers in sumptuous costumes portray some of Western music’s most famous Turkish characters-such as Mozart’s Osmin, the aggressive but comic keeper of the harem. Mozart’s operas provide the most positive depictions of the Ottoman world.

At the end of the Abduction from the Seraglio Pasha Selim grants freedom to two foreign women in his harem, abducted by pirates, and caught trying to escape with their former lovers.

In his other Ottoman inspired opera, Zaide, a benevolent Sultan sets free his concubine and a Christian slave who have fallen in love. “Mozart gives a wonderful example of problems we still see today, fear of other cultures, lack of tolerance and the need to show understanding,” said Yekta Kara, the festival’s artistic director.

Gioachino Rossini’s Maometto Secondo by contrast, sees the armies of Fatih Sultan Mehmet, the conqueror of Constantinople, lay siege to a Venetian city. On realizing

that the mysterious noble she loves is in fact the Sultan in disguise, the daughter of the city’s governor despairs and as the city falls she commits suicide.

Rousing music Western composers’ experience of Turkish music stemmed mostly from encounters with the Ottoman Janissary bands or Mehter bands who once gave ardor to invading armies, but who later accompanied diplomatic missions. A modern version of the Mehter band still exists today and performs at Istanbul’s Military Museum.

“Mozart and his contemporaries tried to use that sound not just in a military context but also as a general signifier,” said Matthew Head, an academic at London’s Kings College who has written on Turkishness in music.

“There are two ways in which scholars look at this theme. The first is whether composers got the music right? The second is what does it all mean? Is it an insult, a celebration, a gesture of friendship or just fun?”

Head believes Mozart’s intentions stem from his delight in masquerade and disguise, rather than simply the desire to plead for more understanding of the eastern other. “You also can’t escape the fact that Mozart strongly associates Turkishness with primitive, military masculinity which forms the opposite of the subtle and the vocal.”

Osmin, a comic figure, sings for example of how he has studied how to behead, hang, impale, burn, bind and flay and he urges the Pasha to burn the would-be escapees. The Abduction ends instead with a choir extolling the Pasha’s good character. “People fear the other, desire to keep the other out, and I think on both sides there is even a fear of foreigners taking and playing “our” music, but we desperately need these meetings in order better understand one another,” said Kara. —Reuters

‘A Dance with Dragons’ delivers, say critics

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A man ‘smokes’ a giant cigarette during a protest by Indonesian tobacco and clove farmers against a new regulatory plan about cigarettes from the Health Ministry in Jakarta yesterday. According to the World Health Organization, smoking rates have risen six-fold in Indonesia, a country with one of the highest smoking rates in the world, over the last 40 years. Smoking kills at least 400,000 people every year and another 25,000 die from passive smoking. — AFP

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ienna has made it to Broadway, with the home-grown musical “Rebecca” due to open in New York’s famed theatre district next year, producers announced yesterday. The German-language musical, which opened in Vienna in September 2006 and is based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name, is to be adapted by a New York producer team

and will have its Broadway premiere on April 22, 2012, the Vereinigte Buehnen Wien (VBW) said in a statement.

British playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton, best known for his screenplays to the films “Atonement” and “Dangerous Liaisons,” will adapt the lyrics for the English-language production. The VBW greeted the presti-

gious move across the Atlantic as “a great challenge and joy.” “Broadway is the measure of all musicals,” it noted. “Rebecca” has already been produced in Japan, Hungary and Finland and will next be seen in Germany. It is also due to open in London’s West End after its Broadway run, the VBW said. — AFP

ame of Thrones” fans seem to be happy with author George RR Martin again.

Six years in the making, “A Dance With Dragons-the highly anticipated fifth volume in Martin’s eventual seven-part fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire”-was released Tuesday.

It seems to have silenced critics of its predecessor, “A Feast for Crows,” which disappointed many critics and fans for leaving out the series’ best characters: Tyrion the dwarf, Daenerys the dragon queen and Jon Snow, bastard son of Eddard Stark.

