11 Aug

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

UN warns of growing Qaeda threat in Yemen

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Libya, Syria, Iran hit back at Britain ‘Stop attacking peaceful protesters’

Max 47º Min 31º Low Tide 03:12 & 17:05 High Tide 09:03 & 23:31 Ramadan Kareem

from the editor’s desk

Why Muslims love Ramadan

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

By Aisha Stacey

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By Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan

myopinion@kuwaittimes.net

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ondon looked like a lawless city Tuesday night as thousands of youths targeted high street shops around the capital looting and setting buildings and cars on fire in the process. Thousands of people lost their homes, businesses and cars to these acts of violence that was triggered by a riot in retaliation to a shooting incident that took place in Tottenham.

On Thursday August 4th, a young man called Mark Duggan was gunned down by police in London.

Kuwait Times London sources said that the man was a well-known gangster with a history of armed criminal record. The police went under heavy public scrutiny for the shooting incident. Currently an inquiry is ongoing to unveil the circumstances of the event. A riot started in Tottenham as a result and now it is spreading across the UK in what the police are calling ‘copycat riots’.

My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by these incidents. I myself could not get back to my house in Ealing that night due to the violence that blocked the roads in the area. I know how it feels to be victimized by such activities. Londoners are resolute and hopefully they will overcome these difficulties just as they have in the past. As a matter of fact some Londoners have taken to the streets to protect their communities from these thugs and to help the stretched police force.

However, the issue of concern is the way authorities have their hands tied down while trying to deal with this difficult situation. All I hear on the TV is that the police are damned if they do or if they don’t.

Meaning that if the police use force and someone gets injured they would be held accountable for it by civil rights activists. So the police try to deal with the rampaging youths with cotton gloves. That makes their job extremely difficult especially when they are outnumbered. Then the police get criticized for not being able to deal with the situation.

Of course the civil rights of every citizen are important but sometimes I feel that the punishment in civil and democratic societies is too lenient for criminals to worry about.

I was once in a cafe and overheard this story: Basically, this Middle Eastern man’s son was involved in a fight where he got out unharmed but the other man who was involved in the fight suffered damage to his eye. The Middle Eastern man involved the police to get justice which cost him a 5000 poundscompensation and his son was detained for a few days in the police station.

In the eyes of civil rights activists, justice has been served but in the eyes of this man and his son they had the last laugh as they did what they desired and bought their way out of it. Someone like that will have no problem doing it again as it is something he can afford to do. Justice may have been served in the eyes of the authorities but there were no lessons learnt for the assailants. This is not just the case with the rich but also with thugs and hooligans who have no problems attacking people or their properties.

Such is the case with these rioters who have the peace of mind of knowing that they will not get hurt because their rights are protected. They think that the worst that could happen is jail time where living standards are better than the normal living standards in many countries of the world. The civil rights of every citizen must be protected but criminals intentionally invade the rights of innocent people.

In my opinion, when someone chooses to invade the rights of others then he has chosen to lose his own rights. The police should be able to use force against obvious law-breakers rather than watch them destroy communities simply because they are outnumbered to deal with rioters using cotton gloves. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is the only language these people understand. These riots are not political, they are criminal and criminals should fear the consequences of getting caught rather than think ‘hey it’s not so bad’. Finally, I would like to salute the men and women of the British police for their efforts and courage in these difficult circumstances.

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Britain yesterday to curb its “savage” treatment of rioters and the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi said Prime Minister David Cameron had lost legitimacy and should go.

Television pictures of riot police battling to quell unprecedented unrest in cities across Britain have led news schedules in countries that London accuses of human rights abuses, giving their leaders the chance to hit

back.

“What kind of country treats its own people like this? The ugliest treatment is the police’s unacceptable attack on unarmed people,” Ahmadinejad told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran. Britain was in the forefront of Western countries that condemned Iran’s crushing response to massive street demonstrations that followed Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in June 2009, events Tehran

described as anti-government riots stirred up by foreign enemies.

While Cameron has called the burning and looting in Britain “criminality, pure and simple”, Ahmadinejad portrayed the events as peaceful protests brutally repressed by police. “What kind of a treatment is this for the people who run out of patience because of poverty and discrimination? ... I advise them to correct their savage behavior because Continued on Page 13

slam uses a lunar calendar-that is, each month begins with the sighting of the new moon, therefore because the lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar, Islamic months “move” each year. This year (2008) the Islamic month of Ramadan coincides almost exactly with the month of September. For Muslims the coming of Ramadan is a source of joy and celebration; however, we celebrate in a way that may seem strange to people unfamiliar with the tenets of Islam. Ramadan is not a month of parties and socializing, it is a month of worship.

To fast in the month of Ramadan is one of the pillars of Islam. Muslims express gratitude and love for the One True God by obeying and worshipping Him. We worship according to His guidance revealed in the Quran and through the authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Ramadan is special. It is a month of fasting, reading and coming to understand Quran and special extra prayers. The mosques come alive at night when Muslims gather to break their fast together and pray. The smooth rich sound of Quran recitation is heard throughout the long nights as Muslims stand shoulder-to-shoulder praying and praising God. Muslims all over the world love the month of Ramadan and look forward to it with mounting excitement. In the weeks preceding Ramadan lives are scrutinized, and plans are made for a month of serious worship and supplication.

Continued on Page 13

‘Dead’ Gaddafi’s son appears on Libya TV TRIPOLI: Khamis, the son of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been shown on state television just days after rebels battling the regime reported his death, which Tripoli denied at the time. The broadcaster showed footage of what it said was a visit on Tuesday by the uniformed 28-yearold, Gaddafi’s youngest son, to a hospital to meet “victims of NATO raids.”

It was the first time he had been seen in public since August 5, when a rebel spokesman said a NATO attack on an operations centre in the western town of Zliten had killed 32 people including Khamis, a feared military commander. “Overnight there was an aircraft attack by NATO on the Gaddafi operations room in Zliten and there are around 32 Gaddafi troops killed. One of them is Khamis,” Mohammed Zawawi said at Khamis the time. Zawawi cited as sources spies within loyalist ranks and intercepted radio chatter.

But a spokesman in Tripoli for the Gaddafi regime said the claim was untrue. “Basically the news about the killing of Khamis by a NATO air strike are very dirty lies to cover the murder of civilians in the peaceful city,” Mussa Ibrahim said. Khamis Gaddafi trained at a Russian military academy and commands the eponymous and much-feared Khamis Brigade, one of the regime’s toughest fighting units. The brigade took part in the assault on the rebel enclave of Misrata, which has been bombarded from three sides and seen some of the fiercest fighting of Libya’s civil war. — AFP

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti men wave the Syrian flag as they attend a rally outside the Syrian embassy in Kuwait City on August 9, 2011 to demand the expulsion of the Syrian envoy and the “freezing” of relations with Damascus. — AFP (See Page 5)

US rains sanctions on Syria Troops raid cities as outrage mounts WASHINGTON: The United States yesterday imposed sanctions on Syria’s largest commercial bank and largest mobile phone operator, stepping up the pressure on the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. The moves targeting the stateowned Commercial Bank of Syria, its Lebanon-based subsidiary and telecoms company Syriatel are the latest taken

by Washington against Syria over its crackdown on prodemocracy protests. The US Treasury said it was “taking aim at the financial infrastructure that is helping provide support to Assad and his regime’s illicit activities.”

The move freezes the US assets of the businesses target-

ed and prohibits US entities from engaging in any business dealings with them, the Treasury said in a statement.

Treasury Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen charged that the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria was “an agent for designated Syrian and North Korean proliferators.” Its subsidiary, the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, was also targeted by the new sanctions. He added that Syriatel had been singled out “for being controlled by one of the regime’s most corrupt insiders.”

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in the

news

Saudi gunman ‘delusional’ JEDDAH: A gunman killed near the Saudi interior minister’s palace on Saturday was a drug addict with delusions and was not trying to assassinate the royal family member, Saudi police said yesterday. Security forces killed the man, who had a handgun, after he fired at a checkpoint near the private palace of Interior Minister and Second Deputy Prime Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz. “He was a drug addict and suffered from delusions ... The attack was at a checkpoint in a street near the palace. As soon as he saw the checkpoint, he fired. His illness made him see everyone around him as his enemies,” First Lieutenant Nawaf Nasser said of Saturday ’s incident. The gunman, Khodran bin Bakheet Al-Zahrani, was a patient at a drug-abuse rehabilitation facility in Jeddah in 2006 and suffered MULTAN: Demonstrators burn the US flag during a from mental illness, Jeddah police said in an emailed protest in Multan yesterday against a US drone strike in North Waziristan. — AFP statement.

Drone kills 21 in Pakistan MIRANSHAH: A US drone strike in Pakistan yesterday killed up to 21 Afghan fighters from the Al-Qaedalinked Haqqani network, considered the top US foe in eastern Afghanistan, authorities said. Pakistani officials said a US drone fired two missiles, destroying a vehicle and a compound in North Waziristan, the headquarters of the Haqqani leadership and the most infamous militant bastion in the semi-autonomous tribal belt.

“More dead bodies have been dug out of the debris.

Twenty-one militants from the Haqqani group were killed and three were injured,” a Pakistani security official said in Peshawar, the largest city in the northwest.

“It was Haqqani’s compound and his fighters were using it as a camp. They used to gather round for midnight food,” said another Pakistani official, referring to Muslims’ pre-dawn meal during the fasting month of Ramadan.

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

local

Sheikh Mohammed Al-Khalid Al-Sabah holds ghabqa

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ead of the Kuwait National Security Bureau Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid AlSabah hosted a ghabqa which was attended by guests including His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, and the Parliamentary Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi.

— Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

National Evangelical Church of Kuwait organizes ghabqa

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astor Emmanuel Al-Ghareeb of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait (NECK) hosted the church’s traditional annual ghabqa at the Sheraton Hotel recently.

— Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Ramadan ghabqa at Holiday Inn, Salmiya

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epresentatives of the local press were invited to attend a special Ramadan ghabqa that was hosted at the Holiday Inn, Salmiya.— Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

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local

Ice cream: A frozen treat to beat the heat

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Ice cream has always been very popular in Kuwait especially in the summer season. It made a grand entry in Kuwait in the era after the discovery of oil. One of the most popular locations in Kuwait for decades from the 1970s onwards was the local branch of an American ice cream parlor chain which was located right in the middle of the old Salmiya Souq. This muchloved destination for ice cream enthusiasts offered tens of different flavors of ice cream, as

well as many flavors of syrup, not to mention nuts to decorate the ice cream cones.

Few years ago, however, this branch of the multinational ice cream chain was knocked down when that part of the Salmiya Souq was demolished. Now the same brand of ice-cream has branches in various shopping malls in the country, with many more flavors available, and new ones being introduced all the time, which are popular with its many devotees, both children and adults. Many ice cream fans also mourn the demise in the 1980s of the old Wimpy

Quaker Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients: * 3 cups of Quaker Oats * 1 cup of all purpose flour * 1 cup of raisins * 1/2 cup of walnuts or chocolate chips * 2 large eggs * 1/2 cup of castor sugar * 1/2 cup of brown sugar * 1 cup of butter * 1 teaspoon of baking soda * 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon * 1 teaspoon of baking powder * Pinch of salt Preparation: 1. Mix flour baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

2. In a large bowl, beat all the ingredients (i.e. 2 large eggs, castor and brown sugar, butter, flour and raisins) except Quaker Oats and walnuts with electric mixer at medium speed. Stir Quaker Oats, floured raisins and walnuts.

3. on ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough from a rounded tablespoon about 2 inches apart.

4. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until light brown.

Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

fast food cafe that offered four flavors of delicious ice cream that were extremely popular locally, with people coming from across Kuwait especially for them.

In the year 2000 another different brand of ice cream, reached Kuwait with its first outlet opening in the Souq Sharq mall. Other branches soon mushroomed across Kuwait.

A very different kind of ice cream, which may not be well known to many people, is Arabian ice cream, which is sticky and doesn’t melt like the better known variety, and seems to contain

some form of gum. It’s strangely scrumptious and definitely worth trying this variety of ice cream can be found in some specialist Arabian confectionery outlets.

A similar type of ice cream is the Turkish variety, called ‘Danderma,’ which is also sticky.

Anyone wanting to sample this delicious treat can find it at a kiosk on the first floor of the ‘Phase Two’ area in the Avenues Mall, which offers a few specialist varieties of ice cream.

In the summer in Kuwait you can find the mobile ice cream carts, whose salesmen sell vari-

ous brands of ice cream. Not all the vendors stock the same brands of ice cream, which is good news for ice cream fans who like a variety of tastes. You’ll find the roving ice cream vendors doing a great trade at the beach, beside some roads, near the ministries complex and in other popular locations.

Local supermarkets, Co-ops and corner stores also sell a wide variety of local and international brands of ice cream, whilst some customers stick loyally to the rich, creamy ice creams sold at fast food outlets.

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LOCAL

in my view

Local Spotlight

The Syrian expats!

The controversy over television

By Hussain Al-Qatari hussain@kuwaittimes.net othing is as controversial as television in Kuwait these days. From controversy about censorship to dress code, the television is really having a rough year. Recently, a Ramadan historic series depicting the life of Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein, the two grandchildren of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) has sparked controversy again.

The series depicts a critical era in Islamic history: The conflict between Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein, the latter especially, with the Umayyad Caliphate signifies the split between Muslims into the sects of Sunni and Shia. To the Shia, Al-Hassan and AlHussein are Imams who are descendant of the Prophet. With such high regard given to them, they should not be depicted by actors, according to many Shia scholars. The Shias believe that the two siblings were mistreated greatly during the Umayyad Caliphate, and that the caliphs were directly involved in the death of both brothers. On the other hand, the Sunnis respect the two Imams, but their version of the story does not say that the caliphs were complicit in their death. While they don’t deny that there were conflicts between the caliphs and the two imams, they don’t believe that there was animosity to the extent of killing.

The supporters of the two different sects, however, harbor hatred and anger against one another. Enough hatred, to create tension for many centuries, and to cause wars and murders. Before the show begins to air on television, controversy arose in regional media about whether or not it should be permitted to air locally. The show is only aired at a handful of stations, none of which are local.

Earlier this week, officials from Iran, the biggest Shia country, condemned the production and said that it only makes the rift between the two nations wider. Clergymen in Saudi, representatives of the Sunni sect, have also condemned the production.

Independent critics who do not represent any sect, but their own career path, have also noted that the production is humble and does not befit the story that it portrays. It is such a great relief to see that people are in agreement, finally.

What is sad, however, is that such works will still spark controversy among the uneducated unreasonable members of the audience, who comprise a sizeable segment in society. I fear that parliamentarians by the end of Ramadan will set this issue ablaze again. We are still struggling with our recovery of sectarian trouble, and the last we need is to add more fuel to the fire.

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Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net hat is happening in Syria at present is simply insanity. It is, quite simply, the murder of innocents by their own government and people. That is the simple truth...and it doesn’t require a genius or much wisdom to realize that it is time to put a stop to it. Syrian expats living in Kuwait are surely enraged at seeing murder spread across their country and must fear the consequences. So, I understand their desire to demonstrate in front of their embassy to express their disgust at the killing or maybe offer their support and bless their government to handle the situation. I guess, however, that any such demonstration could go both ways! Demonstration in the Arab world is not about rejection and condemnation. Whilst this is the primary idea sometimes demonstrations are also used to support the system.

So, when the Ministry of Interior in Kuwait decided to prohibit demonstrations in front of the Syrian embassy in Kuwait, I thought well maybe it’s wise to do so because the Syrian situation is complicated and we in Kuwait have enough troubles already, so why should we open our country up as a battlefield for others’ wars?

I believe that we are now in the era of technology and the Internet ... demonstrations, shouting and cheering are no longer the only way to express opinions and ideas. In fact, using the internet is faster and far more civilized and also sends the best image to the whole world.

This is how to protest in a responsible way because true believers of democracy and human rights will be educated enough to know how to use this instrument and what to say. The young, for instance, are entitled to speak their piece, but those who may be corrupted and filled with dirty money will only exploit any system that feeds them more power and any calls for rebellion are considered only a threat to them.

I believe that expatriates are guests, in Kuwait as in any other country, and in Kuwait they are entitled to make their thoughts and views known through the recognized channels such as newspapers and other private media, with their protests serving few but not the cause .

What is happening in Syria affects on us all; we have enough suffering in this world and we don’t want more. Besides, the living condition of Syrian people are poor, so when they decide to rebel against their government and demand a better life and better treatment as humans, they should be given that right. But when they are confronted by weapons and murder, they will certainly become more frustrated and determined to fight and fight back.

The Syrian scene is sad, dark and bloody and I really hope that the people’s rights and justice for them will prevail eventually. People in the Arab world have now changed and when change comes to this area it will no longer be silenced by any weapon or threat. We will witness the end shortly.

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kuwait digest

Make change for a better tomorrow

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij number of MPs made a recent proposal to allow citizens working in the public or private sectors to ‘sell’ a part of their annual leave, although they failed to specify the amounts that would be paid to employees for the number of absent days.

This proposal wouldn’t have caused any concern, if it wasn’t for the fact that the average productivity level of Kuwaiti employees in the public sector is low.

There are state employees who get paid despite garnering zero productivity from work places, yet the aforementioned proposal enables employees to sell back to

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the government what has already been robbed!

It probably wouldn’t stop here, as demands to increase salaries of employees are eventually made, and those demands would later be met with other (demands) to support lowincome employees and improve living conditions.

While improving living conditions is necessary, it must be achieved through improvement of citizens’ productivity, not through overspending the funds provided by oil income. I urge Kuwait’s youth who are either about to start or end their academic years, to think thoroughly

about the future. If the government continues its policy of overspending, it will lead to unemployment.

The future looks bleak in light of the parliamentary approach that supports organized exhaustion of public funds. The society not only the government - which failed to build a new university for its high school graduates will be more helpless in providing job opportunities to the youth when they graduate. The youth of Kuwait should think practically about their future, and understand that only they have the power to stop the squandering of public funds. —Al-Qabas

kuwait digest

The death of the Arab League

By Waleed Al-Ghanim t has been sleeping for decades, but its killing absence from what Arab countries are witnessing in the form of troubles that reach death of the Arab people and the destruction of countries, make us more convinced that the Arab League is politically a dead entity.

What is the role of the Arab League? What is its function? What is its responsibility? Did this League succeed in solving even one Arab cause? Even the heinous Iraqi invasion witnessed differences in the stance of its members, and thank goodness, Kuwait and Gulf countries did not wait for their opinion regarding the liberation of the country from the invasion catastrophe, otherwise our right would have been lost, as that of the Palestinians before.

Arab countries are going through dangerous changes in their existence and demands of the people

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kuwait digest

What is the role of the Arab League? What is its function?

What is its responsibility? Did this League succeed in solving even one Arab cause? Even the heinous Iraqi invasion witnessed differences in the stance of its members, and thank goodness, Kuwait and Gulf countries did not wait for their opinion regarding the liberation of the country from the invasion catastrophe. for reforms, though most rulers have not listened, yet instead of the Arab League taking initiatives to reconcile people with their regimes, or at least to protect people from the crimes of the rulers, it became a guard for the dictatorships, and then this League disappeared, as if it never existed.

The recent events call upon all those who care for Arab countries, to reconsider the establishment of regional and international entities that can restore the nations’ unity. Parties that are considered criminal among their people, time proved that they are closer to each other.

I call upon the GCC countries to adopt an initiative to reform conditions at the Arab League and re-write its charts, so that it becomes an effective entity that cares for Arabs, not as the case now, standing as protector of killer regimes among us.

It is regretful that the entire world looks toward integration, cooperation and unity, while our Arab countries are individually searching for their own interests with their secret contacts with Western countries. And the victims, as always, are the people. —Al-Qabas

A period of tranquility

By Thaar Al-Rashidi he government has almost vanished for the past three weeks, with the exception of the presence of only four of its ministers. They are the foreign minister, commerce minister, finance minister and lastly the ‘Minister-Student’ Ahmad Al-Mulaifi who repeats previous declarations made at some of the events he attends.

Anyway, I have observed that during the past 21 days, the situations have been going on smoothly.

Whenever the government is ‘absent,’ our problems are simple, and easy to solve.

The simplest example is the demand to expel the Syrian envoy to Kuwait. The incident passed uneventfully, without any issues being created. I believe if His Highness the Prime Minister were present along with most of his ministers, a battle would have ensued.

I hope that the government continues to be absent for the longest period possible. We will enjoy a period of tranquility. Kuwait’s growth trajector y has anyway been stagnant so the Cabinet’s presence wont effect much change.

Since Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali is present in the country, I want to ask him: Why hasn’t the KD 50 taken from expatriates not been paid back? Please sign the papers and pay them their money, unless you intend to deposit it into your own account! By the way Al-Shamali, your government still owes the private sector employees KD 100 each! —Al-Anba

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

MoI inspections head office moves to Sabhan

KUWAIT: MP Musallam Al-Barrak (third right) at the demonstration in Mishref on Tuesday evening.

KUWAIT: A group photo of conservative parliament members at the demonstration. MPs Mohammad Hayef, Jamaan Al-Harbish and Khaled Al-Tahous appear on the right.

Protestors appear in a circle chanting anti-Syrian regime slogans.

Protestors try to go through security in front of the Syrian Embassy.

Kuwaitis demonstrate in front of Syrian Embassy Demand envoy’s expulsion

By Hussain Al-Qatari KUWAIT: Thousands of Kuwaitis held a demonstration on Tuesday night near the Syrian Embassy in Mishref to protest against the Syrian regime’s atrocities. The protesters’ main demand was the immediate expulsion of the Syrian Ambassador to Kuwait, Bassam Abdulmajeed. The crowds began to gather after the Taraweeh prayer (a special prayer held after Isha prayer during Ramadan), and began to disperse shortly after 2 am, following the announcement of the ambassador’s departure. News reports citing diplomatic sources said that Syria will recall its ambassadors to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in reaction to the countries’ governments’ earlier decision. The three GCC states recalled their ambassadors to Syria for consultation over the bloodshed and crackdowns on protestors.

At the demonstration in Mishref on Tuesday night, MP Musallam Al-Barrak gave an emotionally charged speech, highlighting the sanctity of the month of Ramadan to Muslims as a month for compassion and charitable work.

“You must remember that as you wait with your family around your Iftar table, happy and safe, families in Syria are being massacred, their homes demolished, their lives destroyed,” he said. The MP added that it does not honor Kuwait to have an embassy of a country that continues to commit atrocities against its own people. “We demand the immediate dismissal of the ambassador, and this is nonnegotiable,” he asserted.

MP Ali Al-Deqbasi lauded the stance of the governments of Turkey and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “Condemning the crimes of the Syrian regime, a tyrannical criminal regime, only proves how these two great countries [Turkey and Saudi Arabia] are dedicated to the betterment of the region,” he said. Earlier this week, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia condemned the attacks on civilian protestors in Syria and declared their support for the Syrian people and their demands.

Representing the mosque imams suspended from their duties by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs (MAIA), Sheikh Rashid Al-Hajeri gave a brief speech in which he stressed that as religious representatives, it is the duty of

imams to speak out against evil deeds such as the Syrian regime’s atrocities.

“We were told that we must abide by the rules of the Charter that the Ministry of Awqaf wrote,” he said. “But we have a holier charter, a more sacred charter that is the Holy Quran, which instructs strictly that one should speak up against the evil perpetrated by tyrants.”

A caricature held by a protestor. —Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh Last month, imams at several local mosques were suspended temporarily from delivering Friday khutba (sermons) due to their previous blatant references to the Syrian regime.

The MAIA, which has responsibility for mosques, issued a statement at the time urging mosque imams to avoid discussing politics in their sermons in order to stay away from foreign affairs issues.

Meanwhile, controversial conservative lawmaker Mohammad Hayef reiterated his contentious demands of last week, insisting that the authorities should consult with Islamic scholars over whether or not it is permissible to “shed

the blood of the ambassador.” Describing the senior diplomat and former Syrian minister as a “criminal who is complicit in the killing of innocent people,” Hayef said that the issuance of a fatwa should have been requested earlier. “I do not apologize for requesting a fatwa. In fact if I must apologize, I apologize for not doing so earlier,” he said, to applause from supporters. After making his statement regarding that matter last week, MP Hayef came in for heavy criticism from fellow politicians, especially those from Kuwait’s liberal blocs. The Democratic Forum issued a statement immediately, stating: “MP Mohammad Hayef’s demand does not value human life, nor does it give any value to the constitutional and political institution in Kuwait. Using religion as a tool in that manner is dangerous. For a politician to make such a dangerous statement is very alarming.”

Speaking to local daily Al-Rai about the government’s decision, several lawmakers commended the government’s decision to recall Kuwait’s Ambassador to Syria. “[Recalling the Kuwaiti ambassador] is a positive measure that is consistent with the demands to confront [Syria’s ruling] Baath regime”, said MP Dr Faisal Al-Mislem, voicing hope that more steps would be taken “to contribute to ending the misery of the Syrian people in their struggle to oust their government.”

Another MP, Mubarak Al-Waalan, expressed hope that the government’s decision would be a “prelude to more decisions to isolate the Baath regime,” while MP Falah Al-Sawwagh called for the reinstatement of the imams suspended over their direct condemnations of the Syrian regime’s brutality in their sermons. Al-Sawwagh also demanded that the Kuwaiti government arrange for Syrian civilians injured during the violent crackdown in Syria be brought to Kuwaiti hospitals for treatment.

MP Jamaan Al-Harbish, meanwhile, didn’t stop at acknowledging the foreign ministry’s step, but went on to demand that the Ministry of Interior allow Syrian residents in Kuwait to take part in demonstrations held in solidarity with the people of their country, and to hold funerals in Kuwait for relatives they lost in Syria. Fellow parliamentarian Abdurrahman Al-Anjari urged Kuwait to adopt an initiative to amend the Arab League’s charter “in order to make [the charter] represent the Arab people, not the Arab leaders.”

KUWAIT: The head office of the Ministry of Interior’s (MoI) Inspections Department has been moved from the Kuwait City police station to new offices in the new interior ministry headquarters in Block 2 of Sabhan.

In a statement announcing the move which was issued yesterday, department director Brigadier Shehab Hamad AlShemmari also revealed that the department had taken all the necessary steps to ensure full public security during the last 10 days of Ramadan and the celebration of the Eid Al-Fitr festival at its conclusion. Brig. Al-Shemmari asserted that the inspections department is one of the most important in the MoI, adding that it reports directly to the interior minister. The inspection department is responsible for questioning police detainees and prisoners, and for monitoring their wellbeing in custody and ensuring that their human rights are observed, he explained. As well as carrying out its own duties, he continued, the department also assists other ministry divisions whenever required and follows up allegations of officials abusing their positions for personal gain, taking legal action if these are found to be accurate.

The inspections department also receives Kuwaitis and expatriates who wish to file complaints against any MoI staff member and takes the necessary action over them, the official went on, adding that the department staff are dedicated professionals who work hard on cases from across the country, not just during special festivals, but every day.

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Iraq to start construction on Al-Fao Port in 2012

By A Saleh KUWAIT: In a clear indication of Iraq’s irritation at Kuwait’s Mubarak Al-K abeer Por t project, the Iraqi Ministr y of Transport announced yesterday that it would commence work on the planned major Al-Fao Port project in southern Iraq in 2012.

A senior Iraqi transport ministry official said that the decision had been taken after the winning bid for the port design, from a consortium of Italian firms, was chosen.

Ministry of Transport Undersecretary Benkin Regani said that the Iraqi ministry has obtained a euro 46 million loan from the country’s Ministry of

Finance to carry out preliminary work on the design of the port project.

Regani said that the transpor t ministry is still awaiting the solution to the difficulties over the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project and the resolution of the associated political and technical disputes.

Once these issues are resolved, he

said, work will begin on the construction of Al-Fao Port.

The senior official explained that the transport ministry chose a site in Ras Al-Bisha for the port’s location, which is far from the country’s borders with Kuwait and Iran and does not affect the work being done by the Iraqi oil ministry.

The transpor t ministr y has already begun work on clearing the site of landmines lef t over from previous wars, as well as starting work on preparing designs for a w ave - b re a k a n d o t h e r fe a t u re s, which it is hoped will be completed w i t h i n t h e n e x t t h r e e m o n t h s, Regani concluded.

Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port is Kuwait’s sovereign right Expresses concern at unrest in Arab states KUWAIT: The British Ambassador to Kuwait Frank Baker reassured Kuwait of its right to construct the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port, located east of Boubyan island. It described Iraq’s protests and concerns as ‘illogical.’ Speaking to reporters during a press conference held Tuesday morning at the British Consulate, Baker insisted on Kuwait’s sovereign right to build the port at any location within its territories, urging both countries to settle the dispute by holding direct negotiations with the help of a joint committee. He also added that he had discussed the topic with British ambassador in Baghdad. He said that there is a need to settle the disagreement through diplomacy.

Ambassador Baker also seized the opportunity to reiterate the deep rooted relations shared between the United Kingdom and Kuwait. He revealed that the British Embassy will release a commemorative photo-album that contains fifty photographs covering a span of fifty years, representing the historic relations shared between the two countries.

When asked to comment on the ‘Arab Spring’, ambassador Baker said that his government ‘carefully monitors’ the situations, while expressing confidence in people’s right to determine their fate. He pointed out

that Kuwait is a country where the will of the people are respected through the holding of free parliamentary elections. He expressed concern at the unrest prevailing in Arab countries where “governments persecute and kill their own people dreadfully,” adding that such vile acts against people who chose to determine their fate should be stopped immediately, reported Al-Qabas.

He described a letter of condemnation released by Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council denouncing the events in Syria as “strong and direct.” The ambassador also denied claims that that his govern-

DRB MPs reject emergency parliamentary session

By A Saleh KUWAIT: Two of the MPs who previously signed a petition demanding an emergency parliamentary session to discuss the issue of students left without university places have informed the Development and Reform Bloc (DRB) of which they are members that such a session will no longer be necessary and a standard meeting of the parliamentary education committee would suffice to discuss the issue.

The two parliamentarians insisted that an emergency session would provide nothing new, certainly nothing more than the government has already offered, adding that they would not attend any emergency session since they would be outside the country.

The DRB is apparently attempting to change their minds in order to ensure

that it does not lose quorum over the emergency session, especially since it expects education minister Ahmad AlMulaifi to represent the government at any emergency session.

On a separate issue, according to a Jordanian website, Kuwaiti officials have repor tedly informed the Jordanian government that further financial assistance towards Jordan will not be forthcoming until the end of the current year due to the tensions between the government and parliament in Kuwait.

The Baladina news website reported that Kuwait ’s financial suppor t to Jordan, given as a matter of principle, comes to around $1 billion per year. A committee of senior officials from both nations has been meeting to sort out the details of the timing when the support will be available.

ment and other western governments have been handling the Syrian situation from a different perspective when compared to Libya, saying that the United Nations’ statement on Syria echoes the international community’s concern over the situation.

The ambassador expressed hope that all outstanding issues would be resolved soon, and that I raq would commit to UN Resolutions, adding that they can help resolve certain issues like searching for remains of Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq, in addition to other matters which cannot be discussed publicly.

KIA’s fingerprint system deports 350 KUWAIT: The introduction of a digital fingerprinting system at Kuwait International Airport (KIA) in April this year has so far resulted in the arrest of 350 formerly deported people of various nationalities caught using forged passports to illegally re-enter the country.

The system holds a database containing electronic copies of the fingerprints of all expatriates deported in the last few years. According to one security insider, the 350 individuals arrested had all been previously deported from Kuwait and were attempting to use forged passports in order to return illicitly, with the fingerprint system easily identifying them.

The Criminal Evidence General Department is reportedly installing 29 similar digital fingerprint systems at Kuwait’s land and sea ports, with the hi-tech new systems set to go into operation for October 1.

In related news the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Information Technology has called for the cancelation of the manual fingerprinting process which all expatriates go through when they first apply for work permits, arguing that this should be replaced with the electronic fingerprinting system, which would save time and effort as well as being more useful in catching attempted fraud. —Al-Qabas and Al-Rai

KUWAIT: NBK Public Relations Team and a number of NBK Staff in a group photo with the children.

NBK shares happy Girgian moments with children KUWAIT: On the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) held a Girgian event at NBK Hospital at Sabah Medical district to share with the children the happy moments of Girgian and present them with felicitations and gifts.

The event was attended by NBK CEOKuwait Shaikha Khalid Al Bahar accompanied by NBK Public Relations Team and a number of NBK Staff.

Commenting on the occasion, Al Bahar stated: “Sharing with sick children residing at NBK Hospital on major social and religious occasions comes as part of an extensive social outreach program

specifically mapped out and implemented by NBK.” Al Bahar explained that helping sick children and their families is an integral part of the Bank’s culture and practices that reflect its deep commitment to its corporate social responsibility. This was the main reason that led NBK to build its children hospital at Sabah Medical district many years ago.

NBK’s visit to the hospital was emotional and overwhelming for both the children and NBK Team. It is a well rooted tradition that has been carried out by NBK each year in its efforts to continuously have an active role in Kuwaiti society.

KUWAIT: Shaikha Al Bahar with one of the children.

Firefighters control fire at carpentry factory in Sabhan

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Firefighters from Sabhan and Mubarak Al-Kabeer coordinated to tackle a blaze that broke out in a three-floor workshop in South Sabhan. The presence of large amounts of dry timber led to the blaze, which began in the basement, spreading quickly, but the firefighters’ speedy action ensured that the fire was quickly extinguished. No casualties were reported.

Another fire broke out at around midday yesterday on the seventh floor of a building under construction in Jabriya, with firefighters from Hawally, Salmiya and the technical rescue center quickly putting out the blaze.

Nobody was reported hurt in the incident.

Junkies busted A Kuwaiti drug addict was arrested in the Capital area whilst robbing a phone shop.

Police confiscated a quantity of heroin from the man, who was referred to the relevant authorities.

In a separate case, another Kuwaiti man was arrested by patrol officers on Coastal Road, who found 70 narcotic tablets in his possession during a routine stop-and-search operation.

Close shave A hairdresser whose services are retained by the Ministry of Interior was called to Jahra police station yesterday to shave the heads of eight teenage delinquents apprehended for loitering in the area. The arrests followed a crackdown on begging in the governorate, during which 12 beggars, male and female, were apprehended.

Debtor detained A Kuwaiti man was arrested in Saad AlAbdullah over the non-payment of a KD28,000 debt.

13 hurt in car accidents Two Egyptian expatriates aged 26 and 27 were rushed to Jahra Hospital yesterday after

Bedoon man robbed KUWAIT: A bedoon accused four individuals, including a citizen, of stealing KD 3,000 from his possession. He told Salhiya police that the gang of men assaulted him before snatching away his car keys and stealing KD 3,000.

I nv e s t i g a t i o n s i n t o t h e c a s e a r e underway.

Cash stolen from car Thieves broke into a car and stole KD 67, 300 that was concealed in the vehicle.

The car was parked next to a building after the owner and his colleague collected money from co-operative societies and shopping malls to deliver it to the concerned companies. The two men were not able to reach the company before Iftar and parked the vehicle in the area. Thieves took the opportunity to break into the vehicle and steal the money. Investigations into the case are underway.

KUWAIT: The completely destroyed carpentry workshop.

—Photo by Hannan Al-Saadoun sustaining various injuries in a car crash on Amghara Bridge heading towards the Sabah Al-Nasser area.

A motorbike accident opposite the Shaab Leisure Park on Gulf Road saw the motorcyclist, who sustained multiple injuries, taken to Amiri Hospital.

In a separate incident, a 26-year-old Kuwaiti man sustained facial injuries when he was hit by a car as he crossed a street in Block 7 of the Adan area. He was taken to Adan Hospital.

In a similar incident, a 40-year-old Bangladeshi man was taken to Jahra Hospital when he complained of severe pain in his left knee after being knocked down by a car whilst crossing a street in Block 2 of the Waha area.

Meanwhile, a 34-year-old Egyptian expatriate suffered fractured bones in his right hand, while a 27-year-old Kuwaiti woman sustained minor injuries in a car crash on the First Ring Road. The man was taken to Amiri Hospital, whilst the woman was treated at the scene by paramedics.

Following another car crash, this time on Fahaheel Road opposite the Hadi Hospital, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti man complained of back pain whilst a 44-year-old Egyptian man complained of neck pain. Both were taken to Mubarak Hospital.

In a separate incident, two Egyptian expatriates aged 37 and 53 were taken to Mubarak Hospital after sustaining various injuries in a crash under the Fahaheel Bridge between Rumaithiya and Salwa.

Finally, two Kuwaiti men aged 24 and 26 suffered burns to their faces and hands after being splashed with boiling hot water from a car radiator. Both were taken to Mubarak Hospital.

Drunk detained A 38-year-old American man was arrested after police found him in a drunk and semidelirious condition sitting in his car parked opposite the Abu Halifa branch of McDonald’s.

Harassers arrested Jahra police arrested eight adolescents who harassed women in malls.

Police summoned their parents and were made to sign undertakings to not repeat the acts.

Transvestite arrested Farwaniya police arrested a transvestite who created chaos at a mall after young men began flocking around him.

An official said that the mall’s guards called police. Police arrested who they believed was a woman, but after checking his identity card, it was learnt that the person was male. He was taken to the nearest police station.

Invasion of privacy A woman in Mubarak Al-Kabeer governorate accused her neighbor of invading her privacy after he broke down the door of her home and issued death threats. The woman reportedly told police that she was taken aback with her neighbor’s behavior. He also threatened to injure her in case she closes the door and ordered her to keep it open at all times. Investigations into the case are underway. —Al-Rai

Meteor showers tomorrow KUWAIT: Showers of meteors will enter the dust trail.

Al-Jamaan pointed out that the meteor Earth’s atmosphere over the next few days, reaching their peak between Friday night shower is set to hit its peak between late Friday night and early Saturday and dawn on Saturday, when morning. The astronomer they will be appearing at a rate of attributed the meteor showers one hundred meteors per hour, to the presence of grains of said Khalid Al-Jamaan, an expert dust and rocks and small ice in at Al-Merzem Astronomical the form of a belt left by comet Observatory, yesterday. in its orbit when they near the In a press release issued to sun. announce the upcoming astro“When comets spin around nomical phenomenon, Althe sun, these waste items Jamaan noted that the showers enter the atmosphere because are named for the constellation Perseus because the meteors Khalid Al-Jamaan of the gravity, resulting in high heat levels that totally melt the look like they originate from rocks and turn them into ashes. Those that collection of stars.

This visual origin point, called the radi- rocks shine for few seconds in the sky as a ant, is not where the meteors actually result of the burning,” he explained, come from, however; in fac t, they adding that this phenomenon recurs duremanate from the Swift-Tuttle comet’s ing this period every year. —KUNA

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

Endgame nearing for unpopular Japan PM

Russia draws up tit-for-tat US visa bans Page 10

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US launches anti-Gaddafi offensive in Africa American diplomats visit several African countries

MAJAR: In this photo taken on a governmentorganized tour men carry coffins during the burial of more than two dozen people after an alleged NATO bombing in the town of Majar, near in Zliten, Libya, Tuesday, —AP

BENGHAZI: The United States has launched a diplomatic offensive against Libya among African nations as Tripoli accused NATO of a “massacre” of 85 villagers in air strikes in support of rebels. American diplomats are visiting several African countries as part of efforts to urge leaders to press Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi to leave power immediately, officials in Washington said on Tuesday. Several African states, having benefited financially from Gaddafi ‘s policies, have been reluctant to call for him to step down, and have criticized the NATO-led military campaign in Libya.

Gene Cretz, the US ambassador who left Tripoli before Gaddafi launched his bloody crackdown on the opposition in February, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary

of State Donald Yamamoto arrived Monday in Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said. They “are in Africa to meet with African Union members to discuss the crisis in Libya and the need for Gaddafi to relinquish power now,” he told AFP. They also met Mahmud Jibril, leader of Libya’s opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) who was visiting Ethiopia. Gaddafi, meanwhile, said world powers would be held responsible for the “ugly massacre committed by NATO” on the village of Majer where 85 people were killed, Libya’s official JANA news agency reported. Majer, 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Zliten 120 kilometers east of Tripoli, was attacked late on Monday to try to help rebel fighters

enter the government-held city from the south, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said. “After the first three bombs dropped at around 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Monday, many residents of the area ran to the bombed houses to try to save their loved ones. Three more bombs struck,” he told reporters on an organized visit. Thirty-three children, 32 women and 20 men from 12 families were killed in the “massacre,” Mussa said.

Reporters attended the funerals of victims and saw 28 bodies buried at the local cemetery where hundreds of people vented their anger against NATO, “the spies and the traitors,” an AFP correspondent said. In the hospital morgue, 30 bodies-including two children and one woman were shown along with other bodies

which had been torn apart. NATO, which launched its air campaign at the end of March under UN resolutions to protect civilians against Gaddafi ‘s forces, insisted the raids were “legitimate” and said it had no evidence of civilian deaths.

“We do not have evidence of civilian casualties at this stage,” the NATO spokesman for the alliance’s Libya campaign, Colonel Roland Lavoie, said from his Naples headquarters.

NATO raids south of Zliten were against two former farms used for military purposes by Gaddafi forces, he said. “This was a military facility clearly... NATO takes extreme precaution not to harm innocent civilians living or working nearby.”

JANA said Gaddafi sent a message to the heads of state of UN Security Council members saying

EU targets Libyan firm BRUSSELS: The European Union added a Libyan oil firm and government department to a sanctions blacklist yesterday, an EU diplomat said, raising pressure on Muammar Gaddafi in his conflict with Western-backed rebels. The decision approved by the 27 EU member states freezes assets in the European Union of the Al-Sharara oil company and Libya’s Organization for Administrative Affairs and bars EU firms from doing business with them. “It’s gone through,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The EU move increased the number of Libyan entities subject to EU sanctions to 49. The bloc has previously imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 39 individuals and targeted six port authorities with sanctions. The EU is seeking to isolate Gaddafi, who has clung to power in the North African Arab state despite a six-month insurgency supported by NATO air strikes.

Oil shipping sources said the decision to add Al-Sharara, an oil and gas distribution company, to the sanctions roster appeared to be aimed at curbing fuel deliveries to parts of Libya still controlled by Gaddafi. Their names will be published in the EU’s Official Journal today. The sources said Al-Sharara had been involved in an attempt to import fuel to west Libya aboard the government-owned tanker Cartagena, which was hijacked and taken to the rebel-led city of Benghazi by opponents of Gaddafi last week. — Reuters

“they should bear responsibility for the ugly massacre carried out by NATO in Majer.” He was quoted as saying “there has never been such a massacre throughout the history of wars.” Rebels fighting around Zliten said on Monday they were running low on ammunition as they struggled to hold off an assault by loyalists. The rebels, advancing from the nearby port city of Misrata, punched into the centre of Zliten a week ago. But they later pulled back to the edge of the city of 200,000 inhabitants.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, at least two rebels were killed in fighting on Tuesday around the oil town of Brega in eastern Libya, a rebel spokesman said.

NATO said it had hit nine targets in the Brega area on Tuesday, listing them as a military facility, one tank,

four armed vehicles and three multiple rocket launchers. The alliance also said it hit nine anti-aircraft systems and eight surface-to-air missile systems in Tripoli. On the diplomatic front, France said new EU sanctions were imposed on Gaddafi ‘s regime.

Canada and Denmark, which have both recognized the NTC, also expelled pro-Gaddafi diplomats, officials said. And the United States said it has transferred the Libyan embassy in Washington to the NTC, which it has recognized as Libya’s de facto government.

Yesterday, JANA quoted Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim as saying British Prime Minister David Cameron should step down as he had “lost all legitimacy” because of the riots shaking Britain since Saturday.—AFP

American trades university for life as rebel in Libya

HEBRON: Palestinian children struggle to get a ration of donated food from the Islamic Waqf, during Ramadan in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday.

Muslims around the world are observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan where they refrain from eating, drinking, smoking from dawn to dusk.—AP

NALUT: Adam, from Washington DC, was studying to become a family therapist. Then he felt a greater calling: fighting for freedom in Libya. So he traded his university sociology and psychology books for a semi-automatic weapon bought with his own money in Libya and joined a group of rebels who believe they have the best chance of reaching Tripoli and toppling Muammar Gaddafi. “I just had a year left before getting my degree but I dropped out,” said Adam, 22, dressed in camouflage fatigues and a black bulletproof vest at a training site in Libya’s Western Mountains.

“But I had to do this. Gaddafi is killing so many people. I felt I needed to take a stand. Why not?” Adam’s parents left Libya for the United States 35 years ago. He grew up like any American kid, watching football games, hitting the mall and worrying about his prom date. “I was popular in high school. I was the kind of guy people would come to for advice on girlfriend problems,” said Adam, who has a big frame, is bearded and wears thick glasses. “I think I would have been a good

family therapist. But right now more than anything I want to liberate Tripoli.”

Adam soon discovered he had joined a do-it-yourself rebel movement. He has to tap into his life savings of $5,000 to buy food, drinks, clothes, even weapons. “I was going to buy a Belgian rifle but the Israeli one was lighter and came with a sniper scope,” said Adam. He would not say whom he purchased the weapon from, but a black market arms trade has emerged in rebelheld areas.

Adam and other Tripoli Brigade members — 532 in all including a few other Westerners-live in a college dormitory in the town of Nalut, about 280 km (175 miles) from Tripoli. Stinging caricatures of Gaddafi hang on a wall beside a drawing of how a rifle is put together, a far cry from his old dormitory back home. The brigade is highly organized, with computer records of each fighter and a far better command structure than most other rebel units.

Morale lifted in the past few weeks after the rebels captured

some government-held towns and villages in the plains below the Western Mountains. But they have yet to seize the Gaddafi stronghold of Tiji, despite surrounding it. That’s where Adam learned the hard way that breaking Libya’s military stalemate won’t be easy. “We were stuck under a sand hill in the desert for three hours. The bullets were flying over our heads the whole time,” said Adam.

He asked that his last name not be used for fear of retribution against his relatives in Tripoli-and also because his parents back in the United States do not know he has taken up arms. Shortly after describing the challenges, Adam strapped his weapon over his shoulder and took part in a mock attack on government forces, part of his training.

Rocket-propelled-grenades were fired and hand grenades were tossed as he and other fighters rushed imaginary targets. When it was all over and the anti-Gaddafi victory chants died down, Adam took time to reflect on his risky decision to leave behind a comfortable life in the United States. —Reuters

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

Years

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

UN warns of growing Al-Qaeda threat in Yemen UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council expressed concern Tuesday that Al-Qaeda could exploit the power vacuum in Yemen to gain an even greater foothold in the country. The 15-nation council urged followers of ailing president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the opposition to quickly settle Yemen’s fate because of the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the country. The UN body gave strong support to efforts by the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation

Council to end the Yemen crisis. UN envoy Jamal Benomar reaffirmed warnings that the Yemen economy could collapse in a briefing to the council after his latest mission to the Red Sea nation. Council members highlighted their “grave concern” over the economic and humanitarian deterioration in Yemen.

“They were deeply concerned at the worsening security situation, including the threat from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” said a state-

ment released after the meeting.

Yemen has been gripped by political turmoil since an uprising against the 33-year-old rule of Saleh, now recovering from bomb blast wounds, erupted in January.

Hundreds have died in battles between security forces and protesters, and between security forces and Al-Qaeda fighters.

The Security Council urged all sides to allow “humanitarian” access to Yemen and warned over increas-

ingly severe shortages of basic supplies in the country as well as growing damage to key infrastructure.

The body “called on all parties to move forward urgently an inclusive, orderly and Yemeni-led process of political transition,” the statement said. Britain’s deputy UN ambassador Philip Parham hailed the second UN statement on Yemen in two months as “evidence of the growing sense of alarm of the international community at events in Yemen.”

“The continuing crisis is setting Yemen back by years. Key food costs have dramatically increased, and coupled with fuel shortages, this is having a severe impact on the Yemeni population and humanitarian operations,” Parham said, highlighting European support for the GCC efforts to persuade Saleh to stand down. The Yemeni opposition vying to oust Saleh said it would elect an umbrella “national council” on August 17 aiming to take over power.—AFP

US lawmaker urges Palestinians to drop UN bid Jailed leader warns of protests if US wields veto

BAGHDAD: Bakers prepare traditional sweets in a bakery in Baghdad, Iraq yesterday.—AP

Iraq’s Sadr says Iran will not hand over militant BAGHDAD: Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr said yesterday that Iran has refused to hand over a militant known as the “Shiite Zarqawi,” a former commander in his militia, to face justice in Iraq. “We demanded that they return him back to Iraq but they refused,” Sadr said in a message released by his office in Najaf, in response to a question by one of his followers. Sadr expressed regret that “the one who must be eliminated is not being eliminated, and the one who needs shelter is not sheltered.”

Abu Deraa, who fled to Iran in 2008, is the nom de guerre of Ismail Al-Lami, a military leader of Sadr’s Mahdi Army until he was disowned by the militia for alleged atrocities during sectarian Shiite-

Sunni conflicts that peaked in 2006-2007.

Sunnis had nicknamed him the “Shiite Zarqawi,” a reference to Abu Musab AlZarqawi, the slain former leader of AlQaeda in Iraq who had launched a war against the country’s Shiites. Sadr said in a letter released in June that militiamen loyal to Abu Deraa “are criminals without faith and the government should stop them, as well as the people of this district, by engaging tribal leaders or district officials.”

During the sectarian war of 2006 and 2007 Abu Deraa was accused of killing a large number of Sunnis, whom he had vowed to wipe out from the capital. Tens of thousands of people were killed during that time. — AFP

Call for Saturday protests in Israel JERUSALEM: Israel’s social protest movement yesterday called for demonstrations to be held across the Jewish state on Saturday except in Tel Aviv which saw mass rallies last week. “We decided not to stage demonstrations in Tel Aviv but to call for rallies across the country,” protest leader Stav Shafir told AFP. “The important thing is to prove that the protest is not limited to people from Tel Aviv.”