Positioned as a continuation of “Crows,” the newest edition to the franchise-which began with “Game of Thrones”-was initially part of “Crows.” But a decision by Martin and his publishers hoped to de-complicate the story by splitting the book in two-and saving some plot lines for later-didn’t sit well with many fans. Now all seems forgiven In his review of “Dragons,” Salon critic Andrew Leonard writes that subtracting a story’s three strongest characters undermined the magic that hooked readers in the first place: “It didn’t work. It was like watching “The Sopranos” without Tony, or the original “Star Trek” without Spock. What’s the point?”

“After a prologue,” he continues, “the first three chapters of “A Dance with Dragons” are devoted, in succession, to Tyrion, Daenerys and Jon. Problem, solved.” After lauding the new book, Leonard concludes, “At the end, I

felt shaken and exhausted. I’m almost glad that it will be years before I have to do this all over again. Because it will take me years to recover.”

Said LA Times critic Jeff VanderMeer: “‘A Dance with Dragons’ delivers what readers really crave from Martin-not closure, but instead, a sense of total immersion in a world in which the lines between good and evil, chivalry and betrayal, success and failure are blurred and morally ambiguous. It isn’t easy being a hero in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’ It may be impossible. But that’s what makes ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ great.” “ This is top-notch kitchen-sink storytelling-part straightforward pulp, part high fantasy-that will leave you thirsty for more,” wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Darren Franich.

“I don’t know when I have ever been as comprehensively and pleasurably outgeneraled as I am when I read Martin,” echoed Time critic Lev Grossman. Fans, of course, haven’t had time yet to digest the 1,016 pages. But they’re whetting their appetites with their newly arrived copies, taking to Twitter to register their excitement. —AP

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or over a decade Sergio Colas has run with charging bulls in Pamplona’s San Fermin festival and escaped serious injury-no mean feat since he is deaf. The 30-year-old said he can feel the vibrations of the firecracker that is set off to signal that the half-tonne bulls have been released from a corral in the northern Spanish town. Then he senses the pounding hoofs of six bulls and six steers as they approach along the 846.6-metre route through Pamplona’s cobbled streets to the bullring. Not hearing the animals as he runs ahead of their horns means he has to keep looking over his shoulder.

Colas, who was born deaf and works at the local Volkswagen car plant, fell during Wednesday’s run but did not need medical care. “There were many people grabbing each other and in the end I fell on the

street,” he said after the run through an interpreter, his girlfriend Isabel Orzaiz Aldave. His closest call came last year when a bull’s horns scraped his back as he raced ahead of it. Photos taken that day show Colas looking straight ahead as he ran right in front of the bull, whose head was slightly lowered and one of its horns touching his back, as other runners look sideways at him.

“The only thing I thought of at that moment was that I could not lose my balance if I wanted to get away unharmed,” he said before lifting his t-shirt outside of a bar in Pamplona’s historic centre to reveal the long, thin scratch mark left on his back by the thrust of the bull’s horn. — AFP

Participants run with El Pilar’s fighting bulls during the seventh San Fermin Festival bull run, yesterday in Pamplona, northern Spain. — AFP

Famed Australian dance company shuns

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ustralia’s Aboriginal dance company Bangarra has won global accolades but says it has been a victim of its own success in terms of funding at home and at times faces demands for “ooga booga” abroad.

Formed in 1989, the Bangarra Dance Theatre is the country’s foremost indigenous performing arts company and is often called on to be Australia’s cultural ambassador at major events.

But the troupe, which performs everywhere from remote Australian outback communities to the likes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, carries a significant but underfunded cultural load, said executive director Catherine Baldwin.

File photo shows dancers Daniel Riley McKinley (top) and Waangenga Blanco (below) performing a routine from the new Bangarra production ‘Belong’. —AFP

“It’s great to be able to wave the flag for Australia,” Baldwin said. “My concern is that it doesn’t necessarily translate into securing the company for the long run to do the work that it does.” Bangarra, which has plans to tour Asia in 2012 with China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore likely on the itinerary, has won acclaim overseas, particularly in its tour last year of Germany where the dancers regularly received five or six curtain calls, Baldwin said.

But Bangarra artistic director Stephen Page said some British critics still expected the troupe to perform what he termed “ooga-booga dancing”.

“The London critics expected the company to do traditional anthropological dance rather than telling contemporary Australian stories in the way we do,” he told The Sun-Herald recently.

“Perhaps they couldn’t cope with the fact that we have a dynamic, living, modern culture that draws on over 50,000 years of tradition.” Baldwin said this response was only encountered in Britain, describing it as “a misunderstanding” over the fact that Bangarra represented a link between the ancient and modern and was not

an anthropological artefact. “We’re a contemporary artform that draws on and is inspired by this extraordinary ancient culture. But they seemed not to be able to get their heads around that,” she said. Asked whether Bangarra gets the right amount of government support for its work-which includes developing original works, travelling around Australia and overseas, and working with indigenous communitiesBaldwin was firm.

‘Take work back to communities’ “No, I don’t think we get enough funding for that,” she told AFP. “Unlike any other dance company our work originates and is inspired by the traditional cultures of Australia-the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. “To get permission to use the dances, the songs, the stories, the customs and artefacts and so on requires us to have a very strong relationship with traditional communities and that takes a lot of time and effort and expense. “You can’t just pick up a script or have an idea while you’re sitting having a coffee,” Baldwin explained, adding that all the work was informed by the traditions of a culture stretching back some 50,000 years. “And so you need to take the time to learn it, to gain respect and to gain permission,” she said.

“It would be the same as if Puccini or Verdi were alive and you needed to travel to where they were... you’d have to spend time with them learning that.” She is backed up by former chairman Aden Ridgeway who has said he is concerned about the disparity in funding for Bangarra within the cohort of major performing arts organizations in Australia. In the group’s 2010 annual report Ridgeway said this was “especially significant as Bangarra is the only indigenous organization within this group”.

Baldwin said while it is difficult to compare arts companies, Bangarra received less money than other groups, in part because the company has not needed to be bailed out.

Last year, the company made a profit of close to Aus$50,000 (US$53,140) from a total income of Aus$3.8 million. Of this, some Aus$1.8 million was provided by the Australian and New South Wales state governments. Baldwin said Bangarra would give 110 performances in 2011, in major Australian cities, regional towns, outback communities and overseas, a major workload for its 15 dancers.

“We’re a really very successful company and we’re extremely happy with the way we operate and with our artistic and cultural success,” she said. “But there are fundamental requirements of dance companies and there is a fundamental requirement for us in terms of our cultural work that we are not funded for. “To actually take work back to communities is a really expensive activity and of course there is no revenue associated with that.” Despite the costs associated with this approach, Baldwin says there are many benefits in bringing the works back to Aboriginal communities, which are the nation’s most disadvantaged, with many indigenous people living in poverty. “We know that there is a very significant cultural role Bangarra plays; sure it’s a piece of entertainment in a theatre but it has way more cultural resonance than that,” she said. — AFP

he contrast is as stark as it is improbable: a dazzling, brand-new superyacht glides across the harbor of the communist-era Gdansk Shipyard, the birthplace of new Poland but the epitome of industrial decay. Sleek, sophisticated, luxurious and competitively priced Polish yachts are reinventing the country’s all-but-defunct ship-building industry with a sporty capitalist edge. “I think it’s the bestkept secret of the boating industry in Europethat is: Polish production and Polish quality,” said Philip Scott, a British expat and deputy chairman of the Polish Chamber of Marine Industry and Water Sports (POLBOAT).