Student union leader Itzik Shmuli told public radio that Saturday rallies were planned in Afula in the north, and in the southern city of Beersheva. Israel has been shaken since mid-July by a rapidly growing protest movement demanding cheaper housing, education and health care. But Haaretz newspaper warned yesterday that complacency could derail the movement. “Protest organisers are

facing the worst enemy in their struggle: loss of interest,” the daily said.

“Organisers should not become discouraged even if the turnout is lower at the next demonstration or the media decides not to cover events in Rothschild Boulevard,” it said of Tel Aviv’s upscale area where many protesters set up camp. An opinion poll published by Channel 10 television late on Tuesday showed that 88 percent of respondents said they supported the movement, with 46 percent who voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party saying they had joined protests.

A committee charged with examining the demands of the protest movement met for the first time on Tuesday, expressing the hope that its work would provide Israelis with a “better future.”—AFP

JERUSALEM: A leading US Democrat yesterday said that Congress was united in its opposition to a Palestinian bid for UN membership and called for a speedy resumption of peace talks with Israel. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer was speaking during a visit to Israeli President Shimon Peres at the head of a delegation of 26 Democratic lawmakers. “We believe that the only way to achieve peace is through a negotiation process where the parties come to the table without preconditions and we would hope that would happen in the very near future,” Hoyer said in remarks broadcast on Israeli public radio. “As you know we have a lot of partisan differences in our Congress today, but there is real value and centrality on the policies of the United States towards Israel and there is little if any partisan difference in the Congress on the issue of Israel,” Peres’s office quoted Hoyer as saying.

“We believe the Palestinians would be making an error seeking UN recognition now before negotiations. We urge the Palestinians and the Israelis to return to the table without preconditions.” The delegation was due to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of a week-long visit for talks with “Israeli and Palestinian leaders, military officials, academics, journalists and everyday citizens,” a press release on their visit said.

The trip is sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, an affiliate of the power ful US pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. The foundation is also organizing later this month visits by 56 top Republican lawmakers.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian leader jailed in Israel has warned

WEST BANK: Israeli soldiers detain a protester during a demonstration against Israel’s controversial separation barrier in the West Bank village of Walajah near the West Bank city of Bethlehem yesterday.—AFP Washington that vetoing a Palestinian state at the United Nations would spark huge regional protests, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported yesterday. Marwan Barghuti, a leading member of the dominant Fatah party convicted of organizing attacks against Israelis during a revolt that started in 2000, gave an interview to MENA through his lawyer from an Israeli prison.

“Voting against the Palestinian state would be a historic, deadly mistake in the record of US President Barack Obama, in whom there was hope for change,” he said of Palestinian plans to ask the United Nations for state recognition. Washington,

which has failed in its efforts to mediate peace between the Palestinians and Israel, will veto the proposal if it reaches the UN Security Council.

“Such a veto will be confronted by millions-strong protests throughout the Arab and Muslim world, indeed throughout the whole world,” Barghuti was quoted as saying. Obama’s push for an elusive peace deal has foundered on Israel’s refusal to stop expanding Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, occupied since 1967. Barghuti, in jail since 2002, is still widely respected in the Palestinian territories but is now seen more as a symbol of resistance to the occu-

Egyptian govt proposes anti-discrimination law CAIRO: Egypt’s government yesterday proposed an anti-discrimination amendment to its criminal code, mostly aimed at the troubled Christian minority which has been the target of sectarian attacks.

The bill, which the caretaker cabinet published a draft of on its Facebook page, would make discrimination a crime punishable by at least three months in prison, in addition to a fine.

It defines discrimination as “any action, or lack of action, that discriminates between people or against a sect due to gender, origin, language, religion or belief.” Women and minorities in Egypt

complain of discrimination, but it is enshrined in the law regarding Coptic Christians, who are not allowed to build houses of worship without presidential permission.

The cabinet, which was appointed by the ruling military after a revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, has said it is studying another law to ease restrictions on church construction.

The military must approve any law before it goes into effect. Disputes over building churches have contributed to sectarian clashes, which so far have killed at least 30 people in 2011.—AFP

Hospitals and medical staff targeted in wars

AHMEDABAD: An Indian Muslim sits outside the Shrine of Maqbul E-Alam, the grandson of Shaikh Shah Alam, at the Shah Alam Roza in Ahmedabad yesterday.

The 600-year-old shrine, maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), attracts thousands of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. —AFP

GENEVA: Hospitals, health care workers and ambulances are increasingly targeted in conflicts from Libya to Somalia, depriving millions of sick and wounded of treatment, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. The independent aid agency, which delivers vital supplies and collects the wounded and dead from battlefields, called for a halt to deadly assaults on medical facilities and personnel. “Hospitals in Sri Lanka and Somalia have been shelled, ambulances in Libya shot at, paramedics in Colombia killed and wounded people in Afghanistan forced to languish for hours in vehicles held up at checkpoints,” Yves Daccord, ICRC directorgeneral, said in a statement.

The ICRC has documented security incidents in 16 countries that disrupted delivery of health care, many of them deliberate attacks violating international humanitarian law, according to its report “Health Care in Danger: Making the Case”. “The most shocking finding is that people die in large numbers not because they are direct victims of a roadside bomb or a shooting,” said Dr Robin Coupland, who led the research.

“They die because the ambulance does not

get there in time, because health personnel are prevented from doing their work, because hospitals are themselves targets of attacks or simply because the environment is too dangerous for effective health care to be delivered,” said the British war surgeon.

The violence, often accompanied by looting, means doctors and nurses leave their jobs, hospitals run out of drugs or fuel to run generators and vaccination campaigns grind to a halt. This leaves patients even more vulnerable to diseases which can break out in conflict areas, such as polio and cholera. In Libya, a healthcare system that relied on foreign workers was crippled when the civil war prompted an exodus, leaving hospitals in Misrata and Benghazi critically understaffed.

Under the Geneva Conventions, the wounded and sick, whether civilians or combatants, must receive prompt medical treatment. Yet many armies and rebels flout humanitarian law, according to the ICRC, which is launching a four-year awareness campaign. “In conflicts all over the world, combatants overlook their responsibility to care for civilians caught in the crossfire. — Reuters

pation rather than a hands-on organizer.

He was convicted of five counts of murder, including a shooting at a Tel Aviv restaurant that killed three. His comments may further worry Israel’s government, which said on Sunday that the Palestinians were planning “bloodshed” to coincide with the UN General Assembly meeting in September, although it provided no proof of the charge. The Palestinians have so far sat out on regional anti-regime demonstrations, but they have staged lengthy uprisings twice in the past three decades which Israeli intelligence services failed to predict.— Agencies

News

in brief

150 Jordan Islamic hard-liners on trial AMMAN: Jordan’s state security court has begun the trial of 150 Islamic hard-liners on charges of plotting terrorism and carrying out armed attacks that left 83 policemen wounded in a protest. On April 15, the men from the ultraconservative Salafi ideology clashed with police in the eastern city of Zarqa. They are accused of stabbing unarmed policemen with swords, brandishing bundles of barbed wire and terrorizing residents and shopkeepers. The charges detailed yesterday say the defendants adopted the “takfiri” ideology - an extremist doctrine that regards even non-militant Muslims as infidels. They are accused of forming a gang to undermine the country’s security. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.

Muslim states to discuss Somalia JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation said yesterday foreign ministers of member states will meet in Turkey next week to discuss aid to droughtand famine-hit Somalia. The meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday follows a “call by Turkey to help the people of Somalia,” said the largest pan-Islamic body, which is based in Saudi Arabia. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called last week on the 57-member OIC to meet to intervene in Somalia, the Turkish Anatolia news agency said. Member states gathered in Istanbul last month to coordinate an emergency response to the devastating drought in Somalia. The OIC would start by distributing aid to some 40,000 people in the Afgooye corridor near Mogadishu under an agreement with the World Food Program, Ihsanoglu said at the time. The United Nations last month officially declared famine in two areas of southern Somalia, as the world slowly mobilized to help 12 million people battling hunger in the region’s worst drought in 60 years. Tens of thousands have died. Parts of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti are also hit by the drought.

Australia withdraws its troops at Iraq embassy BAGHDAD: Thirty-three Australian soldiers who were guarding the country’s embassy in Iraq have been withdrawn, and a Dubai-based private security firm has taken over, an embassy official said yesterday. “We now have moved to a contractor called Unity Resources Group” to provide embassy security, the official said, adding that the last soldiers left on Saturday.

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Grand jury indicts Army private in Fort Hood plot WACO: A Texas grand jury on Tuesday indicted an Army private accused of plotting to kill soldiers from the Fort Hood military base with a homemade bomb, setting the stage for a trial.

Naser Jason Abdo, 21, is charged with planning an attack on a restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood, the base that was the site of a 2009

shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 32.

The three-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Waco alleges Abdo possessed a destructive device, an automatic pistol and 20-gauge shotgun shells while being a fugitive from justice, the US Justice Department said in a statement. If con-

victed, Abdo faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine per count. A date has not been set for his arraignment, the first step in a jury trial. Abdo, a private first class who military officials said was approved as a conscientious objector to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, was arrested on July 27 in a Killeen, Texas, motel room. He

remains in federal custody.

According to a criminal complaint, Abdo possessed suspected bombmaking materials, a .40 caliber handgun and an article entitled “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom.” A native of the Dallas area, Abdo had been absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, since July 4, and

was being held in connection with an unrelated pornography warrant. At his first court appearance on July 29, Abdo shouted the names of Nidal Hasan, a military psychiatrist accused in the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, and Abeer Qassim Al-Janabi, a 14-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by US soldiers in Iraq in 2006.— Reuters

Major protests erupt against Chile’s Pinera Protesters cite expensive education, inequality in Chile

TEXAS: In this Aug 6, 2011, file photo Texas Gov Rick Perry gives a thumbs up as he takes the stage at The Response, a call to prayer for a nation in crisis in Houston.—AP

Tea Party faithful wonder if Perry walks the walk NEW YORK: Rick Perry has been widely touted as a Republican presidential candidate who could appeal Tea Party voters, but some in the anti-tax movement wonder if his record as Texas governor stacks up to his rhetoric. After all, they say, there are reasons to think he’s a spendthrift. He once campaigned for Democrat Al Gore, reviled by the Tea Party for being Bill Clinton’s vice president and for his campaigning on climate change, and he even spoke kindly about Hillary Clinton’s healthcare reform efforts. Then there is the issue that he was once a Democrat. So as Perry plans the 2012 White House bid many observers expect he may announce as early as this week, some Tea Party faithful wonder what to make of him.

“They’re vetting, they want to know if he is for real,” Dallas Tea Party leader Katrina Pierson, said, adding she has fielded questions about Perry’s record from Tea Party members as far flung as California, Iowa and New Hampshire. Tea Party voters could have a big impact on the Republican nomination if they vote heavily in early US primaries, which historically see low voter turn-out. Perry “speaks the Tea Party language,” said Sean Theriault, a political science professor at the University of Texas. But such rhetoric could alienate independent voters, who play a crucial role in US presidential elections. “I think the Republican nomination for him would be much easier than the general election,” Theriault said. Perry, who followed George W Bush as Texas governor in 2000 after Bush was elected to the White House, has earned headlines for saying that perhaps Texas should leave the United States and for holding a prayer rally this month that drew 30,000 people.

He was an early booster of the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement, which takes its name from the 1773 Boston tax rebellion against the British.

More recently, Perry took a hard line against raising the US debt limit, saying he did not think the government would default if it was not raised in time-a view most economists disagreed with, but which appealed to Tea Party types. Perry also told televangelist James Robison in May that Americans risked becoming “slaves” to government as a result of excessive spending. “I think we are going through these difficult times for a pur-

pose to bring us back to those biblical principles of you don’t spend all the money,” he said.

WHICH RICK PERRY? But even as he rails against wasteful spending by Washington, federal dollars accounted for nearly 37 percent of Texas’ spending-one of the highest rates in the nation- RBC Capital Markets said in a report this year. Perry has been accused of wasteful spending himself, including using as much as $10,000 per month of taxpayer money to pay for a luxury rental home while the Governor’s Mansion was being rebuilt after a fire. Two of the governor’s biggest initiatives have flopped: the $150 billion Trans Texas Corridor, which ranchers said would have paved too much of their land, and a 2007 executive order, overturned by the legislature, that would have forced teenage girls to be vaccinated against cervical cancer.

Pierson has shared her doubts about Perry with out-of-state Tea Party votersmany of whom call her because they don’t trust the media. “They want to check facts with me,” she said. In her view, Perry’s budget is balanced only on paper.

And then there is the issue of his politics.

Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1984 when the Lone Star state was a Democratic stronghold.

He served as a conservative Democrat in the state legislature until switching to the Republican Party in 1989. While a Democrat, he was the Texas chairman for Gore’s failed 1988 presidential bid. And even after he became a Republican, in a 1993 letter he praised Hillary Clinton’s healthcare reform efforts while she was first lady as “most commendable.”

Tea Party activists interviewed by Reuters voiced most enthusiasm for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has been coy as to whether she will run. They were also curious about Perry, but said they knew less about him. For that reason, Perry’s late entry into the race could hurt his chances in early-voting states such as Iowa. “A lot of people don’t know much about him and it’s tough to actually vet him,” said Iowa Tea Party leader Ryan Rhodes. “He has multiple records.” Rhodes also echoed a line taken by Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips in a recent blog post: “It’s a question of which Rick Perry shows up.”— Reuters

40 US states pass immigration laws AUSTIN: Nearly 250 new immigration laws and resolutions were enacted in 40 US states during the first half of this year, indicating frustration with the federal government’s handling of the issue, according to a new report. The laws range from hiring restrictions to voter identification and allowing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, according to the report released on Tuesday by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The numbers show a slight decrease in activity from last year, but every state and Puerto Rico proposed legislation dealing with the issue in the first six months of 2011. By comparison, only 38 immigration laws were enacted by states in 2005. “States are reacting to the federal government in inefficiency and they’re trying to figure out how to deal with itgood, bad and ugly,” said Wendy Sefsaf, director of communications at the

American Immigration Council, a Washington think tank. “Immigration impacts every policy issue there is, and people are trying to figure out how to manage it, for better or for worse, because the federal government won’t.”

Among the findings in the report, released during the council’s annual meeting in San Antonio: 14 states included funding for immigration initiatives in their budgets. Governors vetoed 12 pieces of legislation, including bills related to social services and immigration.

Ten states enacted legislation requiring businesses or contractors to use the government E-Verify program to ensure the legal status of workers. Five statesAlabama, Georgia, Utah, Indiana and South Carolina-enacted omnibus laws inspired by Arizona’s 2010 law, which gave police the power to enforce immigration. All have been challenged in court.— Reuters

SANTIAGO: Protesters battled police in Chile’s capital on Tuesday in the latest unrest against deeply unpopular President Sebastian Pinera, possibly sidetracking his top priorities such as capital market reforms.

Spearheaded by students demanding more affordable and improved education, tens of thousands of protesters marched in the streets of Santiago. A small core of protesters started fires and threw rocks at police, who fired tear gas and water cannons.

Police said 273 protesters were detained and 23 police officers were injured. No figures on other injuries were available. At least two cars burned in downtown Santiago as police on horseback tried to drive protesters back.

Police estimated around 60,000 people joined the protest, while student leaders said 100,000 people protested in the capital alone.

Battered by protests by students, environmentalists and miners in the world’s top copper producer, billionaire Pinera is the least popular leader in two decades since Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship, one recent poll showed.

The demand for education reform is hampering Pinera’s agenda, potentially delaying the passage of capital market reforms aimed at making Chile a regional financial hub and possibly affecting the country’s budget. Pinera, a former airline magnate, took power last year vowing to boost economic growth and improve state efficiency, staffing his cabinet with technocrats rather than politicians. Many Chileans say an economic boom has bypassed

SANTIAGO: A masked demonstrator stands near an overturned car set on fire during riots after a student protest in Santiago on Tuesday. —AP

them, and that Pinera has failed to deliver. “The problem is that money is too concentrated ... The poor cannot rise up (in society),” said Oscar Escobar Bravo, a 17year-old high school student wearing his blue uniform.

Protests spread to other cities, and some Chileans have been banging pots and pans, a popular form of protest in Latin America.

“Obviously I want to go to university, but my family doesn’t have the money to send me,” said 18year-old Manuel Rojas, speaking behind a scar f covering his

mouth for protection from tear gas. “What hasn’t Pinera done badly? Pinera represents the people from the rich neighborhoods.

We’re fighting for our parents, ... who can’t make ends meet,” he added. Pinera sought to defuse protests last month by proposing a $4 billion fund for higher education and then proposing reforms like guaranteeing education as a constitutional rightwhich students said do not go far enough.

But Chile’s reputation as a magnet for foreign investment is

seen as safe in an economy expected to expand 6-7 percent this year despite global financial turmoil. “ These events make noise and generate a perception of increased (investment) risk. I wouldn’t say there necessarily is more risk. We don’t see it as that relevant for now,” said Claudio Gonzalez, head of research at the Tanner brokerage in Santiago. “ This could have an impact in terms of greater social spending, which could have some impact on local inflation,” he added.— Reuters

US sect’s leader gets life for sex with girls SAN ANGELO: Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who heads a breakaway Mormon sect, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for sexually assaulting two underage girls he claimed as “spiritual” brides. The Texas jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for less than an hour before giving him a 99-year, or life, sentence for one charge and 20 years for a second-the maximum for both. The case against Jeffs and others stems from a raid on his sect’s Yearning for Zion Ranch in rural Texas in April 2008. Authorities took custody of some 400 children but returned them to their families after an investigation and DNA tests. “Justice has arrived for Warren Steed Jeffs,” said Assistant Texas Attorney General Eric Nichols, who prosecuted the case. “We expect that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Prosecutors said Jeffs, 55, “played a sick game of child molestation under the guise of religious ceremony.” He will serve his prison terms consecutively and is not eligible for parole until 2070. Jeffs was convicted last week of aggravated sexual assault on a child and sexual assault on a child in connection with two girls he “married” when they were 12 and 14 years old. He fathered a child with the older girl and was heard on audio recordings telling groups of teenage girls they would be “rejected by God” if they refused his sexual advances. A crowd heckled Jeffs as he was put into a police car after the sentencing. “Do you still think you’re the prophet?” one woman yelled. Jeffs abused his position as leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints “to victimize children, to break up families and to satisfy his own personal appetites and desires,” Assistant Texas Attorney General Eric Nichols told the jury. Jeffs, who represented himself at trial, had argued in loud outbursts that the court was trampling on his religious rights by hearing the case. His sect, which experts estimate has 10,000 followers in North America, has been condemned by the mainstream Mormon Church and is accused of promoting marriages between older men and girls.

“Mr. Jeffs had his big house, where he chose to warehouse hundreds of girls and women for his sexual gratification,” Nichols said in closing arguments. “The state of Texas has a big house too and that is where Warren Jeffs should spend the rest of his days.” William Jessop, who has acted as the unofficial spokesman for the group’s Texas ranch in the past, said the trial showed the government should have acted sooner to rescue women and children who were being abused by Jeffs. “There was evidence that was seized way back in 2006 and 2007 of this abuse,” he said, referring to some recordings. “That’s a lot of years and all we can do is thank God that he was stopped.” Jeffs, who retained lawyers during the sentencing phase, told them to refrain from making closing arguments on his behalf but he made a written request for probation. His lawyers said they would not be handling his appeal but that there were legitimate grounds for one. Some legal experts have argued that, because the raid on the compound was triggered by a false report of abuse, the evidence gathered there could be disallowed. But Judge Barbara Walther, who has presided over the case in her San Angelo courtroom since the raid, allowed evidence that prosecutors said proved Jeffs abused his position to have sex with girls as young as 12. —Reuters

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE: President Barack Obama is greeted by Col. Mark Camerer, the 436th Airlift Wing Commander upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del Tuesday. —AP

Obama honors slain US troops DOVER AIR FORCE BASE: President Barack Obama honored 30 US soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan as their remains returned home on Tuesday in a private ceremony from which the media were barred. Three days after Taliban militants shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing all 38 people on board, many questions remain-including whether protocol was followed as elite US forces were sent to help comrades in a firefight.

The deaths have resonated in the United States because of the sheer number of casualties and because many of them came from the same Navy SEAL unit that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. None of the dead men were involved in that raid in Pakistan in early May. While the number of casualties was a stark reminder of the costs of the Afghan war-it was the single deadliest incident of the 10-year conflict-the Pentagon strictly barred reporters from witnessing the ceremony.

Because of the catastrophic nature of the crash, the military has been unable to individually identify the remains of the victims, including those of Afghans. Pentagon officials said that meant US military families could not give their consent to reporters to cover the repatriations, consent that is required under US government policy.

Obama and top military officials joined families in witnessing what the Pentagon

called the “dignified transfer” of remains at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the largest US military mortuary. The helicopter incident added to a week of gloomy news for Obama. His presidency is under new pressure from fears of a double-dip recession and fallout from Standard and Poor’s historic downgrade of the US credit rating.

The US military’s Central Command said it named an Army brigadier general to investigate the crash. Given the number of elite Special Forces killed - 25 according to one tally, with 22 of them Navy SEALs-multiple probes are possible. The Pentagon has not yet released the names of those killed, even though relatives have come forward to talk to the media. US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said some commanders voiced concerns that releasing the names might endanger families of the elite teams.

The homecoming for personnel remains is among the most somber, dignified ceremonies for the US militar y. But the Pentagon’s edict barring coverage on Tuesday rekindled friction between the Obama administration and the media. At a sometimes tense briefing, Colonel Dave Lapan, the Pentagon spokesman, said reporters were not allowed to cover the event because of the extreme nature of the crash. — Reuters

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I Coast charges 12 more allies of ex-leader Gbagbo ABIDJAN: An Ivory Coast court has charged 12 allies of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, including his son, with rebelling against the state in a deadly post-election dispute, an official said yesterday. They are among dozens of people arrested with Gbagbo on April 11 in a dramatic end to a conflict rooted in his refusal to accept he had lost November elections to Alassane Ouattara, now installed as president.

The charges include “attacks on national defence”, “plotting against state authority,” rebellion, forming armed groups and taking par t in an insurrec tion movement, cour t spokesman Noel Djet told AFP. Among the 12 is Michel Gbagbo, the ex-president’s son who has French and Ivorian nationality, and the head of his Ivorian Popular Front party, Pascal Affi N’Guessan, he said.

The others are five people under house

arrest in Bouna in the northeast of the country and five at central Katiola, including the former head of a pro-Gbagbo women’s group and exminister Jean-Jacques Bechio. The battle in the world’s leading cocoa producer left around 3,000 people dead, with allegations against both sides of group killings and rapes, while tens of thousands fled their homes, many to neighboring Liberia.

Courts have already charged 26 people from the pro-Gbagbo camp, including former prime minster Gilbert Ake N’Gbo and several ex-ministers. Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone are still under house arrest, held in different locations, but have yet to be charged. Ivory Coast courts have meanwhile issued several international arrest warrants, including for former minister Charles Ble Goude, the firebrand leader of the Young Patriots group that had a

large hand in the violence.

Since tak ing office, Western-backed Ouattara has stressed he wants to promote reconciliation after the crisis but Gbagbo loyalists have insisted their former boss must first be freed. Supporters of the ousted strongman exiled in Ghana said Tuesday they doubted the sincerity of Ouattara’s reconciliation offers and set conditions for their return. Ouattara’s actions are “unlikely to reassure us on his sincerity,” Adou Assoa, spokesman for the exiled branch of the former ruling Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), said in a statement sent to AFP. “With one hand he invites us to return to Ivory Coast and with the other he formally indicts our comrades who are unjustly jailed, while international arrest warrants are also being issued against the Gbagbo camp,” he said. Assoa said a pre-requisite to any return of

senior FPI officials to Ivory Coast was “the release of all brothers who are unjustly imprisoned,” including the former president and his wife. The Ivory Coast is still fragile and unstable after the dispute, with work under way to form a new army including by integrating the former rebel fighters that supported Ouattara’s drive to take power. The International Crisis Group said last week establishing security remained a priority for Ouattara’s government, which it said should rely on UN troops until a new army was formed. The Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by Ouattara “must quickly show itself truly independent and credible,” the ICG said, calling for both sides in the conflict to be held accountable for crimes they committed. Rights groups had said both camps committed crimes against humanity during the four-month dispute.— AFP

Russia draws up tit-for-tat US visa bans ‘Reset’ in US-Russian relations strained MOSCOW: Russia has drawn up a list of US officials to be barred from entering the country in response to US visa restrictions imposed on Russian officials over the death of a lawyer, a newspaper reported yesterday. If the report by the business daily Kommersant is confirmed, the decision will be the latest of several signs in the past few weeks that the “reset” aimed at improving US-Russian relations under US President Barack Obama is under threat.

“In the case of the United States we will simply put a cross next to the names of those who are not wanted. When a person applies for a visa at a Russian consulate he will be rejected,” a Foreign Ministry source told Kommersant.

Reuters could not immediately reach the Foreign Ministry for comment but Interfax news agency quoted a ministry source as saying Russia was still working on its response.

“There could be lists of Americans barred from entering Russia, but the issue is still being worked on,” the source told Interfax. The US State Department said last month it had placed visa restrictions on Russian officials accused of involvement in the death of hedge fund lawyer

Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian prison as he awaited trial on tax evasion and fraud charges in 2009.

The Kremlin’s human rights council said the 37-year-old lawyer, who represented Hermitage Capital equity fund, was possibly beaten to death. His colleagues say the charges were fabricated by police investigators he had accused of cheating the state through fraudulent tax returns. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said last month the US visa restrictions were unjustified and that it would respond with “adequate measures”, but gave no details.

Kommersant said the ministry had now drawn up a visa blacklist which included US officials linked to the cases of an alleged Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, and an alleged Russian drug smuggler, Konstantin Yaroshenko.

Yaroshenko was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle drugs to the United States in April, following his arrest by US Special forces in the Liberian capital of Monrovia in May last year.

Bout, who was extradited from Thailand to the United States last November, is awaiting a hearing on charges of conspiracy to kill US nationals

and to provide help to a group deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States.

He has denied the charges “Our claims against the United States are much broader and are not limited to the Bout and Yaroshenko cases. We have a list of cases regarding the violation of Russian citizens’ rights,” one of the Foreign Ministry sources told Kommersant. Obama’s calls for improved relations between the former Cold War foes, following the strains in ties during George W. Bush’s presidency, have raised hopes of better cooperation over missile defence and Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation. But relations have come under threat in the past few weeks.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described the United States as a “parasite” on the global economy and President Dmitr y Medvedev criticised “senile” US senators for urging Moscow to withdraw troops from breakaway regions in Georgia.

Even so, Obama has portrayed the “reset” as one of his biggest diplomatic achievements and told Russian reporters this month that Putin had been fully supportive of the process. — Reuters

Official: Russia finds plane wreckage, no survivors MOSCOW: Russian rescuers yesterday found the remains of the cargo plane carrying 11 that crashed in the remote Magadan region, an official said, confirming that there were no survivors in the accident. “Search teams found no survivors,” spokesman of Russia’s aviation agency Rosaviatsia Sergei Izvolsky told AFP. “There is great damage to the plane, its remains are strewn over a two kilometer radius.”

Helicopters found the debris some 80 kilometres (50 miles) away from the nearest town Omsukchan at 16:30 local time yesterday, over 24 hours after the plane went missing. The An-12 cargo plane disappeared off the radars on Tuesday after reporting that it was leaking oil

and that one of its four engines was on fire, requesting to make an emergency landing at the Magadan airport.

Transport prosecutors said on Tuesday that all those aboard appeared to have perished in the accident. The specific reason for the crash of the plane, which was carrying 16 tons of food supplies to a remote Chukotka village Kepperveyem, is under investigation, Izvolsky said. He declined to say whether bodies were found. The Investigative Committee has narrowed down the reasons to “technical malfunction of the plane” and “pilot errors” as its main theories, it said in a statement yesterday.

The plane was operated by Khabarovsk-based

Avis Amur company. The RussianPlanes.net aircraft register said the missing jet was the oldest An-12 in civilian use in Russia, made in 1963. It went down in one of Russia’s most remote and sparsely populated regions in the subarctic.

Russia witnessed four crashes and hard landings of Soviet-made planes over the past month, three of which had a total of 65 casualties. A hard landing Monday by an An-24 carrying 36 people injured 15 and broke off the plane’s wing. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev this summer recommended the two models of Soviet-era jets, the An-24 and Tu-134, be taken out of regular service by the year end after two crashes killed 54 people in three weeks. — AFP

Vigilantes take to British streets, with deadly results LONDON: Defiant Britons have taken to the streets in their hundreds to defend their communities against rioters-but some have paid with their lives and police have warned against vigilante-style justice. From immigrant communities guarding their communities to football supporters chanting “England, England, England” as they patrol their neighborhood, many groups have taken matters into their own hands after four nights of looting.

Hundreds of Sikhs, some dressed in traditional outfits, gathered outside their gurdwara, or temple, in Southall, west London, late Tuesday after earlier rumors circulated that it was next on the looters’ hitlist. The group organized motorcycle patrols and monitored the train station for potential troublemakers, according to an AFP reporter. Around 200 locals in Enfield, the north London borough at the heart of previous attacks, strode through the area to “protect their streets”, an AFP correspondent said.

Amateur video footage released yesterday showed a group of around 100 men running down an Enfield street chanting “England, England, England”. The group earlier became involved in an altercation with a youth carrying a hockey stick, but the situation was resolved after a majority of the mob called for calm. A similar number of football fans congregated in the southeast suburb of Eltham, also rumored to be a likely hot spot.

“This is a white working class area and we are here to protect our community,” one man told the Guardian newspaper. “We are here to help the police. My mum is terrified after what she saw on the television in the last three days and we decided that it’s not going to happen here,” he added. Meanwhile, mainly Turkish shopkeepers in the north London districts of Hackney and Kentish Town sat outside their shops into the early hours, many with makeshift weapons by their side.

In the affluent south London district of Clapham-nicknamed “Nappy Valley” as it is

LIVERPOOL: Merseyside Police officers help clean up a burnt out caravan in the Toxteth area of Liverpool yesterday following rioting in the area on Tuesday night. — AP

home to large numbers of middle-class young parents-residents reportedly manned a barricade across a main road to keep out rioters on Monday night. But the move towards streetstyle justice has had tragic results. In the central English city of Birmingham, three men from the South Asian community were hit by a car and killed yesterday night while defending local shops from rioters after a car was torched nearby.

Police launched a murder investigation and arrested a man. Tariq Jahan, whose 21year-old Haroon Jahan was one of those killed, said: “All the street were out and basically he was looking out for the whole community.” But he urged locals not to take revenge and called for the law to be allowed to take its course. “Tensions are already high in the area. It’s already bad enough what we are seeing on the streets now without other people taking the law into their own hands,” he said.

In the suburban west London suburb of Ealing a man was critically injured on Monday night after rioters beat him up when he confronted them. The need for vigilante groups on British streets has also raised serious questions about the police and government’s ability to handle the situation.

But a senior officer with London’s Metropolitan Police, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh, warned that the vigilantes were hampering the policing operation. “What I don’t need is these socalled vigilantes, who appeared to have been drinking too much and taking policing resources away from what they should have been doing-which is preventing the looting,” he told Sky News. “These are small pockets of people. They’re frustrated, they’re angry, and that’s totally understandable... But the support that we need is to allow those officers to prevent looting and prevent crime.”

“Ironically, when you see those images with no police available, the police are now having to go and do (deal with) the vigilantes as well as the other problems that they’ve got.

That needs to stop.” —AFP

KIEV: A supporter of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko shouts slogans in a tent camp outside the Pecherskiy District Court in Kiev, Ukraine yesterday.

A Ukrainian court on Monday rejected lawyers’ requests to free former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from jail during her abuse of office trial, a case the West has condemned as selective justice. —AP

Somali president vows to hunt down Islamist rebels DAR ES SALAAM: Somalia’s President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed promised yesterday to rid the country of the Islamist militants who are fighting to overthrow his administration and blocking food aid to millions of people facing starvation. Ahmed was speaking four days after Al-Shabaab pulled most of its forces out of the Somali capital amid signs of deepening rifts among its senior commanders.

“As long as they are in Somali territory, even an inch, I will not rest,” Ahmed told a news conference after meeting Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam.

“Our determination is to clear them out,” he said. Some regional allies have criticized Ahmed’s failure to quash the insurgency and push through a new constitution designed to better spread political power among the country’s powerful clans and regions.

Al-Shabaab’s four-year rebellion is the latest chapter in Somalia’s two-decade long civil conflict, sparked by the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The chaos on land has allowed piracy to flourish off the Horn of Africa’s shores. AlShabaab said its retreat from Mogadishu was a tactical move, raising fears it will increasingly resort to al Qaeda-inspired attacks such as suicide bombings and assassinations.

A series of military offensives against AlShabaab in Mogadishu this year and a drying up of “taxes” extorted from traders in the capital and farmers in rural areas affected by drought have deepened the divisions among the rebel commanders. One faction prefers a more nationalist Somali agenda and wants to impose a harsh Islamic program on the nation. Another more international wing aims to promote Jihad (holy war) and forge closer ties with regional al Qaeda cells.

By pulling out of Mogadishu, the rebels may hope to spread thin the 9,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force that is propping up Ahmed’s Western-backed administration. “There is no doubt we need more troops (peacekeepers),” said Ahmed.

The United Nations has authorised a task force of up to 12,000 soldiers. When asked whether political negotiations with moderate groups within Al Shabaab were an option, Ahmed said: “Our understanding is that al Shabaab ... are not interested in peace, but we will pursue that path if the opportunity arises.”

Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Al-Shabaab was now too divided for any meaningful negotiations to take place. Tanzania announced yesterday it would donate 300 tons of maize to Somalia. — Reuters

MOGADISHU: In this photo of Tuesday Aug. 9, 2011 released by the African UnionUnited Nations Information Support Team, a woman walks through the deserted streets of Bakara Market in central Mogadishu. —AP

Bomb found in Nigerian city causes stampede KANO: The discovery of a bomb led to a stampede in an area of the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, but authorities were able to defuse it before it exploded, police said yesterday. Residents discovered the bomb planted on a street near an open-air pub on Tuesday, causing people to flee in panic, Bauchi state police commissioner Ikechukwu Ayo Aduba said.

Bauchi has been hit by a string of attacks blamed on an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. “It was a timebomb device made from an air-conditioning compressor,” Aduba said, adding that it could have caused a powerful explosion. “We still do not know who was behind the bomb and for what motive because no arrest has been made.” A bomb blast targeting a police patrol team in the city injured five policemen

on Sunday night, according to Aduba. A Red Cross official had earlier told AFP four policemen were injured.

Unknown gunmen also ambushed a joint military-police patrol team Saturday night, injuring a policeman and a bystander before fleeing, said the police commissioner. The ambush was launched in an area reputed to have been a hideout for Boko Haram members, but the police commissioner said it was too early to say who was behind the attacks. Most attacks blamed on Boko Haram have occurred in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, but the sect has also been active in Bauchi. It claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a beer garden in a military barracks in the city on the day of President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration in May which killed 13 people and injured 30 others. —AFP

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Foreign troops kill four Afghan police Firefight brakes out between Polish soldiers, Afghan police

JAFFNA: In this July 22, 2011 photo, an elderly Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil man sits against a wall pasted with election propaganda of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling party in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. —AP

Tamils still suffer two years after Lanka war COLOMBO: The roadblocks have been dismantled, the sandbags removed, and Sri Lanka is again a palm-fringed tourist paradise, the government says. But for ethnic Tamils living in the former war zone, it is still a hell of haunted memories, military occupation and missing loved ones.

Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, and no effort has been made to reunite families separated two years ago during the final bloody months of the war between the now-defeated Tamil separatists and the ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government.

A power-sharing program that President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to enact after the quarter-century war has gone nowhere.

The International Crisis Group castigated the government in a July report that said “the country is yet to see any semblance of compromise or inclusiveness.” In the meantime, the government has worked hard to project an image of peace and redemption to the world. It insists Tamils have embraced its plan to rebuild homes and shattered lives. It is playing up the Indian Ocean island’s reputation as a tourist destination, building airports, seaports and new roads.

It’s even ordered an army headquarters to be converted into a luxury beachside hotel.

But in the ethnic Tamil heartland in the north, resentment has been building. From the school where he sleeps at night, principal Asirvatham Soosainathar watches the troops who are still living in his house in the village of Murikandy. On weekends, he visits his family in the home they have rented 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. More than 100 families in the village were displaced by troops and the government has promised to soon return their homes. But in two years, Soosainathar said he’s seen no evidence of it. “I have 106 coconut trees on my land, but nowadays I have to pay for my coconut,” Soosainathar, 44, said in a telephone interview. “The army has been telling me for two years that it will leave my house, but they are still cultivating my land.” Visvalingam Komathy has also been ousted by the army from her home in the former rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, where she lived off the chicken and cattle she raised. She has pawned her jewelry for living expenses and legal fees in trying to free her son detained on charges of helping the rebels. “We only want the house that is rightfully ours,” said Komathy, 52. Many Tamils fear that the soldiers in their homes are the vanguard of a government plan to send majority Sinhalese settlers into their area to dilute Tamil power and prevent any new push for a separate homeland for the minority. Tamil lawmakers say the military is seizing land that was in private hands before the war. “ The army is doing everything to be there permanently,” said lawmaker Suresh Premachandran, of the Tamil National Alliance. “They are putting up permanent camps, cantonments and of course they are very much part of the entire administrative system in the northern province.” Electricity has been restored and roads repaired.

Supermarkets, banks and Internet cafes have opened outlets in areas closed to business during the war.

But many people whose homes were destroyed continue to live under tents or in small huts covered only by tin sheets. Many families who lost their belongings and breadwinners remain in extreme poverty.

On the other hand, military camps have mushroomed and grand monuments have been erected to honor the fallen soldiers.

The army also runs roadside restaurants catering to Sinhalese tourists who have flocked to see areas recaptured from the rebels.

Ahead of local elections in the north last

month, the government painted the polls as a referendum on its development-oriented reconciliation efforts. But the ruling coalition was crushed, and Tamil politicians in favor of self-determination won 20 of 25 seats on local councils. Officials have since played down the results, and the local positions are unlikely to change the government’s policy.

The government insists it is pursuing reconciliation and taking care of the victims.

“Rapid resettlement and economic empowerment is taking place ... though obviously much more needs to be done,” said Rajiva Wijesinha, a lawmaker and adviser to Rajapaksa. He denied that the military was taking over private land, and said it would pay compensation for any land it acquires.

Ananthi, a mother of three who goes by only one name, is still searching for her husband, Sinnathurai Sasitharan, a political leader for the Tamil Tigers whom she last saw being escorted away by the military after surrendering on May 18, 2009.

“He was not going to surrender. He wanted to send me off and commit suicide by swallowing cyanide,” she said, recounting the final moments of the war. “But I cried and begged him to surrender so that he could live the rest of his life for his family.”

The whereabouts of her husband, known by the nom de guerre Elilan, and scores of other rebels who mounted the last stand against the government forces, as well as a Catholic priest who mediated their surrender, are still unknown, she said.

Ananthi says she appealed to the government, the Red Cross, the national Human Rights Commission and the United Nations to no avail. Though the government announced that it had rehabilitated many of the 11,000 former rebels it captured at the end of the war, the relatives of many rebel fighters last seen accompanied by soldiers say they have never been told the whereabouts of their loved ones. Families have searched in hospitals, camps and detention centers. Sandana Murugaiah, a father of seven, is awaiting news about a son and daughter forcibly conscripted by the Tamil Tigers and not heard from since the war ended.

“I do not know if they survived the fighting,” Murugaiah said. The Tamil Tigers, long seen as one of the world’s most effective and brutal insurgent groups, had fought to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils after decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. The militants, who ran a de facto state in the north, sent suicide bombers into crowded train stations, while the military was accused of shelling civilians and hospitals in the war zone. Footage allegedly taken by front-line soldiers and aired on Britain’s Channel 4 television appeared to show blindfolded prisoners being shot at close range.

A UN exper t panel repor t in April accused both sides of potential war crimes and recommended an independent international inquiry. The government has denied the accusations, though it did acknowledge for the first time last week that some civilians were killed in the final offensive in 2009. The UN panel has said tens of thousands of civilians were killed in that offensive. Jehan Perera, an analyst with activist group National Peace Council says true reconciliation requires a “heart and mind strategy” after a brutal war. Entrenching the military will not serve the purpose, he said. “A great deal of transparency is required in terms of who is held in custody and what happens to them.” Despite promises to Tamil lawmakers to give such a list, the government has not done so, Perera said.—AP

Pakistan to fly Bali bomb suspect to Jakarta ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing to fly to Indonesia an alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings months after his arrest in the town in which Osama bin Laden was killed, officials said yesterday. “We have to eventually hand over (Umar) Patek to the Indonesians and practically speaking, it can happen any time. But it is up to the Indonesians to intimate to us when they will take him back,” a security official told AFP. Pakistan confirmed in March the arrest of the most-wanted Islamic extremist in Southeast Asia. He was detained in the garrison town of Abbottabad where US Navy SEALs killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden just weeks later. “The Indonesian

authorities sought time to repatriate Patek as they were occupied in other cases back home,” the Pakistani security official said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said last week that the alleged coordinator of the 2002 Bali bombings, in which more than 200 people were killed, would be extradited to Indonesia “soon rather than later”. Born in 1970, Patek is a suspected member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). In addition to the Bali bombings, he is also suspected of involvement in a series of deadly attacks targeting Christians and Westerners in Indonesia dating back to 1999.—AFP

KABUL: NATO-led troops killed four Afghan policemen in the volatile southern province of Kandahar and a firefight broke out between Polish soldiers and Afghan police in the unstable central Ghazni province, the interior ministry and police said yesterday. The incidents highlight the pressure on both foreign troops and Afghan forces as they fight a strengthening insurgency, while ramping up Afghan police and army numbers before they take full security control of the country by the end of 2014.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is helping train thousands of Afghans for the police and army, and there is often mistrust between the two sides as well as stress created by such a tight schedule. The interior ministry said in a statement that foreign forces killed four Afghan policemen and wounded two in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban, on Tuesday night. No further details were available. An ISAF spokesman said the incident was being jointly investigated by ISAF and Afghan forces. In central Ghazni province, near a base for a foreign military-civilian reconstruction team, a two-hour firefight broke out between Polish soldiers and Afghan police, said Ghazni police chief Delawar Zahid. He said the Polish soldiers had wanted to inspect a police checkpoint and “the police cautioned them not to come close, but they did not stop.” Zahid said one Polish soldier was injured. The ISAF spokesman said there had been a 15-minute exchange of small arms fire between foreign troops and Afghan police. He said their initial reports indicated the first shots came from an Afghan police checkpoint.

“The precise circumstances that led to this exchange are being assessed,” he said. Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taleban government in late 2001, with high levels of foreign troop deaths and record civilian casualties during the first six

months of 2011. A NATO service member was killed in a shooting by a man dressed as an Afghan policeman last week, latest in a string of apparent “rogue” killings by Afghan police and soldiers, or by insurgent infiltrators.

Rapid recruitment into the Afghan security forces, which will be boosted to at least 305,000 by 2011, has raised fears the Taleban have infiltrated sympathisers into the Afghan police and

army. Afghan authorities began tighter vetting of recruits after a renegade soldier killed five British troops in November 2009, but there have still been dozens of people killed in such incidents since then. Afghan security forces have been hit even harder than foreign troops. A total of 1,292 Afghan police and 821 Afghan soldiers were killed last year, according to the Afghan government.—Reuters

KABUL: Afghan men pray by the bodies of two men killed in a land dispute between two tribes in the Bahti Kot district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday. Six villagers were killed and over a dozen wounded during a land dispute between two tribes.—AP

Indian parliament hit by police shootings protest NEW DELHI: India’s parliament was forced to abandon proceedings yesterday amid chaotic scenes in New Delhi as opposition lawmakers denounced the deaths of three farmers who were shot by police at a protest. Business was also disrupted in the Maharashtra state legislature in Mumbai, amid fury at the killings near the city of Pune on Tuesday.

Police said that they were forced to open fire on the farmers, who were opposing the construction of a water pipeline through their land, after teargas and rubber bullets failed to disperse them. In the capital, opposition lawmakers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Samajwadi Party forced business to be abandoned for the day by shouting and rallying in the

well of the lower house of parliament.

The Press Trust of India news agency said that BJP members in Mumbai called the ruling Congress party alliance “murderers” and demanded an official inquir y.

Proceedings in the Maharashtra assembly were adjourned several times but later resumed. The BJP also condemned police action

against protesters in New Delhi on Tuesday, when water cannon and bamboo batons were used to disperse thousands of activists protesting against a slew of government corruption scandals. That demonstration was part of a nationwide campaign launched by the BJP’s student wing against the graft-plagued Congress-led government.—AFP

Karzai tells commission to resolve poll row

DHAKA: Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee (C) emerges from the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka yesterday.—AFP

Bangladesh court opens first war crimes case DHAKA: A special Bangladeshi court yesterday opened its first case against an Islamist leader charged with atrocities during the country’s bloody 1971 war of independence. The first trial at the Bangladesh I nternational Crimes Tribunal, which was set up last year to try people over war crimes during the battle for liberation from Pakistan, is of 71-yearold Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

Sayedee, a senior official of Jamaat-eIslami, the country’s largest Islamic party, has been accused of killing more than 50 people, torching villages, rape, looting and forcibly converting Hindus to Islam.

Judge Nizamul Huq opened proceedings in Dhaka and immediately adjourned the cour t until August 18, when formal charges will be read out.

Sayedee’s lawyers argued that they needed more time to prepare for the next hearing, saying that documents provided by the prosecution were “illegible”. “The new date is not giving us sufficient timewe requested eight weeks,” Tanvir Ahmed Al Amin told AFP. “The prosecution had many months to prepare, we’ve had weeks, it is not practical. We will have one day to consult with our client ahead of the next hearing.”

Bangladesh, which was called East Pakistan until independence, has struggled for decades to come to terms with its violent birth. The current government,

led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, says up to three million people were killed in the war-many murdered by Bangladeshis who collaborated with Pakistani forces.

Hasina is the daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed in a 1975 coup.

Rival politicians have dismissed the tribunal as a “show trial” motivated by her ambitions and have pointed out that all of those accused of war crimes are opposition leaders. New York-based campaign group Human Rights Watch has said rules being used to prosecute the suspects fall short of international standards.

The 1971 war began af ter tens of thousands of people were killed in the capital Dhaka when Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight, a brutal campaign intended to deter Bangladeshis from seeking independence. But the killings and subsequent military campaign, that allegedly included rape and tor ture, served to create a groundswell of public support for the pro-independence movement.

Sayedee, who was in court yesterday, has been held in detention since June 2010, along with four other war crimes suspects from Jamaat and two from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Other suspects are expected to be charged and the trials are likely to last several months.—AFP

KABUL: President Hamid Karzai yesterday handed authority for resolving a lingering dispute over last year’s fraud-hit Afghan parliamentary elections to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Although some observers hoped Karzai’s decree could be a step towards breaking the paralysis dogging the Afghan parliament since its inauguration in January, it also raised fresh questions about how the row would be resolved.

The IEC will now be responsible for deciding how many Afghan lawmakers should be disqualified from parliament because of vote-rigging in the September 2010 polls. The question is highly sensitive in Afghanistan and has prompted angry protests on the streets of Kabul by both winning and losing lawmakers. It has also raised fresh questions about Karzai’s own standing, with some experts accusing him of dragging out the dispute in order to neuter opponents in parliament.

The decree said the IEC should “immediately finalize” the issue and added: “After this decree, all issues of the Wolesi Jirga (parliamentary) elections processed in any other body, apart from the IEC, are considered ended.” It dissolved Afghanistan’s special election tribunal-which Karzai had backedand disqualified other government bodies from ruling on the issue, which is being eagerly watched by diplomats in Kabul.

The IEC had certified the original election results last November but will now have to issue a fresh ruling, following months of controversy. But an official in Karzai’s office, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to speak to the media, explained that the IEC would have to base its findings on previous court rulings.

“The president is asking the IEC to make a final decision based on the evidence, findings and verdicts of the special court and the appeal court,” the source told AFP. In June, the special tribunal ruled in favor of throwing out 62 lawmakers, a quarter of the 249seat lower house of parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga. While welcoming the decree, an IEC spokesman insisted it did not oblige the IEC to respect the special tribunal’s ruling on throwing out 62 lawmakers, which it strongly opposed.

“We believe that it (the decree) opens new doors to resolving all the disputes over the parliamentary election,” spokesman Tabesh Forogh told AFP. “The decree recognises the IEC as the only body authorised to address all election-related issues.” But when asked whether it would abide by the special tribunal’s previous ruling, he said: “The decree does not oblige us to do anything.” The presidential decree was also welcomed by one losing candidate who would return to parliament if the special tribunal’s ruling on kicking out 62 lawmakers was implemented. Daud Sultanzoi told AFP: “We welcome any action that is taken to institutionalize the rule of law in this country.”—AFP

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China’s first aircraft carrier begins sea trials BEIJING: China’s first aircraft carrier swept through fogshrouded waters yesterday to open sea trials that underscore concerns about the country’s growing military strength and its increasingly assertive claims over disputed territory. The mission by the refurbished former Soviet carrier marks a first step in readying the craft for full deployment. China says the ship is intended for research and training, pointing to longerterm plans to build up to three additional clones of the carrier in China’s own shipyards.

“As a major economy, China on the one hand should take more responsibilities for the world and on the other hand, it has some new security interests that it needs to protect. Under the circumstances, China’s naval power needs to grow accordingly,” said Wang Shaopu, direc-

tor of the Center for Pan-Pacific Studies at Jiaotong University in Shanghai.

Information about the cruise was tightly restricted in line with the Chinese military’s habitual secrecy, although the official Xinhua News Agency indicated that the step had been planned for some time. The 1,000-foot (300-meter) vessel departed through fog from the northern port of Dalian where it is being overhauled. “After returning from the sea trial, the aircraft carrier will continue refit and test work,” Xinhua said.

China has spent the better part of a decade refurbishing the carrier formerly known as the Varyag after it was towed from Ukraine in 1998, minus its engines, weaponry, and navigation systems. Beijing’s carrier program is seen as the natural outgrowth of the country’s bur-

geoning military expansion, fed by two decades of near-continuous, double-digit percentage increases in the defense budget.

China’s announced military spending rose to $91.5 billion last year, the second highest in the world after the United States.

While the development of carriers is driven largely by bragging rights and national prestige, China’s naval ambitions have been brought into focus with its claims to disputed territory surrounding Taiwan and in the South China Sea. Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy claimed by China as its own, has responded to the growing Chinese threat by developing missiles capable of striking carriers at sea. An illustration at a display yesterday of military technology in the capital Taipei showed a

Hsiung Feng III missile hitting a carrier that was a dead ringer for the former Varyag.

Over the past year, China has seen a flare-up in spats with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam and had its relations strained with South Korea - all of which have sought support from Washington, long the preeminent naval power in Asia.

China defends its carrier program by saying it is the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council that has not developed such platforms and that it has a huge coastline and vast maritime assets to defend.

As the world’s second largest economy, Beijing says it lags behind smaller nations such as Thailand and Brazil, as well as regional rival India, which have purchased carriers from abroad.

While Chinese carriers could

challenge US naval supremacy in Asia, China still has far to go in bringing such systems into play, experts said. The US operates 11 aircraft carrier battle groups and its carriers are far bigger and more advanced. Yesterday’s exercise was essentially a test of the ship’s propulsion system, with preparations to launch and recover aircraft still a long way off, said Andrei Chang, editor of Kanwa Asian Defense magazine.

“This was really just for show.

They still have a long way to go,” Chang said. The Xinhua report did not say how long the sea trial would last. But a statement posted on the website of the Liaoning Maritime Safety Authority said vessels will be barred from entering a small section of the sea off Dalian until 6 pm on Sunday. Positioning a carrier off its coast would boost the range of China’s naval air-

craft, increasing their ability to hit US bases in Japan, South Korea, and possibly Guam.

Beijing is believed to be developing a carrier version of the Russian Su-33, dubbed the J15, a step that has angered defense officials in Moscow who accuse China or stealing their defense technology. Both the European Union and the United States ban weapons sales to China, leaving Russia as its main overseas arms supplier. With Moscow’s defense industry declining in production and innovation, Chinese leaders have taken to marrying old Soviet platforms with cuttingedge Chinese technology. The same approach has been taken with the space program, where a capsule based on the former Soviet Soyuz design has been reengineered using new technology. —AP

N Korean shell lands in S Korean waters South responds by firing artillery rounds SEOUL: South Korean marines returned fire yesterday after North Korea launched artillery shells into waters near the disputed maritime line that separates the two rivals, South Korean defense officials said. The three North Korean shells fired near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea prompted the South to fire three shells back, Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said. Both sides’ shells landed in the water, and there were no reports of casualties.

South Korean forces have been on high alert in the area since a North Korean artillery attack killed four people in November on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island.

Yesterday’s artillery exchange, which happened in hazy weather, was near that island.

regional security forum in Indonesia.

Another South Korean defense ministry official, who refused to be named because of office policy, said South Korean forces stepped up their monitoring of the North after yesterday ’s

diately commented on the shelling. Violence often erupts in the contested slice of sea. Boats routinely jostle for position during crab-catching season, and three deadly naval clashes since 1999 have taken a few dozen lives.

Kim said one North Korean

SEOUL: A man walks past armored vehicles at the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea yesterday. South Korean marines returned fire yesterday after North Korea launched artillery shells into waters near the disputed maritime line that separates the two rivals, South Korean defense officials said. —AP The firing follows a recent easing of animosity between the Koreas and could be a warning about joint US -South Korean military drills set for next week. Last month, a senior North Korean diplomat met with US officials in New York to negotiate ways to restart long-stalled international talks aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear weapons aspirations. The meeting came after the Koreas’ nuclear envoys held cordial talks during a

artillery exchange. South Korean marines on Yeonpyeong returned fire after North Korea fired from one of its front-line islands, the official said.

The North’s shelling took place unexpectedly, the official said, and neither side was conducting firing drills at the time. The South Korean military has yet to determine the motive behind the North’s shelling, the official said.

Neither the North’s government nor its official news agency imme-

artillery shell is believed to have fallen south of the maritime line, citing a preliminary analysis of the trajectory of the shell. The line separating the countries was drawn by the US -led UN Command without Pyongyang’s consent at the close of the 195053 Korean War, which ended with a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula still technically in a state of war. The line is still a fierce point of dispute.

North Korea argues that the

line should run farther south.

Seoul believes accepting such a line would endanger fishing around five South Korean islands and hamper access to its port at Incheon. The November attack marked a new level of hostility along the contested line. Two South Korean civilians and two marines died, and many houses were gutted in the shelling. Baek Seung-joo, a military analyst at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in South Korea, said the North appears to be rattling its sabers ahead of annual US -South Korean military exercises planned for next week.

North Korea routinely denounces Seoul and Washington for such drills, calling them precursors to an invasion. The impoverished North faces heavy economic pressure when it is forced to mobilize its own military to counter South Korean drills. On Monday, a North Korean military spokesman released an open letter that called the joint exercises “hideous provocations.” He warned that the North has access to a “nuclear deterrent powerful enough to protect” itself.

The North has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006. Baek also said the North appears to be keeping tension alive in an effort to unite its own people, even as it moves to restore dialogue with the outside world. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Red Cross said in a statement that it has sent Pyongyang a list of items meant to help North Korea recover from recent flooding and heavy rain.

The items included baby food, cookies and instant noodles. The North has yet to accept the aid offer. Last week, the North’s Red Cross asked the South to send concrete as well. The South refused. Seoul worries such material may be used for military purposes. —AP

Thai government says army chief to keep post

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (front C) poses with members of her cabinet at Government House in Bangkok yesterday. Thailand’s new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra finalised her new cabinet and took the oath of allegiance to the Thai King, leaving out controversial leaders of the ‘Red Shirt’ protest movement which helped propel her to power. —AFP

BANGKOK: Thailand’s new defence minister said yesterday there was no plan to sack the army chief, who played a key role in a deadly military crackdown on opposition protests in Bangkok last year. “I can confirm that no one will be transferred,” General Yuthasak Sasiprapa told AFP at Government House when asked whether he was considering a reshuffle of the armed forces top brass. Thailand’s military has a long history of intervening in politics, including a string of coups, most recently in 2006 when it overthrew Thaksin Shinawatra, whose allies staged a comeback with a landslide election victory last month.

Commander-in-chief General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, a staunch royalist, launched a thinly veiled attack on Thaksin’s party on national television ahead of the vote, telling voters to pick “good people”. Prayut, who took the top job in October, is reported to have overseen the military crackdown on a rally by Thaksin’s “Red Shirt” supporters in the heart of Bangkok in April and May 2010 that left more than 90

people dead. The new defense minister told reporters yesterday that he had been asked by Thaksinwidely seen as the de facto leader of the recently elected Peua Thai party-to pursue better ties with the army.

“I’m confident that relations between the military and Puea Thai will improve,” he said, adding that he did not expect another coup.

Yuthasak was a deputy defence minister under Thaksin, a former billionaire telecoms tycoon who now lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail sentence imposed in his absence for corruption. Thaksin tapped his youngest sister Yingluck to successfully run in his place for the premiership. Yingluck, a 44-year-old political novice, took office on Monday with a vow to heal the scars of years of turmoil following the overthrow of her fugitive brother.

Several Red Shirt leaders were elec ted as lawmakers with Yingluck’s party but missed out on cabinet appointments that could have angered Thaksin’s foes in militar y, government and palace circles. —AFP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (L) talks to Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda (R), as they attend the Lower House’s fiscal and monetary policies committee session at the national Diet in Tokyo yesterday. —AFP

Endgame nearing for unpopular Japan PM TOKYO: Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan looked likely to finally step down this month after parliament made headway on key legislation yesterday, setting the stage for Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a low-key fiscal conservative, is a key contender to succeed Kan. But skeptics question whether any new leader will fare much better than his five predecessors, none of whom lasted long in office and who all struggled to implement policies to end two decades of economic stagnation and fix the deep structural problems of a fast-ageing society.

Japanese media said Kan’s Democratic Party was planning to vote on a new leader as early as Aug. 28, although a party source said the schedule could slip a bit if it took longer to enact pending legislation, including a bill allowing the government to issue more bonds to pay for this year’s budget. A lower house panel yesterday approved that bill, passage of which Kan has said was a prerequisite for his resignation. “No one knows what he will do, but the conditions for Kan’s resignation are firming up,” said Mikitaka Masuyama at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

A new prime minister will have to find funds to rebuild Japan’s northeast from the ravages of the massive March tsunami despite public debt already twice the $5 trillion economy, forge a new energy policy in the wake of the nuclear crisis at a crippled power plant and tackle tax and social security reforms. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who like Kan sees reining in ballooning public debt as a policy priority, appears to have pole position. Surveys show, however, that he lacks appeal among ordinary voters and his calls for higher levies could make him an unpopular choice in some quarters of the ruling party.

Whether to raise taxes and how to pull

the world’s third-biggest economy out of deflation will likely be a focus of the party race, with some potential contenders calling for more aggressive loosening of monetary policy and wary of a plan to double the sales tax to 10 percent by mid-decade.

Some analysts hope that replacing Kan, whose policy flip-flops and abrasive personality have irked both ruling and opposition lawmakers, would allow smoother cooperation with the opposition, which controls parliament’s upper house and can block legislation. “There are a lot of things going on in both (main ruling and opposition) parties that mean it is possible that more effective government could happen,” said Chuo University professor Steven Reed.

Others question whether the opposition, keen to capitalize on the Democrats’ sagging support, will cooperate on much beyond an extra budget needed to fund reconstruction from the tsunami. “The (opposition) Liberal Democratic Party is aiming at an early election, perhaps early next year,” said Tomoaki Imai, a political science professor at Nihon University. Nor is it certain that a new leader will have more success in managing a ruling party often split over policies and plagued by personal rivalries, not least between allies and enemies of scandal-tainted party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa, now facing trial for suspected misreporting of political donations.

The Democrats swept to power in 2009 riding a wave of voter discontent and hunger for change after half a century of nearly unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). But the novice party has struggled to fulfill campaign pledges including a promise to put more cash in the hands of households rather than companies, and are now trailing the opposition in terms of voter support. —Reuters

Hundreds flee as rival rebel groups clash in Philippines MANILA: Hundreds of people fled their homes on a southern Philippine island after fighting erupted between rival Muslim rebel groups, an army spokesman said yesterday, raising concern peace talks with the government planned later this month could be affected. Six people were killed and an undetermined number of fighters from both sides wounded in sporadic clashes on Mindanao island since Saturday, said Colonel Prudencio Asto.

The fighting erupted between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist group which has been negotiating with the government to end a long-running insurgenc y, and the break away Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). The BIFF has rejected the peace process.”We’re not getting ourselves involved in the conflict, but we’ve been helping relocate the displaced families,” Asto said, say-

ing the groups were fighting over a sixhectare corn-and-rice farm and mediation efforts had been unsuccessful.

Marvic Leonen, the government’s chief peace negotiator, said Manila was worried the land dispute could escalate into an organizational conflict that could sabotage peace talks due to be held Aug. 22-24 in Kuala Lumpur.

Von al Haq, a MILF spokesman, said they have been trying to get the warring groups to withdraw their forces.

“This fighting was purely because of land conflict and has nothing to do with the peace process,” al Haq said in a statement posted at the rebel website www.luwaran.com. “ We are confident the pea ce process will not be affected.” Nearly 400 families had fled the fighting, with mos t of them tempora rily housed in school buildings at the town centre. —Reuters

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NEWS

CROYDON: A workman stands guard beside the charred remains of the Reeves furniture shop in Croydon, south of London yesterday following riots in the area. — AFP

‘Freed’ Bahrainis face trial DUBAI: Bahrain has released more than 100 detainees who had been facing military trials over their roles in anti-government protests earlier this year, but some of them will still be prosecuted in civilian courts, one of those set free said yesterday. A panel of international lawyers which Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim monarchy invited to investigate the protests that mainly involved the Gulf state’s Shiite Muslim majority, said on Tuesday that a total of 137 people had been released.

Among the detainees, who walked free on Sunday, were Jawad Fairouz and Matar Ibrahim Matar, former members of parliament in the largest Shiite political bloc, Al Wefaq.

Fairouz, who expects proceedings against him to be dropped, said some other detainees had been told they could not leave the country pending prosecutions in a civilian court.

“I heard they took some photos of them to show that they are in good health, so that later on when they re-appear in court there shouldn’t be any kind of claim they’re going to be tortured,” said Fairouz, who had been charged with spreading

false news and taking part in illegal gatherings. “When they released us they didn’t take any signature or any commitment from us that we were going to be referred to the civil court,” he said.

Among those likely to face trial in a civilian court is lawyer Mohammed Al-Tajer, who was detained in April after defending people arrested during the protests, Fairouz added. More than 1,000 people were detained after Bahrain crushed demonstrations in March for greater political freedom and an end to sectarian discrimination that Shiites say they face in access to land, housing and state employment.

The kingdom, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth fleet, attributed the unrest to manipulation by Iran of its Shiite co-religionists in Bahrain and denied persistent allegations of torture during and after the wave of detentions. It has responded to international criticism of the crackdown by funding an international legal commission to investigate the events, but activists and rights groups say the panel is cut off from people who fear reprisal for testifying. — Reuters

Libya, Syria, Iran hit back at Britain Continued from Page 1 this kind of savage treatment of people is absolutely not acceptable.”

A member of Iran’s parliament, Hossein Ebrahimi, told the semi-official Fars news agency on Tuesday that Britain should allow a delegation of human rights monitors to investigate the situation in its troubled cities. In Iran’s ally Syria, where Britain’s foreign ministry has said President Bashar Al-Assad has lost legitimacy by killing demonstrators, state-run television repeatedly showed footage of a policeman chasing and knocking a man down. A

breaking news caption read: “Cameron: ‘We face a problem confronting the gangs in Britain’”.

Syrian authorities say they are combating armed “terrorist groups”, blaming them for the deaths of 500 soldiers and police and saying they are also responsible for the civilian deaths. Rights groups say 1,600 people have been killed in the crackdown. In Libya, where Britain is involved in a military campaign against Gaddafi after his forces turned on an anti-government movement earlier this year, a government spokesman said Cameron should step down.

Why Muslims love Ramadan Continued from Page 1 The countdown begins and conversations start with how many weeks it is until the blessed month arrives. Perhaps non-Muslims wonder why we look forward to fasting days and sleepless nights. Ramadan offers the chance of redemption and great rewards. It is a month like no other.

A month of spiritual reflection and prayer. Hearts are directed away from worldly activities and towards God. In the month Ramadan, all physically mature and healthy Muslims are required to fast: to abstain from all food, drink, gum chewing, any kind of tobacco use and any kind of sexual contact between dawn and sunset.

Nevertheless, this is only the physical aspect there are also the spiritual characteristics, which include refraining from gossiping, lying, slandering and all traits of bad character. All obscene and impious sights and sounds are avoided as a way of purifying thoughts and actions.

Fasting is also a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate and learning thankfulness and appreciation for all of God’s bounties. God said, {O you who believe! Observing the fast is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become pious.} Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also reminded us that fasting is not just abstaining from food and drink but there is a further dimension. He said, “He who does not desist from obscene language and acting obscenely (during the period of fasting), God has no need that he didn’t eat or drink.” - Ramadan is also the month when Muslims try to establish

or re-establish a relationship with the Quran. Although this may sound like a strange thing to say, the words of God are a guiding light and a mercy.

Nobody reads Quran except that it changes his or her life in some way.

The Quran was sent down in this month of Ramadan. The two, Ramadan and Quran are inextricably entwined. Being with the Quran, reading, memorizing, reciting it or pondering its meanings is spiritually uplifting comforting and a source of strength. Recitation in the night is particularly beneficial, the distractions of the day have faded away and closeness of God is palpable in the stillness of the night. Special evening prayers are conducted during which portions of the Quran are recited.

These prayers are known as Taraweeh.

One thirtieth of the Quran is read on successive evenings, so that by the end of the month the entire Quran has been completed. One of the last few odd-numbered nights of the month is Laylat ul-Qadr, the “Night of Power” or “Night of Destiny.” It is the holiest night of the holiest month; it is believed to be the night on which God first began revealing the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) through the angel Gabriel. This is a time for especially fervent and devoted prayer, and the rewards and blessings associated with such are many.

Muslims are told in the Quran that praying throughout this one night is better than a thousand months of prayer. No one knows exactly which night it is; it is one of God’s mysteries.

Ramadan is also the month of good deeds and charity. Muslims try to give generously and increase their good deeds. Charity can be as simple as a smile; there is no need for lavish displays. Charity given quietly is bet-

“Cameron has lost his legitimacy and must go... after the massive popular protests that reject him and his government, especially after the violent police repression unleashed by his government against peaceful protesters... to force the British people to accept a government it rejects,” Khalid Ka’im, a foreign ministry spokesman, told the official Jana new agency. “The international community (should) not stand with arms folded in the face of this gross aggression against the rights of the British people, who are demanding their right to rule their country,” he was quoted as saying. — Reuters

ter for the recipient and one who gives. The Prophet (PBUH) was always a generous person, never owning more than just enough to cover his immediate needs. Any extra, he gave generously to those around him, however he was most generous in Ramadan.

You may be beginning to wonder if these are not qualities and virtues a Muslim truly devoted to God, should display in any month, and you would be correct. They most certainly are.

However, as human beings we all fall short, commit sins and make mistakes. Sometimes the nature of life causes us to forget our real purpose.

Our purpose is to worship God and God in his infinite wisdom and mercy has given us Ramadan. It is a month, which if used wisely, can recharge our spiritual and physical batteries. It is a month full of mercy and forgiveness when God makes it easy for us to overcome our shortcomings, when He rewards us in abundance.

He is our Creator, who understands that we are far from perfect.

When we walk towards God, he meets us running, when we hold out our hand He reaches for us and bestows his forgiveness on us.

Muslims love Ramadan, it is a lifeline.

They stand shoulder to shoulder and bow their heads in submission.

Ramadan spreads across the world as Muslims begin and break their fast together, one body, one people, and one nation. Ramadan arrives softly and her deeds ascend gently towards God. Far from being a trial of deprivation, the month of Ramadan is a joy and a gift beyond compare.

Even before the month is finished Muslims begin to mourn the passing of this blessed month and try to extend the time by being with the Quran and worshipping God in the best way possible.

BlackBerry helps rioters in Britain LONDON: The rioters causing havoc on British streets have eschewed traditional social networking sites as a way of organizing, instead using the encrypted instant chat service on their BlackBerry handsets. Although BlackBerrys are normally associated with white-collar workers keeping up with their emails, they are used by 37 percent of young adults and children in Britain, according to recent industry figures.

They are popular because the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service offers a free alternative to texting and can send messages to many people at once. It is also encrypted, unlike Twitter which was used by protesters in Iran and Egypt. “If you use BlackBerry Messenger it’s usually just you or your local group of contacts you’ve personally approved who can see your messages. That’s why they’ve been preferring to use it,” said Alastair Paterson, chief executive of cybersecurity firm Digital Shadows.

He said social media had proved “a very efficient tool for communicating, being able to effectively outwit the police by very quickly allowing them to move between areas that they know the police haven’t been to yet”. “So before the police can show up they’re already able to go in, do the damage and escape,” Paterson said.

David Lammy, an opposition lawmaker for the north London borough of Tottenham where the riots began on Saturday night, has urged BlackBerry to consider temporarily suspending the messenger service to stop youths using it to organize. It was “one of the reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, shortly before a fourth night of violence erupted in British cities.

Messages have been sent out to teenagers across the country calling for rival gangs to unite in the destruction, and

for rioters to target police, according to messages published by the Daily Mirror newspaper. One broadcast on Sunday, the first night the violence spread beyond Tottenham, said: “Everyone from all sides of London meet up at the heart of London (central) OXFORD CIRCUS!! Bare SHOPS are gonna get smashed up so come get some.”

It continued: “If you see a brother... SALUT! if you see a fed...

SHOOT!” That evening about 50 youths attacked Oxford Circus, on the famous Oxford Street shopping avenue in central London. BlackBerry has offered any help it can to the authorities in Britain. “We feel for those impacted by recent days’ riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can,” said Patrick Spence, managing director of global sales and regional marketing for BlackBerry.

“As in all markets around the world where BlackBerry is available, we cooperate with local telecommunications operators, law enforcement and regulatory officials,” he added. The Canadian firm which makes BlackBerry, Research in Motion (RIM), was threatened with reprisals on Tuesday if it released BBM messages to the British authorities. “If you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, GPS locations, customer information and access to peoples’ BlackBerry Messengers, you will regret it,” said a message posted on RIM’s official blog.

It warned that a hacked database containing contact details of RIM employees would be made public and “passed onto rioters”, adding: “Do you really want a bunch of angry youths on your employees’ doorsteps? Think about it.” A BlackBerry source confirmed that it has yet to suspend the BBM service, and Paterson from Digital Shadows said that such a move would not stop the rioters. “If you shut it down you just displace that behavior to other services. BlackBerry is not the only closed messaging system,” he said. — AFP

US rains sanctions on Syria Continued from Page 1 The Treasury said the Damascusbased Commercial Bank of Syria, which has about 50 branches, was “providing financial services to Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, as well as North Korea’s Tanchon Commercial Bank.” Those two institutions have allegedly supported Syria and North Korea’s efforts to spread weapons of mass destruction, the Treasury statement said. President Barack Obama signed an executive order in May, imposing targeted sanctions on Assad and several high-ranking Syrian government officials for their bloody crackdown on the country’s pro-democracy demonstrators.

Meanwhile, Syrian troops conducted a vast operation in Idlib province bordering Turkey yesterday and killed at least one person, activists said, as others pulled out of the flashpoint city of Hama amid growing outrage over the regime’s crackdown on dissent. A defiant President Bashar Al-Assad pledged to pursue a relentless battle against “terrorist groups,” seemingly oblivious to the mounting international pressure to stop the use of deadly force against pro-democracy protesters.

Turkey kept up the pressure yesterday with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who delivered Tuesday a stern message to Assad from Ankara, saying Damascus should open up to the world and allow free media access.

Troops yesterday stormed the city of Sermin in Idlib, with an initial toll of one dead, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “A woman was killed and three other people were wounded in the city of Sermin, where Syrian forces launched a broad military campaign yesterday morning,” he said.

A military official said the operation aimed “to hunt down saboteurs and armed groups at the request of Idlib’s residents” and that troops were now “returning to their barracks, after achieving their mission.” Meanwhile

an AFP journalist on a governmentsponsored tour saw dozens of soldiers stream out of Ariha in the south of Idlib province. Explosions and heavy gunfire also echoed in the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor and residents were fearing a new military operations in the city where the army killed 42 people on Sunday and 17 on Tuesday, said Abdel Rahman.

The authorities have blamed “outlaws,” “saboteurs” and “armed terrorist groups” for the violence that has swept Syria since mid-March, while world powers have accused Syria of violently repressing pro-democracy protests. On Tuesday, Davutoglu delivered a message saying Ankara has “run out of patience,” while his Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Amr warned that Syria was “heading to the point of no return.”

Amr was due in Turkey to discuss Syria, a day after he asked Assad to end the bloodshed and implement democratic reforms. Brazil, India and South Africa have all stepped into the diplomatic fray, dispatching envoys to Damascus to seek a solution to the crisis and end the bloody crackdown that has claimed more than 2,000 lives since mid-March. Briefing them, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem echoed Assad, saying security forces are confronting “terrorist groups” and stressing Syria’s rejection of “foreign interference” and “media provocation.”

“Certain Syrian cities are under the grip of armed terrorist groups ... (and) troops have been deployed to such cities to restore stability and security,” he said.

As troops reportedly assaulted Sermin, dozens of military vehicles packed with soldiers streamed out of the flashpoint protest hub Hama in central Syria after completing a 10-day operation against “armed groups.” An AFP correspondent saw the soldiers leave as she toured Hama with other journalists on a government-sponsored visit. “The army units have gone back to their barracks after having accomplished their mission, and residents, happy to be rid of the armed

gangs who tried to sow discord among the population, have returned home,” a high-ranking army officer said.

That was confirmed by Davutoglu and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who sent to Hama his ambassador to witness the pullout.

“Our ambassador went to Hama and said that the tanks, security forces had started to leave Hama. This is highly important to show that our initiatives had positive results,” Erdogan said in Ankara. Davutoglu said that envoy Omer Onhon toured the city and met residents and “he was together with people for the noon prayer.” “The critical thing is that Syria should be open to the world for the developments to be followed. The most important tool to end the speculations and debate is free media access,” Davutoglu said.

Last month Syria furiously reacted to the visit of French and US ambassadors to Hama and warned to impose a ban on any diplomatic travel outside Damascus. Troops backed by tanks stormed Hama on July 31, the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to fight “armed groups,” killing 100 people in the single bloodiest day since the crackdown began, activists say. The bloodshed triggered a deluge of international condemnation and prompted the UN Security Council, under pressure from European and US leaders, to issue a statement demanding an end to the violence.

Russia, a traditional ally of Syria and armorer to Damascus, backed the statement after refusing along with China to endorse a tougher formal resolution, and has since urged Syria to comply and engage in reform.

Since then three Arab countries, including heavyweight Saudi Arabia, have recalled their ambassadors to Damascus for consultations as more Arab voices rose to condemn Syria over its crackdown. Yesterday Algerian Foreign Minister Amar Belani urged Syrians to “follow the path of wisdom and engage in an inclusive national dialogue to overcome the crisis.” — Agencies

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

opinion

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Issues

North Korea’s carrot and stick strategy

By Sung-Yoon Lee uly is typically the time of year when North Korea makes peace overtures toward the United States. This is when it tries to rekindle expectations, reset deadlines and heal the previous year’s wounds. Last week, Pyongyang’s chief nuclear negotiator arrived in New York for talks with Stephen Bosworth, the US special representative for North Korea policy, calling for “reconciliation.” As if on cue, one day later, the Korean Central News Agency the Kim Jong Il regime’s official news agency - called for a “peace agreement” with the United States.

Just one year earlier, in July 2010, North Korea stated that it would “make consistent efforts for the conclusion of a peace treaty and the denuclearization through the sixparty talks conducted on equal footing.” This announcement came the day after a UN Security Council statement that fell just short of directly blaming North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean naval ship that March. Four months later, when neither the US nor South Korea took the bait to restart talks, Pyongyang ratcheted up the pressure by revealing a new uranium enrichment plant and shelling an inhabited South Korean island, its previous peace pledge notwithstanding.

So what to make of Pyongyang’s midyear peace ploy, consistently waged in one form or another since 2002 (save for 2006, when the Kim regime test-fired several rockets on July 4)? In making these periodic propositions, Pyongyang is essentially asking US policymakers to believe that its rhetorical peace trumps US military deterrence, even in a volatile political arena like the Korean peninsula, where two starkly different systems have clashed over the last six decades in an existential contest for pan-Korean legitimacy.

North Korea’s latest peace offensive started July 27, the 58th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice. Although this date is largely forgotten elsewhere, it is celebrated each year in North Korea as “Victory Day in the Fatherland Liberation War.” The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, called for the replacement of the cease-fire agreement with a “peace agreement” with the United States, “in order to put an end to the confrontation and conflicts and ensure durable peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.”

The annual “Victory Day” is a reminder of the unfinished business of the North Korean revolution, Pyongyang’s ultimate goal in starting the Korean War. In another article last week, the KCNA reported: “July 27 ... was the day ... when the army and the people of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) under the distinguished guidance of President Kim Il Sung defeated the US-led imperialist aggressors to win the historic victory.”

History, of course, shows that Kim Il Sung, father of the current North Korean leader, recorded no such “historic victory” over the US. Yet North Korea still claims victory, and insists on a “peace agreement” with its “vanquished” foe. Why? The answer is given in the July 27 KCNA commentary, if you read between the histrionic lines. “The US has so far interfered in the internal affairs of Korea as the direct party concerned of the AA (Armistice Agreement) and exercised the right to military control over south (sic) Korea.” By characterizing the US troop presence in South Korea as “military control” over “south” Korea, Pyongyang is implying that the US, despite “defeat” in war, is still unjustly occupying the southern part of North Korean territory. Moreover, Pyongyang is not-so-subtly blaming Washington for all contentious issues in inter-Korean relations as well as its bilateral relations with the US, while arguing that a peace treaty is the panacea that can cure all security problems on the Korean peninsula. A peace treaty with Washington would dramatically advance Pyongyang’s long-held goal of irreversibly evicting US troops from South Korea. Amid euphoria and political spin celebrating the dawn of a new era on the Korean peninsula, such a treaty would call into question the very raison d’etre of the US forces in South Korea, leading to calls for their total withdrawal. In the short term, such developments would tilt the balance of power on the peninsula in North Korea’s favor, as Pyongyang would be far better positioned to maximize its leverage on political, military and economic issues vis-a-vis Washington, Seoul and Tokyo. In the long term, North Korea probably would be emboldened to carry out limited war against the South. In the coming months, Pyongyang will continue to press for peace and aid by dangling the prospect of denuclearization. — MCT

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

A false sense of national security

By Max Boot he raid to kill Osama bin Laden is barely 3 months old, but already it is one of the proudest chapters in the history of the US Special Operations Command and of the Obama administration. Officials of both organizations have been taking one well-deserved victory lap after another, even going so far as to cooperate (apparently) with a journalist from the New Yorker who has just produced a riveting account of Operation Neptune’s Spear. No doubt more books, articles and movies are in the offing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Navy SEALs writing memoirs or licensing their stories.

There are two major problems with the understandable impulse to pop the champagne cork. In the first place, the officers and officials who are talking may well be compromising important operational details and making it harder to preserve secrecy about future missions including those that don’t go quite as well. Even more worrisome is the possibility that we are being lulled into a false sense of complacency that will allow Al-Qaeda and other radical groups to stage a resurgence.

US government officials are probably premature when they rush to proclaim, as the Washington Post reported, that Al-Qaeda is “on the brink of collapse.” Such predictions have been made many times before, and each time have been disproved by this terrorist group with its alarming ability to regenerate itself. It does not take much in the way of resources to carry out a terrorist strike (the Sept 11 operation cost an estimated $500,000), so AlQaeda does not need much infrastructure to pose a threat. Moreover, Al-Qaeda is not the only terrorist organization we have to worry about.

Other Islamist extremists are capable of planning attacks with scant direction or assistance from Al-Qaeda Central. These organizations range from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al-Qaeda in Iraq to the Haqqani network, the Afghan Taleban, the Pakistani Taleban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah and Hamas.

None of these groups have pulled off anything on the scale of Sept 11, thank goodness, but several of them

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have undoubtedly killed far more people and dominated far more territory - than Bin Laden ever did.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq managed to take over a substantial portion of the Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq before suffering devastating defeats in 2007 and 2008, but it continues to set off bombs. Hamas has taken over the Gaza Strip and is rapidly building up its arsenal. Hezbollah is the most powerful force in Lebanon and has more missiles than some nation-states. The Pakistani Taleban is steadily undermining the government in Islamabad with one atrocity after another. Lashkar-e-Taiba has almost sparked war between India and Pakistan with its terrorist attacks in India and undoubtedly will strike again.

Kataib Hezbollah, along with other Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist groups, is asserting its power in Iraq as the US prepares to withdraw. By focusing too much on Al-Qaeda and its charismatic founder now resting at the bottom of the Arabian Sea - we risk not devoting sufficient resources or attention to these other threats, which are less publicized but ultimately may be just as dangerous. We have already seen one sign of this premature triumphalism: President Obama ordered 30,000 “surge” troops to come home from Afghanistan by September 2012 against the advice of his military commanders.

The battle against the Haqqani network and Taleban - two of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world - is far from won. It will be much harder to defeat bin Laden’s allies in Afghanistan with the US force reduced by a third before the end of next summer’s fighting season. Defenders of the administration’s Al-Qaeda -centric approach may argue that only Al-Qaeda has shown the will and capacity to strike the American homeland. But other groups are

targeting us as well, and sooner or later they may succeed: Faisal Shahzad, who tried to blow up a car bomb in Times Square last year, was trained and funded by the Pakistani Taleban. Also in 2010, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula tried to mail bombs to the US that could have blown up passenger aircraft in midair. All it would take would be one such terrorist success to dispel the current complacency.

History, I fear, may be repeating itself. President George W Bush and his Defense secretar y, Donald Rumsfeld, appeared to be transfixed by early military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in particular the successes of the Special Operations Command. Remember the hoopla over the “horse soldiers,” the Green Berets on horseback who called in the airstrikes that toppled the Taleban in the fall of 2001.

Or the hype over Saddam Hussein being pulled out of his spider hole by soldiers of the same Joint Special Operations Command that killed bin Laden. This created a mind-set of triumphalism embodied in the famous “Mission Accomplished” banner displayed behind Bush when he welcomed the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln home from the Arabian Gulf. Sen Obama later mocked Bush for prematurely claiming victory.

But now President Obama, or at least his aides, may be making the same mistake.— MCT

China’s aircraft carrier ‘to pressure neighbors’

By Sebastien Blanc hina’s first aircraft carrier will allow Beijing to further pressure nations with rival territorial claims, analysts said yesterday as the vessel embarked on its inaugural sea trial. China has for years been revamping a 300-metre, former Soviet carrier in the northeastern port of Dalian, after buying the vessel-once called the Varyag-from Ukraine in 1998. Experts said the carrier’s maiden trip, announced in a brief statement on the defense ministry’s website, would deal a psychological blow to neighboring countries at a time of heightened regional tensions.

Rick Fisher, a US expert on the Chinese military, said Beijing was allowing reports and scant online images of the vessel to “propel anxieties” while saying very little about its aircraft carrier project and naval ambitions. “This ‘psywar’ campaign has everything to do with China’s multiple ongoing maritime territory disputes,” said Fisher, of the US-based International Assessment and Strategy Center. “China clearly wants to bully its neighbors into making concessions without having to engineer a shooting “incident” that might unite these same neighbors against it.”

Jonathan Holslag, of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies said the new aircraft carrier will be perceived as another indication of China’s growing military ambitions. “It will prompt neighboring countries to shore up their own capabilities,” Holslag wrote in a commentary published shortly before yesterday’s sea trial. Beijing has consistently tried to allay fears about the aircraft carrier, saying it will mainly be used for training and “research”, and that it poses no threat to other countries. Fisher said the carrier was

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“practically ready to support combat missions”, although other analysts say it will not be operational as part of a wider naval battle group for several years at least.

But for the secretive People’s Liberation

China was the only permanent member state of the UN Security Council that did not own an aircraft carrier, adding India also has one. “ The Chinese can point proudly to the Varyag, or any other piece of

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s indigenous Hsiung Feng III missile is propped against the backdrop of a billboard depicting a missile-riddled aircraft carrier, closely resembling China’s carrier “Varyag,” during a media preview of the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology show in Taipei, Taiwan yesterday. Taiwan is hailing its most advanced missile as “an aircraft carrier killer’’ on the same day that China began sea trials of it first aircraft carrier, the refit Ukrainian-built Varyag.— AP Army-the largest armed force in the worldthe carrier is first and foremost an issue of prestige, as even Thailand, a much smaller country than China, has one. In a comment piece published yesterday, the official Xinhua news agency pointed out that

new equipment, and feel like they have entered the ranks of advanced militaries,” said Dennis Blasko, an expert on China’s military.

The carrier is also important from a strategic standpoint. China’s interests now

stretch out all over the world, and it needs to intervene far from home, particularly on maritime routes crucial to its oil imports.

Independent experts are convinced that far from just having one, renovated vessel, China’s defense ministry has also launched a program to build one to two brand new, indigenous aircraft carriers. “I consider it plausible that by the late 2020s, China could have up to six carriers, three nonnuclear for regional missions and three nuclear-powered carriers that will be advancing China’s interests well beyond the Asian region,” said Fisher.

But the PLA-which operates China’s navy-is hugely secretive about its defense programs, which benefit from a big and expanding military budget boosted by the nation’s runaway economic growth. Beijing has provided scant details about the carrier, even when it finally officially acknowledged the vessel’s existence in June, and analysts say this could be a strategic move.

“China needs time to learn to operate an aircraft carrier and carrier group (a carrier and its escort ships), and deliberately takes a low-key posture,” said Arthur Ding, a Taiwan-based expert on the PLA. But Beijing’s relative silence could also be an effort by the government to allay regional worries about its military expansion, and avoid undermining its claim that China’s army is purely defensive in nature.

Last week, Japan voiced concern over China’s growing assertiveness and widening naval reach, and over what it called the “opaqueness” of Beijing’s military budget.

China is nevertheless rapidly upgrading its army’s capabilities, developing advanced weaponry such as its first stealth fighter jet, revealed in January. It is also working on a ballistic missile that can hit warships thousands of kilometers away.— AFP

15

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

analysis

Obama’s leadership criticized by both right and left

By Steve Holland resident Barack Obama is getting hammered on all sides for a stumbling US economy and his uneven response to it, raising pressure on him to take steps to create jobs or risk being ousted in next year’s election. With markets in turmoil and the US jobless rate stuck above 9 percent, Obama is struggling to instill a sense of confidence that there is a way out of the maelstrom. He received negative reviews from pundits for a speech on Monday that offered no new policy ideas and failed to cushion a steep sell-off on Wall Street.

The president also is getting no sympathy from the right or left for a debt deal that aver ted a US government default a week ago-a debate that brought talk of any plan to create jobs to a screeching halt. Obama’s liberal suppor ters criticize the spending cuts included in the deal. Republicans want more cuts without tax increases. And Standard and Poor’s still downgraded the US credit rating and said the agreement just did not go far enough. That, coupled with poor economic news, sparked a market downturn that hurt Obama and voters’ view of his leadership.

This is a bitter pill to swallow for the president, who has been trying to steer the economy through the worst recession since the Great Depression only to watch it slow to a crawl and threaten to lapse into another recession. “Obviously we’ve had a tough couple of weeks in the economy,” Obama told Democratic supporters on Monday. “Too much of it was self-inflicted. It had to do with political paralysis here in Washington.”

Obama’s saving grace so far is that Republicans are undecided about who will rise as their candidate to oppose his re-election in November 2012. None of the would-be challengers has gained much traction with the voting public.

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LIBERALS COMPLAINING TOO Still, it doesn’t help to have your friends upset. Some liberal pundits are

complaining about him, charging that he lacks empathy, needs to connect better with ordinary Americans and has to show strength against his Republican opponents. “ What happened to Obama?” was the title of a New York Times opinion article on Sunday by Drew Westen, a psychology professor at Emory University in Atlanta, who argued that Obama “seems so compelled to take both sides of every issue.”

On the right, conservative critics argue that Americans do not think

wrote in an opinion piece on Tuesday.

Still, there is no sign that Obama has lost the confidence of the Democratic faithful or is at risk of being challenged in 2012 by a liberal Democrat. President Jimmy Carter faced that problem in 1980 before his defeat by Republican Ronald Reagan. “It’s a little late for that,” said Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst at the non-partisan Cook Political Report. A CNN/ORC poll last week showed 77 percent of Democrats approved of Obama’s job performance. “There’s not a great

BEIJING: Chinese customers look at figurines featuring US President Barack Obama, (right) and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on display at a stall in Beijing. An official Chinese newspaper called Monday for better coordination between countries on economic policy in response to the US debt rating downgrade, saying Western nations need to quit ducking responsibility and put their houses in order. — AP Obama’s policy prescriptions have been able to get the economy going. “Every time he opens his mouth, he subtracts from the sum total of financial capital,” The Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens

deal of evidence that the last year or the last few weeks or months have damaged Obama’s credibility with this group,” said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

The Obama re-election campaign is

shrugging off the complaints as isolated criticism from Washington’s pundit class, “nothing more than Washington chatter that is not backed up by the facts on the ground.” But there are signs that the left is dispirited, whether liberals blame Obama or not. “The frustration is with Washington DC as a whole,” said Van Jones, president of Rebuild the Dream, a liberal group wanting a focus on jobs for the middle class.

NEW IDEAS WANTED More debt battles are expected this fall and Obama will again argue that a balanced approach is needed to reduce deficits, notably including tax increases on wealthier Americans and reforms to popular programs like medical insurance for the elderly. What Obama desperately needs is some positive economic news and a sense that the job market will pick up. He is promising a central focus on jobs, pressing for completion of freetrade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia that have been stalled for years, and an extension of payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance.

While these steps would be helpful, the ideas are not new and they may not be enough to jump-start the economy.

What Obama’s supporters want are even bigger ideas for stimulating job growth.

“I don’t think he can get things going on his own, but he’s got to try as hard as he can,” said Jared Bernstein, a former Obama economic adviser and now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “And if opposition forces are blocking him from going forward, he needs to at least let people know how hard he is trying.”

David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, said a host of problems is playing on Americans’ minds, from weak job growth, and slumping markets to the recent deaths of 30 American troops in Afghanistan, a war that is increasingly unpopular. “There’s that feeling, that things are out of control, that we’re not on top of this anymore,” Yepson said. — Reuters

Economists skeptical on IMF’s upbeat assessment of Iran

By Robin Pomeroy ran’s government is basking in rare IMF praise as the first major oil exporter to axe energy and food subsidies, but gains for the sanctions-hit economy could be jeopardized by costly cash handouts and the risk of runaway inflation. With bread, electricity and gasoline prices soaring after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s flagship economic policy slashed $60 billion of price supports, many experts say the IMF painted too rosy a picture of a country that will be among the hardest hit if oil prices plunge further as the global economy slows.

“Few people could dispute the need to reform Iran’s domestic energy prices,” the IMF said in its report, calling the $0.10 per liter subsidized gasoline price, at a time when global prices were around $2, “out of touch with reality, unsustainable and unjustifiable by any economic theory”.

For years, Iranian politicians agreed that the subsidies- a legacy of a statist revolutionary policy to spread the benefits of Iran’s vast oil wealth-were wasteful and perverse but it took the populist, Westbaiting Ahmadinejad, already well into his second four-year term, to do something about it.

“On December 18, 2010, Iran increased domestic energy and agricultural prices by up to 20 times, making it the first major oil-exporting country to reduce substantially implicit energy subsidies,” the International Monetary Fund said in its July report “Iran - The Chronicles of the Subsidy Reform”. Despite a sudden sevenfold rise in the cost of gasoline and bread prices doubling, the riots predicted by some analysts never occurred. Middleclass Iranians may grumble, but monthly payments of 455,000 rials (around $43) to every man, woman and child in Iran who applied, have softened the blow, particularly for lower-income families with many children. “The successful implementation of the drastic price increases has created a unique opportunity for Iran to reform its economy and accelerate economic growth and development,” the report said. But many economists say the subsidy reform risks causing devastating inflation and that the government may not be able to keep up the level of cash payments needed to maintain people’s spending power, especially if there is a drop in the oil price.

The IMF did not avoid the issue, saying in a separate report on the Iranian economy, inflation posed a “considerable” risk. “... rampant inflation would result in a rapid erosion of domestic energy prices and of the targeted subsidies in real terms, and reduced incentives for enterprises to restructure, effectively reversing the early gains of the subsidy reform,” it said in its “Staff Report” on the Iranian economy published this month.

I

QUESTIONABLE DATA Iran’s inflation rose to 15.4 percent in the month to June 21, Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani said on July 27, showing a steady rise from a 25year low of 8.8 percent in August 2010.

Iranians who have seen fuel bills and the

cost of food soar after subsidies were slashed are skeptical. “The statistics no longer serve any purpose because no one believes them,” Iranian economist Saeed Laylaz wrote in the reformist Roozegar newspaper on July 25. Iran has told the IMF that it expects the subsidy cuts to cause inflation to spike to 22 percent and fall back to 7 percent “over the medium term”. The IMF says inflation will rise to 22.5 percent this year, from 12.4 in the Iranian year 2010/11 and fall back to 12 percent in 2012-13.

“I agree that rampant inflation is a serious risk. It will undo the subsidy reform and much more,” Djavad Salehi-Isfahani,

tions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Tehran has consistently said the sanctions are having no impact, but they have deterred Western investment in Iran’s vital oil and gas fields and financial restrictions have caused problems for Iran to receive billion of dollars for its oil exports to major customers India and South Korea.

The IMF noted: “New international sanctions in 2010 have in practice increased the cost of doing business, limited FDI and technology transfer, and have affected international trade and financial transactions.” In his comments at the end of the IMF staff report, Iran’s IMF

an economics professor at Virginia Tech in the United States, told Reuters. But he added: “It is not a serious risk at this time because the government seems to understand it needs to lower inflationary expectations.” Patrick Clawson, head of the Iran Security Initiative at US thinktank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, also said Tehran was acutely aware of the inflation risk and would make great efforts to keep it down, but with policies that would suffocate chances of economic growth.

“If oil prices remain high, then it will be quite possible to keep flooding the country with foreign goods which will be a powerful check on inflation in the prices of goods, but that will come at the expense of making Iranian products less competitive and therefore throwing people out of work,” Clawson said. “My reading of the present government’s policies is that it is not particularly concerned about the productive economy, so perhaps it will actually bring inflation down.”

Executive Director Jafar Mojarrad showed just how serious Tehran was taking the sanctions threat. “Should these restrictions remain in place, Iran would have no choice but to cut oil and gas supplies to the interested parties, with possible spillovers to the energy markets,” he wrote.

Salehi-Isfahani said sanctions were only partly to blame for Iran’s economic ills. “Sanctions have become a big part of the problem, but in the past government’s own policies were a bigger problem. Iran’s competitiveness has been seriously hurt by higher domestic inflation relative to the rest of the world. And now, (by) energy price increases.” The IMF said the subsidy reforms would slow economic growth, to 2.5 percent this year, from 3.2 percent in 2010/11. But it said the cash handouts would help to keep the economy moving and that growth would rise steadily to 4.5 percent by 2014/15.

Iran is sticking with its target of 8 percent annual growth during the five-year period 2010-15. Salehi-Isfahani said the estimates were all over-optimistic, absent a big increase in the oil price which would allow massively more public spending. “Since the government has

SANCTIONS AND SURGERY Ahmadinejad’s economic surgery came just as the United States and the European Union were tightening sanc-

stopped publishing GDP data it is hard to say what is going on. But 1-2 percent growth is possible given the government’s own investment activities.”

RIAL TROUBLE Many economists say Iran’s policy of pegging its currency close to the dollar was one of the biggest brakes on growth.

Despite an 11.5 percent devaluation on June 8 - an attempt to eliminate the gap between the official exchange rate and the price most Iranians actually have to pay to buy hard currency-Tehran’s stated policy is to keep the rial stable.

While that should help check inflation, economists said it was having a ruinous effect on Iranian industry, which struggles to compete with cheap imports and to sell Iranian goods abroad. “The mass of imported goods reduces the competitiveness of domestic production by 10 to 12 percent per year,” Iranian economist Laylaz wrote in an article in reformist daily Arman on July 18. According to SalehiIsfahani, Iran’s exchange rate policy “is really using oil money to finance private consumption and then expecting people to compete with the Chinese.

While the IMF praised the subsidy reform as a way to inject market economics into the Iranian economy, several politicians have voiced concern about the state of private enterprise. Shahriyar Taherpour, a member of parliament’s industry committee, was quoted in the conservative Qods daily on Aug. 8 as saying: “According to some information, some 50 percent of private sector industrial manufacturing capacity is idle.”

Under the subsidy reform, companies, like families, are meant to receive some government cash to help them cope with the sudden rise in costs, but it is not clear how widespread or effective the payments have been.

And many economists say there is a limit to the cash support Tehran can afford to hand out. Clawson has calculated that with 73 million Iranians receiving the 455,000 rials monthly payments, the new system costs an estimated $36 billion per year. That is 35 percent of the $103 billion in oil and gas export revenues the IMF says Iran can expect this year-a proportion that will rise quickly if the oil price continues to drop amid a renewed global recession. “I don’t think this universal payment can continue,” said Mousa Ghaninejad, an Iranian economist interviewed in the reformist Etemad daily on July 4.

“People are telling each other the payments are going to continue forever.

That’s negative for our economy and impossible for the state.” Salehi-Isfahani agreed. “What the government should be doing is to not allow oil revenues to directly finance consumption, as in handouts, but to spend it on infrastructure and education so Iranians are more competitive, not less, as a result of oil money.

“That would take a sea change in the mindset of Iranians, not just their government, that they are not entitled to have Dubai living standards just because they have oil. They have to become productive first.”— Reuters

Focus

Republican White House hopefuls head to Iowa

By Jason Clayworth

xtreme partisan rhetoric and market havoc have raised the stakes of two early tests in Iowa this week for the unsettled crop of Republican candidates vying to challenge US President Barack Obama. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann is hoping to chip away at the lead of frontrunner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, in a nationally-televised debate Thursday ahead of Saturday’s closely-watched Ames Straw Poll.