One leading firm, Sunreef Yachts, boasts it’s the world “leader in the class of custom-built, luxury catamarans,” according to public relations officer Rafal Lenartowski. He said clients are “proud” to own vessels made in the hallowed shipyard where the pro-democracy Solidarity trade union rose up under Lech Walesa in 1980 and nine years later helped bring down Warsaw’s old Soviet-satellite regime. Sunreef’s head offices are in no-nonsense portable containers on a leased plot in the shadow of rusty, gargantuan cranes. In a rambling red-brick production hall nearby, 250 local craftsmen hone its double-hulled vessels to perfection.

Started in 2000 by Francis and Nicolas Lapp, an expat French father-and-son team with a background in electrical engineering, Sunreef tapped into generations of ship-building savvy in the Gdansk workforce to turn out products for choosy clients from Monaco to Qatar, Hong Kong and even Santiago, Chile. Their vessels measure 58 to 114 feet (17 to 35 meters) with “competitive” prices from 850,000 to 10.5 million euros ($1.22-14.5 million). The catalogue also offers a “world-first” 200-foot model valued at 30 million euros.

The key to success, says Lenartowski, is quality at the “same or higher level than other yards in Europe” but prices that are “still a little bit lower”, 15 percent on average.”Clients are comparing us to the best-known Italian brand in terms of craftsmanship,” he said. Industry insider Superyacht Business magazine recently carried an eight-page spread hailing the competitiveness of Sunreef and three other home-spun Polish superyacht-makers, Galeon, Conrad and YBM. The four firms are the stars among Poland’s 100 yacht yards that, all told, build around 20,000 boats per year costing an average 9,000 euros-mostly small and mid-sized

motor and sailing yachts from six to 10 meters, according to POLBOAT. ‘We put more soul into our yachts’ “Poland today is one of the leading players in boat production in Europe up to 10 meters,” said POLBOAT’s Scott. “The share on the European market is significant,” he said, with French and Italian yacht-makers the main rivals.

In boat shows across Europe, about a third of all vessels are now Polish-made, Scott added. But they are sold under global brands like France’s renowned Jeanneau-Beneteau and US giant

lapsed in 1989 and the essential marine-grade resins, fibreglass, plywoods and lacquers suddenly became available on the nascent free market.

Over the last 22 years, two other pioneers in the Polish market, Wojciech Kot and brother Piotr, have built their passion for sailing into a a multi-million dollar business with 450 employees, including 150 certified sailors. Their firm, Delphia, is located in the town of Olecko, nestled among forests in the picturesque northeastern Mazury lake district. It now has an annual production of 2,000 motor yachts for

A worker rubs down a catamaran manufactured by Sunreef at the harbor of Poland’s historic communist-era Gdansk Shipyard. — AFP Brunswick Marine which “account for around half of Poland’s production.” Virtually all Polishmade boats are exported, as two decades after communism’s demise most Poles still can’t afford such luxuries.

POLBOAT chairman Andrej Janowski, the first to open a commercial shipyard to build luxury yachts after the fall of communism, attributes the drive to make more sophisticated and speedy boats to what he calls the freedom-loving Polish soul.”Sailing is something which is characteristic of people with a mentality of freedom and we Poles have always been a free people,” he insisted. Indeed, domestic yachtbuilding exploded when communism col-

Brunswick Marine and 200 custom-made sailing yachts sold under its own flag for up to 298,000 euros. Kot invokes the same high quality-low cost mantra cited by others. “We have world-class design coupled with Polish craftsmanship, with the big plus that the labor costs still aren’t as high as elsewhere so we can put more time into customizing to fit the client’s needs,” he said. Kot himself spends about three months a year on the water as a captain testsailing his Delphias, most recently across the Atlantic. In Poland, “we put more soul into our yachts-that’s how I see it,” he said. — AFP

A catamaran glides across the harbor of Poland’s historic communist-era Gdansk Shipyard. —AFP