Texas Governor Rick Perry could end up stealing the spotlight with a speech the same day in South Carolina, where he is expected to finally announce -or at least acknowledge -plans to throw his hat into the ring. And Tim Pawlenty, who has been unable to draw more than about three percent support in recent polls, is currently trying to downplay what some see as a makeor-break week for the former Minnesota governor. Iowa is important to the presidential election process because the state holds the first-inthe-nation caucuses in the party nominating process.

The straw poll at a Republican fundraiser is seen as a key early test of a candidate’s appeal and organizational strength and the debate should influence the results. Both events in the city of Ames are expected to draw political blood, potentially further polarizing Republican candidates among each other but most specifically taking aim at Obama, said Larry Sabato, who heads the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “The toxicity level is about has high as I can remember,” said Sabato, the author of 24 books on American politics. “Part of it is the circumstances. When voters are in a surly mood, the candidates reflect it.”

The foul mood has been present for months but intensified last week after Standard and Poor’s downgraded the US government’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ for the first time in history. The credit rating agency cited a partisan congre s s i ona l s t a nd of f ove r re d uc i ng t he nation’s debt as a main contributor to the downgrade. Republicans blame Obama for what they say are irresponsible fiscal measures like the national health care reform law or banking regulations they say have made it difficult for businesses to hire more employees.

Democrats, in turn, have painted Republicans as extremists who are associated with the archconservative Tea Party and have poisoned the bedrock of American politics. This week, for example, the Democratic National Committee announced a campaign called “Extreme Aims” to highlight Republican presidential candidate positions they say “would end Medicare as we know it” and would approve “more tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires and the special interests.” A New York Times/CBS poll found that just 20 percent of Americans view the Tea Pa r t y f avora b l y a nd 43 p e rce nt t hi nk t he staunch conservatives have too much influence in the Republican Party.

But some Republican leaders say the Tea Party’s general message of reduced government spending is amplified by the past week’s economic events. “Despite the fact that we have great commodity prices right now, Iowans aren’t secure in the long-term financial security of the country,” said Republican Party of Iowa chairman Matt Strawn. Perry’s entry to the race could further split the vote among conservative candidates with Tea Party ties, said David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication that analyzes elections and campaigns.

“Republicans these days are more of a social conservative Tea Party flavor than they were 10 or 12 years ago,” Wasserman said. “Any candidate like Romney would benefit from a split in social conservatives.”

Both events will help winnow out the weaker candidates from a field of more than a dozen declared and undeclared presidential hopefuls.

The straw poll is specifically seen as helping candidates build grassroots support essential for winning the state’s February 6 caucus.

Candidates who win one of the top three places in the Iowa caucuses have historically gone on to win their party’s nomination thanks to the momentum gained by an early show of strength. The straw poll is unscientific and has been criticized as playing too heavily in favor of well-financed campaigns since candidates can buy the $30 tickets for their supporters. Its importance could also be downplayed because so many high-level candidates-Romney, Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman-are not formally attending, although all but Perr y will appear on the ballot.— AFP

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Aldama in British team LONDON: Former Cuba and Sudan triple jumper Yamile Aldama will make her debut for Britain and Northern Ireland at the age of 39 after being selected in a 67-strong squad for this month’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. The Cuban-born athlete represented her birth country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, finishing fourth, and became world number one in 2003. Having failed to obtain a British passport in time for the Athens Olympics in 2004 she chose to compete for Sudan, finishing fifth. Aldama, who has switched her allegiance to Britain after eventually obtaining a British passport last year, will be 39-years-old before the world championships and will become the oldest female athlete to make her debut for Britain in track and field. A good performance in Daegu could see her selected for the London 2012 Games. Strong medal contenders in the squad selected by head coach Charles van Commenee include world and European heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, Phillips Idowu, who holds both titles in the triple jump, and European 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion Mo Farah.—Reuters

Charges dismissed over tape of NBA star Shaq

Clark named assistant captain at Presidents Cup JOHNS CREEK: South African Tim Clark, sidelined for much of this year by an elbow injury, has been appointed as a captain’s assistant for the International team at the Presidents Cup in Australia in November.

International captain Greg Norman made the announcement on Tuesday during a meeting of potential team members ahead of this week’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.

“Tim brings a lot of Presidents Cup experience to the position, having been a member of three

previous International teams,” Australian Norman said in a statement.

“When he and I spoke a few weeks ago, he confided in me on the status of his medical dilemma, and I quickly realised he would not be able to compete due to pending surgery that is necessary for him to return to his winning ways.

“With this, I came to the conclusion after consultation with Frank (Nobilo), that he would be an enormous asset to me, Frank, and to the team in the role of captain’s assistant.”—Reuters

LOS ANGELES: A judge on Tuesday dismissed the charges against seven reputed gang members accused of abducting a music producer to demand the return of a supposed sex tape featuring former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal.

The dismissal came after a prosecutor told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar de Longoria that the District Attorney’s office had lost confidence in the credibility of the alleged victim, Robert Ross. O’Neal, who retired from pro basketball this year after 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association, was never charged in the case or named in the criminal complaint against the seven men.

After the case was filed in February, Ross testified that he told O’Neal about a sex tape during a business dispute with the NBA star. About two weeks later, Ross claimed, the defendants kidnapped him and demanded he return the tape, said Jane Robison, a Los Angeles District Attorney’s spokeswoman.—Reuters

Abreu lifts Angels over Yankees

LOS ANGELES: Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard (right) looks to catch a fly ball hit by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp (background left) during the sixth inning. Howard made the catch for the out. —AP

Phillies edge Dodgers LOS ANGELES: Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee pitched eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and also hit just his second career home run, leading the Phillies to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League on Tuesday. Lee (12-7) allowed only two runners past first base, and closer Ryan Madson got three outs for his 21st save in 22 chances.

Jimmy Rollins had an RBI single to help the Phillies win for the 11th time in 12 games and go 36 games over .500 (76-40) for the first time since 1977. Philadelphia maintained its 8-1/2 game lead over Atlanta in the NL East. Dodgers starter Ted Lilly (7-12) allowed six hits over eight innings.

Axford finished for his 30th straight save.

Braves 4, Marlins 3 In Miami, Dan Uggla extended his hitting streak to 30 games as Atlanta edged Florida.

Uggla hit an infield single in the fifth inning to tie the Dodgers’ Andre Ethier for the majors’ longest hitting streak of the season. The winning run came after Michael Bourn doubled off Edward Mujica (8-4) with one out in the 11th.

Martin Prado then singled to shallow right field and the throw to home went over the catcher’s head, allowing Bourn to score. Prado also homered, and tied a career high with four hits and drove in three runs. Craig Kimbrel induced a game-ending double play to end it, recording his 36th save in 41 chances. Atlanta’s George Sherrill (3-1) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win.

Mets 5, Padres 4 In New York, Josh Spence walked Ruben Tejada to hand New York the winning run and victory over San Diego. The Mets trailed by four runs in the eighth inning before Angel Pagan’s homer began the comeback. They also came from two runs down in the eighth the previous day and have moved back above .500. Pagan, the team’s new leadoff man because of an injury to Jose Reyes, homered for the second consecutive night when he connected off Chad Qualls (5-6) to start the eighth. New York reliever D.J. Carrasco (1-2) entered in the eighth and escaped a jam unscathed to earn the win. Jason Isringhausen earned his 299th career save.

Giants 6, Pirates 0 In San Francisco, Chris Stewart hit his first major league home run and Aubrey Huff had another solo shot for San Francisco in the win over Pittsburgh. Huff also had an RBI double to help chase Pirates starter James McDonald (76) after six innings. McDonald allowed three runs. Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (7-11) struck out 10 and walked just one in seven innings.

Brewers 5, Cardinals 3 In St. Louis, Milwaukee extended its lead over St. Louis in the NL Central to four games after Casey McGehee hit a double to snap a 10th-inning tie.

The Brewers’ 3-4-5 hitters had been 0 for 12 before extra innings when Prince Fielder singled to put runners at the corners ahead of McGehee’s double off Octavio Dotel (0-1) over the head of the right fielder.Yuniesky Betancourt added a sacrifice fly as Milwaukee made it 12 wins in 13 games. LaTroy Hawkins (1-0) earned the win for Milwaukee and John

Rockies 3, Reds 2 In Cincinnati, Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-run homer as Colorado pipped Cincinnati, handing the Reds their fifth loss in six games. Dexter Fowler had two of Colorado’s five hits and drove in the go-ahead run for the Rockies.

Colorado starter Esmil Rogers (6-1) allowed two runs over six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. The Reds were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left Dontrelle Willis still looking for his first win in six starts since being called up from the minors. Willis (0-2) had a season-best 10 strikeouts.

Nationals 3, Cubs 1 In Chicago, Chien-Ming Wang pitched six scoreless innings to set up Washington’s win over Chicago. In his third start after missing more than two years following shoulder surgery, Wang (1-2) won for the first time since 2009. Jonny Gomes hit a two-run homer, Michael Morse added a long home run and Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 17 games for the Nationals. Cubs starter Matt Garza (5-9) allowed three runs in six innings to take the loss.

D’backs 11, Astros 9 In Phoenix, Arizona came from six runs down to beat Houston. Justin Upton had three hits, including a home run, and drove in four runs for the Diamondbacks. Gerardo Parra had his fourth career four-hit game, Miguel Montero doubled and had three RBIs and Willie Bloomquist added a two-run single.

Arizona’s Micah Owings (6-0) threw three innings, conceding one run, and took the win.

Astros starter Wilton Lopez (2-5) allowed Upton’s go-ahead two-run homer.—AP

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

Chicago White Sox 4, Baltimore 3; LA Angels 6, NY Yankees 4; Cleveland 3, Detroit 2 (14 innings); Oakland 4, Toronto 1; Tampa Bay 4, Kansas City 0; Atlanta 4, Florida 3 (11 innings); NY Mets 5, San Diego 4; Colorado 3, Cincinnati 2; Texas 7, Seattle 6; Washington 3, Chicago Cubs 1; Boston 4, Minnesota 3; Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3 (10 innings); Arizona 11, Houston 9; Philadelphia 2, LA Dodgers 1; San Francisco 6, Pittsburgh 0.

American League National League Eastern Division Eastern Division Philadelphia 76 40 .655 W L PCT GB Atlanta 68 49 .581 8.5 Boston 72 43 .626 NY Mets 58 57 .504 17.5 NY Yankees 69 45 .605 2.5 Washington 56 59 .487 19.5 Tampa Bay 61 54 .530 11 Florida 55 61 .474 21 Toronto 58 57 .504 14 Central Division Baltimore 44 69 .389 27 Milwaukee 66 50 .569 Central Division St. Louis 62 54 .534 4 Detroit 61 54 .530 Pittsburgh 55 60 .478 10.5 Cleveland 57 56 .504 3 Cincinnati 55 61 .474 11 Chicago White Sox 57 58 .496 4 Chicago Cubs 49 67 .422 17 Minnesota 51 65 .440 10.5 Houston 38 78 .328 28 Kansas City 49 67 .422 12.5 Western Division Western Division San Francisco 64 53 .547 Texas 66 51 .564 Arizona 63 53 .543 .5 LA Angels 64 52 .552 1.5 Colorado 55 62 .470 9 Oakland 52 63 .452 13 LA Dodgers 52 63 .452 11 Seattle 49 66 .426 16 San Diego 51 66 .436 13

NEW YORK: Bobby Abreu hit a two-out two-run homer in the ninth inning - his second homer of the game - to give the Los Angeles Angels a 6-4 win over the New York Yankees in the American League on Tuesday.

The Angels held onto the lead in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a tricky play. With runners at the corners and two outs, Los Angeles pitcher Jordan Walden faked a pickoff throw to third base and Curtis Granderson fell for it, taking off from first base trying to steal second and getting caught in no man’s land. Abreu’s drive deep into the seats in right was only the second homer allowed this season by New York closer Mariano Rivera (1-2). He faltered for the second straight appearance, having blown a ninthinning lead Sunday at Boston. Los Angeles’ Alberto Callaspo opened the ninth with a single and after two outs, Abreu hit his sixth homer of the season. Angels reliever Scott Downs (6-2) took the win, getting a groundout with two runners on base to end the eighth. The Yankees suffered a third straight defeat for the first time in two months, and fell 2-1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East.

Red Sox 4, Twins 3 In Minneapolis, Darnell McDonald hit a two-run homer to lift Boston to a tight win over Minnesota. David Ortiz gave the Red Sox the lead for good on an infield single with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and Jonathan Papelbon picked up his 26th save. Boston’s Matt Albers (43) gave up one run in one inning of relief for the win. Matt Capps (3-6) gave up one run and walked two in one inning to take the loss for the Twins, who have lost six straight.

Indians 3, Tigers 2 In Cleveland, reliever David Pauley hit Kosuke Fukudome with the bases loaded in the 14th inning to give Cleveland victor y over Detroit. In the 14th, Pauley (5-5) walked Asdrubal Cabrera with one out before Travis Hafner singled, sending Cabrera to third. An intentional walk loaded the bases and Fukudome - acquired last month from the Chicago Cubs - was then drilled in the arm by Pauley, giving

NEW YORK: Los Angeles Angels’ Howard Kendrick (47), Erick Aybar (2), Maicer Izturis (13), Vernon Wells (10), Peter Bourjos (25) and Torii Hunter (48) celebrate Angels’ 6-4 win over the New York Yankees in a baseball game.—AP the Indians their 13th walk-off win it. Texas’ Neftali Feliz (2-3) pitched Evan Longoria drove in two runs on a single during the first and hit a the ninth for the victory. at home this season. two-run homer in the sixth. He has The result of the game - delayed driven in 12 runs over his past 12 Athletics 4, Blue Jays 1 more than two hours by rain and In Toronto, Josh Willingham and games despite having just nine hits which took seven hours to complete - tightened the AL Central Kurt Suzuki homered to power during the stretch. Royals starter race, as the Indians moved within Oakland past Toronto. Athletics Jeff Francis (4-12) gave up four runs three games of leaders Detroit. starter Rich Harden (3-2) pitched over seven innings. He retired 15 Frank Herrmann (3-0), Cleveland’s seven strong innings to improve straight after allowing the first three eighth pitcher, pitched two hitless on a previously dismal record batters to reach base in the first. innings for the win. The Indians north of the border, where he had White Sox 4, Orioles 3 have won 12 straight over the an 0-2 record with a 13.50 ERA in In Baltimore, Chicago won its three previous starts. He walked Tigers at home. two and struck out eight. The season-best fifth straight game by Athletics have won three straight edging Baltimore. Chicago built a Rangers 7, Mariners 6 In Arlington, Josh Hamilton and have homered in a season- 4-0 lead after four innings, let the drove in the winning run with a sin- high seven straight, connecting 11 margin dwindle to a run in the gle in the ninth inning, completing times in that span. Blue Jays starter fifth, then held on to secure its Texas’ comeback from a three-run Brett Cecil (4-5) allowed three runs seventh straight road win. Brent deficit against Seattle. Ian Kinsler and four hits in seven innings. He Morel homered and drove in two runs and Carlos Quentin also conand Endy Chavez homered for the walked two and struck out five. nected for the White Sox. Chicago Rangers, whose AL West lead over starter Gavin Floyd (10-10) gave up Rays 4, Royals 0 second-place Los Angeles In St. Petersburg, James Shields three runs in 6 2-3 innings. Sergio remained at 1-1/2 games. Jeff Gray (0-1) walked Kinsler leading off the his major league-best eighth com- Santos got a strikeout for the final ninth. Aaron Laffey relieved and plete game this season to steer out, earning his 24th save and Chavez reached on a bunt single Tampa Bay past Kansas City. Shields extending his road scoreless streak that sent Kinsler to second. (11-9) also has four shutouts this to 29 games. Making his first start Hamilton followed with a single to year. His proficiency from the with Baltimore after being left. Kinsler’s two-run homer in the mound meant the game was over obtained from Toronto, Jo-Jo seventh had pulled Texas within 6- in 1 hour, 53 minutes; the fastest Reyes (5-9) allowed four runs in 5. Yorvit Torrealba’s RBI double tied nine-inning game in Rays history. four innings.—AP

NFL hopes to have HGH testing ready for new season RALEIGH: The National Football League (NFL) expects to have its new human growth hormone (HGH) testing program in operation by the first game of the season, a key league official said on Tuesday.

Players would be subject to multiple tests yearround without notice under the program, which is being fine-tuned in talks between the league and players union, Adolpho Birch, NFL senior vice president of law and labor policy who will oversee the program, told a teleconference.

League owners and players agreed to the testing as part of the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement.

It would make the league the first major U.S. professional sport to use blood testing for HGH. “There is every possibility it will be implemented by the first game of this season because that is what the parties have committed to,” Birch said.

The league opens its regular season on Sept. 8. Preseason contests start today. “We have a strong confidence that the testing program, as we have designed it, will sufficiently deter use, but also has a reasonable opportunity to detect the use of those who choose to do it,” Birch said. There are no valid statistics on what percentage of players use the banned substance, but media reports have speculated 10 to 20 percent of the league’s players have tried it. Birch said he did not believe it was that prevalent.

Testing would be on a random basis. All or some portion of NFL players would be subject to the test during pre-season with testing done weekly during the regular and post-season.

There could even be game-day testing, something the NFL has shied away from previously because of logistical issues. The only limitation on the number of times a player could be tested would be in the off-season when the maximum would be six. The off-season runs from February through the start of training camp.

“If a person was particularly lucky or unlucky it could be 22-23 times (a year),” Birch said.

“I don’t suspect it will be that much but given the number of test dates that we will have, I would certainly expect our players will be tested in an amount that would be meaningful.”—Reuters

TOKYO: WBC minimumweight champion Kazuto Ioka of Japan (right) exchanges punches with challenger Juan Hernandez of Mexico during the seventh round of the WBC minimumweight title bout. Ioka retained his title. —AP

Lakafia to play Ireland MERIGNAC: Biarritz number eight Raphael Lakafia will make his debut for France on Saturday after being named in the starting line-up for their World Cup warm-up match against Ireland in Bordeaux.

The 22-year-old, who muscled his way into coach Marc Lievremont’s preliminary squad after some barn-storming performances for Biarritz and at the expense of the experienced Sebastien Chabal, will take his place in the back row between club colleague Imanol Harinordoquy and captain Thierry Dusautoir.

Lievremont has included a number of players who have been out of action for some time, including hooker Dimitri Szarzewski who has not played since Januar y. Number one hooker William Servat is not included as he also returns

from injury.

Maxime Mermoz, who has been out of action since February, returns at centre while Damien Traille has been named at full-back - his first outing since the end of March.

Vincent Clerc is named on the wing two weeks after he had surgery on his right knee while prop Fabien Barcella, who has been sidelined for a year, is on the bench.

Second row forward Romain MilloChluski makes his first start for France since being dropped after the humiliating 59-16 defeat by Australia last November while Dimitri Yavchili is preferred to Morgan Parra at scrum-half.

Following Saturday’s game, France will travel to Ireland with the two teams meeting again in Dublin on August 20.—AFP

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Fever retains East lead INDIANAPOLIS: The Indiana Fever maintained its lead in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference by establishing a big early lead and holding on for an 81-68 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Tuesday.

Tamika Catchings scored 21 points to lead a balanced offense, while Erin Phillips added 18 points for the Fever, who stayed a game ahead of Connecticut.

Indiana led by as many as 20 points before Becky Hammon scored 15 points in the final quarter period to help the Silver Stars cut the deficit to ten with with 2:17 to play. Hammon scored 19 points.

JOHNS CREEK: Ryo Ishikawa, of Japan, hits out of a bunker on the 14th hole during a practice round for the PGA Championship golf tournament. —AP

Heat, pressure could make PGA a true gem ATLANTA: Tiger Woods is healthy. Rory McIlroy is ready. Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Adam Scott are hungry.

Temperatures are hot, the course is formidable and young guns are taking aim at a major title.

There’s not much more golf fans could want when the 93rd PGA Championship today morning at Atlanta Athletic Club, a 7,467-yard par 70 layout where the world’s finest meet in the year’s final major tournament.

“The competition is strong,” Scott said.

“Luke Donald has played amazing, Lee Westwood is playing amazing and now we have Tiger healthy again, so this is going to be interesting for everyone to watch.”

Former World No. 1 Woods, a 14-time major winner chasing the all-time record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, missed three months with left knee and Achilles tendon injuries before returning last week at a World Golf Championhips event.

Woods said he was “absolutely encouraged” about his game even though he has not won any title since the Australian Masters in November 2009 and has not won a major since the 2008 US Open.

“It would surprise me if he went on and won the next couple of weeks,” said World No. 1 Donald, the Englishman citing the difficulty in coming back from an injury at a high level. McIlroy, the Northern Ireland prodigy who won his first major title at the US Open in June, was hailed as the next Woods but was unhappy with wind for the second British Open in a row and said he likely will play the US tour in 2012.

“I’m playing well,” McIlroy said. “I’m really happy with the way I’m hitting it and driving it a lot better than I have done the last couple weeks, so yeah, I’m ready for it.”

Australian Scott comes off a WGC victor y last week with new caddie Steve Williams, fired by Woods in July after serving as his bagman in 13 major wins.

“I’ve won a few times before a major and I’ve won a few times the week after a major as well, but it’s very hard to peak for a certain week,” Scott said. “With the way I’ve set it up, it shouldn’t be as hard as it was in the past to carry a bit of form into a major.”

Scott will play alongside Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa and Italy’s Matteo Manassero, teen titans threatening to claim a major title before the 31-year-old Aussie. “We have some high-quality young players living up to their potential quickly like Rory and Ryo and Matteo,” Scott said.

England’s second-ranked Lee Westwood has adopted a more relaxed attitude in his search for a first major crown after talks with Bob Rotella, the sports psychologist who helped Darren Clarke before his British Open victory in July. “I’ve done all the hard work now, done it for 20 years,” Westwood said. “It is time to just relax and let it flow... have a free and clear mind and play like it doesn’t really mean anything and try to have fun out there.” Westwood also hopes to complete the “Chubby Slam” for manager Chubby Chandler, who is also manager for the year’s three prior major winnersMcIlroy, compatriot Clarke and Masters winner Charl Schwartzel of South Africa.

“He has waited a long time to get a major champion and all of a sudden it has snowballed,” Schwartzel said. “He deserves it.”

The course has been renovated since offering up David Toms the lowest major 72hole score of 15-under 265 to win the 2001 PGA Championship.

“It’s quite long and demanding off the tee,” Scott said. “Driving the golf ball this week is certainly going to be the only way to create opportunity for birdies. You must be in the fairway.” Considering the wet conditions in which McIlroy won the oft-punitive US Open, the PGA might produce the test Congressional Country Club did not.

“Very fast, slopey greens which is going to be quite challenging,” Donald said. “If they get them any firmer and faster, it’s going to play more like the US Open than the US Open was.”

Sweltering heat will test fitness while the course takes its toll on golf skills. “We have to conserve some energy this week and drink water because it is extreme heat out there,” Scott said. “We’re going to be out there for 5 1/2 hours and we’re going to have to deal with it.”

Westwood dropped nine pounds with diet and exercise, deadlifting 354 pounds “a Chubby and a quarter”-and said, “In any conditions, it helps to be fit, but it’s an advantage in heat like this.”

Americans will try to end a record sixmajor win drought and prevent the first year since 1994 with no US major winner.

First-time major winners have taken nine of the past 10 majors, the lone exception being the most recent major title for an American: Phil Mickelson’s 2010 Masters victory. The last time a prior major winner won the PGA crown was in 2007 in extreme heat at Southern Hills when Woods took the title.—AFP

Hesham Al-Bu’aijan and Khalil Al-Bloushi are seen in a group photo.

Mercury 85, Lynx 80 In Phoenix, the hosts closed the gap to Minnesota to four games, ending the Lynx’s franchise-record nine-game winning streak.

Phoenix went up 78-77 with 36 seconds left. On the Lynx’s subsequent possession, Rebekkah Brunson had the ball on the baseline in traffic just a few feet from the basket but Diana Taurasi knocked the ball away and was fouled to help secure the victory.

She made two free throws with 19 seconds left to give the Mercury an 80-77 lead. Taurasi finished with 26 points. Maya Moore scored 28 points for the Lynx. Minnesota’s Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen both passed the 3,000-point mark in the game, becoming the first pair of teammates in league history to reach that plateau in the same game.

Liberty 58, Storm 56 In Newark, Cappie Pondexter scored 19 points, including the goahead layup with 41 seconds remaining, to lift New York over Seattle. After Pondexter put the Liberty ahead, Seattle’s Sue Bird missed a 3-pointer from the right corner with 20 seconds to go and a short jumper inside the free throw line with about 10 seconds left. The ball was knocked out of bounds by New York and Seattle’s Swin Cash

LOS ANGELES: Sparks center Jantel Lavender (front left) and Tulsa Shock center Elizabeth Cambage (back) of Australia, scramble for a loose ball in the first half of a WNBA basketball game.—AP missed a layup after the ensuing inbounds play. Plenette Pierson had nine points and eight rebounds for the Liberty, who won despite shooting 39 percent from the field, including 4 for 12 on 3-pointers. Bird scored 17 points and Tanisha Wright and Katie Smith had 11 apiece for Seattle, which was 31 percent from the field, including 8 for 21 on 3s.

Sun 69, Sky 58 In Uncasville, Connecticut, Tina Charles scored 16 points and added 11 rebounds for her seventh straight double-double to tie the WNBA record and lead Connecticut past Chicago. Charles matched Lauren Jackson’s mark set in 2003. Kara

Lawson added 14 points for Connecticut. Sylvia Fowles led Chicago with 19 points.

fourth quarter to take a 67-61 lead, only to see Atlanta close the game out on a 11-3 spurt.

Dream 72, Mystics 70 In Washington, Sancho Lyttle hit a 13-footer with less than a second remaining to give Atlanta a comeback win over Washington. Angel McCoughtry scored 19 points for Atlanta while Erika DeSouza added 18 points and 12 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Matee Ajavon scored 17 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t prevent the Mystics from falling to their second last-second loss in three games. Washington put together a 19-6 run during the

Sparks 71, Shock 66 In Los Angeles, the hosts handed Tulsa its 15th straight loss. Ticha Penicheiro scored a season-high 23 points, while Natasha Lacy and Tina Thompson had 12 points apiece to help the Sparks snap a three-game losing skid. Penicheiro added seven rebounds and seven assists.

Tiffany Jackson led Tulsa with 18 points. The Shock came close to ending their long losing skid, getting within three points in the final minute before Penicheiro hit a pair of free throws to seal it.—AP

Indian sisters defy gender bias NEW DELHI: Every time she leaps to shoot, 21year-old basketball player Pratima Singh considers herself lucky that all she has to defy is gravity.

For her four elder sisters, two of them former national captains and another India’s offensive lynchpin, a stronger drag was the country’s notorious gender bias. A recent Thomson Reuters Foundation poll ranks India as the fourth most dangerous country for women, primarily due to the hi gh female foeticide and infanticide rates in the world’s second most populous country.

According to UN Population Fund, up to 50 million girls are missing in India over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide .

Eyebrows were naturally raised when Priyanka, eldest of the five Singh sisters from India’s holy city of Varanasi, sought to make basketball her career, thus blazing a trail for sisters Divya, Prashanti, Akanksha and Pratima, all of whom shared her healthy distaste for the stereotype. “I in fact had a fight with an aged relative in our ancestral village near Varanasi,” Divya, who captained the Indian women’s team in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, told Reuters.

“She was sympathising with my father for being ‘burdened’ with five daughters. I told her ‘That’s none of your business and don’t worry,

Al-Ahli Bank and Boubyan Bank.

you won’t have to feed us.’ “She was completely dumbstruck,” giggled the former shooting guard, who is now coaching having completed a sports management course in the United States.

Even her father, a banker, would have preferred the sisters to go into civil service, said Divya. “Whenever we are at home, he still keeps asking ‘why don’t you give it a try?’. But deep inside, I know he has given up,” she said before throwing her head back and joining her giggling sisters. Youngest sister Pratima, an India forward recovering from a knee injury, said things became easier by the time she stepped on to the court. “Priyanka faced more resistance than any of us,” Pratima told of her sister now settled in Bangkok. “By the time I decided to pursue basketball, everyone had accepted it. I’m fortunate that I did not have to experience what Priyanka and Divya went through,” the 5’8” forward said, running fingers through her hair.

“But it has not been altogether a smooth journey for me either. My college teachers still have a problem with it and they don’t miss a chance to remind me how many classes I have missed due to my basketball commitments.”

Prashanti, 26, put it down to the conservative mentality that moulds the outlook towards work-

ing women in most of India’s smaller towns and villages. “When Priyanka and Divya started playing basketball, it was a new thing there and people are always apprehensive about anything novel,” said the 5’8” shooting guard who captained India from 2009-2010. Prashanti explained how it was hurting India.

“There was a girl of my batch in school. She was an amazing athlete, so athletic and gifted.

She was very agile and the fastest among us.

“But she never got the support of her family.

She was forced to quit the game. I heard she has settled down and is now just another housewife, which I think is a pity.” Divya stormed another male bastion when she took over the reins of the Indian youth team and is relishing the challenge of coaching boys. “It’s a not a big deal coaching boys,” she said at the capital’s Indira Gandhi indoor stadium, named after India’s lone woman prime minister whose hectored male colleagues reportedly accepted her as the only ‘man’ in her cabinet.

“The boys respect me for having captained India and the eight years I represented the country,” said Divya. “It’s a mixed bag, some pay more attention than others and some need that extra goading.

Overall, they don’t have issues with a female coach and I’m enjoying it.” —Reuters

The International Bank and KFH.

KBC Futsal tourney kicks off KUWAIT: Sixteen teams representing banks in Kuwait compete in the 4th annual Ramadan Futsal tournament which takes place at the Ahmad Bishr AlRoumi high school hall until Saturday, August 13, 2011.

The first day of competition saw the Gulf Bank (A) defeat the Ahli United Bank (B) with a score of 6 - 0, while the Ahli United Bank (A) beat Boubyan Bank (B) 5 - 0. Meanwhile, the International Bank (A) defeated the Commercial Bank (A) 3 - 0, and the Kuwait Finance House (A) beat the International Bank (B) 7-3.

Head of the sports committee Khalil Al-Bloushi urged staff members of banking sector to attend matches and suppor t their teams as they play for a chance to win coveted prizes allocated by the Kuwait Banks Club.

The National Bank of Kuwait and Commercial Bank.

A match in progress in the 4th annual Ramadan Futsal tournament .

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Klinsmann ready to start with US national team PHILADELPHIA: Less than two weeks after he was hired to jolt a program plagued by lackluster results, Jurgen Klinsmann faces his first test as US coach late yesterday in a friendly against Mexico.

“Jumping into a game this right away is not an easy task, but it’s an exciting one,” Klinsmann said Tuesday.

Klinsmann, one of the greatest players Germany has ever produced, was put in charge of making the US competitive again in the World Cup. After reaching the round of 16 at last year’s World Cup, the Americans took a step backward this year.

They were routed by Spain in early June, upset by Panama in Gold Cup group play and then blew a two-goal lead against Mexico before losing the Gold Cup final, costing Bob Bradley his coaching job.

The early - real early - returns are promising. Klinsmann says he’s encouraged by the positive attitudes and talent after only a few days of camp. He

jumped into training camp with an open mind about who could become impact players, and where the pipeline needs more prospects.

Some of the best US players — Landon Donovan, captain Carlos Bocanegra, defender Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey - are aging, and the US didn’t have the best track record of developing promising young talent under Bradley. At least, not enough of it. Klinsmann wants to find the next Donovan; the new generation of goalkeepers. If Mexico is the focus this week, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil never seemed too far out of his thoughts. “I need to make sure the right people are in place,” he said.

The Gold Cup loss to Mexico was a sign that the US team’s progress had stalled under Bradley. The US almost hired Klinsmann twice - first after the 2006 World Cup and again last year before giving Bradley what turned out to be a short-lived contract extension.

Bradley’s son Michael, a midfielder,

described his fired father as a “strong guy” who handled the news like a pro.

“It’s part of the game,” Michael Bradley said. “Nobody would have expected he was going to be here 20 years. You know that going in. My dad, more than anybody, realized that. He was always committed to work as hard as he could and doing whatever he could to help the national team while he was here.”

Now it’s Klinsmann’s turn. Klinsmann led his native Germany to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup, and had opportunities to coach big European clubs or national teams. But he spurned them for the chance to stay in the United States - his wife is American and they’ve lived in California for the last 13 years - and take on the challenge of turning US football into World Cup contenders.

“After a couple of days, I’m highly impressed with these guys,” he said. His familiarization process with his team has been sped up. Klinsmann had about 13 players for the first training

session Sunday night, and the first full squad training session was Monday morning. The team practiced Tuesday across the street from the site of the game, Lincoln Financial Field. About 25,000 tickets had been sold at the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia EaglesDonovan, the face of American soccer, was encouraged by the message and spirit of his new coach.

“Jurgen has very positive energy and it’s infectious,” said Donovan, who briefly played for Klinsmann at Bayern Munich in 2009. “I think the guys have already taken to that well. As far as tactical things and a style and an approach to the way we play, that’s going to take a while.” While he felt “sadness and compassion” for Bradley, Donovan said a fresh outlook was appreciated.

“We’re kind of at a tipping point now where it’s time to really go for it,” Donovan said. “We’re not worried about whether Major League Soccer is going to make it or not anymore. We’re not worried about, do we have the kids

that are talented enough? We’ve seen now we have kids talented enough to play on the world stage. We need to cultivate that more.”

This is a friendly in name only. These are the two best teams in CONCACAF, and it’s a heated rivalry whenever and wherever they play. Mexico has only beaten the US twice on US soil since 2000, but the wins have been in the Gold Cup finals.

“We’re going to give them a fight,” Klinsmann said. Mexico won’t have striker Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez for this game, but it’s still a solid squad. El Tri’s bringing Rafael Marquez, Giovani dos Santos, Andres Guardado and Pablo Barrera, who scored twice in the Gold Cup final.

Klinsmann could unleash his energetic, attacking style against Mexico.

He wants to put on a show that wins big games and make the game appealing for American fans. “We’ll go for it,” he said. “We’ll take risks and put the opponent under pressure.”—AP

We fear no team: Nigerian upstarts

SWITZERLAND: In this July 24, 2011 file photo, Thun goalkeeper David Da Costa shouts through a megaphone after the Swiss League soccer match. Da Costa has been fined by the Swiss league for his post-match routine of rousing fans with a megaphone to taunt and goad their opponents.—AP

Menezes a total contrast to table-thumping Dunga STUTTGART: Brazil coach Mano Menezes displayed a laidback approach far removed from his argumentative predecessor Dunga as he brushed off the pressure following his team’s Copa America failure on Tuesday.

Menezes, whose side face Germany in a friendly late yesterday, said he would not be sucked into the “whirlpool of opinions” which followed his team’s shock quarter-final exit to Paraguay last month.

The mellow Menezes, a complete opposite of the famously table-thumping Dunga who was fired after last year’s quarter-final exit at the World Cup, said his team was on the right track despite last month’s setback.

“It’s normal anywhere in the world to have high expectations and our country is the same,” he said, without showing the slightest sign of frustration.

“If you don’t know how to live with this, then you can’t take on a responsibility such as the Brazilian team.

Sometimes, you feel that people don’t want to listen, no matter what you say, but this passes, we know that everyone wants the best for the team.

“The important thing is not to get lost in this whirlpool of opinions. We are good enough to beat any opponents, we always play to win the match and that is what we are going to do.”

Brazil had an unhappy Copa America, managing only one win in four games and drawing with Paraguay and Venezuela in the group stage before being eliminated by their smaller neighbours.

In all those games, Brazil were let

down by unusually poor finishing, something Menezes also swept aside.

“Finishing has never been a problem in Brazilian football, we are missing goals at the moment but it will pass,” he said.

Menezes has been given the huge job of rebuilding Brazil and producing a side good enough to withstand the pressure of playing on home soil and winning the 2014 World Cup. He has already shown that he has the appetite for a challenge.

In 2005 he led Gremio-one of Brazil’s biggest clubs- out of the second division, clinching promotion in a playoff game against Nautico which they won 1-0 despite being reduced to seven men after four red cards.

Within two years, he had taken them to the Libertadores Cup final. He then joined Corinthians, another top Brazilian club, after they had been relegated and led them straight back to the top flight.

In his year in charge of Brazil, he has tried to move back towards their traditional passing game rather than the physical approach favoured by Dunga.

Menezes said he was encouraged by performances under his leadership, even in matches Brazil had lost. “I don’t like to base everything around the result,” said Menezes.

“Our method is to play good games against high-level opponents. We have never been dominated by the opposition, even against Argentina and France when we lost. “The most important thing is to find something consistent which shows we are progressing, something which backs up our methods, or which tells us we should change what we are doing.”—Reuters

MEXICO: Paraguay’s coach Francisco Arce speaks to his players during a practice session in Mexico City. Paraguay will face America late yesterday in a friendly soccer match as a tribute to soccer player Salvador Cabanas, who was shot in the head in January, last year, and Cabanas himself may even briefly join in the match.—AP

JOHANNESBURG: Unfancied Sunshine Stars of Nigeria will be virtually assured of an African Confederation Cup semi-finals place if they defeat Moghreb Fes in Morocco Saturday.

Victories over Daring Club Motema Pembe of Democratic Republic of Congo at home and JS Kabylie of Algeria away have lifted the unfashionable club from south-western town Akure to the top of Group B with a maximum six points.

Moghreb have four points, 1994 African Cup Winners Cup title holders Notema Pembe one and Kayblie are surprisingly pointless despite a proud record that includes six African titles.

Although Stars coach Gbenga

Ogunbote has insisted for months that his squad fear no rival in the second-tier African competition and are capable of going all the way, few observers took notice until the come-frombehind 2-1 win at Kabylie.

Emmanuel Sunday equalised with his third Confederation Cup goal of the season and Sakibu Atanda claimed his first of the African campaign to boost the chances of Sunshine becoming the first Nigerian club to lift the trophy.

“We may be competing in Africa for the first time and we accept that no one gives up a chance of lifting the trophy, but we fear no team,” stressed Ogunbote ahead of the journey

to north-west Africa. Moghreb are hoping to become the third Moroccan winners of the Cup after Rabat sides FAR and FUS and after a late home victory over Kabylie they fought back to hold Motema Pembe in Kinshasa.

Fes have scored more goals than any other contender for the 660,000-dollar first prize with 12 of the 16 coming at home, including a Tarik Sektioui hat-trick in the 5-1 demolition of Sudanese visitors Al-Khartoum.

Nothing less than three points will keep two-time African champions Kabylie in contention for a knockout place when they host Notema Pembe Friday in the opening fixture of the weekend.

The other group is tighter with

three points separating unexpected pacesetters InterClube of Angola from bottom team ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast, a fancied team who have secured just one point from two outings.

ASEC are in a similar situation to Kayblie-they need maximum points to have a realistic chance of avoiding elimination after the six-round group phase and playing in Abidjan should give them the edge over combative Nigerians Kaduna United. Club Africain of Tunisia, who exceeded expectations by drawing at ASEC only to flop at home when held goalless by Kaduna, confront InterClube in North Africa and a victory could lift them to the top of the table.—AFP

Coach admits old, weary Ahly face uphill struggle JOHANNESBURG: Al-Ahly coach Manuel Jose has admitted ahead of a crucial African Champions League clash with Mouloudia Alger in Egypt tomorrow that a record seventh title may be beyond his weary, ageing squad.

The Portuguese with the midas touch has guided the Red Devils to glory four times in the premier Pan-African club competition by building teams around stars like goalkeeper Essam al-Hadary, defender Wael Gomaa and midfielder Mohamed Aboutreika.

Al-Hadary now plays his club football in neighbouring Sudan, Gomaa can be exposed by swift strikers and Aboutreika is prone to injury and no longer able to dominate the middle of the pitch.

“My best players are getting older and we are not as powerful as in previous years,” admitted the coach who began a third spell at the club this year and led them to a seventh consecutive Egyptian title. Ahly have also been unlucky with creative midfielder Mohamed Barakat missing a home draw with Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and away loss to Esperance of Tunisia after breaking an arm when accidentally hitting a hotel chair.

The popular uprising that triggered the overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak last February halted domestic football and clubs later had to fulfil a breathtaking fixture schedule to catch up. Jose says his team were worn out by the end of the championship and had virtually no rest before launching a Champions League Group B campaign against Wydad with untypical defensive blunders costing them maximum points.

Mouloudia have also collected a solitary point from two outings with close-season player and coaching changes adversely affecting a club thumped 4-0 in Casablanca two weeks ago.

“The group phase kicked off at a bad time for North African clubs as we are between seasons and our inadequate fitness was brutally exposed by Wydad,” new Mouloudia coach Abdelhak Meguellati confessed.

While Ahly and 1976 champions Mouloudia chase a win that would keep them in contention for a toptwo finish and a semi-finals slot, goal-hungry Wydad host defensively strong Esperance Sunday.

Wydad have struck 10 goals in their last three African outings with Mouhssine Iajour and Congoborn Fabrice Ondama among the leading Champions League scorers while Esperance have conceded only three in six qualifying and group matches.

Enyimba of Nigeria-one of only three teams to successfully defend the title since its 1964 inceptionand twice runners-up Al-Hilal of Sudan have set the Group A pace with four points each.

Both enjoy home advantage Sunday with Enyimba facing goal-shy Raja Casablanca of Morocco in south-eastern city Aba while Hilal confront 2008 runners-up Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon in sauna-like Omdurman.

Uche Kalu could pose the biggset threat to threetime African champions Raja after bagging a brace in Garoua while Cotonsport must contain Zimbabwean Edward Sadomba after he scored three times in two group matches.—AFP

UKRAINE: A main entrance to the stadium Metallist that will host the Euro 2012 soccer tournament in Kharkiv. Kharkiv is one of Ukraine’s four host cities for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament. —AP

Porto still favorites LISBON: Benfica and Sporting have refreshed underperforming squads for the start of the Premier League season tomorrow but a mainly unchanged Porto are still the team to beat despite the exit of coach Andre Villas-Boas.

Porto won the treble before VillasBoas joined Chelsea in June, lifting the Europa League and the Portuguese Cup and going undefeated in the domestic league, finishing 21 points ahead of second-placed Benfica and 36 in front of Sporting in third.

Perennial sellers in the transfer market, Porto have so far retained their key players including powerful Brazilian forward Hulk and prolific Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.

New coach Vitor Pereira also made a flying start, guiding the team to a 2-1 win over Vitoria Guimaraes in Sunday’s Portuguese Super Cup. “The greatest fun about being a football coach is living under pressure, the higher the difficulty level the more at ease I feel. I enjoy it,” he said.

Questions remain, though, about how the inexperienced Pereira will handle the pressure of the Champions League and the tougher competition at home especially if they cannot prevent one of Europe’s bigger clubs prising Falcao away.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus has tried to fill some of the gaps evident last term, particularly at the back. “This is the most balanced group I’ve managed in my three seasons here, the squad has a lot

of variety,” Jesus said.

Keeper Roberto, whose blunders cost Benfica several points last season, has been sold to Real Zaragoza and the team are expecting much from Brazilian shot-stopper Artur, a new signing from Braga, and Portugal international Eduardo.

Fabio Coentrao, the team’s top performer last term, has left for Real Madrid.

But the arrival of Spain’s Joan Capdevila will bring experience and Argentine centre back Ezequiel Garay should stiffen the back four.

Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel and Spanish forward Nolito have made bright starts, shining as Benfica knocked out Turkey’s Trabzonspor in Champions League qualifying.

The biggest overhaul has been at Sporting where the new board hired coach Domingos Paciencia on the strength of his exploits with unfancied Braga.

Sporting, who have not won the league since 2002, have signed more than 15 players and made room for them by releasing several underperformers.

But pre-season form has been mixed and question marks hang over a leaky defence and about whether the coach can succeed at a bigger club. Europa League runners-up Braga have caused the “big three” problems in the last two seasons although they look as if they could struggle without Domingos and several key players.—Reuters

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England top India

SRI LANKA: Australian cricketer Shane Watson bats as Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara (left) looks on during the first one-day international cricket match. —AP

Johnson and Watson fire Australia to victory PALLEKELE: Mitchell Johnson grabbed a career-best 6-31 and Shane Watson smashed a brisk 69 to guide Australia to a sevenwicket win over Sri Lanka in the first 50-over one-day international yesterday. Opener Watson cracked six sixes and five fours in his 51-ball knock as Australia achieved a 192-run target with more than 11 overs to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Left-arm fast bowler Johnson played a key role in restricting Sri Lanka to a modest total, marking his 100th one-day international with disciplined bowling to bag his third haul of five or more wickets.

Watson then kept pressure on Sri Lanka with some exciting strokeplay, reaching his 24th halfcentury in one-dayers with a six off spinner Ajantha Mendis.

He dominated a 59-run stand for the opening wicket with Brad Haddin (12) before falling in the 12th over, but had put his team in a strong position at that stage. He also completed 4,000 runs in onedayers during his knock.

Skipper Michael Clarke (53 not out) then added 101 for the third wicket with Ricky Ponting (53) to steer his team home.

“The wicket was fantastic. It was dry but held together better than I expected,” said Clarke. “It is important that I lead from the front and it is great having Ponting at number three with all that experience at the other end.”

Australian paceman Brett Lee earlier became the seventh bowler to take 350 wickets in one-dayers when he dismissed Nuwan

Kulasekara (34) for his lone victim of the innings.

Sri Lanka were struggling at 117-7 following Johnson’s fourwicket burst in his opening spell before lower-order batsmen Suraj Randiv, who hit one six and four fours in his 41, and Kulasekara put on 60 runs for the eighth wicket.

Man-of-the-match Johnson ended Sri Lanka’s resistance when he had Randiv-the home side’s highest scorer-caught in the deep and then bowled Ajantha Mendis in his ninth over.

“This was not a 190 wicket. We did not bat well and our shot selection was not good. I think our spinners bowled well, but they did not have runs to defend,” said Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan. Sri Lanka got off to a solid start after winning the toss

when Upul Tharanga (34) and Dilshan (29) put on 54 for the opening wicket before Australia struck back.

Tharanga, returning to the side after serving a three-month drugs ban, looked in good touch as he fluently drove Lee for two successive fours in the opening over.

Sri Lanka’s slide began with the dismissal of Tharanga, who was bowled by left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty while attempting to cut after hitting seven fours in his 28ball knock.

Johnson struck in his first over when he had Mahela Jayawardene caught behind and then had Kumar Sangakkara caught in the covers. He also accounted for Jeevan Mendis and Angelo Mathews in his opening seven-over spell.—AFP

Scoreboard PALLEKELE: Complete scoreboard of the first one-day international between Sri Lanka and Australia at the Pallekele International Stadium yesterday: Sri Lanka: U. Tharanga b Doherty 34 T. Dilshan c Bollinger b D. Hussey 29 K. Sangakkara c Smith b Johnson 16 M. Jayawardene c Haddin b Johnson 3 D. Chandimal c Clarke b Bollinger 12 A. Mathews c Watson b Johnson 15 J. Mendis b Johnson 2 S. Randiv c Doherty b Johnson 41 N. Kulasekara c M. Hussey b Lee 34 A. Mendis b Johnson 0 S. Lakmal not out 0 Extras (lb3, w2) 5 Total (for all out; 41.1 overs) 191 Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Tharanga), 2-76 (Dilshan), 3-80 (Jayawardene), 4-89 (Sangakkara), 5-101 (Chandimal), 6-112 (J. Mendis), 7-117 (Mathews), 8-177 (Randiv), 9-177 (A. Mendis), 10-191 (Kulasekara).

Bowling: Lee 7.1-0-33-1 (w1), Bollinger 7-134-1 (w1), Watson 2-0-12-0, Doherty 10-1-481, D. Hussey 2-0-12-1, Johnson 10-1-31-6, Smith 3-0-18-0.

Australia: S. Watson c Jayawardene b Randiv 69 B. Haddin b A. Mendis 12 R. Ponting b Randiv 53 M. Clarke not out 53 M. Hussey not out 2 Extras (lb1, w2) 3 Total (for three wickets; 38.1 overs) 192 Fall of wickets: 1-59 (Haddin), 2-81 (Watson), 3-182 (Ponting).

Bowling: Kulasekara 5-1-21-0, Lakmal 5-0-390 (w1), A. Mendis 6-0-32-1, Randiv 8.1-0-44-2, J. Mendis 9-0-37-0, Dilshan 5-1-18-0 (w1).

Result: Australia win by seven wickets

Murray’s play cools off as US Open approaches MONTREAL: Andy Murray’s North American hard court seasons have had blazing starts the last two years winning back-to-back Canadian titles only to see his play cool off at the US Open.

But after watching his title defence come to a shock end with a 6-3 6-1 loss to South African Kevin Anderson on Tuesday at the Montreal Masters, the world number four will employ a little reverse psychology in this year’s buildup to Flushing Meadows.

“The last few years I played probably my best tennis here and then at the US Open not played so well,” Murray told reporters. “I would still have rather played better today.

“But I’ll try and do well in the doubles with (brother) Jamie and then get myself ready for Cincinnati because I’ll need to get some matches in for the US Open.

“Obviously that’s the goal, is to play my best tennis there (US Open).” For all his success on the Canadian hard courts, which include two other semi-finals appearances as well as two titles, Murray has been unable to translate it into US Open success losing in the

third round last year and the fourth round in 2009.

In 2008, the Briton won the Cincinnati Masters, his final tune-up before heading to New York and advanced to the final before losing to Roger Federer.

After his Montreal meltdown, Murray will be counting a strong performance in Cincinnati next week to once again provide a springboard into the year’s final grand slam.

The Scotsman was at a loss to explain his miserable showing in Montreal having prepared in much the same way he has the past two years that saw him end the week lifting the trophy.

“Sometimes you make mistakes with your preparation but I’ve done pretty similar stuff that I always do coming here,” said Murray. “It’s just really a bad day.

“I’m not exactly sure why because it’s normal to be a little bit nervous and not play your best when you haven’t played in awhile.

“I’ll try and do well in the doubles and get myself ready for Cincinnati because I’ll need to get some matches in.”

Murray arrived in Canada sporting a new short-cropped haircut and praising a new diet. Taking a page out of Novak Djokovic’s cookbook, Murray hopes that a change in his eating habits will provide him with the same boost in fitness the Serb has experienced and helped propel him to the world’s top ranking, two Grand Slam titles and a 481 record this year.

Murray claims the new diet has left him more energetic but he looked lethargic against Anderson.

Playing his first event since a semi-final loss to Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon, Murray spent the last few weeks putting himself through a gruelling training camp in Miami that may have left him drained.

“I trained in Miami for two weeks before I came here on Thursday,” said Murray. “I’ve been training for pretty much two and a half weeks.

“I’ll have a look at it the next couple of days and see. I should have played more points and more sets maybe. I don’t know because I didn’t feel that comfortable once the points got started. “You need to train hard these days to be at the top.”—Reuters

BIRMINGHAM: England enjoyed an excellent opening day in the third Test against India as they pursued a win that would see them replace the tourists at the head of the ICC’s Test Championship table.

They closed on 84 without loss in reply to India’s modest first innings 224, a deficit of 140 runs, at Edgbaston here yesterday.

England captain Andrew Strauss was 52 not out and fellow left-handed opener Alastair Cook 27 not out in front of a sell-out 25,000 crowd at Warwickshire’s headquarters, redeveloped at a cost of £32 million ($52 million). Their unbroken stand rounded off a good day for England, already 2-0 up, as they pursued a victory that see them take the fourmatch series and go to the top of the Test standings.

Strauss, in what was his best Test score this season, set the seal on a fine first day for England shortly before stumps by completing a 76ball fifty including 10 fours.

Earlier seamers Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan, England’s heroes with both bat and ball during their crushing 319-run second Test win at Trent Bridge, shared eight wickets.

Broad took four for 53 in 17 overs, with the fast-medium bowler dismissing both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar as the India stars managed just one run between them.

Meanwhile Bresnan, recalled at Trent Bridge in place of the stillinjured Chris Tremlett, had four for 62 in 20 overs.

India have yet to post 300 this series but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni prevented total embarrassment with a swashbuckling 77 after a top-order collapse reduced his side to 111 for seven.

Together with the resourceful Praveen Kumar, he added a run-aball 84 for the eighth wicket. Dhoni, whose previous best score this series was 28 in the opener at Lord’s, launched James Anderson for a straight six and also clubbed Bresnan high over long-on as he at last found his form with the bat.

Kumar was no silent partner, hitting a six and four fours in his 26 before, trying to hook Bresnan, he was caught by wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Dhoni was evenually out when an edged drive off Broad was held by first slip Strauss to end a 96-ball knock featuring three sixes and 10 fours.

Injury-hit India, after losing the toss in overcast, seam bowler friendly conditions, slumped to 75 for four at lunch with Rahul Dravid, a century-maker at Trent Bridge, brilliantly bowled by Bresnan for 22 off the last ball before the interval.

India then lost their next three

LONDON: England’s Alastair Cook (center) celebrates with teammates Ian Bell (left) and Kevin Pietersen after catching India’s Ishant Sharma, on the first day of the third Test match.—AP wickets for just 19 runs, with Bresnan again exposing Venkatsai Laxman’s vulnerability against the short delivery when the elegant batsman didn’t get over a pull short and holed out straight to Broad at long leg for 30.

Broad had previously struck first ball to remove dynamic opening batsman Sehwag for a golden duck.

Sehwag, playing his first match of the series after shoulder surgery, tried to sway out of the way of a short ball but gloved to Prior, with a review overturning Davis’s initial

verdict as it also did when Kumar was dismissed.

Bresnan then ended a stand worth 51 when left-hander Gambhir inside-edged onto his stumps for 38. Gambhir’s exit brought in Tendulkar who received a standing ovation as he walked out in pursuit of an unprecedented 100th international hundred.

But Tendulkar made just one before he was lured into playing a Broad delivery outside off-stump he might have left and edged to third slip Anderson.—AFP

Scoreboard BIRMINGHAM: Scoreboard at stumps on the first day of the third Test between England and India at Edgbaston on yesterday: India 1st Innings G. Gambhir b Bresnan 38 V. Sehwag c Prior b Broad 0 R. Dravid b Bresnan 22 S. Tendulkar c Anderson b Broad1 V. Laxman c Broad b Bresnan 30 S. Raina b Anderson 4 MS Dhoni c Strauss b Broad 77 A. Mishra c Prior b Broad 4 P. Kumar c Prior b Bresnan 26 I. Sharma c Cook b Anderson 4 S. Sreesanth not out 0 Extras (b4, lb14) 18 Total (all out, 62.2 overs, 275 mins) 224 Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Sehwag), 2-59 (Gambhir), 3-60 (Tendulkar), 4-75 (Dravid), 5-92 (Raina), 6-100 (Laxman), 7-111 (Mishra), 8-195 (Kumar), 9-224 (Dhoni), 10-224 (Sharma)

Bowling: Anderson 21.2-3-69-2; Broad 17-6-53-4; Bresnan 20-4-62-4; Swann 4-0-22-0.

England 1st Innings A. Strauss not out 52 A. Cook not out 27 Extras (lb5) 5 Total (0 wkts, 25 overs, 107 mins) 84 To bat: I Bell, K Pietersen, E Morgan, R Bopara, M Prior, T Bresnan, S Broad, G Swann, J Anderson Bowling: Kumar 9-4-27-0; Sreesanth 52-21-0; Sharma 7-2-16-0; Mishra 3-0-13-0; Raina 1-0-2-0 Match position: England are 140 runs behind India with all 10 first innings wickets standing

Cordon moves into last 16 LONDON: Kevin Cordon, a 24-yearold Guatemalan named after former England captain Kevin Keegan, has justified the contrary streak which made him prefer shuttlecocks to footballs by becoming the world badminton championships’ biggest surprise packet.

Cordon, who caused an opening day sensation by beating Chen Long, the fifth-seeded Chinese player, capitalized enterprisingly by overcoming Henri Hurskainen of Sweden 21-19, 21-17 to reach the last 16.

The world number 36 then created further surprise by saying that he had no idea why he had made that career choice, and was still trying to puzzle it out. Two things that he is certain of, though - that “it is the best decision of my life”, and that his dad has forgiven him for forsaking his favorite sport.

Indeed Cordon senior is amongst those arising at five in the morning in La Union, Zacapa, to hear of the latest exploits of the central American republic’s most unlikely sports hero.

They will probably have learned that even when Hurskainen came back with a frightening run, saving six successive game points from 13-20 down, Cordon halted the comeback with the most delicate of little net shots and then kept in control through most of the second game.

“I was still feeling tired from my match (against Chen) on Monday,” he admitted. “I just wanted to keep my focus and try to play my best again.”

Cordon mostly did that, and was particularly adept at making nimble kills at the net. When given a chance to finish the match off there were no further alarms and he took it at the first attempt.

It was though quite a spectacular end. Hurskainen managed a behindthe-back block under the intensest of pressure, which kept the rally going several more hits.

It was not till Cordon unleashed a fusillade of mid-court jabs that he created the opening for a triumphant final kill. But his family and girlfriend don’t see much of him these days. To improve his game it has been neces-

LONDON: Japan’s Matsutomo Misaki (right) and Ayaka Takahashi play against Malaysia’s Hui Ern NG and Hui Lin at the World Badminton Championships.—AP sary to forsake his home country for the last few months during which he has been based in Madrid.

“There is better practice in Europe, and more tournaments each week, and it’s easier to travel to them,” he explained.

“It’s difficult to say how many people play badminton in Guatemala, but in Spain there are more and I get better sparring partners and good coaching.” This week he is being coached by his compatriot Pedro Yang, the only Guatemalan badminton player to have qualified for the Olympics, who has remained based in Denmark after quitting the international tour.

“In just a few weeks I have improved,” Cordon said. “I have improved tactically and technically and I am more confident, because I am training with good players.”

He will next have to beat one of his regular sparring partners, Pablo Abian, who saved a match point to reach the third round of the world championships with a 21-17, 7-21, 2422 win over Marc Zwiebler, the 14^th seeded German.

Abian then ripped off his shirt before sprinting around the arena in celebration. Cordon intends to ensure that the Spaniard will have cause to leave it on next time.—AFP

Johnson and Watson fire Australia to victory

Fever retains WNBA East lead

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Klinsmann ready to start with US national team Page 18 COLOMBIA: Cameroon’s Banana Yaya (left) fights for the ball with Mexico’s Erick Torres during an U20 World Cup round of 16 soccer match.—AP

Latin America dominate U-20 WCup BOGOTA: It was a day of Latin domination at the Under-20 World Cup on Tuesday as Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Portugal all progressed to the quarterfinals.

Home team Colombia won its fourth straight match, coming from 2-1 down in the second half to beat Costa Rica 32, with James Rodriguez converting a stoppage-time penalty to clinch the win. Six-time champion Argentina defeated Egypt 2-1, with Erik Lamela scoring both goals. Mexico beat Cameroon 3-0 on penalties after a 1-1 draw through extra time, and Portugal

edged Guatemala 1-0. In the quarterfinals, Colombia will faces Mexico and Argentina will play Portugal. In late yesterday’s four remaining second-round games, Nigeria faces England, Spain plays South Korea, Brazil is up against Saudi Arabia and France meets Ecuador.

Spain and Nigeria won their three group games and are among the tournament favorites along with Colombia, Argentina and four-time champion Brazil. Colombia pulled off the victory just hours after the head coach of the senior team, Hernan Dario Gomez, resigned after reports he struck a

woman in a bar on Saturday in Bogota.

“It was a tough day for us, very tough,” said Colombia U20 coach Eduardo Lara. “The head of the coaching staff (Gomez) made a decision and this hurt all of the group. This team is a family. Maybe because of this, our first half was one of our worst.”

Luis Muriel gave Colombia a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute, but Costa Rica came back with goals in the 63rd by John Ruiz and in the 65th by Mynor Escoe to take the lead and threaten the hosts with a surprise elimination.

However, Colombia’s Pedro Franco

equalized with a 79th-minute header before Rodriguez’s dramatic late winner.

Argentina’s Lamela, who plays his club football for Roma, scored from the penalty spot in the 42nd and added his second in the 64th.

“It was a tense match but we deserved the victory,” Argentina coach Walter Perazzo said. The Egypt players complained strongly when the match ended, especially about the first penalty call by Swedish referee Markus Strombergsson, but coach El Sayed Diaa was accepting after the game.

“It’s football, maybe there were mis-

takes, maybe not,” he said. “We have to accept it. Egypt played very well, we just couldn’t get the win.”

Mexico won its penalty shootout over Cameroon by converting all three spot kicks while the Africans missed all three. Franck Ohandza had put Cameroon ahead in the 79th minute in regulation time, but Carlos Orrantia equalized for Mexico in the 81st.

“We are happy, but we are not completely satisfied,” Mexico coach Juan Carlos Chavez said. “We know there is still a lot to improve. It was a difficult match, with few opportunities, but here

Serena strolls, Clijsters pulls out TORONTO: Former world number one Serena Williams wasn’t letting the lack of a seeding slow her down Tuesday as she crushed Alona Bondarenko to reach the second round of the WTA Toronto hardcourt tournament.

Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam champion, steam-rolled Ukraine’s Bondarenko 6-0, 6-3. Second-seeded Kim Clijsters had put herself on the path to a victory as well but retired injured from her second-round match against China’s Zheng Jie. It was another setback for the Australian Open champion from Belgium, who injured her right ankle in April and then pulled out of tournaments in Rome and Madrid with right shoulder and wrist injuries.

Clijsters, the defending women’s champion at the upcoming US Open, also opted not to play in either of the recent California hardcourt tournaments that began the build-up to the last Grand Slam of the year.

Clijsters had won the first set 6-3, but with Zheng up 2-1 in the second, Clijsters hit a forehand, shook her head and departed the court.

Meanwhile, Williams’ comeback continued to fire on all cylinders. The American lost just four points as she won the first set in 16 minutes and after Bondarenko kept it on serve to 3-3 in the second Williams again hit high gear, winning three games to secure the victory.

The match was so quick, it was almost as good as having the first-

round bye enjoyed by the top eight seeds. Williams isn’t among them as she rebuilds a ranking that plummeted after she was sidelined by injury and illness for 11 months.

The American has already shown she’ll be a force to be reckoned with now that she’s back, capturing the hardcourt title in Stanford a fortnight ago.

Top-seeded Carolina Wozniacki of Denmark was to open her campaign on Wednesday with a second-round match against Italy’s Roberta Vinci, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.

Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski advanced when Australian Jelena Dokic retired while trailing 0-2 in their match. Jovanovski booked a meeting with fifth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova.

In other first-round matches, 11th-seeded Andrea Petkovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

Poland’s 13th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-1, but 16th-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova had to retire against Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova while leading 3-1 in the third set due to a left abdominal strain.

Canadian wild card Aleksandra Wozniak, ranked 150th in the world, surprised world number 23 Shahar Peer of Israel 6-1, 6-0, delighting home fans and setting up a secondround match against Australian Samantha Stosur.—AFP

we are, it’s time to start thinking about Colombia. It will be very special to play against the host.”

Portugal struggled past Guatemala, clinging on to the one-goal advantage delivered by Nelson Oliveira in the 7th minute. Portugal coach Ilidio Vale said his team will have to play better against Argentina. “I have some bittersweet feelings for advancing to the quarterfinals this way,” said Vale, suggesting his team had underestimated the Central Americans. “I’m convinced the next game will be different. We have to be more competitive.”—AP

Anderson dumps Murray in toronto

TORONTO: Serena Williams, of the United States, tosses the ball on a serve during her match against Alona Bondarenko, of Ukraine, at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament.—AP

MONTREAL: Andy Murray’s title defence at the ATP Montreal Masters collapsed on Tuesday as the off-form Scot was crushed 6-3, 6-1 in his opening match by South African Kevin Anderson.

The two-time defending champion was bundled out in 69 minutes in his second-round start.

While Murray’s Montreal campaign ended abruptly, top-seeded Novak Djokovic couldn’t even get his going as rain rolled into the city in the early evening and eventually forced the postponement of Djokovic’s scheduled secondround opener against Russian Nikolay Davydenko. More poor weather was predicted for the area yesterday, when second seed Rafael Nadal and two-time Canadian winner Roger Federer are both due on court for their first matches in the US Open tuneup. When he does get on court—now scheduled for yesterday—Djokovic will be playing his first match as a reigning world number one.

He has ascended the rankings summit with a stellar season in which he boasts a 48-1 win-loss record with eight titles.

He and former top-five regular Davydenko have not played since 2009. Djokovic won the Canadian trophy in 2007 and has never lost in Canada prior to the quarterfinals with a 12- record in the country. Before the storms rolled in, Frenchman Richard Gasquet

produced a repeat of his July Davis Cup victory over Florian Mayer as he defeated the German 6-3, 6-2.

A month ago, the 10th-seeded Gasquet won their Davis Cup encounter in Stuttgart after the 23rd-ranked Mayer served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set.

German Philipp Petzschner defeated French ninth seed Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-2 while Michael Llodra of France notched an upset victory over Russian 11th seed Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

Murray, who had hoped to kick-start his summer after several weeks of gruelling preparation in Miami, remained baffled by his failure to fire when it mattered against Anderson.

“I just felt very slow, the game seemed to be going so fast,” he said. “It’s happened to me already once this year. “I’ve trained really hard to get ready for the tournament. I’ve always played very well here. “Today I couldn’t get anything going. I started both sets really, really badly which doesn’t help against someone that serves like Kevin.

“I was down a break early. I didn’t get anything going at all. “It’s normal to be a little bit, sort of like nervous and not play your best when you haven’t played for four or five weeks,” he said. “But I hoped to be playing better than that, especially with the amount I’ve been practicing. —AFP

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US growing version of pricey Kobe beef

China surplus leaps as exports hit fresh high Page 23

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NEW DELHI: Mercedes-Benz director of sales and marketing Debashis Mitra stands next to the newly launched SLK 350 Mercedes-Benz at a function yesterday. Indian car sales slid almost 16 percent last month from a year ago, their biggest drop in nearly three years, as high interest rates kept buyers out of the showrooms, data showed. Just one in 10 households in urban areas and one in 50 in rural areas owns cars, and the country has one of the worldís fastest-growing auto markets. — AFP (See Page 22)

Gulf markets rise after global uptick

DUBAI: Stock markets in the oil-rich Gulf region recovered yesterday as global markets were rejuvenated by the US Federal Reserve pledge to keep interest rates near zero for at least two years. The Dubai Financial Market index closed 1.15 percent up after it had bounced by more than two percent in the first 15 minutes of trading, with leading shares rising after being mostly in the red since the trading week began. DFM closed at 1,460.96 points following a wave of profit-taking sales. The shares of giant Emaar Properties closed 1.45 percent up after surging 2.91 percent in earlier trading. The property developer which built Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower,

had seen its shares drop by 2.83 percent on Tuesday.

In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, shares closed 0.96 percent up at 2,602.50 points after opening in the green. All traded sectors were up, with energy shares jumping 2.85 percent and property shares rising 1.54 percent. The financial market of the capital of the United Arab Emirates had closed 1.34 percent down on Tuesday. “Local markets have reacted to the movement in US and European markets,” said Wadah Taha, chief investment officer at Al Zarooni Group in Dubai.

He said that the initial surges at opening were “euphoria... which takes place when the reaction is

spontaneous after a series of frustrations,” adding that profit-taking sales by foreign investors slowed the pace of recover y. “Foreign investors entered the market late yesterday (Tuesday) and they sold today in quick profit-taking transactions,” he said, adding that purchases by foreigners in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Tuesday amounted to 166 million dirhams ($45.2 million).

“There was an expectation that the US Fed will come up with a positive action,” he added. Taha insisted that the fundamentals in Gulf markets were strong and that the deterioration was because of panic that trickled down from global markets.

Saudi shares also recovered yes-

terday, with the Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) increasing 1.66 percent in the first 15 minutes of trading. It closed 0.51 percent up at 6,039.32, after it closed 0.81 percent down on Tuesday. The largest Arab bourse shed 5.46 percent of its value on Saturday after being the first market to feel the impact of Friday’s historic downgrading of the US credit rating

by Standard & Poor’s. The Saudi index of petrochemical companies rose by 2.51 percent, with leading SABIC shares recovering by 2.6 percent in morning trading. But the sector reduced gains to 0.18 percent and those of SABIC dropped to 0.52 percent.

Muscat Securities Market in

Oman also opened positively, increasing 0.87 percent to 5,945.23 points after shedding 2.42 percent of its value on Tuesday. But it closed 0.2 percent down in the red at 5,882.30 points. Kuwait Stock Exchange closed up 0.32 percent at 5,900.8 points. It had opened in the green, trading 0.58 up percent during the day, after closing 1.25 percent down on Tuesday. Qatar Exchange, the second largest Arab bourse, also bounced back from the red, closing 0.7 percent up at 8,127.54 points after closing 1.76 percent down on Tuesday.

Asian markets rallied yesterday following a bounce by US and European markets late on Tuesday

after the US Fed announcement.

Wall Street staged an impressive rally in the final minutes of New York trade, with the Dow finishing up 3.98 percent, or 430 points, at 11,239.77. The index had been 200 points down 45 minutes before the close. The broader S&P 500 climbed 4.74 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 5.29 percent. Those gains came on the heels of a turnaround in Europe, where falls as large as six percent were reversed.

London’s FTSE-100 index gained 1.89 percent on Tuesday and in Paris the CAC-40 rose 1.63 percent. In Frankfurt the DAX slipped 0.10 percent. European stocks continued their rally yesterday. — AFP

Apple blocks Samsung Galaxy Tab sales in EU Korean giant to challenge court motion

SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc scored its most significant victory in its intellectual property battle against Samsung Electronics after a German court temporarily barred the Korean firm from selling its flagship Galaxy tablet in most of the European Union. The court order comes a week after Samsung was forced to delay the Australian launch of its latest Galaxy tablet because of a separate lawsuit alleging Samsung infringed on a number of Apple’s patents. Apple has said Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copied the iPhone and iPad. It has sued in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc’s Android software, has countersued Apple.

“There’s no doubt the court decision will have an adverse effect on Samsung.

Samsung is clashing with Apple in many places, which could result in a temporary fall in sales and increase costs related to litigation,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities in Seoul.

Apple confirmed that a district court in the German city of Dusseldorf granted the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of

the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” said Apple’s London-based spokesman Adam Howorth. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

The ban applies throughout the European Union, except the Netherlands, where a Hague-based court said separate hearings were scheduled for yesterday and today. Apple would not say why it filed a separate case in the Netherlands. “It’s a strategy Apple has adopted to completely prevent Samsung from putting its tablet into the market place,” said Nathan Mattock, an intellectual property lawyer at Marque Lawyers in Sydney.

Samsung’s mobile unit, which includes handsets and tablet PCs, generated 30 percent of the technology giant’s revenue in the second quarter. The bulk of the rest comes from memory chips and televisions, sectors where Samsung is the global leader. Samsung, the world’s biggest technology company by revenues said it would challenge the court decision. Shares in Samsung, which raked in 154.6 trillion Korean won ($142 billion) in sales last year, ended 0.6 percent lower in a broader market up 0.3

percent. “The request for an injunction was filed with no notice to Samsung, and the order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung,” Samsung said in a statement.

“I think we will be rigorously defending our position,” Younghee Lee, senior vice president of global marketing at Samsung’s mobile business, told Reuters in New Delhi. Lee, who was unveiling the Galaxy Tab in India yesterday, said Samsung would launch the Tab in Australia innext month.

In a statement, Samsung Germany said it would file an objection immediately. “Samsung will protect its intellectual property in Germany with legal measures. We will also actively continue to defend our rights worldwide.” Apple’s move raises the stakes for Google, which has accused its biggest rivals of banding together to hamper its increasingly popular Android operating system, after it lost a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel .

Without patents, companies’ devices are vulnerable to challenges for royalties or, worse, demands from rivals to withdraw the products from the market place. Samsung has been locked in a battle with Apple over smartphone and tablet patents since April. The Galaxy

gadgets are seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple’s mobile devices, which have achieved runaway success. “I personally prefer the Galaxy tablet over the iPad because I do not want to be locked to any software. Because when you purchase an iPad, when you go for Apple or Mac products, you are actually tied to their software,” said Nadja Ybanez, a saleswoman at an electronics retailer in Singapore. Apple sold 14 million iPads in the first half of this year worldwide, compared with analysts’ sales estimates of about 7.5 million units for the Galaxy Tab over 2011.

Some analysts said Android backers were likely to look for products from other companies. “Many potential Galaxy Tab purchasers are committed Android fans, so are likely to look for alternatives that run the same operating system,” said Tim Renowden, analyst for consumer IT at UK-based research firm Ovum. “This will benefit the likes of ASUS, Toshiba, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Motorola, LG and HTC, among others, but the benefit will be diluted across multiple manufacturers.”

Industry executives said Samsung could launch a new variation of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to get it on sale in Europe, as it plans to do in Australia, or settle the dispute by paying royalties to

NEW DELHI: President and CEO Samsung South West Asia J S Shin (left), Bollywood actress Lara Dutta (center), and Samsung Electronics Senior Vice President Global marketing Y H Lee pose with Samsungís thinnest mobile tablets, the Galaxy Tab 750 and Galaxy Tab 730, during a product launch yesterday. — AFP Apple. “This will be an issue that will get settled between the two companies.

Some deal will likely get made and then they will move on,” said Peter Elston, Singapore-based Asia strategist at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia, which owns Samsung shares. In Australia, Samsung has agreed to show Apple an Australian version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 one week before its launch there, a Samsung spokesman said.

Apple is one participant in a web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns patents used in smartphones, as rivals aggressively rush into the smartphone and tablet market. Complicating things for the two tech giants is the pair’s $5 billion-plus commercial relationship, which some

analysts think might be at risk. Samsung, for instance, counts Apple as its biggest customer, making chips and other parts central to Apple’s mobile devices.

“Samsung’s collision with Apple in the mobile arena could have a spillover effect on other businesses such as chips,” said Lee. The well-reviewed Galaxy Tab 10.1 was only recently launched in Europe and is in the early stages of being rolled out. For now, the iPad is the market leader. Competing products including Research In Motion’s PlayBook and Motorola’s Xoom have received lukewarm reviews, while Hewlett Packard’s TouchPad is a late entrant in the market, which already has more than 100 devices, mostly running on Android. —Reuters

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

BUSINESS

One in four drivers in GCC does not check tyres

India car sales plunge most in nearly 3 years Minister says confidence returns to markets NEW DELHI: Indian car sales slid almost 16 percent last month from a year ago, their biggest drop in nearly three years, as steep borrowing costs kept buyers out of the showrooms, data showed yesterday. Indian car sales - viewed as a barometer of overall economic health - plunged to 133,747 units from 158,767 in the same month last year, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) reported. Rising sticker prices on the back of steeper commodity prices, higher fuel costs and 11 central bank interest rate hikes since March 2010 to tame near double-digit inflation have combined to hit demand, SIAM said.

“People want cars, they want mobility, but they may be postponing their purchases hoping interest rates will go down,” SIAM director general Vishnu Mathur told reporters. The Indian drop was the sharpest since November 2008 when sales fell over 19 percent as countries worldwide were buffeted by the global financial crisis. India is the world’s sixthlargest automobile market, surpassing France, Britain and Italy, and is expected to become the third-largest market globally by 2020, says information services firm JD Power and Associates,.

The Indian figures came as passenger car sales in neighbouring China, the world’s top car market, rose by 6.7 percent year-on-year, continuing a trend of modest growth after Beijing ended buying incentives and sought to curb demand to ease traffic congestion in big cities. The sales downturn in India and China comes as global manufacturers such as Ford, Renault-Nissan and GM have been turning to the emerging economic giants to help offset saturated markets in the West.

Mathur said Indian car sales could accelerate with a flurry of upcoming model launches beginning this month and the religious festival season star ting in September - seen as an auspicious time for Indians to make new purchases. “There could be a pickup year-over-year but it won’t be a significant rebound,” Mahantesh Sabarad, auto analyst at Mumbai’s For tune Equity Brokers told AFP. The SIAM executive said the group was sticking for the time being to its projection of a 10 to 12 percent rise in passenger car sales for this year after cutting its forecast once.

India’s car sales grew by a blistering 30 percent to 1.98 million

confidence has come back in respect of Indian markets,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, a day after Indian shares hit their lowest level since June 2010 on worries about international debt.

“In a couple of days it (the market) will be stable,” Mukherjee said as the Bombay Stock Exchange’s

units last year when borrowing costs were lower and an increasingly affluent middle class snapped up new models. Year-onyear sales of motorcycles and other two-wheelers jumped 12.6 percent to 1.06 million units in July as buyers plumped for cheaper transport while commercial vehicles sales climbed 23.70 percent

NEW DELHI: A pedestrian walks past cars at a parking lot yesterday. —AFP Sensex ended the day up 272.60 points or 1.62 percent at 17,130.51 points. He said the downgrade by Standard & Poor’s of the US credit rating and heightened concern about the debt crisis in Europe could have some impact on India’s capital and trade flows. But “the (central) Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Finance are working together in close cooperation to ensure that whatever steps are needed are taken” to offset the effect on India, he told reporters in New Delhi.

The latest financial upheaval has come as India is battling nearly double-digit inflation. Recent economic data has shown the

to 84,241. Mathur said the car sector’s outlook was positive longer term thanks to India’s highly under-penetrated market. Just one in 10 households in cities and one in 50 in rural areas own cars.

Meanwhile, confidence has returned to India’s share market after it plunged to a 14-month low on the back of the latest global financial turmoil, the country’s finance minister said yesterday.

India’s benchmark Sensex index of 30 leading shares soared nearly 400 points in early trade as part of a global upturn after the US Federal Reserve pledged to hold interest rates near zero for at least two years. “One thing is certain -

economy slowing under the brunt of the longest stretch of monetary tightening in a decade. India’s hawkish central bank has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2010, making loans for everything from cars to new factories more expensive.

To bolster the economy, India will focus on spurring greater domestic consumption, Mukherjee said in a statement Tuesday in which he also promised to “fasttrack” long-awaited market-opening reforms. Foreign investors have been pushing New Delhi to loosen tightly regulated sectors in Asia’s third-largest economy such as retail and insurance to outside investment.

Despite the latest international troubles, Mukherjee has insisted India will be able to match this year the 8.5 percent growth it posted in the previous 12 months to March 2011, even though economists are more bearish.

In the last global financial crisis in 2008-09, India came through relatively unscathed, posting nearly seven percent growth, helped by its still inward-looking economy. While the country of 1.2 billion people has liberalised its economy in the last two decades and dismantled a number of foreign investment barriers, it remains largely domestically driven. “A lot of global growth fears gripping the market should be less of a concern for a relatively closed economy such as India with its big domestic market,” London-based Capital Economics Asia economist Sukhy Ubhi told AFP. Finance ministry officials hope a silver lining for India from the global woes is a softening of international commodity prices that could help ease inflation and possibly allow the central bank to halt its monetary tightening. —AFP

KUWAIT: Bridgestone Middle East and Africa FZE yesterday unveiled results from a GCCwide survey on vehicle owners’ approach to tyre safety. The survey found that more than one in four respondents (26 percent) did not check the condition of their vehicle’s tyres - a finding which has serious implications for drivers across the region, with faulty tyres cited as a leading cause of road traffic accidents, particularly during the summer months.

The survey was conducted during the Bridgestone Tyre Safety and Eco Station road show which toured major GCC cities from February to July of this year. A total of 5,133 people, mainly between the ages of 21 and 40 (72 per cent), took part in the survey, and more than nine out of ten respondents (91 per cent) were male.

Of those surveyed by Bridgestone, three quarters (74 per cent) said that they check either their tyres’ physical state - for example if they look deflated or if the treads are worn - or their tyres’ air pressure. Almost half (47 per cent) of those drivers who practice tyre checks only claimed to do so every three months or even less frequently, , also putting themselves at risk as it is recommended that tyre checks for air pressure and tread wear should be carried out at least once a month.

Of those who did not check, the principal reason for failing to do so was a lack of knowledge, with almost half of those who didn’t check (44 per cent) saying ‘I do not know how’. This figure rose to two thirds of those respondents in the UAE (Dubai, 68 per cent and Abu Dhabi, 63 per cent).

Drivers in Muscat were the most likely to check their tyres (87 per cent), followed by four out of every five drivers in Doha and Riyadh conducting tyre checks (79 per cent and 77 per cent respectively). Kuwait had the lowest results, with less than two thirds (63 per cent) checking their tyres, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi fared little better (67 per cent and 68 per cent of respondents respectively).

Equally alarming are levels of awareness

Cab drivers celebrate iftar with Starwood KUWAIT: Starwood Hotels and Resorts Middle East celebrated its ‘Iftar for Cabs’ initiative that brought more than 30 of its hotels and resor ts in the region together for a worthy cause. During the hour of iftar, representatives from participating Starwood hotels distributed iftar packs of food and beverages to cab drivers as they drove through the main

entrance of each hotel.

Catering teams at each property prepared iftar packs for drivers which included a variety of food and beverages. Employees from all departments within the hotels including catering, administration and guest ser vices worked together on the ‘Iftar for Cabs’ initiative.

among respondents about the correct air pressure measurement (psi/kpa/bars) to be maintained in their tyres, with one third (32 per cent) of respondents stating they ‘do not know’ what it should be. Proper tyre air pressure varies according to vehicle type. Drivers should check on the driver’s door or petrol cap, or in the owner’s manual for the correct air pressure to be maintained in their tyres.

An even greater number (57 per cent) did not know about the ‘tread wear indicator’ on tyres, which are small triangle marks around the tyre sidewall which indicates the minimum level the tyre tread can wear down for safe use. Additionally, more than half (53 per cent) of all survey participants did not know that there was a relationship between tyre safety and eco friendliness. Driving a vehicle on properly inflated tyres helps to reduce rolling resistance, which aids in reducing fuel consumption.

NBK welcomes more than 450 new Facebook fans KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) welcomed more than 450 new fans to NBK’s official Facebook page in the first week of Ramadan. Fans are invited to participate in NBK’s annual Ramadan Facebook quiz which posts a daily question and awards three KD 50 prizes each day. “The competition is our way of rewarding our fans and also encouraging the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan by reminding people to Do Good,” said NBK Public Relations Officer Badria Al-Reshaid.

Participants of the daily competition must be fans of NBK’s official Facebook page but do not need to be NBK customers. Questions revolve around NBK’s Ramadan programs and events and winners are announced daily. AlReshaid noted that NBK has seen a jump in fans since Ramadan began and pointed out that NBK’s Facebook page currently has more than 21,500 fans.

“NBK greatly values the role social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook play in Kuwait and utilizes them as an important means of keeping in touch with NBK customers and their concerns. We answer questions on

Badria Al-Reshaid Facebook and Twitter, we posts news on NBK discounts, promotions and services. In other words, we listen to what people are saying online,” Al-Reshaid explained.

Visit NBK’s Official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/NBK.fans ?ref=ts Or visit NBK Twitter at http://twitter.com/NBKPage

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2700000 .4400000 .3870000 .3700000 .2740000 .2790000 .0040000 .0020000 .0737300 .7184060 .3810000 .0700000 .7042650 .0040000 .0430000

.2760000 .4550000 .3960000 .3800000 .2880000 .2950000 .0072500 .0035000 .0744790 .7256260 .4010000 .0770000 .7113430 .0072500 .0530000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2716000 .2737000 .4421650 .4455840 .3898550 .3928690 .3732820 .3761680 .2763670 .2785040 .0523270 .0527320 .0420810 .0424060 .2812420 .2834160 .0347980 .0350670 .2243890 .2261240 .0035360 .0035640 .0000000 .0060960 .0000000 .0025020 .0000000 .0031830 .0000000 .0036840 .0739750 .0745470 .7207110 .7262840 .0000000 .3871290 .0724460 .0730060 .7057300 .7111860 .0000000 .0064860

US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.573 6.048 3.158 2.482 3.798 226.270 34.991 3.645

Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - Transfer Irani Riyal - Cash

6.421 9.154 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 72.829 75.041 709.370 725.390 74.367

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 47.500 45.777 1.250 200.440 385.670 1.832 5.896 35.226

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 273.000 Euro 392.850 Sterling Pound 445.540 Canadian dollar 279.430 Turkish lire 156.000 Swiss Franc 378.380 Australian dollar 282.880 US Dollar Buying 271.800

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees

SELL CASH 285.900 725.690 3.850 281.100 536.000 36.300 52.900 167.800 47.860 396.000 35.670 6.330

SELL DRAFT 284.400 725.690 3.650 279.600

226.900 45.823 394.500 35.520 6.050

0.033 0.240 0.240 3.660 387.530 0.185 93.380 47.100 4.200 231.100 1.850 50.700 708.730 3.280 6.590 75.490 72.850 226.910 41.070 2.625 448.500 42.800 381.700 5.600 9.480 198.263 74.400 273.200 1.210

0.033

385.650 0.184 93.380 3.800 229.600

380.200 5.600 9.340 74.300 272.800

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 446.500 272.800

Selling Rate 273.150 272.145 447.576 392.129 336.282 724.214 74.342 74.975 72.800 384.485 45.882 2.485 6.055

3.166 3.655 6.424 670.004 3.573 9.225 5.743 3.937 90.730

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) 273.800 3.175 6.060 2.495 3.655 6.460 74.375 72.950 723.300 45.775 450.200 0.00003280 3.910 1.550 387.600 5.750 397.100 284.300

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

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 708.550 3.170 6.425 75.060 72.850 226.910 41.070 2.482 46.500

GOLD 1,799.860

10 Tola

GOLD 322.000 165.000 85.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

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

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) 272.450 394.300 446.300 279.400 3.585 6.045 45.765 2.481 3.650 6.420 3.158 725.600 74.250 72.800

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

business

Oil demand growth could stall in 2012: IEA LONDON: Global economic slowdown may stifle oil demand growth next year, the West’s energy watchdog said yesterday, while warning that tightening supplies could still spur yet more oil price volatility. The International Energy Agency, adviser to industrialised nations on energy policy, said that although it had not made big changes to its oil demand growth estimates for this year or next year, its predictions were now at the mercy of the global economy’s performance in the months to come. “Recognising emerging economic storm clouds, we also run a lower, 3 percent global GDP growth scenario, which more than halves base case 2012 oil demand growth to only 600,000 barrels per day (bpd),” the agency said in a monthly report.

The IEA is the last of the three top oil forecasters to publish its estimates this

month. On Tuesday, oil producing group OPEC and the US government’s agency, the Energy Information Administration, both revised their oil demand growth estimates on the back of a worsening economic outlook. The reports come as grim economic news and European and US debt struggles stoke fears of another global downturn, with oil prices falling around 15 percent over the past week in a sharp worldwide flight from risk.

An increase of 600,000 bpd demand growth for 2012 would be only a fraction of its current estimates based on global GDP growth assumptions of 4.24.4 percent for 2011-2012 and less than a quarter of very impressive growth in 2010. “That said, our global 2011/2012 GDP growth assumption in excess of 4 percent might seem optimistic in the present climate,” said the agency, which

expects the world to consume just over 91 million bpd in next year.

Olivier Jakob from Petromatrix said he believed the presence of two scenarios in the IEA report was due to the fact the IEA was obliged to use forecasts from the International Monetary Fund even though it might not necessarily agree with them. “ The IEA is politely asking its readers to ignore its official demand forecast for 2012 and guess their own between the official and the alternative scenario,” said Jakob. The IEA was not immediate available for further comment. The IEA has long said its calculations show that global oil demand has historically grown at a rate of 90 percent of the global GDP growth minus 2 percentage points. That means oil demand shows practically no growth during a year when the global economy grows by

2.5-3.0 percent.

Based on current global economic forecasts, the IEA trimmed its 2011 global oil demand growth by just 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.2 million bpd, reflecting recent high oil prices and slower economic growth. It raised its 2012 global oil demand growth forecast by 70,000 bpd to 1.61 million bpd, partly due to Japan’s higher oil-fired power needs. On Tuesday, OPEC lowered its growth forecast for next year marginally, by 20,000 bpd to 1.30 million bpd, while the EIA raised its forecast for 2012 by 60,000 bpd, with consumption now expected to climb 1.64 million bpd next year.

Despite global economic worries, the IEA said supplies remained tight, echoing opinions from OPEC and the EIA. It said OPEC’s output inched higher in July to 30.05 million bpd, close to

pre -Libyan crisis levels. But Harr y Tchilinguirian from BNP Paribas noted that similar to remarks from OPEC and the US government, the IEA said OPEC was still under-producing around 700,000 bpd to fill the supply gap later this year.

“So absent a further increase in production, inventories will have to be drawn or the price has to rise to ration demand,” said Tchilinguirian. The IEA said OPEC’s spare capacity had shrunk to 3.3 million bpd, a level it described as “fairly meagre in comparison to the totality of currently perceived supplyside risks”. “Aside from UK field problems, political instability in a number of MENA and sub-Saharan African oil producers also risks curtailing supply further in the next 18 months,” it said. “The big dipper ride may still have further to run”. — Reuters

China surplus leaps as exports hit fresh high More pressure to allow yuan to appreciate

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) speaks during a special meeting on the financial crisis with head of the French Central Bank Christian Noyer (right) Finance Minister Francois Baroin (second right) and Prime Minister Francois Fillon (third right) at the Elysee Palace yesterday. — AP

Sarkozy breaks off holiday for emergency debt meeting PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy interrupted his vacation on the French Riviera yesterday to hold an emergency government meeting on the debt crisis rattling global markets. Sarkozy, who was at the seaside home of his pregnant pop star wife Carla Bruni, and other European leaders had come under fire for staying on their summer holidays as turmoil engulfed the financial markets. But the rightwing president has now returned to Paris to meet Wednesday with his prime minister - who has broken off a holiday in Italy - and finance and budget ministers as well as the French central bank chief, his office said.

Sarkozy’s return came as the debt crisis eased somewhat after the European Central Bank began buying Spanish and Italian bonds but investor jitters continue on fears the US and eurozone debt crises will spark a new recession. European stocks rallied in opening deals on Wednesday, driven by sharp gains in Asia and on Wall Street overnight after the US Federal Reserve said it would hold nearzero interest rates for two years. But the eurozone debt crisis continues, fuelled by fears that Spain or Italy might default on their debt and possibly spark a break-up of the currency shared by 17 countries.

EU leaders are trying to implement a July 21 agreement aimed at beefing up the euro’s defences. But many of the measures need national parliamentary approval and that process that could drag on to the end of the year in some cases. The debt crisis

has turned public deficits into a major issue in the run-up to next year’s presidential election in France, which has not produced a balanced budget in three decades. France is often cited as a possible candidate for losing the coveted top credit rating after the United States, which Standard & Poor’s last week stripped of its its AAA status.

But the government has been insisting that it will meet its deficit reduction targets, even if interest payments on France’s public debt are set to be the biggest expense for the state this year. Sarkozy is also attempting to write a deficit-balancing “golden rule” into the constitution that would make balanced budgets obligatory for future French governments but the opposition Socialists are blocking the move. The French deficit currently stands at 5.7 percent of gross domestic product and the government has vowed to reduce it to 4.6 percent of GDP next year and to 3.0 percent, the EU limit, in 2013.

But the International Monetary Fund said last month that France would probably need extra action to cut its public deficit in 2012 and 2013 as falling growth threatened to complicate economic recovery. It said that without further efforts France was set for a public deficit of 3.8 percent in 2013, still above both the EU limit and the government’s forecast. The French central bank this week forecast that France would grow by only 0.2 percent in the third quarter. — AFP

BEIJING: China’s politically sensitive trade surplus expanded to $31.48 billion in July as exports rose by a fifth to hit a new record high, the customs agency said yesterday. The trade surplus - a major point of tension for China’s key trade partners, the United States and Europe - was well in excess of June’s $22.27 billion. Analysts said the figures, which also outstripped a Dow Jones forecast of $26.00 billion based on a poll of economists, would add further pressure on Beijing to allow the yuan to appreciate.

China’s major trading partners have long complained that the yuan is deliberately undervalued to give Chinese exporters an unfair advantage. “ The expansion of China’s structural surplus will certainly add more pressure for RMB appreciation,” said Alistair Thornton, a Beijing-based China analyst at IHS Global Insight. “Both a weakening dollar and a softening inflation outlook in China will allow authorities to step up the pace of nominal appreciation against the dollar.”

Exports were up 20.40 percent year on year to $175.13 billion - a fresh monthly record - while imports rose by 22.90 percent, the customs agency said on its website. Thornton said July’s export rebound was partly due to seasonal factors, and reflected demand for Christmas-season orders overseas. “Given that most orders for the next few months have already been placed, it is unlikely that the drastic downward shift in global sentiment will have too big an impact on exports through the short run,” he said. “Nonetheless... the recent market turmoil will certainly feed into the data towards the end of the year.”

The surge in expor ts came despite manufacturing activity in China contracting for the first time in a year in July due to Beijing’s efforts to slow the economy and weakening overseas demand, according to HSBC data. However, some experts said consumer confidence in the United States and

Europe were likely to hit China’s exports in the coming months.

“The data is slightly above expectations with the wider trade surplus,” said Tang Yunfei, Beijingbased economist with Founder Securities. “But given the situation in the US and euro zone, consumer

reserves, nearly $1.2 trillion of which are in US Treasury bonds.

On Tuesday China’s Premier Wen Jiabao called on countries hit by the debt crisis to adopt “concrete and responsible fiscal and monetary policies,” reflecting China’s unease over the damage a global

en at a faster rate than expected, indicating the government’s intention to use exchange rate to combat inflation at a time when the scope for further tightening is narrowed.

China’s consumer inflation hit a three-year high of 6.5 percent last

HUAIBEI, China: Chinese labourers work at a textile factory in east China’s Anhui province on Tuesday. — AFP confidence there is likely to slide in coming months and negatively impact the exports. “However, if China takes effective countermeasures such as more pro-growth policies, maybe it will drive the recovery of confidence globally.”

An unprecedented US downgrade last week and the ongoing debt crises in the United States and Europe have sparked fears of a fresh global recession. China’s trade surpluses have allowed it to accumulate around $3.2 trillionwor th of foreign exchange

downturn could do to its exportdependent economy.

China’s central bank on Wednesday set the yuan central parity rate - the midpoint of the currency’s allowed trading band at 6.4167 to the dollar, its lowest on record, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

It represented an appreciation of 6.4 percent since June last year when the central bank removed a peg introduced during the financial crisis. Beijing has in recent days allowed the yuan to strength-

month, driven by soaring food prices, fanning official concerns of potential social unrest it may trigger. The government has restricted the amount of money banks can lend on numerous occasions and hiked interest rates five times since October. But analysts said Beijing would now put on hold any more tightening measures due to the uncertain global outlook. “The policy is now pretty much on a waitand-see stance,” said Zhang Zhiwei, an economist with Nomura International in Hong Kong. — AFP

Debt elbows into Swiss banks to pay to French election end German tax row PARIS: The debt crisis has turned deficits into a major issue in the run-up to next year’s presidential election in France, a first in a country that hasn’t produced a balanced budget in three decades. After the United States, which Standard & Poor’s last week stripped of its its AAA status, France is another country often cited as as a possible candidate for losing the coveted top credit rating. With interest payments on France’s public debt set to be the biggest expense for the state this year, the government has been insisting that its deficit reduction targets are untouchable.

Th e Fre nc h d e f i c i t cu rre n tl y stan ds a t 5. 7 p e rce n t o f gro s s domestic product and the government has vowed to reduce it to 4.6 percent of GDP next year and to 3.0 percent in 2013. Budget Minister Valer ie Pe c re sse i n s i s te d o n Tuesday: “ We will not deviate by one iota from our target of improvin g ou r p ub l i c f i na n ce s.” Th e International Monetary Fund said late last month that France would probably need extra action to cut its public deficit in 2012 and 2013 as falling growth threatened to complicate economic recovery.

I t sai d t ha t w i t ho u t fu r th e r efforts France was set for a public

deficit of 3.8 percent of output in 2013, above both the EU three-percent limit and the government ’s forecast. In the current crisis context, the government faces a major headache to tr y and draw up its budget for 2012 as growth, which it hopes will this year be 2.0 percent, is already showing signs of slowing.

Unemployment, now at more than 9.0 percent, has also risen over the last two months.

The rightwing President Nicolas Sarkoz y, with nine months to go b e fo re h e s e e k s reelec t i o n, has refused to reverse certain policies, such as his radical reduction of sales tax in the restaurant sector, which have added to deficits since 2007.

He is still very unpopular according to opinion polls and, observers say, is now hoping to portray himself as a captain safely piloting his ship through the storm. “Nicolas Sarkozy is staking his mandate on the salvage of the euro,” said Le Monde newspaper last weekend.

This obligatory austerity, which is shaking up the mentality and the habits of the political class, is also affecting the Socialist opposition.

The crisis is placing it in an awkward situation by forcing it take a position on the question of debt right in the middle of the US-style primaries

it is currently holding to pick a candidate to run against Sarkozy next year. The leading S o c iali st co ntender s, Franco is Ho llande and Martine Aubry, both back the goal of reducing the deficit to 3.0 percent i n 2013. B ut t he lef t is denounced as “irresponsible” by the r i ght fo r want ing to ab ando n Sarkozy’s policies of reducing the number of state workers and the lowering of the retirement age that was adopted last year.

Sarkozy is also attacking the left for refusing to back his plans to write a deficit-balancing “golden rule” into the constitution. Sarkozy’s plan is denounced by the left as a devious ploy to depict the Socialists as reckless spendthrifts incapable of governing France in an age of debt crises. “It’s a manoeuvre by Nicolas Sarkozy to try and make people forget his responsibility in the drift of our public finances since 2007,” Hollande said.

“He cannot absolve himself with a modification of the constitution.

That would be too easy.” Hollande, who polls say is ahead in the race to become the Socialist presidential candidate, has been cultivating his image of a man of financial rigour, while Aubr y is seen by many as more to the left. —AFP

ZURICH: Swiss banks will pay two billion francs ($2.6 billion) to German tax authorities under a deal reached yesterday between Bern and Berlin to end a long-standing tax evasion and banking secrecy dispute. The deal, which is expected to be signed in coming weeks, could snare up to just short of 1,000 tax cheats over two years. Swiss Finance M inister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the deal “creates legal certainty and will strengthen the competitiveness and the reputation of Switzerland as a financial centre in the long run”.

In Berlin, a German government source said the accord “should mark a real new start in the relationship with Switzerland”. Under the deal, German taxpayers would be given a one-off chance to make an anonymous lump sum tax payment, with the tax rate to vary between 19 and 34 percent of the assets. Any taxes collected from these voluntary disclosures

would be offset against the two billion franc advance payment and refunded to the Swiss banks. In future, all investment income and capital gains arising from assets held by German taxpayers would also be covered by a withholding tax of 26.375 percent.

To prevent new undeclared funds from entering Swiss banks, German authorities would be able to request information on suspected tax cheats.

The number of requests made is expected to reach between 750 to 999 for two years, said the Swiss ministry, which added that the accord should be in force by 2013. Germany and Switzerland have locked horns over the small alpine state’s bank ing secrecy rules, which Berlin says help to shield tax cheats.

Tensions between the two boiled over in July 2010, when German authorities raided branches of Credit Suisse in Germany in a tax evasion probe based on information they pur-

chased for a reported Ä2.5 million.

Switzerland angrily condemned the move, saying that the data was stolen in violation of its banking secrecy law. With yesterday’s deal, the two neighbours agreed to set aside their dispute over the stolen bank client data. “Germany no longer sees any reason for the purchase of stolen bank client data.

Switzerland undertakes to waive criminal prosecution of persons on account of involvement in illegally acquiring bank data,” said the Swiss ministry.

In addition, German authorities would drop any plans to prosecute any bank employees who may have helped their clients to hide assets from the taxmen. The latest dual taxation agreement counts among a series of bilateral deals the Swiss have been signing in order to meet tougher international standards after a post-crisis clampdown on offshore and banking havens. — AFP

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

business

Kuwait stocks break 4-day losing streak GLOBAL DAILY MARKET REPORT KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) picked up where Europe and Asia left off. The market managed to break a four-session losing streak yesterday as it managed to add some gains by the end of the session. The Federal Open Market Committee announced after European markets closed Tuesday that benchmark rates would stay near zero through mid-2013, helping the international, Asian and GCC markets to rally during yesterday’s session.

reported climbs of 3.30 percent and 0.98 percent, respectively. Services stocks too were notable advancers, as highlighted by a 0.85 percent jump in the sector’s index. Al Safwa Holding Group was the biggest percentage gainer in the sector, with a 7.69 percent increase during the session. Telecom

to gain a notable 0.74 percent by the end of the day. Food stocks led the losers with a 1.18 percent pull back. The sector’s performance was undermined by 1.32 percent slide in the equity price of heavyweight, Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana). The scrip closed at KD 1.500.

stocks ended up. Zain added 1.05 percent, closing at KD 0.960 whilst National Mobile Telecommunications Company closed at KD 1.980, up by 1.02 percent.

On the earnings front, Arab Real Estate Company reported a net loss of KD 3.13 million for 1H2011, compare with net loss of KD 3.67 million posted during the comparable period in 2010. The scrip ended yesterday’s session flat at KD 0.033.

Elsewhere in real estate sector, Tamdeen Real Estate Company and National Real Estate Company closed up by 2 percent and 1.67 percent, respectively. That helped Global Real Estate Sector Index

The investment sector was also a loser, shedding 0.12 percent from its value. Two investment stocks made it to the top losers list for the day. Gulf Investment House was down by 8.33 percent, closing at KD 0.0275 while International Financial Advisors followed, losing 7.69 percent from its share price and closing at KD 0.030.

Market Indices Global General Index (GGI) ended the day up by 0.45 percent, at 179.52 points. Market Capitalization was up for the day reaching KD 29.38 billion. Showing a positive note, KSE Price Index closed at 5,900.8 point, adding 18.60 points (0.32 percent) from its previous close.

Market Breadth During the session, 98 companies were traded.

Market breadth was skewed towards advancers as 55 equities advanced versus 25 retreated.

Daily Trading Activity Trading activity was mixed this session. Total volume traded was up by 25.85 percent with 119.64 million shares changing hands at a total value of KD 16.63 million (28.22 percent lower compared to the Tuesday session). The investment sector was the volume leader today, accounting for 33.34 percent of total shares. The services sector was the value leader, with 33.11 percent of total traded value. National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) was the most active in terms of values traded during Wednesday session, with 2.02 million shares exchanged at an aggregate value of KD 2.12 million. The scrip flat at KD 1.040.

Top Gainers and Biggest Decliners In terms of top gainers, Investors Holding Group Company was the top gainer for the day, adding 9.09 percent and closed at KD 0.012. On the other hand, Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Company shed 9.72 percent and closed at KD 0.325, making it the biggest decliner in the market.

Sector-Wise Industrial stocks paced the advance, clocking 1.39 percent in sector gains. Kuwait Cement Company and National Industries Group (Holding)

Oil News The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $101.53pb on Tuesday, compared with $102.37pb the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

Elliott Wave Principles in Action Applied to Oil

By Kamel Mansour il, the Black Gold as known to the world, is just another commodity influenced by supply and demand.

This article will neither touch on the political facets nor will it delve in the economical ramifications.

News, whether political, governmental, social, alternative energy or even ecological, may truncate the correction, extend the wave in time and price or elongate the impulse when trending upward or downward. What is essential is that the rhythmic count of waves will remain unchanged. “It even seems to be more logical to conclude that the cyclical derangement of trade, bringing widespread social unrest, is the cause of wars, rather than that cycles are produced by wars” - (Ralph Nelson Elliott - 1871 to 1948). The data used in this analysis is the cash value of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also known as Texas light sweet, a type of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing.

It is a light (low density) and sweet (low sulfur) crude oil. The publically available highlow-close data was from beginning 1983.

Prior to that date and from 1946, the monthly closing was converted to a bar chart for different study periods in order to assess the long term cyclical wave structure. W TI topped in May 2011 and is heading lower.

This commodity is very precious to our daily life and it intrigues every investor to know its direction. It is so influential that an American Senator once said: “The oil can is mightier than the sword” - (Everett Dirksen - American Senator - 1896 to 1969) The Wave Principle in Brief To recap few of the principles of Elliott, a Wave is a movement in the market upward or downward until it is interrupted by another movement in the opposite direction. Each completed wave becomes sub wave of a larger wave of the next higher degree. It can range from Tick by Tick intervals up to Centuries long. Elliott classified, with ingenuity, the degrees as follows, in an ascending order: Subminuette ; Minuette ; Minute ; Minor ; Intermediate ; Primary ; Cycle ; Super Cycle ; Grand Super Cycle.

Various Elliotticians have different practical classifications of the various waves, but in the end, they all consent to the fact that any five impulsive or up-move will finish the next higher Wave 1 which is then followed by a reaction of three corrective or down-moves to end Wave 2 and then up and down and up till Wave 5 is terminated. Henceforth, it will constitute Wave I of a larger degree. The

O

largest of the waves is the Grand Super Cycle.

In the normal market jargon of our daily life, a bull market defines an up move and a bear market indicates a correction. I want to reiterate that the only deviation from the original principles was the new plotting technique, to which the principle’s analysis was applied; a personally devised technique to eliminate the inflationary factor embedded in the price itself.

Major Turning Points in Time Oil was priced at US$1.17 in 1946 and the market reached US$ 147.27 on July 11, 2008.

The Cycle Waves that evolved can be classified in the following manner: 1946 to 1957 - Cycle 1 (11 years) 1957 to 1965 - Cycle 2 (8 years) 1965 to 1979 - Cycle 3 (14 years) 1979 to 1998 - Cycle 4 (19 years) December 1998 to March 2000 - Primary 1 of Cycle 5 March 2000 to January 2002 - Primary 2 of Cycle 5 January 2002 to July 2008 - Primary 3 of Cycle 5 July 2008 to January 2009 - Intermediate A of Primary 4 of Cycle 5 January 2009 to May 2011 - Intermediate B of Primary 4 of Cycle 5 May 2011 to Date - Formation of Intermediate C of Primary 4 of Cycle 5 The most intriguing finding in this long term Super Cycle was the channel that engulfed, from the downside, the beginning of Cycle 1, the ends of Cycle 2 and Cycle 4.

This lower channel will provide an excellent support for many years to come in the future.

Despite disclosing a fact in retrospect but, for an Elliottician, a long term view chart is indispensable in the study of waves. “He that can have patience can have what he will” (Benjamin Franklin - 1706 to 1790).

If we extended the parallel from the Irregular wave Top in 1980 at US$ 39.5 that was part of Cycle 4 and which immediately followed the Top of Cycle 3 at US$ 32.5 marks in 1979, it would give a tentative resistance of US$ 128 marks in 2008 and a potential turning point, provided that the correct fifth wave of the fifth wave was properly counted.

In reality, the count did not end at US$ 128, but at an actual High of US$ 147.27 on July 11, 2008, which was the end of fifth primary of the fifth intermediate of the fifth minor of Cycle 3. This upper channel resistance will have great value in future capping of the WTI for years to come where Oil will definitely see higher prices than the Highs seen in July 2008.

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business

Asia faces tougher battle in new world slowdown SINGAPORE: Asian economies still scarred by the 2008 world recession are likely to have a harder time grappling with a new round of turmoil than they did three years ago, regional analysts said. Fears of a new global meltdown are growing after the United States received a credit downgrade for the first time and markets tumbled on expectations that Italy and Spain could join other European countries in seeking a bailout. “Back in 2008, rotten debt in the banks was the problem,” Singapore’s DBS Bank said in reference to global financial rescue measures that helped bring economic growth back on track. “Governments took the debt off the banks - and spent a lot of money propping up economies - and now they themselves are in trouble.

That’s why the situation may be worse than before: there’s no one left to turn to.” Stimulus spending during the 2008 crisis by nine East Asian economies including China and Japan - which depend heavily on US and European demand - totalled about $1.3 trillion, according to an Asian Development Bank estimate. The US Federal Reserve pumped over a trillion dollars into the country’s economy after the 2008 crisis

and added $600 billion more in 2010.

Singapore, one of Asia’s wealthiest countries, dipped into its reserves for the first time in 2009 as the economy sank into its worst recession since independence. It rebounded strongly and grew by 14.5 percent in 2010.

As Asian markets tumbled on Monday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong trimmed Singapore’s growth forecast for 2011 from a band of 5-7 percent to 5-6 percent, saying “the global outlook remains uncertain”.

Credit watchdog Standard and Poor’s (S&P), whose downgrade of Washington’s top-notch AAA rating spooked markets, on Monday said the fiscal capacities of Japan, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and New Zealand had shrunk relative to pre-2008 levels. “If a renewed slowdown comes, it would likely create a deeper and more prolonged impact than the last one,” it said in a statement.

Regional financial systems may face “reduced liquidity and a heightening of refinancing risk in the near term” as borrowing costs rise. Asia could also be affected to varying degrees as governments are again forced to use their balance sheets to support the financial

sector, S&P said. “The implications for sovereign creditworthiness in AsiaPacific would likely be more negative than previously experienced, and a larger number of negative rating actions will follow,” S&P added.

DBS said that “when investors discover that governments are as constrained as they are, gold - and mattresses - start to look attractive. “And the impact on the real economy, as 2008/09 makes clear, can be dramatic,” it added. But Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at research firm IHS Global Insight, maintained that the region’s central banks are prepared to deal with another crisis, given their experience in 2008.

Central banks “have developed much stronger support mechanisms to ensure the stability of their financial systems and instruments to support provision of liquidity to their financial institutions”, Singapore-based Biswas told AFP. “ This time around, these mechanisms are still available and central banks are much more experienced in addressing liquidity-related problems in their financial systems,” he said.

The continued strength of the Chinese economy and Japan’s resilience after

SINGAPORE: A picture shows the skyline of Singapore’s financial district across the Singapore River early morning yesterday. — AFP the quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in March may mitigate the effects of the US and eurozone debt crisis on Asia, Biswas added. Jonathan Galaviz, a US-based economist who tracks Asia closely, said the region has enough liquidity at the moment but this is being supported by volatile US dollar funds

that have sought higher returns and can also exit swiftly. “Many perceive that Asia’s governments are in a strong financial position, but that financial position can quickly turn ugly in an extreme economic downturn,” said Galaviz, chief economist of Galaviz & Company consultancy. — AFP

ASEAN seeks free trade bloc Regional cooperation to counter global difficulties

BEIJING: In this photo taken on Aug 1, 2011, Chinese workers on a suspended platform clean a glass window of a building against high-rise buildings of the central business district. — AP

Asia in balancing act as prices rise, growth dims SINGAPORE: Asia batted away the global recession sparked by the 2008 financial crisis. Fending off the latest wave of market turmoil may prove tougher.

World stocks were pummeled this week by the first-ever downgrade of the US credit rating and evidence of stalling recoveries in the US and Europe that could weaken demand for Asia’s exports of cars, gadgets, clothing and other goods. Normally that would have Asian governments turning to interest rate cuts and extra spending but their options are constrained by inflation that has remained stubbornly high despite efforts to tame it.

The dilemma: Give economies too much of a boost and the high inflation that is undermining gains in living standards will become even more troublesome. Press ahead with the yearlong campaign to bring inflation down and risk a sharp decline in economic growth just as the US, the world’s biggest economy, teeters on the edge of another recession. Singapore, heavily reliant on the spending power of US consumers, was Wednesday among the first to acknowledge the increased risks, lowering its economic growth forecast for this year.

“It’s a tough balance, but inflation in Asia is going to keep the pressure on policymakers,” said Neeraj Seth, an executive at BlackRock, which manages $3.7 trillion of assets. China, Asia’s largest economy, may have to sacrifice some of the breakneck growth it’s enjoyed over the last decade to get inflation under control.

Consumer prices jumped 6.5 percent in July, a three-year high, while the economy expanded a roaring 9.5 percent in the second quarter.

China has raised interest rates five times since October and curbed lending and investment, but the government admits it probably won’t be enough to slow inflation to its 2011 target of 4 percent. “The problem is still that growth is too fast and inflation is too high and going up,” said David Carbon, head of Asia research at DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank.

Quickening inflation threatens to swell the ranks of people in countries such as China, India and Vietnam already living below the poverty line. Vietnam has the region’s highest annual inflation rate at 21 percent while India’s is 8.6 percent. Rapid rises in prices, especially for food, are a threat to social stability, which in the past decade has been underpinned by the rising living standards that Asia’s robust economic growth has delivered. The Asian Development Bank estimates that a 10 percent increase in food prices drags another 64 million people

below the $1.25 a day poverty line. A 20 percent increase in prices pushes up the number in poverty by 129 million.

“Everything is getting much more expensive, but I’m not getting an increase in my salary. I have to dig into my savings,” said high school teacher Nguyen Bich Lien, 53, as she bought vegetables at a market in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. “It costs me 400,000 dong to 500,000 dong ($19 to $24) for one day of shopping, I feel like my money was stolen. When my savings are all spent, then I will have to eat less meat and more vegetables,” she said, adding she earns 8 million dong a month as the breadwinner of her family because her husband is too sick to work. “I can imagine how much harder low-income workers and farmers have to struggle to make ends meet,” she said.

Still, several factors should help buffer Asia from turmoil in the US and Europe.

Asia’s dependence on consumers in the West has gradually fallen as trade within the region grew and as expanded middle classes became a bigger engine of growth. Most Asian countries didn’t slide into recession in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Those that did, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, rebounded strongly partly because governments had previously banked large surpluses and were able to boost spending.

Asian countries, excluding Japan and India, still have low debt compared to the US and Europe and could quickly ramp up borrowing to spend more if worst-case scenarios play out in developed nations. “Policymakers in Asia have plenty of scope to introduce more monetary and fiscal stimulus to support their economies,” said Sukhy Ubhi, an analyst with Capital Economics.

Expectations of slowing global growth have also brought down commodity prices. Crude oil has dropped 30 percent since May and should help lower food and energy costs. Yet there are some caveats.

China rolled out a massive stimulus program in 2009 to boost lending and bolster growth. Not all the investments were sound and a mountain of bad loans could limit the government’s options should more economic stimulus be necessary.

For now, Asian central bankers are likely to pause interest rate hikes for at least some weeks until a measure of calm returns to markets and there’s evidence the US isn’t slipping into recession.

Indonesia’s central bank left its benchmark lending rate unchanged at a policy meeting Tuesday. — AP

MANADO, Indonesia: Southeast Asia needs to push ahead with a regional free trade bloc and policies to cope with global financial crises, Indonesia’s government said yesterday.

Indonesia’s Vice President Boediono, addressing trade ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said it was evident since the 2008 financial crisis that the United States and Europe could no longer be the main engines of growth for the world. He said sound economic fundamentals and policies had enabled ASEAN economies to bounce back by last year.

But last week’s downgrade of the US sovereign rating, debt crises and a potential double dip recession meant renewed problems for a region sending about a fifth of its exports to the United States and Europe. “To realise our vision of an ASEAN community, much more needs to be done. The strength and relevance of regional cooperation will once again be tested as we face uncertainties in the global economy,” Boediono said in a speech. “This is no time for complacency. We all have to be vigilant and be prepared with national policy responses, as well as regional policy responses and cooperation.”

Ten-member ASEAN, ranging from resource-rich Indonesia to impoverished Laos and financial centre Singapore, is planning a union by 2015 to allow for free flow of goods, capital, services and labour, but economists say it is not even close. Home to 600 million people and a combined GDP of $2 trillion, the region is angling for foreign investment and its stock markets were the best performers in Asia in 2011 before this week’s selloff following the US downgrade. Boediono, formerly Indonesia’s central bank governor and credited with guiding its economy through the 2008 credit crisis, said the region needed more mechanisms to deal with both financial shocks and shortages of food and energy.

Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu

MANADO, Indonesia: Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic ministers pose at a meeting yesterday. — AFP said turmoil in the world economy showed the need for the region to stick together.

ASEAN is often dismissed as a talking shop, given its policy of consensus and non-interference in member’s internal affairs, with the group unable to broker a deal to end a border dispute this year between members Thailand and Cambodia.

Pangestu cited the Chang Mai Initiative - a multilateral currency swap agreement between ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea - and a move to create a strategic rice reserve among the same group, as examples of what the region needed to do. “There are many other programs we can put in place in response to uncertainties,” Pangestu told the ministers, without giving details of other possible policies.

The region wants to become a single market and production base to compete with rising Asian powerhouses China and India.

ASEAN trade ministers will meet with their counterparts from those countries, as well as the United States, Russia and Australia, this week in Manado, a three-hour flight east of Singapore.

ASEAN exports within the region picked up to a quarter of the total by 2009, from 21 percent in 1993, while exports to the United States and Europe have declined from 35 percent in 1993. China is now the group’s largest trading partner. The bloc’s secretary general, Surin Pitsuwan, said there was progress towards establishing ASEAN as a major and resilient player, but “bold steps” were needed by 2015. “We need to move at a faster pace,” Pitsuwan said. “What we are worried about is if they (the United States and Europe) take a long time to get their act together, then we may be affected...we need to power on with the integration effort, increase intra-ASEAN trade,” he told Reuters. — Reuters

Ghana inflation lowest since 1992 ACCRA: Ghana’s annual inflation rate fell to its lowest since 1992 last month, potentially paving the way for new cuts in interest rates in the West African state.

Consumer price inflation dipped to 8.39 percent from 8.59 percent in June, the fifth consecutive monthly decline, Ghana’s statistical office said yesterday.

The drop comes ahead of a Bank of Ghana Monetar y Policy Committee review of policy rates later this month.

“We continue to see room for the Bank of Ghana to lower their reference rate at least another 50 bps later this year,” said Stephen Bailey-Smith, an analyst at Standard Bank.

The central bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 12.50 percent at its last meeting in July, when the government said inflation was under control, bringing cuts to the rate to 600 points since 2009. “Ghana’s inflation rate can reach a low of 7.7 percent by the end of the third quarter if the cedi (currency) remains stable and utility prices as well as domestic petroleum prices remain unchanged during the period,” said Sampson Akligoh, analyst at Databank Financial Services.

The government said the decline in the pace of inflation was largely due to slim increases in the food sector. The start of oil production in Ghana late last year has led to a jump in economic growth and there are mounting fears it, coupled with increased public sector wages, may lead to a rise in inflation in the West African nation. But the government said it did not believe the decision to boost public sector wages by 20 percent in 2011 would threaten Ghana’s target of 8.5 percent inflation this year. —Reuters

MELBOURNE: In a file picture taken on July 8, 2011 some of the five grounded Tiger Airways planes sit on the tarmac at Tullamarine Airport. — AFP

Tiger Airways cleared to resume Australia flights SYDNEY: Budget carrier Tiger Airways will resume flying in Australia later this week after aviation authorities yesterday lifted a costly sixweek ban imposed over safety concerns. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said the airline, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Tiger Airways, could take to the air again whenever it wanted after it imposed new conditions on the carrier, including extra pilot training. “Finally after a long period of being away from the Australian market, we are back. And we are very pleased to say that we are back,” Tiger’s acting chief executive Chin Yau Seng told journalists. It plans to resume flights from Melbourne and Sydney tomorrow.

CASA grounded the airline from July 2 after flights twice approached Melbourne airports too low, and following warnings about pilot proficiency, training and checking, and fatigue management. But the regulator said Tiger had demonstrated it could comply with new conditions on its air operator’s certificate, including additional simulator and ground training for

pilots, and meet all safety requirements. “We had concerns with the training Tiger was giving their pilots,” CASA’s director of aviation safety John McCormick said.

Tiger, which had repeatedly vowed to fly again in Australia, said it had already resumed ticket sales and would begin flights within the limits set by CASA, which restrict it to flying a maximum of 18 services a day in August.

Increased future operations must be approved by the regulator. Chin Yau Seng said he was not in a position to disclose how much the suspension had cost, including compliance and legal costs, but said it was in the order of SGD$2 million (1.6 million US) per day.

He said flights would begin with a simplified program focusing on the most popular and profitable routes from Melbourne and Sydney. The airline will also reduce its Australian operating fleet from 10 to eight Airbus A320 aircraft, redeploying the other planes to the company’s other businesses. —AFP

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BUSINESS

Fiscally sober Canada not immune to market turmoil MONTREAL: Canada, the model for sober fiscal management of a major economy, would not be immune to a debacle in the world markets and slowing growth in its principal trading partner, the United States, analysts warn. “Canada is not an island,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty reminded Canadians over the weekend.

The Toronto Stock Exchange, the biggest in Canada and the world leader in the mining sector, had its own black Monday, with the S&P/TSX index dropping 4.04 percent in the sell-off that swept markets in Asia, Europe and North America earlier this week.

Shares of the main Canadian oil companies fell sharply, with 6.93 percent lopped off the share price of national

leader Suncor, even though gold stocks surged as the price of gold exceeded $1,700 an ounce for the first time ever.

“The price of gold has gone up, but the price of oil is enormously lower,” explained Denis Duran, a principal associate of the investment firm Jarilowsky Fraser. “The value of gold stocks cannot offset, statistically, the loss in oil stocks.”

Sherry Cooper, chief economist of the Bank of Montreal, warned in a note this week: “In this environment, commodity prices likely remain soft and the Canadian dollar is vulnerable and extremely volatile.” The Canadian economy is based to a large extent on exports of raw material oil, lumber, nickel, potassium - and a contraction of the global

economy would hurt demand and drive down prices. “We are a trading nation, with about a third of output generated by exports and deep linkages with the US economy,” said Flaherty. “The global economic recovery remains fragile and this uncertainty may eventually impact Canada.”

Canada is widely recognized as the teacher’s pet of the G8, with a public debt that amounts to a little more than 35 percent of its Gross Domestic Product.

That does not include Canada’s provinces, which also have debt that ranges from zero in the case of oil-rich Alberta to 173 billion dollars in that of Quebec, Canada’s most indebted province. Analysts say that if the prob-

lems in the United States remain limited to the downgrade of its credit, Canada can come out ahead on the strength of its AAA bond rating.

But if the US economy takes a dive, “Canada will dive, too,” Sebastian Lavoie, an analyst with the Laurentian Bank of Canada, told AFP. “Canada is trying more and more to separate itself from the evolution of the US economy.

We are so closely linked, and it would be in our interest to be linked to the economies of Asia, Latin America and Europe.” As it happens, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Brazil this week as part of a Latin American tour to promote bilateral trade.

In 1992, Canada lost its AAA credit

rating for its foreign debt but regained it ten years later after transforming an annual deficit into a surplus, and reducing its debt-to-GDP ratio. Former prime minister Paul Martin, who dealt with the fiscal mess in the 1990s, sees the current storm as “an opportunity for Canada”. He urges the government to use its strong fiscal position to invest in infrastructure and hone the countr y ’s competitive edge. “ We should be able to attract the best and brightest into our industries better than we ever have before, simply because of what’s going on in other countries,” he said in an inter view Sunday with the Toronto Globe and Mail. —AFP

US growing version of pricey Kobe beef Growth fueled by ban on Japanese beef CAZENOVIA, New York: Half a world away from the secretive farms that produce Japan’s legendary Kobe beef, Jerry Wilson raises the American version of the meat that will become $50 steaks and $13 burgers. The chocolaty brown cattle at Wilson’s Meadows Farm don’t technically produce Kobe beef - that term is reserved for the Japanese super high-end cut famous for its succulent taste and eye-popping prices. Wilson calls his meat “American Style Kobe Beef”. Other ranchers use similar names like “Kobe-style beef” or “wagyu beef”, a reference to the breed of cattle.

Whatever the name, domestic production of the pricey product has grown from practically nothing a dozen years ago to a flourishing boutique niche, with recent growth fueled in part by a ban on Japanese beef because of reports of foot-and-mouth disease. While American ranchers might not be able to match the mystique of Japanese Kobe and much of the domestic product is cross-bred, they say their product compares to the legendarily luscious stuff. “We can get through any door we want,” said Wilson, watching his

their small herds with beer (to stimulate appetite in hot weather) and have sake massaged into their skin (thought to stimulate muscles).

Kobe is fatty, but not in a bad way. The thin veins are laced in so uniformly that cuts really do look like marble. Wagyu meat has a higher proportion of unsaturated fat - the “good” kind of fat - when compared to meats from other breeds. It’s the fat that helps give the beef a flavor and mouth melt that sends tasters to the thesaurus in search of adjectives like velvety, scrumptious, silky and savory. “You

wagyu a year - a very thin slice of total annual US commercial slaughter of around 34 million.

Snake River’s Jay Theiler said their wagyu business is growing about 20 percent a year, with growth coming not only from steaks, but from hamburger, hot dog and barbecue meat. “It’s very small here,” Beattie said of the wagyu business.

“But the potential for this breed to grow is huge.”

US officials stopped the import of meat from Japan last year after the foot-and-mouth disease reports. So connoisseurs dropping

CAZENOVIA, New York: This June 28, 2011 photo shows farm manager Tod Avery as he stands with wagyu cattle at Meadows Farm. —AP high-priced herd crowd a bucket of barley dumped on the ground. “All we have to do is a taste test.”

Kobe is to beef what a Maserati is to sports cars: the epitome of pricey, exclusive luxury item. Steaks can retail for more than $100 at high-end restaurants and specialty stores. Don’t look for it plasticwrapped in the meat aisle of your local supermarket. True Kobe beef comes from wagyu cattle raised in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan, where Kobe is the capital city.

Japanese ranchers are notoriously secretive about their techniques, giving rise to stories that they ply

mention fat and it’s like saying ‘rat poison’. We’ve been conditioned to believe that all fat that you eat is bad. And that’s simply not true, especially with wagyu,” said Robert Estrin, co-owner of Lone Mountain Ranch Cattle Co in Golden, New Mexico. Estrin raises “full blood” or 100 percent wagyu cattle.

There are about 150 US producers in the American Wagyu Association, many of them with 25 head or less, said Michael Beattie, executive director of the industry group. The largest, Boise, Idahobased Snake River Farms, slaughters 10,000 to 15,000 head of

$145 for a pair of 340-gm wagyu rib-eyes are likely purchasing from a domestic producer or from Australia. Most American wagyu can be traced back to a small herd that came over from Japan in the ‘90s. Many of the animals were cross-bred with Angus and Hereford cattle, which diluted the breed’s unique attributes. At the Meadows farm southeast of Syracuse, all the steer they kill for meat are “purebred”, or more than 93.75 percent wagyu. But farm manager Tod Avery said that not all wagyu sold to consumers has the same level of quality. “They think

Kobe is Kobe,” Avery said. “They have no idea.”

US Department of Agriculture guidelines do not permit the use of the term “Kobe” alone to describe American-grown wagyu beef, but labels like “American Style” or “American Brand Kobe Beef ” are Oklahoma. And beef that comes from cattle cross-bred with Angus or other breeds needs to be labeled as such. US wagyu producers are in the early stages of developing a grading scale they say will reflect the superior meat they produce and the extra time and care it takes to raise it.

At Meadows Farm, Avery skips the beer and sake, but the 170 head have a couple of hundred acres to roam. They are not given growth hormones, steroids or corn (Avery said the corn makes the fat yellowy). They’re on feed for two years, which is far longer than regular cattle. Wilson and Avery switched over from a dairy operation in 2002 with a purebred bull named Ito and eight pregnant cows. They did not sell the first-generation offspring, but continued to breed more and more wagyu in each generation.

They are hands-on enough with their cattle that some of the animals here even have names. They talk about Ito, who was recently slaughtered after nine years of service, like a beloved dog - albeit one you would eat. “I ate the tenderloin this week at my daughter’s graduation,” Wilson said. “It was unbelievable.” A wagyu carcass can bring the farm $4,500, minus the cost it takes to raise it for three years. Wilson said that though it sounds like a big number, “at the end of the day it’s a few bucks”.

Most of the farm’s business is with local restaurants They also sell from the farm, and recently sold some hamburger patties made from Ito to a reporter and photographer as they left the farm. Avery gave clear instructions: don’t defrost the patties in the microwave, let the meat come to room temperature before cooking it, and grill just until medium rare.

Off the charcoal grill the next evening, the burgers really were different. They didn’t shrink down. The taste was assertively beefy without shading into gamey. Ito really was delicious. —AP

PHILADELPHIA: In this July 30, 2008 file photo illustration, a silhouetted coaxial cable is displayed. —AP

US pay TV loses record number of subscribers NEW YORK: The weak economy is hitting Americans where they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set. They’re canceling cable and satellite TV subscriptions in record numbers, according to an analysis by AP of the companies’ quarterly earnings reports. The US subscription-TV industry first showed a small net loss of subscribers a year ago. This year, that trickle has turned into a stream. The chief cause appears to be persistently high unemployment and a housing market that has many people living with their parents, reducing the need for a separate cable bill.

But it’s also possible that people are canceling cable in favor of cheap Internet video. Such a threat has been hanging over the industry. If that’s the case, viewers can expect more restrictions on online video, as TV companies and Hollywood studios try to make sure that they get paid for what they produce. In a tally by the AP, eight of the nine largest subscription-TV providers in the US lost 195,700 subscribers in the April-to-June quarter.

That’s the first quarterly loss for the group, which serves about 70 percent of households.

It includes four of the five biggest cable companies, which have been losing subscribers for years. It also includes phone companies Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. and satellite broadcasters DirecTV Group Inc. and Dish Network Corp. These four have been poaching customers from cable, making up for cable-company losses - until now.

The phone companies kept adding subscribers in the second quarter, but DirecTV and Dish combined lost them, a first for the US satellite TV industry. The AP’s tally excludes Cox Communications, the third-largest cable company, and a bevy of smaller cable companies. Cox is privately held and does not disclose subscriber numbers. Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett estimates that the subscription-TV industry, including the untallied cable companies, lost 380,000 subscribers in the quarter. That’s about one out of every 300 US households, and more than twice the losses in the second quarter of last year. Ian Olgeirson at SNL Kagan puts the number even higher, at 425,000 to 450,000 lost subscribers.

The second quarter is always the year’s worst for cable and satellite companies, as students cancel service at the end of the spring semester. Last year, growth came back in the fourth quarter. But looking back over the past 12 months, the industry is still down, by Moffett’s estimate. That’s also a first. The subscription-TV industry is no longer buoyed by

its first flush of growth, so the people who cancel because they’re unemployed are outweighing the very small number of newcomers who’ve never had cable or satellite before.

Dish CEO Joe Clayton told analysts on a conference call Tuesday that the industry is “increasingly saturated.”

But like other industry executives, Clayton sees renewed growth around the corner.

Though his company saw the biggest increase in subscriber flight compared with a year ago, he blamed much of that on a strategic pullback in advertising, which will be reversed before the end of the year. Other executives gave few indications that the industry has hit a wall. For most of the big companies, the slowdown is slight, hardly noticeable except when looking across all of them. Nor do they believe Internet video is what’s causing people to leave.

Glenn Britt, the CEO of Time Warner Cable Inc. said the effect of Internet video on the number of cable subscribers is “very, very modest,” in fact, so small that it’s hard to measure. SNL Kagan’s Olgeirson said the people canceling subscriptions behind, or never signing up, are an elusive group, difficult to count. Yet he believes the trend is real, and he calls it the “elephant in the room” for the industry.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that young, educated people who aren’t interested in live programs such as sports are finding it easier to go without cable. Video-streaming sites like Netflix.com and Hulu.com are helping, as they run many popular TV shows for free, sometimes the day after they air on television. In June, The Nielsen Co said it found that Americans who watch the most video online tend to watch less TV. The ratings agency said it started noticing last fall that a segment of consumers were starting to make a trade-off between online video and regular TV. The activity was more pronounced among people ages 18-34.

Olgeirson expects programmers to keep tightening access to shows and movies online. A few years ago, Olgeirson said, “they threw open the doors,” figuring they’d make money from ads accompanying online video besides traditional sources such as the fees they charge cable companies to carry their channels. But if looks as if online video might endanger revenue from cable, which is still far larger, they’ll pull back. “Are they really going to jeopardize that? The answer is no,” Olgeirson said. —AP

Fears of credit crunch redux unfounded NEW YORK: Slumping stocks and soaring Treasury bond prices have stirred memories of the financial crisis, but credit markets are making clear this is not 2008 all over again. It’s no credit crunch: price volatility notwithstanding, funds are flowing between banks, corporations and investors, unlike the funding freeze experienced in the wake of the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. “There are a lot of differences between now and 2008,” said Scott Macdonald, head credit and economic research at Aladdin Capital. “If you look at the balance sheets of many corporations, you just have much more cash. Banks, too, have a lot more cash, more liquidity than they did, and they’ve generally disposed of the worst of the troubled assets.”

The difference between the credit crunch that sparked the worst recession since the Great Depression and the current crisis - which is partly about political gridlock - were not so clear when capital markets opened on Monday, after a weekend of mulling Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the US credit rating.

Initial reactions, exacerbated by growing fears that the US could be headed for another recession, were swift and severe. On Monday, the S&P 500 fell more than 6 percent in the heaviest volume since the flash crash of May 2010, to post its worst day since Dec 2008, though it recovered most of those losses on Tuesday.

Treasury yields hit all-time lows on Tuesday.

Two-year notes traded as low as 0.17 percent, before rising back to around 0.21 percent. The benchmark 10-year note tested its previous low of 2.04 percent, set in Dec 2008 when the financial crisis was at its height, before ending at 2.28 percent. Still, the initial shock to the financial system was misleading. Banks have learned lessons from being overextended in the credit crisis and are now better capitalized and more risk averse than they were before.

While their more cautious tack has eaten into earnings, it has also put them in better stead to weather the turmoil. Banks’ equity investors might not like the smaller returns on investments, but banks are as liquid as ever even after S&P’s downgrade. That’s not to say

that the world’s major economies aren’t facing some intractable problems due to weakening growth in demand and deepening debt and deficit problems in the US and Europe.

But the panic has not taken hold of the key credit financing arteries for banks as it did in 2008. The interest rates that banks and Wall Street pay on overnight loans backed by U.S. Treasuries held steady on Tuesday, signaling money markets are functioning despite turbulence in global stock markets. In fact, the Fed’s decision on Tuesday to specify for the first time that it will keep its target rate for interest rates near zero for at least another two years has had the effect of making interbank and short-term borrowing even cheaper.

Benchmark rates tightened, including swap spreads, a barometer of counterparty risk, which fell by 3.5 basis points after the Fed announcement. Credit indices rebounded on Tuesday after collapsing on Monday. The tumbling yields on US government debt are a little counterintuitive given the S&P decision, but what the slackening global economy has

demonstrated, and what the downgrade has perpetuated, is US Treasuries’ entrenched status as the most liquid go-to safe-haven security.

In effect, investors react to a downgrade of US Treasury securities by buying more of the downgraded securities. Indeed, for some corporations, a risk-averse market is ideal for taking on new expansionary debt. On Tuesday, Thermo Fisher Scientific showed confidence in the debt capital markets. The technology company hit the bond market with an offering of five- and 10-year notes to fund part of a US$3.5 billion cash acquisition of Phandia.

While the low Treasury yields make it attractive to lock in cheap funding for the company, the timing of the trade was still a surprise given the unstable capital markets. But it reflects another key difference between the US economy now and three years ago. Most economically important companies and banks are better prepared this time around. The largest US corporations - the same ones that stock market investors pummeled on Monday - have stronger balance sheets than ever. In the end,

Thermo Fisher looks to have timed it right. Just ahead of the Fed’s decision it priced a $2.1 billion fundraising at relatively tight rates.

Meanwhile, economic fundamentals haven’t changed much since the move by S&P on Friday to downgrade the US sovereign rating one notch to AA+ from Triple A. The two other major rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch though concerned over the state of US finances -maintained a Triple A score for the United States, at least for now. “Is [the downgrade] the end all, be all? No, but it certainly has had an impact,” said Aladdin’s Macdonald.

While it’s not a liquidity crisis, intractable challenges remain. In fact, because it’s a crisis of another ilk, the solution might not be as easy as it was in 2008. The Federal Reserve and US Treasury cannot just introduce more liquidity into the markets to keep things moving as they did to climb out of the last recession. This time, as the S&P’s decision on Friday reflects, a divided Washington that is unable to provide clear leadership is a further burden for a faltering US economy. —Reuters

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TECHNOLOGY

Save a tree and utilize Taiwan erasable paper TAIPEI: “i2R e-Paper” is paper but not paper as we know it-not yet, anyway, say its Taiwan developers. The product uses a thermal printer, the same kind as that used in fax machines. When the message is no longer needed, the paper can be erased with the flip of a switch-ready to be used up to 260 times. Researchers at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, where the paper was developed, say it is the ideal replacement for the paper signs and posters that

are now produced by the millions around the world.

“I think the greatest breakthrough was that traditional display devices usually require electricity to write, but our technology made it closer to how we would use normal paper,” said John Chen, Vice President of the Institute and general director of the Display Technology Center. “First, it does not require patterned electrodes-it is very light, soft and rewritable. From this perspective,

this is a true e-paper.”

What makes the “i2R e-paper” stand out is its coating-a plastic film covered with cholestric liquid crystal, a type of liquid crystal structured similarly to cholesterol molecules. The compound does not require a backlight to print, and can produce different colors. When connected to electricity, what’s printed on the paper can be erased. There is also a modified printer that erases the paper by rolling it backwards.

An A4 sized piece of the e-paper, which is already in production, costs roughly $60 Taiwan dollars, or about $2.

Developers hope it will be available to consumers within two years. “So far, it can be rewritten and cleared 260 times,” Chen said. “In many cases, such as transpor tation tickets or ID badges, it will save your from printing the same thing 259 times. In terms of environmental production, this is very meaningful.” — Reuters

Indonesian tech frenzy tantalizes venture capital Nation second for Facebook users and third for Twitter

In this screen shot provided by Wal-Mart Stores, the film “True Grit” is showvn as one of the titles available on the company’s new video-streaming service. — AP

Wal-Mart’s video service reaches iPad NEW YORK: The Vudu video-streaming service is coming to the iPad, but not as an app. Vudu started to stream video to the iPad’s Web browser yesterday, joining other companies in avoiding the fees that Apple applies to any content sold through dedicated apps. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of content such as movies sold through apps, a charge that some companies find hard to accept. Earlier this summer, The Financial Times created an app-like website for its newspaper to avoid Apple’s fees. Vudu.com’s business model is similar to Apple’s own iTunes. It rents out movies for $1 to $6 for a 24hour or 48-hour viewing period. It also sells them for $5 and up, which allows viewing any time. Its claim to fame is that it has many movies on the same day they’re released on DVD. By using the browser instead of an app, Vudu bypasses Apple’s iTunes

checkout process, but the movies can only be viewed with a live Internet connection.

They can’t be downloaded and played back later, as iTunes movies can. Vudu’s site already works with PC browsers, but the Flash technology used doesn’t work on the iPad. Instead, Vudu is using “Live Streaming” tools from Apple to reach the tablet. Edward Lichty, general manager for Vudu, said the site will also work with iPhones and iPod Touches, but the interface could be hard to navigate, because it’s designed for tablets. The movies will even stream over “3G” cellular broadband, but the image quality will suffer, and a full movie would eat a lot of the monthly data allowance that iPad plans usually come with. Vudu is owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The Little Rock, Arkbased retailer bought Vudu a year and a half ago. — AP

The Tech Addict — MCT

JAKARTA: Venture capitalists from Silicon Valley to New York all have the same question about Indonesia’s come-from-nowhere tech frenzy: Are the young entrepreneurs that have piqued their interest smart bets or just surfing a hype that will soon burn out. A few years ago, Internet connections were so slow in Indonesia that trying to download a clip off YouTube could take 20 minutes on a good day. Now the Muslim majority nation of 240 million people - despite the tangled balls of telephone wire that dangle precariously over dusty, potholed roads - boasts the world’s second largest number of Facebook users and is third for Twitter.

It’s also seen an explosion of Web startups, with 200 popping up so far this year alone, said Natali Ardianto, owner of StartupLokal, which offers a place for founders, developers and potential investors to meet. At the moment most of Indonesia’s tech newbies aren’t distinguished by their creativity. Many are clones of well-established foreign companies like Craig’s List or TripAdvisor, or Groupon, offering discount coupons and deals. But with a little nurturing and eventually funds to advertise and strategize, venture capitalists and small-scale investors hope one day to make some money and - maybe, along the way - help discover Indonesia’s answer to Mark Zuckerberg.

“It’s still early and there isn’t much structure on the ground,” said Faysal Sohail, managing director of CMEA Capital, one of the leading venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, after a whirlwind trip to Indonesia. “But from a growth point of view, India and China has been predominantly done at this stage, there are a lot of investors there already,” he said.

“So now the question is, what are the markets beyond that.” He added: “That’s partially why I came, to look for some new, world class entrepreneurs.”

He’s ready to invest some money, he said, but personally, not yet through a fund. Most of the founders of new startups are young, recent college grads working from their living rooms or garages with two to six people, using cash scraped together from their parents, friends and professors. In the majority of cases, the operations are considered too small to be able to handle infusions of more than $500,000 to $2 million. And business plans are still pretty rudimentary. But there are several promising young entrepreneurs out there, Sohail and others said. Twenty-sixyear-old Eduardus Christmas, who hit the scene two years ago, is considered one of the

ACEH PROVINCE: Acehnese browse Internet using free Wi-Fi access at a park in Banda Aceh, Aceh province. — AP early birds. Inspired by his literature-loving girlfriend, he started Evolitera, an online publishing house offering thousands of free novels, textbooks and scientific papers. “I saw a need and was trying to fill it,” Christmas said, lighting up cigarette at an outdoor cafe. “I was also genuinely interested in digital publishing.”

“A lot of the newcomers in digital media seem to be attracted by the hype, they see how fast things are growing and want to jump in,” he said. “You’ve seen that especially in the last year, year and a half.”

These days, Christmas is thinking more seriously about ways to make money - one of the biggest challenges he and others face, because with only 3 percent of the population holding a credit card, there is almost no e-commerce.

There’s also little in the way of adverting dollars. Pulling an iPad from his bag, Christmas shows one of his latest projects, interactive books, starting with Indonesian classical pianist Ananda Sukarlan. His newest company, Enervolution, is a registered Apple developer, and will allow users to browse content for free and then pay for and download Sukarlan’s music with the help of an iTunes app. He’s hoping, in this way, to tap into a premium market.

At this early stage, there have only been a few big success stories, most notably the

forum and classifieds portal Kaskus, which got a $100 million commitment from a local investor, and the location-based social network Koprol that Yahoo! recently acquired.

But plenty of others are gaining traction, thanks in large part to high penetration of BlackBerry, iPhone and other smartphones some of them knockoffs - which have allowed Indonesians, despite poor infrastructure, to shoot straight into cyber space. The idea - as in the early days of Silicon Valley - is to buildfirst, find ways to capitalize later.

It may seem risky, but even Google CEO Eric Schmidt thinks the opportunities are huge. Joining him at a conference celebrating local entrepreneurship on the resort island of Bali late last month were a small group of investors and venture capitalists interested in encouraging tech-hungry youths and also seeing what opportunities might exist for them.

They looked at an online soccer simulation game, Football Saga, where members train their players, join teams and compete with other clubs set up by their friends. They also were interested in a payment gateway for music, e-commerce and other digital content and a Web-based karaoke site. “You have 180 million cell phones, but did you know that you have only about 18 percent Internet penetration?” said Schmidt. “You’re going to have an Internet explosion.” — AP

Net gaming, hardware; it’s all at Gamescom

Apple copycat ‘hiPhone 5’ comes calling in China SHANGHAI: The newest version of Apple Inc’s popular iPhone has already hit the Chinese market the fake market that is. The ‘hiPhone 5’ is selling for as little as 200 yuan ($31) on China’s top e-commerce platform Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba Group. But one has to pay around 800 yuan for a more “genuine” one, according to some shop clerks at a mobile phone market in Shanghai. “Look at this. It’s not the same as the 300-400 yuan ones,” Shanghai-based daily Metro Express quoted a clerk as saying, pointing to one originally priced at 850 yuan.

The ‘hiPhone 5’ is based on leaked images of the yet-to-be-launched iPhone 5 and is thinner and with less rounded edges than the existing iPhone 4, according to the newspaper.

However, it is extremely light, almost like a plastic toy, like most pirated

mobile phones, it said. Western governments have repeatedly criticized China for widespread violation of intellectual property rights, but pirated goods from branded watches, to bags and computer software can be easily found in shops.

Last month, an American blogger set off a media storm after she posted pictures of an elaborate fake Apple Store in Kunming, selling genuine if unauthorized iPhones, Macbooks and other widely popular Apple products.

Reuters also uncovered a look-a-like of the Swedish furniture giant Ikea in the southwestern Chinese city.

Apple, which is expected to roll out the latest version of the iPhone 5 smartphone within a few months, sold a record 20.34 million iPhones d u r i n g t h e l a s t q u a r te r, e ve n though its newest model is over a year old. — Reuters

BERLIN: Long gone are the days when playing a computer game was an individual pursuit. Thanks to the internet, you rarely have to be alone when you’re fighting monsters or aliens or exploring a new virtual world.

That’s only one of the gaming trends that will be made clear at the upcoming Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, which will host 500 vendors from August 18-21. Online games are also coming to the forefront. Without a doubt, the borders between stationary, online and mobile games are blending. Many Gamescom visitors will probably be drawn to the Vita mobile console from Sony. “Here, we’ve had a new spark lit, hardware -wise,” says Gamescom spokesman Franco Fischer.

The successor to the Playstation Portable (PSP) includes a speedy quadcore CPU, a highly luminous, 5-inch OLED touch display (960 X 544 pixels) and, along with classic control elements, a multi-touchpad on the back, which should provide new ways of controlling the game. The Vita is expected to go on sale at the end of the year, starting at 249 euros (360 dollars). Sony competitor Nintendo has been on the market with its handheld DS successor, 3DS, since March. It will use Gamescom to present multiple new games, including Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D. However, Nintendo’s U, the next generation of the Wii console, will not be presented at Gamescom - “because of heightened security needs,” says Nintendo. The U is not expected to go on sale before 2012. It will stand out because of its 6.2-inch controller, which can also double as a handheld device. The trend towards mobility is

prompting many publishers to attempt multiplatform strategies. “The manufacturers are developing games that can be used on all end devices,” explains Fischer. That means titles appear simultaneously for consoles, PCs and mobile devices.

Game downloads are also playing an ever more important role alongside boxed games from the store, says Fischer. For example, dtp is developing the arcade game Awesomenauts for the online platforms Playstation Network and XBox Live Arcade. “But I don’t think box games will disappear,” says Fischer.

Another busy area is games played in browsers. Frogster is showing a test version of Eligium - The Chosen One, a mass multiplayer online role -playing game.

Meanwhile, Gamesforge is bringing the browser game Star Trek: Infinite Space which plays in the Deep Space Nine universe - to the conference. The complex, 3D online multiplayer game allows players to represent the Federation or the Klingons.

Gamescom should also give a hint of where the newest 3D games are at. There will also be a lot of interest in how the newest motion-based game controllers from Microsoft and Sony are doing. The controllers were a major focus of the last Gamescom. “I assume that there will be a lot of news from the fields of Kinect and Move,” says Fischer.

The conference will also include displays of new hardware, from controllers to monitors. For example, LG is going to present a new 3D display that can be viewed without special spectacles. However, that doesn’t mean viewers will have to be glued smack

in front of the monitor to enjoy the 3D effect, since the manufacturer has built in a camera that registers viewers’ eyes. Thus, the monitor can generate and display an ideal 3D image for any seating angle.

Developers would not dream of doing without new football games. “In the area of sports games, the big highlights will certainly be Fifa 2012 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2012,” says Fischer. Along with those offerings from Electronic Arts and Konami will be F1 2012, a new version of the motor racing classic from Codemasters. And Ubisoft will bring out TrackMania 2: Canyon, a new installment of the PC racing game with a racing route editor.

There will also be the obligatory new releases in action and adventure games.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations from Ubisoft and Uncharted 3 from Sony will both likely draw big crowds. The shooting genre will include Battlefield 3 from Electronic Arts and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from Activision Blizzard.

Meanwhile, Namco Bandai will display a new version of its aerial dogfighting Ace Combat: Assault Horizons while Square Enix will use Gamescom to start sales of the newest release of its action-packed cyberpunk role-playing games Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

A fifth take on Grand Theft Auto is also a possibility at the convention. The successful combination of action and racing with third-person shooter elements has been a major hit. That would turn Gamescom into a kind of home event for Scottish developer Rockstar North, as Britain is a partner of the convention this year. — dpa

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health & science

Boy or girl? Simple test raises ethical concerns New test offers insight just 7 weeks into pregnancy CHICAGO: Boy or girl? A simple blood test in mothers-to-be can answer that question with surprising accuracy at about seven weeks, a research analysis has found. Though not widely offered by US doctors, gender-detecting blood tests have been sold online to consumers for the past few years. Their promises of early and accurate results prompted genetics researchers to take a closer look. They analyzed 57 published studies of gender testing done in rigorous research or academic settings - though not necessarily the same methods or conditions used by direct-to-consumer firms.

The authors say the results suggest blood tests like those studied could be a breakthrough for women at risk of having babies with certain diseases, who could avoid invasive procedures if they learned their fetus was a gender not affected by those illnesses. But the study raises concerns about couples using such tests for gender selection and abortion. Couples who buy tests from marketers should be questioned about how they plan to use the results, the study authors said.

The analyzed test can detect fetal DNA in mothers’ blood. It’s about 95 percent accurate at identifying gender when women are at least seven weeks’ pregnant - more than one month before conventional methods.

Accuracy of the testing increases as pregnancy advances, the researchers concluded.

Conventional procedures, typically done for medical reasons, can detect gender starting at about 10 weeks. The new analysis, published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, involved more than 6,000 pregnancies. The testing used a lab procedure called PCR that detects genetic material - in this case, the male Y chromosome. If present in the mother’s blood, she’s carrying a boy, but if absent, it’s a girl.

Tests that companies sell directly to consumers were not examined in the analysis. Sexdetection tests using mothers’ urine or blood before seven weeks of pregnancy were not accurate, the researchers said.

Senior author Dr. Diana Bianchi, a reproductive geneticist and executive director of the Mother

Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, called the results impressive. She noted that doctors in Great Britain are already using such testing for couples at risk of having children with hemophilia or other sexlinked diseases, partly to help guide treatment decisions.

The research indicates that many laboratories have had success with the test, but the results can’t be generalized to all labs because testing conditions can

said the testing “isn’t ready for prime time.” He said his hospital doesn’t provide the blood tests, and doesn’t offer more conventional techniques, including amniocentesis, to women who have no medical reason for wanting to know their baby’s gender. “I would have a lot of difficulties offering such a test just for gender identification. Gender is not an abnormality,” Shulman said.

“My concern is this is ultimately going to be available in malls or

SANTA CLARA: This photo, provided by Consumer Genetics Inc, shows the packaging for the company’s “early gender” blood test called “Pink or Blue.” —AP vary substantially, said Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, a genetics professor at Florida International University. He was not involved in the study. Simpson noted that using gender-detection blood testing for medical or other reasons has not been endorsed by guideline-setting medical groups and some experts consider it experimental.

Dr Lee Shulman, chief of clinical genetics at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago,

shopping centers,” similar to companies offering “cute” prenatal ultrasound images.

Recent research found that increasing numbers of women in India who already have daughters are having abortions when prenatal tests show another girl, suggesting that an Indian ban on such gender testing has been ineffective. The expense of marrying off girls has contributed to a cultural preference there for boys. Evidence also suggests that

China’s limits on one child per couple and traditional preference for male heirs has contributed to abortions and an increasingly large gender imbalance.

There’s very little data on reasons for US abortions or whether gender preferences or genderdetection methods play a role, said Susannah Baruch, a policy consultant for the Generations Ahead, an advocacy group that studies genetic techniques and gender issues. Consumer Genetics Inc, a Santa Clara, California based company sells an “early gender ” blood test called “Pink or Blue” online for $25 plus $265 or more for laboratory testing. It boasts of 95 percent accuracy, using a lab technique its scientists developed from the type of testing evaluated in the new analysis, said Terry Carmichael, the company’s executive vice president.

Carmichael said the company sells more than 1,000 kits a year.

He said the company won’t test blood samples unless women sign a consent form agreeing not to use the results for gender selection. The company also won’t sell kits to customers in China or India because of fears of gender selection, he said.

Medical techniques that can detect gender include amniocentesis, usually done at around 16 weeks, using a needle to withdraw fluid surrounding the fetus to identify abnormalities; chorionic villus sampling, done at around the 10th week to detect abnormalities by examining placenta tissue; and ultrasound, most accurate at around 13 weeks. The first two methods can slightly increase risks for miscarriages. —AP

Sleep apnea linked to memory loss, dementia NEW YORK: Older women who have sleep apnea, which leads to abnormal pauses in breathing or abnormally low breathing during sleep, may be more likely to develop memory problems and dementia, according to a US study. It’s not clear whether treating sleep apnea, which is especially common in older, overweight people, would help prevent that memory decline, partly because clear answers have been lacking on the link between problem sleeping and memory. But the study, which looked at nearly 300 women and was led by Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco, found that a little over 45 percent of women who had signs of sleep apnea in initial tests had developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia five years later.

By contrast, only 31 percent of women who did not have sleep problems developed thinking and memory problems. “Among older women, those with sleep-disordered breathing compared with those without sleepdisordered breathing had an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment,” wrote Yaffe and her colleagues in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Yaffe and her team gave an overnight sleep apnea test to 298 women without dementia, who were an average of 82 years old. The test looks for changes in breathing and oxygen flow during the night, as well as for the short, frequent breaks in sleep that are signs of sleep apnea. Just over a third of the women had the disorder.

About five years later, those same women were brought in for a set of thinking and memory tests, with doctors evaluating any of those who showed signs of memory decline. When Yaffe and her colleagues took factors such as race, weight and other diseases and medications into consideration, women with sleep apnea were almost twice as likely to test positive for cognitive impairment or dementia. “It makes sense that good sleep is going to be protective to the brain,” said Robert Thomas, who studies sleep at Harvard Medical School in Boston and was not involved in the study.

“We simply don’t have data to answer many of the simple questions people may have in the sleep clinic,” he told Reuters Health. Sleep apnea has been linked to a host of other problems, including high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Researchers pointed to lower blood flow to the brain during sleep as a possible culprit in cognitive problems down the line. Indeed, when the authors looked at the specific factors that went into a diagnosis of sleep apnea, they found that the lack of steady oxygen overnight was related to thinking and memory problems, not how much total sleep women got or how many times they woke during the night. Thomas said that not everyone with sleep apnea has symptoms, which include fatigue and snoring, and that people who are overweight or have heart and blood pressure diseases should also consider getting tested. But researchers still don’t know to what extent treatment, which involves wearing a mask that delivers pressurized air from a “CPAP” machine to ease breathing at night, can prevent the complications of sleep apnea, including cognitive decline. “The biggest hole in sleep apnea (research) is: what are the outcomes of treatment?” Thomas said. Yaffe agreed. “That’s obviously a next step and an important question.” —Reuters

This image provided by NASA shows a solar flare early Tuesday, the largest in 5 years. —AP

Powerful solar flare has limited impact on Earth LOS ANGELES: The sun unleashed a powerful solar flare early Tuesday, the largest in nearly five years. Scientists say the eruption took place on the side of the sun that was not facing Earth, so there’ll be little impact to satellites and communication systems. Space scientist Joe Kunches at the government’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado

says there were reports of brief shortwave radio disruptions in Asia, but little else. The sun is transitioning from a quiet period into a busier cycle. Scientists estimate there will be a spike in the number of such solar eruptions over the next three to five years. The last time there was such a strong solar flare was in December 2006. —AP

Suicides in movies tripled from 1950-2006: Report PHILADELPHIA: Depictions of explicit and graphic suicides in movies tripled from 1950 to 2006, according to an analysis of top-grossing films. The report, by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, was published in the August issue of Archives of Suicide Research. It found no difference between PG-13- and R-rated films in the most explicit portrayals of suicide. Lead author Patrick E. Jamieson said that although it’s impossible to establish a causal connection, the tripling of US teen suicide since 1960 has coincided with the increase in movie suicide portrayals. The results, based on an analysis of 855 top-grossing films and released Tuesday, indicate the need for further study of the effects of movie suicides on adolescent audiences, the authors concluded.

“We know as well that exposure to movie-portrayed suicide correlates with thinking that one cannot get effective treatment for mental health problems,” Jamieson said. “There is something seriously wrong

with a movie ratings system that attaches a PG-13 rating to a movie containing explicit, graphic modeling of suicide.” A Motion Picture Association of America rating of PG13 means special parental guidance is strongly suggested for children under 13 and some material may be inappropriate for young children. An R rating means viewing is restricted and anyone under age 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian.

The researchers looked at the top 30 movies in the US each year from 1950 from 2006. From the 855 that had suicide references, they set up a suicide explicitness scale and weighed the portrayals in each movie based on how much or little of a suicide was merely suggested or was graphically shown. From 1968 to 1984, movies rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America had five times more highly explicit suicide behavior portrayals than those rated G (general audiences) and PG (parental guidance suggested). —AP

MARYLAND: Anson Eaglin shows a raccoon. —AP

Nowadays most US rabies cases come from wildlife LOS ANGELES: Rabies prevention in the United States is by and large a success story, with just one to four people dying of rabies each year in the US thanks to widespread pet vaccinations and aggressive treatment for people bitten by potentially rabid animals. Around the world, however, rabies remains a major problem with more than 55,000 human deaths annually, along with millions of animals. Half of the human victims are under 15. In Asia and Africa, where 95 percent of human rabies deaths occur, dogs spread most of the rabies, according to the World Health Organization.

In the United States, most rabies cases before 1960 were also in domestic animals, but today more than 90 percent of all animal cases reported annually to the US Centers for Disease Control occur in wildlife, most frequently in raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes. About 7,000 animals die as a result of rabies in the US each year; Hawaii is the only state where there is no rabies. Around the world, Australia and Antarctica are also rabiesfree. Rabies is a virus that targets the brain and spinal cord. It is found in the saliva of infected animals and is most often transferred through a bite. Birds, fish, insects, reptiles and other nonmammals do not get rabies, and it’s rare in chipmunks, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rabbits, rats and squirrels, health officials said.

Americans spend more than $300 million annually to detect, prevent and control rabies, the CDC estimates. This includes the vaccination of companion animals, animal control programs, maintenance of rabies labs and medical costs.

About 40,000 Americans a year have to get the two-week series of four shots (five if you have immune problems) after being bitten. Often the shots are administered as a preventive measure after a bite, whether or not the animal is caught and tested.

These shots cost more than $1,000 a series and are injected into the hip rather than the stomach as they once were.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has no statistics on pet vaccination rates, and laws requiring vaccinations vary by state. But inoculating pets against rabies - which costs just $15-$30 - is a no-brainer for many owners. Rabies is always fatal in unvaccinated animals, and pets can get the disease from raccoons or other wildlife. And if your pet bites someone, proof will be required to show that your animal is rabies-free.

“Protect yourself and your pet, not just

from rabies, but from legal trouble and emotional stress and strain,” said veterinarian Louise Murray, vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City.

During 2009, 81 rabid dogs were reported in the United States, an 8 percent increase over 2008, and 300 rabid cats were reported, a 2 percent increase compared to the previous year, the CDC said. Nationwide, raccoons are the biggest rabies carriers, comprising 34.8 percent of all cases in 2009. People consider them cute, Murray said. “People are never going to go to a bat on purpose.

Raccoons are different. People feed raccoons,” she said. To cut down on rabies in wildlife, the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Program distributes rabies vaccine cubes by air and ground. The agency started drops for gray foxes and coyotes in south Texas in 1995 and since 2002, has maintained a 30-mile wide rabies-free zone north of the Mexican border, said USDA spokeswoman Carol Bannerman.

More recently, the agency has made annual vaccine pellet drops for raccoons east of the Appalachians from Maine to Alabama. Last year, about 5.6 million baits were distributed in 16 states, she said.

Arizona’s gray foxes also get annual drops.

In Southern California, bats are the primary source of rabies, said Dr. Karen Ehnert, acting director for the veterinary public health and rabies control problem for Los Angeles County, which is on track to record about 20 rabid bats this year.

Around the state, rabies has been documented in 50 bats so far this year, and 144 bats in 2010, with other cases in skunks, foxes and a couple of dogs, said Dr Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health.

In Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Grenada, the main source of rabies is the mongoose, a ferret-like creature, according to Brenda Rivera Garcia, acting state public health veterinarian for the Puer to Rico Department of Health. She also heads the coordinating committee for the 22nd International Conference on Rabies in the Americas, which takes place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a few weeks after World Rabies Day, Sept 28, when individuals and organizations around the world work to create awareness about the disease. “So many lives are lost as a result of this preventable disease,” she said. —AP

Junk food still starring in TV ads seen by children NEW YORK: Children in the United States are seeing fewer sugary, fatty foods advertised on TV, but unhealthy fare still accounts for most of the food ads they see - and fast food commercials were more numerous in 2009 than six years before, a study said. The US food industry in 2006 began a voluntary program called the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) in response to calls from the Federal Trade Commission and the Institute of Medicine for greater self-regulation of food advertising to children.

The study, reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, assessed the impact of the program, which 17 companies-including Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, General Mills and Kellogg-have joined, pledging to improve the nutritional content of the ads they run during programs geared mainly for children under 12.

“Overall, fewer of these (unhealthy) products were being advertised, which is good news,” said Lisa Powell, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the study. “On the other hand, we saw a large increase in the number of fast-food ads.”

The extent to which advertising is to blame for childhood obesity is controversial, but there is evidence that commercials may affect children’s hunger for junk food.

One recent study found that children watching cartoons consumed 45 percent more snacks when they were exposed to food ads. The study looked not only at ads aired during children’s programs, but all commercials seen by the under-12 set, based on Nielsen ratings data. By 2009, children were seeing fewer high-fat, highsugar or high-sodium foods in TV ads, compared with 2003. But the bulk of 2009 ads, at 86 percent, were for fatty, sugary or salty

products-down from 94 percent in 2003.

Children also saw roughly one third more fast-food commercials in 2009.

Powell said the results raise questions about the extent to which self-regulation of ads during children’s programming can “change the landscape” of food marketing to children. Lee Peeler, a spokesperson for the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which runs the CFBAI, said the study shows that progress has been made. But he took issue with the fact that the study looked at all ads seen by children, rather than ads aired during children’s programming, which are the focus of the CFBAI initiative.

“They didn’t use the right measure of industry self-regulation,” he added.

He also said that researchers only looked at the number of fast-food ads and not the content, noting that two giants of the industry-Burger King and McDonald’s, both of which are CFBAI members-have improved their children’s meals and the ads for them, offering things such as apple slices and low-fat milk instead of French fries and soda. Powell said that the CFBAI has made some recent changes that could be for the better, such as announcing that it had developed uniform nutrition criteria, based on US dietary guidelines, for foods that can be advertised to children.

The uniform criteria will go into effect in 2014 and include standards such as limiting advertised children’s cereals to 10 grams of sugar per serving, down from the 12 grams companies are holding themselves to now. Currently, companies are able to create their own standards. “We may well see some improvements in the future,” Powell said, noting that parents need to be aware that junk foods still feature heavily in TV ads. “Time will tell. We’ll have to keep monitoring this.” —Reuters

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health & science

Merit of polar bear paper questionable: Watchdog JUNEAU: The federal investigation into suspended wildlife biologist Charles Monnett has focused on the scientific merit of a 2006 article in which he and a colleague recorded their observations of apparently drowned polar bears in the Arctic, a watchdog group said Tuesday. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said Monnett was interviewed by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement’s inspector general’s office on Tuesday. Monnett was suspended last month by the bureau pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.”

The agency indicated that the suspension, which came amid an ongoing, months-long investigation, was related to how a polar bear research project was awarded and managed.

The article, published in 2006 in the journal Polar Biology, is based on observations that Monnett and fellow scientist Jeffrey Gleason made in 2004. At the time, they were conducting an aerial survey of bowhead whales, and saw four dead polar bears floating in the water after a storm. In the peer-reviewed article, they said they were

reporting, to the best of their knowledge, the first observations of the bears floating dead and presumed drowned while apparently swimming long distances. Polar bears are considered strong swimmers, they wrote, but long-distance swims may exact a greater metabolic toll than standing or walking on ice in better weather.

They said their observations suggested the bears drowned in rough seas and high winds. They also added that the findings “suggest that drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues.” The article and related presentations helped make the polar bear a symbol for the global warming movement. Separately Tuesday, US Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla, wrote the acting director of the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office, seeking clarification on the purpose of the investigation into Monnett. Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said Monnett’s work has been cited by witnesses before his committee and pro-

vided “the foundation” for the government’s decision in 2008 to list the bear as a threatened species, the first with its survival at risk due to global warming.

“As a result, critical habitat for the polar bear was designated, which added additional layers of onerous regulations to oil and gas development in 187,000 square miles of land in Alaska,” he said, adding that accusations against Monnett’s work “could be serious and have far reaching consequences.” PEER executive director Jeff Ruch said that Tuesday’s nearly three-hour long interview revolved around the article and the project, including Monnett’s role during procurement.

Ruch, who monitored the interview via teleconference, said Monnett was also asked about any connections he had to non-governmental organizations and fundraising for environmental groups.

He said the suggestion was raised that Monnett was somehow involved in a covert campaign to promote the issue of climate change. Ruch said it could be several weeks before a transcript is available. —AP

ALASKA: This file photo shows a polar bear in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. —AP

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W H AT ’ S O N

Birthday Greetings Happy birthday to Ali Mahdi, best wishes from mummy, dady, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunty and relatives.

IKEA Kuwait to host Girgi’an celebrations for children

I

KEA Kuwait is set to host an exciting Girgi’an celebration, which will take place at its store in the Avenues Mall on Saturday August 13th at 7:30 pm as part of the Holy Month of Ramadan’s traditional activities.

IKEA Kuwait will be distributing special Girgi’an treats to children upon their arrival to IKEA Kuwait’s store. IKEA Kuwait urges families and children to join this exciting time, and to get treated to an array of Girgi’an filled boxes, and to enjoy their time shopping at the store.

A group photo of members of the IAA Kuwait Chapter at the ghabqa.

Announcements Girgian Fashion Show Get your kids dressed up in their best Girgian costumes or Fairy tale costumes! The Kids Gergean Fashion Show event is sponsored by Fantasy World & it includes lots of entertainment & goodies. It is open to kids aged 2 to 15 years. This event will be covered by many magazines :) When: Thursday, August 11th, Time: 8:30pm, For more info: 9722-4813 GIRGIAN: A fun Girgian party at Baroue! :) When: August 12th, 13th & 16th, Where: Baroue, Avenues Mall, Time: 8pm, For more info: 2259-7457 to 60 Ernakulam iftar Kuwait Ernakulam Residents’ Association (KERA) iftar on August 13, at Rhythm auditorium, Abbassiya, from 5.30 pm onwards.

Attention kids!

CEF VBS 11 starting from August 22. Six exciting days of singing, games & bible stories for children of all ages. Hurry !!!. Limited Seats. Register Online: www.cefkuwait.org Tulukoota talent hunt Tulukoota Kuwait will hold a “Talent Hunt 2011” a chance to prove an inborn trait in you that confirms your individuality, uniqueness. So step forward to grab this opportunity to show your caliber and entertain. Dance, music, art or any special talentnow is your chance to showcase it - and be part of this year’s Talent Hunt & Tulu Parba. Talent Hunt event is open to all Tuluvas. For more information and registration form kindly log on to our Website: www.tulukootakuwait.org or visit our facebook page - Tulukoota Kuwait Talent Hunt 2011. You could also email your form request to: secretary@tulukootakuwait.org or contact our area coordinators mentioned below. Mangaf, Fahaheel, Abuhalifa : Ronald Dsouza- 60035824, Shalini Alva23726164, Suma Bhatt- 97834578 Salmiya & Hawally: Swarna Shetty- 99006934, Kripa Gatty- 66044194 Kuwait City, Jahra, Sharq : Rekha Sachu- 65044521,97862115 Farwaniya, Abbassiya, Shuwaikh & Khaitan: Sathyanarayana- 66585077 Sanath Shetty- 67712409.

Pathanamthitta Onam The executive committee of Pathanamthitta District Association has decided to hold 2011 Onam Festival celebrations on Friday October 28, 2011 with a grand public function attended by Member of Parliament from Pathanamthitta Loksabha Constituency, Anto Antony and other prominent dignitaries from Kerala and Kuwait. All residents of Pathanamthitta District and persons of Pathanamthitta District origin are hereby invited to attend this function and friends and families.

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.

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.

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. For details contact Chris: 6651-9627, Alex: 66069282 from 6-9pm.

Konkani musical show Comedian Philip, the 1st NRI Goan comedian, is all set to entertain you with a Konkani music show titled “Ani, Anik Zaiem?” to be presented by the United Friends Club on September 9 at 4pm at the AIS (American International School) Auditorium, Maidan-Hawalli. This is Kuwait-based comedian Philip’s third musical show after the overwhelming success of staging “Tum Vhoir Aum Sokol” and “Hem Kazar Koslem” in Kuwait and overseas.

Members of the IAA Kuwait Chapter pose for a picture with Lina Al-Rasheed, Assistant Director of Marketing for Convention Center and Royal Suite Hotel.

—Photos by Joseph Shagra

IAA holds fourth annual ghabqa

By Hussain Al-Qatari

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he International Advertising Association (IAA) Kuwait Chapter held its annual ghabqa on Tuesday at the Convention Center and Royal Suite Hotel. Held especially with a festive Ramadan theme, the event gathered advertising agencies with their clients in a social vibrant atmosphere of live music, scrumptious food, fun games and a raffle draw. Valuable prizes were given at the end of the event, including tickets for getaways to international touristic destinations, electronics, latest high-

tech gadgets and more. The event was sponsored by MEC Group, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Sebamed, Alwazzan, Dar Al-Yaqaza, Top United, Kuwait Times, Beit Misk, Al-Fahad Travel and Tourism, Ingredients Events, Boushahri Group, and Mediaedge.

The General Manager of the Convention Center and Royal Suite Hotel Haleem Ghabbar welcomed the guests to the event, extending his good wishes to all members of the audience in the holy month of Ramadan. “We have prepared this cozy atmosphere for a lively night ahead. We hope you enjoy your

time and make yourselves at home,” he said.

The president of the IAA Kuwait Chapter Louaie Al-Asfahani noted that Kuwait’s advertising agencies are moving ahead in their game, participating in international advertising events for the second consecutive year. “I’m honored to be here with you in this festive event on this auspices month. I would like to share some good news: for the second consecutive year, the IAA Kuwait Chapter has attended and participated in the Cannes Lions International Festival for Creativity, which is a world-

wide reputable event. This news is great for the developing sector of advertising in Kuwait,” he said.

General Secretary of the IAA Waleed Kanafani thanked all the members of the IAA and the event sponsors, noting that their participation in the IAA activities bring success to the advertising industry in Kuwait as a whole. “We owe you a lot for your generosity and your continuous support, and we thank you deeply for always supporting us,” he said. Half the proceeds of the raffle tickets were donated to the Bayt Abdullah, a local non-profit children hospice.

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IAA ghabqa

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA In order to inform that 23rd of October 2011, will be Argentine national election where all Argentinean citizen residents permanently in Kuwait can vote only if they are registered at the Electoral Register of the Argentine Embassy. The procedure of inscription ended on 25 of April 2011. To register it is necessary that Argentinean citizens should come personally at the Argentinean Embassy (Block 6, street 42, villa 57, Mishref ) and present the DNI and four personal photos (size 4x4, face should be front on white background). For further information, contact us on 25379211. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF BANGLADESH The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will follow office hours during the holy month of Ramadan. Sunday to Thursday : 09:00 A.M 3:00 PM. Friday and Saturday : Weekly Holidays.

This is for information of all concerned. l The Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Kuwait will remain closed on Monday, 15 August 2011 on the occasion of the National Mourning Day, the 36th Death Anniversary of the Father of Nation - Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The Embassy will arrange the following programmes to observe the National Mourning Day, the 36th Death Anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Monday, 15 August 2011 at the Chancery. The programme on this occasion will be as follows: 0830 hrs Roof top Hoisting of the National Flag at half-mast 1630 hrs First Floor Recitation from the Holy Quran one-minute silence in honour of the martyrs.

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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 nnnnnnn

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. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF GERMANY The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kuwait wishes to announce that as of 1 May 2011, the external service provider Al Qabas Assurex is operating a Visa Application Centre in support of the German Embassy. Short-term visa applications for travels to Germany (e.g. for tourism, visits, business) are to be submitted to the service provider Al Qabas who for your convenience will ensure that all relevant documents are included in your application. Your personal appearance at the Application Centre is not required. Address of the Visa Application Centre: Al Qabas Assurex Sanabel Tower (Al-Babtain) Mezzanine (M3) opposite Sharq Mall Kuwait 22924444 Fax: 22924442 Further information are available on the following websites: www.kuwait.diplo.de www.qavisa.com nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on the following dates on August 15, 2011 (Monday) - ‘Independence Day’ and August 22, (Monday) - ‘Janamashtami’. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF IRAN The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kuwait announced their official working hours during the holy month of Ramadan, which will go between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm on weekdays. The Iranian embassy extends will wishes to His Highness the Amir, the government as well as the people of Kuwait on this occasion. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk nnnnnnn

Mubarak Al-Kabir Governor meets KIB officials

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is Excellency, Sheikh Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Governor of Mubarak Al-Kabir Governorate invited Dr Mahmoud Abul Eyoun, Chief Executive- Kuwait International Bank along with Retail and Private Banking Management. As a gesture of goodwill, KIB CE, Dr. Mahmoud Abul Eyoun presented a memento to His Excellency, Sheikh Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah on behalf of Kuwait International Bank.

EMBASSY OF SLOVAK REPUBLIC The Embassy of the Slovak Republic to the State of Kuwait would like to inform the public that from 8th August 2011, the working hours of the Consular Section will be on Monday and Wednesday from 10:00 till 13:00 hrs.

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00:45 Dogs 101 01:40 Untamed And Uncut 02:35 Austin Stevens Adventures 03:30 Monster Bug Wars 04:25 Human Prey 05:20 Animal Cops Houston 06:10 Dogs 101 07:00 Meerkat Manor 07:25 The Really Wild Show 07:50 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 08:40 Breed All About It 09:10 Dogs 101 11:00 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 11:55 Meerkat Manor 12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Animal ER 13:45 Animal Cops Houston 14:40 Animal Precinct 15:30 RSPCA: Have You Got What It Takes?

16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Crocodile Hunter 17:25 Must Love Cats 18:20 Breed All About It 18:45 Orangutan Island 19:15 Crocodile Hunter 20:10 Dogs 101 21:05 Big Five Challenge 22:00 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife

00:10 00:40 01:25 02:15 03:15 03:45 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 10:40 11:25 12:15 12:45 13:15 14:10 15:40 16:30 17:15 17:45 18:15 19:10 20:00 20:45 21:15

00:10 01:00 01:25 02:15 03:30 04:20 06:15 07:00 09:25 10:15 11:10 11:55 12:45 13:10 14:05 14:30 15:20 16:15 17:00 17:50 18:20

My Family The Weakest Link Casualty Bleak House Eastenders Doctors Charlie And Lola Tweenies Balamory Tikkabilla Charlie And Lola Tweenies Balamory Tikkabilla Tweenies Balamory Tikkabilla Charlie And Lola Tweenies Balamory Tikkabilla Charlie And Lola My Family The Weakest Link Born And Bred Doctors Eastenders Casualty My Family Born And Bred The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders Casualty Born And Bred The Weakest Link Doctors Eastenders

The Naked Chef New Scandinavian Cooking What Not To Wear Masterchef Australia The Naked Chef Daily Cooks Challenge Masterchef Australia Daily Cooks Challenge What Not To Wear Indian Food Made Easy Cash In The Attic Antiques Roadshow New Scandinavian Cooking Britain’s Dream Homes New Scandinavian Cooking What Not To Wear Indian Food Made Easy Cash In The Attic Antiques Roadshow New Scandinavian Cooking Britain’s Dream Homes

19:15 20:05 20:50 21:40 22:05 23:00 23:50

Indian Food Made Easy Cash In The Attic Antiques Roadshow New Scandinavian Cooking Britain’s Dream Homes Masterchef Australia The Naked Chef

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 00:30 01:20 01:45 03:00 04:15 05:30 07:00 07:25 07:50 08:15 09:30 09:55 10:20 10:45 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:15 14:30 15:45 17:00 18:15 19:30 20:45 22:00 22:25 23:15

Legends Of Rod And Reel Trev Gowdy’s Monster Fish Trev Gowdy’s Monster Fish Trout Unlimited On The Rise Speargun Hunter Trev Gowdy’s Monster Fish Legends Of Rod And Reel Truck Academy Ride To Adventure Ride To Adventure Legends Of Rod And Reel Truck Academy Ride To Adventure Ride To Adventure Ducks Unlimited Fall Flight Fall Flight Fall Flight Wingshooting The World Ducks Unlimited Fall Flight Wingshooting The World Ducks Unlimited Fall Flight Wingshooting The World Truck Academy Ride To Adventure Legends Of Rod And Reel

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

TV PROGRAMS

00:00 People Of The Sea 01:00 Temples In The Clouds 02:00 Globe Trekker 03:00 Intrepid Journeys 04:00 Globe Trekker 05:00 People Of The Sea 06:00 Top Travel 06:30 Top Travel 07:00 Globe Trekker 08:00 Think Green 09:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 10:00 Planet Food 11:00 Top Travel 12:00 Globe Trekker 13:00 Flavours Of Peru 13:30 Flavours Of Peru 14:00 Think Green 15:00 Megalopolis 16:00 Globe Trekker 17:00 Top Travel 17:30 Top Travel 18:00 Flavours Of Peru 18:30 Cruise Today 19:00 Globe Trekker 20:00 Rivers Of The World

Junior

00:05 Jungle Junction 00:15 Little Einsteins 00:40 Higglytown Heroes 01:10 Jo Jo’s Circus 01:30 Special Agent Oso 02:00 Jungle Junction 02:25 Little Einsteins 02:50 Higglytown Heroes 03:20 Jo Jo’s Circus 03:40 Special Agent Oso 04:10 Jungle Junction 04:35 Little Einsteins 05:00 Higglytown Heroes 05:30 Jo Jo’s Circus 05:50 Jungle Junction 06:15 Higglytown Heroes 06:45 Handy Manny 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 08:10 Timmy Time 08:20 Handy Manny 08:30 Jake And The Neverland Pirates 08:55 The Hive 09:10 Handy Manny 09:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:15 The Little Mermaid 10:40 Little Einsteins 11:05 Jungle Junction 11:20 Lazytown 11:45 Handy Manny 12:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 12:25 Jake And The Neverland Pirates 12:40 The Little Mermaid 13:05 The Hive 13:15 Special Agent Oso 13:25 Little Einsteins 13:50 The Little Mermaid 14:15 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:05 Handy Manny 15:30 The Hive 15:40 Jake And The Neverland Pirates 15:55 Imagination Movers 16:20 Lazytown 16:45 Jungle Junction 17:00 The Hive 17:10 Little Einsteins 17:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 17:55 Jake And The Neverland Pirates 18:10 Jake And The Neverland Pirates 18:25 The Little Mermaid 18:50 Special Agent Oso 19:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:50 Jake And The Neverland Pirates 20:10 The Hive 20:20 Timmy Time 20:27 Animated Stories 20:30 The Little Mermaid 20:55 Little Einsteins 21:20 Jake And The Neverland

MENACE II SOCIETY ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

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 Miami Ink Ultimate Survival Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters How Do They Do It? How Does It Work?

Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers Street Customs 2008 How Does It Work?

Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Auction Kings Science Of The Movies Weird Or What?

Ultimate Survival Miami Ink Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters Deadliest Catch Cake Boss Border Security Auction Hunters How Does It Work Cash Cab (US) Chris Ryan’s Elite Police Sons Of Guns Spy Wars Deadliest Catch

00:05 00:55 01:45 02:35 03:00 03:25 04:15 04:45 05:40 06:10 07:00 07:55 08:50 09:40 15:45 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:15 18:40 19:30 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

Smash Lab Extreme Engineering What’s That About?

Weird Connections Weird Connections Scrapheap Challenge How Stuff’s Made Extreme Engineering One Step Beyond Engineered Scrapheap Challenge The Sun The Gadget Show Things That Move Weird Connections Scrapheap Challenge How The Universe Works Sci-Fi Science The Gadget Show Prototype This Bang Goes The Theory Smash Lab The Gadget Show Prototype This Bang Goes The Theory The Gadget Show

00:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 00:30 Good Eats - Special 00:55 Paula’s Best Dishes 01:45 Unwrapped 02:10 Unwrapped 02:35 World Cafe Middle East 03:25 Chopped 04:15 Good Eats - Special 04:40 Unwrapped 05:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 05:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 05:50 Paula’s Party 06:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:00 Chopped 07:50 Guy’s Big Bite 08:15 Everyday Italian 08:40 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 09:05 Ten Dollar Dinners 09:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 09:55 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:20 Good Eats - Special 10:45 Boy Meets Grill 11:10 Unwrapped 11:35 Paula’s Party 12:25 Everyday Italian 12:50 Paula’s Best Dishes 13:15 Good Deal With Dave Lieberman 13:40 World Cafe Asia 14:05 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 14:30 Good Eats - Special 14:55 Unwrapped 15:20 Boy Meets Grill 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Guy’s Big Bite 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Paula’s Best Dishes 17:50 Everyday Italian 18:15 World Cafe Asia 18:40 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 19:05 Good Eats - Special 19:30 Food Network Challenge 20:20 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 20:45 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 21:10 Barefoot Contessa

00:15 00:35 01:00 01:25 Cody 01:50 02:15 02:35 03:00 03:25 04:15 05:00 05:50 06:35 07:25 08:15 09:00 09:20 Cody 09:45 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:20 11:30 11:35 12:00 Splits 12:10 12:20 12:30 12:40 Splits 12:50 13:10 Cody 13:35

Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up The Suite Life Of Zack And Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Jonas Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Replacements Emperor’s New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Emperor’s New School The Suite Life Of Zack And Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Splits Mickey Mousekersize Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction Splits The Hive Handy Manny Splits Jake & The Neverland Pirates Sonny With A Chance The Suite Life Of Zack And Phineas And Ferb Splits

13:50 14:15 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:45 16:10 16:30 Cody 16:55 17:20 17:50 18:20 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:25 23:50

Shake It Up Hannah Montana Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb The Suite Life Of Zack And Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Hannah Montana Suite Life On Deck Fish Hooks Shake It Up Jake & Blake Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Fish Hooks Hannah Montana Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Jake & Blake Hannah Montana

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Then And Now 01:25 20 Best And Worst Celebrity Plastic...

03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Khloe And Lamar 10:15 THS 12:05 E! News 13:05 Fashion Police 13:35 Extreme Close-Up 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 E!es 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Holly’s World 17:55 E! News 18:55 E!es 19:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Khloe And Lamar 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:15 Man’s Work 00:40 Mantracker 01:30 World Combat League 02:20 Man’s Work 03:10 Aiya TV 04:00 I’ll Do Anything 04:50 Mantracker 05:40 World Combat League 06:30 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2008 08:00 Cape Epic 08:25 IFMXF 2010 09:15 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 10:55 Eds Up 11:45 Fantasy Factory 12:35 Man’s Work 13:25 Mantracker 14:15 World Combat League 15:05 Eds Up 15:55 Fantasy Factory 16:45 Cape Epic 17:10 IFMXF 2010 18:00 Lucas Oil Motocross Championships 2009 19:40 Mantracker 20:30 Man’s Work 21:20 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

21:45 FIM World Motocross MX3 Championships...

22:10 World Combat League

00:30 01:20 02:10 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

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:05 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 08:45 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 17:00 18:00

Ghost Lab Psychic Witness I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghosthunters Ghost Lab 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 True Crime Scene Dr G: Medical Examiner

Swamp Men World’s Deadliest Animals Snake Paradise How Big Can It Get I, Predator Insects From Hell Wild Chronicles Hidden Worlds The Living Edens Journey Into Amazonia Monkey Thieves Monkey Thieves Snake Paradise How Big Can It Get I, Predator World’s Deadliest Animals The Living Edens Journey Into Amazonia Monkey Thieves Monkey Thieves Ultimate Vipers Intimate Enemies Orca Killing School

HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE ON OSN ACTION HD 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The Living Edens Journey Into Amazonia Monkey Thieves Ultimate Vipers Intimate Enemies

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:05 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

Swamp Men World’s Deadliest Animals Snake Paradise How Big Can It Get I, Predator Insects From Hell Wild Chronicles Hidden Worlds The Living Edens Journey Into Amazonia Monkey Thieves Snake Paradise How Big Can It Get I, Predator World’s Deadliest Animals The Living Edens Journey Into Amazonia Monkey Thieves Ultimate Vipers Intimate Enemies Orca Killing School The Living Edens Journey Into Amazonia Monkey Thieves Ultimate Vipers Intimate Enemies

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 07:45 09:30 12:30 14:30 16:15 18:30 20:30

Saw VI-R Child’s Play 2-PG15 Signs-PG15 Heaven’s Fall-PG15 Bad Girls-PG15 Pearl Harbor-PG15 Hollywood Homicide-PG15 Bad Girls-PG15 The Core-PG15 Hollywood Homicide-PG15 A Perfect Getaway-18

01:00 Mammoth-PG15 03:15 Messengers-PG15 05:00 Charlie & Boots-PG15 07:00 Who Is Clark Rockefeller-PG 09:00 Hurricane Season-PG15 11:00 Mee Shee-PG 13:00 When In Rome-PG15 15:00 Desperate Hours: An Amber Alert-PG15 17:00 The Longshots-PG15 19:00 The Greatest-PG15 21:00 Tron: Legacy-PG15 23:15 Camp Hope-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The New Adventures Of Old Christine 02:00 Louie 02:30 Rita Rocks 03:00 Just Shoot Me 04:00 Two And A Half Men 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 The Drew Carey Show 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Two And A Half Men 08:30 Just Shoot Me 09:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 09:30 The Simpsons 10:00 Parks And Recreation 10:30 Seinfeld 11:00 The Drew Carey Show 11:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Two And A Half Men 13:00 Just Shoot Me 13:30 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 14:00 Seinfeld 14:30 The Simpsons 15:00 Parks And Recreation 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 The Drew Carey Show 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Just Shoot Me 19:00 Happy Endings 19:30 Community

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:45 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:15 23:00

Menace II Society-18 El Orfenato-18 Child’s Play 2-PG15 The Order-PG15 The Box-PG15 Avatar-PG Signs-PG15 The Box-PG15 G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra Valhalla Rising-18 Paranormal Activity-PG15 Altitude-PG15

00:30 The Bounty Hunter-PG15 02:30 Land Of The Lost-PG15 04:30 Married To It-PG15 06:30 Mafia!-PG15 08:00 Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs-PG 10:00 Born Yesterday-PG15 12:00 From Justin To Kelly-PG 14:00 The Invention Of Lying-PG15 16:00 The Bounty Hunter-PG15 18:00 The Freshman-PG15 20:00 Just Married-PG15

03:00 Bond Of Silence-PG15 05:00 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 07:00 The Informant!-PG15 09:00 Furry Vengeance-PG15 11:00 The Blind Side-PG15 13:30 Old Dogs-PG 15:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 17:00 Furry Vengeance-PG15 19:00 The Joneses-PG15 21:00 Tron: Legacy-PG15

01:00 Catch That Kid-PG 03:00 Astro Boy-FAM 05:00 Dennis The Menace: Cruise Control-FAM 07:00 Dinosaur Island-PG 09:00 Homeward Bound II: Lost In San Francisco-FAM 11:00 Barney’s Great Adventure 13:00 Aliens In The Attic-FAM 15:00 Nanny Mcphee And The Big Bang-PG 17:00 Barney’s Great Adventure 19:00 The Three Musketeers-FAM 21:00 Aliens In The Attic-FAM 23:00 Nanny Mcphee And The Big Bang-PG

00:00 The Dry Land-18 02:00 Calvin Marshall-PG15 04:00 Oceans - Into The Deep-PG 06:00 StreetDance-PG15 08:00 You Again-PG15 10:00 How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days-PG 12:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 14:00 Tooth Fairy-PG

00:00 Scottish Premier League 02:00 Trans World Sport 03:00 Golfing World 04:00 Currie Cup Rugby Union 06:00 FIVB Beach Volley Ball 06:30 European Tour Weekly 07:00 Rugby World Cup Classics 07:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 08:00 Trans World Sport 09:00 Golfing World 10:00 Asian Tour Highlights 11:00 European Tour Weekly 11:30 AFL Highlights 12:30 Rugby World Cup Classics 13:00 Live Test Cricket 20:00 Total Rugby 20:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 21:00 Rugby World Cup Classics 21:30 Live RFL Championship 23:30 Futbol Mundial

00:00 Trans World Sports 01:00 European Tour Weekly

01:30 03:30 04:00 04:30 07:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 14:30 15:30 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:30 20:00 21:00

ITM Cup Rugby Union Asian Tour Golf Rugby World Cup Classics AFL Premiership Golfing World ITM Cup Rugby Union Scottish Premier League ICC Cricket World Total Rugby Trans World Sport Asian Tour Golf Golfing World European Tour Weekly ITM Cup Rugby Union Mobil 1 The Grid Trans World Sport European Tour Weekly Golfing World Live The PGA Championship

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

UFC The Ultimate Fighter Speedway WWE NXT UFC 133 UFC Unleashed WWE SmackDown!

WWE Bottomline Powerboats F1 Highlights Mass Participation Modern Pentaholn WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottomline Powerboats F1 Highlights Powerboats F1 Highlights Modern Pentaholn Speedway Intercontinental Le Mans Cup WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC 133

00:00 Jerseylicious 01:00 Fashion Avenue 01:55 Big Boutique 02:25 How Do I Look?

03:20 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

05:10 Homes With Style 05:35 Area 06:05 Clean House 07:00 Big Boutique 08:00 Homes With Style 09:00 Fashion Avenue 09:55 How Do I Look?

10:50 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

11:50 Clean House: Search For The Messiest...

12:50 Clean House 13:45 Top 10 14:15 Mel B: It’s A Scary World 14:45 Jerseylicious 15:40 Ruby 16:35 Giuliana & Bill 17:30 Ruby 18:25 How Do I Look?

19:25 Big Boutique 19:50 Fashion Avenue 20:20 Clean House 21:15 Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

22:10 Giuliana & Bill 23:05 Jerseylicious

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 22:30 23:00

Life After People Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Britain At War Tales Of The Gun UFO Hunters Life After People Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Britain At War Tales Of The Gun UFO Hunters Life After People Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Britain At War Tales Of The Gun UFO Hunters Life After People Ice Road Truckers Ax Men Ax Men Sliced Sliced Deep Wreck Mysteries

Classifieds THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

Science Matters

Spying on giant predator Sensors linked to satellites may help explain the mysterious migration of giant hammerhead sharks between feeding and breeding grounds.

Giant hammerhead shark Tall curved dorsal fin

Up to 20 ft. (6 m) long

Long upper tail Wide head with straight front edge Eats crabs, squid, fish; prefers stingrays and skates ACCOMMODATION

2

1

1

Researchers attach GPS location finding device to fin

2

Radio sends location data to satellite

One shark tracked by researchers swam 750 mi.

(1,200 km) in just 62 days

Worldwide range

Sharing accommodation in Abbassiya near Balansiya Bakery, from 1st September, full furnished 2 bedroom flat with mini split A/C, looking for executive bachelor or couple to share with Keralite family.

Contact: 66944127 or (afternoon) 24334240.

(C 3560) 9-8-2011 Sharing accommodation available in Abbassiya, near United Indian School. For a couple KD 80 or bachelor KD 50. Contact: 99645213.

(C 3557) 8-8-2011

Lives in warm and temperate coastal waters; often travels outward to continental shelf

Sensors on wide head can find stingrays hiding under sand Source: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science © 2011 MCT Graphic: Helen Lee McComas

Furnished sharing accommodation in a 2 bedroom apart, for an executive bachelor or couple in Farwaniya, for RC Goan or Mangalorean with Mangalorean bachelor behind Crowne Plaza. Contact: 97521167, 24762183.

(C 2554) 7-8-2011 One room fully furnished in 3 bedroom CA/C flat is available for rent. Muslim bachelor/ Pakistani is preferred.

Contact 99714430.

(C 3553) 6-8-2011

FOR SALE

Mitsubishi Galant, Model 2000 (Manual) silver color, 380km done, registered up to February 2012, new tires & battery, good condition A/C working, demand KD 800/- can discuss. Contact:

97868266. (C 3561) 10-8-2011 Nissan Sunny 2009, white color, 71000km, KD 2,300/-. Contact: 65085629.

(C 3559) 9-8-2011 2006 Pajero white V6 full option without sunroof cruise control, 6CD changer, wood decoration, folding mirror, fog light alloy wheels, running 126000 km, price KD 3750 (negotiable) for urgent sale leaving Kuwait. Contact: 66219290. (C 3552) 6-8-2011

MATRIMONIAL

Christian parents invite marriage proposal for their daughter 25, 5.5”, MA, Bed, English teacher, based Meerut, U.P, India from qualified and professional boys. Email: davidsondaniel@hotmail.com (C 3562) 10-8-2011 Proposals are invited for a RCSC girl, 30, 165 working as accountant with a reputed company in Kuwait.

Email: anson7714@yahoo.com (C 3556) 8-8-2011 Kuwait Orthodox parents invite proposals for their son 29/172cm, M.Com PGDBA born & brought up

in Kuwait and employed in MNC Kuwait since 2008 from parents of Orthodox / Jacobite / Marthoma girls B.Tech/MCA/MBA/M.Com employed in Kuwait.

Contact email: thekalloors@gmail.com (C 3555)

SITUATION VACANT

A driver for a family of two adults, will have to carry other tasks, must have a valid driver’s license and transferable visa interested call Tell: 99160902 9-8-2011 British family in Fintas looking for live-in maid.

Please Contact: 23908092 after 2pm. (C 3558) 8-8-2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines RJA JZR THY ETH KAC UAE DHX ETD MSR GFA QTR JZR THY FCX KAC BAW JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE QTR ABY ETD GFA MEA KNE MSR JZR SYR KAC JZR MSR UAL SHY RJA MSR FDB OMA KAC KAC SVA KAC KAC

Flt 642 269 772 620 1736 853 370 305 614 211 138 539 770 201 412 157 557 206 382 302 332 53 352 284 362 855 132 125 301 213 404 789 623 173 341 672 1779 610 982 4125 640 621 57 645 562 546 500 552 788

Arrival Flights on Thursday 11/8/2011 Route AMMAN BEIRUT ISTANBUL ADDIS ABABA JEDDAH DUBAI BAHRAIN ABU DHABI CAIRO BAHRAIN DOHA CAIRO ISTANBUL DUBAI MANILA / BANGKOK LONDON ALEXANDRIA ISLAMABAD DELHI MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI COCHIN DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI DOHA SHARJAH ABU DHABI BAHRAIN BEIRUT JEDDAH SOHAG DUBAI DAMASCUS / DEIREZZOR DUBAI JEDDAH CAIRO WASHINGTON DC DULLES ANTALYA AMMAN ASSIUT DUBAI MUSCAT AMMAN ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH DAMASCUS JEDDAH

Time 0:05 0:35 1:15 1:45 1:50 2:25 2:55 2:55 3:05 3:15 3:20 3:50 4:10 5:25 6:15 6:30 7:05 7:15 7:20 7:50 7:55 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:20 8:25 9:00 9:10 9:30 9:35 10:55 11:20 12:10 12:50 13:00 13:15 13:15 13:20 13:30 13:30 13:35 13:40 13:50 14:00 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40

KNE UAE QTR JZR KAC MLR ETD JZR UAE GFA SVA TAR ABY FDB ALK RBG KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC KAC SIA JAI IRA FDB VOS OMA MEA JZR KAC MSR DHX KLM JZR UAE GFA QTR UAL AIC MSR MSR JZR DLH AXB BBC PIA

745 3853 134 357 118 403 303 535 857 215 510 327 127 63 227 3555 104 502 542 618 786 774 777 614 1740 674 458 572 617 61 93 647 402 203 178 618 372 445 267 859 217 136 981 981 606 612 185 636 389 43 205

JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA MASHAD NEW YORK COLOMBO / DUBAI ABU DHABI CAIRO DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH TUNIS / DUBAI SHARJAH DUBAI COLOMBO / DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LONDON BEIRUT CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH RIYADH JEDDAH BAHRAIN JEDDAH DUBAI SINGAPORE / ABU DHABI MUMBAI AHWAZ DUBAI KANDAHAR / DUBAI MUSCAT BEIRUT DAMASCUS GENEVA / FRANKFURT ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM BEIRUT DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD LUXOR CAIRO DUBAI FRANKFURT KOZHIKODE / MANGALORE DHAKA LAHORE

14:45 15:10 15:15 16:05 16:15 16:40 16:50 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:30 17:40 17:55 18:00 18:05 18:35 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:00 19:10 19:15 19:20 19:25 19:25 19:35 19:35 19:45 20:00 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:20 20:45 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:35 22:00 22:05 22:40 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:10 23:45 23:55

Airlines AXB DLH AIC KLM PIA THY ETH UAE DHX ETD MSR QTR THY JZR RJA GFA KAC BAW FDB JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY KAC QTR JZR JZR ETD GFA KAC MEA KAC KNE KAC MSR KAC JZR SYR KAC MSR SHY RJA FDB MSR UAL JZR

Departure Flights on Thursday 11/8/2011 Flt Route 394 COCHIN / KOZHIKODE 637 FRANKFURT 576 GOA / CHENNAI 447 AMSTERDAM 216 KARACHI 773 ISTANBUL 620 BAHRAIN / ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 371 BAHRAIN 306 ABU DHABI 615 CAIRO 139 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 1778 JEDDAH 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 545 ALEXANDRIA 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 172 DUBAI 787 JEDDAH 671 DUBAI 551 DAMASCUS 561 AMMAN 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 101 LONDON / NEW YORK 133 DOHA 534 CAIRO 356 MASHAD 302 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 165 ROME / PARIS 405 BEIRUT 541 CAIRO 790 JEDDAH 501 BEIRUT 624 SOHAG 785 JEDDAH 776 JEDDAH 342 DEIREZZOR / DAMASCUS 1739 JEDDAH 611 CAIRO 4126 ANTALYA 641 AMMAN 58 DUBAI 622 ASSIUT 982 BAHRAIN 202 DAMASCUS

Time 0:15 0:40 0:50 0:55 1:10 2:15 2:30 3:45 3:55 4:05 4:05 5:00 5:10 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:40 8:25 8:40 8:40 8:55 9:00 9:10 9:15 9:40 9:50 9:55 10:00 10:00 10:10 10:15 10:20 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:05 13:00 13:10 13:30 13:50 14:00 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 14:55

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

JZR OMA KAC KNE KAC KAC SVA KAC UAE VOS ETD MLR QTR UAE GFA TAR ABY SVA FDB RBG JZR ALK KAC JZR KAC JAI FDB IRA KAC JZR KAC OMA MEA SIA MSR KAC DHX KLM UAE GFA FCX QTR KAC KAC KAC MSR UAL MSR KAC JZR

266 646 673 746 617 773 505 613 3854 82 304 404 135 858 216 328 128 511 64 3556 184 228 283 240 361 571 62 616 331 538 351 648 403 457 619 543 373 445 860 218 102 137 301 205 411 607 981 613 415 556

BEIRUT MUSCAT DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI BAGHDAD ABU DHABI DUBAI / COLOMBO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN TUNIS SHARJAH RIYADH DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI DUBAI / COLOMBO DHAKA AMMAN COLOMBO MUMBAI DUBAI AHWAZ TRIVANDRUM CAIRO COCHIN MUSCAT BEIRUT ABU DHABI / SINGAPORE ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN / AMSTERDAM DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DOHA MUMBAI ISLAMABAD BANGKOK / MANILA LUXOR WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO KUALA LUMPUR / JAKARTA ALEXANDRIA

15:00 15:00 15:10 15:30 15:35 15:50 16:00 16:20 16:40 17:00 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:10 19:30 20:05 20:20 20:35 20:40 20:45 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:20 21:55 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:55 23:40 23:40 23:40 23:50 23:50 23:55

34

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

stars CROSSWORD 406

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) This is a time during which circumstances bend to your will and things have a way of working out smoothly. Here are real opportunities to complete and work out difficulties and projects that require a long-term effort and a high degree of discipline. Everything conspires to value and brings out your unique qualities. You may find that someone close to you understands and is supportive of your eccentricities. You could come up with new solutions to old problems that do not seem to go away. Breakthroughs in your career could open up during this time, making it possible for you to reach new levels of accomplishment. Improved approaches make this an opportunity not to be passed over now. Family matters are easily solved this evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You could find yourself communicating techniques and method to others. You have a natural sense for communicating with others, especially those younger than yourself. You have a natural sense of what is needed in the workplace and you will proceed to accomplish quite a lot today.

Seeing both sides of an issue and figuring out resolutions to opposing views take on more importance at this time. Important decisions affecting others could be made now. A new cycle begins for you as well, signaling a greater than usual interest in relationships, social connections and the arts, on a more intellectual level than in the past.

There are new opportunities this fall to either teach or enjoy taking a class with a loved one in some kind of creative learning.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. Thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus.

5. At or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane.

10. (computer science) A computer that is running software that allows users to leave messages and access information of general interest.

13. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

14. Of or relating to or containing barium.

15. The upper side of the thighs of a seated person.

16. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

17. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

18. Fermented alcoholic beverage similar to but heavier than beer.

19. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

21. Lacking motor coordination.

23. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

25. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

26. A small cake leavened with yeast.

29. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

31. With no effort to conceal.

35. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

37. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

38. A cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment.

42. A unit of absorbed ionizing radiation equal to 100 ergs per gram of irradiated material.

43. Large antelope with lightly spiraled horns of desert regions of North Africa.

44. English monk and scholar (672-735).

46. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

48. Being ten more than one hundred ninety.

49. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

52. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonic scale in solmization.

54. Tropical starchy tuberous root.

58. Israeli general and statesman (1915-1981).

60. Young of domestic cattle.

63. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

64. South American wood sorrel cultivated for its edible tubers.

65. Paralysis of the vocal cords resulting in an inability to speak.

67. A fluorocarbon with chlorine.

68. The network in the reticular formation that serves an alerting or arousal function.

69. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

70. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

DOWN 1. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.

2. Someone who copies the words or behavior of another.

3. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

4. A peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

5. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

6. The cry made by sheep.

7. A large fleet.

8. A legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge).

9. A landlocked desert republic in north-central Africa.

10. Cry plaintively.

11. An island in Indonesia east of Java.

12. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work.

20. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (1879-1958).

22. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.

24. A light touch or stroke.

27. In bed.

28. An unofficial association of people or groups.

30. A digital display that uses liquid crystal cells that change reflectivity in an applied electric field.

32. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

33. A soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element.

34. An informal term for a father.

36. The ball-and-socket joint between the head of the femur and the acetabulum.

39. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh.

40. 32nd President of the United States.

41. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

45. (informal) Of the highest quality.

47. Tropical American tree producing cacao beans.

50. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

51. An unfledged or nestling hawk.

53. English essayist (1775-1834).

54. A public promotion of some product or service.

55. Small European freshwater fish with a slender bluish-green body.

56. Informal or slang terms for mentally irregular.

57. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

59. Tag the base runner to get him out.

61. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

62. Extremely pleasing.

66. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) You have a natural sense for communicating with others, especially those younger than yourself. Clear thoughts about the past may come to your attention today. There is a growing self-confidence. From this time forward, expect a more confident, outgoing attitude, for you have brought to close a time of inward examination and learning. A growing sense of direction and self-worth will find you reaching out and establishing yourself. Close personal ties to other people are a focal point for your feelings this evening. Marriage and other partnerships could be a key arena for this. There is a greater than usual interest in relationships, social connections and the arts. Share some newfound news with your loved ones.

Communicate and affirm each other.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

NON SEQUITUR

Planning ahead will work to your benefit today. Do not take chances or risks just now. Be satisfied with the ordinary and the usual. Novel ideas or insights could be more damaging than useful but those plans already made will be successful. There is plenty of hectic emotional energy but you will be able to succeed if you think through your moves and do not perform by quick response. Seeing both sides of an issue and figuring out resolutions to opposing views will become more important than usual. Someone is watching you solve problems. Perhaps it is time for an employee review—write your own. This evening close personal ties to other people are a focal point for your feelings—marriage and other partnerships could be a key arena.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You have a great deal of charm and professional expertise and do not mind showing off your talent today. Now is the perfect time to set dates, apply for a job, or otherwise make yourself known. You are insightful, always darting straight to the heart of things and never shy about working with the most sensitive and vulnerable areas of the human psyche. You love new and different ways of self-discovery and transformation. You may now be considering a different type of company to work for or with and this is the perfect time to apply for that change. Marriage, celebrations or a reunion is in the forecast soon, if not today. There is a greater than usual interest in relationships, social connections and the arts—on a more intellectual level.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Put your thinking cap on today because you have the opportunity to use your wit and wisdom in several creative endeavors. This is a good day to use your imagination and creative talents.

Gathering and exchanging information is important in developing your strategies. This is a mentally active day. Making presentations, updating files and talking to higher-ups—there is a tremendous sense for taking care of business.

There is a passion that benefits you in all business situations. This evening you may find yourself in a group meeting, facing the concerns of homeowners or renters in the same area in which you live. You may consider finding ways to help through land or housing improvements.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Your inner resources and emotions are accented. Expect a sense of support from those around you. You will enjoy and value your own life situation today. A fun time with a friend at the noon break keeps your energy and confidence level high. You could find that you are appreciated and this is the best kind of friend to have! This afternoon you enjoy working hard and being organized. You exercise your skill and discipline in anything that affects your career and reputation. There are breakthrough flashes of insight with tremendous originality and independence. Improvement of existing circumstances and insights into the status quo help you to make use of a situation that will serve new needs. Romance is in the air this evening.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Circumstances can throw you into positions where you must use your mind and deal with communications, service or enclosed hidden interests. You may deal with education, psychology, spiritual enlightenment or teaching principles and techniques to others. A majority of planets in your PAST suggest that you are comfortable with established values. You know and understand more than you let on today and changes in the workplace will not take you by surprise. There are big changes throughout your life in matters of organization and responsibility. Make it a point to be thorough: to finish things and take care of all the loose ends before you retire for the day. Close relationships take on more emotional depth this evening.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

This morning seems much organizing, planning, making phone calls, contacts and appointments. There is a push to achieve and rise above a schedule. This may be a fun competitive situation or just simply a new schedule. This is a fairly productive day. You can appreciate the difficulties of others and be understanding of the problems they may be having. You value a certain amount of self-sacrifice and a giving attitude. You can discriminate between superficiality and underlying reality. Your interest in relationships and social connections and the arts have moved to a more intellectual level than in the past. Seeing both sides of an issue and figuring out resolutions also takes on more importance in your life.

There is something that someone else has that you want. This may be a relationship or it could be a possession. Think about how you can change or adjust the things in your life that would help you achieve what you want and list three things that you can do today that will help you eventually achieve this goal. You appreciate others who have been successful and may surround yourself with those in power whenever possible. Your sense of quality and discrimination may amount to some sort of livelihood for you. You understand about choices and can spot the right ones. You may have trouble getting moving, but once rolling, others had better step aside. A bookstore is a destination this afternoon. You may find yourself helping a neighbor this evening.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) This could be an action-filled day when time seems to slow down as you encounter some of your more sensitive areas. This kind of intensity and vulnerability points to inner change and growth. Ideas for writing, perhaps a book, short story or poetry appeals to you this afternoon. There could be research into religious or very idealistic subjects now. You are very sensitive, even vulnerable when it comes to expressing yourself. Periods of intense creativity enable you to go through changes and inner growth. This creative intensity could be in your expression for music. Relationships are so important to you that they could be a stumbling block. Remember that the EGO searches for shortcomings—LOVE watches for light and strength.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

You may be especially dynamic and assertive just now and you may want to insert caution when rushing through your work. There is a lot of energy and drive available for accomplishing what you set out to do today—one step at a time. This is a good time to move forward with your career decisions. You will be able to see both sides of an issue and figure out resolutions to opposing views. These techniques could be important later. This is a real time to improve your career plans. Your sense of responsibility will be what guides you and proves successful. Your career could assume a much more determined and solid form—a firm foundation. You will certainly find your financial situation improving. Enjoy dinner out this evening.

A

y

e niv rsar n

Years

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 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

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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

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

li fe s ty le

Lohan’s got her

G O S S I P

eye on Berryman

Jolie takes children pottery painting

indsay Lohan has set her sights on Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman. The ‘Mean Girls’ star reportedly made her romantic intentions towards the 33-year-old British musician clear at Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago where she was spotted “following him around all weekend” and attended the band’s Grey Goose after-party following their performance on Friday, the New York Post newspaper reports. The concert in Chicago was Lindsay’s second time seeing the band last week as she was a special guest of front man Chris Martin at their Los Angeles gig yesterday. The 25-yearold actress is a huge fan of the British rockers and reached out to Chris for tickets as the pair have been “good friends” for years. Lindsay -

L

who brought her younger sister Ali to the gig, where they enjoyed prime seats near the stage - later tweeted: “I love Coldplay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! W/my sis :)” However, she reportedly later “threw a fit” when she was refused a backstage pass with a source explaining: “When Lindsay was told she wasn’t allowed backstage because her pass didn’t allow it, she threw a complete fit. She protested to the people running the guest list, hoping they’d change their minds but it was still a firm ‘no’. She got even more angry when she found out fellow actress Kate Bosworth was there mingling with Chris’ wife Gwyneth Paltrow and the band. In the end she got so fed up, she stormed out.”

ngelina Jolie treated her six children to afternoon of painting on Tuesday.

The Oscar-winning actress is currently staying in Richmond, south west London, as partner Brad Pitt films new movie ‘World War Z’, so she decided to take her brood Maddox, 10, Pax, seven, Zahara, six, and Shiloh, five, and three-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - to Pottery Cafe, where they all got to decorate their own crockery. The cafe currently has a ‘Pirates and Princesses’ theme

A

- to coincide with the British school summer holidays - and Knox and Vivienne really got into the swing of things by dressing up as a pirate and princess respectively. A spokesperson at the Pottery Cafe’s Richmond branch told website MailOnline: “They all had a lovely afternoon of painting, and we hope to see them again soon!” Meanwhile, as his family were enjoying a day out in Richmond, Brad stunned a local bakery shop in Cornwall, South West England, by ordering 700 Cornish

pasties. The handsome star is currently filming in the seaside resort of Falmouth and wanted to treat the actors and crew on the set of the movie so requested the massive order at Rowe’s Cornish Bakers. Marketing boss Paul Pearce told the Daily Express newspaper: “I knew Brad Pitt was filming in the area but initially I thought, ‘This has got to be a wind up.’ “But as the conversation went on I realized the request was genuine and we set about it. It was a bit of a mad rush.”

Fielder-Civil Fawcett

plans book on Winehouse

lake Fielder-Civil is planning to write a book about his late ex-wife Amy Winehouse.

The former video runner wants to pen a tome revealing what life was like during his troubled marriage to the ‘Rehab’ singer - who suddenly died at her north London home last month aged just 27 - and give an account of what sort of person she was away from the stage. Blake who is currently serving a 32-month prison sentence for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm - apparently plans to revisit some of the videos he recorded of Amy to help him write the book. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Blake’s been planning to write a tell-all on Amy since she became famous. When they were together he’d film her, but there are many hours and footage he hasn’t released.” It is believed Blake will start the book if he is offered an acceptable amount of money for the tome. The former couple married in Miami in May 2007 and their destructive relationship eventually ended in 2009 when drug addict Blake - who has been blamed for introducing Amy to heroin and crack cocaine - divorced her from jail. Several tracks on the musician’s worldwide hit album ‘Back to Black’ were inspired by her first break-up with Blake and the pair’s romance.

B

Kardashian’s

ex ‘bombards’ her with messages im Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend has been begging her to get back with him. Despite splitting from the 30year-old socialite last year, NFL star Reggie Bush has reportedly been bombarding the brunette beauty - who is due to marry basketball ace Kris Humphries on August 20 with “text messages and voicemails” attempting to persuade her he’s “the one for her”. An insider said: “He’s been sending text messages to Kim and leaving her voicemails, telling her she’s making a mistake and that he’s the one for her. “In the past, Kim was friendly to Reggie, but now she’s stopped responding.” Reggie is said to have been begging Kim to call off her

K

impending nuptials, but the ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ star is “burned” by the way their romance ended. The source added to Life & Style magazine: “He was begging her to call off the wedding and give him another chance. She was burned by the end of their relationship, and she’s truly moved on.” Kim made sure to tell Reggie about her whirlwind engagement before it hit headlines. A friend said at the time: “Reggie was told about Kris and Kim’s engagement this past weekend because Kim knew everyone would be contacting him for reaction. “During their last breakup, Reggie told me Kim may have been the one who got away. He loved her to death.”

Top TV earner Simon Cowell S

imon Cowell will earn $75 million for his work on the US ‘X Factor’ The media mogul - who will launch the US version of his reality TV show later this year - will reportedly pocket $75 million per season on the program, including his fee as producer, far surpassing that of his fellow judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul, who will take home $1.5 million and $2.5 million respectively, though TV Guide magazine has not released the earnings of fourth panel list LA Reid.

Meanwhile, Ashton Kutcher has been revealed as the highest paid sitcom actor in America, despite only filming his first episode of ‘Two and a Half Men’ last Friday. The 33-year-old actor - who replaced Charlie Sheen in the show after he was fired from his role as Charlie Harper earlier this year - earns $700,000 an episode and while it is considerably less than Charlie’s $1.2 million, Ashton makes more than his closest competitors. British actor Hugh Laurie is the best paid actor in a TV drama, making $700,000 per episode for his role as grumpy doctor Gregory House in ‘House’. Other high earners include Mariska Hargitay, who is paid $395,000 per ‘Law & Order: SVU’ episode, ‘Jersey Shore’ star Snooki who is paid $100,000 per show and Blake Lively, who makes $60,000 for each ‘Gossip Girl’ episode. The figures also showed how well paid many US talk show hosts are, with David Letterman ($28 million), Kelly Ripa ($20 million) Jay Leno ($25 million) among the highest earners, trailed by Conan O’Brien ($10 million) and CNN journalist Anderson Cooper ($11 million).

Clooney has ‘great’ female friends eorge Clooney has “truly great” female friends. The 50-yearold actor - who recently split from girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis after two years together and is now rumored to be dating former wrestler Stacy Keibler values the company of women and insists he doesn’t always have any romantic involvement with the “strong” ladies he likes to surround himself with.

He said: “I’ve always had really great friends on both sides of the aisle, so to speak. “I grew up with strong women, my mom is strong and so is my sister and so was my aunt, Rosemary Clooney. “I’ve always been comfortable around women. I have some truly great women friends and the friendship is non-romantic.” The ‘Syriana’ actor values honesty and humor in his friends, and loves the way his loved ones keep him grounded. He told Britain’s HELLO! magazine: “I look for a sense of humor and fun, an interest in other people and, most important of all, honesty.

G

dolls are sold for charity

arrah Fawcett Barbie dolls are being sold to raise money for her charity. The ‘Charlie’s Angels’ star - who died in 2009 at the age of 62 following a three-year battle with cancer - has had her likeness reproduced as a small figurine by Mattel, with some proceeds going to The Farrah Fawcett Foundation, which is run by her long-time friend Alana Stewart. Alana told Fox News: “We’re all very excited about it, it’s a great tribute to her and part of the proceeds go to the foundation to benefit cancer research and help people. Her aim was really to help in cutting-edge research and to help people that are actually struggling with cancer now, so that’s really the mission of the foundation. It’s really wonderful for her memory and for her legacy and for her fans.” The doll is dressed in a onepiece red bathing suit, similar to the one made famous in the iconic poster of the actress that has sold over six million copies with the doll in an identical pose. The likeness - which went on sale in July priced $34.95 - has already sold out on several websites.

F

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

Years

lifestyle M U S I C

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M O V I E S

Music stars campaign to end hunger crisis in Africa

Lady Gaga at a press conference ahead of her showcase concert at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. —AP

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Bollywood actors Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif take part in a dance performance during the music launch for the forthcoming Hindi film ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ in Mumbai late August 9, 2011. —AFP

‘The Help’

Review

is faithful to the bestseller “T

he Help” needs no help from movie critics to lure the millions who’ve already read and loved the 2009 bestselling novel upon which it is based. For those who haven’t read the book and are wondering whether to see the film let me help you: Go. “The Help” is that rare thing, an enjoyable message movie. The message: Times have changed, and thank God for that. “The Help” tells the story of a group of women, black and white, in a Mississippi town in the early 1960s. The white women are mostly young society matrons, whose days are filled with playing cards, charity work and gossip.

The black women are their maids, the so-called “help.”

While raising the children, cooking meals and cleaning for the white women, these black women suffer countless indignities- having to use a special designated bathroom, no matter how inconvenient-on a daily basis.

John F Kennedy may be in the White House and the civil rights movement under way, but in this Mississippi town, things are still the way they’ve always been and

many reckon always will be, whether they like it (the white women) or not (the black domestics). That is until Skeeter (Emma Stone), a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi and aspiring writer, returns home and starts talking to the maids. Hearing their stories, plus encouragement from a New York City book editor (Mary Steenburgen), inspires Skeeter to begin scribbling away on a tome that has the potential to turn the town on its ear.

“The Help” is a meta-movie; its subject is the power of story-telling even as it tells terrific stories of its own.

These tales, both from the past and the movie’s present, are appalling, affecting, funny, fascinating and, always, entertaining. Building on the strong foundation provided by author Kathryn Stockett’s novel, director-screenwriter Tate Taylor (whose only previous feature was the barely-released 2008 comedy “Pretty Ugly People”) creates a strong sense of time and place and populates it with memorable characters.

Taylor is exceedingly faithful to Stockett’s novel, possi-

bly too faithful. At 137 minutes, “The Help” feels a touch long, though that’s a minor quibble. Grabbing at the chance here to play vivid roles, the skilled cast digs in with relish. It’s not an overstatement to say that the Oscar race, at least for supporting actress (this is very much an ensemble film), kicks off with “The Help.”

Top honors go to the always redoubtable Viola Davis, who movingly plays Aibileen, the first maid willing to share her experiences with Skeeter. Also making strong impressions are Octavia Spencer, who’s hilarious as Minny, a maid who knows revenge is a dish best served baked, and Jessica Chastain as Celia, a new bride from the wrong side of the tracks who longs to join the town’s social elite. Additionally, there sprightly turns by Sissy Spacek as a widow who’s a lot sharper than her bossy daughter (Bryce Dallas Howard) believes her to be, and Allison Janney as Skeeter’s disapproving mother. It may still be summer, but “The Help,” a quality film that has class but also plenty of sass, feels like a fall movie. And that’s a good thing.—Reuters

global social media campaign featuring a Bob Marley song was launched by some of the music industry’s top stars Tuesday to help stem the hunger crisis that is increasing in the Horn of Africa. More than 150 stars including Lady Gaga, U2, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney are among the well-known figures using their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to urge fans to donate money to help the numerous families starving in the region.

The campaign, called “I’m Gonna Be Your Friend,” can be found at www.imgonnabeyourfriend.org. It shows a video of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1973 song, ‘High Tide or Low Tide,” accompanied by footage of malnourished children created by awardwinning film director Kevin Macdonald. About 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia and 12 million people across the Horn of Africa, including in Ethiopia and Kenya, the United Nations says.

The drought-hit Horn of Africa urgently needs funds to rebuild agriculture and fight famine. The United Nations food agency has called for a high level meeting to help overcome the worsening crisis.

The “I’m Gonna Be Your Friend,” campaign estimated it would reach over a billion people with partners such as Universal Music Group, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, MSN, YouTube and Twitter and the power of celebrities’ reach. The combined power of using Facebook and Twitter pages alone will reach 730 million, the campaign said.

Donations or downloads of “High Tide or Low Tide,” for $1.29 will go to the Save the Children appeal for east Africa and used for food, water and medicine.

Other stars participating include Sting, David Beckham, Eminem, Rihanna, Annie Lennox, Bruno Mars, Madonna, Ricky Martin and Lily Allen. “High Tide or Low Tide” was chosen by the Marley family for the resonance of the single’s lyrics, “I’m Gonna Be Your Friend” and can also be found on www.facebook.com/bobmarley.

The video starts with the slogan “ The Worst Drought in Decades” and after showing images of starving and thirsty children, ends with a black-andwhite image of the late Marley behind the message, “Millions of children are facing starvation.” “We must stand up together as friends to put a stop to this, to feed our children and to save their lives,” Rita Marley, Bob Marley’s widow, said in a statement. —Reuters

Drug pushers use Winehouse picture to sell cocaine

Sziget Festival rocks on in Budapest Musician Prince performs during his concert at the Sziget Festival.—AP

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ziget, one of Europe’s largest music festivals, kicked off officially yesterday with close to 200 acts from around the world expected over the next five days in Budapest. Reunited British indie rock band Pulp will take the main stage in the evening, alongside compatriots Motorhead, French group Ben L’oncle Soul and local heroes Quimby.

On the eve of the festival Tuesday, American pop icon Prince entertained a crowd of 40,000 that included

British actor Jeremy Irons, who is shooting a TV series in Hungary, Sziget press officer Csaba Marinka told AFP. Further big names to perform on the festival’s six main stages are Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun, British pop singer Kate Nash, French ensemble the Gothan Project and Sziget regulars The Prodigy.

The festival, with a special dedicated stage for Central European performers this year, also features minority acts including a Roma tent. Sziget (“island” in

DeGraw out of hospital, cancels concerts

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inger Gavin DeGraw was released from a New York hospital on Tuesday after apparently being attacked by three men and hit by a taxi cab, causing a concussion, broken nose and numerous cuts and bruises. Police said they were investigating an assault by three males in the city’s East Village in the early morning hours on Monday, but said it was unclear what led to the attack.

“The victim claims to have been struck by these individuals and taken to hospital,” a police spokesman said. Police would not comment on whether DeGraw had been drinking. The 34-year-old singer also reported having been struck by a taxi soon after the assault. He had just left a group of friends when the attack took place. No arrests have been made and no motive has emerged for the assault. The New York singer, whose hits include “I Don’t Want to Be” and “Chariot,” was suffering from “a concussion, broken nose, black eyes, cuts and bruises,” his representatives said.DeGraw has been the opening act for the first leg of rock bands Train and Maroon 5’s US tour. His spokeswoman said that due to the injuries, DeGraw will not be performing on Aug 12 or 13. “Gavin and his family appreciate everyone’s concern at this time,” the spokesMusician Gavin’ DeGraw hosts a woman said in a statement. DeGraw got his start playing in nightprivate piano lesson through the clubs in and around Manhattan and hit it big when “I Don’t Want Starwood Preferred Guest to Be” was chosen as the theme song for television drama, “One Tree Hill.—Reuters Moments program. —AP

Hungarian) takes its name from its location, a 79-hectare (187-acre) island on the Danube just north of downtown Budapest.

Since its creation 19 years ago, it has gained increasing international fame, with now mostly Dutch, French and Italian students and backpackers paying the 54,000 forint (200 euros, $287) for a week-long camping pass at the festival. Day passes meanwhile go for 12,000 forint. Last year, some 382,000 attended the festival. —AFP

Pitt’s ‘World War Z’ to come in December 2012

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ombies-trendier than yesterday’s vampires-will hit the big screen on the first day of winter 2012, as Paramount releases “World War Z” on Dec 21 of next year, the studio announced Tuesday. Brad Pitt stars in and is producing the thriller, now shooting in England.

The movie completed initial photography in Malta last month and also will also shoot in Scotland and Hungary.

The movie is about a tough-guy United Nations employee, played by Pitt, who travels Brad Pitt the world in an effort to stop a zombie pandemic that is destroying humanity. The ambitious script was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (“State of Play”), who adapted it from Max Brooks’ best-selling novel “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.” Marc Forster is directing. In addition to Pitt, the movie stars Mireille Enos (“The Killing”), James Badge Dale (“The Departed”), Matthew Fox (“Lost”) and newcomer Daniella Kertesz. Pitt is producing with Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Colin Wilson.—Reuters

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gang of drug traffickers is inserting pictures of late British singer Amy Winehouse in their bags of cocaine to improve sales, Brazilian police said Tuesday. The clear plastic bags carry a paper insert with a picture of the troubled 27-year-old singer, who died at her north London home on July 23. She is described in the insert as “Amy House.” Bags of cocaine with Winehouse’s picture were being sold at between 10 and 25 reals (about $6-16), said Lieutenant Colonel Glaucio Moreira, who led a police raid in the shanty town of Manginhos that made the find. “Since there is so much information in the media that she was a drug user, the traffickers have taken advantage of this” to market their cocaine, Moreira told local media.

Winehouse’s vocal talents were often overshadowed by her drug addiction and drinking problems. Her bestknown single, “Rehab,” details the singer’s troubles and reluctance to undergo rehabilitation treatment. During the raid, police also found bags of marijuana and crack cocaine, some of which had pictures of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Police confiscated automatic weapons and grenades along with the drugs. Local media reported that a shootout took place when police raided the site, located in the northern area of Rio. Winehouse’s death remains unexplained, with toxicology test results due within weeks, though it is not being treated as suspicious. Rio is due to host the 2014 football World Cup as well as the 2016 Olympic Games, and is desperate to ensure neither of the top world sporting events is marred by the violence stalking some of city’s toughest neighborhoods. In a race against time, Rio authorities have in the past three years been pushing steadily into several slums-known here as favelas-to stamp out nests of crime and violence ahead of the two big sporting events. — AFP

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

lifestyle F E A T U R E S

The

Mysterious Land

of Kuwait

The man most interested in the future to Kuwait: The sheikh entertains a few friends dropped in from the desert. His name is Sir Ahmed AlJabir Al-Sabah, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. The names of his desert we do not know.

But his favorite hawk (on the left) is suitably called Petrol. The sheikh moves with the times.

Especially the petroleum times. The opening of the oilfields on his territory means much to him.

By Mahmoud Zakaria Abdul Rahim

‘T

he Mysterious Land of Kuwait’ was published in the 32nd issue of ‘Picture Post’ on July 13 1946.

The magazine’s first issue was released in 1938 until publication ceased in 1957. It mainly focused on photography published by journalist Tom Hopkins who died on January 20th, 1990. The magazine was widely circulated during World War II, and the number of issues sold towards the end of 1949 reached 1,422,000 copies.

Old Kuwait enjoyed, alongside its political development, attention from the media which documented pictures and events from the heart of Kuwait, describing Kuwaitis’ suffering in search for a better future. We republished what once appeared in the ‘Picture Post’ magazine in its ‘The Mysterious Land of Kuwait’ article. It included several black and white pictures, as one of the images describes Kuwaitis’ national costume and others describe scenes from Kuwait wall. It pulsated with life as people, merchants and donkey riders sold water. There is also a timeless picture of the late Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, 10th ruler of Kuwait in his diwan with some guests.

What is interesting about this article is that it, a transient phase of Kuwait’ s development has been documented; reflecting the life and times of the mid-forties.

The tricks of the trade: Once Kuwait was a prosperous trading center. The Saudi Arab blockade reduced the big caravans to one-and-twodonkey affairs.

Peninsula. It is distinguished by several good grazing routes. Bedouins bring horses, sheep, and wool to trade for rice, sugar, hurricane lamps and other desert necessities.

Moreover it was a large boat-building center, supplying craft for the pearling business in Bahrain. But for many years now, for a variety of reasons, Kuwait has remained an economically stagnant country. The idea of creating Berlin-Baghdad railway has gone with the wind with the World War II, and the pearling industry has since diminished. Saudi Arabia enforced a strict blockade along its borders with Kuwait, keeping its merchants in.

Reasons given for the Saudi blockade are various.

Kuwait is an independent state, but almost entirely subject to British political influence, and British troops and British planes have more than once prevented smugglers from passing. Ostensibly, the Saudi Arabian borders were closed to prevent smuggling, though some declare that Ibn Saud’s real reason was to develop the Saudi Port of Uqair at

The unchanging look of a changing folk: The people of Kuwait face the future without lifting an eyebrow In Kuwait the sandstorms blow up so many times a year. The muezzin utters his call at the given hour. The women still keep their faces hid. It looks like the timeless, moldering east. But change is round the corner. The big oilfields are about to open. The tempo of Kuwait life is about to speeded up violently.

The publication of the article in that year coincided with the first shipment of oil in June 1946, as oil was discovered in Kuwait before World War II, but production stopped during the war and commercial production did not begin until 1946. We will revisit this article to find out the truth of its description of Kuwait during an integral period of Kuwait’s life when it moved from poverty to prosperity and development. It is not strange to see that the article describes scenes of impoverishment when revenues from pearl diving dipped when Japan introduced the method of artificial pearl culturing.

The hard work put in by men in to transform Kuwait’s desert under the scorching sun, is no less a feat than the discovery of planets or landing on the moon. Changing the landscape of a desert into a paradise full of sky scrapers is the result of man’s sheer ingenuity. It reads as follows: “Kuwait is a hot, arid country situated near the Arabian Gulf. The Imperial Airways Plane flies to this country twice a week. Only miles of sand and desert can be seen as one sets foot here, so can borage and scrub grass, and the walls that surround the town were actually built in 1916 to protect it from attacks. This is the way looks like the changeless East, but appearances can be deceptive.

Everything appears to be sleepy. The goats are driven out of the city’s fortress every morning to graze and every evening, they are driven back. A couple of boat-builders hammer away at a dhow when the sun is just rising. A little boy squats in the dust trying to trap kites with a decoy tied to a stone, then they sell their catch to richer children who like to walk round with a bird on the end of the string.

Otherwise nothing seems to move. If you imagine Kuwait to be unimportant you are mistaken.

Kuwait is a center for trade, towards north-east of the

the expense of Kuwait’s interest. Others say that Iraq wants to grow through the stranglehold on Kuwait, and force it to come out of British protection and open trade with Iraq.

Britain has advised Kuwait against this step.

Relations between Kuwait and Iraq have became strained because of the unfortunate affair of the palm farms owned by HH Sheikh Kuwait Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah. These farms are located in Iraq and belong to his father and grandfathers who had commercial ties with Basra. Britain, which acknowledged Kuwait’s independence, guaranteed its tax-free ownership. Unfortunately, the matter was not taken up with the government of Iraq who demanded that tax payments amounting to 10,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds be paid annually.

The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) will begin production, and is expected to start with a limited production of about 1-1.5 million tons per year. It Mahmoud Zakaria is an Anglo-American project Abdul Rahim, that began prospecting for oil Kuwaiti Heritage since 1934, after receiving conLibrary. cessions from the Sheikh. Eight wells have been approved so far that have reserves estimated at 5,000 million barrels, and it is thought that the total reserve in the area amount to 9,000 million barrels. You can get an idea of significance of these fields, if it compared to the reserves enjoyed by all of Iran Petroleum.

The people of Kuwait will not become millionaires like those in Oklahoma. The oil business will mean big dividends for the Sheikh of Kuwait. It will mean more employment for residents of Kuwait. The herdsmen who graze their herds where the oil fields are, must fold their tents and move elsewhere.”

The laid-up dhows that meant poverty from the sea: Boat-building for the pearl trade meant work in Kuwait. Now nobody wants pearls. The boats are laid up. The builders are laid off.

The sheikh admires his handsome ceiling: Features of his house are Edwardian furniture, and a ceiling covered with prints of Edwardians, from Queen Alexandra to Lily Langtry.

Poverty-stricken Kuwait is a city that may gain world importance. Fifty thousand people live in Kuwait, girdled by a wall miles in length. During the day they like to picnic in the desert. At night they pitch their tents round the bay to sleep.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

lifestyle T R A V E L

A young Polish tourist wears an Anne of Green Gables wig and hat at a souvenir store in Cavendish.

‘Anne of Green Gables’ boosts

Canadian island A

fictional red-headed orphan, whose adventures were penned a century ago, is proving a tourist boon to a corner of Canada, even drawing the attentions of Prince William’s new bride, Catherine. “Anne of Green Gables”, the Canadian novel by author Lucy Maud Montgomery, has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide since it was published in 1908.

Over the years, the heroine Anne has been

to help on a Prince Edward farm. Now, the sites mentioned in the book about the girl with red braided pigtails have become a major tourist draw, pumping millions of dollars into the island’s struggling economy. “Many people think she was a real person,” said Chantelle Macdonald, who once played Anne in shows on the island.

“It’s difficult to tell them this person did not really exist. They sometimes confuse Anne with the author.”

The most famous recent visitor was Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine, who is reportedly a big fan. She visited the island with her husband Prince William in July as part of their hugely successful tour of Canada. One in four visitors to Prince Edward Island takes in at least one Anne attraction, such as the recreated fictional town of

Avonlea, the site of Montgomery’s childhood home or the Anne of Green Gables gift shop on the main street of the provincial capital Charlottetown. After farming and fishing, tourism is the island’s third-largest industry and Annerelated spending accounted for nearly one-third of the island’s $370 million in tourism revenue in 2010 — up dramatically from years past.

Japanese ‘Anne’ fan clubs Anne is so popular worldwide that staff at the Cavendish National Historic Site-which includes Montgomery’s cousin’s farmhouse that inspired Green Gables and landscapes familiar to her readers such as the Haunted Wood Trail and Lovers’ Lane-have a hard time convincing visitors she is a fictional character. The book and its sequels have been translated into some 40 lan-

A poster of Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery adorns a door at the Cavendish Post Office.

Anne Shirley’s room at the Green Gables National Historic Site. — AFP photos brought to life in musicals, museums and street theater on eastern Prince Edward Island, which provides the backdrop for the adventures of the young chatterbox, whose lively imagination gets her into all kinds of trouble.

Montgomery is said to have drawn on her childhood experiences in the smallest of the Canadian provinces to describe Anne’s life after she is adopted from an orphanage in Nova Scotia

Senegal’s

A Japanese touist poses for a photograph in a carriage at the Green Gables National Historic Site.

guages. And in Japan, where “Anne of Green Gables” has been on the school curriculum since 1952, the heroine is widely adored. There are Japanese “Anne” fan clubs, an “Anne” academy and even a nursing school named after her.

Japanese are the third largest contingent of visitors here, after Canadians and Americans, and some even travel to PEI to get married at Green Gables.

Macdonald suggests their enthusiasm for all things Anne may have helped propel her popularity elsewhere. “In Italy, only five of the books were translated. But in the 1980s, everyone watched the Japanese animated version of ‘Anne of Green Gables’ on television,” said Rosanna Gatti, who was visiting from Italy with her family.

Indeed, Anne was cast in several television series and movies, including “Road to Avonlea” in the

1990s. People are drawn to the young heroine Anne Shirley because of her youthfulness, her determination, her independence, and her imagination, Macdonald commented.

Prince Edward Island still echoes the charms of early 20th century Canada depicted in the books when villagers traveled in horse-drawn carts, wrote long letters, wore long dresses, and where a cow running amok in the garden accounted for action. But the ultimate confirmation of her universal appeal came from Sarah Khan, a young Muslim woman visiting the site with two friends, all three supporting hijabs.

“Sometimes people in the street ask, ‘Are you forced to wear (a veil)? Why do you wear it?’ I say, no, it is my decision and then I feel like Anne: she was coming from outside and had problems to be accepted too,” Khan said. —AFP

century-old colonial bridge

gets makeover

T

he Faidherbe bridge, a century-old emblem of Senegal’s former colonial riverside capital SaintLouis, is being fully restored after threatening to collapse into the Senegal River. Its seven majestic arches once again firmly straddle the river, providing a key link between the mainland and the island city which was founded in 1659 and became the first French settlement in sub-Saharan Africa.

The bridge, which measures 511 meters long and just over six meters wide carries up to 22,000 vehicles and 80,000 people daily back and forth from SaintLouis, the capital of the colony until independence in 1960 which has been declared a world heritage site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “Saint-Louis doesn’t exist without its bridge, which is its emblem and its jewel.

This restoration marks a second life for the town,” Mayor Cheikh Bamba Dieye said. Barges carrying materials ply their way to and fro as workers put the finishing touches on the renovated bridge, nearly three years after work began in November 2008.

“We are busy finishing the rehabilitation of the bridge which had become very old and was at risk of collapse,” said Mor Gueye Gaye, the engineer supervising work on the structure. The bridge was named after the former French governor of Senegal, Louis Faidherbe, and inaugurated on October 19, 1897, making military interventions and traffic to the mainland a lot simpler. “There would be attacks against the colony’s positions and Moor raids to find slaves, but the garrisons were situated on the island of Saint Louis and the Langue de Barbarie,” a strip of earth between the sea and the Senegal River, said Fatima Fall, director of the Senegal Research and Documentation Centre.

This meant it could take a while for soldiers to respond to attack. “The Spahis (mounted) regiment couldn’t cross the river in less than two hours which was bothersome in case of attack,” historian Abdoul Haidir Aidara writes in a book on the town. In 1893, the French company Nouguier, Kessler et Cie won a bid to build the metal bridge at a cost of 2.2 million francs, a staggering sum at the time, according to historian Guy Thilmans, writing in a book on Saint-Louis’ bridges. At the inauguration, one of the leaders of the colony of Senegal, Louis D’Erneville, said the bridge was built “exclusively from the local budget” which came mostly from taxes paid by the indigenous population.

The history of the bridge has been veiled in mystery and what Thilmans refers to as “inaccurate tales”

about its origin. These include it being “designed by Gustave Eiffel; initially built for the Danube or even the Mekong; destined for Austria who didn’t like it and sent it to Senegal.” Over 100 years later the bridge is being renovated for nearly 27.5 million euros ($40 million) financed by the French Development Agency and Senegalese government.

The seven spans of the bridge have been entirely replaced with new versions built in France. One of the spans rotates, which will again allow boats to pass through after years of being blocked after the old system broke down.

“The new bridge, whose pedestrian walkways are built of Azobe wood, will last 100 years,” said Gaye, referring to a tropical African hardwood. Watching the building work with admiration, Saint-Louis citizen Mamadou Lamine Bara Thiam, in his sixties says: “Everyone is happy with the restoration of the bridge, which is the symbol of Saint-Louis.”— AFP People walk on the Faidherbe Bridge, built over the Senegal river, linking mainland and Senegal’s former colonial riverside capital Saint-Louis founded in 1659, on July 25, 2011. —AFP

The Mysterious Land of Kuwait: A glimpse into Kuwait’s past

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011

Butter sculptures churn 100-year state fair legacy

Chinese artist Liu Bolin, waits for his colleagues to put a finishing touch on him to blend into rows of soft drinks in his art work entitled “Plasticizer,” to express his speechlessness at use of plasticizer in food additives, in his studio at the 798 Art District in Beijing, China, yesterday.—AP

Ask a Designer:

Original art for the masses Katie Miron, the Princess Kay of the Milky Way — the state’s dairy queen — sits in the chilled confines of the butter sculpting cooler to get her official butter head sculpted by Linda Christensen. —AP photos

L

ife-size butter sculptures of everything from cows to space heroes and Hollywood stars are among the most beloved traditions of state fairs, drawing thousands of admirers each year from Iowa to Ohio and as far south as Texas. In Iowa, where the tradition started, the fair will celebrate the 100th year of its butter cow when it begins today. While other state fairs may mimic the butter cow or tout other creamy creations, none has gained as much fame as the original, Iowa State Fair President Gary Slater said.

“None of the others have become that one thing that when you think of the fair, you think of it like you do here at the Iowa State Fair,” Slater said. “It’s become our icon.” Other states with butter cows include Illinois, Kansas, New York and Utah, while the Wisconsin and Indiana state fairs feature mammoth cheese carvings.

But Minnesota may come the closest to Iowa in celebration of its dairy sculptures. The state’s dairy queen - Princess Kay of the Milky Way - and her court are immortalized in butter busts. Other state sculptures have included Darth Vadar and, in his home state of Illinois, former President Abraham Lincoln.

But it’s Iowa where the rich history was born, confirmed Gary Welling, head of the pastry program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. There, sculptor Sarah Pratt works in a cooler where the air lingers in the low 40s, applying 600 pounds of butter over a metal, wood and wire frame to create a slick and fatty cow that’s 5 1/2- feet tall and about 8-feet long.

The 34-year-old elementary school teacher took over the job in 2006 from the late Norma “Duffy” Lyon, who was Iowa’s “Butter Cow Lady” for 46 years.

The butter in the cow may have been around longer than Pratt: It can be reused for up to 10 years. Pratt, who apprenticed with Lyon for 15 years, said she strives to achieve the same level of success in both her sculpting and promotion of the butter cow.

“I try to hone my skills more and more each year,” said Pratt, who lives in West Des Moines. “She was very good and strived to make the perfect cow.

That is what I strive to do and honor what she did.” Along with the cow, Lyon’s

butter works for the fair included Grant Wood’s famous painting “American Gothic,” Leonardo d Vinci’s The Last Supper, John Wayne and Elvis Presley.

She died earlier this year.

“To be able to carry on this tradition, it’s a huge honor,” Pratt said. Minnesota’s reigning dairy queen, Katie Miron, 20, said she’s honored to be the subject of a butter sculpture. “I think every farmer’s daughter dreams of being a butter head one day,” said Miron, who’s from Hugo, Minn.

The fair has had butter sculptures since the late 1800s but it wasn’t until 1965 that the tradition of carving the heads of the dairy princesses began.

They remain one of the fair’s most popular attractions, spokeswoman Brienna Schuette said.

Princess Kay and her court each spend one day sitting in a revolving cooler while Linda Christensen, an artist who now lives in Oceanside, Calif., carves their likenesses in 90 pounds of butter.

“It’s like opening your refrigerator, climbing inside and staying there,” Miron said.

The princesses take their sculptures home after the fair. Some keep them in coolers for years, taking them out only for their wedding, where guests are invited to spread the artwork on bread or eat it in some other fashion. Others have used the butter to bake cookies for charity, or as Miron plans to do later this month, melt it on corn at a hometown corn feed.

Butter sculptures date back to ancient Tibet, where monks carved animals and deities out of yak butter, said Sherry Newell, a spokeswoman for the Midwest Dairy Association.

The tradition spread to North America in the early 1800s, and today there’s a Facebook application where people can create photos of themselves carved in butter and have it printed on a postcard from one of nine Midwestern states, she said. Welling said butter sculptures really took off in the early 1900s, when the dairy industry began using them as marketing tools. “They really could rival great sculptures of art in their detail and as elaborate as they’ve become,” he said. Ohio’s tradition started with a butter carving competition in 1903, and its cow eventually became a permanent display. —AP

F

ramed posters and department-store paintings have long been staples of home decorating. But a growing number of shoppers are seeking original art for their homes, says interior designer Robert Novogratz. “Art is about to explode to the masses,” he says, because technology is giving us unprecedented access to artists. Homeowners are finding that distinctive, original works of art don’t have to break their budgets. By seeking out new artists, hunting for unexpected treasures and even creating art of your very own, it’s possible to get art-gallery style at department-store prices. In their new HGTV series, “Home by Novogratz,” Novogratz and his wife and co-host, Cortney, use original works of art to decorate each week. “We try to feature an artist in every single episode,” he says, and the pieces are often very affordable.

The first step, says Novogratz, is to discover art that speaks to you by exploring museums, galleries and art magazines. “People like what they know,” he says, so broaden the scope of art of what interests you.

Once you know what you want, start hunting. Here, Novogratz and two other experts - Betsy Burnham of Los Angeles’ Burnham Design, and decordemon.com founder Brian Patrick Flynn - offer advice on finding the right art at the right price: Find talent early Buying pieces from fledgling artists is a win-win situation. “Go to a local college or university and email or call the art department. Tell them, ‘I’m interested in photography,’ or whatever you’re after,” Novogratz says. Schools will let you know about upcoming art shows and possibly connect you with talented students. By finding and communicating with new artists through schools or online, it’s even possible to commission original works without huge expense.

Use your mouse Websites can connect you with experienced artists as well as new ones. Burnham often scours eBay for art that she loves but someone else no longer wants.

She also checks the art-auction site: Liveauctioneer.com and Etsy.com for original works, especially paintings. Don’t worry, she says, about choosing a piece that an art critic would love: “It just has to be something appealing to you,” Burnham says. So if you love the colors or design and it fits your budget, buy it. One piece of online advice: “The more specific you are in your search, the better,” says Burnham. “You can say ‘abstract painting red,’ or you can have a favorite artist from the midcentury and use their name for the search.”

If she sees a striking piece of art in a gallery, Burnham often Googles the artist seeking additional often less expensive - works they’ve done. Or she contacts the artist directly to see what’s available.

“Sometimes instead of buying from a showroom,” she says, “you can buy directly from the artist at a better price. “It’s about detective work, and knowing what you like.”

Broaden your definition of art All art isn’t traditional painting or sculpture. Flynn has used everything from actual soup cans (a nod to Warhol) to an old stepladder (spray-painted bright green and hung within a picture frame) as art. “If there’s an item that means a lot to you, if it has a lot of texture, get it on the wall immediately,” he says. “And if it doesn’t have texture already, paint it a bold color to add an interesting finish.”

Lately, he’s even been having fun with fake taxi-

This photo collage was done by artist Jan Eleni.

This undated photo courtesy of Christina Wedge shows a room designed by Brian Patrick Flynn. dermy: In an otherwise traditional, high-end living room, Flynn likes hanging an artificial moose head made from resin. “There’s something funny about a moose,” he says, and yet it offers some of the traditional glamour of big game mounted on a wall.

Choose photography A print of a distinctive, original photograph can be less expensive than an original painting or sculpture, but offer just as much artistic value. Burnham has found beautiful photos at 20x200.com and other photography websites. It’s also possible to turn your own photography or friends’ work into art, if you crop a shot creatively or use it in a very large format.

Go big or go home “If you are looking to display art in a more minimal space,” Flynn says, “go really, really big.” A framed 8-by10-inch(20-by-25-centimeter) photo doesn’t normally

qualify as “art.” But the same photo printed several feet (a meter) wide can be striking, he says. Investing in one large piece of art can be more practical than buying several smaller ones. “Sometimes the larger pieces of art don’t necessarily cost that much more than the smaller ones,” Flynn says, and they carry more impact.

Search for vintage “If you live in a good town to go vintage shopping, don’t be put off by the wrong frame or the wrong setting,” Burnham says. Searching for art to use in a home in Beverly Hills recently, she says she “found this floral painting from the wall of this really bad vintage store here in town. But reframed and cleaned up, it’s fantastic.” Good framing can be expensive, but it may be worth the investment to repurpose a great piece of vintage art.

Travel with art in mind The Novogratzes often incorporate art into their travel: They visit museums in new cities and attend events like Miami’s annual Art Basel show. Even during local day trips, they visit art shows and are on the lookout for new pieces and new talent. One last piece of advice from Flynn: Once you’ve chosen a new piece of art, protect it. Frame it with UV-filtering glass and be sure your lighting won’t do it any harm. “Harsh halogens can distort a piece of art,” Flynn says, and cause it to fade over time. —AP

Photo shows a room from HGTV’s “Home by Novogratz” series.

—AP photos

This undated photo provided by the American Dairy Association shows a butter sculpture.